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Don't You Love Cooking For The Holidays? I get it, We've been isolated from our friends and family especially during the holidays because of this damn Covid Pandemic and Delta Variant! However, this year we felt comfortable enough with some minor hesistency to have a family gathering like the way it should be. Grandma can see her children and grandchildren, siblings can finally get together to agree or disagree with the topic of the night, our children serving in the Armed forces and relatives travelling from a far to be close to family for a celebration feast or an extended weekend feast Sounds great, everyone finally getting together. BUT, if your hosting the get together whether you volunteer out of the goodness of your heart or its your turn from the last meeting 2 years ago, your spirit is high and you can't wait to do the shopping, fighting crowds at the supermarket pushing your cart, fighting for a parking space and watching out for the other guy. Let's face it, during the holidays, everyone has thousands of things on their mind. We are not focused 100% on the road especially in the holiday cramped shopping center. This year is special, you noticed that alot of items are not available, probably sitting in a warehouse with not enough truckers to deliver. Ok, what's a good substitute? Lugging all the bags of groceries home, thinking is the turkey defrosted? You put on your apron but you gotta have some wine or beer to ease the tension, anxiety and nervousness. You double check if the house to make sure its spotless, beds made, vaccuum, dusted, The relatives that flew in come in early and they just want to have a long overdue conversation, you politely smile and nod your head, their kids are running into you screaming away, You start getting the appetizers ready in the oven, the dip is chilling, its key that nothing burns in the oven. You get the turkey in the oven. You tried a different way of roasting the turkey, cutting the backbone out and splitting it in half for uniformed cooking. Looks delicious, smothered the turkey with mayo to seal in the juices, then added salt pepper, thyme, sazon and paprika with the under side with scallion, ginger and fresh garlic. Nieces and brothers arrive and volunteer to help set the table, enough ice, check, red enough red cups, check, wine chilled, beer ready, soda chilled, hard seltzer ready? Everyone comes in, everything is in the oven, time to socialize, have to shower and dress nicely, where's my beer? Ok, my mind is running like a Stock market ticker tape, just smile and nod. Really worried that everything goes well. Turkey is cooking in 1/2 the time with this new way, yeah!. Checked dining table, setup is perfect, enough sitting? double check, ok Will everything be ready, fingers crossed! I looked outside, sun is setting, thank god I put the turkey in when I did. Turkey test, meat is ready, so moist, so flavorful, need to drain the giblet for the delicious gravy. Told everyone "DINNER IS SERVED" Everyone rushes to the table and we say grace and jumped right in. Conversations, drinking, eating and more drinking eating and conversations. About 20 minutes and everyone is stuffed! Everyone leaves the table to relax in the living room, talking, watching TV specials and chilling. Thank God for dishwashers, but some pots and pans need to be washed by hand, clearing the table, leftovers in zip lock bags and frozen or for carry out later. No, the coffee and dessert! Whew!!!!! BUT through it ALL, it was a pleasure to see everyone no matter how much effort in preparing a fantastic meal. I finally got a few minutes to rest, a little achy but when all is said and done, I slept like a baby!!!!!! and a little snoring!!!! LOL Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com
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I've always pride myself to make a home cook meal from scratch. American food
was a treat on the weekend way back when. On Long Island the treat on Saturday was driving to Wetson's drive thru. Today, fast food is now the norm during the week for lunch and dinner. Yes, I'm a boomer and in the beginning my daughter appreciated my Asian dishes for dinner. She didn't know any better, now she grew up and more picky. Yes, I take responsibility for introducing McDonald fries to my little toddler and she loved it. Yes, Taco Bell and Rita's ice cream, plus pizza both fresh and frozen, corn dogs, hot dogs and I can go on and on. Not thinking how that might effect her future appetite, school lunches didnt help much with nuggets, fried food and God knows what else that is so unhealthy. The less I know I guess the better. Then going out eating a soft pretzel or Cinnabon, fried chicken at the res stops, Panda Express just wasn't the right direction to eat better. No matter where you looked, we're being bombarded with food advertisement on billboard, running across our TV/s is just a bad thing. So am I really surprised that she wants