Here’s the King Cake:

Pancetta and Cheese Pizza a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

Aziza’s on Main continues to cook up wonderful pies. On this night we enjoyed a white pizza with cow’s milk mozzarella and pancetta.

This is not my stomach

So recently my wife and I have been trying to be healthier. Not that we were particularly unhealthy before, but we’ve been trying to do a better job of exercising, eating better, and watching how much we drink in an effort to shed some pounds and look and feel better. This of course is in direct opposition to my desire to regularly update this site with my thoughts on various wines.

So what’s a blogger to do when he’s trying to lose weight and write about wine at the same time? Do I just update less often or start doing posts that don’t focus on wines I’ve actually tried but look more at the wine industry as a whole? Hopefully I’ll figure it out shortly, and I’m certainly interested to know how other food and wine bloggers balance being healthy with keeping their site up to date.

Related posts:

1. Micro Blogging

Thirty-three-year-old Claire Simmons, of Notting Hill in London, is in a monogamous relationship with a dangerous partner: pizza.

For the last 31 years of her life, she has eaten nothing but plain cheese pizza for every single meal, she tells the Sun. And now, her doctors say that Simmons’ monotonous diet could kill her.

Simmons says she exercises and drinks plenty of water. The problem is that her limited diet — the result of a mental illness known as Selective Eating Disorder – doesn’t provide all the minerals and vitamins she needs for solid health.

Simmons exposed her difficult story to the public after reading the story of Stacey Irvine, sometimes called “Chicken Nugget Girl,” a fellow Brit who was hospitalized after eating only chicken nuggets for a decade and a half.

There’s a certain magical power-food that accomplishes almost every food goal I have in one simple bite – the humble lentil.

The lentil checks the boxes for affordable and healthy, an at times aberrant combination.  Lentils aren’t just healthy; they’re stupid crazy healthy.  They’re a high-fiber, low-fat, cholesterol-busting protein that is rich in some essential vitamins and minerals.  Oh, and they’re easy to prepare.  Oh, and they’re as versatile as a black wrap dress.

The only disadvantage to lentils is that I eat so much of them, I occasionally lentil myself out, but that’s my issue.  It’s not lentils; it’s me.

I cooked off a bag of green lentils with some basic mirepoix, a bay leaf, and a little chicken stock.  We ate the first third with a roasted pork tenderloin and cauliflower (another stupid crazy healthy ingredient.)  The next day, I found myself with two quarts of cooked lentils, begging to be saladerized.  So I obliged with these two options and lentilled myself silly for the next few days.

Lentil Salad with Hard-Boiled Egg and Prosciutto Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 quart cooked lentils
2 eggs, hardboiled and quartered
1 handful parsley, chopped
½ cup prosciutto, small diced
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Combine prosciutto, mustard, and vinegar.  Season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle in olive oil, while whisking, until you have about 1 cup of vinaigrette.  Combine lentils and parsley, and toss in vinaigrette.  Top with egg, and commence to eatin’.

Lentil Salad with Feta and Mint

Ingredients

1 quart cooked lentils
1 small cucumber, diced
1 handful grape tomatoes, halved
½ c. feta, crumbled
1 handful parsley and mint, chopped thoroughly
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tablespoon high-quality olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients, and mix well.  Season to taste, and allow to sit for about an hour (if you can wait that long.)  Devour.

These salads will last in the refrigerator for about a week if you can keep your hands off of them for that long.

“Our menu features fresh, natural ingredients from local and regional farmers. We will tell you what is in the food you eat, and where it came from. In short, we believe that you should get to know your food.”

Now that’s a motto I could get used to…

“In addition to our seasonal menu, we build on our philosophy of fresh, natural and healthy by offering daily specials that showcase the great abundance and variety of Virginia grown produce, artisanal culinary products, and local sustainably raised or harvested proteins“

What is there about that that’s not to love?! 

So, knowing that this lil’ lady and I have such similar dining perspectives, I knew she would be the perfect dinner date for giving this restaurant a try!

Selba labels all their menu items that are gluten-free, vegan & vegetarian, making it a great place to take diners that have certain dietary needs. 

