Impulsive Buying & Manipulitive Food Stores

You know how when you are at a cash register and you look to the left and see that shelf of candy?  You know; the gum, the gummy bears, the candy bars.  For alot of people, they have no problem just walking on by them and ignoring them.  For ME-I have a problem.  I see the gum..it’s calling my name.  I see the candy bars (especially Snickers and 3 Musketeers) and they are saying, ‘BUY ME!! BUY ME!!’  Grocery stores are SO manipulitive and want you to buy EVERY chocolate and gummy bear ever made, that they have WHOLE aisles of candy.  For some reason, those aisles don’t bother me.  Well, during Halloween when they sell the big bags of mini-candy bars, they do.  But, I’m telling you..those shelves of candy and gum are horrible.  I end up buying one candy bar or a pack of gum every time I’m at a cash register.  Those grocery stores and gas stations KNOW how to MANIPULATE you!!!! NOT FAIR!!

Food with a face

Recently my parents and I went to an Italian restaurant; the kind that has really rich, really good food.  My kind of food, at least.  I love getting Angel Hair pasta or Lasgana; but the ONE thing that REALLY appealed to me was the crab and lobster ravioli in mushroom sauce.  I completely and TOTALLY LOVE lobster.  But hate eating it because I have a horrible guilt trip after I eat it!!! Why? Mainly because of how it’s cooked.  The poor thing is boiled ALIVE!!! You talk about torture! First they’re removed from their friends and family in the ocean, then put in a small tank in a grocery store (well, not ALL of them)..so that they can be picked by customers.  And I’m sure when they get picked they’re thinking, ‘Yay!!! I’m going home!!!’ Finally when they are taken to the restaurant to be cooked they are put over a pot of boiling hot water and then dropped in!!! You talk about a horrible way to die!! But, I DID end up eating the crab and lobster ravioli…and I was guilt stricken for around two weeks!! But DAMN!!! It was GOOD!!!

Kids Foods and Will Power

My sister, 4 year old niece and 2 year old nephew came down from New York City to visit us just recently.  With them they brought very tempting children’s foods.  Things that I have told myself I am NOT allowed to eat.  Example: goldfish, little chocolate milks-you know the ones that have the bendy straws attached to them.  I LOVE those and have a VERY hard time NOT drinking one when they’re put in the refridgerator.  I can drink one of those suckers down in one gulp.  This also goes along with the little apple juices.  I love all those miniature drinks that are sold for kids.  I could buy a TON of those and drink ALL of them in one sitting.  Something about them totally appeals to me. So many kids foods that I could list here (and I’m not going to)..but my niece and nephew are back and NYC and, yes, they have left remnants of their wondermous foods here!!!

Homecooking vs. Homecooking

I’m from a small town outside of Houston and in that small town the people who live there tend to eat what I would call VERY FATTENING homecooked food.  YOU know what I’m talking about; chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy (poured all over the steak and the potatoes, mind you), fried okra (ugh), and a few more fried side dishes.  They pride themselves on these things.  And I’m NOT saying that is BAD it’s just kinda fattening.  Most of my friends were NOT obese or overweight because they were involved in sports in school, and kept busy at home (their parents were/are farmers and needed their help).

However, when I was growing up-we never ate food like that.  We had ‘healthy’ food; salmon croquettes, hamburger patties with rice and string beans, grilled chicken and baked potato (no gravy).  When I would stay over at my friends house-I would drool when I saw what we were having for dinner!  I LOVED it and never wanted to leave!!

I, unfortunately, still live with my parents and we still pride ourselves on eating in a healthy way.  We do indulge in mexican or chinese food or sometimes pizza…but we try to only eat those delicacies once in a while.  And we’re pretty good at it.

However

salmon croquettes

recently, my mom and I went to a luncheon with a few women (that we work out with) at a restaurant in the town that I live in.  It’s called, ‘The Jay Cafe’ (named after the Needville High school Blue Jays).  It was supposed to be really good.  THAT was an understatement.  It had EVERYTHING I wanted and more.  I ordered fried chicken fingers, mashed potatoes with gravy (of course) and green beans.  And they kept coming with the butter rolls.  I’m a sucker for those rolls…keep ‘em away from ME!!! I love eating them with the gravy!!! So, you can see what I mean by ‘homecooking vs. homecooking’!!! **Oh!! For anyone who is brave enough-I suggest you venture out to Needville and try the Fried Pickles…I heard they’re pretty good!!!

