kiwi

We love kiwifruits at our house.  Going to the grocery store we discovered that they were on sale and bought a large number of them.

Kiwifruits originated in China and were originally called Chinese gooseberry.  At some point it transitioned to New Zealand where it was renamed Kiwifruit.  From there it travelled to California where it is now a commercial crop; they are also grown commercially in New Zealand, Italy, France, Chile, and Japan.

Kiwifruits are very high in vitamin C with just one small fruit providing 120% of your RDA.  They have a lot of fiber and are also a good source of potassium, magnesium and vitamin E.  

Our favorite way to eat them is to simply cut them in half and scoop them out with a spoon although kiwi pineapple smoothies are pretty tasty and kiwi lime pie is a wonderful thing.  Kiwifruits are a very attractive and healthy addition to a fruit salad but beware, they mush easily.  Kiwifruits contain actinic and bromic acids which tend to make the fruit more tender once it's been cut.  If you cut it and let it sit it tends to get mushy so add it to your fruit salad just before serving.  

One side note, kiwifruit contain a substance that has been associated with a latex-fruit allergy so if you are allergic to latex it may be wise to avoid eating kiwifruits.  Other fruits that have this same compound are avocados and bananas.

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

jet lag

We're back from our vacation, enjoying the memories of all the things we saw, all the places we visited, all the meals we enjoyed. Not enjoying the laundry and the jet lag. 

Jet lag is a condition that occurs when you travel across several time zones; obviously flying can take you across quite a number of them.  When you cross a number of time zones in a relatively short period of time your natural circadian rhythms (the approximately 24 hour body cycle) are disrupted.  

Symptoms of jet lag can include nausea, headache, fatigue, digestive problems and insomnia.  I find that going eastward causes more disruption than traveling westward.  We adjusted to our eastward travel by taking a short nap as soon as we arrived, sleeping with a nightlight on (this is supposed to be effective for tricking the brain into believing it is moonlight and somehow helping to reset faster), drinking lots of water (especially necessary since air travel tends to be rather dehydrating on the system) and eating smaller, more frequent meals for the first couple of days.  I also doubled up on my probiotics since digestive issues tend to be a problem for me.  

There are natural remedies that are believed to be helpful in countering the effects of jet lag with melatonin being the most commonly used.  I personally prefer valerian as I find it works better for me at not only helping me get to sleep, but in staying asleep as I try to adjust to the new time zone.  Chamomile tea is also believed to be effective in helping you relax before the new bedtime.  Obviously avoiding stimulants or suppressants such as caffeine or alcohol can go a long way toward helping the body adjust more quickly.

On the westward journey to return home we followed all of the above with the exception of the nap.  For some reason it seems to be easier to force ourselves to stay up late until at least 2-3 hours before our "normal" bedtime.  Although we found ourselves up early at 5 AM the next morning it felt closer to our regular schedule even though we had only been back for one day.  

If you do find yourself traveling across multiple time zones remember that jet lag is generally believed to require one day for each hour of time difference to fully adjust to the new local time with 12 hours being the maximum amount of disruption.

photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

yum

We're on vacation in Belgium at the moment.  We've been enjoying all sorts of wonderful food, the cheeses, the fresh Belgian endive, mache (a wonderful salad green), chocolates, beer and more.

Today we drove up to Ghent to do some sightseeing.  While we were there we had the incredible pleasure of dining at an amazing restaurant called Kasserolleke.   We sat down, ordered our drinks and our very friendly server brought us some delicious mixed olives in olive oil flavored with red pepper flakes and rosemary.  She also brought us some small rolls and butter.  Steve tried a local beer on tap, I went for the Kriek, a cherry flavored beer that is absolutely wonderful.

The host came over to take our order and when I mentioned that both my daughter and I were vegetarians and we were wondering if we could just get something without the meat in it he offered to check with his son, the chef, to see what he could do.  Our host came back and said that the chef proposed a dish of pasta with mushrooms and parmesan in a light cream sauce.  We agreed that this sounded fine.  Fine does not begin to describe how amazing this dish was.  First of all the presentation was fabulous and I regret that I did not bring my camera cord with me so that I could share the picture.  The dish was mushrooms and shaved fresh parmesan in a heavenly cream sauce topped with finely diced tomatoes and amazingly tender, fresh, young arugula.  We loved it!  We told the server to tell the chef how wonderful it was.  My daughter told the server it needed to be a regular menu item (although who knows when we'll be back).  I told the host how amazing it was.  Good food, cooked well is just a wonderful thing.  And the kindness and accommodation of the chef was a gift, thank you sir.

Steve had a roundsteak in a lovely sauce with a great looking salad, a huge pile of fresh frites with fresh-made mayonnaise.  I stole a bunch of frites because they are just that addictive.  His grandmother had a fresh salad that looked amazing and was so large she could not finish it.  

I can assure you that this was one of our most memorable visits to any restaurant in Belgium and should we ever manage to make our way back to Ghent we will definitely go there again.  If you find yourself in Ghent, look these people up, it's worth the visit.