In fact, the first thing our super sweet waitress asked us was if either of us were vegan, vegetarian or needed to dine gluten free so that she could provide us with the seperate menu containing only those options. I thought that was really cool

For our lil’ dining adventure, Brittany and I decided to try three different courses:  salad, appetizer and an entree. 

Beet Arugula Salad
Roasted baby beets, arugula and lemon-yogurt dressing. VG, GF

The beets were roasted perfectly, melt-in-your mouth tender.  And the dressing was so light and refreshing. This was the showstopper dish for me of the night, but not by much considering how good the rest of the meal was!

Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Chickpea-beer battered brussels sprouts, smoked tomato and English Mustard Remoulade. VG

I thought that this was such a unique idea! The batter was super tasty and such a fun contrast to the brussels sprouts inside. Plus the dipping sauce had a delicious smoky flavor, really pulling this dish together. My only one note was that they were a bit salty, but other than that really good.

I am already contemplating whether I can attempt a version of these at home, trying them baked in the oven in lieu of frying… perhaps more to come?!

Vegetarian Entree Special

Roasted poblano with tofu, mushrooms, cabbage, red onions and garlic, topped with Manchego cheese.

Now this, my friends, is how a roasted poblano should be done!

Creamy on the inside, perfect char on the outside, all draped in a layer of rich melted cheese.  Hello beautiful  

P.S. This was only half of a serving, since Brittany and I ended up splitting our entree course!

Overall, I most definitely want to go back to Selba again. The atmosphere was wonderful, the service was great and the food was both unique and super tasty.

Oh yea, and their prices were totally reasonable, coming to $32 for the entire meal (in total, not per person).

All things that make for a fabulous dining experience in my opinion!!

I also really stand behind their use of local products, I’ll choose those any day.

I must say that I’ve seriously been so impressed with the Richmond dining scene recently, it seems to be just exploding with fabulous options and delicious eats.

Between coal fired pizzas, award winning Szechwan and tasty, locally inspired eats, my little city seems to be becoming quite the culinary destination as of late!!

What’s a favorite local dining spot in your city?!

My friend Taylor took me out on Monday for a little photo adventures and just an hour with her was SO helpful! (She does weddings and such if anyone in RVA is looking!)

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think I knew what I was doing. (Thank you for the pic, Taylor!)

So this was a fun, and challenging post, since I’m still trying to learn my way around my camera. Obviously, I couldn’t snap a picture at work with my camera, so that was my exception in this post.

Breakfast:

Simple bowl of Chobani 0% with vanilla stevia, frozen blueberries, and Udi’s cranberry granola.

Lunch:

Since my barley stew made a bunch of servings, and I’m the only one eating it, I had leftovers at work. I took this picture earlier, obviously (since I get enough strange looks from my co-workers for bringing in things like kale chips and kombucha tea. I don’t need to add a giant camera into the mix.)

I also grabbed some veggies from the salad bar at work, and topped it with some Trader Joe’s Peppercorn Ranch, which I brought from home. I’m normally not a fan of salad dressings (they usually just taste kind of slimy to me) but this dressing is light and delicious.

Afternoon snack:

As soon as I got home from work, I was starving. So I grabbed a slice of homemade wheat bread, and topped it with a smear of almond butter. This bread is really dense, and since it’s made with whole wheat flour and whole grain oats, it’s fiber packed as well! I’ll try to remember to post the recipe soon.

Dinner:

My friend Kate and I went to Xtra’s Cafe in Carytown, specifically for 1/2 off wine night. (I normally go on Wednesdays… for $10 bottles of champagne, but… I’m flexible.) Sadly, I brought my camera, and forgot my memory card… so no photo from there. But you know what white wine looks like, right?

When I finally got home, I wasn’t that hungry, but I knew I needed to eat something, so I whipped up a simple smoothie

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 handful ice cubes
• 1 cup almond milk
• stevia to taste

Do you try to sneak iphone pictures of your food around your co-workers? Do you buy fancy nut butter, or the cheap stuff?