Category: food

Chow Street Bliss

Street food isn’t gourmet and there are no food critics eagerly awaiting a table, but street food is hearty, delicious, and unique. Every culture and every city seems to have booths or carts selling street food. You can buy hot dogs in Chicago and New York, satay in Shanghai, and tamales in Mexico City.

The Maxwell Street Flea Market in Chicago is home to some of the best Mexican food you can get. The aromas of steak tacos, quesadillas, and grilling corn filled the air as the kids and I meandered through the flea market today. Finally, we could resist no longer and we headed over to the booth with the longest line (because we figured it probably had the best food) and ordered steak tacos (me), a cheese quesadilla (Cat), and a steak quesadilla (Sean). We waited for what seemed forever as we smelled the heavenly aromas and watched the steak grilling.

Finally, our number was called and we grabbed our food and headed over to the parking lot to sit against the fence and chow down. The tacos were pure heaven and rivaled the tacos I’d enjoyed in the “Little Red Truck.” In Mexico, the meat was perfectly seasoned and the tortillas had been cooked from scratch at the booth. I washed my tacos down with a Coke in a glass bottle and I thought I was full until I found the booth selling corn on the cob. I couldn’t resist and the corn tasted amazingly good, despite the butter dripping down my chin.

Walking down the street eating amazingly good food, I was reminded of my trip to Suzhou, China and the satay that we’d eaten walking down the street. It was January and there were street vendors standing around the Temple of Mystery grilling yummy smelling meat over an open flame. Although we were a little worried about what the meat would actually be, we decided we’d live on the wild side and we stepped up to the booth. Luckily the vendor spoke a little bit of English so we were able to order chicken and beef satays. Despite our trepidation, the satays were warm, spicy, and wonderful and we were glad we’d taken the risk and tried them.
I’m sure there are people who never eat street food as they’re worried about sanitizing everything, sickness, etc., etc. etc. To the naysayers I’d say, that there’s a risk with everything you do and if you walk past the street vendors to the nearest five star restaurant, you could be missing out on some of the best and most blissful eating around.

Inspiring Bliss

Heroes are all around us and sometimes inspiration finds us where we least expect it. My son, my mom, and my daughter are all inspiring me to change my life in positive ways right now because they have all taken an honest look at themselves and are doing something to change.

My nineteen year old son is a true inspiration to me because he’s realized he has a problem with his weight and he’s doing something to change it. Unfortunately for Sean he inherieted my metabolism which means he can look at chocolate and gain weight. However, he realized that he needed to make a change and lose weight so he’s been walking the mile from work to the train station every evening and he’s been paying attention to what he eats. He goes shopping every week and picks out healthy foods for his lunch. He packs his lunch every day and he’s been working really hard at cutting out soda. I don’t know if he’s actually lost weight yet, but he is looking better and has more energy.

Mom is another hero of mine. Since losing my dad last November, she’s started working hard at losing weight and getting in shape. She’s been walking two to three miles every day and she’s lost about 40 lbs in eight months without doing a lot of dieting. This is especially inspiring because my mom has been heavy my entire life and she’s tried everything from hypnosis to stomach stapling to lose weight. I was out at her place last weekend and she showed me some of the hills she walks up and down and I was amazed that she was able to walk as far as she does. She told me that she’s making it a priority because now she doesn’t have any excuses like someone else to cook for or to take care of so she has made losing weight a priority.

Caitlin has absolutely no weight to lose because she was fortunate and inherieted her dad’s metabolism and not mine. She inspires me for a different reason because she’s taking saxaphone lessons and she practices every single day for a couple of hours. She started out sounding scratchy and out of tune, but after only a month’s worth of lessons she’s reached a point where we can understand what she’s trying to play and she’s working hard to teach herself to play by ear. I’m insipred to invest the time in what I want because I’m seeing the joy that investing in herself has brought Caitlin.

I’ve noticed that since I’ve seen the inspirational behavior of my family, that I’ve been trying hard to emulate their behavior in my own life and to quit making excuses for eating too much or not exercising. Since Sean has started reading labels and trying to make healthier food choices, I’ve found myself cooking at home more often and trying to make healthy food choices for dinner instead of stopping by the nearest fast food restaurant for dinner. I don’t yet have the stamina to walk several miles a day, but I’ve been trying to be more active and at least take short walks on a regular basis and to park farther away.

