Food, glorious food ...

[ysabet_the_red]

I made gnocchi from scratch on Wednesday, with a simple cabonara sauce. I think they could do with some work; maybe a touch of garlic, or cheese, or herbs in the gnocchi - but I can always make them again.

I've been thinking a lot about food, and about different dietary restrictions, and how to make food awesome. Steve's lactose intolerant, and needs lots of carbs. I need a minimum of carbs (or at least, a controlled amount). Mum (who I'd like to have over for food more often) is gluten intolerant, and Dad hates 'fancy' food. My brother can be fairly adventurous, but needs to be talked into it, and occasionally needs to be dairy-free, depending on his health. Another friend is allergic to sesame.

Cooking for the range of tastes and requirements can be a challenge. One-pot meals, like the risotto I made the other night, are sometimes chancy affairs, since each individual serve can't really be tweaked all that much.

It's all good fun.

This weekend, I want to make bread. Not sure what, yet - we'll see.

Comments

[maiden945.livejournal.com]

wow, that sounds like a lot to cater for... I think in my family the only person with a food thing is me, but mine is more that im allergic to strawberries... everyone else in my immediate family dont have food allergies :)

[aiofe.livejournal.com]

Well, I used to be the only one with an allergy - I was allergic to dairy. Not lactose - dairy. That made life really challenging.

I grew out of that eventually, and now a bunch of other things - age related, and finally diagnosed - have cropped up. C'est la vie. On the bright side, everyone likes steak and howevermany veg.

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

When I was reading up on milk, I came across the tidbit that soy milk has much the same proteins as real milk and trigger the same allergies. Buts goats milk doesn't, so if it is an allergy rather than a lactose intolerance, that is some peoples way out. I tried goats milk for 2 days, and then decided that anything bad the real milk may be causing was no worse than that horrible, *horrible* taste of goats milk. I tasted that taste again the other day -- goats cheese in my pasta (which I've had before without that reaction) at a fancyposh restaurant in Glenferrie Road.

PS. Steak and 3veg. Country food. Yuk. At the observatory lodge when I'm on night shift, it's about 1 meal in 7. And I swear it's usually been cooking since 2pm. Can't buy roo in town though, because everyone seems to prefer that horrible cow leather product.

[aiofe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember goat's milk. Awful, terrible stuff.

Although, I do like some goat's milk cheeses. Don't know if my palate has shifted as an adult, or I got lucky with the cheese.

On steak and veg: it *can* be awesome food. Really good steak, cooked just right, with fresh produce that's been treated right, can be lovely. But. It's also remarkably easy to screw up for such a simple meal, sigh.

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

The local pub[1] did a surprisingly good steak, with the operative word being "did". Mmmm, smoky nyum nyum. I think the raw product they're starting off with now isn't as fine a cut as it once was. Stupid drought.

[1] All local pubs, in my experience. Especially after a long day's ride.

[sbw.livejournal.com]

Not true - 60% of people who are allergic to cow's milk are also allergic to goat's milk. Only the whey fraction in the goat's milk differs from that in the cow's milk. 25% of milk-allergic infants may become allergic to the soya protein. (reference: http://www.allergysa.org/milk.htm)

My brother has a cow's milk allergy, and he can't have goat's or sheep's milk either but tolerates soy quite well.

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

Heh. And then you get idjits like me who is sometimes lactose intolerant, needs lots of carbs, is fussy, and hates risotto.

[aiofe.livejournal.com]

Eh, I could make you gnocchi. Or thai, or most indian. Vietnamese, too, if I knew how to make vietnamese.

:)

I'm sure I could think of something, in any case.

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

I had been thinking that my proclivity for spicy food had been causing gastro problems, and had been cutting down on such. But I've been getting progressively _better_ since getting off those damned reflux drugs, so have been increasing my spice intake again.

Which means of course that now that I am staying at a hotel in Melbourne with no kitchen, and will be for the next month, and am only allowed into the wide blue yonda for an hour a day (otherwise I won't finish my thesis), I've been making liberal use of the Vietnamese and Thai places around Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn. Nyum nyum.

[nakedmidget.livejournal.com]

My ex was a celiac, lactose intolerant vegan who couldn't have much sugar. That made cooking interesting.

[aiofe.livejournal.com]

That would be ... not so much fun. Veganism makes things really challenging, because it means that you can't take shortcuts, pretty much.