Candy Companies and Holidays

Okay.  I KNOW that everybody LOVES holidays, right?  You get off work, you get to spend time with relatives, you get to cook and eat all that wondermous food…it’s great right??

Well, there is also the CANDY!! Every holiday has it’s specific candy, right?? Christmas has the peppermint sticks; Valentine’s Day has the little hearts and chocolates (duh).  Halloween has a TON of different candy-hence the ‘Trick or Treating’.  You know, they have those ’Candy Corn’, which I’ve been informed by my mother are, ‘pure sugar..just pure sugar!’  Even those little, small holidays, that you wouldn’t think have candy-have candy.  (like St. Patrick’s Day and July the 4th.)

But you know that candy companies are cashing in on all these holidays.  Somehow I picture the stores and the candy companies huddling together in a small, dark room thinking up schemes on how to sell the candy better every year.  “Hmmm…I know this worked this year, but how can we make more money next year??” A corporate vendor would say.

And do you notice how quickly the candy aisles are changed from Christmas candy to Valentine’s Day candy?  I must be paranoid since I’m a candy lover, but did you ALSO notice that they put the candy aisles RIGHT in the middle of the store, so you HAVE to pass them??

The worse thing for ME is the summer time, when kids have birthday parties (or just parties) and the parents buy those HUGE bags of mixed candy bars.  I pass right by them (I can’t help it..there is ALWAYS something I need on the candy aisle)…and I see those big, huge bags of candy bars that have Snickers bars in them!!! It’s TORTURE!!! And the Candy and stores KNOW IT!!!

Not only that, the checkout aisles are always stocked with some kind of holiday treat..so you have that ‘Impulse Buy’ thing.  (I’ve had the impulse to buy numerous things at the checkout aisle!!)  And I TOTALLY and COMPLETELY blame the candy companies and the stores!!!!

Holiday Food Traditions-Turkey and Dressing??

Since it’s the holidays, I’ve been thinking a lot about traditional Holiday foods and how we use them.  Actually, I was thinking about how funny we are with our holiday foods.  For example: when we cook a turkey, we put those little white ‘booties’ on the ‘feet’ of the turkey. Why?  Are we ‘dressing it up?’  If so, why aren’t we putting a little hat and coat on it? Or if the cook thinks the feet of the turkey is cold (or maybe feels remorse for cutting off the feet), why doesn’t it put a ‘scarf’ around the neck of the turkey?? (I guess that would require a head though, wouldn’t it??  Hmm..)

And what is DRESSING? And why does they turkey have to be laid in it?  If the turkey is so ‘special’, at Christmas time, why don’t we put Christmas decorations around the turkey?? I’m sorry, all of this has gone through my mind.  One more little thing-what’s with the ham?  If the turkey gets all these special ‘clothing’ privileges, why is the ham left out in the cold?  From what I understand, most of us DO eat ham on Thanksgiving and Christmas, yes?

I’m just interested, too on where these ‘traditions’ came from.  I don’t remember reading about the dressing of the turkeys when I learned about Christopher Columbus and the Indians in elementary school.

Just some things to ‘chew’ on…hhhmmm…

FOOTBALL?? rules?? scoring?? parties??

It’s football season; well, I THINK it’s football season.  I know that the World Series is just about over and that means football season will be starting soon.  Ugh.  I’ve never been a big fan of football for numerous reasons.  The main one is that the rules are SO complicated!! My family-my immediate family- never watched football when I was growing up.  So, the ONLY rule and/or scoring technique I understand in football is when the player runs to the end of the field and the referee puts both his arms straight up in the air.  This means touchdown (right?).  That’s pretty much it; well, that is it.  I’ve gone to Thanksgiving and Christmas only to find the football game on and, not understanding what a flag or a first down means, I’ll desperately ask my cousins what they mean or what’s going on.  Of course, they’re too busy standing up and yelling, ‘OH!! Come on ref!! That wasn’t a flag!!!’ So, I’m still at a loss as to what is going on.

Don’t get me wrong, I like football.  When I was in grade school I even went to football games.  Of course, when you’re eleven years old, these outings were more social events than sitting in the stands with your parents.  (At least it was for me).

