Food, Self, and Society

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I love watching football – American football that is. I think it’s an awesome sport. What makes it even better is our family ritual of going over to my aunt’s house on Sunday afternoons to watch our beloved Jets try to make a better name for themselves (and they succeeded this year! ) on her big screen tv. Inevitably there is tons of food. A typical Sunday involves chips, pretzels, some form of chocolate, either pizza, pasta, or sandwiches, and of course lots of beer.

This Sunday however, was the Sunday of all Sundays in the football world, and therefore it must be in our own football world (even though our Jets weren’t playing). Usually on Sundays friends and family come in and out. Some do a “pop-in,” others stay all day, but this Sunday, everyone stayed. In addition to the usual appetizers of chips, pretzels, and chocolate, there were mini pizzas, prosciutto balls, and chicken wings. The “main course” was a 6 foot hero, half with chicken cutlet, fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, tomato, lettuce and balsamic vinegar, and the other half with various cold cuts. I did not eat the other half, therefore do not know the specifics. Along with the sandwich came multiple salads – macaroni, potato and pasta.

All the food was out all day and as we watched the game, caught up with one another, and relaxed, we pigged out. Everything was delicious and I remember eating more than my body wanted, but I couldn’t stop because it tasted so good. I definitely felt my “hoarding” gene taking over. While in some circles such over eating would not be accepted, it seems to be allowed on SuperBowl Sunday. It’s always allowed in my family but even this was a bit much.

The night ended with the football shaped cake from Carvel – which was delicious and covered with my favorite topping – chocolate crunchies. Everyone was happy with the outcome of the game. We were all rooting for New Orleans after we watched all the specials on their team and their personal struggles all day on CBS. They now have a soft spot in all of our hearts. Congratulations Saints! Who DAT?!

Whenever I think of sushi, I think of Dr. P’s laboratory at the NYU Psychiatric Research Center…because sushi made me go crazy! Haha, bad joke. No, but really, I am affiliated to the center on account of the fact that I conducted research here during high school. I was there for a year and I helped out on the topic of cognitive reading although I remember little to nothing of it. This is probably because most of the stuff went way over my head, but the other part of it was that I was so transfixed on taking in the sophisticated environment around me.

At 16 I was still the sheltered daughter of two Indian immigrants and I had much to learn in the ways of the world of downtown NYC. I took the subway to the center by myself, a privilege that I cherished because in Queens I was driven everywhere. But, just to be sure my mom always accompanied me on my way back home. My walk to the building was colored with stockbrokers yelling into their phones, yogis rushing to their classes, eleven year olds with skateboards, organic food restaurants, and college students. Everyone had somewhere really important to be and after a while I took to coping that attitude. With my headphones in my ears and pretending to look straight ahead of me I rushed over to the lab where I was met by occupants that gave me a funny feeling that I was in cahoots in working on a secret government project.

The view from within Dr. P’s laboratory looked like something out of a Sci-Fi movie where an odd assortment of the brightest minds in the world was brought together to advance the field of cognitive reading. There was a 5 year old and a 7 year old, a smattering of 30-something year old scientists, all with heavy accents, at least two other high school-aged students, and then there was Dr. P with his jolly belly and suspenders. Other than the cosmetic quality of the scene, the fact that everything that came out of these people’s mouths was incredibly intelligent made it that much more unreal. But, strangest of all was that we all came together at this large table to discuss our findings and eat sushi, like a family. Dr. P would be propped up at the head of the table like the man of the house with a bib around his chin, someone would reach over and ruffle up the 5 year old child’s hair, and one of the highschool-aged girls or else one of the 30-something year old scientists would walk around pouring water into everyone’s Dixie cups.

The naïve girl that I was took all of this in with large eyes, rationalizing that this experience was just another aspect of the sophisticated Downtown NYC culture of which I was still unaware. In retrospect, I still think that there was something odd about that environment. Dr. P’s lab WAS an assortment of oddly-arranged people, but no secret government projects here, just a bunch of people looking for some food and stimulating conversation around 5pm on a Tuesday. By virtue of their age and whatever activity they took up at the meeting they cumulatively composed a traditional family.

