Small small insights - sugar

Natural sugar (from fruit) is packaged so that there is not too high a concentration of sugar. You can't eat huge quantities of it - your stomach gets full. So there's a built-in limit. You also get some other nutrients for free. With refined sugar,  you can get a highly concentrated dose of sugar and nobody's checking.  No extra nutrients either. 

I've cut down on refined sugar a great deal. One of the noticeable effects over time is that your mood is more stable. You don't go through a cycle of sugar craving followed by eating something sweet and getting a sugar high. I never noticed that I was going through this cycle until I cut down on the sugar.

Stick to fruit sugar.


A previous post on food/cooking: http://despoki.blogspot.in/2009/01/some-thoughts.html 

Barbecue at East Coast Park

Seun on the right is Nigerian and a natural dancer and bonded with Vibhat. He's now Vibhat's dance godfather. Zaigham from Pakistan is on the right

China, Japan and Vietnam !

The MPA group's outing to East Coast Park in Singapore for a barbecue. The MPA class has gotten distributed between lots of electives so we don't meet much as a class, so this was very good to connect with people. And Priya and Vibhat joined and got introduced to my classmates which was very nice.
Most photos by Anton Arcilla , from our class

I tried a whole bunch of restaurants during my 'free period' when Priya and the baby were away. One other major find was the Kyra theater in Indiranagar, www.kyra.in which has all kinds of interesting events, though pretty inconsistent. Below video from a heavy metal concert speaks for itself. Quite a learning evening :-)

Some thoughts on food and cooking

I've been venturing into the kitchen this last 2 weeks as Priya's away. Some thoughts triggered by that:

 

-- Eating raw veggies:  What would life be like if we didn't automatically expect our food to be a source of pleasure ? Eating raw veggies can have multiple kinds of effects: one , of a completely different taste and texture sensation than cooked food. That's what is so hard to take. It also has an intrinsic healthy feel -- when I feel I've been eating too much junk, and my body wants to do something nice, it'll instinctively respond positively to the idea of eating raw vegetables. And lastly, the point I started out with -- it could feel basically tasteless and sensation-less. If we are just okay with that -- wouldn't it simplify eating and life ?

   (Angst above coming from a waistline that is not doing well)

-- Sugar (and salt): Consider how very unnatural normal refined sugar is -- little manmade grains and a somewhat metallic taste. When there are so many things that are naturally sweet, why do we use sugar ?

-- Popcorn is a marvellous thing. It looks like a highly processed food item, who would guess it came from heating corn grains

-- There are two kinds of cooking. You can just try to sling some vegetables into a pan or pressure cooker add salt or garlic or whatever you think might be appropriate and generally it turns out okay since you watching it and can be making small continuous adjustments. The other type is with a developed body of knowledge like Indian (or any other reasonably developed cuisine) cooking. Try winging a rasam or sambar like above and you won't get very far.

-- I'm trying to understand some of the principles behind cooking. For example when you fry a vegetable like cabbage with a little oil, what are the interactions between the moisture in the vegetable and the frying in oil process ? For best results does the process of dehydration of the vegetable precede, come after, or occur at the same time as the process of the frying ?

-- What are the well-developed cuisines in the world. Indian for sure, Chinese, perhaps Thai, French. American I think qualifies due to the sheer range and variety across different states and timeperiods. Any others ?
One of the most difficult meals I had was at a Peruvian restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was gagging.

Looks like I'm spending more time thinking about cooking than cooking. Having pizza tonight :-)

 

 

 

Cooking

A minor breakthrough -- after god knows how many years (atleast three), I did some cooking. Its been such a long while, I didn't feel up to recreating one of my old recipes so instead I asked Priya to give the orders and I just did the execution. Vankai pulusu and aritikai curry (an eggplant gravy dish and green-banana fry). Verdict: B+.