Dinner & Movie = Nachos & Potato Skins

This past weekend, JY&MY came over for a movie night to watch "Chronicle" at ours, and for some reason I felt inspired to emulate a sports bar experience: eating nachos and potato skins while watching something on a big screen. 

These were not to be any normal nachos, oh no. I had a tub of crabmeat in my fridge, and I intended to use it liberally - gourmet nachos, if you will. 

You will not believe how hard it is to find plain corn nachos in Hong Kong until you try it yourself! Forget the 5 supermarkets/stores that I tried (even GrEAT) and go straight to Oliver's - at least I know now that they are sold there.

We laid a layer of nacho chips on the platter, then chili crabmeat (seasoned with salt, pepper, chili powder and a dash of tabasco sauce, then pan-fried lightly), and a mix of grated cheddar and monterey jack cheese. On top of the third and final layer, sprinkle a final large helping of cheese (I believe we had a 250g bag, and almost 2/3 of it went on the nachos). I put my nachos under the grill, but JY suggested that next time we bung it in the microwave instead, so that the cheese doesn't go too dry, and the nachos don't burn before the lower tiers of cheese melt. Next time!

The nachos were quite glam, and to top off the whole experience we opened the bottle of Ruinart Rosé champagne that JY & MY treated us to, thanks guys!

For the sauces, we put together my usual guacamole recipe minus the tomatoes. We also made a pretty awesome salsa, although next time I'll blitz everything but the tomatoes, then add it to the tomatoes and mash them by hand so the sauce is more chunky.

Salsa:
(this recipe will make enough for your nachos, and much more...) You'll need:

1 can of plum tomatoes
2 jalapenos or large green chilies
a generous handful of coriander, roughly chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 red onion, roughly diced
1 clove of garlic, roughly sliced
salt and pepper


In a food processor, pulse all of the ingredients to the desired consistency.

Wild Rose Detox, Day 1: What you can and can't eat

Day 1 is over and I'm doing well so far! Below is a table I've made of the foods that I should be eating and shouldn't be eating, and have stuck it by my work computer and on my fridge at home. I'm finding it fun and helpful to highlight all of the items that I've used as ingredients, so I can try to control the amount of each that I'm eating. I also section off my plate into a pie, so to speak, and only have Section 1 Foods covering a small slice of it.

The Detox recommends that you eat 80% alkaline and neutral foods in your diet (Sections 2&3), and limit your intake of acid forming foods to 20% (Section 1). 

SECTION 1 (eat less than 20%) :  Protein/Acid forming foods
Most recommended	Acceptable during programme	Not recommended during programme
Fish	Beans (dried fresh beans)	Buttermilk
	Beef	Cheese (of any kind)
	Eggs (whole)	Seafood (shellfish)
	Grains **	Yoghurt
	Lamb
	Lentils
	Liver
	Nuts (except peanuts)
	Oatmeal
	Peas (dried) fresh peas
	Poultry
	Pork
	Prunes (cooked)
	Rhubarb (cooked)
	Rice (white)
	Seeds (i.e. sunflower, flax etc.)
	Soy beans
	Tofu (plain, unsweetened)
	Veal
	Wheatgerm

SECTION 2 (eat 80% or more) :  Starch Foods/Alkaline forming foods

Recommended Acceptable during programme Not recommended during programme Millet, buckwheat Almond milk (without sweeteners) Bananas Rice (Brown) Apples Currants Quinoa Apricots Dried fruit Almonds Berries (blueberries, raspberries etc.) Fruit juices Cherries Flour of any grains Lemons Grapes Peaches, pears, plums, nectarines Honey Popcorn Malt Potatoes (baked) Malt syrup Pumpkin (squash, yams, sweet potatoes) Melons-cantaloupe, honeydew etc. Sesame seeds Molasses Tahini Oranges Tomatoes*** Pasta  Pineapple Raisins Soups thickened with flour Tropical fruit SECTION 3 (eat 80% or more) :  Bulk forming foods/Neutral foods Recommended Acceptable during programme Not recommended during programme Chives Arugula Cottage cheese Garlic Artichokes Mushrooms Ginger Asparagus Onions Avocado Tea (herbal, without milk)* Beans (green) dried beans Water Beets or Beet tops Bok Choy Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Butter Cabbage/Carrots/Cauliflower Celery/collards/corn/chards Cucumbers Dandelion Eggplant/endive/escarole Herbs (for seasoning) Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mustard Greens Okra Oils except peanut oil **** Pasley, parsnips, peas (green) Peppermint Peppers (green, red, orange, yellow) Radiccio Radishes Rutabagas Seaweeds (kelp, nori etc.) Sorrel Spinach Sprouts Turnips Vegetable seasoning (without yeast!!) Watercress

Notes
*Coffee, green tea and herbal tea are acceptable, max. two cups a day
** Barley, kasha, bulgar, spelt, kamut, amaranth, oats, rye, wheat berries
*** Food to eat in moderation: Tomato or vegetable juice, salt
**** i.e. Olive oil, flax oil, sunflower oil
To be avoided: The golden rules
Breads
Flours or flour products (pasta, cakes, pancakes, crackers, flour in sauces or gravy
Dairy products (except butter)
Tropical fruits
All fermented foods (wine, beer, vinegar, soy sauce, black tea, miso)