DAY 9: CHEF BRAVO
March 19, 2022 ~ Friday
Fasting update: Day 4 of the water fast. My weight is down another 2.2 pounds! BP is holding steady around 130/80. Glucose is in the 60’s. When considering you are only drinking water, the experiment of hot water was a change and not too bad. I am not sleeping well and this is common for people fasting. So I have taken to sleep when I can. For someone who does not tend to take naps, a day time nap is hard to accomplish. I think I will start going to bed early and see if that helps. I am still hungry. In may short fasts, I was not hungry after day 3. Oh well, I am committed to this process. The doctor said we have 30 days to get to a good place where I can go home and handle this. I am not sure if he meant 30 fasting days or fasting and refeeding. I get tired very easily. I am glad that I am in a center where I can have complete rest.
Lastly, I GOT MY GREEN DOT on my name tag. This means I have competed 5 days of quarantine and can attend activities!
Cooking Demo: This was amazing! Chef Ramses Bravo showed the theory behind how he cooks. It is not so much a recipe as it is a formula of flavors. The tongue can taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (think mushrooms) and heat in degrees of capsaicin in the spice. Like red pepper verses chili pepper. A balance of these tastes can make greens taste good, or so they say. I have never cooked greens this way so, when I am able to eat again, I am going to have to taste it to believe them. And, no, oddly enough a cooking class does not bother that I am fasting.
The formula he used today was a balance of salty, depth of flavor, sweet, heat, and a liquid. The greens are salty. The onions and garlic are depth of flavor. The balsamic is sweet (and the liquid), red pepper for the heat. Heat up a pan to medium high heat. Then drop in the onions and garlic. Dry sauté until just a little brown. Add red pepper. Add a little bit of balsamic. Top off with lots of greens and put a lid on the pan to steam the greens. Done.
Do the very same process with onion, garlic, move that to one side to dry toast the spices of fresh ginger, and curry. For the liquid use the juice of an orange, top with greens and steam. Top with some toasted seeds or nuts. Cashews or walnuts? And you have an Asian meal.
Again, do this with onions, garlic, mushrooms (umami), chopped tomatoes for the liquid, greens, top with basil just before serving.
You can get creative with the liquid. Use vegetable broth, vinegar, lemons, limes, pineapple juice, apple juice (curry goes with apples) The possibilities are endless. I see how and I can envision me doing this!