As much as “the family” freaked me out, at times I forgot myself as the quiet and absorbent observer and let them include me in their activities. Thanks to moments such as this I tried sushi for the first time in my life. While I didn’t take to it immediately I learned to appreciate the California Roll and I tried eel for the first and only time in my life. Today sushi is one of my favorite foods and I guess I have “the family” to thank for that.

Fresh from Argentina, with great memories yet broke, I decided to save some money by cooking as many of my meals at home. So, I go to the supermarket and buy vegetables, fruits, quinoa, cans of soup and beans, tofu, spices and other staples. Somehow the total comes up to $76! Normally I wouldn’t mind or even notice but suddenly I’m made starkly aware that something isn’t right (I’m only cooking for one afterall). I scan the receipt and notice that a bag of granola was $7 and a box of chewy granola bars was $6. Then it hits me, I have an expensive habit: granola.

Once I go home, I promise myself I won’t buy granola anymore but then I convince myself that it is too versatile (can be sprinkled on yogurt, cereal substitute, snack, etc.) to give up. Torn between my granola and money, I suddenly come up with what seems like the only feasible solution. I, Priscilla, will set up my own granola mini-factory at home. A glance at the ingredients listed on the back of the banana-nut granola bag I bought, a couple of minutes searching for recipes online and an inspired run to the natural foods store and I have everything needed to make my own stash. The following is a recipe I created by combining instructions from random websites and incorporating my own favorite ingredients:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 almonds

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup banana chips

1/3 cup coconut shavings

Lazy Student Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees

2. Mix the first six ingredients in a bowl (I made the mistake of baking the raisins and had to pick them out afterwards)

3. Spray cookie sheet with oil and then evenly spread mixture on top

4. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes

5. That’s it! Let it cool and then mix in the last three ingredients

The best part is you can’t go wrong with the choice of ingredients you use, switch the almonds for walnuts, the banana chips for dried blueberries, (almost) anything goes. I would have shown the world how great my granola masterpiece looked, perhaps in an upclose, angled shot, but sadly, my camera along with my savings was left back in Buenos Aires…

Fresh from Argentina, with great memories yet broke, I decided to save some money by cooking as many of my meals at home. So, I go to the supermarket and buy vegetables, fruits, quinoa, cans of soup and beans, tofu, spices and other staples. Somehow the total comes up to $76! Normally I wouldn’t mind or even notice but suddenly I’m made starkly aware that something isn’t right (I’m only cooking for one afterall). I scan the receipt and notice that a bag of granola was $7 and a box of chewy granola bars was $6. Then it hits me, I have an expensive habit: granola.

Once I go home, I promise myself I won’t buy granola anymore but then I convince myself that it is too versatile (can be sprinkled on yogurt, cereal substitute, snack, etc.) to give up. Torn between my granola and money, I suddenly come up with what seems like the only feasible solution. I, Priscilla, will set up my own granola mini-factory at home. A glance at the ingredients listed on the back of the banana-nut granola bag I bought, a couple of minutes searching for recipes online and an inspired run to the natural foods store and I have everything needed to make my own stash. The following is a recipe I created by combining instructions from random websites and incorporating my own favorite ingredients:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 almonds

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup banana chips

1/3 cup coconut shavings

Lazy Student Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees

2. Mix the first six ingredients in a bowl (I made the mistake of baking the raisins and had to pick them out afterwards)

3. Spray cookie sheet with oil and then evenly spread mixture on top

4. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes

5. That’s it! Let it cool and then mix in the last three ingredients

The best part is you can’t go wrong with the choice of ingredients you use, switch the almonds for walnuts, the banana chips for dried blueberries, (almost) anything goes. I would have shown the world how great my granola masterpiece looked, perhaps in an upclose, angled shot, but sadly, my camera along with my savings was left back in Buenos Aires…

Fresh from Argentina, with great memories yet broke, I decided to save some money by cooking as many of my meals at home. So, I go to the supermarket and buy vegetables, fruits, quinoa, cans of soup and beans, tofu, spices and other staples. Somehow the total comes up to $76! Normally I wouldn’t mind or even notice but suddenly I’m made starkly aware that something isn’t right (I’m only cooking for one afterall). I scan the receipt and notice that a bag of granola was $7 and a box of chewy granola bars was $6. Then it hits me, I have an expensive habit: granola.

