Food Resolutions 2012

Every year we make New Year's Resolutions..right? And do we keep them? Not so much. Guilty as charged. Here are a list of New Year's resolutions that might be easier to keep in small changes that create big changes later.

1. Cut out as much processed food as possible.
If it comes in a box that has to be frozen it might not be so good for you.

2. Drink water and cut out pop and juices and fancy coffees. I am guilty of the fancy coffee one. Water does not add calories and will hydrate you and make your internal organs function properly. Yeah I like those flavoured drinks too but skip the liquid calories and save them for some tasty food.

3. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Try buying new vegetables you have never made before and find a great recipe and try adding it to your cooking repetoire. The more variety of vegetables the better the health benefits. And the added bonus will be that you won't get bored from eating the same vegetables every week.

4. White stuff. Cut down or cut out white foods such as Sugar, White Flour, Salt. Yeah they all make food taste good but we have increased our consumption of these things so much that they are killing us. Use Stevia or Agave in place of Sugar when you need to. Use other types of flours if you can substitute, like quinoa or rice flours or even whole wheat is a bit better. Salt.. use fresh herbs to bump up the flavour or use small amounts of things like parmesan cheese to get that salty taste.

5. Fried Food... BAD, BAD, BAD... but tastes GOOD, GOOD, GOOD. yes I love me some fried food. They say everything tastes better when it's fried and put it on a stick and then you have a fried party on a stick. But frying things changes their molecular structure and also adds a ton of extra fat calories. So I will try and limit or eliminate fried foods.

6. Red Meat... limit or eliminate this if you can. I know it's hard to give up your steaks and hamburgers but it's better for you and the environment. I am going to try and limit my consumption of red meat for health reasons and I am sure it couldn't hurt financially.

7. Salmon is your friend. If you like fish then Wild Salmon or Sardines will be your best friend when making food resolutions. Salmon and Sardines are high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids which are great for things like depression, healthy hair, nails and even bones. Your body will thank you and people will notice how much better you look. Make sure you look for WILD Salmon instead of farmed salmon for the healthiest option.

8. Alcohol. While I don't drink much I am not going to tell you to give up your social drinking forever. Just think about what you are drinking and slow it down. A glass of red wine with dinner is a good thing. Cooking with Wine is a good thing. Drinking a whole bottle of wine without dinner and home alone is not such a good thing. Maybe limit your drinking to once a week and one or 2 drinks to celebrate occasions with friends. The average drink is roughly 100 calories. Think of a 6 pack of beer ...if you pass on the 6 pack of beer maybe you can get the 6 pack abs instead.

9. Cooking utensils. Go through your inventory of pots and pans and toss out all your old Teflon frying pans and invest in a cast iron skillet or grill pan. It will last forever if you take care of it and will add iron instead of toxic substances into your food when you cook with it.

10. Cooking methods. Try poaching, steaming, baking and broiling your foods. These are the best methods for keeping your food healthy. People say RAW is better. Buy a juicer if you prefer to drink your fruits and vegetables. Puree your soups and take them with you in a thermos if you need to. Think outside the cooking box.

I know it's hard to make these changes. I have struggled and been successful at some of these things. I recently had a party and made almost an equal assortment of healthy and not as healthy options. Unfortunately the healthy options were the less popular choice and the higher fat options were the things that were eaten the most. It's a work in progress. I am trying to find recipes that taste like high fat foods but aren't. I did make a healthier chocolate chip cookie that people liked so there is hope.
Don't give up. Try to do as many of these things as you can and even if you only take on 1 of these and carry it through 2012 you will have made a huge change in your health by the end of the Year.
I will try and take my own advice this year and hopefully make as many healthy changes as I can in 2012.

I have done it before and I know I can do it again. This is the year to make a change and stick to it.

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a Healthier New Year too.

CHEERS!

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

Here's an animated video of a prescription for better health.

This is what we know we should do but aren't doing it enough... myself included. Something to put into practice in the New Year.

Holiday EntertainingI

Everyone seems to be going to a Holiday Party or having a Holiday Party as in my case this busy month of December.

I don't have family to celebrate the holidays with so last year I decided to have a Holiday Open House Party with some of my friends in between Christmas and New years when some people are still off work but over the Christmas Holidays but still looking for something to do.

So Last year I started this when I was living in a house and had room for a couple of extra drop ins..but what they didn't know was that I planned to have a little gift exchange. Last year I knew I was probably going to have to be moving at some point soon so I decided to give away things that I wasn't using or never used. It was a whole assortment of things like candle sticks, makeup products and decorative items. Everyone loved it and were not expecting anything so it was a conversation starter and a fun thing to do. This year was a bit more of a challenge. Since I moved from a house to an apartment in July I had to get rid of a huge amount of stuff when I moved that I probably would have had things I could have given to my friends this year but I didn't have the space to keep it all so it went. I still wanted to do the gift exchange so this year I concentrated on little gifts that were things like food gifts like chocolates, mugs with hot chocolate, and a bunch of other things. It cost me more this year but it made everyone happy. Next year I think I will try something different. I will try and expend less energy and money and have everyone participate more in the party by bringing an unwanted gift and do a re gift exchange and maybe a food exchange too. That way it's fun and people can possibly give something they don't want to someone that might want it. One person's junk..... and when it comes to the food part... here's what I did and here's what I will do next year....

This year I made the above little brownie Santa hats... an idea I got from watching the show The Chew. It went over really great ... Next year I will do it again but next time use frosting instead of whip cream so I can do it all in advance and not worry about it keeping all day.

What i also did this year is make 2 big salads... next time I will only do 1... I made a super healthy one and nobody knew what to do with that so it stayed.

One new thing I made was a hot crab dip... that went over big and may do that again but I think next time I will find a way to keep it hot like putting it into a fondue pot or something so it stays bubbling longer.

I also had assorted cheeses..seems like everyone likes cheddar... will keep the cheddar and skip other cheeses... less mess... I had all sorts of crackers... good but will have 1 or 2 next time.. too many things equals too many plates, choices and things to clean up later.

I also had cut up veggies...next time I will just pick up a store bought veggie platter.. back to less prep work and less mess to clean up.

So I learned a few things...

1. Try and know what your friends like or don't like.
2. Don't do too many things.. it just takes a lot more time and things get overlooked.
3. Keep it simple and as fresh as you can get it.
4. Think about the cleanup afterward because that's part of the party too. I ran out of kitchen space from all the clean up of dishes and containers.

5. Make sure you have everything set up as much in advance so that you aren't spending your time setting up, serving and cleaning up during the party.

Next year... I am going to think Big Dishes...

1. A Casserole
2. A Big Salad
3. One platter veggies and dip
4. One hot dip and chips/crackers
5. A desert that doesn't require utensils

These are the things I have learned over the past couple of parties. Have good food and have more fun.

This is what it looked like before the food was everywhere... Too many things ...not enough room.

My Holiday Party Advice.. Although my friends loved the food... I know I could have made it easier on myself and had more room to move around if I kept things simpler..

I tend to get carried away and always like to have choices for people but then it ends up being just too much and goes to waste. I know I am not the only one that does this. I have a friend that could have 2 parties by the amount of food he has at one party. But you never know if someone will drop in or not. In my case a couple of people couldn't make it... so I know most of the food would have been gone if they came.

While I am no party expert I have learned a few things over the years and every year I try and do better. I get inspired from all the food and party planning segments on daytime television so if you don't know what to do take some cues from the experts that are on those shows..or there is always Martha Stewart.

Unleash your inner Martha Stewart and have a Fun Holiday Party.

Bigger and Better Next Year

If you know better why don't you do better?

I know better so why can't I do better? In the case of eating healthy I know I should eat more vegetable based foods and eliminate processed foods....BUT I can't seem to stick to it and don't know how I can override my right and left brains.

I just watched the Documentary "Forks over Knives" that is all about the benefits of switching to a Whole Food Plant Based Diet to reverse diseases. It makes perfect sense so why aren't we all doing it? That's the question I keep asking myself. Why can't I do it? I worked in a hospital for 14 years of my life while not directly as a medical practitioner but as an observer and saw that the medical profession had it's limitations and that Doctors weren't interested in alternative medicines or other approaches to heal their patients. My father died at 65 of Cancer and had a history of Heart Disease. He didn't know better and loved meat and dairy and smoked cigarettes while having minimal exercise. But when you are in your 60's it's hard to reverse everything you have ever done in your life. The doctors told him to quit smoking and I am sure told him to exercise and eat healthier foods even though at the time I don't think all of the advice that doctors were giving were 100% helpful. My father didn't eat at McDonald's but liked meat pies and corned beef and bacon and eggs and so I suppose his diet and life stress levels caught up with him. My mother passed away this past year and she also had heart disease in her late 60's and was told to exercise and change her diet. The one thing that probably helped her the most was that she quit smoking after my mother died and didn't eat any fast foods but she had a preference for sweets and would bake occasionally. The also preferred a dinner consisting of meat and some sort of starch be it potatoes or pasta and sometimes other vegetables. She was raised in Belgium so she had a wide range of vegetables that she liked but not all were prepared healthily. One of my favourite vegetables that she made was Cauliflower au Gratin. I still love it but realize that the Au Gratin part kills all the health properties of the Cauliflower but it makes it taste so good that I can't resist.

