Jane and I live on a diet…and we do miss chips. Now and again we just have to splurge. We’ve found two that aren’t as bad for you as some: first, Pirate’s Booty corn-rice puffs, white cheddar. Like Cheetos but without as much fat; and secondly, sweet potato chips with sea salt. You know that Jane and I react to potatoes and tomato and paprika with joint pain and misery. BUT—sweet potatoes have none of the offending chemical (which is probably strychnine…atevi would love Irish potatoes) and do very nice chips. Sweet potatoes fries with tempura salmon—to die for: one pub we loved had that as a regular on the menu. It died of mismanagement. But at least chips-in-a-bag are available: they’re filling—you’re NOT tempted to eat forever; and they’re low-salt, and high fiber. What’s not to love?
Two new vices…
by CJ | Nov 13, 2011 | Journal | 18 comments
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You would love the yam festival at Meguro Fudo-san, a Shingon Buddhist temple in Tokyo.
Held on the 28th of every October there is an incredible variety of yam based foods and snacks (and booze) as well as plety of other stuff.
I was able to go again this year.
Mmm. No doubt we would!
Sweet potato chips are very good.My wife introduced them to our diet a few years ago.We grow sweet potato in our garden and have many dishes in which they have been included.
I have to admit, I am a little tempted to eat sweet potato chips forever, but I agree that they’re great!
Oh for the deliciousness! Since they are so inexpensive right now I’m thinking of roasting and mashing sweets and freezing them in small containers for the winter.They make wonderful potato cakes and bread and…and….
Hope you and Jane are feeling better. It’s too early to be getting winter nasties.
And it is pretty easy to make your own – cut them to the desired shape and size, toss with olive oil and sea salt, and roast at 450 or so for long enough.
I often include them and cob corn in stir fry. I try to brown the sweet potato first.
I am a little homesick for Thanksgiving fare like baked sweet potato with butter. Since we have opted for one of my homemade pizzas for Thanksgiving, I’m thinking of doing that a few days before.
Not to mention we have 3 apples left and a pie is likely in the offing.
BTW, after 2 doses of the antibiotic Jane and I are feeling very much better. I was in an incredible amount of constant muscle ache and Jane had it in her back; and the runny nose, ears, you name it; and Jane’s cough. All are improved. Whatever bug we ran into, we do not like it, and both of us got a decent night’s sleep (pain and coughing have precluded that from as long ago as September) and are feeling human again.
Do you do Neti pots? A little saline nasal rinsing helps fend off the colds and keeps things cleaned out. Tends to toughen the mucus membranes and make them less vulnerable to bugs. As far as that goes, a good ol’ drug store ear syringe bulb thingie works just as well as the fancy Neti pot. I love eucalyptus oil for nasal nasties. I put just a dot on the tip of my nose right above each nostril when awake, and a wick diffuser with same by my bed at night. Something like Mucinex (guaifenesin) is good for breaking up congestion and moving it out. Buy the generic –the difference in price is what you pay for having the brand name printed on the box. What I’ve found works for a sore throat is to alternate sips of a hot liquid and a cold one — such as hot herb tea or broth and cold fruit juice. You need to be forcing fluids anyway. If Jane is coughing stuff up, she needs to lie down when she’s coughing. It’s a whole lot easier to cough up all that crud when you don’t have to push it up hill — more “energy efficient” — and you won’t get as sore around your middle. Your heater has probably been running a lot with the cold front coming through and unless you have a humidifier, you need to be putting moisture back into the air. Take care of yourselves. (gives e-hug).
Unfortunately I’m deathly allergic to eucalyptus in any way shape or form— a trip to California is limited, and if it’s in a bouquet, it has to be extracted by someone else: I don’t even touch the plant. But we do use Ayr saline: Jane’s better about it than I am. We’re humidified, however: fish tanks will do that. 😉
And we are improving.
I think as much as anything it was the half year of pure stress. I think we just got worn down.
Glad you’re both feeling some better.
Those sweet potato chips sound good. My local store may carry a commercial brand still, I haven’t gotten any in a long while. Hmm, might fix some from scratch…maybe.
Salad and tomatoes, juice, tortillas, at least, on the weekly grocery list upcoming.
Sweet potato fries are wonderful. Every so often the cafeteria at work will fry some up on the side, and I make sure to grab them. I’ve tried making them at home, but they just aren’t the same.
I’m pretty sure it’s not strychnine in potatoes. I can’t remember which alkaloid it is off the top of my head. Wikipedia informs me that green potatoes contain the alkaloids solanine and chaconine, so I’m sure atevi would still find them delicious.
Right! Thanks, I was having the same ‘senior moment’. Solanine from the genus Solanacae.
Probably sweet potatoes are okay because they’re in the morning-glory family, not the nightshade family.
(Never heard about strychnine in the solanoids (solanides? solani?), but there’s a lot of alkaloids in them of other varieties. Wiki says solanine is the main poison in potatoes.)
I’m not much of a potato chip fan, but I recently discovered sweet potato chips, and then found a brand mixed with beets. Yum. Too Yum.
It’s good to hear you’re both feeling better.
Route 11 Chips used to have a great selection of snack chips made from all kinds of different vegetables – we would get them every Christmas, and they were fantastic. I just checked (rt11.com), and they appear to still have sweet potato chips, but they have ‘retired’ all their other unusual selections, which is too bad – they were great, and not something you would find very often. Perhaps at some place like Whole Foods or something… although I like the idea of making your own.
Cyaanide in potatoes – especially in the eyes and if the skin has been exposed to light, which is a problem the way they are marketed in supermarkets. Back in the dark ages when I took Home Ec, we were tole that if there was the least tinge of green in the skin it had to be pealed off, seems that a lot of people have foregotten that. I got after my local market because they had carefully put the locally grown potatoes right in front of their south facing window.
Terra Chips come in a variety of root vegetables; I’ve seen a 2# bag at Costco, which will probably supply your vice for 3-4 months 🙂 Locally, we have taro chips, with a nuttier flavor than potato chips, and more substantial like the sweet potato chips. They may also be available on the mainland.
ooooh, you have got me craving chips, or patatas bravas, anything!!! I’m not allergic to the ordinary spanish patata ….. 😀