Once I go home, I promise myself I won’t buy granola anymore but then I convince myself that it is too versatile (can be sprinkled on yogurt, cereal substitute, snack, etc.) to give up. Torn between my granola and money, I suddenly come up with what seems like the only feasible solution. I, Priscilla, will set up my own granola mini-factory at home. A glance at the ingredients listed on the back of the banana-nut granola bag I bought, a couple of minutes searching for recipes online and an inspired run to the natural foods store and I have everything needed to make my own stash. The following is a recipe I created by combining instructions from random websites and incorporating my own favorite ingredients:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 almonds

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup banana chips

1/3 cup coconut shavings

Lazy Student Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees

2. Mix the first six ingredients in a bowl (I made the mistake of baking the raisins and had to pick them out afterwards)

3. Spray cookie sheet with oil and then evenly spread mixture on top

4. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes

5. That’s it! Let it cool and then mix in the last three ingredients

The best part is you can’t go wrong with the choice of ingredients you use, switch the almonds for walnuts, the banana chips for dried blueberries, (almost) anything goes. I would have shown the world how great my granola masterpiece looked, perhaps in an upclose, angled shot, but sadly, my camera along with my savings was left back in Buenos Aires…

During the winter intersession, I took a course called “Fitness for Life.”  It was supposed to be a physical education class, where we’d be doing a different physical activity every day.  Instead, I had the one professor who took the name of the course literally.  He took a holistic approach to it, trying to increase our fitness to every aspect of life.  I can understand the reasoning behind it, too.  Eventually, problems in different areas of life can lead to incredible amounts of stress, which, ultimately, will take a physical toll on you.

That being the case, my friend and I decided to improve our fitness.  We began to play racquetball every day.  Even if we haven’t improved our skills that much since then, we’ve enjoyed ourselves and spent hour-long blocks of time exercising.  It’s been wonderful, and has made me happy.

Then there’s the dieting part of fitness.  No more junk food!  No more overeating!  No more fatty foods!  No more greasy foods!  No more salty foods!  No more sugar!  No more fast food!  Most of these changes seemed acceptable when I began my journey into fitness.  Of course, I wasn’t really happy about most of them.  After all, for the entire 20 years of my life thus far, I haven’t been on any significant diets, I haven’t really been careful with what I’ve eaten (in fact, my eating habits have been somewhat unhealthy, according to the rules of healthy eating.) and I have not suffered any consequences for it.  Hell, I haven’t even gained weight since I was 15 or 16!  Why should my diet be limited?

However, I did see the logic in such dietary restrictions.  I’m getting close to that point in my life where everything I do will catch up to my body very quickly.  That is, at some point within the next few years, I will no longer have the metabolism of the teenage boy I once was.  So I have to be careful with what I eat now, or the habits will be impossible to lose in the future.

Imagine how happy I was, then, to find out that I did not have to leave some of my favorite parts of my diet behind!  Yes, I will have to start eating slightly smaller portions, but I won’t have to give up my copious amounts of hot sauce! (The sweating and clearing of the sinuses caused by hot sauce is good for you.)  Almost as good is the fact that I don’t have to give up my love for salt – assuming that I use non-iodized sea salt, of course.

Having found all that out, I came to a very important conclusion – I must eat unhealthy foods to maintain my mental health.  Now, that doesn’t mean I want to go out of my way to eat things that are bad for me, nor does it mean that I would even eat them all the time.  I just mean to say that I don’t want the option taken away from me.  If I want a bacon double cheeseburger, I’m going to have it, and that’s that.  If I don’t eat foods that I want to eat once in while (including those that are bad for me), I will go crazy, and that, ultimately, is what’s most important; who are we, and what do we have, if we aren’t happy with our lives?  I refuse to be unhappy with my life, no matter the situation.