These are all small changes and none of them will change the world, but what my heroes have taught me is that it isn’t about changing the world, it is about changing yourself.

Buying Bliss

Bliss has become a product, like deodorant or shoes, for marketer’s to hawk from the nearest street corner or Website. All these products proclaim that if you purchase their products you’ll experience nirvana. A quick trip around the web revealed the following sites offering bliss for bucks.

The first site Google found was BlissWorld. Bliss World started as a real world spa and evolved into an online site selling fitness shoes, overpriced body products, and more. They say their ” passion is passing that ‘glow-how’ on to you.” Although I firmly believe that a good massage can bring you bliss, I don’t believe that a $29 bottle of body butter can bring you anymore bliss than the $5 bottle from TJ Maxx. Bliss rating 2.0 out of 5.0 as it’s hard to give a 0 to any company that offers massages.

Bliss Weddings was created by a couple who’d just gotten married to help other companies achieve “the state at which every couple works hard to achieve in their marriage. A feeling of total happiness and harmony.” The site offers a ton of advice on weddings and although it does include commercial links, the overall site is bliss inspiring and I’d give it a 4.5 on the bliss-o-meter.

If you’re traveling through Clifton, NJ you’ll be able to take a trip to the Bliss Lounge. From the pictures on the Website, it looks like an overdone nightclub with meet market tendancies. My personal experience is that bliss isn’t to be found in places like this because it’s all about keeping up appearances and impressing the opposite sex, which isn’t a recipe for bliss. 0.0 on the bliss-o-meter.

Bliss.com appears to be a real estate valuation company selling products to help appraisers valuate homes. At first blush I was going to give them a negative score because using bliss to sell real estate valuation is just crass. However, digging into the site I realized that the company is called Bliss because it was founded by George Bliss, so I’m going to have to give them a 5.0 on the bliss-o-meter because is nothing more blissful than being true to yourself.

The last blissful site I traveled to was Hershey’s Bliss and this is the most blissful site of all because even though they’re commercializing bliss, you can’t really argue with the fact that really good chocolate does elicit a blissful state and almost everyone can afford to buy their taste of bliss when it’s going for under a buck a bar. I especially love their tagline “Bliss is everywhere, you just have to unwrap it.” How can you argue with that? Bliss chocolate gets a 5.0 on the bliss o-meter.

I have to be honest and say that when I set out to write an article about buying bliss, my intention was to decry the commercialization of bliss and point out that real bliss has to come from inside, but as I explored the Web and the Blissful sites out there, I realized that maybe there were some sites and products that really could help you achieve bliss. I also realized I’d be hypocritical if I gave low marks to sites selling massages and chocolate when some of my own most blissful experiences have come from indulging in those very same products.

Writing this article was one of those weirdly blissful experiences that come from humility. I realized that my arrogant attitude that bliss couldn’t be purchased wasn’t entirely accurate. Bliss can be purchased, but like everything it has to be buyer beware because purchasing a product won’t make you entirely blissful unless you approach it with the right attitude and enjoy it in moderation. For instance, one Hershey’s Bliss can inspire a wonderful feeling, but eating 10 will give you a stomach ache and intense guilt about all the calories you just consumed.

Fish Bliss

Growing up in the Midwest, there was no way I could escape being a meat and potatoes kinda girl. The meat of choice was beef and the only time we had fish was when we went to Missouri and indulged in fried catfish. We didn’t eat out that often and and when we did it was family restaurants that served the same kind of food we ate at home. The one memorable fish experience I had growing up was after my first semester at college when my dad took me out for lobster saying that everyone had to have lobster at least once in their life.

When I was 23 and working for the Air Force Audit Agency and word came from headquarters that my transfer to Okinawa, Japan had been approved, my coworkers took me out for sushi to celebrate. It was the first time I’d ever heard of sushi and when I discovered it was mostly raw fish, I grimaced and tried it, but quickly retreated into the safer realm of tempura.

I discovered lots of amazing foods during my three years in Japan, but still never fell in love with sushi. Teppan yaki thrilled me for both its flavor and the showmanship of the chefs who made cooking over a hot grill an art form with their running commentary, thrown eggs, and artfully sliced veggies. I’d never been a big fan of squash until I discovered tempura and I was amazed at how wonderful the humble vegetable could taste when battered and fried. Then there was Mongolian. I still remember the first time I had Mongolian at the officer’s club on Guam. There was something about picking your own veggies and meats for stir fry and then watching them cooked on the big grill that made them taste amazing. Our favorite Mongolian place on Okinawa was this wonderful restaurant called Genghis Khan that had a waterfall in the window. However, the lure of sushi still escaped me. I went out with coworkers a few times and stuck with the shrimp sushi, which was cooked so I considered it safe.

