Columbus Foodie

I fed the husband before sending him out to shovel snow. We figured he’d burn off this burly breakfast in no time flat. And he did. Even though he has only finished half the driveway so far. Suddenly, paying the neighbor boy $15 to shovel the rest doesn’t seem like a bad deal. But I think we’ll wait until it stops snowing.

Nonetheless, breakfast was GOOOOOD. Something about being snowbound and having nothing to do and nowhere to go makes lazy Saturday afternoon brunches (and the time it takes to make them) seem worthwhile. Clicky through if you want to see a tagged version of what we had.

Here I am reporting directly from Blizzard Central, where it’s STILL snowing, and will continue to do so for several hours. It looks like I didn’t have to worry about making it to the farmer’s market anyway, as it got cancelled.

Here’s a picture of our deck, with a foot already on the ground and another 3-5 inches yet to come. Notice the dog shaped path through the snow. Our Beagle was doggie-paddling through it, with our Shih Tzu close on her heels as the snow was over her head. I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house for days….

Update 3PM: Still no signs of stopping, and coming down like gangbusters. The news says that we still have a ways to go, and have set new records with a total snowfall of 18 inches in less than 24 hours. If you have plans to dine out tonight, make sure you call the restaurant to make sure it’s open today - many popular ones are closed at least for today (like Bexley Monk, Elevator, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, The Clarmont, Boston Market, Rotolos, Rusty Bucket, Schmidt’s, to name a few). Keep up with the lastest closings/cancellations here. We’re under a Level 2 snow emergency here in Columbus at the moment, but please - it’s bad out there. Don’t drive unless you have to. Stay warm and stay safe. More updates later….

Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m not dead…yet. I’m having major setbacks with healing from my surgery, and will be heading to the ER and probably the operating room later today. I’m not sure how long I’ll be in the hospital - could be 2 days, could be 6 weeks, depending on whether or not they can get out all the infection or if there are any complications. I will try to have Paul bring the laptop so I can update, but can’t guarantee it. If you want to keep abreast of what’s going on with me medically, keep an eye on my surgery journal. Either Paul or I should be updating it regularly. Thanks everyone for your well wishes, and for your patience while I’ve been a very lax blogger.

Update: Apparently the antibiotics are doing their job, and when I went to the ER, they told me that I had no infection and as long as the wound heals properly, I’ll be fine. Thank goodness for better living through science.

Well, I’ve clicked my heels three times (figuratively, of course), and I’m back in the grand ‘ole USA. It was a tough trip (with all the flight delays, other issues, and the joy of being randomly selected for secondary inspection by the TSA’s - how farking violating!), but I made it back in one piece and it seems to have been exactly the medicine I needed to start on the road to a full recovery.

Much of my capacity is back (yay - I’m still down to about a third of what I used to eat, but at least it’s more than one or two bites), and the familiar flavors of Ohio food sit so comfortably in my stomach, that I went out today to sate some cravings.

I went to the North Market, where I visited with friends/vendors and picked up some deviled eggs from Heil’s, some cassoulet and meatloaf from NMPG, some pho from Lac Viet, and some cheese from Curds and Whey - all high protein meals/snacks that should help do the trick for the next couple of days foodwise.

And then a trip to Thurn’s, where they haven’t seen me since before the Dispatch article and were wondering what I was up to. We stocked up on lots of meaty goodness (since, of course, it’s protein first from now on).

I’m so glad to be home, and I never realized how dear Columbus is to my heart until I had to be separated from it for three weeks. Now that I’m back in familiar surroundings (and my own kitchen), I have no doubt that things will go back to normal with this blog as well. Stay tuned in the next couple of days for some leftover posts about Brazil, and what I’m eating now. And again, a heartfelt thank you to anyone who emailed or left comments during my absence. I’ve got tons of emails to catch up on, and will be getting back to you soon.

As I’ve suffered through the worst of the last week, some words of wisdom from my Oma, tucked away years and years ago, echoed in my head. “There will come a time in your life, Rebecca, when you’ll try to eat and be unable to tolerate any food at all. When that time comes, the only thing you can eat and tolerate will be saltines.”

Apparently, when she came over on a big ship from Germany in the 1940’s, she got one hell of a case of seasickness, and had said the only thing she ate for 3 weeks (and would stay down) was saltines and water. How right she was.

Having an iron stomach, I never thought I would see the day where it would revolt on me, rejecting pretty much anything I gave it, even water. But apparently, one of the side effects of migraine medication was severe nausea, so in addition to feeling like I was hit by a baseball bat, I got sick as a dog whenever I tried to eat or drink anything.

I’m happy to say things are much better now. The headache (other than some minor ache behind the eyes that feels a bit like eye strain) has been gone for about 2 days now, and the nausea has been gone for about the same amount of time. I have been able to eat little things other than saltines now, like scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, soup, etc. with no problem.