a sub, plus since living in the burbs, access to good food is limited. So, what is a dad to do? Apparently not much. Trying to make smaller portions tastier like a little more sugar flavor, always a good option but is it really healthy? For me no way but for her everything in moderation is ok. She enjoys boney items w dark meat, more flavor, mix it up a bit, one night Italian, then Chinese, then Mexican but to me its a vicious cycle. Then she makes her way to the kitchen and her famous annoying words are blurted out "Dad Not Chinese again"! or One night I decided to make her favorite. I prepped all items and started cooking. I was damn proud but when I presented it to her, she said "Dad, I used to like it but no longer". I was flabbergasted. So what is a Dad to do? That is the question that will haunt me the rest of my life! Moving forward, I cook a small portion for myself and if she likes it I give her a small portion. My daughter who is going through terrible 13 will drive me to an early grave! I'll always remember her famous words to be "Daddy, this is what you signed up for?" By Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com P.S: Comment if you can relate? Cultural Diversity & American Assimilation
Our families came to America for a better life. Many came with only what they can hold, in their hands, unable to speak the new language of English. In their own special way they found interesting ways to start speaking English. One instance was with my grandmother on my father's side. She had aspirations of being a doctor. Her way of learning English was going to the movies. At that time "Gone With The Wind" was the top movie of the day. My grandfather told me that grandma tried her best to mimic Scarlett O' Hara lines. She understood how important it was to learn her adoptive country's English language. Unfortunately, grandmother's life was taken too soon and her dream of being a doctor vanished. My mom & Dad were born in the states, my dad was born in Springfield, Massachussetts and mom was born in Manhattan, NY. They eventually settle on Long Island suburbia witnessing racism when purchasing their dream home in Massapequa, NY. Dad was a veteran of Korea and studied Engineering. There was a tremendous need for engineers since most of the defense contractors at the time were located on Long Island. So, started the assimilation process, being practically the only Asian kid in elementary school through high school, made friends in the neighborhood and enjoying suburbia life, going to McDonalds trying the Big Mac, Burger King's Whopper, Nathan hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, steaks, corn on the cob, salad, birthday cake celebrations, fried chicken with KFC, you get the jist. Hanging out with the guys playing football in the street or baseball, riding bicycles etc... etc... eating watermelon, apples peaches, cherries, going fishing at Captree State park fishing for blowfish, crabbing. and most of all watching my favorite TV shows. T.V Dinners was a big thing with Swanson, Banquet fried chicken and Ellios pizza were #1 in my book. Add in Chinese food that dear mom tried to make, really loved grandma's version. Because I was the oldest male, in the Chinese culture, we are truly spoiled so I would complain to grandma that dear mom didn't make a certain dish her way, she would scold dear mom and after trying on numerous attempts, she finally got it right. Now my daughter, yes, totally 100% assimilated in Suburban Maryland, similar circumstances that daddy went through x10. As I am know a dad to my daughter, eating healthy is very important. My expertise is of course Chinese and every night of every day I make sure she eats a good meal. Doesn't matter to me the effort required to make a meal from scratch, but she's worth it. Mom, has her special diet and tries to resist the temptation. Well, once upon a day, my daughter was less than enthusiastic when I was cooking a Chinese dish. She said, "Daddy, can't we have something other than Chinese? I was flawed!!!!. I said what did you have in mind? "Daddy, how about Papa John's Pizza Hawaiian Pizza". She added, can we take a break from Chinese food for awhile! I said, sure, and made spaghetti with meatballs, frozen Gordon's fish fillet , hamburgers, hot dogs and everything American. So as any of you can understand having a 13 year old daughter, they change in the wind, then one day she said, "Daddy, can you cook some Chinese food", I'm tired of hot dogs and pizza. And life goes on! Your children will get the best of both worlds from a food standpoint!!!! Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com Good Times Memories With Food
