Sweet and sour “pork.”

Let’s clarify: I am not a vegetarian or vegan. Life is too short not to indulge in foods that you love. Everything in moderation is my motto.

We were vegetarians for a couple of years back in our twenties, but at the end of the day, we are carnivores. 

I have been making meatless meals at least twice a week for some time now. I still use beef or chicken stock and dairy in those dishes.

Marty has high cholesterol, and we should watch our diets for heart-healthy reasons. Yes, I usually post foods that are indulgences, but why can’t healthier recipes taste like them, too? 

I support vegetarian diets as a healthier lifestyle while eating whole-natural foods. I can also understand why people do it for ethics.

I can’t think about ethics, or I won’t want to eat meat either. It’s a circle of life thing; we don’t have teeth to eat only vegetables.

A vegan lifestyle is a choice, and many times, food is laden with many scientific and chemical byproducts and is something I do not support.

I support people as vegans if they are eating whole-nature foods. However, many vegans I know have horrible diets and eat shitty fattening foods and NO vegetables. Weird.

If vegans are craving a bloody hamburger and are eating all that chemical-filled impossible stuff, well, dammit, it may be time to reevaluate what in the fuck you are doing. Why are you craving bloody meat? 

Some people’s bodies need the amino acids and iron you cannot get without eating meat. It happened to a friend of mine whose hair started falling out, plus my ulcerative colitis left my body needing more iron than vegetables and vitamins could provide.

This is 100% true for me. My body wanted and needed meat. My opinion on veganism may not be popular, and I am ok with that.

Once, I said something on my personal Facebook page about impossible burgers after we attempted to try one. The fake bloody hamburger smelled like nothing I’d ever smelled before.

I read the ingredients on the package since I always read labels due to my gluten intolerance. Here is what I found. 🤢

After my post, my Facebook “friends” lost their shit and got all up in my ass by telling me I didn’t know anything and began making comments defending the impossible line of food.

They insisted their meat-eating partners love it more than meat. I wonder what their honest opinion would be. They weren’t convincing me; they were justifying themselves for eating it.

Hey, you do you, and I’ll do me. I feel that way about most things.

Ok, enough about all that bullshit; this is a post about soy curls. What in fucks name they are? Where do they come from, what are they made of, and are they healthy for you?

Soy curls were created in 2000 by a family-run, Oregon-based company, Butler Foods. They wanted to create a meat alternative for vegetarians and vegans.

Soy curls are healthy and are a whole-natural food, meaning they do not have a bunch of chemicals in them. There is only one ingredient on their package: soy.

Marty stumbled upon soy curls while picking up a snack for us while we were in Albany making a delivery to the store Honest Weight. He chose a soy curl teriyaki salad made without gluten.

It was delicious, and we needed to know more. I researched what they were while heading to our next delivery in Saratoga. After the Four Seasons health food store delivery, I grabbed a bag of soy curls.

I looked up some recipes. I couldn’t wait to make one of our favorite dishes, Mongolian “Beef.” I used my Mongolian sauce recipe, which was the best part. I already knew what it would taste like.

Mongolian “Beef.”

The bottom line is they were easy to prepare, and the dish was better than the one I made with beef. They didn’t get tough in the refrigerator; we ate them cold the next day. You can’t do this with beef./

I have an excellent sense of smell and palate. The soy curls don’t have any smell or taste. They absorb whatever flavors you are cooking them with.

We ordered a big box of soy curls, which we will keep in the freezer and use what we need a little at a time. 

The amount of quick and easy meals we will get out of one box would be hundreds of dollars in meat.

What I like about cooking with them is there is no contamination to worry about or having to wash your hands dozens of times, like when preparing chicken, pork, or beef. 

Here are some other dishes I will be making with soy curls. 

I found the above photos of soy curls on Pinterest. Buffalo Chicken Salad, Steak Tacos, Hot Honey Chicken, Pulled Pork Sandwich, and Beef stroganoff.

I’ll use my regular recipes for these dishes and replace the protein with soy curls. You can be as creative as you want to be. The texture of the soy curls is just like other proteins. It’s amazing.

There are endless possibilities, and you won’t have to worry about defrosting or purchasing meat for quick dinners. 

Will I still make steak, chicken, and pork? Well, hell, yes. We will continue to indulge in foods we love by keeping everything in moderation.

The only negative things about soy curls are for people allergic to soy and for my old pal cauliflower, which soy curls have now replaced. 

You can find soy curls in most healthier stores like Trader Joe’s, health food stores, Whole Foods, and many other places.

They are more expensive on Amazon, so don’t do that. We ordered ours from Butler Foods directly, and they were half the price of Amazon.

I like to write about things people may not know about. I want to educate myself and my readers the best I can and teach them how to use or make whatever I am writing about.

