Dear Friends;
December is Food-month! There are the holidays with their accompanying potato pancakes, hams and Chinese takeaway, the work parties, the rendez-vous with old friends and family members we see once a year, the days of shopping punctuated by bites of this, tastes of that, glasses of mulled wine and the like. No matter how you cut it, it seems there is always something in our mouths on this last month of the year.
Then comes January, with the quick-fix detoxes and the desperate spike in gym memberships, the gifts exchanged for running shoes and training gear, the resolutions made at 11:59 on the 31st to “stop now” and start the year “properly.”
How about playing the game a little differently this year?
Don’t worry, I’m not saying you should start your detox now and spend Christmas on the treadmill instead of opening gifts, but what about paying a little more attention to what you’re heaping onto your plate as you’re doing it. I’ve devised a little something I call Plate by Numbers to help us all.
Plate by Numbers is a bit like those drawings where each part of the canvas is numbered and has an accompanying colour so that amateurs can pretend they know how to paint like Picasso. Much in the same way, by incorporating creativity and colour into our eating habits, Plate by Numbers is a quick and easy way to feel more in control of our food intake during this challenging time (or at any time for that matter).
The trick to Plate by Numbers is to look at your plate like you would a blank canvas. And who wants an all-white painting hanging on their wall? So up on the right-hand side, you might put some green. Below that, you might like some orange or what about some red? Then there are the patterned bits between the lines, and the combinations of colours and ingredients that liven up the whole thing.
What I’m saying is get your plate into the holiday spirit: instead of focusing on the old fallbacks, make your feast a festival of colour. Enjoy the salad as well as the meat, the sweet potato as well as the stuffing. Use the heavier foods as decoration rather than the basis of your meal. If your family isn’t big on the veg, offer to make some new and exciting dishes yourself. If you yourself aren’t big on veg, ‘tis the season to be challenged -- to try something new that is.
Don’t deny yourself that ham or turkey or stuffing or pudding you’ve been waiting for since last year, but don’t forget, you don’t have to eat it all NOW -- there’s always tomorrow and leftovers are often the best part!
Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season, wherever you are...
Be well and enjoy and don’t forget: I’m always available for a session or twelve.
Gabriela
P.S. A couple of announcements:
I will be taking a break from sending out this newsletter until the beginning of 2010.
And for many reasons, when On Life As A Picky Foodie resumes circulation in January, it will be sent out twice a month instead of weekly.
P.P.S. The Friday Night Dinner Blog, however, will continue its regular trajectory so please check the website for new and exciting recipes and ideas. This week, I am in Israel, and Friday Night Dinner is a very different experience here. To read about it and for a fantastic, simple dairy and gluten-free brownie recipe, check out this week’s blog post.
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