Columbus Foodie

As most of you know, I had a revision to my gastric bypass back in January, to an extremely malabsorptive surgery that means that my body doesn’t absorb much of what I take in. Because of that, what I take in has an order of priority – protein first, then veggies, then carbs, and I should be avoiding sugar. I have been kind of blowing that off a bit in recent months, and now my health is starting to suffer for it. My weight loss has stalled, and I’ve been running into issues where my levels of protein and iron are really much lower than they should be. So much so, that I’ve been losing hair like crazy. So with my health in mind, I’ve really got to change to focus of the way I’ve eat, concentrating on that which is good for me, and cutting out (or at the very least, cutting down on) that which is hurting me.

Not only that, but the downturn in the economy is hitting us especially hard, and we’ve been trying to cut costs as much as possible. I’ve been participating in a lot of weekly/biweekly/monthly events, like Tuesdays with Dorie, Taste and Create, the Barefoot Bloggers and Whisk Wednesdays, where I’ve made a committment to make certain things at a certain time. Often, because of that, I end up having to make things I would normally never make or eat, and then the results get given away or thrown away – a huge waste that I just can’t afford anymore.

So from here on out, the focus is going to be on eating what I need to eat – high protein, lower or better carb, lower (or no) sugar, fat doesn’t matter. I’m pulling myself out of all the recurring events like the ones mentioned above. I’ll cook along (since the recipes are listed for the groups) when I can, or when it fits into my plans or lifestyle. The change will be gradual, as I still have a ginormous backlog of posts (like 40+) that will be sprinkled throughout intermittently. Does this mean I’ll never make pasta? Or desserts? Or cook with sugar? Or eat out? On the contrary. I’ll still be doing that, but on my terms, and what fits into my lifestyle. I’ve been so obsessed with blogging events that I’ve let it take over my menu planning. If something in my backlog happens to fit in with an event, or a planned dish coincides with an event, sure I’ll still participate.

Gluttony got me where I am now. And with all of the desserts and rich foods I’ve been making, I’ve fallen back into bad habits. Right now my health is the most important thing. And this food blog still fits into the equation, but as with me, it evolves. It still has a Columbus focus, it still is about what I cook and where I go out to eat, it’s still about eating local and visiting the farmers markets, just in a different (more healthy and frugal) way. I hope to cook my way through my huge pantry and freezer stores by the end of the year (gotta clean house in order to make room for the more healthy stuff). I hope those of you who come here for my event posts will still visit, as I will still visit (and comment when I can) on all of your blogs.

And for those of you who aren’t into that sort of thing, and who won’t visit anymore because of the change of focus (and I hope that there aren’t many of you), I want to give you a hearty and hearfelt goodbye. Your visits and supportive comments over the course of this blog have meant the world to me, and I’m sad to see you go. Please do take the time to say goodbye, as I’ll miss you.

Meanwhile, onward and upward, and hopefully I’ll see the numbers on the scale go down while the protein and iron climb up.

::pant::pant::pant::

That’s it. I absolutely must have it. I’ve been planning my outdoor kitchen for a while, never finding quite what I was looking for. Then I spied this, just before I was going to order the grill I had settled on.

I wants it. And I will haves it. My Precioussss. 40,000 BTU grill. 15,000 BTU searing burner. Rotisserie. Sink. Refrigerator. Granite countertops. 2 burners and a griddle. It’s modular, so it will fit my deck. It’s nicer than my indoor kitchen, and I just may take all my cooking outdoors this year. Impulse buy? Maybe. But all you locals are invited over for BBQ later this summer. Off to wear out the credit card…

It’s come to my attention that I’ve been a really bad blogger, pretty much flaking on everything blog related for the past week or so, in lieu of food taking a back seat to pretty much everything else going on right now. I apologize profusely.

However, my absence doesn’t mean I didn’t eat or cook – I certainly did, and do have so much to talk about. So in the next few days, keep your eyes peeled for:

• my Tuesdays with Dorie assignment this week, making marshmallows! (Actually, I’ll be posting this in a couple of minutes)
• my Jewish inspired meal from this weekend
• my trip report (unfortunately, no pics – I forgot the camera) of my trip to G&R Tavern in Waldo for fried bologna
• my (almost) local German meal that I made here at home
• an update on my progress with the Kitchn’ Cure 2008 – I’m combining the first few weeks together, and am getting there slowly but surely
• and the results of my first attempt at using a pressure cooker!

Thanks for checking up on me, I’m AOK.

OK, I have a major confession to make: my kitchen is a frickin’ mess. I’ve got a big problem with stockpiling food. I think it stems from being really poor (I had three jobs – 1 full time and 2 part time, all paying minimum wage at the time; if that’s not a good reason for going back to school and getting my GED and later on a bachelor’s degree, nothing is!) and not being able to afford to eat when I was first out on my own, and now that I have money to afford food, I overcompensate and buy way more than I can ever use. I am the person that hungry family members come to when they want to go shopping in my pantry. I’ve given away nearly all my pantry stores and restocked them more times than I can count. When we had to throw away nearly 100 lbs. of food last month after the mice came to visit, I didn’t blink an eye because I’ve given away that much (or more) to food pantries or family members in the past. What you see here is what’s left AFTER getting rid of what the mice ate – I haven’t restocked at all.

So knowing how pathetic I am in this area, and knowing that I really need to get things organized (I’m sure I still have spices that have been around since I got married in 1996), I signed up for Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen’s 8 Step Kitchn Cure 2008. I’m sure the assignments will take me a little longer to complete since I’m probably the worst of the bunch, but believe you me, I’m committed (or maybe should be, given the state of my kitchen!). It’s not going to be pretty, folks. But if you’re curious to see what Columbus Foodie’s kitchen looks like in the “before” state, click on over to Flickr. Make sure to hover over the pics to see my notes, and read the comments below each one. Wish me luck, this will probably take me all weekend to get through. If I’m lucky. And do nothing else but.

I have meant to work my way through the pantries for ages now, but now I’m at the point where some unwelcome visitors in the house have forced the issue.

We were searching the other day for matzo ball mix, and when we finally found the box, it was stuck to two others, with a mouse sized hole through all three and totally empty. Yikes, that’s one hungry mouse. Since then, we’ve been going through the pantry throwing away anything the mice got into (or got infiltrated with mice droppings/urine), and after only having gone through the bottom of each pantry, we’ve already had to throw away about 70 lbs. of food with about 3/4 of the pantry left to go through. Anything that is untouched/still usable but susceptible to mice (in boxes, bags, etc) are going in jumbo plastic bins for storage until the mice have been erradicated. All we’ve been able to determine so far is that one is Jewish (hence it’s love for kasha and matzo ball mix), one’s on South Beach (because it ate all my whole wheat pasta, and left the regular stuff alone), one has celiac disease (because it ate all of the gluten free pasta and bread mix), and one wants to go on vacation (because it has eaten all the tropical stuff like coconut and dried tropical fruit).

We still haven’t figured out how they got in (we have a fairly new house, only 3 years old), or where they’re currently hiding (let’s just say that as we’re going through the pantry we’re convinced we’re going to come across them sooner or later, and have our guard up), but hopefully with the aid of some mouse catching baits and traps, we can get rid of this problem, and fast. In the meantime, it’s a battle of speed and wits with me vs. the mice, and I’ve been very motivated to do a lot of cooking out of the pantry lately.

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.