I’ve had serious buyers remorse in the past week. After my first weight loss surgery (a RNY in 2001), I never had the level of restriction that was supposed to come with it. In the end, I was happy about that - even though I didn’t lose all my weight, I had kept off over 100 lbs. And was able to eat like a normal person who hadn’t had weight loss surgery. This surgery was supposed to be completely malabsorptive - he wasn’t touching my pouch at all, and it was supposed to be an easy recovery - I just had to let the intestines rest for a couple of weeks, and would be back up to eating to my previous capacity, just not absorbing it all.

I hadn’t bargained on the hernia repair and the mesh that comes with it bringing a level of restriction that I didn’t even have with the first surgery. Everything in my abdomen is so tight at the moment (and add to it the fact I’m pretty much corseted in a binder for the next 3 months), that my actual capacity is 2-4 oz. at a time. Think of a meal for me as ordering a cup (not bowl) of soup, and only being able to eat half of it before I’m uncomfortably full. I know this level of restriction won’t last forever, but for the time being, it sucks.

I’ve compared it to that episode of The Twighlight Zone where after a nuclear war, the person had all the time in the world to read, their passion in life, only to break their glasses and be unable to read at all. In a way, I had this surgery so I could live to enjoy food on a more healthy level for the rest of my life - at least at the moment, I feel as if I’ve broken my stomach. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony - finally getting to a healthy weight, but unable to ever enjoy food again? If it turns out that way, I think I would have rather been fat and happy.

But things are on an upswing. We’re leaving Brazil for home on Tuesday. I’m finally reading and enjoying food blogs again. I’ve been able to branch out a little bit food-wise (will be posting about the wonderful soup we got here soon), and I should be back to normal, at least blog-wise, in the next week or so. Thank you all for your well wishes, and for bearing with me during the hiatus where food was the last thing I wanted to think about.

Just a quick administrative post to let you all know that I’m still alive (barely), and that I’ve been having a few complications in my recovery - they punctured my dura layer during the epidural part of my anesthesia so I’ve been having to suffer with migraine headaches so severe all week (this coming from someone who never gets headaches ever) that I’ve been unable to do anything but lie prone trying to block out all light and sound.

Eating, at best, makes me nauseated at the moment. I’ve been starting at the same plate of salmon all day and night willing myself to take a bite. And considering this is food blog, I cannot write with excitement about food until I feel excitement about food again. Maybe when the headache goes away and I’m feeling better? Right now I’m having buyer’s regret. I’ll check back in, about a week and a half or so from now, back on US soil. In the meantime, I’m taking a tiny hiatus. See you all soon.

Here it is the new year, and the next time you hear from me I should be coming to you from Brazil, feasting on churrascaria, struggling to speak Brazilian Portugese, and resting up in preparation of the big day! I won’t be posting here as much as usual (since I’ll be recovering, and for the most part won’t have much interest in food), but I’ve got a few entries saved up, and plan on doing some restaurant reviews and other things (coverage of what farmers markets are like down there, etc).

You won’t hear me talking about the nitty gritty of my surgery though; if you’re interested in that, I’ll be posting on my surgery journal the full details of that aspect of my trip, and updates of how I am post-op.

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish the best for all of you in the coming year!

Well, here it is the last day of the year, and I’m looking forward to a ton of changes in my life. The same time last year, I made a bunch of “foodie promises”. Let’s take a look at those promises, and see how I did in fulfilling them.

I’d like to have a healthier relationship with food in 2007. I’d like to gain enough control over it to lose 100 lbs. by this time next year. This will mean more moderation on my part, something which I severely lacked in 2006, and also increased activity, which means I’ll need to incorporate exercise into my life. Kalyn’s post about the South Beach Diet is almost enough to convince me to give it a try, especially considering my known insulin resistance problem

Okay, I did alright with this one. I lost 33 pounds, which is better than gaining weight. I’ve arranged surgery for next week that will allow me to lose more than 100 lbs. in 2008. For me, developing a healthy relationship with food meant not obsessing over it, or dieting, and letting my appetite and cravings guide me. I sucked at exercise, since the hernia and knee/back/ankle pain got worse, not better. The hernia is getting fixed next week, and the weight loss should help the other pain, so no excuses for 2008! And the surgery will pretty much force me into eating lower carb if I don’t want to have my body declare a mutiny on me.

I’d like to attend more food related functions this year - last year I attended the North Market Apron Gala and Taste the Future, which I hope to attend this year as well. I’d like to attend more industry functions and more festivals next summer.

I went to both of these, along with a couple of other food related events this year. I didn’t make it to any festivals at all this year, unfortunately. No industry functions either.