After being Mr. Mom which involved cleaning the house, cooking, doing you tube videos, being a chauffeur to my darling daughter, mowing the lawn, looking after the garden, weeding, doing the laundry, vacuuming, dusting and everything else that comes with the territory. These responsibilities were there while my wife is out making a living, so someone had to do it. Do I realize what she went through when I was working and she was taking care of our daughter . You betcha. Needless to say I enjoyed my sleep when all is said and done. One night I had a dream of being invited by a good friend to share dinner with him. My wife and daughter travelled to visit her mom, so my buddy offered to cook a dinner one night. Now, to setup the scenario, I'm Asian and love to cook Asian. You say what's the point. Well, the point is that how I prepare food is to slice morsels of beef or chicken or seafood into bite size pieces and then stir fry with various vegetables. Whether I use a fork or a pair of chopsticks, that has always been my way of eating going way back to when I was a kid. It was only back in the heyday that on the weekend my Dad would buy steak and barbeque it on the charcoal grill. Prices for steak back then was really cheap. Each of us and I have 4 sibling received a steak, It was that cheap! But as prices increased, the demand in our household focused on chicken and pork products. Everything was still cut into small pieces. That's just the way it was. When I did have a steak I felt bloated and too stuffed. My desire for steak faded slowly. If I did have a steak it was a small sirloin steak. I just felt intimidated seeing a big cut of beef presented to me is a little scary. Well, years later and getting back to the dream, I arrive at my buddy's place. His wife and 2 boys are at the table. I have no idea what he's cooking until I get there. I do appreciate the aroma of fresh beef grilling. but never did I imagine the huge steaks he was making. My buddy is a beef lover. He loves steak. So, the steaks are cooking and I'm conversing with his wife and playing with the kids. Dinner is ready. We're all sitting down and I anxiously awaiting my meal. Well! He plop a huge gigantic steak on my plate . It looked delicious but it was huge!. How the hell was I going to eat this monster. I took my steak knife and started to cut thin slices and it was cooked perfectly, medium rare, it was delicious juicy and perfect but after a couple of sliced pieces, I was full! I looked at my buddy and he took his steak and created with his steak knife a crisscross board with chunks of beef ready to devour. He grabbed the steak cubes which was medium rare , jabbed it and ate that huge cube of beef. I was stunned to watch as he took another huge cube of beef and ate it with delight!. I started to laugh as he asked me if there was anything wrong with the steak since I barely made a dent. I said it was delicious but what I found so amazing was that he ate that whole steak in 15-20 minutes. He laughed as he saw me struggling eating the steak but we've been friends for a very long time, we had great conversation and shared some laughs with past memories we shared together as my daughter and her son were born at the same hospital and we went for training as our wives with shoulder massage. That dream of eating steak brought a smile and a laugh. I called him the next day and we both remember that experience. From then on when we go to his place, I always volunteer making dinner and everyone loves it! Just wanted to share a funny story. Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com Calorie Solution & Eat Mostly Anything
In my last article I demonstrated to you how we are bombarded with delicious high calorie foods and healthy parcels that probably will cost booku bucks. Not enough to sustain the right pattern. But at the end of the day, are we really happy be tempted 24/7 on TV, radio, magazines and store advertisement sales. Those cookbook? Think about it, 1 diet cookbook for everyone? Who's really profiting? and who's getting the short end of the stick? Everyone's body is different based on hereditary, eating habits, mental illness, psychological drama. So, if we follow these books without consulting with your physician, you could be risking damage to your body. This is what I suggest: The Calorie Plan. Find out for your height, and weight what your daily caloric intake is. Then do research and gather all the foods you love for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Divide your calorie intake split amongst each meal. Choose whatever you like but emphasize high fiber veggies and fruits, drink water instead of soda and energy drinks, you can have starch but balanced , a protein, a veggie and a carb. based n calories. At the end of the day, you met all the calories for the day and you really enjoyed the food rather than depriving yourself of your favorites. Now take a walk around the block with the dog or your friend or your children and wife. If you cheat, than walk a little bit longer. But to have more control and eat healthier if you want, spend the time learning to cook. It might be more expensive but believe me it will be healthier and portion control will help you save money. Let me know how it goes. Chef Woo Can at www.chefwoocan.com How Do I Lose Weight & Maintain?
