Can comfort food be healthy? This is a question that has been puzzling me for years now, and I think I have come to a conclusion finally. My answer is yes. You might ask: “But isn’t comfort food something like macaroni and cheese that packs on the calories but makes you feel better?”
I admit that the food that falls under this definition makes me feel better while I am eating it, but after the fact, I feel like a large blob of jelly that is in need of a trip to the gym.
In my opinion, comfort food can be any food that you associate with a good memory. For me, this means fish. As a child, I frequently ate salmon and other types of fish at home or at my grandmother’s house, so I associate fish with my childhood.
Fish is healthy, but that shouldn’t mean that it can’t be comfort food. Plus, I don’t feel the urge to go to the gym after I eat it. Now that’s comforting!
This post is dedicated to my loving parents who have always supported me under any circumstance. Thanks for being who you are – you both are true inspirations.
Mom, the brownie hearts look delicious. I wish I could be home with you to try them. Happy Valentines day!
Again, not a very flattering picture, but doing my best with the limited resources I have. Today, I really had no excuse for ordering food and not going to the cafeteria for lunch. Usually on Mondays, I have a very small time slot to grab lunch, and unfortunately, it’s when the dining hall is packed. (It doesn’t help that my college has only one cafeteria). Those days, I don’t feel bad if I buy food from town.
However, one of my classes was cancelled today, so I could have easily gone to Valentine (the name of Amherst’s dining hall, and coincidentally the holiday tomorrow). It was just one of those days where I did not feel like going to the cafeteria for lunch. (Actually, those days are quite frequent, but generally, I force myself to go).
Instead, I ate delicious chicken pad thai from Fresh Side, one of the restaurants in the town of Amherst. When I go to Fresh Side with friends over the weekend, I order a couple of tea rolls to start and also one of the many delicious entrées they serve, one of them being chicken pad thai.
Whether I order in or go out, Fresh Side is a great restaurant that I like to frequent.
From left to right: strawberry, chicha, pineapple, orange, strawberry
Being at a small liberal arts school with a large number of athletes, I always see trays in the cafeteria loaded with 5 or 6 different beverages (including, but not limited to: powerade, water, milk, soda, and an assortment of juices). As appealing as the seemingly limitless number of drink combinations sounds, I still reminisce about the delicious variety of fresh juices I had in Peru.
My favorite is definitely the strawberry juice, but you can also find extraordinary orange juice in Peru which gives Florida a run for its money. Some more exotic juices include pineapple juice, grandilla juice, and chicha (which is too sweet for me; it is made from Peruvian purple corn).
Right now, I am very content settling for my old reliable friend, water.
For some reason, I despise studying in the library, so I avoid working there whenever I can. Besides my room, I have picked up the habit of studying at a coffee shop in town. The relaxed atmosphere puts me at ease but also gives me the right mindset to get my homework done.
Plus, I can eat too! (My multi-tasking skills are beyond belief). This morning, as I was working on my linear algebra problem set, I enjoyed a delicious cappuccino and a pain au chocolat (i.e. a chocolate croissant). Could life possibly get any better?
From left to right: chocolate macarons, orange jellies, candy apples, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse
I went to Whole Foods today with my friend, and they were giving out all these free chocolate samples. (Apparently, it had something to do with Valentines Day coming up). They had some pretty strange things like chocolate cake with beets (surprisingly good) and chocolate with avocado (not my favorite). Of course, they also served “normal” chocolate as well.
My binge of little eats this fine afternoon caused my mind to wander to other small foods, in particular, petit fours. Just when you have finished stuffing yourself with two courses and a dessert, these bite-sized treats creep up on you. Ok, that’s an outright lie. The waiter comes with a tray of these delicacies, presented in such a manner that you just cannot refrain from trying one or two.
I ate these petits fours on my birthday, thus starting off my twenties on a great note.
So my previous post concerned my afternoon tea time after skiing, but don’t think that I had a full day of activity without a break for food. Yes, yes I know food on the slopes is quite pricey and not very good (especially in the U.S.). But surprisingly, I found some good eats when I was in Switzerland. Take, for example. this enormous bratwurst (which I had to take a bite of before I took the picture because I have no self-restraint).
This delicious sausage came with an irresistible onion sauce (similar to a gravy, but way better) and rösti, a Swiss potato-like pancake made with coarsely grated potato which is pan fried to a crisp. I washed down this bad boy with carbonated apple juice, which I’m telling you, I got addicted to while in Switzerland. I don’t know why, but I have not found a drink that is as good as this Swiss bubbly. My attempt at mixing apple juice with seltzer water only resulted in a somewhat average-tasting beverage.
If not for the skiing, I want to return to Switzerland to eat more food on the slopes.
Last March, I experienced some of the best skiing in Zermatt, a village in Switzerland. Though I admit I am thrilled that there is no snow on campus at the moment, I still fondly remember my skiing adventures in Europe and continue to look at my computer desktop which is the following picture:
The Snowy Matterhorn, a mountain in Zermatt
Besides the skiing, I miss the delicious Swiss food. (This is a food blog, so obviously, I had to mention food at one point in this post). The town of Zermatt is very small and has less thank 6,000 inhabitants. If you go to Zermatt , you will see that it is mostly a tourist destination. Nevertheless, the town is very charming and though small, has a bounty of delicious bakeries.
My favorite bakery was Café Fuchs. (Yes, that’s really the name).
Café Fuchs
As I entered the welcoming café, I was drawn to the glass counter where I saw numerous delicious looking treats. The dessert I ordered is in the following shot. Can you guess what it is?
I ate the smiley face linzer cookie accompanied with a frothy and comforting hot chocolate. A perfect afternoon snack after a day out on the slopes.
I first prepared this sandwich one rainy Sunday afternoon. The beautiful colors and the hint of honey reminded me of sunshine and cheered me up. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 grilled chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 slices of tomato
- 1 or 2 slices of boston lettuce
- 1 ciabatta roll
- 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon of honey (you can also just use 3 teaspoons of honey mustard)
Directions:
It is really easy to make this sandwich once you have all of the ingredients.
1) Mix together the mustard and honey until well combined. Put the pieces of chicken in the honey mustard mixture and stir until well incorporated.
2) Put the chicken on the ciabatta roll, followed by the tomato slices and lettuce.
When I eat this sandwich on a cold winter day, I think of summer and sunshine.
Every time I head back home to NYC, whether it be for three days or three months, I make at least one trip to the Bouchon Bakery at Columbus Circle. Though after 12:30 PM it can be hard to get seating, the food is well worth the wait. Bouchon constantly changes up the menu, which you would think would be great for someone like me who loves to try new things. For some reason though, whenever I got to Bouchon, I always order the grilled cheese with tomato soup. (Luckily, this item is always on the menu).
Though seemingly simple, Bouchon knows how to make this dish to perfection. They grill Gruyère and Fontina cheese on really good quality white bread until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melting. The soup served alongside is a great complement to the rich but delightful sandwich.
There is no proper way to eat this, but I like taking a bite of my grilled cheese plain, then dipping it in the tomato soup, and then trying the tomato soup on its own. Be sure to make a stop by Bouchon Bakery the next time you are in NYC to try some of the best grilled cheese ever! I will surely be there when I am home.
Food Follower 