Cooking for Me

Every once in a while, a day really comes together. Have you noticed that? Today was one of those days for me, and I am moved to share. For one thing I have been giving cooking tips to my bridge partner, and I think he may really like this.

Cooking for one is challenging, especially, I think, for single men who are widowed or divorced. Most of us are inexperienced, at least in some aspects of cooking, few of us really enjoy eating alone, and most of us are reminded at every meal of how happy we once were.

Still, we have to eat, and if anyone is like me, you love to eat. Not only do I love to eat, I used to really enjoy cooking. My wife had physical challenges, so actually I did most of the cooking, well, under her supervisison, as a kind of sous-chef. And for me, dining and cooking can be a great adventure.

I suppose that came from some members of my family. My mother's older sister was an extraordinary person. She was the first in the family to go to university, studying French and Latin, and she had cosmopolitan tastes, especially a penchant for French cuisine. One of her daughters, my cousin, took a Cordon bleu course and has a cooking blog. Her youngest daughter, my age, is a consummate cook of all kinds of dishes. Her Facebook page makes my mouth water.

And my aunt was very encouraging. Her encouragement was important to me: when I went away to study music in Italy, and when I came back. I wanted to cook for her, and she laughed and enjoyed the adventure. She had a lovely laugh.

My grandparents were farmers. Food was their livelihood and they gave it a prominent place in their living. I do too, and I like to think my culinary successes come from my grandparents and my Aunt Helen.

I have been a Type-2 diabetic for about 30 years. I wear a glucometer, help keep my sugar controlled with prescription drugs, and I have to watch what I eat closely. All this is to say that I have certain foods I must avoid, so I have made substitutions. If you don't need to limit carbs and sugars as severely as I do, you can undo my substitutions in this recipe, and make it to your taste and needs. My main point is that dining should be an enjoyable adventure, even, or even especially for, a senior single widower or divorced man.

What are my goals and requirements in cooking? Did you take German in high school? I did. What a logical language! If you take the trouble to learn the grammar you appreciate the precise communication and systematic expression. I have picked a German word to use as an acronym for my goals in cooking. The word is 'Essen,'which means 'to eat,' if it is a verb, and eating if it is a noun. For me E stands for Ease. I want my meal preparation to be easy, not weigh me down. After all I am just cooking for myself. If I were cooking for an interesting lady, I would throw that ease criterion out the window, but for myself Ease matters.

The first S stands for Satisfaction. I want to be satisfied with my cooking. I have dietary restrictions, but I want to experience Satisfaction with every meal. I freely admit to being a Foodie, and I am no fan of austerity. None of us is perfect. I like to eat, and I want to be satisfied with my meal.

The second S stands for Special needs, in my case, the keto-like diet that helps me keep my blood sugar in line, food that does not make my glucometer top out, and make my phone emit a screeching alert.

I know when I see my doctor he will check my time in range, and the area under the curve, things the wondrous technology does easily, and which enable me to keep track of what I am doing, and learn the effects of each food.

Then there is the second E. It stands for Economy. Most of us need to be budget wise. I certainly do, so making an economical meal is a big consideration.

The N for me means nutrition, which is a bit different from Special needs. We all need adequate protein, vitamins, minerals, and so on. It's important.

I started today out in a beautiful way, taking my granddaughter to brunch. If you have grandchildren, you know exactly what I mean. On the way we stopped at a grocery store so that I could look for Field Pickers' Gezpacho. I love Gezpacho. It is nutritionally sound, simple, and it satisfies the vegetable part of nutrition easily. I like to eat a lot of vegetables, so in the summer season I buy Gezpacho when I can get my hands on it, which is not always easy, because others think as I do.

I did find Gezpacho today, and that was a good start. I skipped breakfast because we were going to brunch. I chose eggs Benedict with smoked salmon (nothing austere about that), and was asked if I wanted to substitute tomatoes for the fried potatoes. Oh yes! And I had an excellent meal that satisfied my taste buds and did not send my glucometer out of range.

After brunch I went to another grocery store. Many people get their food delivered, but I have fond memories of grocery shopping with my father, so I do that, planning to buy something that looks good.

And today something looked really good. There was a tuna steak marked down to half price. I looked it over, decided I would cut it in half horizontally with a filet knife, so the 20 dollar purchase would turn into two 10 dollar entrees. A bit steep perhaps, but balanced out by a day when I buy beef liver, two meals for 7 or 8 dollars.

I decided to buy a sweet onion and some baby potatoes.Those can send my meter into the stratosphere, but I decided I could afford to eat a few with dinner today, in part because this is my night for medication.

Back at home, I cut a third of the sweet onion coarsely, put some olive oil in my trusty non-stick pan (for me an essential for any kitchen), turned the burner on, took six tiny potatoes, pierced each one with a knife, and stuck them in the microwave on high for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile I cut my tuna in half to make two thin slices, and put one back in the fridge. When the potatoes were ready, I cut each one in half and put them and the tuna into the pan. I added a few grape tomatoes. I shook a lemon pepper spice mix liberally over everything.

I always keep a can of anchovies on hand. They are useful for so many dishes. I put the whole can into the pan with the tuna and potatoes, including the oil, and I covered the pan.

It was cooked in two minutes. The center was warm but not fully cooked. This tuna is not sushi grade, so it cannot be eaten raw, but it needs to be cooked only very slightly.

What a treat! Check out the photo above! What to drink? Well there are some terrific sugar free options these days, but for this dish I went with my old standby, Fresca, a bit sweet, a bit tart because of the grapefruit. I would say it is a sweet and sour drink, and it suits me just as well today as it did when I was a teen. For this combination of flavors it was just about ideal.

And that is my cooking story today. Ease? Yes. Special needs certainly. Satisfaction, yes, in spades! Economical? Within the context of a treat, yes. And nutritional, well yes.

So I am not a celebrity chef like The Galloping Gourmet. I can be Practical Paul and I can enjoy every bite. I wish you great adventures in your kitchen!