I hope you found this post interesting. I am unsure if anyone will try soy curls, but if you do, I promise you will love them.

I hope you all had an enjoyable and delicious Thanksgiving. This was a wonderful Thanksgiving for us. Holiday dinners for the first 30 years of our marriage were stressful and not fun.

I’ve cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 33 years. We ate dinner with Martin and his wife. Eileen, four years ago. It was scrumptious. Only making pies that year felt odd, but the break was wonderful.

Marty’s brother, Peter, came down from up north and spent a couple of days with us relaxing and catching up. We had a great time with lots of laughs, watching Hamilton, and a competitive game of Five Crowns.

My favorite Thanksgiving meme is this one. It makes me laugh every year. It’s true, isn’t it?

I didn’t post my holiday food photos because I do not go on social media on holidays or when we have guests. However, now I’m going to share our Thanksgiving with you.

I made my centerpiece the weekend before the big day. I love dressing our dining room table almost as much as cooking. 

I didn’t cook the whole bird again this year; I took the turkey parts off the carcass on Wednesday morning.

I immediately started a big pot of turkey stock. The stock simmered for 18 hours and made the house smell delicious. 

After being skimmed, the final broth was strained and went back on the stove to cook for another hour until it was reduced by half.

Check out that gorgeous and rich stock! I put half of it in the freezer for ramen soup or gravy.

Another benefit of not cooking the whole bird is that the turkey roasts for 45 minutes. My brother-in-law, Peter, was an enormous help with the turkey.

I had to use two pans because I didn’t have the kind I needed. Peter helped flip the turkey pieces since the pans were super heavy.

I had one grease fire; the heat was high when I placed the turkey breasts skin side down. I didn’t panic; I took the pan off the heat and put it on the cold granite countertop to cool down.

Our meal couldn’t have been more traditional since that was what we prefer on Thanksgiving. My two desserts were also traditional: pumpkin pie and mini pecan pie tarts.

Noah and Aja joined us for dessert after spending the day going to family members’ homes and eating two Thanksgiving dinners. Yes, they were both stuffed but had a little room left for dessert.

The five of us had a ton of laughs and stories to tell. I am so grateful they could spend time with us and Uncle Peter. Unfortunately, Sam was working and wasn’t able to join us.

So, that was it, another Thanksgiving in the books. Next up: Christmas meals.

I am a natural-born teacher. I’ve taught dance for almost 20 years and taught high school students how to cook in our high school’s culinary arts program.

I’ve taught all sorts of cooking classes so in November of 2020 when I started to see people panicking and begging for help; I wrote a post that got over 10,000 likes on social media.

Here is my 11/22/20 post.

“Hey!!! If this is your first Thanksgiving that you have to cook because of travel & gathering restrictions I must tell you this….today is the day you may want to take your frozen turkey out of the freezer and defrost in the refrigerator in a container in case it leaks while it defrosts.

I made the mistake of taking my turkey out too late too many times and sweated it out if it would be ready to roast on Thanksgiving. Here are a couple other pieces of advise I have found helpful over the last 31 years of cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

▪️Read the recipes you plan to make AHEAD and re-read them. For real you don’t want to find out on the big day you forgot to get something that would change the dish drastically.
▪️Make a list and shop early. No one wants to torture themselves and be in a last minute panic situation at the grocery store.
▪️Simple recipes with fewer good ingredients always come out better and are way less stressful.
▪️Mise en place or prep ahead!!!!! I cannot stress this enough!!! Being well organized and ready to go on the big day is fucking priceless! You will thank me and this goes for other big meals not just on thanksgiving. Seriously just taking the time to prep a few things here and there instead of just sitting on your phone is time well spent and is good for you mentally as well. Lol!
▪️Never apologize for your food!!!! To quote Julia Child “I don’t believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. Usually one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is!”
▪️Let yourself off the hook and don’t try to make everything from scratch. If you like to bake then by all means make your pies on Wednesday, but if you don’t enjoy baking then buy them!!!! Keep your menu small and don’t try to tackle too many things. This one is huge. People start thinking about every dish they have ever had on past Thanksgivings and think they need to make them all.
▪️Plan on something super simple or order a pizza on Wednesday night so you can take the time to get organized for tomorrow. Same thing goes with a simple breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. This is not the day to make pumpkin pancakes or some other dumb shit you think is necessary. It’s not.
▪️This may be the biggest one of all. The big daddy of advice….clean as you go!!!!! Honestly people get so overwhelmed when they look around their kitchen and it looks like a bomb went off or worse when the pot or bowl or whisk that you need is dirty under a mountain of dishes!!!!

