On Juice and Juicing

I find myself starting this food blog about cooking with a curious absence of both food and cooking.

I decided to try a juice fast/cleanse over the next couple days which requires some chopping, some slicing, and NO eating of solid food. All the time I normally spend in the kitchen cooking and sampling and eating had to be redirected in another direction. I found time to start my blog, which I have been thinking about for quite a while. And just because I wasn't able to cook and eat, doesn't mean I can't read or write about it, Right? I am currently reading The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman and luckily I am still towards the beginning and he is only describing sauces in detail, not delicious and tempting foods. (I am reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini now too.) I had some time to work on planning a tasting, a pasta class, and a 12 person plated dinner coming up in the next week. I felt surprisingly well after the first day, a bit hungry and tired but not starving and/or crazy. No hallucinations, no strange or intense urges, nothing I feel like I should report to a Doctor.

I did come up with some very tasty combinations of fruits and vegetables that make juice one can survive on for a few days. My favorite, although probably not the most beneficial, is a few fresh apples, a slice of lemon, and a chunk of ginger run through the juicer. A more colorful and nutritional juice that tastes not like a salad is 3 carrots, 1 apple, 1 stalk of celery, a small piece of beet, 1-2 inches of cucumber, a piece of ginger, and a slice of lemon. This came out a really nice beet-y color and was very smooth, sweet, and drinkable. I poured both types of juice over ice to chill it and dilute it a little bit-sort of like bourbon on the rocks, only healthier.

I took some pics to log my first juices of the fast. All the fruit and veg before juicing, the juices, and the remnants of the juicing process-it makes great compost for gardens.

Well, I suppose I should finish with a welcome and thank you for checking this out! I will be documenting more solid (haha) topics in the future and covering my classes and events, so keep reading and Chop on.