The Iron Palate

I deviate somewhat from my typical chronological posting pattern* to address the issue of how I eat when The Propane Chef is not on site.  (At present he is crew on a 40-foot boat he and a professional delivery captain are taking back up Baja to the Los Angeles area.  More on that, later.)  The Propane Chef always takes very good care of me and when he knows he will be away he does his best to supply me with wholesome, nutritious food choices – for at least the first few days of his absence.  (Too bad he expects to be gone 2 weeks or more on this delivery.)

If you ask him why he goes to such effort, GB would just shrug and say, "It's my job."

How delicate.

Truth is, after decades of tolerating my eccentricities peaceful coexistence, GB is very familiar with how I eat when left to my own devices – and my cast-iron palate still horrifies him. I'm sure my usual breakfast of "one-egg-plus-one-egg-white, scrambled" with corn tortillas gets a bit boring to look at day after day, I don't know.  Or maybe it's my habit of defining "lunch" as tuna eaten straight out of the foil pouch, chased by a nice banana or some Saltines.  A meal of clean protein and carbs, you betcha.  I use a fork to eat the tuna so I don't see what's so heinous.

Regardless of how I offend his silver-palate sensibilities, pre-departure The Chef usually brews up some homemade chicken stock for me to use to cook the brown rice I love so much; grills some beef and chicken for a variety of hot and cold meals; and reminds me how to turn on the stove and use a knife.  This time was no exception.  Bonus:  the fridge was full of quality leftovers for me to graze through – such delicacies as one store-bought tamale, a pineapple, avocados and many other veggies.  Too many, as it happens:  as much as I love avocados, four are a bit much for one human (even one as…ermmm…robust as myself) to consume.  Spinach is nice, but here in the tropics in August, it only stays good for, oh, about as long as it takes you to get it home.  And so on.  My job was to eat as much as I could before it went bad, all the while making nice, healthy meals.**

I believe I succeeded, though my product in no way approaches the quality or visual appeal of The Chef's output.  Here now, as proof to The Propane Chef and all of cyberspace that I can actually prepare food that's good and good for me, are samples of a few meals I've made all by myself since my man's been gone:

Over here on the left we have that leftover store-bought tamale mentioned above, paired with a wilted spinach salad.  Salad includes 1/2 orange, and some pecan halves toasted in honey, cinnamon and cayenne pepper.

Next up, a very large lunchtime salad to use up most of the veggies before the next grocery trip.  No surprises here – a bit of grilled chicken, lettuce & spinach, 1/2 avocado, carrots, some brown rice, a Roma tomato.  Dressing was balsamic vinegar mixed with honey, fresh nutmeg and red pepper flakes.  Photo's somewhere down over there on the right:

Finally, below, a lovely breakfast omelet (one-egg-plus-one-egg-white) with avocado & spinach.  Corn tortillas & a Roma tomato on the side.  Yes, the omelet broke – thanks for pointing that out, all you eagle-eyed cooking pundits.  Next time I'll just use more butter, eh?

Whew.  I'm exhausted from all this cooking.  So many dishes to wash, too.  A couple more days, & I may be back to the Pouch Tuna Diet.  At least that way, there's only a fork to wash.  Schnort.
 

* the one with a built-in delay of a month or more.  Ahem.

** I really need to start eating clean again.  Need to lose a lot of cruiser-boozer fat.  What a shame there are still some chips & cookies on the boat, and no witnesses to how I dispose of them.  *burp*

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