Well, the odds of that happening is very difficult. Why? Let's see what's happening? Food manufacturers look at us as consumers with disposable income. Their mission is to find ways to maximize profits while retaining existing customers and bringing new customers into the fold. So what ae their resources to achieve their goal? First off advertising on television with fancy pictures that are artistically shown to make the product look mouth watering. Our sense of sight on these perfectly picture items is very enticing. We're pounded every day with new products until we basically mimic the commercial. Fast food and fast food family establishment does the same every minute of everyday. Hundred of thousand of dollars are paid to advertising firms to see a companies product using adjectives, verbs, lingo and run every day of every minute of everyday. Companies have advertised every facet of our life style and uses it to their benefit on how to make life easier for us all by providing fast service, fast food at a reasonable price. The concerns of companies is to maximize their profits . How do they do this? By buying the cheapest grade of meats. Cheapest grades means no flavor. No flavor no body will buy, so for beef what needs to be done. I remember a time when good beef had their own flavor. Now, we need to marinate our meats. Mind you marinades consist of salt and/or sugar. Both are harmful to our bodies through high blood pressure and diabetes. We've never been told that our diets must change as we get older. But emphasis is more on devices to monitor our ailments that preventive measures that ultimately can be used to ween ourselves off these medications. So, what happens, the Millennial Generation puts their foot down demanding food manufacturers to cut out sugars and/or salt. No hormones has been discontinued. Great strives are being made at the request of Millennials generation. My hat goes off to the Millennials. But the food service business finds loopholes like let's emphasize sugary drinks and offer them at a cheap price. Change advertising geared toward thirst quenching drinks, so we may eat a little healthier, we miss the mark with drinks that are so sugary. Fried food is the essence of fast food eating. The crunch factor is very important. Crunchy with salty and sweet is the perfect flavor combination But with the onset of the air fryer you would think eating healthy fried goods is great, but its the flavoring agents in the batter that turns a green light to buy more. So, can we lose weight? Yes we can by simply "Will Power" We never hear anything about "Will Power" and its quite difficult to achieve. Stress, Anxiety, Depression, impact and stand in the way of weight gain. Companies are reducing staff meaning more work, administrative delays in hiring leave vacancies at its highest creating more stress working with less. Relationships, unhappiness all compound the problems we face each day. So, we turn to comfort food, ice cream, high fat foods, and constantly being bombarded every minute of everyday. We just want to relax watching the tube. But is it really wise. Personally, I though Cable TV was to be shown without commercials, but that's not happening. No matter what diet book we purchase and you need to know that some of these diet books haven't been tested whether they are safe or not. And just think, 1 diet book applied to all? What about family history, preexisting cases, high blood pressure, diabetics, sometimes some diet books don't consider individual with these conditions. The stress that's put on your body takes a toll? So be careful. Certain diets address certain issues and sometimes they achieve the goals on that diet but may cause other problems like deficiencies in other areas. The diet books objective is to lose weight, maybe not so much to maintain that weight. So, you lose that weight and you now say, I'll have a treat and that treat leads to another favorite food and promising yourself that you'll get on the wagon back to diet and after awhile it never happens. The stress that your body is going through is tremendous. So, what can we do? You have to convince yourself that weight gain causes other problems. Once you realize that that's great. Delicious food can be eaten in moderation but portion size is important. Fruits and vegetables must be part of your meal. Consider your age, younger there may be more mobility and exercise. Mental awareness may contribute to weight gain, were there events that is hard to handle or unresolved. Do you know your body, high metabolism or low metabolism, life style change needed. Diets are made to offer appetizing delicious meals but can you constantly sustain this diet or do you miss your comfort food? The mail order meals are great but how long can you sustain eating healthy versus learning to do it yourself. Can I start cooking at home, controlling everything you eat. Control of salt, sugar, substitute items. Yes, its alot of work but after awhile you need to convince yourself your doing it for your well being and your family. Adjustment is always a problem. Complaining is expected but like everything else, they'll appreciate healthy eating. Let me know what you think? ALDI Supermarket
