I spent the long weekend of my liquid fast concocting disgusting permutations of arugula, flaxseed oil, spirulina, cranberry, and pear smoothies (I was feeling perverse--the murkier, the better). I hid out from society and flitted about in white like some haunted figure living on an ashram--only from bed to blender and back again. But the closest I got to spiritual comeuppance was delving into my Molto Mario cookbook and fixating on the details of a baked pasta dish traditionally served over Easter. It involves Italian ham cooked until the meat falls apart and layers upon layers of pasta, cheese, and bechamel.
But the fast was not as futile as I feared. I felt and looked terrible on Saturday, the 10th day of my entire "detox" regimen, which is coincidentally or not how long Dr. Oz (of Oprah appearances) says it takes the liver to process toxins. So, hopefully I released some toxins in the process. And while I would not recommend a liquid fast unless you can be sure of keeping up your calorie intake to maintain your metabolism, I felt it served my purposes.
For I not only looked through cookbooks at pasta dishes I could not have, I also looked longingly at glossy vegetables and earmarked recipes I never would have noticed before--chicory soup with egg and Roman-style artichokes dripping in lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. The first week of a restricted diet recalibrated my weight, my tastebuds, and my idea of portion size required for satiety. And the last three days recalibrated my standards for what I deem to be satisfying food, food worthy of being sought after (solids). Spinach with caramelized onions and black-eyed peas looked like food porn, and I hankered for the lentils from a few days ago.
Who knew that the Korean Thanksgiving day of Chuseok would follow Yom Kippur this year? I finished off 11 days of "detox" with a little rice, gim (toasted, salted sheets of seaweed), some radish soup, kimchi, a thumb-size portion of braised short rib, and three pieces of Korean pancake or fried pajun--one with meat, one with squash, and one with mung bean. It may not sound like much, but I probably overdid it. There seemed a plethora of items that overlapped in categories denied to me, which I didn't pause to think about before diving in. You would think everything would taste heavenly at that point, especially the piece of short rib, but I actually found the plain rice wrapped in toasted seaweed to be the most satisfying, the more heartening piece of food and, in hindsight, it was all I needed.
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Posted by: Tiffany Rings | January 27, 2011 at 01:46 AM