Sunday 3 October 2010

hotel food prep

I'm on vacation and preparing my meals in hotel rooms. Yep, I'm such a fanatic, I haven't eaten in a restaurant yet. Well, I just don't think restaurant (healthy) food tastes as good as my own, thanks to the fabulous local produce I've been getting. Anyway, who has time to eat in restaurants when there is hiking, biking and kayaking to be done? Here's how I do it. Clean off a desk, or bathroom counter or kitchen counter, depending on what's available. Set out the bowls and utensils. I find most useful a chopping knife, smaller paring knife, can opener, and lime squeezer thingie (second picture below). The apple corer is not really needed.
















I use an electric cooler to keep my produce cool (see this post). On this trip, I've been lucky to find outstanding locally grown produce in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire: all kinds of lovely varieties of apples, as well as kale, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and carrots! As one store employee said, the carrots taste like candy! I've been calling them carrot candy. So of course, I've based my salads on these. I layer the bottom with the cruciferous veggies: kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (whatever I happen to have on this day), and squeeze lime on that. That will marinate overnight at the bottom of the salad (I make the meals at night for the next day so we can get up early and go!):
















Then I add the spinach and lettuce. Then fruit: apples, maybe an orange, cherry tomatoes, maybe a grapefruit. I scored 5 small pomegranates at a fantastic co-op in Vermont, so have been eating pom seeds in my salads for the last 5 days. They add great flavor! I just added the last one tonight. I haven't come across many fresh berries so haven't bothered with those. Then I add a can of beans and 1 oz of seeds or nuts:









Today and yesterday were heavy exercise days, so I also added a can of Dr. Fuhrman's soup. It added a nice flavor. Then I top with carrots. These I eat for dessert when I'm done with the meal, because they are like candy!










Then I clean up my mess and try to make it as spotless as possible, and tip the room cleaners, because I don't want hotels to start banning food. The main evidence of my food prep is the trash bin, a pretty dirty washcloth. and all the towels are used (but they aren't dirty).

Then I enjoy my meals in nature's restaurants, like this one: