Saturday 4 December 2010

The pitfalls of food blogging

Rita puts on her blogging hat to review hospital food.......

Roast chicken (above)



Some kind of canned fish lasagne (above)



Yes - she's still alive!



Cold roast beef salad (above)



Well - it's not top-of-the-range, cordon bleu food, but, hey, who's in the position to complain? You want a meal in hospital? That's it. I was happy to accept anything I hadn't had to make myself.
Contrary to the facts as presented by my good mate Steve on his blog post the other day, when faced with scary situations, the human psyche, for self-protection, reacts in different ways. In my particular instance, the escape is through humour. Hence on finding myself being carted off in an ambulance, then attached to heart monitors and the like for days, combined with a series of medical experiences not marked on my calendar to occupy those very days, I regressed immediately into finding the whole situation of having a food blog (which seems to infer to some that the volume of food eaten is automatically immense) and me turning up at the Emergency Department of the Royal Hobart Hospital in an ambulance with heart problems (quite possibly due to food intake over the past 60 years!) extremely ironic!

However, let us not be hasty and point the finger at Mezethes, whose food last week (as I commented to a few close friends, whilst in hospital) proved to be way up there, standard-wise, in comparison to the food presented to me later in hospital!

We live, we eat. We have to eat in order to survive. No matter what we eat, there will come to all of us that finite ending, commonly called ‘death’. What we eat at normal mealtimes throughout our lives, what our metabolism is like, what our circumstances are, all impact on that.

So – I make no apology for, or explanation of, my heart problems. I attribute the fact that my heart is still beating to the fact that actually my diet is excellent – thanks to (or maybe, despite!!) many restaurants, cafes and chefs offerings over the years. I don’t drink or smoke (and have never done so), am not an asthmatic and can’t physically eat more than an entrĂ©e-sized portion of food at any sitting. Ergo whatever food has passed my lips over my lifetime has served as vital sustenance for this body without over-indulging in anything at all (except maybe the odd packet of Maltesers!).

So – my gratitude must go to the chefs of Tasmania, notably Hobart, to whom I obviously owe my life! Also to Hill St Grocers, where I buy the majority of my domestically devoured food ingredients.
The above 2 pics illustrate a point of discussion at Nellies, after she bought the above sourdough loaf, and discovered the new trademark attached to the loaf....a cute little bug, cosily nestling up and implanted onto the side of the loaf! Would YOU have returned the loaf?
Posted on by Rita
16 comments

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back on deck young lady, dont do that again!!
I can do one better on that moth, there is a picture on the net {cant remember where} of a mouse squashed into the side of a loaf! Now that's nasty!!

Cheers,
P.

Anonymous said...

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3155306/Mouse-found-in-loaf-of-bread.html

Eva said...

Good to hear you're on the mend. Attention seeking behavior, I imagine.
Moth far preferable to mouse. I feel ill.....

Victor said...

Good to see your new post, Rita. And, thanks for sharing those wonderful appetizing hospital food!

Marian Hazel said...

So glad to hear you're ok Rita, and have your sense of humour in tact! Look forward to many future blog posts!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear your doing okay too.

Yup yup hospital food. I had my first child in August. That was my first ever stay in a hospital. I too had the beef salad among other delights. Was kept in for 5 days and they wanted me to stay longer, one of the reasons I wanted to go home was I wanted some good decent food. Saying that it was nice having meals brought to me, getting asked if I wanted Tea at 11am and 3pm, and not having to do the dishes.

Anonymous said...

Heck, Rita ...... The food looks shite! Hope you weren't paying too much for it!

Glad to hear that you ok though, and as for the bread, I would definetly take it back.

My concerns now lie with SIR GRUMPY ....... must be two or three weeks since I have seen him commenting, hope he is ok.

But I mean, honestly, some of those beans are more brown than green. Yuck. I thought hospital food was meant to be healthy.

It looks like old peoples food... Boil the shit out of it, and then add salt.

Rita said...

