Saturday was “errand day”. I took Rumpelmintz to the vet, made cat food, and got my hair cut (and highlighted – woo hoo!). Then I went to Kmart, dropped off some donated medications at the cat shelter, and stopped at Trader Joe’s to get groceries before going to Pet Supplies Plus to buy litter. Hectic day.
I love Trader Joe’s, but Trader Joe’s on a Saturday afternoon is NOT my favorite. Packed with people. Couldn’t enter some aisles. Carts lined up for the checkouts into the aisles themselves, making it nearly impossible to get anywhere. I persevered. I always start on the aisle furthest from produce, ending in the produce section. I’m still attempting to eat healthy, but the produce section is a challenge yet. There are the old stand-by’s of course, carrots, apples, etc. I’m trying to expand my horizons, though. So, I challenged myself to get a couple new things. This time, I opted for baby bok choy and minneolas. The minneolas resembled small oranges or tangerines, so I figured I could just peel them and eat them. Shouldn’t be hard.
There was a staff member nearby, so I asked her if she knew how to prepare the bok choy.
She had no idea. Well, I figured surely I could stir fry it or something?
I got in the very long line to check out. As we all stood there, waiting our turn, I glanced at what was in the woman’s cart who was in front of me. (I’m not sure why, but I always find it interesting what people are buying.) She had quite a bit of produce and fresh fish. I decided to ask her if she knew how to prepare bok choy. She didn’t. The young man behind me suggested I steam it. He thought he’d seen a menu once that advertised steamed bok choy. He said “You know who would know?” I looked at him, expectantly. “The internet!” he exclaimed. We laughed.
I noted that so far I’ve been lucky with vegetables. I generally just stir fry them or microwave them, and they generally turn out edible. The woman in front of me gasped.
“Microwave them?”
Yes, I admitted I microwave them.
Apparently I am damaging and destroying valuable nutrients by nuking my vegetables. I should be steaming them – and she assured me that does NOT mean using my double-boiler thingey that goes in the microwave to steam them. Huh. I guess I’ll check into that at some point.
Meanwhile, I tried the bok choy tonight. I just stir fried it in a bit of olive oil spray. Plain, but pretty good! I put sauteed portobello mushrooms and toasted pine nuts on top.