Political Nutrition

Most years, birthdays are a reason to eat really bad food. And justify it. And feel guilty about it. And ultimately regret it. Not this year. I was hell bent on not going off the new eating healthy plan, yet still having my cake... yes I'm going to say it... and eating it too. My grandmother, like most grandmothers, had some pretty good family recipes. Whether she got them from The Joy of Cooking or her own mother actually handed them down we'll never know. My mother said she didn't have my favorite of those recipes, Hungarian Nusstorte. So, as noted in my previous blog entry, Murphy was obviously still hanging around... trying to screw things up. Hmmph. Really? The thing is, I figured with Google at the helm, I'd find the same recipe somewhere. And when I landed on one that said "Hungarian Nusstorte" I figured bingo! I was wrong. It was NOT my grandmother's Nusstorte. Maybe it was Hungarian... and maybe it was a nusstorte... but a really bad Hungari...

As many of you know, I will try almost any diet. Unless it excludes chocolate. I do not believe that good health can be obtained without nature's all-purpose remedy for anything that ails you. So now this whole neo-paleo, grain-free thing along with the diabetic watch your sugars thing and ultimately low carb for weight loss thing has really crimped my Brownie style. I have made countless efforts at replicating the true Brownie experience. I've used Coconut Flour, Almond Flour, Coconut Oil, Organic Butter, Large Eggs and Brown eggs. A dash of Cream and a dash of Chile powder. You name it I've tried it. Even flourless with Almond Butter. Not good. I've exhausted every corner of Google Earth. No, really, I have. In the end, the answer was so simple. My new friend Patrick of the annual Termite Inspection ilk had a few words of wisdom. Noticing my preparation in the kitchen for baking... some might call it a disaster area, and being as he had to go through all the c...