Is that it? We can't resist foods that taste so good that we can't eat less high fat, high sugar, high sodium substitutes? FAT and SUGAR together make a kind of Golden Feeling in the Brain that nothing comes close to except drugs. Have we all become drug addicts to food?

I spent a year and a half on Weight Watcher's in the 90's and lost 40 pounds only to gain it all back when I stopped the diet plan. Why is it so hard to stick to things we know are good for us?

What I have been thinking lately since I am not working in an office full time is that we are influenced by what we see, smell and remember. Interestingly enough when I worked in the Hospital patients would bring in all sorts of sweets as gifts for the doctors in the hospital which they would share with their staff. During the holidays the office became a smorgasbord of all sorts of high fat and calorie sweets that called our names while we tried to focus on getting our work done.

With the consistent bombardment of television advertising, billboard adds, radio commercials and even in store food demonstrations enticing us to "Try this great new product" it will change you life or you will love it if you try it. So myself and many others are curious or lack will power and try the things we are pushing. Is it all our fault or is it the marketers that are preying on us? Or is it the government subsidizing meat and dairy farmers and trying to build consumer loyalty to these products? All I know is that when I smell bread or something sweet I have to have some. Once again I know better but can't seem to stay away for too long.

This brings me to New Year's resolutions to lose weight. I make them every year as do a majority of people that pack on the pounds over the holidays after everyone we see encourages us to eat a whole lot more of the things that aren't good for us. We feel tired and fat and bad about ourselves as the media machine starts to ramp up the weight loss programs and fitness centres to convince us that they will fix our problem. Studies show that mid way through January people start easing off going to the gym and start to give up on that so called miracle diet. Why do we keep repeating this cycle every year? Why can't we stay consistent and change the things we want to change? MARKETING...could go a long way.... what if we saw adds for Kale that looked like FOOD Porn. Would we run out and buy Kale? Why don't we see those kind of ADS? Kale is one of the healthiest foods you can eat but it's not sexy so people don't want it. It doesn't melt in your mouth and make you drool over it. You can make Kale chips which are tasty but still don't have the immediate satisfaction of eating potato chips. That's unfortunate because if all we did was substitute oven baked Kale chips for potato chips for a year I bet that would have a huge health benefit.

Why don't we have vending machines in school that sell Kale chips in a bag instead of Potato Chips? Why don't we have Vegan products in schools if that's the healthiest food for us to eat? Don't we want our kids to be healthy and have the best chance in life?

My mother didn't know anything about nutrition and would just say "Eat your Meat" or "Eat your Vegetables". She didn't know about food pyramids and Vegan or Whole Food or Organic diets. She just went to the store and bought some meat, bread and vegetables and tried to prepare them in different ways.

Is it because we are too busy or can't be bothered? I admit that when I am starving and have things to do the last thing I want to do is wait a couple of hours to prep and cook something and this is when I break down and turn to the convenient have it in 5 minutes fast food.

I have always thought that a smart person would find a way to make healthy fast food and would make a fortune if it tasted good too. Drive up at a drive thru and order a side of Kale Chips with you Quinoa burger. Why not? Why hasn't anyone done this yet?

I would do it but for 1. I don't have the money to start it up. 2. I know that the marketing of a concept like this would cost more than the start up costs.

So this is my message to all the Rich people out there that are looking for something good to do with their money. Invest in FOOD.. Invest in healthier food for kids in schools. Invest in businesses that focus on delivering healthy food to busy parents and busy executives. If we had a healthy drive thru for every McDonald's drive thru imagine what the choice could do to change the Obesity rates in North America. I am sure people would get sick of burgers everyday and if they had an option of getting a Whole Food plant based meal that tasted good and was quick and affordable I bet they would choose that at least once a week if not more.

