Category: Food & Wine

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Jenny Craig Before and After

look how I have changed on the outside
I have come to believe that the human condition has always experienced feast and famine, which is why most of us are really challenged when it comes to staying on any sort of diet.

In the course of humans living on this planet, a steady food supply has been problematical. History is resplendant with stories of famine among the ancient Egyptians and 7 years of feast followed by 7 years of famine is a story told in every Sunday School. We remember our ‘catchup soup’ college days. Expanding and contracting our waistline is what we naturally do. Isn’t that why they invented elastic waistbands?

Until Now.

“Maintaining” a weight loss isn’t that big a deal, IF you keep on top of it and ‘plan’ the times you stray. The holidays are approaching and great — as opposed to just ‘good food’ — will be the rule at our home for those special meals. The key is that all of the other meals will be portioned controlled.New Commercial

Interestingly enough, I recieved an email with a link to the New Jenny Craig Commercial to be launched next week… very nice… I think it works…. and hopefully it will help Vallerie and Kristie welcome more deserving men in their lives.

I still have about 4 more lbs to my goal.

Roger Freberg

 

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Vilafonte winery of South Africa

Vilafonte series M

Vilafonte’ Wines has a wonderful web site  with a pleasant interview with one of the founders fellow Californian Zelma Long. All three partners have a long history in wine making, production and marketing… and it seems like a fun group.

Like many blends with Cabernet, I prefer mine to have a sizable helping of Merlot to smooth it out… and their ‘2003 Series m’ does not disappoint. After sampling, I bought the Bevmo’s last three bottles on-line   … but more are available elsewhere, such as at  Southern Wine.  I suspect that the 2003 series might not be Zelma’s favorite…. although sentimentally the first.

South Africa seems to be dotted with many boutique style wineries and if you are looking for something special, this is very enjoyable. Be advised, most small wineries do not produce the quatities , so a bit of searching will be required.

What to use Vilafonte’ Series M with is really not a question. They describe their wine themselves as very versatile. Excellent with poultry, chicken, duck and the main fare of holiday meals ( such as ham). I was amused that they mentioned it was good with South African ‘Spingbok’. As an aside, Zelma did say that it could be served with many South African dishes known for their ‘fruity components’. I cannot think of anything better than the ‘Series m’ along with a healthy serving of ‘ Bobotie’ on Saffron Rice!

Looking for something fun and different… check it out!

Roger Freberg

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Food Preparation before Refrigeration

For many people on his planet, they can remember a time before air conditioning and before refrigeration. Cooking was challenging and methods of preserving then restoring food became quite an art… some of those recipes from an older technology are well worth trying…. here’s a couple I have been working on:

Key Limes and the unique preparation make all the difference

Take one of my favorite recipes for Key Lime Pie. It was a great deal of time before air conditioning, refrigeration and steady power came to “the Keys of Florida.”. (Some folks still complain… they do have hurricanes that swamp certain areas. I remember one restaurant that measures each flooding with high water marks on its walls.) Back to the dessert, this famous but simple pie (the State Pie of Florida) is made with Key Limes ( not to be confused with the Persian variety) and condensed milk  … most delicious on a graham cracker crust!

This next brings me to the South African dish called “Smoorvis”… a wonderful meal of fish, rice, vegetables and Cape-Malay spices! The fish historically used were dried, salted and preserved in the sun. An effort was then made to reconstitute and ‘plump’ the fish prior and during cooking… today, many folks use smoked salmon ‘straight from the box.’

However, I am preparing it the old fashioned way… and it looks intriguing. Recipe to follow.

Roger Freberg

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the Secret of Dieting is BUTTER

How I make my diet really work!

Almost every person who diets will tell you the same old lie: don’t make food your reward. Well, that is sort of true. You can’t live to eat, but let’s remind ourselves that one of the REAL reasons we got as big as we did in the first place is because we do enjoy great food.

So what can anyone do faced with two opposing realities: the joy of wonderful food and the need to lose weight. I call it ‘event planning.’ Choose a few spots during the year on which your plan to escape from the rigors of your diet. Maybe this is your birthday, thanksgiving and a few others spread out over the months. On these occasions plan for something delightful on your special days. Maybe a  Seafood Gumbo,  Bobotie ( Lamb Casserole) ,  Hoender Pastei (chicken pot pie) , add a great wine followed by a special dessert and you have the beginnings of a memorable event.

Having a few events along the way helps support the rigors of your diet.

Good Luck,

Roger Freberg

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What, No Trojan Pasta?

Hey... I like their Spirit!

Today, I received in the mail a little present from one of my daughters…. she’s at the University of Tennessee.  I opened it up and this is what I found! It appears that this little pasta company —  Pasta Shoppe  in Nashville — cooks up some spirited pasta for the Volunteers, Gators, Tar heals, Tigers, Seminoles, Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets, Hoosiers (whatzers?), Hurricanes, Wolverines ( you know, the poor guys we beat last year that are still having severe trouble in the third quarter with the monastery of St. Give-it-up), Gamecocks, Badgers… but … alas… no SC Trojans.

On Game day, I’ll cook these up and pretend the “T” is for Trojan!

Fight On!

Roger Freberg