Ok, as everyone knows food prices are going up. More people are unemployed, food banks are overloaded, Federal help has expired, so the question is what have our supermarkets done to lower cost and ultimately lowers prices for us? OK, they are offering on line shopping and curbside pickup, great and Instacart and Shipt are great shoppers for us but everything comes as a cost. I was ready an article about Aldi and what they have done to lower prices even before this pandemic hit the USA. I personally love shopping at Aldi. Yes, they may not have lots of selections to choose from and may only carry some name brand items but if you think about it, this approach reduces inventory and ties up less money, more cashflow for them to invest in other areas. As you may have noticed, getting help from employees is rare and this is done purposely to reduce expense. Displays are designed with the box that the product was packed in my seem shotty but reduces expenses and time. Oh yes, the quarter to get a cart, believe it or not that idea saves money too. And the most interesting part of Aldi is they rotate their inventory, there's always something interesting to choose from. Portions are reasonable, less to freeze and more to eat fresh. Bulk packaging is great for large families but you'll pay a premium, however if its for you and a family of 4, there are portions designed for you. I've alays been a brand name guy and God knows I pay extra, so I decided to buy oat meal. I was so used to Quaker Oats but bought another unknown name oatmeal and I can say it was so much better than Quaker Oats and cheaper too! So, the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the food chain. More migrant workers infected affect the quickness of harvesting and ultimately increase the cost and maybe a reduction of volume due to lack of help which increase prices, then not all distribution sites will be able to carry some produce and fruits due to low supply which raises prices, then our local supermarket needs to increase prices to take care of their expenses, payroll, utlities and benefits, so the bottom line is expensive groceries. We're in this together but less and less are we seeing everyone pitching in. You might not think about being laid off but more and more are getting laid off and not really prepared to see what desperation is really like. So, overall, Aldi Supermarket is my favorite and I save lots of money. Chef Woo Can You Can Too! By Chef Woo Can at www.chefwoocan.com #Aldiisgreat, #cutexpenseslowerprices, #savemoneyshoppingataldi America The Melting Pot Of Food
American offers opportunity to all and with that many of our foods have become an American staple. As new immigrants have come in recently they have brought their own food cultures and cuisines and many of these dishes are new so to start a new life in America they have opened restaurants as a source of income. Not so bad so far, right? With income they pay their share of taxes and in the long run they will make a profit and afford all the possibilities offered to them in our great country. If you had the opportunity or having a daring palate, have you been to these ethnically designed cuisines recently. I know the pandemic has limited us in turns of scope of our choices. Early in our nation almost all American staples have come from all over Europe. and slowly as new immigrants from Asia, Latin America and Southern portions of Europe, their only way of communicating was not learning English but still on their wish list but using food as a way of communicating kindness with a smile and making them happy. As Americans we were looking at trying different cuisines which stayed within their communities. It wasn't until some of us were looking to try a different foods that word of mouth travelled and their friends told their friends and word finally spread throughout the community and as became popular, other immigrants that have settled in other parts of the state then the trend continues like a vine plant spreading like fire to the enthusiasm of inquiring palates. Let's face it we are all looking to try different cuisines but we are reluctant because its a new taste or texture but once we cross that line of hesistency, you'll never look back. Obviously the major cities offer a buffet of variety of cuisines but once we leave the big city. But once we leave the big city for whatever reason, whether its for a better life or a job relocation, its a whole new world out there. In New York City and the suburbs and the tri state area, Chinese food was king just as apple pie. It was cheap, tasty and filling and yes after 30 minutes you get hungry again. Back in the day, fried rice, lo Mein, egg drop soup and wonton soup was a common staple. The majority of the immigrants that came to the U.S originated from Canton and brought regional Sothern Chinese cuisine called Cantonese food. Hot climate temperatures and lots of vegetables brought a kind of bland taste in food, not spicy at all. The food then was further developed to appease to the majority, Chicken Chow Mein, (using the local vegetables, celery, lettuce, onions), spareribs, shrimp toast, Chop Suey, Egg Foo Young became widely accepted, then wide rice noodles became popular "Chow Fun", then the ultimate General Tsao's Chicken, deep fried dark meat with a special sauce but soon the meat was changed to breast a white meat that the majority