My Own Therapy

After a stressful week at work, some people like to unwind with a glass of wine or maybe a hot tea..others with a joint or their favorite book- Me, on the other hand, I find solice in a leisurely trip to Whole Foods (not that the wine or joint sound bad either).

This week was one of those weeks--the kind of week where I was literally counting the minutes till Friday would end and the weekend could begin. The days prior to Friday were long stressful and tiresome so when 7pm arrived, I got the F out of work and made a B-line for the subway. On the way to the train, I got a phone call and while the conversation lasted longer than my walk I decided to walk up to 14th street and soon I found myself standing in front of the almighty Whole Foods- a market I rarely get to spend time in.

In my hood, there are two super markets in close proximity- Food Emporium and Associated. I usually end up going to the first over the latter out of shear laziness and conveniance but neither is particularly known for extremely fresh produce, meats, and fish or organic foods but they definitely beat a bodega. So as I walked down the aisles of Whole Foods, I can only get enticed and inspired by the brightly colored fruits and vegetables that lined the shelves. My first pick-up were large portebello caps that sparked the idea to recreate a Food Network recipe I watched that involved eggs, canadian bacon, pesto and said mushroom caps. I made my way to the dairy section to pick up liquid egg whites to make the recipe my own. The next day for breakfast I made Portabello a la turkegg where I incorporated grilled portebello mushrooms with scrambled egg whites, sauteed onions, tomatoes and honey mustard with grilled turkey and cheese. The outcome was a no carb delight that was extremely filling and tasty.

The next aisle that found me was the fresh fish. I swaggered back and forth deciding whether I wanted an already marinated piece of fish or au natural. I decided to get the black cod and a seperate marinade (miso) so I can use it on vegetables as well(eggplant, soybeans and shredded carrots). While I love the Nobu rendition of this dish and have the recipe as well, I wasn't about to wait 2-3 days for the marinade to sink in- I'd have to deal with a day and that would be fine...and it was.



While the line to check out was a bit out of control and the bill was expensive for a bag of groceries, I can't help but love the calm of picking out the perfect produce or the cut of fish and know it's going to be great. Maybe I'm just a food dork (ok- we all know I am!) but it just sets up for my next therapeutic session when I'm by myself chopping, dicing, prepping and inevitably cooking. It's kind of funny how a NYer unwinds by being productive!