Capsaicin: I like it when my mouth cries a little

Okay, so when I was learning about receptors in one of my psychology classes, we learned about capsaicin. 

The most pertinent piece I remember from it was that you can actually overload them and make the capsaicin receptor die.  Yup.  Sounds hard to do?  Nope.  (At least, not regarding your mouth).


My brief, tame story:


If you eat fast enough, there's always spicy contact on the tongue.


[How I learned about my friend's story]:  During the first cochon de lait (Cajun pig roast) the picky eater and I attended, we were on the front porch.  I was not to keen on wading through the many people crowded inside.  I did, however, want a rum and coke, (half-and-half, thank you).
A dear friend was already heading to the cooler for beer and offered to mix my drink.  Awesome! 
A few minutes later he presents the drink, I take one sip and nearly choke.  When it tasted right for him, it was about 75% rum, 25% coke...if that.
Then I learned that most of his tongue doesn't work.


My friend's, more pronounced, story:

So, as a child, some remember the taste of soap after uttering a bad word.  My friend instead, stuck out his tongue and held hot sauce on it.  This was a common occurrence, and, eventually, he started asking for more because he liked the taste.  His mom stopped using it after that.

Remember that whole over-loading receptor-thing from earlier?  Yeah, that killed most of the capsaicin receptors on his tongue.






SO, any time I cook something spicy, it's inevitably too spicy for some.  When I try things that are supposed to be spicy, they just taste good.  Or, when other folks make comments about the spice, I'm surprised because....well, it didn't seem spicy.

Basically, you can train to handle spicy things...if you're really wanting to, but be warned--just because your mouth can handle it, doesn't mean the rest of your system can...just sayin'.





Some precautions:

When handling ingredients containing a bit of capsaicin, do be careful.

--Option 1: gloves  (they annoy me)

--Option 2: con someone else to do that particular prep work (...I plead the 5th)

--Option 3: use your tools like a monkey, and don't actually make physical contact with the ingredient  
(I do pretty well with this...but it may be problematic for others)

--Option 4: do what you do, and deal with it afterwards  (good luck with that)

• rinse like mad
• wash
• wash, again
• I like using a soap/hand wash that has milk in it
• milk helps combat the capsaicin
• they form micelles around the capsaicin
• basically, they surround it and get it the hell away from your pain receptor
• wash, again
• still try and avoid your eyes
• ...and sensitive bits.

When eating things with capsaicin, you might try some of these:

--Cool down 1: milk

• the standard for good reason
• see micelle discussion from Option 4
• I've found that, the higher the fat content of the milk/dairy product, the more effective it is
• makes sense
• you need fat in order to make a micelle

--Cool down 2: cheese

• add some of this to spicy pasta or whatever else it'd be appropriate in (to you, at least)
• same concept as above
• also, it's hard to go wrong with cheese

--Cool down 3: acceptance

• accept that small part of yourself that's a bit of a masochist
• ...at least, culinarily speaking...
• no judgments!

Oh, by the way, we don't own a microwave: that's right, you can, in fact, survive without a microwave

Yeah, I historically get one of two responses:

• A funny look of skepticisim with a verbal or implied, "Huh?"
• "Oh, yeah!  We haven't had one for years!"
• please remember that I'm in Austin, TX

Why would we subject ourselves to this? 

Honestly, our current kitchen is super f-in' small.


During the apartment search, we learned 2 things about the Austin area:

• It is insanely rare to find a one-bedroom without the bathroom in the bedroom
• (I'm sorry, I don't need friends/family crashing from out of town coming into our bedroom in the middle of the night)
• If you're paying less than $1,000/month, and want to be decently close to the city, you're getting a galley kitchen
• Accept it and move on
• If, freakishly, your experience has been different, don't tell me; it'll just make me sad

We were able to find an apartment with a pretty open layout, bathroom outside of the bedroom, and a look-through in the galley kitchen.  Yay!

 How has this affected our eating habits?

Well, just about all of our formal cooking is on the stove or oven, save for popcorn.  A family friend gave us an air-popper from our registry, and it's wonderful.

The only thing I think I'll have issue with is edamame.  It's been forever since I've had it, but the best way to prepare it at home is in a microwave.