of customers preferred. Then Szechuan Chinese cuisine, hot and very spicy, coming from the North and West of China. Temperatures there were cold so alot of meats, scallion pancakes and less so rice. Meat provided warmth, spiciness provided additional warmth The rend continued with Japanese sushi a fairly new concept of eating raw fish started with a California Roll )cucumber, crab stick, avocado, wrapped in a sushi rice treated with a little vinegar and wrapped in seaweed. Seaweed? Avocado? covered in flying fish eggs? Well, it became a sensational hit and envolved into all sorts of maki rolls, nigiri rolls, sushi cone wraps, sashimi, raw without the rice, wow! raw fish? Come on raw tuna, raw salmon, raw anything? I new approach to eating healthy but when prepared correctly, its really not fishy. Popularity was at a all time high. then Thai food with new ingredients like fresh basil, mint leaves, authentic curry, coconut milk, fish sauce? What the heck is fish sauce? It's made from fermented fish and is very salty and in Thai cuisine its used instead of soy sauce. A very pungent salty flavor. Hot & Spicy dishes, lighter in terms of lighter fare not heavy . Then Vietnamese and their famous Pho, pronounced "Pha", a beef broth made by simmering beef bones for 12 hours, (today, the broth being sold is now offering beef bone broth) adding various type of beef, brisket, bean sprouts, Thai basil, scallion, hot peppers and rice noodles with hoisin and Sririacha hot source offered as a condiment. Now I'm talking Asian cuisine but we have Latin American cuisine, South Asian food, Indian food. Indian food has so many components of Indian curry like Turmeric, cumin, which offer healthy qualities that help alleve joint pain. The bottom line is without immigrants, what interesting things would we have to eat and explore? By Chef Woo Can at www.chefwoocan.com #immigrantcuisine, #Foodbringsusalltogether, #historyofasianfoodtrends, I have to say this!
Our United States of America has been infected with a silent and deadly virus. There are those that are walking around not knowing they have this virus and there are those that are protecting themselves from catching the virus and finally there are those that believe that wearing a mask infringes on their rights. We have medical professionals and specialty doctors that have spent their entire life in studying virus. Of course they offer options on how to stem the spread of virus but somehow their recommendations have turned into a political issue specifically the wearing of face masks. It doesn't matter which side you agree with the bottom line is those in the medical field are suffering the ignorance of those that catch the virus. Whether they believe that face masks ae the right thing to do or not do, the health workers are impacted either way. The impact of your decision bares heavily on the health care workers that will eventually be taking care of you because you got infected. They will spend time with you as best they can but because of widespread infections, ICU beds are scarce and now hospitals have reached peak levels of admittance. Double overtime of medical staff is standard because believe it or not they are trying to do what little they can to help save your life. They are not interested in what you believe, they are dedicated to helping, it goes without saying. It's an unselfish act of responsibility to you, but with your selfish acts, you are overloading the system. BUT the question is "Is it fair" to them? I say no, but they are the last people to be considered when making your decision. You don't care about the health care professionals and what they must go through. They are literally sacificing their life everyday going to work handling infected Covid-19 patients because any unbroken seal in their mask can lead to death, plain and simple. Ok, we show our kindness to these health care workers by sending them food, but I would say what they would really appreciate is practice socail distancing and wear a face mask. I can't speak for anyone else but I wear a face mask to protect my friends, neighbors and family and people that I don't know and protect myself. It's a new life style change, yes during these hot Summers, going outside, the mask might be uncomfortable, but it must be done. Whether I'm infected or not or show no symptoms is irrelevant, I'm protecting others and also protecting myself. It's a new life style change that we need to incorporate into our lifestyle. I've made my own with a bandana, after multiple folds I also add a filter so I get the best protection but it gets hot. I can only imagine a health care worker wearing a N95 mask all day that MUST be tighter and fitted properly. To them, the N95 is a matter of life and death literally. They must put a bandage on their nose or anywhere it must be tight and wear it 10-12 hours of everyday. I wear mine just for an hour, and it gets pretty stuffy, not that I can't breath but wearing something covering my air passages can be slightly uncomfortable. So, remember the seatbelt issue, did wearing seatbelts infringe of your rights? Was it a change mandated by the government? Was it a lifestyle change? Did we moan and groan over the fact that the government mandated the use of seatbelts? We followed and eventually everyone complied. This