If I won the lottery tomorrow I would do this. If there is a smart entrepreneur with lots of cash out there this is what you can do to change the world.

But in the meantime I would suggest you watch documentaries like "Forks over Knives" or "Food Matters" or "Food Inc" to educate yourself on the power of food.

I am still a work in progress. I know better and am working on doing better. I hope you can too.

for more info on "Forks over Knives" check out their website: http://www.forksoverknives.com

Scrambled eggs the right way

Gordon Ramsey just taught me that I have been making scrambled eggs wrong all these years. Do you make your scrambled eggs in a Saucepan? and why not? don't you know that's the right way to do it. Yes it does work.

I was watching Gordon Ramsey's Christmas Special and he made a christmas breakfast of scrambled eggs on a croissant. Gordon Ramsey making scrambled eggs, that's too easy, right? Well it turns out that there is a right way to make scrambled eggs so that they come out velvety and fluffy. You need to break out your saucepan instead of your frying pan. I tried it his way and this is what my eggs looked like..see photo above, and they tasted really good too.

How did he do it?

In a saucepan...yes not a frying pan.... on medium heat put in a couple of nobs of butter and then add your eggs but don't scramble them first and don't add salt and pepper yet. Just add the eggs whole. With a wooden spoon just keep stirring constantly until they are like a smooth liquid. Keep cooking until the eggs start to come together but are still a bit runny. Then you can add salt and pepper and Gordon Ramsey added fresh Chives. I didn't have fresh chives so I added dried chives, it works but it would probably taste better with fresh add another little nob of butter before the eggs are fully cooked and stir it in.

By that time I would say turn off the heat and the residual heat will continue to cook the eggs so that they aren't runny anymore.

And Voila! You have lovely fluffy, velvety smooth eggs. Now pass this on so that people in restaurants that cook all day brunch can get it right.

I went to a restaurant in my area recently where my friend ordered scrambled eggs... you would think that would be fairly safe. Not so much. First plate was a solid mass of brown eggs. My friend couldn't eat it and sent it back. Second batch came out less brown but still huge chunks of solid egg, not so much scrambled. She didn't eat it. I wish I had taken a photo of her eggs to show you the right way and wrong way to make scrambled eggs. But i bet 80% of you are doing it wrong now. So try it Gordon Ramsey's way and see if that works for you.

I will never use a frying pan again to cook scrambled eggs.

Morning Coffee - How do you like it?

This was the Cappuccino I made this morning. What's so special about it? Not much really but unusual for me. I don't usually make coffee for myself at home but I have been trying to make great coffee at home for when I have coffee connoisseurs come and visit. Normally I am one of those people that like to go out for coffee and usually I go to Starbucks and get something like a Peppermint Mocha Latte in the afternoon when I am feeling the afternoon sugar craving slump. This morning I woke up feeling like I needed some coffee or something to satisfy me and wake me up a bit. I decided to break out the french press that I picked up recently and the Nespresso milk frother that I also got recently. The Nespresso heats and foams milk in a little kettle like maker but the only thing I would warn you is that when it froths too much it leaks out of the top of it. I haven't figured out how to stop that in time so I am still experimenting with that. I am also trying to experiment to figure out how to make the perfect cup of French Press coffee. How much coffee to add, how long to brew and temperature etc. I still have a way to go to get it perfect but the end result of todays experiment was still better than what I get out of my Tassimo brewer. Although the Tassimo brewer is the easiest thing to make lattes, cappuccino's or even chai tea, but you can't control the kind of coffee or the kind of milk you want to use so it has limitations too.

You have to decide how you like your morning coffee, whether it's just fast and easy or customized to your taste. I used Mocha Java coffee in my Cappuccino instead of Espresso because that's what I had but I will continue to experiment and see what makes the best tasting cup of coffee.

There are a lot of coffee purists out there. Some people will only drink high end coffee from fancy coffee shops and others prefer Tim Horton's and others will drink anything that has caffeine in it.

Personally I like lattes, cappuccinos and more flavoured milky coffees so I have to go to the higher end to get a better coffee.

But I don't drink coffee everyday and try and limit it to only when I really want one these days. If you have too much of it you won't be able to function without it and you won't appreciate it as much.

