I'm a diabetic. Type 2, Adult Onset, I have been for years and there's no going back. And yet .. I enjoy cooking .. and cuisines from all around the world. I've had to square these two opposite attributes.
So, in addition to feeling good about the nice things people say after a dinner of, say, Grilled Asparagus with Garlic Butter followed by Kidonato, a Pear Salad with Walnuts and Gorgonzola, and a Pepper Melange I've gotten to like being able to follow that by saying "that was 658 calories and 48 grams of carbohydrate - and one third of your 2000 calorie-per-day diet."
"Wait a minute," I hear you say. "You lost me at 'Kidonato.'"
Let me explain. Kidonato is a dish from ancient Greece. I made it from lamb, slow-cooked with onion, cinnamon, honey and quince. It was exceptional - and nobody seemed to notice that I omitted two tablespoons of olive oil and a quarter stick of butter from the recipe. Plus I exchanged two tablespoons of white sugar (did the ancient Greeks have refined sugar? No, I didn't think so.) for one tablespoon of honey. And, because I had the time, I trimmed a lot of the fat from the lamb.
So - what's 'quince?' (these questions keep popping up). Quince is a fruit .. you can't eat it straight from the tree because it is hard and bitter, but it cooks to something soft, pink and delicious that reminds me of my grandmother's spiced apples. (Don't feel bad .. believe me, I'd never knowingly seen one before two weeks ago).
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The AT Polynesian Market, tucked out of the way in Waianae, Hawaii remains one of my favorite places. It is the only one I know advertising Tongan and Samoan Carry-Out (and you can carry it out to the wonderful beach just across the street). It is very inexpensive, and you never know what is in the covered pan on the buffet until you lift the lid .. and sometimes not even then.
I thrive on a wide range of choices, and cannot always locate (nor, in fact, do I choose to afford continual patronage of) the ethnic restaurants of my choice. Sometimes the places are too far away to jump on a plane and go to. Plus, these restaurants do not cater to my dietic (read 'diabetic') need to monitor what I put in my mouth.
I don't eat everything, however. There is such a thing as a 'once-bitten' rule. I remember eating 'fish maw soup' at a Chinese restaurant in Boston; it was not as good as the lobster, and I won't see it in front of me again. When an order of 'cabrito' at Honolulu's best-known Filipino restaurant arrived as a vile concoction of what appeared to be goat skin and semi-raw onions I ate it (I was taking my niece to lunch and had to consider my reputation). I won't order it again, but I'll go back to the restaurant when I can. I did order tripe once, at an airport restaurant at Prague's Ruzyne International Airport and found it delicious, but I have not seen it on a menu since.
Other things don't make the grade on points. I value brains too highly to eat them in any form, though by all reports they taste wonderful with eggs. And when it comes to insects and worms I draw a line too.
I can be picky about finding the best way to do something, but also enjoy winging it. I once sifted through thirty-four online recipes to synthesize the best possible way to roast a goose. I also remember roasting a turkey for Thanksgiving, 1980: the oven had no thermometer (the dial was missing) and nobody had a clue how much the bird weighed (though we eventually found an old balance scale with no weights in the attic of the old Virginia house). Both dinners were highly successful.
Nancy and I each lost 6 pounds in a month following this regimen. You can find details (such as daily food consumption; foods used with units, calories and carbs for each; a list of menu items) on the companion blog 'High Standards-Low Sugars' - there's a link on the right side of the page. I did this daily for two months and set a pattern, then got too busy to continue. But it is good stuff, and worth considering if you want to expand the boundaries but stay sane.
In sum, this is the food journey of an omnivore with taste and a certain need for discretion. Recipes are given. Sources are generally acknowledged. The food is good, so enjoy!
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By way of recommendation, let me offer a couple of quotations from friends:
"I've got these pork chops in my freezer .. can I bring them over and you cook them?"
"I'm from Chicago, and my mother came from Italy .. but your Italian cooking is better than hers."
