A Day of Food!

Our most recent project for ESF is to document a day of eating. This assignment, though fun, could not have taken place at a worse time for me, considering finals and the utter lack of time to make food. I'm sure we all share the same feelings, but have all sucked it up and made some amazing blog posts. Lately I have been very interested in reducing packaging, so I decided to add that component to my post to take a look at what kind of waste I produce in a day, and to inspire others to perhaps do the same. Here's what I ate today:

I woke up at 5am this morning in order to go study for a midterm. I'm a firm believer in eating a good breakfast every morning, and get quite cranky if I don't. I'd had Trader Joe's free range eggs the past couple of days, and after reading the linked article, I had sort of lost my appetite for them. I looked around my kitchen to consider my options, and found this:



A potato. I don't normally eat potatoes for breakfast, but I'd had the potatoes for a few days now and since I'm going to be gone during spring break, I decided I ought to use it. Since I don't own a functioning computer, I used my IPhone to search for "Breakfast Potato recipes" on Google and found a fairly simple one.

Easy Breakfast Potatoes:

The recipe called for 2 large russet potatoes, but all I had were baking potatoes, so I just used one big one of those. I then poked holes in it with a fork and microwaved it for 3 minutes. Then I diced it.



Then I put some olive oil in a frying pan...



And tossed it with the potatoes, rosemary, and sage ( I had to substitute sage for parsley because I didn't have any).


I let it cook while covered for a bit...



And then browned the sides by stirring the potatoes over higher heat. Then I put it in a bowl...



...Added some ketchup and ate it!



Potatoes are very filling, and I headed off for my early morning study sesh feeling very satisfied. After my morning classes, I wanted to stay on campus to continue studying, so I headed to the cafeteria to see what I could find. The vegan stand was serving vegan mushroom stroganoff with sides of steamed broccoli and russet potatoes. I wasn't really in the mood for more potatoes, but I got the dish anyways and accompanied it with one of those delicious dark-colored mini loaf things. It was good, but again, very filling.



After studying for awhile, I headed out to the media lab to work on my audio production project. I didn't end up getting out until around 9:30, so when I got home I need to make a quick dinner: Oatmeal with brown sugar and milk!




Throughout the day I was drinking tap water from my REUSABLE bottle. I don't normally drink anything other than water, which sounds healthy, but really I think it's because I'm cheap and don't like high fructose corn syrup. (It's made from corn, silly!) Speaking of high fructose corn syrup, I'd like to ask you to check out the labels on the bottled drinks sold at USF. It's actually quite a challenge to find anything without high fructose corn syrup!
I also ate a banana while studying, but I don't have a picture of it.


Condensed List of Food with Packaging/Waste:

BREAKFAST:
- 1 baking potato (bought in bulk, no packaging)
- 1 pinch dried rosemary (came in small plastic container)
- 1 pinch ground sage (came in small plastic container)
- 1 pinch salt (came in large paper container)
- 1 pinch pepper (came in small paper container)
- 2 Tbsp ketchup (came in plastic container)

So for breakfast, there was several ways to eliminate the waste I produced. Here's how:
- rosemary: comes fresh and dried in bulk
- sage: comes fresh and dried in bulk
- salt: comes in bulk
- pepper: comes in bulk
- ketchup: can be made by hand

LUNCH:
- meal made by Bon Appetit (got it for here, so no to-go packaging)

This meal was difficult to judge because it was made by Bon Appetit and I don't know what kind of packaging they use.

DINNER:
- oats (bought in bulk, no packaging)
- water (from the tap)
- brown sugar (came in plastic bag)
- soy milk (came in paper carton)

Here's how I could improve:
- brown sugar: comes in bulk
- soy milk: this is a difficult one, but the good news is that paper milk cartons can be composted/used to hold food scraps for compost, so it wont go completely to waste!


I've been paying a lot of attention to eliminating waste. Here are my rules of thumb:
1. When possible, buy in bulk. Bulk purchase becomes much easier at Rainbow Grocery.
2. When buying in bulk is not possible or is extremely inconvenient, buy products in recyclable or reusable containers.
3. Actually USE the containers when you're done with their original contents.


Anyways... If you happen to read my post and have any questions about how you can eliminate your own waste, add a comment and I'll be happy to reply and help you out! Thanks for reading and have a great spring break!

Mission Project

The Mission is a part of San Francisco that is home to many different cultures. The neighborhood primarily features cuisine from many different Latin American countries, though there are also various other countries represented through restaurants. In addition to traditional and authentic fare, there is also the strange cuisine that seems to pop up anywhere Americans get involved. _____-American food. Place the name of any country or region in the blank and you are likely to have a whole new type of food, unique even from its original country or region. Today I want to focus on Mexican-American food to talk about a type of dish that we should all be familiar with: the San Francisco-style burrito, also known as the Mission-style burrito. This burrito is massive. You might have stumbled into the grocery store after devouring one of these tasty meals and, wanting to create your own burrito at home, encountered the tortilla aisle to find that the torillas labeled "burrito size" are pitifully small and unfit for your purposes. Terrible, I know. San Francisco-style burritos are made specially with extra large tortillas that are steamed to make them ultra durable. However, another important aspect of these burritos, one that is key to their success, is their foil wrapping. Not only is this wrapping necessary in order to hold your burrito together, it also makes a neat little carrying case for meals on-the-go. You simply tear the foil as you go to expose more and more of the tasty torpedo! The basic ingredients in a San Francisco-style burrito include Spanish rice, your choice of black/pinto/refried beans, salsa, and your choice of meat. La Cumbre is a taqueria on Valencia Street and 16th St in the Mission district whose informational pamphlet notes the "Mission-style" burrito as one of its specialties. I visited this restaurant during my research for this project, and it was amazing. I got a black bean, rice, salsa, and guacomole burrito with mild salsa that was out of this world.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I love San Francisco-style burritos, which is why I wanted to learn some of the recipes for the ingredients of these tasty treats. Below I've listed two recipes that will assist you in making some delicious San Francisco-style burritos at home. Don't forget the foil wrap!

SPANISH RICE

Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 cups medium or long-grain white rice
- 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you want to make it vegan/vegetarian)
- 1 heaping Tbsp tomato paste
- pinch of oregano
- 1 tsp salt

1. In a large skillet brown rice in olive oil, medium/high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook onion rice mixture, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes, or until onions are softened.

2. In a separate sauce pan bring stock to a simmer. Add tomato sauce, oregano, and salt. Add rice to broth. Bring to a simmer. Cover. Lower heat and cook 15-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice and the instructions on the rice package. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

REFRIED BEANS

Ingredients:
- 2 cups black or pinto beans (I like black!)
- 3 Tbsp olive or sesame oil
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 tsp cumin
- 1-2 tsp salt
- 1-2 tsp black pepper

1. Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion, and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and continue sautéing for another minute or two.

2. Stir in the beans, spices, and ½ c of reserved soaking liquid. Mash the beans into the liquid. If they seem too dry, add more liquid. Taste and adjust the spices.


PICO DE GALLO

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp jalapenos, diced
- 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
- juice of 2 limes
- 2 Tbsp cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl



These recipes are easy and will get you started with the building blocks of your amazing burrito! Good luck, and don't forget to shop at Rainbow Grocery, which is also located in the Mission!