But I’ve NEVER been able to understand what is going on in a football game.  And I hate sounding like a dimwit when I keep asking, ‘hey! what’s a second down?’ or ‘why’d that guy throw that orange flag?’ or ‘why doesn’t the guy just run to the end of the field??’ I’m sure this would get REAL old REAL fast.

I DO know that there are such things as ‘Superbowl Parties’.  I have never been to one and would love to go just to see if there is someone as uneducated in football as I am.  But what do you bring to eat at a Superbowl party?  Do you wear regular clothes or do you have to wear the clothes of the team that everyone else is supporting?? (I kinda feel like it’s a weird cult party).  On the beer commercials-all the people are always portrayed as having a great time.  Cheering for their favorite team and eating lots of different food-though the food is always very vague in the background.

The funny thing is-last year I decided I was going to learn the rules of football and not going to ask everyone around me what was going on.  So, I got online and wrote down everything I could find about football rules and scoring.  After I wrote it all down I did my best to understand it.  When Thanksgiving rolled around, I steeled myself and got ready and brought my little rule/scoring information paper with me.  When we got to my aunt’s house, you know what I found out??? There WAS no game on during Thanksgiving this year.  At least I tried.

Superbowl party food?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for FISH ICE CREAM??? ew…

salad ice cream

Since we only have one dessert night at my house, we try to make it special.  And when we have ice cream, it’s hard to agree on one flavor.  My mother likes plain homemade vanilla, my father likes dutch chocolate, and I tend to change my mind a lot.

My two favorite flavors are (probably) mint chocolate chip or coffee.  I love rocky road though, because of the marshmallows.  However, I recently heard about all these freaky flavors that people ACTUALLY eat-from what I read-they are mainly in Japan. But here are some of them:

• Fish Ice Cream
• Corn Ice Cream
• Spinach Ice Cream
• Spaghetti & Cheese Ice Cream
• Octopus Ice Cream (ick)
• Salad Ice Cream-this consists of Strawberry ice cream with cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce
• Chicken Wing Ice Cream (I don’t even WANT to know how they make THAT!!)

It’s amazing what people will put in their mouths…but I have to say, you’d have to pay me A LOT of money to eat some of the above flavors!!!  

SUGAR vs. Sugar vs. sugar

I like to drink iced tea; well, let me rephrase that-I like to drink SWEET iced tea.  And I drink it a lot.  But not the kind that been pre-sweetened.  So, I’ll add Splenda to my tea in order NOT to gain weight.  Before Splenda, I would use Sweet-n-Low.  Regular sugar is pretty fattening and high caloric. So, I REALLY don’t like using regular sugar since I don’t really pay attention to how much sugar (and/or artificial sugar) I put in my tea.  When I’m adding the sugar to my tea/coffee or cereal, I just get a spoon and start spooning it in.  After three spoon fulls, I realize that I need to stop!

However, according to my mother and a few of my friends (strangely enough two of my male friends), using as much Splenda as I do isn’t a very good/healthy thing for me.  As much as I’d like to agree with them, I’m leaning towards using a non-caloric artificial sugar rather than high caloric regular sugar.  So, the decision to not use real and/or regular sugar is a pretty easy solution for me! 

Will Power & Late Night Snacks

My beloved midnight granola snack!

I’ve talked about how Fridays and Saturdays are designated as ‘dessert nights’.  Actually, it’s supposed to be one or the other; meaning, we’re only supposed to have a dessert on either Friday OR Saturday-not BOTH.  Unfortunately, we’ve started breaking that ‘one or the other’ rule.  The GOOD thing is, I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten BETTER at not feeling like I HAVE to eat every sweet thing in the house when we have something (sweet in the house).  My will power has been building a wall up slowly, brick by brick!!

The BAD thing is that I find myself eating late night snacks.  This doesn’t necessarily qualify as a really bad thing.  But, I’ve been eating cereal; and not just cereal-GRANOLA. While granola is very good for you, it’s also very high in calories!!! And the granola seems to be the ONLY satisfying thing for me to eat at around 11:30pm or 12am.

So, it’s kinda like my stomach and/or body is at a tug of war with itself.  While I’m doing well with NOT eating too many sweet things; I am STILL eating a high calorie food pretty much every night!!!