Reheating
It's a bit more labor-intensive.  Depending on what it is, a little water may be needed to help the process, or we use the oven.

For pizza, I prefer reheating in the oven.  I find it can get pretty soggy in the microwave, since the water is what is being affected in there.

And, honestly, I sometimes will eat things cold.  Usually this is because I'm too tired/lazy to put forth more effort, but some things taste good cold.  It's given me a new appreciation for how temperature affects the flavor of foods.  Cold food, for me, isn't nearly as potent as warm, which is also something to remember if you're wanting to make something to serve cold or straight-up freeze.

Unexpected benefits

Yes, there are some benefits to doing this...at least for us.  I really love food, and I married the person who introduced me to butter/ (again, I lived with older folks--it was smart balance and fleischmann's).  So, if we don't keep it in check, we could easily turn into heffers.


Time:

• It's not so easy to just heat something up. 
• I'm forced to think about what the hell I want to eat that I'm willing to put forth effort in making.
• If I've just finished eating, it takes longer to make something else.
• My belly has time to let my brain realize that I'm not actually hungry enough to eat that entire pint of ice-cream

Microwave snacks/meals:

• I often hear people talk about how much sodium/preservatives/(insert other scary, health/figure-threatening thing) there are in pre-packaged foods
• Ha!  I have no means to prepare most of them
• When I heated my lunch up at my internships, my meal took less time
• Usually, my meal had different portions that didn't ALL need to be heated
• I only need 30-45 seconds to reheat my artichoke hearts sauteed with garlic
• I got to avoid the hostile line of hungry folks waiting to shove their meals into the microwave

I'm sure I'll find more spiffy things, but that's all I have the patience for right now.

I don't do well with caffeine

I learned something today, or, rather, I relearned something about myself today.  Caffeine is a son-of-a-bitch.




A brief history of our relationship:


-Being from the NOLA area, many folks love coffee.  As a child, I loved getting the small cups of coffee my aunt would make after meals.  So, when coffee shops became a thing, I went and expected the same awesome.  Fail.  It tasted NOTHING like what I was used to, and it dried my tongue out for at least two days which left me in a foul mood.  F' that.




-I contemplated it, but avoided it mostly in undergrad after one or two unpleasant encounters.


While last minute cramming for an econ test, a friend gave me several RedBulls.  We didn't exactly end up sleeping, and I felt like my heart was tweaking.  I avoided it mostly thereafter.




As the picky-eater quickly learned when we got together, to keep me happy and functioning, I need: sleep, food, and warmth.  Take one of those away and I get grumpy.  Take two of those away, and me no work properly.  In the rare instances when all three are not present--no one needs to be around me.




-At a get-together in Louisiana, I tried to sip coffee again, and it was great! WTF? Finally, it was made clear. Coffee and chicory! Not just plain-whatever-coffee. Cafe' Du Monde, French Market, and Community are the only ones I like.  I'd never sought it out but would occasionally partake at get-togethers.






-Today:
-The picky-eater and I had Bacon Wednesday brunch, and I thought a cafe' au lait sounded delightful.  I made a strong cup and poured it and some hot milk into a mug,... and it almost spilled over.  I wasn't that careful in estimating how much milk--ah, well.  It was transferred into a larger mug.  I added my customary 3 tablespoons of sugar (I know, super horrible--another reason that I don't partake that often).  We started catching up on a great deal of TV we've missed since I started work, and I drank faster than I normally do...


...I'm all shaky right now, and it's not fun.  I need to do something, but I know enough to not do anything super important because it's a crap shoot.  It might feel more efficient, but it's a dirty lie.  It's sad because I finally found the taste from my childhood.


If you can handle caffeine and like a New Orleans-style Coffee and Chicory, here's how to do a cafe' au lait properly.  Seriously, it's super simple.


Cafe' au Lait


Equal parts coffee and hot milk poured into a mug that will actually contain the full amount of liquid.


I will not preach about strength of the coffee--that's your deal. 


For that wedding registry-thing, some friends got us a bodum French press.  I use two scoops of coffee using the scoop that comes with the press.  When I don't suck it down in 15 minutes, this works for me.



I hope you found my pain amusing.

Good day.

First Meal of the New Year: a solid start

Souffleed omelette with sauteed shallots and a homemade strawberry-banana-blackberry smoothie

It sounds way harder than it is.  Oh, I should mention that I was too excited to take pictures--my bad.  I'll make it again and post later.

My morning... and by morning, I mean a brunch kind of morning:

It was friggin' cold outside and in the apartment, so I took much longer to crawl out of bed than normal.

The dogs weren't moving, so they were no help.  I was supposed to have an earlier brunch with some friends, but that was postponed till people recovered from celebrating.

As a small, symbolic gesture of what I'd like to continue in the new year, I actually got formally dressed and made myself look presentable.  On a normal day, I would still be in slippers, a robe, and lounge shorts/pants.

I was needing to eat a little something and didn't want to think too much, so I picked two things I've made in the past that are pretty darn easy.

A souffleed omelette and a smoothie.


Smoothie:

The smoothie contents will vary based on what I actually have, but we picked up a giant bag of frozen strawberries from the store, and I had some left-over blackberries that I froze from a little ways back.

I don't have specific proportions, but I've found what works for me

1 Banana (frozen is preferred, but not necessary)
Oat flour*
Frozen fruit (I've only tried berries so far)
Milk
(Yogurt--if you have it/like it.  I did not have it.)

*(Why the hell are you using that?  Well, I like the idea of having some grain in my diet, and it helps thicken it some.)

Blender (ideally with a removable center in the lid)

• put banana, oat flour, and fruit (strawberries and blackberries) into blender
• I recommend adding any powder ingredients prior to milk and/or yogurt 
• add in enough milk for the other ingredients to mix 
• pulse on puree or crush ice 
• turn on mix and determine how thick you want the smoothie to be
• while on, take out the center of the lid and add additional milk till you achieve the consistency you prefer
• pour into a cup/glass/whatever
• for excess (which I make purposefully), I put it in small pyrex containers and freeze them as a cheap dessert for later or a no-fix breakfast
• set in fridge till you're done with whatever else you're fixing
• IF you're going to drink it pretty soon
• it might get a little thin, if left in the fridge too long

Souffled Omelette:

Okay, it is a little more involved than a regular one, but I prefer it to regular omelettes.

I first learned about this from Laura Calder on French Cooking at Home.  She added spinach, but I was just not feeling that.

The filling can be whatever you feel like, but shallots make me happy.


2-3 Fresh* Eggs
(separated into two medium bowls)
2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 Shallot, minced
Salt

*You can tell a fresh egg is fresh by how well it stays together when cracked onto a flat surface and how high the yolk sits.  The closer and higher, the fresher the egg.

10-inch non-stick skillet
Fitting lid

Another pan to saute the shallots in

Large whisk
Small whisk (or another whisk, I think the smaller one makes life easier)

• Saute shallots
• set aside and cover
• Beat the whites
• to medium peaks
• Season the yolks
• Beat the yolks
• over heat until lightened in color and sticky
• over simmering water is recommended, but not necessary
• I was lazy and impatient, so I didn't do this today
• Stir in a little of the whites into the yolks
• Fold the whites into the yolks
• Pour into a heated skillet with melted butter
• medium high
• Cover with lid
• I prefer a glass lid, so I can see what's going on
• When semi-set on top
• scatter shallots across top
• Cover again till gently set and browned on bottom
• Slid half-way onto a plate and fold over
• Enjoy!

I hope you have a wonderful new year.

Oh, and I have recently started a job (yay, paying bills!), and I'm not sure how often I'll be on here.  I intend on continuing this, though.

Don't you eat that!: remembering the puppies while cooking

In lieu of children, we have dogs. 

Kaylee (just give her the ball, or she'll whine for.ev.er.)

Remy (probably looking for scraps)

Kaylee and Remy.  They're adorable and have a big-sister-annoying-little-brother relationship.

Brief story A:

  While I was away from the house, the picky-eater was prepping to make beef stew (a loong while ago).  Nature called, and the kitchen was unsupervised for a minute or two.  Upon returning, the two containers that the meat was in were on the floor on different sides of the apartment and the absorbing pads that sit under the meat were gone.  Yeaaah, so those absorbing pads are not supposed to be eaten.  Over the phone, the vet-tech explained that they were going to have to "get rid of" the pads.

