Oh to be healthy…

Do you ever come across one type of food that is so delicious, so exciting, you can’t resist eating it as often as possible? Ad nauseum, almost? Me too.

A few weeks ago, my friend Adam and I waltzed into the Atwater Market on a hunt for something tasty to barbeque for St. Jean Baptiste day. Every terrace in our neighbourhood was filled with happy Quebeckers drinking cold beer, and the beautiful weather would have been wasted without joining in and throwing something thick and juicy on the grill. So, Adam and I perused the market’s many meat counters which included all varieties of pork, chicken, beef, lamb, rabbit, deer…. you name it, it was there. While almost everything tempted our taste buds, we found one special shop that stopped us in our tracks.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the name of this spot. Not because I don’t want to share this new found pleasure with you, but because my eyes have never wandered north of the display case. Ok, so I’m talking about sausages. I am obsessed with gourmet sausages.

That day, Adam and I bought Wild Boar with Stout Beer and Apple Bacon sausages (deserving of the capitals, trust me). Since then, we have feasted on Cranberry Apple, Lamb with Mint, Veal with White Wine and Shallots, and Honey Garlic.  These little numbers are a splurge, but they are worth every penny. Fresh off the barbeque, they will test your patience and self-control to keep your fingers off them until they reach your plate.

As someone whose love for tubular pork products is usually restricted to breakfast sausages, I shouldn’t be so surprised at my new guilty pleasure. Sausages and I have a history, I guess. Once upon a time, while enjoying a dirty breakfast with friends, I decided to forgo my option of two different breakfast meats in favour of just one (“Hi, yes, I would like to order the two eggs with meat, please. But instead of bacon and sausages, could I just have all sausages? Thanks.”). Gross? Probably, but you’ve got to pick your battles and this is not where I choose to focus my energy.

All this to say that, sadly, I’m giving them up. For the next week my meals will look more like this:

I’m trying to be a little more healthy in my food choices, so I thought I would try out a raw diet for a week. That means, no bread, chips, chocolate, Timbits, or any other carb-and-sugar-loaded food I regularly allow to pass my lips. Now its going to be smoothies, salads, dips and spreads, and dehydrated crackers. Yes, this was definitely a good decision. I’m sure it will pay off, right?