I hope this helps anyone who is dreading to cook…because they don’t enjoy cooking or perhaps they have always been that person that is lucky enough to just show with a pie or flowers for the table. I have some time today so I am prepping ahead things that can be made far in advance and make turkey day a snap!!

Take a deep breath. Count your blessings. Give thanks for all the good things that did happen in this shitass year and Bon Appetit!” ❤️❤️❤️~julz

This was the post that made me think I could be a writer and pass on knowledge I’ve had learned myself.

I have an interesting tidbit regarding the photo I used at the top of this post, Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving painting which was part of his Four Freedoms series.

As I am sure you know how much I love living in Arlington and all its history.

I wrote an entire blog post when I visited my friends Kevin and Sue who own and operate Rockwell Retreat which was Norman Rockwell’s second home he owned in Arlington.

One of our good friends owns the first home of Norman Rockwell. This was a complete surprise to me.

When my friend gave us a quick tour of the house he told us about a very special window in the house.

It was the window in Rockwell’s Thanksgiving painting! We were thrilled to see it and look out of it!

How amazing! We were standing in the spot that was the head of the table. How cool.

Our friend went on to tell us the models he used in that famous painting were townspeople as he always used.

The Grandmother holding the platter was a cleaning lady and I think the Grandfather was a plumber or some other kind of skilled laborer.

I love getting the back stories like that on Rockwell’s famous pieces of art.

It’s all so interesting and it all took place right here in Arlington. ☺️

We watch all kinds of food and cooking shows on YouTube. We like Sam the Cooking Guy. One dish Sam made caught my attention so much that I watched it again with Marty. I was intrigued.

Once I learn about something I never heard of, I must investigate. I began watching more videos about this dish, the Irish Spice Bag.

It took a while before I could make my spice bag following Sam the Cooking Guy’s recipe. So what exactly is an Irish Spice Bag besides fucking delicious? 

It is a paper bag filled with crispy chicken pieces, bell peppers and onions, hot chilies, french fries, and curry sauce. 

The dish originated in Dublin, Ireland, at a popular takeaway restaurant, Sunflower Chinese, in 2012. 

The staff grew tired of eating the same thing every day. They created the Irish spice bag after the takeaway closed for the night. 

Little did they know that the Irish Spice Bag would become a phenomenon. The spice bag was a collaboration of ideas, just as it is a collaboration of flavors. 

The story goes one of the employee’s friends came in the next day and asked for a spice bag. The rest is history. 

The Irish Spice Bag is now famous all over Ireland and is made in Chinese takeaway places all over the country.

It’s filling and tasty, perfect to eat after pounding down pints all night. Others call it a hangover remedy.

People from all over are obsessed with this unofficial dish of Dublin, just like Chicken Tikka Masala is the unofficial dish of London.

Some people get off an airplane, and the first thing they do is grab a spice bag as their first thing to eat; that’s how good this dish is.

Irish Spice bags have made it slowly to the US. The first locations also popped up in NYC and Washington, DC. More places are opening across the country.

There is even a place in Albany called the Savoy Tap House that has an Irish Spice Bag on their pub menu! We’ve been there since they have a very gluten-free friendly menu. 

But what about making one yourself?

Sam, the Cooking Guy, has 3.5 million followers; when he made his Irish Spice Bag, people went nuts and had to make one. Count me in.

People in Ireland watched his version and tried his recipe just like I did. They flipped out; it was so good and right on the money.

Some Irish people told him it was served with two sauces. Fair enough.

I have to admit it is a labor of love. You have to have time to make the recipe and, more importantly, time to sit and enjoy it.

I followed Sam the Cooking Guy’s recipe exactly, except I didn’t make thrice cooked french fries, and I used only a tiny amount of hot chilies for the first time. I could go a little spicier the next time. 

Instead of boring you to death with how I made it, click on the YouTube video and watch Sam’s Irish Spice Bag. The man is a pisser and is himself on camera. His son Max is the cameraman.

If you aren’t interested in watching his program, click the link and look at the recipe. I encourage you to watch the video so he can tantalize your taste buds and make you laugh. 

 https://www.thecookingguy.com/cookbook/2023/5/1/salt-amp-chili-chicken-spice-bag

Like in Ireland, we ate our Irish Spice Bags from the ripped-open bag. We used our fingers and dipped the bag’s contents into the flavorful side of curry sauce.

This is no joke. I kid you not; after only once having a spice bag, we are addicted. Of course, this falls under the category of food that is a treat since we don’t eat many fried foods. 

Everything in moderation, people. Eat a salad the next day if you are feeling guilty. Like my hero, idol, and male alter ego, the late, great Anthony Bourdain said:

Eat a damn Irish spice bag, for fucks sake, and enjoy the hell out of it. Thanks, Tony, for the reminder.♥️