Baldur

Baldur eats eggs and dairy products

Baldur

I just did some rapid online research and my 'hoof' remark was inaccurate, for that Baldur apologizes.

Baldur

Hooves are not used.
Baldur also cannot eat regular marshmallows for the same reason, gelatin.
There are Kosher marshmallows sometimes available, but lately I sometimes see that they contain fish-based gelatin instead of agar.
It's all about reading labels.

marius

Ahhh, that is good. It would be hard to live without eggs and dairy products.

btw, Does Baldur have the book, "Food Lover's Companion?" No doubt he would not need such a book, but marius is thoroughly enchanted with it.

Whenever a question comes up ... it seems to be answered in that book. Spouse and I debated a LONG time about basmati rice. We guessed all kinds of things and settled on idea that it was a "different" rice, like wild rice. We were most surprised to find the answer.

marius

And minute I typed that, remembered, wild rice is not technically a rice. But ... who would want to buy and cook grass seeds?

Baldur

No, I do not have that book.

Gelatin as an additive effects lots of foods
I cannot eat Skittles, Necco Wafers, or traditional German Gummi Bears.
I can however eat jelly beans (pectin based) and US made Gummi bears.

Baldur

Wild rice is great stuff but cooks quite differently than real rice.
Sometimes you see mixes, that contain both. Baldur scratches his head because wild rice take 3 times as long to cook as the other.
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

marius

Baldur is forgiven for Hooves comment. tee hee. And, how amazing there is such a thing as Kosher marshmallows, kosher jello, etc. When I was a vegetarian all that meant was no meat. Never thought about meat-based products at all. Is it a lot of work to keep those out of diet, or has it become habit and easy to remedy?

I will look for answers tomorrow as the night fairies just arrived and tossed a generous sprinkling of sleep powder in my direction. It is the most effective stuff, the head is starting to nod already!

Sweet dreams and refreshing sleep to all. Thanks for the talk, Baldur!

Baldur

Baldur's diet is difficult in other ways too.
I really dislike whipped cream, always have.
I also avoid frostings. I frosted so many cakes in my life that it has no appeal for me.
Here at Chez Baldur if I need to fancy up a homemade cake the best solution is to melt a little bit of fruit preserves, perhaps with a splash of liqueur and use that on top.

Baldur

I always need to be alert as to what I'm buying or ordering.
Even Robert reads labels now.
I watch for keywords like:
Lard
Gelatin
Aluminum (I discussed that not long ago)

Baldur

Several years back (my 40th birthday) when Vera and myself were rather close he wanted to bake a birthday cake for me. Knowing about my frosting issues he thoughtfully asked what I would like.
This was for a dreadful birthday party, I seem to fall victim to one every tenth year.
I told him to bake a yellow cake, brush it heavily with melted raspberry preserves and sprinkle it lavishly with shredded coconut.
He said 'You want a giant 'Dolly Madison Zinger'?
It's exactly what I wanted.
I was lucky to get the first slice, the guests attacked that cake and ate every last crumb. There was no going back for seconds.

GOLDIEGIRL8

Who's Vera?????

Baldur

Vera is a dear old friend who has becoming less dear and more old as time progresses.
That was rather unkind of me to say, Baldur has also gotten older. We all do I suppose. Even those of us who do not age.
But Vera and I were once much closer than we are now. You will find, Goldiegirl that these things happen occasionally.
He is still a good person, but we tend to grate on each other's nerves.
Because of this our social interaction has become rather limited.

Dragon

Dragon is wondering how Baldur became a vegitarian? He may have told us this already and it has slipped my mind but I can't remember. Is there an ethical reason or simply a dislike of meat. I had a room-mate in Vancouver who was a vegitarian for the simple reason that she could not stand the smell of meat cooking. It put her off so much she didn't eat meat at all even if she didn't have to smell it cooking.
I also wonder if Baldur has any strange meat cravings occasionally. Both my sister and sister-in-law used to be vegetarian and they said (horrified as they were to admit it) that both of them craved Big-Mac's when they craved meat.

Baldur

Baldur was a cook in nursing homes for many years, my last position in that regard had me feeding breakfast and lunch to 85 people.
I was getting more and more horrified with the concept of 'meat' as time went by.
It's amazing how many people in foodservice become vegetarians. There should be statistics on that somewhere.
Back while I was enrolled in the culinary program in college we started with just a scattering of vegetarians, but by graduation the numbers shot up close to 10%. Baldur was not a vegetarian then, but I have since converted.
What finally pushed me over the edge (and this is seasonally relevent) was roasted turkey.
At least once a week I needed to roast for large whole turkeys and then take all the meat off the bones.
It is nearly impossible to do that without getting turkey grease all over oneself. The apron and the uniform can go through the laundry, but the smell will not wash of your skin. It sometimes took a couple days before I could no longer smell it on my hands.
I found it rather gross.
By that time I was already no longer eating red meat, and really always disliked seafood. So the Turkey incident toppled the rest of the animal kingdom out of my diet.

Baldur

Baldur thinks roast pork smells very good, but the thing that has come closest to making me cheat has been grilled lamb with garlic.
I find that scent intoxicating.
Should I happen to pass any place selling gyros the temptation is quite strong.
Luckily Robert hates lamb, so I never have to cook it at home.

Baldur

for +u =four

Baldur

of +f =off

Baldur

Now it's time for Radio Baldur's ever popular cooking segment.
Since I happen to be frying crabcakes for Robert's supper this evening allow me to cover that recipe for you.

Baldur's Crab Cakes

Take 1 6oz tin of crabmeat and drain off most of the juice.
Give the juice to your cats
Combined the slmost dry crabmeat, in a bowl with:
6 saltine crackers (crushed in your fist)
1 tablespoon of chopped chives (dehydrated is fine)
1 heaping teaspoon of Mayonaisse
stir until well combined. put aside
in a shallow bowl or pie tin place:
1/ cup season bread crumbs
with your hands form the crab mixture into 2 patties, each being approiximately 3" in diameter and 3/4" thick
place each patty into the bowl of crumbs and press down gently
turn each patty over and repeat so that the outside surfaces are breaded
place in the refrigerator until ready to fry them.
Just before serving fry them briefly on each side in a small amount of olive or vegetable oil until golden brown
Serve with tartar sauce or even better salsa as an accompaniment

Dragon

I think I'll have to stay out of the food preparation industry because I really do love meat and wouldn't want to spoil it for myself.