Essential tools for bread-cutting

I love artisan bread, so it made sense to purchase kitchen-products that aid in bread consumption. (Sawing into hearty, robust loaves of bread took a lot of effort, but whenever the stores sliced it, they always threw in an extra plastic bag to wrap around the now-cut bread. And no, the stores wouldn’t accept bags brought in from home; believe me, I tried.) So, we set out to assemble what we needed to duplicate sliced-bread convenience but without the extra waste: the Cuisinart electric bread knife, CEK-30; the Bambusi Bread Slicer with built-in-cutting guide; and Dowellife Cut-Resistant Gloves. The items work great: the electric bread knife works effortlessly to saw through the bread, and cutting guides along the sides of the bread board help me line up my cuts. As for the gloves, I’m purposely trying to avoid cutting them in the first place, so I’m not able to relate how they work when cut with an electric knife. So far, one glove has sustained one cut (with a manual knife) and, while the knife-blade cut into the glove, the cut did not reach my skin.

Sauerkraut and jalapeño on vegetarian burger

For years, I restricted myself to eating burgers that are “plain and dry,” so I thought I’d share news of notable progress via the food-chaining route. Here’s a vegetarian burger patty, paired with Dave’s Killer Bread. To it, I added sauerkraut and slices of jalapeño. These added items are cold (a long-standing problem texture for me), but the warmth of the heated vegetable patty and the toasted bread enfold them and reduce their intensity. I trace this progression from being able to select ingredients at a build-your-own sandwich franchise. I would ask that wait-staff heat those toppings along with the bread and the protein.

Round Table’s ‘Gourmet Veggie’ without cheese

Aaah ... pizza! We love Round Table’s Gourmet Veggie: artichoke hearts, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, garlic, and red and green onions on a Creamy Garlic Sauce. We leave-off tomatoes on my half, and add Jalapeños to the entire pizza. But the most important modification we make is to completely omit cheese. I really cannot emphasize this enough, which is why it bears repeating: We love pizza, but eating so much cheese always made us feel horrible afterward. And without the cheese, we find all the other flavors so much richer and more fully enjoyable.

Salsa verde, eaten cold

If you‘re familiar from past entries with my sensory history, you‘ll understand what a triumph in food-chaining it is for me to dip a corn chip in salsa verde. The idea with “food chaining” is to start with a food considered “safe” by the problem eater and then slowly introduce foods with a similar taste, temperature, or texture. The eater progresses from a food considered safe to the final “target” food. In this case, the food problem I’ve been addressing is an aversion to cold, clammy textures. No, this does not mean I am now desensitized to all foods that are cold and clammy. But I like to savor what feels, to me, like a moment of victory.

Making pizza at home

Spent our Friday evening making pizza at home. We used many of our favorite pizza ingredients: Olives! Two types of peppers! Zucchini! Chopped-up mushrooms! Broccoli! One thing notably absent from our masterpiece was any type of cheese. We love a pizza heaped with veggies, but we hated the bloated, even “icky” feeling that eating the cheese left us with. Lately, we’ve asked to “Hold the cheese” at the local pizzeria. The result is an even more flavorful presentation for all the other ingredients. Talk about “addition through subtraction!”

Bouchon olive and walnut batards

Olive batard from Bouchon Bakery

Caught up on correspondence that was interrupted by the northern California firestorm: a thank-you note for my receipt of a gift card to Bouchon Bakery in Yountville.

The gift card arrived just before the fires broke out and my family ended up being evacuated. During the aftermath of our return and subsequently moving into our own apartment, the card got temporarily overlooked.

Bouchon Bakery supplies fresh breads to the grocery store in Calistoga.

Since moving from Oregon back to California, briefly staying at the family homestead, I really enjoyed routine access to Bouchon’s olive and walnut batards.

The breads have a musky aroma and flavor, punctuated by the “nuggets of goodness” that are olives and walnuts. I look forward to using my gift card to purchase olive and walnut batards.

Smoothies mitigate difficulty eating fruits and vegetables

All my life, I’ve struggled with eating food that had the wrong taste, appearance, color or texture. In extreme duress, eating the “wrong” food could make me retch or gag.

More frequently, but perhaps more damaging, I faced condemnation and ridicule because of my limited diet.

Eating fruits and vegetables is where I particularly struggle. There’s something about this food that is difficult for me to handle.

Fortunately, we know that the way food is prepared can drastically change its “eatability.” When cut raw, tomatoes are grotesque and slimy. But what a difference to eat sun-dried tomatoes on pizza or in pasta, with a smooth creamy marinara sauce.
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