Sushi and I didn’t cross paths again until last year when a team came from Japan to review the status of my project and they took us out for sushi. Apparently they’d been warned ahead of time that I wasn’t very adventuresome when it came to food so one of my Japanese co-workers ordered me a steak so that I would have something to eat. It was a little embarrassing to be the only one at the table not eating sushi, but the embarrassment still wasn’t enough to convince me to try sushi again.

It was a comment by my boss and a trip to Miami that convinced me that maybe there was something to this raw fish thing. My boss made the comment that I played it safe when it came to food and that ticked me off just enough to make me want to prove to him that I wasn’t a culinary clod. Seafood abounds in Miami and it was there I discovered cerviche. Cerviche is raw fish that has been “cooked” in lemon juice. It has the most amazingly delicate flavor and I realized that if cerviche was this good, maybe I should give sushi another try.

I dabbled in sushi for about six months, periodically testing the waters to see if I really liked it or I just liked the idea of having a sophisticated palate. It was during a trip to Chattanooga a few weeks ago that I realized I really did like some aspects of sushi. A really good friend of mine from our Memphis facility had gone out for sushi the day before with some coworkers from Miami and was raving about how good it was and how she wanted to go out for sushi again. We packed up the van and headed to another sushi restaurant to indulge. There was something about her enthusiasm that made me want to really explore sushi. It also helped that our Latin American friends were very knowledgeable about sushi and were able to order things they thought we’d liked. We ended up eating our way through two sushi boats and then some and I came away with a deeper appreciation for sushi. I also learned that sushi doesn’t necessarily mean raw fish. Sushi actually refers to vinegar rice topped with other ingredients and since that trip I’ve been exploring various types of sushi.

Since I came home from Chattanooga, I’ve been craving sushi and heading out to Sushi Station at least once a week for lunch. The cool thing about Sushi Station is that they are a rotating Sushi bar that lets you see what the various rolls look like before you purchase them. My favorite is Philadelphia rolls (cream cheese, salmon, and avocado) and I’m not sure what it is about that combination that makes them so yummy, but I seem to crave Philadelphia rolls.

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been eating more sushi is that I seem to have more energy and am feeling better. That makes sense since even Philadelphia rolls are fairly low in calories and both salmon and avocado are good for you. I also think fondly of my friend from Memphis every time I eat sushi and maybe that’s part of the reason I enjoy it so much.

Strawberry Bliss

The best meal I ever had wasn’t in a fancy restaurant, but was strawberries and chocolate eaten as I strolled through the streets of Amsterdam. I had one magickal day in Amsterdam and I didn’t want to miss a minute of it sitting in a restaurant. I found a small grocery store and purchased some fresh strawberries. They were smaller than the berries we have at home, but they were much sweeter and I walked the streets of Amsterdam eating those incredibly flavorful berries.

A few blocks from the grocer, I found a chocolate shop and I could tell it was good because there was a queue of people (mostly women) lined up outside. Taking my place in line, I patiently waited for my turn to enter the store and take my place among the chosen few who were already inhaling chocolate nirvana. The chocolate was incredibly pricey, so I chose only a few small pieces. The chocolate was well worth the price and the wait as it melted in my mouth and perfectly complimented the blissful strawberries I’d already eaten.

The serotonin high from the chocolate and strawberries had me floating through the streets of Amsterdam (or maybe it was the buzz from the coffee shops) for the rest of the day. The Amsterdam Flea Market was a treasure trove of art, antiques, crystals, and more. I found a beautiful print of Cafe Terrace at Night by Van Gogh and another watercolor by an obscure recent artist. Both now happily adorn my walls to always remind me of that blissful day.

More bliss was to be had in the Amsterdam Flower Market where I wandered the fragrant streets sniffing the tulips, the orchids, and a host of other flowers. It is absolutely impossible to feel sad, angry, or uptight when you’re surrounded by so many sights and scents.

I haven’t been able to recreate the strawberry bliss I felt in Holland at home, but I did recently discover Devonshire cream and mixing that buttery thick cream in with fresh strawberries and sugar is a blissful treat in its own right.