invisible virus is different, we can't see it, we're learning about it everyday, so time is of the essence. Yes, our government made some mistakes, it happens but when it was realized that health professionals say the masks can help reduce the spread of Covid-19, thank god we have medical professionals. Heed their advise and just do it! WEAR A FREAKIN MASK!!!! Your action will hopefully reduce the # of patients in hospitals, and for those that are wearing masks and shelter in place and taking common sense precautions will not be in vain. Politicians from the local and federal level have a task of balancing what their constituents want, reducing the effect of the deadly virus while reopening the economy. Now is not the time to politicize this pandemic, its killing Americans everyday, soon we'll be approaching 150,000 dead in the United States. We need someone to step up to the plate and put a comprehensive plan in place to protect us, whether its backed by his base or not. This virus doesn't discriminate between the color of our skin or our party affiliation, Democratic, Republican or Independent. Action needs to be taken NOW. No time to dilly dally, action MUST be mandated simultaneously with testing, contact tracing. I don't usually have something to say but sometimes I need to, it bothers me that much. I'm thinking of my daughter, my wife and myself. BY Chef Woo Can at www.chefwoocn.com #Covid19effect, #healthcareworkers, #justwearamask, THEY SAY OUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE?
A funny thing happened while eating dinner with my daughter tonight. My wife didn't join us because she is working hard to lose weight. Tonight, I made Japanese fried chicken marinated with ground garlic, ginger, onions, soy sauce and mirin and added corn starch to coat and fried twice for a crispy coating. My daughter loved it, I didn't get chopped tonight but we talked about school food and as her daddy I wanted to know what they were feeding her. It's a parent thing. We make sure they go to the best schools, wear the best clothes, teach them good values and respect for everyone. We drive them to ice skating, the community pool and unfortunately for 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has limited what we can do for them. We help them study and try to steer them on the right track for their future. We worry about their health as they are the most vulnerable and worry about them ALL the time. We introduce them to experiences that they can appreciate to their kids, share our good times with stories, always willing to have a laugh or too and stress the importance of memories. But from learning in school I believe its very important that our kids get a good nutritious meal. For some, its the only good meal they get all day. Well, as I started asking my daughter questions, it became pretty apparent that my daughter wasn't getting a so called nutritious meal. 90% of the food was fried, lots of salt, sugar and fat. She said one time the milk she got when poured emptied with chunks of fat, wasn't sour so it goes to show that milk that didn't meet the regular market was handed off to public schools. One other time, she said they served a giant chicken drumstick? The skin fell off easily and the meat came off pretty easy, lots of junk food for snacks, vegetables on seldom good day had emerald green color but most of the time, veggies were putried green and mushy. It didn't take long for me to realize that our kids school was the dumping ground for the lowest grade of food that was both not nutritious, , lots of preservatives and additives. How healthy is this lunch for learning. If anything, it just catapults those students that have hypertension, sleepy to others and just poor non nutrition in the food. In my day when I was in school, I have to believe that food was made on premises, not just heated up and maybe nutritious but nothing compares to today. Now, why is this allowed to happen? Government bureaucracy I say. The state grants vendors the bidding of providing the cheapest food to the public schools. As we all know the lowest bidder receives the contract to provide food to schools and you all know the most unhealthy foods are the cheapest. It's win win for everyone. Politicians are happy getting low bid, and vendors are happy getting the contract. Who loses? Our kids! I can guarantee you that given a nutritious meal will up test results, retain more information learned in their little brains and feel good without the preservative and additives used to make the food taste good and just let the food speak for themselves naturally. So, where do we go from here? I guess no where. I just wanted to bring this concern to your attention. We do for our kids everything but the thing out of control is the school lunch. I asked my daughter that she can make her lunch at home. She said "Dad, by the time she gets her lunch in her locker and by the time she gets back to the cafeteria, there is absolutely no time left. Chef Woo Can can make healthy nutritious lunch for 1/2 the cost!!!!!!! Have any thought? Chef Woo Can at www.chefwoocan.com #publicschoollunches, #schoollunchesnotnutritious, #schoollunchesarebad, |
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December 2021
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