Good Dirt On Food

1. Use a smaller plate for all your meals. You will automatically take smaller portions and eat less if you use a smaller plate.

2. Keep yourself well hydrated. Keep a bottle of water at your desk or readily available during the day, and make it a habit to drink a glass of water between other beverages at parties and other social functions.

3. Keep your hunger at bay—don’t skip meals, even if you are planning to attend a party. Being overly hungry sets you up to over-eat.

4. Indulge a little in your favorite holiday foods—just keep the portions small, and take time to savor them. Skip the foods that are readily available at other times of the year, or that you don’t really care for.

5. Make sure you get enough sleep. Current research shows that sleep-deprived people have higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite.

6. Safeguard your fitness routine—but you might need to be flexible. All exercise counts, so if you know you won’t be able to do your usual workout, make it a point to take the stairs, park a bit farther from the entrance, get off the bus one stop earlier, or walk around the block during your break. Or plan active times with your family or friends that also celebrate the season, such as ice skating or visiting light displays at the zoo or public garden.

7. Be careful of the little bites and tastes. These can really add up quickly. Check out this slide show.

8. Find a comfortable place at parties that is across the room from the buffet table, and focus on the people and the conversation rather than the food.

9. It is OK to leave a few bites on your plate. You don’t have to be a member of the clean plate club.

10. Brush your teeth as soon as possible after you eat or taste something. That bright, clean feeling will discourage further eating.

It’s after dinner and I’m watching Sunday night Football and a commercial comes on for a light beer. There are lots of commercials for light beer. While I’m enjoying the game I’m enjoying one if my favorite beers, Gulden Draak, a fine Belgian beer that is a perennial award winner. I admit it. I don’t understand the appeal of light beer and never have. I know that the major US brands control about 80% of the beer market but I don’t get it. Light beer? Why waste your time. No taste, no body, no complexity. I have been at parties where there is only light beer and I pass. I generally pass on those major American brands altogether. I know the history and how the brew masters actually wanted to get away from the European taste but I am not a fan and have never been. No Budweiser, no Coors, no Miller. In college with beer as the drink of choice at parties I didn’t consume much. I paid my 5 bucks but knew I would only have one serving and usually did not finish that.

In the late 80s I took a trip to Munich. It’s a beautiful city and I was there for a couple of weeks. There are Biergärtens all over the city and the first couple of times I went into one I just had a light meal and a soft drink. A few days later I found myself walking past a brewery. The vats were visible through the window and I stopped to watch the action for a little while. There was a sweet smell in the air in front of the building. I noticed the name “Weihenstephan” and went on my way. A couple of hours later I walked into a Biergärten and ordered a Weihenstephan Bavarian beer with my meal. That was the first time I had really good beer. I enjoyed one about every other day until I left.

When I got back home I started searching for the kind of beer I had in Munich. Alas, I was disappointed for years. But things started to change as microbrews became more and more available. I started to find beers that were more like Germany than the US. I think it was 1998 and I was on a trip to Vancouver BC with my family. We had dinner in one of our favorite restaurants in Vancouver, CinCin. CinCin has a great wine list and I usually ordered wine but they had an interesting beer list which I had not noticed before. I talked to the waiter and described the kind of beer I liked and he suggested a Belgian beer, Trappistes Rochefort 8. It was the best beer I had ever tasted! Dark, creamy and a wonderful combination of flavors on the palette and a great finish; caramel, chocolate. A love affair was born.

Again, years passed and I could not find it in stores and forgot the name. I frequently described it but could not get a match. 2004 and I’m on a business trip in Orlando, FL. I was staying at the Ritz-Carlton and my second night there I went into the bar to get a light meal. I looked at the wine/beer list and something struck my brain. I was looking at a name and my memory was being jogged. I asked the bar tender if I could see the bottle before I ordered and there it was, my long lost Rochefort. Yeah, baby! I ordered one and wrote down the name. When I got back home I found a store that sold it. When I opened EvZE World Gourmet in 2005 this was one of the items that I said we must sell.

We found a distributor and of course found a lot more fine beers. We sample everything we sell and I have had and have the pleasure of tasting some great beers. Now there are a number of great beers from all over the world including some very fine US microbrews which I hope become macrobrews. With the availability of all of the great beer why waste time with a light beer? Don’t like dark ales like Rochefort or Gulden Draak, then try Bavik (think Stella Artois) or a “lighter” ale like Val Dieu Blonde Ale. These beers have taste and are not just watered down beerish.

Check out a few of the new products at EvZE World Gourmet!

ALILI Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A full-flavored oil of true character. Strong and intense, this varietal Moroccan Extra Virgin is made from choice, ripe, handpicked, artisan Picholine olives. ALILI is a freshly resonant oil with an esteemed bouquet. Pure green with golden veins, its deep taste of fresh Picholine olives is followed by a lingering and satisfying peppery kick.

Roble Viejo: Vinegre de Jerez, Reserva

A true Sherry Vinegar can only be produced from wine made from Palomino Fino grapes, grown in the unique micro climate of the Jerez sherry region. This sherry vinegar has an added ingredient that makes it quite unique. Alongside the traditional Palomino grape, 30% of the Pedro Ximenez is added during the aging process.

Matiz D.O. Piquillo Peppers

Slow roasting over open wood-fires gives these unique peppers a complex, rich and teasingly spicy-sweet flavor. Excellent with goat cheese or delicious in omelets!

Scalia Anchovies in Olive Oil

Discover authentic Mediterranean taste and the tender quality of these anchovies. Scalia anchovies are preserved in extra virgin olive oil.