So save it for rainy days and special occasions and Enjoy whatever tastes good to you.

Cheesy fun shapes

My favourite breakfast consists of some sort of bread and some sort of cheese.
One of my most favourite is currently Talleggio Cheese on a Baguette. Crunchy/smooth goodness.

I had a little fun with my grilled cheese bread this morning when I took it out of the toaster oven it kind of looked like a dog or some sort of animal so I took a photo. I didn't do this on purpose but it made me think about fun with cheese. I love cheese and could eat it everyday but what if you have kids that aren't crazy about it like me. My mother was raised in Belgium so there was always cheese in my house. My mother didn't eat peanut butter so I suppose cheese was like our peanut butter. My lunch was cheese in an Italian Bun. If you cut me I would probably ooze cheese.

So if your kids aren't cheese lovers yet but you want them to appreciate a good cheese then try different kinds and try melting them onto toast in funny shapes and let them play with their cheese and cut shapes and see how they melt. Make it a game and let them play and experiment. Try creamy brie cheese or hard parmesan cheese but try different kinds as everyone has a particular taste for different types of cheese. Have them play grown up and give them a fancy plate of cheese and have them comment on each one and give them grape juice or something and let them play a fancy kids version of a wine and cheese party. Make it fun and the kids will probably be on board.

No kids like me...just have cheesy fun with your friends. I started a new tradition last year that I am doing again this year by having a Wine and Cheese Open House party between Christmas and New Years. I started this as a way to get single friends and friends without family around in between the 2 big holidays just to feel like they can chill and have some fun. And is an easy way to have a party. Just get a few wines, a few kinds of cheese, some great breads and crackers and maybe some veggie accompaniments and some sweet things and you have a fun and casual get together.

So whether you are a kid or a grown up have some fun with Cheese.

Enjoy.

Wild Salmon - is it worth it?

Wild Salmon is a hard thing to find at every supermarket but is it worth the Hunt and the Price? I would have to say YES it is.

On my recent trip down to St. Lawrence Market I decided to pick up a piece of Wild Salmon because I know I need to include more salmon in my diet to get good Omega 3 Fatty Acids which are great for skin, hair and host of other good benefits for your body. It's kind of a super food. What's the difference between Wild Salmon and regular Salmon? A lot. Wild Salmon is a more sustainable process for one instead of farmed salmon which is just like the way the process all the cheap chickens. It's not good for the environment and it's not as good for you.

The other difference is in color and the most important factor is in taste.

This piece of salmon that I made was one of the best pieces of Salmon that I have had in a long time. I only bought one piece because I didn't want to freeze it or keep it in the fridge too long. The fresher the better.

I made it really simply and it tasted amazing.

This is how I made it:

1 Piece of Wild Salmon
Maple Syrup
Dijon Mustard
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
Lemon


In a flat bowl mix all of the ingredients except the oil and then place the fish into the marinade mixture. Let it marinate for 5 to 10 min. You don't need to marinate it very long because it will continue to cook in the marinade in the oven.

Place the salmon in an oven proof baking dish just big enough for the fish with a tiny bit of room around it. Pour the marinade over the fish and bake in a 350 Degree oven for about 15 minutes or depending on how thick the piece is just make sure it has a bit of spring back and the color has changed to a lighter color and the juices from the fat start to show up on top. Try not to over cook it.

As usual I am not giving you exact measurements because you can season to taste. If you like it sweeter use more maple syrup but if you like it spicy add more mustard and maybe some hot sauce or soy sauce to the marinade. It's up to you. As usual this is a guideline.

I always take an idea of a recipe and just wing it and then adjust it as it becomes a recipe i make more often. That way you always make stuff you like your way.

So experiment with the marinade but don't experiment with the type of salmon. Invest in Wild Salmon. Your body and tastebuds will thank you.

Get your Omega 3's on with some great Wild Salmon.

Enjoy.

If your kids don't like it Caramelize it!

When I was a kid my mother made the worst brussel sprouts the majority of the time she cooked them. What's odd was that she grew up in Belgium so you would think she would be able to cook something called Brussel Sprouts amazing. What did she do wrong you ask? Well they started off green and ended up kind of a dull yellow color after she boiled them for who knows how long and then just added salt and pepper to them... Blahhhhh..