It is with that mindset that I stumbled upon This is why you’re fat – a food blog dedicated to collecting recipes (and pictures of the final products of those recipes) that would serve as the caloric intake of a small country for an entire year.  Nearly everything on the site seems tantalizingly and awesomely delicious, albeit deadly.  I will be attempting to make several of the things from this site, for they will make me happy.  After all, who could resist a sausage-egg-and-cheese sandwich on a glazed cinnamon roll?:

The epitome of deliciousness at breakfast. A sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on a glazed cinnamon roll.

It is with respect to this mindset that I’ve chosen today’s non-Springsteen song of the day: “It’s My Life,” by Bon Jovi. Although I realize he’s probably not talking about food, he is talking about choosing his own path when he says “It’s my life / it’s now or never / I ain’t gonna live forever / I just wanna live while I’m alive.”  And that’s exactly what I mean to say with this post – we aren’t going to live forever, and we certainly will not be able to enjoy food forever, so let’s enjoy it while we can.  And even for those of who are serious dieters for one reason or another – you can let go once in a while; it’s ok!  (PS – it’s an awesome music video.)

Today’s Springsteen song of the day has a similar relation to my mindset, in that it’s got an almost “I’m going to do whatever I want to do to make me happy, and I want to share it with you!” attitude.  Aside from that, it’s a really awesome song, and you can tell how incredible a performer he really is from watching the video I’ve provided a link to.  Having said that, the song in question is “Out In The Street,” off of The River.  The specific lyric I’m thinking of:  ”when I’m out in the street / I walk the way I wanna walk / when I’m out in the street / I talk the way I wanna talk / Baby, out in the street I don’t feel sad or blue / Baby, out in the street, I’ll be waiting for you!”  Well, world, like I said before – I’m going to eat what I want to eat, and that’s the end of the story.

***

Having said what I needed to say for the day, I bid you adieu.  Good night, world.

Welcome to Macaulay Eportfolio Collection. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then get started!

Welcome to Macaulay Eportfolio Collection. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then get started!

Alright, here’s the thing.  I started this blog with the intention of writing every day.  I wanted to expose the world (who hadn’t been exposed yet) to Bruce Springsteen through a song a day, and through other artists, too.  I wanted a brief summary of noteworthy things that have happened in my life.  I wanted to make commentaries on other things, too – everything that annoyed me, really.  I’ve come to the realization, though, that writing every day was a very unrealistic goal for me; now that I’ve started school, it seems nearly impossible.  Frankly, I’d given up on blogging at all.

So that’s the first hiatus I’m talking about today.  It’s over now, thanks to Professor Cho’s Food, Self & Society class.  For those of you reading this who are not in that class, it’s a sociological, anthropological, psychological, etc way of looking at food and it’s function as to society and to the individual.  For those of you who are in that class with me and are reading this, my having made such a distinction may seem odd.  Allow me to explain – I’m writing this in my blog that I’ve already established and have entries imported via an RSS feed of some sort to the class page.  It’s a bit more convenient that way.

The new point of this blog, then (at least for the next few months), is to document my life around food in some way or another.  Posts will not be uniform in style, nor will they be uniform in frequency.  One week, I may post only once.  Another, I may post several times.  Most likely, it will be the former.  We shall see.

Right now, I haven’t figured out how exactly to bring food into this, though that’s just as well – this is merely a re-introduction of sorts.  You can look forward to a new entry soon, with the new format (we will be retaining the Springsteen song of the day!).

For now, I bid you adieu.

PS – the second hiatus?  Fall Out Boy, and how they’ve seemingly broken up.  They’ve had a nice run, and I won’t pretend I’m not just a little bit disappointed.  At least I got to see them live once before.  All I can do at this point is wish each member the best of luck.

Good night, world.