Grapefruit cocktail with herbs
Refreshing!
There are times when I feel like I want to flush out all the bad stuff in my body. Detox, as people call it nowadays I guess. I don’t go to extremes like some people do though – I couldn’t eat just nothing but fiber supplements and water. My version of detox is just taking it easy on eating, and drink lots of fresh juice and mineral water. The key here is to eliminate as much chemicals and processed foods off the table as much as possible. It really works. I always feel so much better after a day of eating “clean.”
This morning, I craved something fresh. But as it’s a hassle to walk to the market through a foot of snow, I decided to get my craving fixed from what I had in my fridge. After perusing through the lower box where I keep all my fruits and vegetables, I decided to make a grapefruit cocktail. I had three organic grapefruits on hand, so I juiced one, and cut the flesh out of the other two. Grapefruit is known for its numerous health benefits. It’s known to lower bad cholesterol, boost liver enzymes that clean out carcinogens, and increase alkalinity in our body. It also contains high amount of lycopene, an anti-oxidant that is known to lower the risk of prostate cancer. To the juice cocktail, I put some parsley bits. Parsley is known to be rich in anti-oxidants, like flavonoids. I also just love the taste of parsley. But if I had other herbs like basil on hand, I would’ve used that too. Grapefruit and basil are incredibly fragrant and refreshing together.
Once I got my juice fix, I slowly made my way to more solid stuff. Oh yes, the next was le yaourt nature. One of the things I miss the most about Paris is having an access to really good plain yogurt. It’s creamy but light, it’s tangy, it’s delicious. In any case, I couldn’t have french yaourt, but I had a quart of Ronnybrook’s non fat plain yogurt I had bought from the farmer’s market yesterday. I like it because there is no thickener in it. All that’s used is skim milk and yogurt cultures. Another good one is from Seven Stars Farm. They don’t use thickeners in their yogurt either. Totally yummy. To the light and tangy yogurt, I added some maple syrup for the right sweet/tang balance. And dare I say, this winning combination never disappoints me.
Marbled yogurt and maple syrup in a pot
And now one step closer to solid foods, I decided to poach some fresh farm eggs, also from the farmer’s market. Poaching eggs is a bit tricky. It helps if you use fresh eggs (as they don’t disperse as much in the water), put a bit of vinegar in the water (to help protein coagulate), and keep the heat low to a simmer level (boiling water can easily make an egg drop soup, not poached eggs). Mine didn’t come out exactly pretty, but they were still poached eggs. On top of the poached eggs, I sprinkled some sea salt and pepper, added chopped parsley (can you tell if I like parsley yet?), drizzled some basil olive oil, and grated a bit of parmagiano-reggiano on top. But just a little bit to add flavors, not a whole tub of it. I think it was the lightest egg dish I had ever tasted. Eggs were amazingly satisfying and refreshing this way. Who thought eggs could be “refreshing?”
Poached eggs with parsley and parmagiano-reggiano, drizzled with basil oil
The city looked clean this morning too. It was white with snow everywhere. As soon as I got up, I took a camera and headed out to make foot prints on the clean snow. There is something about walking through an un-walked bed of snow. I felt like a 6 year old girl as long as the walk lasted. I would say it is one of the few occasions that NYC actually looks clean. All in all, I feel extremely refreshed this morning. I wish I could feel like this everyday.
As New York as it gets on a winter day. Looking at the Chrysler building on Irving Place.
On 19th Street between Park Avenue South and Irving Place
Gramercy Park