Now I love Brussel Sprouts... what changed? I found out how to cook them properly to enhance the taste and take away the stinky and mushy texture.

What I found was that if you roast the brussel sprouts cut in half in the oven sprinkled with salt, pepper and olive oil and I add nutmeg to it to kick it up a bit and roast them until they are crunchy but not burnt and caramelized. Then the caramelization brings out the sweetness and the crunchy bits are chip like. I have seen people deep fry them. i don't do that because of having to deal with the oil and mess so I found the best and healthiest way is to roast them in the oven. If you want to kick it up a bit once you take them out of the oven add some balsalmic vinegar and some crispy bacon. Those 2 flavours are like the perfect marriage. They work well on their own but together it's like magic.

It's crunchy, sweet, salty, tangy goodness. It hits all the taste buds when you combine it this way and that's why it works. Put the brussel sprouts on a stick and I bet your kids will eat them. Try it and see.

The other thing that takes a vegetable that you don't know what to do with because you usually only see it in soup to something different is to cut up Butternut Squash into 1 inch chunks and put it in a baking dish and sprinkle it with vegetable oil and add maple syrup or for adults some Jack Daniels and a dab of butter and salt and pepper. The sugars in the alcohol and the maple syrup will condense and caramelize giving the coating of the butternut squash a deep caramelization and making it sweet and tasty.

You can do this with sweet potatoes too. I sometimes just add brown sugar and butter and a bit of alcohol just to make sure the brown sugar doesn't solidify.

It works and if you add the maple syrup maybe your kids will think it's dessert and the will try it.

And if you don't have kids but you have friends and family that don't like veggies.. yeah there are a lot of those people out there. I know a whole lot of them. Try this and see if they are curious enough to try it.

Either way...if you like veggies you will probably just like this caramelized way of making some of the ones a lot of people don't like taste a whole lot better.

Get over your fear of brussel sprouts.. caramelize them and see the difference.

Try it and Enjoy.

MMMM MUSSELS Parisienne style

Paris seems to be haunting me to come and visit soon as everywhere I go I see something that says Paris but I can't afford to go there right now but what I can afford to do is get a taste of Paris at home with some Parisienne inspired Mussels.

I was in the St. Lawrence Market area downtown in Toronto yesterday and decided to pop into the market and pick up some fish that is hard to find fresh in my area. I picked up some Fresh Sushi Tuna that I made tartare style last night and inhaled that so fast I didn't even take a photo of it. I also picked up some wild salmon which I haven't decided what to do with yet.. That's for dinner but Lunch today was a visit to Paris with Fresh Mussels.

Making Mussels is a great way to clear out your fridge. You can put whatever flavourings you like into the broth.

This is what I put into it:

Shallots
Red and Green Onion
Garlic
Parsley
Tarragon
Red Chili Pepper
Leek
Celery
Salt
Pepper
Cherry Tomatoes
White Wine
Pernod
Splash of Heavy Cream

The Tarragon, celery, leek, white wine, Parsley and Pernod really give it that fresh flavour and give it a French Style Flair. Add the quantities you like.. just a bit of each thing.. basically toss all the ingredients into a big pot and when you smell the flavours coming out toss in the Mussels and cover the pot with a lid and steam for a minute.

The cooking time is nothing.. but may take a few minutes of prep time just to get your ingredients together but depending on what you put in it could take anywhere from 2 min to about 15 min. Really that's nothing for a fresh bowl of Mussels.

People are scared to make them at home but really the tricks are to clean them and make sure there aren't any beards, little fibers hanging out of them and make sure they are closed before you cook them and all open after you cook them. That's the whole trick. The rest is just what you flavour them with. Thai, Italian, French whatever you think will give you a flavourful broth that you can dip a fresh baguette into to sop up all the flavour in the broth.

Save the waiter tips and try and make it at home. You can make as much as you want and have them whenever you want and you won't have to wait for a slow waiter to bring them to you.

Only downside that I can see is that you actually have to throw out more than you eat because the shells and the veggies that you don't eat are more than those tiny little mussels.

So the only real downside is the prep and cleanup so I would suggest finding an OCD friend that likes to clean to come over and help you clean up.

If I can't go to PARIS at least I can bring a taste of Paris home.

It's easy...try it and ENJOY!

Rob Ford's Food Truck

Created by Toronto Food Trucks

He would probably park it outside the front door of City Hall so he can have a constant flow.