I’d like to learn how to take better photographs, which means learning how to use my new photo in a box for lighting, and acquiring and learning to use a DSLR by the end of the year.

I didn’t get a DSLR, because I figured that the need for a smaller camera that I could carry everywhere was more important than photo clarity or “wow” factor. I did set up the Photo in a Box, and improved the lighting of my pics this year.

I’d like to learn how to preserve food, either by canning or cold storage, so that I can enjoy nature’s bounty in the months of no local food.

I acheived this one, in spades! I learned how to can this summer, and my basement is currently chock full of jams, pickles, tomato products and more local bounty than I can dream to use by myself before summer. I hope to do a lot more canning this upcoming summer.

I’d like to expand the site to include links to more restaurant menus, more local resources for foodies, and more things that make this a Columbus-centric site rather than having the focus so much on myself and my family.

I nearly doubled the number of menus this year - in the next year, I plan on scanning in the menus of restaurants that don’t have a web presence, and adding a section that gives information about local food producers and how to acquire their goods.

I’d like to get to know more local artisans and food producers.

Again, this is something I’ve done a lot of this year, especially at Denise’s party on Saturday. I’ve spent more time talking to the people who grow my food.

I’d like to either establish or join a supper club this year.

I didn’t do that this year, but I did set up a Meetup group for local foodies. Maybe there are some in the Meetup Group who are also interested in something like this?

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So, all in all, I didn’t do too badly. Here are my foodie resolutions for 2008!

- I’d like to learn how to bake bread from scratch, kneading by hand. This also includes learning how to make sourdough bread, either from my own starter or one someone gives me.

- I’d like to learn how to make my own cheese and butter using local dairy products.

- I’d like to try my hand at container and small scale gardening, using my deck and part of my back yard.

- I’d like to make at least one 100% local meal per week. In similar spirit, I’d like to try to find as many local sources for food as possible.

- When in town, I’d like to review at least one new restaurant per week.

- I’d like to uncover at least one new to me “hidden gem” in Columbus per month.

- I’d like to host at least one dinner party and/or one potluck this year.

- I’d like to take at least one cooking class this year.

- I’d like to have at least one romantic picnic lunch/dinner in the park with my husband this year.

- I’d like to hit ALL of the local farmers markets (not just North Market, Clintonville, Worthington) at least once this summer.

- I’d like to put together a cookbook including my recipes and pictures to give to family and friends.

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And there you go, my wish list for 2008! What would you like to do next year?

I didn’t think I’d make it through the entire month of posting daily, but indeed I did! It was really tough at times. And here I am with still a bunch of stuff to post before I’m done - keep an eye out in the next couple of days for my Homegrown Gourmet entry and roundup for the event, October’s roundup, and a couple of other things.

And thank you everyone for reading and commenting. I don’t think I could have committed to without your feedback.

As some of you may already know, I’m having a revision surgery for my gastric bypass in January, due to a bunch of issues from the original surgery, namely the lack of weight loss. The new surgery is a different type (a BPD, for those who are wondering), with a whole different set of dietary requirements.

Basically, I’ll still have the *ability* to eat just about anything. But just because I *can* eat anything doesn’t mean I *should* eat everything. Because part of the surgery has to do with bypassing intestine and introduces a major level of malnutrition. It means that I have to focus more on some food groups than for others, namely protein.

So what does it mean for this blog? Not much, actually. I’ll still be posting regularly, minus a 2 week period while I’m in Brazil when I’ll be on a mostly liquid/soft food diet. I’m hoping to stockpile some content to post during that period. After that, when I’m back to eating normal foods again? Lots of protein, fat is irrelevant (I’ll bypass 90% of what I’ll take in), lots of veggies, carbs if I have room left, and almost no processed sugar. So while you may see an occasional dessert, it will be once in a blue moon or the recipe might be altered to use other sweetners.

I’m actually more interested in the psychological aspect of it all - how does a foodie who has been fat all of her life deal with both losing massive amounts of weight and re-establishing a more healthy relationship with food, when that is the center of her world at the moment? Will losing weight give me the stamina and strength to actually cook the things I’ve wanted to for the longest time, or will I be doing less cooking because I’ll be eating out more? So I won’t lie - I’ll be changing, so it’s only natural that the blog will change as I change. I won’t be talking about places like Jeni’s as much because it will be a once in a blue moon treat for me. I do know a few things for sure. I won’t get preachy, because I dislike that. I won’t stop blogging, because food will still be a passion, even after weight loss surgery. I’ll still eat at restaurants, but it will probably be restaurants that have meals I can finish in one sitting.  I’ll still shop at local shops in town, just won’t be buying doughnuts by the dozen.  Hopefully you all will be willing to make that journey along with me. All I know now is that it’s both scary and exciting contemplating what at this point, is only weeks away. Until then, everything in moderation…