Comunidad Health Foods

I really, really wanted to write an epic food diary post from the 5 days I spent in Cancun. After returning, I have to say that I want to write one even more, because I ate some pretty fantastic food while there. Unfortunately, my camera’s battery went into panic, I’m-about-to-die mode, and I didn’t pack my charger for it (even more frustrating: it’s also not in my apartment, which means my camera is still on the fritz and I have to cross my fingers that it’s stashed somewhere at my parent’s house). Since I also didn’t bring my cell phone with me, I had no way of capturing these incredible foods for you. Maybe it’s for the best, anyway, since a full-blown account of what I ate for 5 whole days might be too long for even me to handle, and that’s saying something. Instead, I’ll just give you some highlights from the trip.

 

Upon arriving in Cancun, I was a little skeptical that I’d be able to get an authentic experience, especially in terms of food. I saw more American fast food joints (Domino’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, multiple McDonald’s, Burger King, even a Carl’sJr….) and American stores (yes, Cancun even has its own Walmart, and if this were a political blog you’d be hearing all sorts of opinions that I have about that) than I was prepared to encounter. Even the beautiful resort that I stayed at had some decidedly American, or at least not Mexican, twists to the foods they served (think: French fries as a side dish for quesadillas, a veggie burger with honest-to-goodness American Cheese – worst food decision of the trip on my part – and an alarming amount of Italian pasta and lasagna dishes). Still, I only had one meal that I actually regretted (the veggie burger), and I did escape the confines of the resort and downtown Cancun a few times to experience some truly incredible food.

Starting at the resort, we had lunch our first day at their outdoor Bikini Bar. L ordered this truly indulgent, perfectly tropical cocktail with pineapple and I think coconut. I stuck with (bottled) water, but ordered probably the best quesadilla I’ve ever had. It was a vegetable quesadilla, and I was expecting the cliché peppers and onions, maybe some beans tossed in for good measure – but what I got was a tortilla filled with queso fresco(a? I still do not speak more than a lick of Spanish) cheese, sprinkled with carrots, zucchini and mushrooms. It was such a unique choice of filling (at least from what I’ve experienced, particularly when I think of Mexican food), and yet spread some fresh guacamole and salsa and you have yourself a killer meal.

Also at the resort, I strayed from my determination to eat authentically Mexican in order to enjoy the best crepe dish I’ve ever had: think a mascarpone-type cheese and cinnamon-apple filling, with a fresh crepe delicately folded over it and sprinkled with walnuts. Then I poured a fresh strawberry sauce over it and pretty much went straight up to heaven. Seriously, all reservations I had about ordering something that is very un-Mexican disappeared when I realized how amazingly delicious they were. I let L have one of the sections and after telling me that he only wanted a bite, I left to check out the buffet and came back to an empty plate. You just can’t resist that cinnamon apple crepes!

 I don’t have any pictures of the other meals that I ate, but had a decent mole enchilada (a little too heavy and carnivorous for me – I might like mole as a veggie packed stew a little more), an out of this world black bean soup, and a killer Mexican “torta” which I thought would be like a quesadilla “pie” but apparently torta just means regular ole sandwich. Still, fantastic. I also had a spice-rub white fish cooked in a banana leaf alongside a mixed vegetable sauté and plaintain puree, a trio of unbelievable sauce toppings with breakfast (mango, raspberry, and chocolate), and some tropical fruits that I’ve been dying to try for ages, but wound up disliking because of their distractingly large seeds.

I also got to try some pretty novel drinks while I was there. I had my eye on a Banana Monkey drink (think: pureed bananas, kahlua and rum) but never got around to trying it; I was too busy with indulgent foods like tres leches cake, fresh passion fruit and guava ice cream, and complementary margarita cakes. I did order this “fresa de amor” drink, which was definitely appropriately named, because I believe I fell in love with that drink one sweet sip at a time. The two most interesting drinks I had, though, included “Green Juice” which was a sweet smoothie made from celery, parsley, pineapple, banana and a little bit of honey (don’t try it if you detest celery, but even I’m not a big celery fan and went bananas over this one), and – get this! – chlorophyll. You can drink chlorophyll. How crazy is that? I haven’t yet looked into the purported nutritional benefits or how it’s made (presumably some sort of tea-like filtration or steeping), but I saw it at the resort fitness center and just could not pass it up. I was hesitant, but it wound up tasting a lot like green tea – very light and refreshing.

I also snagged some Sweet Tamarind and Sweet Coconut, along with some swanky sample containers of honey and jam (1 each of black cherry and bitter orange), but I haven’t tried those yet. I was tempted by these amaranth-and-nut “cakes” or bars that L said looked like bird seed, but I was already spending a lot so I refrained. I also bought a Snickers Bar – I know, I know – because as far as I could ascertain from the label, it doesn’t have any hydrogenated oils in it, unlike the American version. Since Coke in Mexico is made with real sugar rather than corn syrup, I’m eager to do a little research and see if this is, in fact, correct. Does anyone else know of various foods, particularly candy bars, that are made with different ingredients in different countries? It kind of fascinates me, and if I’m correct in my meager Spanish nutritional scanning of the ingredients list, I’m pretty stoked to eat a Snickers bar for the first time since deciding to boycott any product with shortening or hydrogenated oils.

So there you have it, a little mini version of my culinary trip to Cancun! I have to say, even if it isn’t particularly cold here for the first week of December, it was tough leaving the warmth and sunshine of Mexico to return to what has turned out to be nothing but gloom and rain here. It doesn’t help that finals week is around the corner, of course, and so I have to bury my nose in my books for the next week. I probably won’t be doing too much cooking between now and the end of the semester as I try to clean out my freezer and fridge before going home for winter break, but I have more than enough backlogged recipes to share with you to hold us both over until I start holiday baking and have those delicious treats to tell you all about, too.


