My Top 10 Food Sins with Recipes

I eat these without guilt

This story is about indulging without guilt.

Those of you who follow my work probably would never have guessed that I enjoy the foods mentioned in this story.

Perhaps you would also not have guessed that I love watching food programs, like Masterchef.

I love eating out, even though since the pandemic as I don’t travel, I eat at home mostly.

Here are some pictures of my time in Madrid.

I enjoy watching chefs like Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, and Nigella Lawson.

Perhaps you also didn’t know that I worked at a catering business called Onsafarifoods in Seattle.

We started working from a home kitchen and now the owner Teresa Carew has delis all over the city of Seattle.

We catered for Bar Mitzfas and other events and I was on the fruit and spanakopita station or I served at the functions.

It was crazy hard work. At night my feet would hurt so much I couldn’t sleep.

We had loads of fun and the Italian chef used to tell me I remind her of Nigella Lawson when I talked about the food, haha.

I was only 18 years old.

Perhaps you also didn’t know that I wanted to become a chef.

I wanted to go to Burgundy in France, to study at a private school, yet after the catering stint, the owner Teresa told me that I should rather work with people than with food and I changed my degree to Public Relations Management.

Back on the food. I was a vegetarian and pescatarian and then I got into breatharianism.

Right now I am at a good place where I know that we are part of EVERYTHING and that it is the relationship we have to whatever we consume, that is important.

Naturally though, as our vibration rises, we realize that some foods resonate better with us and also that we don’t need to eat a lot.

My Top 10 Food Sins

In no particular order of importance

1. BBQ meat or Braaivleis as we say in South Africa.

Often times I like a bit of fat on my chops.

My favorite is lamb chops, yet I don’t mind a good T-bone steak.

Add ground coriander, salt and pepper before adding to the grill.

No charcoal fire — part of the joy is standing in front of a real fire with a glass of good full-bodied red wine.

You got to do it slowly and you need to have the timing right. Aussies and South Africans know how to BBQ, that is a fact.

2. Toasted/Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Oh my gosh, don’t get me started.

I can eat a toastie any time of the day.

I go through stages where I eat it all week.

Sometimes I put tomato, onion and Italian herbs on it. I also do one with paprika or chilli flakes.

3. Quattro Formaggi Pizza — 4 Cheese Pizza

I buy the ready-made fresh one from the supermarket and add mushrooms, shallots, and sometimes goats cheese.

Afterwards, I add a swirl of balsamic glaze and sliced avocado.

I don’t eat pizza often, maybe every three months.

4. Dutch pancakes

I visited Amsterdam five times in two years. I love a dutch pancake. I got a simple recipe, try it out:

— 1 cup of flour — pinch salt — pinch sugar — tsp baking powder — 1/2 cup oil — 1 1/4 cup milk — 2 eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the liquids slowly.

Mix ground cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle over. You can also use honey with cinnamon.

Adding thin apple slices to the pan as it cooks is another alternative.

5. Homemade oven fries

You got to have the right potato. Here in Portugal, we get this red potato, it’s perfect for fries.

I cut them to the size I wish, if I am in hurry, I cut them thin.

Put the oven on full wack, grill setting.

Add a sheet of foil to the baking plate or use a big flat oven dish.

Add fresh rosemary and any other spices you wish with olive oil. Cover it generously.

I usually add Himalayan salt afterward.

Here comes the real sin: Mix mayonnaise, ketchup/tomato puree, balsamic glaze, and chili flakes. I sometimes replace the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt and most times I don’t have ketchup. We get a tasty tomato puree here.

6. Burnt sage butter ravioli

Stop it you!

My love for this came from watching a lot of Masterchef Australia.

So much so that I manifested meeting one of the finalists in Italy, Ben Bullock.

We toured the famous Italian Barolo vineyards on his motorcycle and he made us Burnt sage butter nettle ravioli.

I was hooked on the ravioli from then onward.

Here’s my cheat recipe:

— buy the ravioli from the store — bring water to the boil — add a pinch of salt to the water — boil ravioli for 5–7 minutes or until ready — Whilst pasta is draining make the sauce — Add butter to the pot you already used [saving dishes here] — Add a handful of fresh sage leaves — Fry the butter and sage leaves on low heat until it goes brown and nutty — Drizzle over the pasta and add extra salt and pepper if you need

7. Asian BBQ Oven Ribs

This is a simple recipe.

You make your own marinade of soy sauce, honey, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, tomato puree, olive oil, Worcester sauce, BBQ or Caribbean meat rub/spice, and five anis spice.

Buy your pork or lamb ribs from the butcher and marinade for an hour or two.

I like a bit of fat on the ribs.

Again I put the oven on full wack and on the grill setting.

It makes for good caramelization without overcooking the meat.

8. Choc chip ice-cream

I generally don’t eat ice cream.

There’s something about chocolate chips though.

When I was living in Seattle my favorite was Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk— it had nuts, oh my goodness, stay away from me.

9. Snickers

Again you will rarely find me eating chocolate.

As we are on the American favorites, I need to add this one.

I lived in Fort Lauderdale and my friend Catherine [Cat] gave me a Snickers bar that came straight from the freezer.

It was delicious.

Rock-hard.

I have it with English tea.

10. Monster Sandwich

I might have to write a whole story on my monster sandwiches.

I was actually thinking of opening a sandwich deli, maybe one day when I live in the USA.

I love making sandwiches.

The monster sandwich goes like this:

— Buy a full-size Ciabatta bread [for 2 people] — You can do whatever filling you wish — Example: Crumbed fish, caramelized onion, mayonnaise, capers/gherkins, balsamic glaze, lettuce, tomato, chili flakes.

You can pretty much add anything you like.

I usually check what is in the fridge.

The important part is the bread. Cut it in half first and put it in the oven so that it goes crisp. As you take it out, take fresh garlic and rub it all over the crust.

Then you add your fillings and cut them into servings.

This is my first food story.

I actually had more to say about it than I thought. Let me know if you like my food story, please!

Gratitude to all supporters, today I send positive energy to Dr Mehmet Yildiz Dr Michael Heng Dr. Preeti Singh Sreese Alison McBain Ulf Wolf Marcus aka Gregory Maidman

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