Thanks all for your comments, and well wishes. I was in the Royal, so was a public patient, therefore definitely not paying too much for the meals! I have seen some of the food trays the lucky private patients at Calvary and St Johns get - man, do they know how to live the high life! They even get a glass of wine with the meal, which admittedly would be wasted on me! Not for us paupers though!

I too would have returned the bread but Nellie chose not to, and sliced off the offending corner.

I am totally with you, last Anon, regarding Sir Grumpy! He surely must be away somewhere as I simply can't imagine him letting an opportunity like this go by!

Nuf Sed said...

Wine, with food, in a hospital !!!

Do they offer spirits too? :)


Hopefully Sir G is ok, the Earl Greys on me if we ever meet old boy!

Cartouche said...

Question is Rita; as you are being looked after by your dear daughter Nellie, is one going to photograph the offsprings offerings, and perhaps critique them, breakfast may be an interesting one, blog wise. Or is this stirring the shit too far and it curdles?
Could be a giggle, and that would be irony.
As for Sir G, probably still gobsmacked that we pommies are for once hitting the aussies for six in the ashes.

Cartouche.

Rita said...

You sure know how to put the cat amongst the pigeons, Cartouche! And to be honest, at one of the fabulous meals I had at Nellies (am home now), it was mentioned that I should photograph it and review it! She actually is one of THE best cooks I have ever experienced, despite being my daughter. She has that innate instinct for knowing exactly what to put into a dish to create something superlative. She cooked much of the food at the cafe when I had it, and despite poo-poohing my compliments, I know she is brilliant at cooking. I love watching her prepare and cook a meal in her kitchen, making the most of all the raw ingredients she keeps in her pantry, as well as the Thermomix - which naturally mum got severely bagged out for arranging the TM demo at Nellies over a year ago now, but who uses it at least 4 times a day to produce stunning food for her family? Yep - that would be Nellie!
Breakfasts for the kids can be porridge (but not as we know it) or fresh fruit in some form, or eggs benedict (sauce ever so easy in the TM), or buckwheat pancake mix whizzed up along with carrot, apple etc, and served with maple syrup or honey and yoghurt...I've told her kids that their mum is the best cook in Hobart, and I mean it. So even though there is no way she would agree with me, or let me blog about her food, she IS a great cook, and I wish I could have reviewed her food, as it truly was beautiful.

mistressofteaparties said...

Hi Rita, I like your style, with regards to the bread I would brush the trade mark off or if stuck pick it off.
Looks like a nice loaf. Regards :)

sir grumpy said...

Hello Rita et all.
Glad to hear you are well, Rita.
Cartouche, what are the Ashes, again?
Is it a game of some sort?
I was away and am back, so look out!
Hospital food really needs looking at.

Christina said...

Thank Goodness Sir G. Just about to send out the search party!!!

sir grumpy said...

Thanks Christina,

I have caught up with recent Rita postings and it was a shock to hear she had a health scare.
Not sure what all that cyber stuff was about looking after each other's bloggings from attackers but then I'm a techno ignoramus.

Had a great feed at Dom's Asian recently and am growing fatter by eating too many rolls, loaves and sweet things from the German bakery at Sandy Bay. The chilli-rich dishes at Touch of Asia on Sandy Bay Road are great too.

So, I am still eating well and having my gin and tonic with ice and a slice at 5pm when circumstances allow.

Cheers.

Rita II said...

Dear Rita

Like Sir G, I too have been away but am now back and was horrified to hear of your stay in the RHH. I hope you are now recovering and Nellie's food sounds like it is doing the trick.
Coincidentally, I met up with friends for our Christmas get-together at Mezethes and the place was packed, which meant a long wait for our mains but the waiter was lovely and we got a free bottle of retsina! I thought the meals were OK - but then the evening wasn't about the food. Off to Ciuccio on Friday! I have spent the last few weeks in Europe telling everyone how good the food is in Tassie so looking forward to enjoying more of it - and maybe even the Taste will be more interesting this year.... The main thing is you are going to be around to blog about it!