One Year Ago: Cauliflower Fritters




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 Earlier this week, I turned the big 2-2. Okay, maybe 22 isn’t one of those “big” milestone birthdays that you make a huge deal about, but it does feel a little strange to be over the 21 hump. I feel like there’s no escaping adulthood now, even moreso than how last year’s big day felt. Because 22 isn’t a very big age to turn and I’m not a huge fan of the egocentricity of birthdays (though the petty child within me is kind of lamenting the departure of that huge pile of gifts all for me, I admit), I chose to celebrate quietly. I didn’t make many plans, and instead just spent the afternoon bumming around the house, watching episodes of Ramsay’s Best Restaurant on Netflix Instant and relaxing. I just did whatever it was I felt like doing in that moment, and it was wonderful.

My Food Diary post last month went over really well, so I thought I would take pictures of everything I ate on my birthday, which tends to be much less nutritionally admirable than my more day to day fare. It’s proof that I’m human, I guess; even I treat myself on occasion, if you can believe it.

 

I woke up early and had a quick cup of Chobani yogurt to fuel up for an invigorating work out. It was supposed to be non-fat peach, but someone stole it before I could eat it and so I had to settle for low-fat strawberry banana, which was only slightly higher in calories than I’m used to for my morning pre-workout “snack.” (I like to wake up and drink a glass of milk or have a cup of yogurt, then eat a more substantial breakfast later on in the morning. I started the habit when I had to start taking my Vitamin D supplements alongside a source of calcium, and I found it to be such a refreshing way to start the day that it’s become more or less a staple.)

 For breakfast, L took me to Dunkin Donuts for my annual doughnut indulgence. Although Dunkin Donuts changed the oil it fries its products in, there are still hydrogenated oils in many of their offerings (though I recently rechecked their nutrition information and found a surprising number of “safe” options there), which means that I’ve had to give up my love for a good, fried doughnut. So, once a year on my birthday, L takes me and splurges on a doughnut of my choice (though it’s always so difficult to choose and I’m tempted to just go crazy and get several flavors; this year, I stuck to 1 and am very proud that I did). This year I chose a vanilla kreme, which I had never had before. I grew up on classic vanilla frosted with sprinkles, occasionally branching out into jelly-filled or old fashioned, but now that I go so infrequently I like to experiment with something new and different each time. The vanilla kreme in the center was basically birthday frosting, making my breakfast a pseudo mini birthday cake – definitely more of a dessert, so I made sure to savor every bite! The powdered sugar was what really sold the flavor for me; I think the cream in a Boston cream doughnut is far superior to the reminiscent-of-sweetened-shortening cream in the doughnut I got, but I’m very happy with the choice I made.

I thought I might finish off the doughnut with a small fruit salad when I got home, but not all too surprisingly, the doughnut did a fantastic job of filling me up until lunch. I opted for a lighter lunch, but still indulgent in its own way. With all of the carbs I had been eating and was planning to continue eating, the RD2Be in me was tempted to go for a nice, lean and crisp salad. The problem was, I just wasn’t feeling it. So, I took one of my favorite wraps, Cedar’s whole wheat, (only 5g net carbs and totally recognizable ingredients!), spread it with about ½-1T almond butter, and topped with sliced strawberries and a dusting of cinnamon. It was one of the most indulgent flavor combinations I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something, especially for how simple and healthy it was. I had never had the berry-almond butter combo, but I really encourage you to try it. It did a good job of keeping me full until dinner, too, which is a very good thing.

You see, dinner was going to be a gamble. I wanted to make sushi. My family has never eaten sushi before. Ever. It’s just so not their kind of thing, which is ok. I’m glad they tried it but in the end, I don’t fault anyone for deciding that sushi just isn’t for them. So I figured, why not take advantage of it being my birthday, and cook something that they wouldn’t ordinarily eat? I wasn’t going for a raw fish roll, which helped, and we had the pizza delivery number at the ready since I’ve heard such horror stories about people’s first attempts at sushi, but I was still nervous and excited all at once. I read articles, studied youtube videos, and then just went for it…and wow! I don’t want to say too much because I’ll have an entire post about this meal, recipe included, over the next few weeks, but it was so fantastic. I think I smiled throughout the entire meal.

 And then there was dessert.  Still in search of a homemade version of a dense, fudgy seven layer chocolate cake I enjoyed growing up, I made a chocolate cake that happened to be gluten-free, made with cooked quinoa as the sole grain. Like the sushi, I’ll have another post devoted to this recipe so I won’t say too much, aside from that it was surprising in a number of ways, and I believe I am officially one step closer to clinching that perfect chocolate cake recipe. One small step, but a step nonetheless. I also made a white chocolate & blueberry sorbet, which was divine, and would have stolen the show if only the blueberry swirl hadn’t been quite so abundant, creating a texture that was a little too icy in the end.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable culinary day, and a very enjoyable day in general. It really reminded me how important it is to take a day here or there where you don’t have any real plans or obligations, and you just follow your desires and whims, at least to an extent. I book myself silly with responsibilities and tasks, and to take a day where I just did whatever I felt like doing in that moment, even if it was as small and silly as playing a computer game I don’t play very often or watching the beautiful weather out my open, breezy window, was rejuvenating. So whether your birthday is coming up or not, make a day for yourself like this one. Take a step back and just savor the day. I think we could all benefit from doing that a little more often.


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