SO, to make a dog throw up:

• get some hydrogen-peroxide
• get said dog to drink a few teaspoonfuls
• (depending on weight--talk to your vet)
• have fun with that
• you now have approximately 2 to 3 minutes to get your dog to an area you're okay with him/her yakking
• wait a little bit
• no, really

  They were taken outside for a few minutes and were presumably done.  Wrong.  After going back in, Remy went to where he feels most comfortable, the back of the couch.  He threw up, again, and had managed to get underneath the slip cover.  I'm not going to lie, I'm glad that I wasn't home for this incident.

Brief story B:

  So, one day I was finishing a chicken stock, and just after I strained out the large pieces and tossed them, our little dog Remy, desperately needed out.  So, I ran him downstairs to do his thing.  We were outside maybe a minute or two total.  When I came back inside, I hear Crunch, Crunch.  "Kaylee, NO!  Leave it!" 
  Sure enough, she was in the carpeted bedroom crunching down on a chicken bone.  I felt blood drain from my face.  She was good and spat out what was in her mouth, but my panic was setting in.  I put the garbage can up and saw that it was largely veggies on top, a good sign as far as the choking-on-a-chicken-bone-thing.  However, onions are super bad for dogs.  I grabbed the hydrogen-peroxide and poured a little down her throat, most got on my hand holding her mouth open.  I leashed her up, and took her outside.  Inside of about 2 minutes, she went to the end of the leash and hacked up her stomach contents: onions, carrots, and a bit of chicken meat.  She continued till it was just stomach acid coming up.


SO, what have we learned, living with dogs?

By God, they are excellent at recognizing the opportunity to filch something they know they're not supposed to have.  But it's so delicious!

Put up the damn garbage can the second you leave the kitchen!

If your dog eats something he/she should not, either call your vet or call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. Apparently, you might have to pay a consultation fee ($65) for the latter.

There's a solid list of things that can mess them up:
(Referenced from PetHealth on WebMD; you could look there but slide shows annoy some people)

• chocolate (obviously)
• by the way, even just a little will make them not feel well
• don't be that guy
• OH, and white chocolate totally counts; it's just chocolate without the cocoa solids
• onions and garlic
• personally, I'd avoid anything in the family
• grapes (and raisins)
• kids, kidney failure's bad
• avocado
• alcohol (duh)
• when Kaylee was found as a stray, she was throwing up beer
• apparently someone thought it was funny
• don't be that guy
• caffeine
• in all it's forms
• check any meds they get into
• dairy products
• you don't want to clean up the potential aftermath
• macadamia nuts
• Xylitol (diet food/toothpaste/gum sweetener)
• liver failure's bad
• Fat trimmings and bones
• potential pancreatitis with the fat
• bones can splinter and turn into sharp objects in the tummy
• Persimmons, Peaches, and Plums (aka Things with Pits and Seeds)
• pits contain cyanide...it's bad
• seeds can irritate the small intestine
• Raw Eggs
• potential contamination
• there's an enzyme that makes B vitamin absorption a problem
• Raw Meat and Fish
• potential contamination
• possible parasites...potentially really bad
• Salt
• sodium ion poisoning is bad
• Sugary stuff
• if it makes you fat and brings you closer to diabetes, it'll do the same to your dog, but faster
• Yeast dough
• eww
• can rise in the tummy and hurt
• yeast ferments = alcohol = super bad
• Meds (namely, yours)
• seriously?  don't do it
• keep them way out of the way
• Pantry items
• baking powder = highly toxic
• baking soda = highly toxic
• SPICES
• nutmeg = highly toxic

By and large, it's best to just feed them DOG food, and some unprocessed foods (not listed above) can be okay....

Remy... he loves banannas.

Sick = no fun: My stomach fell in with the wrong crowd and rebelled against me...

Okay, so I realize that it may seem like I'm not being super regular about writing here.  I have an, apparently, silly desire to proof things I write prior to posting.  Also, I'd like to include pictures at some point, and the picky-eater in the family has yet to show me how to upload said pictures; (I'll attempt, but I'm not sure how that'll go).  So, I'm trying to be better about more regularly posting.

