I've been seeing food in a whole different light lately. A few months ago, when I first found out that I was dealing with Hepatitis C, I was concerned that I was either already protein-malnourished, or that its occurrence was a strong possibility. With that in mind I decided to start eating meat again, after living as a vegetarian for the prior two and a half years. As a result, I have in general felt better, but it also opened up the Pandora's Box of the temptation of fast/junk food, something that really doesn't offer a lot of opportunity to experience when one is eating meatless.
Thankfully, I have to say that only two or three times have I given into the temptation, and it's been with either KFC or Taco Bell. Which is worse I'm not sure, or if there is even worse fast food is probably debatable (and rhetorical; after all, isn't bad really just bad? Divisions like less bad or more bad is really splitting unnecessary hairs).
But that is not what I want to talk about, I want to talk about good food. As I spent the last couple of months preparing for Interferon therapy, and the likely malaise and fatigue it would bring along as its baggage, I decided that an important part of my recovery would be good healthy fresh food. If I was too tired to cook, I didn't want to have to rely on prepared processed store-bought meals (picture the frozen food section of Safeway and Costco). I didn't want to stuff my gullet full of food rife with corn and soy products and by-products, artificial this or that, stabilizers, preservatives, extenders. If I was going to have pre-made meals, I was going to make them from scratch, using only fresh ingredients, and then package them as complete individual meals and freeze them.
Storage was my initial concern, so off I went to Sears a couple of months ago, and I bought an upright freezer and put it in the garage. Between that freezer and the freezers in my kitchen and garage refrigerators, it looked like that would provide ample storage space. I know, 2 refrigerators does come across as excessive, but I do entertain on occasion, and like to keep cold beverages as well (since it's barely been below 100 degrees this last week; typical Walnut Creek summer). I actually do use all this cold storage, so I don't feel bad about it, especially now, as I sit here basically home-bound by my even more compromised immune system (more on that later). I really do not have to leave my safe little enclave much, and I'm grateful that I've been able to make that happen.
Now that storage was solved, I headed off to Smart and Final (food service grocery, mostly for restaurants, delis and caterers) and found the ideal storage for my meals - freezable and microwaveable containers (made for caterers), perfect size for a meal and somewhat reusable. Then I set off in turning my kitchen into a catering kitchen, and spent the next one and a half months cooking, packing and freezing meals. They are balanced (a meat/protein, complex carbohydrate, and fresh vegetables), portioned appropriately (I'm a small eater, so I was able to portion the meals to my appetite, not having to deal with leftovers if I had a store-bought prepared meal), and most of all, healthy and not full of plastic food crap, like what we're fed at fast food establishments and chain restaurants and/or store-bought prepared food.
Up to today, I've frozen around 80 meals, and have the makings for easily another 80-100. Unfortunately, all my freezer space is now taken up, so I'm going to whittle away at what I've already made before making more. I seem to have at least two good days a week, often more, so I can still make more meals when needed.
Lately I've been inundated with news, writings and discussions about food. I've seen at least two interviews with author Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food). I've seen numerous references to the new documentary "Food Inc.", which is described as the extension of Pollan's book. I keep seeing news stories, articles and interviews about how what we buy from the grocery stores today is so far from the ingredient's origins, how the "food" we buy is chocked with corn and soy products. My eyes have really been re-opened in regard to how our assumptions about where our food comes from, i.e., assuming that the produce in the grocery store is regional, when it's likely from hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Partially as a result of this flood of information and partially just by coincidence, I made the conscious decision to eat more locally (regionally), organically, and to also eat seasonally. Eating seasonally is actually something that will happen naturally if one is eating locally. I am buying almost all of my produce at the Farmer's Market, which I go to every Saturday. This has been my conclusion: local seasonal produce tastes better. Actually, it just tastes right. Raspberries and strawberries that were picked the morning that I bought them from a local berry farm have the most incredible, intense and complex flavors. I am finding that the more I listen to my body, the more I realize that my body craves what is seasonally available. Beets, turnips, Swiss chard, green beans, peas - all these are ripe right now and I crave them. A week or two ago, I started having a hankering for apricots and peaches. When I got to the market that Saturday, there they were.
Even though it won't be quite the same, I have been freezing a lot of what I've bought so that I can enjoy it this winter. Though I won't be eating seasonally at that point, I'll at least be enjoying food that was grown and harvested locally and seasonally. To keep my pledge to myself to eat seasonally, I'll supplement what I'm preparing from the freezer or a canning jar (that I canned myself) with seasonal produce: winter squashes, root vegetables etc.. As I write this I'm waiting for tomatoes (grown in the dirt and outdoors, not hothouse cardboard "tomatoes"), rhubarb, corn and melons. I'll can and/or freeze what I can, as well as enjoying it the day it comes home. So far, I've canned jams (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and apricot), plums from Brian's plum tree, hommade teriaki with seasonal fruit and dessert sauces made from the same fruit I'm making jams from and freezing for baking. I've frozen green beans, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries so far, as well as making strawberry and rasberry freezer jam, and will continue to freeze produce as it matures and comes to market.
There is a fly in the ointment (or soup, pick your metaphor) here: I was at my doctor's appointment yesterday, and found out that the Interferon has dropped my white blood cell count to a dangerously low level. What this means is that my risk for infection is greatly increased, and I have to take extra precautions; decrease social contact, avoid raw or undercooked foods (especially meat products), wash all produce thoroughly, and as much as possible, stay home.
I have never been much of a germophobe. Even being a nurse hasn't made me neurotic about germs. I won't take foolish risks, and I do maintain good hygiene and practice frequent hand washing, but I'm not obsessed with germs. Let me rephrase that; I didn't used to be obsessed with germs. I may have only found this out yesterday, but I'm now rethinking all of my prior beliefs on infection control. I see the microbe-laden boogy man everywhere. My question is: where does prudent behavior end and obsessive behavior begin?
I started weekly injections of Neupogen yesterday. It's basically a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to produce white blood cells. It should work relatively quickly, so hopefully I'll only be stuck in this plastic bubble for a few weeks. This is all still worth it to me, as long as the Interferon works, and I need to keep telling myself that it is working. If that is the case, then I'll see all this as just a series of minor inconveniences.
Being stuck at home in medical isolation really isn't all that bad. I'm a solitary man by nature, and I relish my alone time. That it has now been forced upon me is not that big of a deal, but it is interesting. Things that I would have considered ridiculous in the past, like deciding that the prudent thing to do if I'm out in public is to wear a surgical mask, seems downright sensible now. So much for blending in; I probably couldn't stick out more, unless I attach a flashing red light to the top of my head. Maybe I'll just stay home. The house is a mess and I'm exhausted. Once I'm rested up and if I have the energy, there is plenty to do around here.
Last week was Gay Pride, and it ended with a bang on Sunday with the parade down Market St. followed by a celebration outside City Hall in San Francisco. After that, we went to a pool party hosted by Miss Jauanita More!, one of San Francisco's drag royalty. All three of us, myself, Amanda (Brian) and Mona (Mikey) looked gorgeous. There are thousands of photographs of us out there now. I've only seen a few, but we looked pretty darned fabulous. For those of you who don't know, I'm notoriously bad about taking pictures, I always have been, but as mine start appearing I'll put them on my Facebook page.
Today I want to get the house cleaned up. At this moment, I'm not sure that I have the energy to follow through on that, in which case, I'll flop myself onto the sofa and watch movies, much as I have done for the last 3 days. Right now one of the creepiest movies that I've ever seen is on, "Shutter". It's about a photographer whose camera is haunted by the ghost of somebody whose death he is involved in. Creepy, creepy, creepy.
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