My sustinance for most of this horrid day. 

(Ignore the date; it's wrong.  I/We'll fix it at some point.)

ANYhoo, I woke up on Wednesday at 6:30ish in the morning to wicked heartburn and found that my stomach was not happy with me.  This continued throughout the day, and I was told that it might well be food-poisoning.  I was very sad because I had eaten the best mandarin orange I've had in a really long time the night prior.  I'd gotten two, so the second was still posted up in the fridge... waiting....

My stomach continued to rebel for the entire day.  While this was not pleasant, I was beginning to consider a stomach flu rather than food-poisoning.  (It was confusing because I didn't have all the symptoms of either.)  Not a great thing, but I don't think you realize how awesome that orange was.  I subsisted largely on pepto-knock-off (tastes awful, by the way; go get the real stuff), water, and strawberry-flavored gatorade provided by my awesome spouse (my body was leaching electrolytes).

The puppies were wonderful and snuggled with me all day.  It was also cold, so they curled up under the blanket and served as living heaters. The picky-eater convinced me to eat some chicken-noodle soup, and it was wonderful.  We normally make a home-made version, but work ran late, and I was in no state to shop and cook.  When we get around to making it, I'll post the recipe.

As of now, my stomach and I are on good terms.  I still haven't eaten the second orange out of fear of my stomach rebelling again, but it's waiting there... taunting me.

Why the hell not: A brief intro to me

Oh, hi. I see you've decided to read this thing. Cool. I'm not sure how this will go, or if I'll get annoyed with it for some reason. So, we'll see.

SO, I've had a lot of time on my hands lately...and by lately, I mean the better part of a year-and-a-half.

Here's a short-ish version of this time:

• Ended internship for grad program,

• Wedding shower in Louisiana (baked brie with caramel sauce is amazing… and kind of tastes like pancakes when cold)
• Back for graduation (Yay! Master degree!)
• Northern Louisiana for a friend's wedding
• Back home for a different friend's wedding
• New Orleans for own wedding prep
• Own wedding (super awesome, by the way, and I still day dream about the food)           
• prep and wedding turned into several days of partying with most of our favorite people
• Honeymoon (The Mermaid and the Alligator, they are AMAZING; there were even dogs that acted as our surrogate puppies while we were there)
• Back home to start the job search/ prep for license exam/ find an apartment
• Find apartment
• Take and pass exam (Yay! apparently no one wanted to even talk to me without one)
• Finally get an interview, get offered an amazing job with great benefits--oh, wait, they have to rewrite the job posting so I'm qualified

• ...two months, my cousin's wedding, and many conversations and rewritten job postings later... sorry, that solid first job, (with pay and benefits good enough to make me wait around for two months), is not going to happen
• Many more resumes sent and applications submitted
• Three-month stint at an elementary school = fabulous
• Start supervision
• Several great interviews, no offers
• Two more friends get married
• I start nannying and I learn that I can potentially start a private practice

Obviously, there are things that I’ve forgotten/blocked out and many things in between.  Also, there are various details regarding decisions that I’m leaving out because it’d take way longer.  I’m too impatient for that right now.

 

During, and in between all these events, I delved into food.  No, I wasn’t drowning my sorrows in pasta, pizza, and ice-cream…okay, maybe a little…but I was figuring out how to stretch a dollar and make what we have in the pantry/fridge work while keeping it interesting.

I half-jokingly say that I watched WAY too many cooking shows and call myself a stay-at-home-puppy-parent.  I married an wonderful person who afforded me the amazing opportunity  to concentrate on finding a job that I actually want.  Many, many hours were devoted to this endeavor, but during the down time, I watched cooking shows.

It made me realize that there were far more possibilities in the pantry and fridge than I originally thought.  I learned techniques and tricks that were pretty nifty and helped us save money.  This helped to make me feel like I was contributing to the home…and stay sane.

I’m embracing my heritage’s culture surrounding food and the bonding had while making, eating, and contemplating the next meal.  Along the way, I've learned many things and eaten many things... mostly good, and I'm thankful for these experiences.  It’s helped me, my marriage, and I hope you might find it helpful as well…or at least amusing at times.