The objective: eat with chopsticks for a week. This extended to chopsticks, a spoon, or hands. I went to choose my chopsticks in the Japan Centre and also got a spoony-ladle and a chopstick rest (an eminently useful discovery). These are my eating utensils for the week.
Monday
Nothing too challenging today! Muesli, soup and bread, toast and a chinese (coincidence!). It was odd using a huge spoon - you can't get the whole thing in your mouth... I realised that the type of meal is dictated by the crockery - there's no reason you can't eat a steak with chopsticks, but you'd need to serve it in little pieces.
Tuesday
Muesli and soup & toast again (my chopsticks stayed pristine). I thought about jacket potatoes and beans for lunch - just to stretch myself a bit - but am all out of spuds. For dinner I had rice, peppered mackeral (which I cut up into rough bite-sized pieces) and salad. I am a complete adept with the chopsticks (should I have christened them with oily stinky-fish?) - I could pick up a grain of salt with them. Bizarrely, the thing I found most difficult to eat was rice. I now know why chinese rice meals are served in small bowls - otherwise you end up chasing it around the plate. I did contemplate getting the spoon, but I persevered and ate every last grain (probably picking up the last 20 grains individually). Phew.
Wednesday
Not that I'm a creature of habit or anything... muesli, toast & cheese, then chilli (and a bit of toast). Chilli and rice proved challenging - it's harder chasing rice around a large bowl than around a plate.
Thursday
And today I had the same food again. The chilli was easier. I am now more interested in the fact that I eat the same food every day - day in day out. More iar around food I think - maybe I'll develop an eating disorder. At the moment it's very very ordered eating.
Friday
And today - same old same old - but I did venture out a little at dinner (the chips were quite tasty - just a strange colour balance!).
Saturday
Today was a little more adventurous.... Began with a fried breakfast - it needed a little more preparation (cutting things up!). I liked the bite-sized pieces, and I also liked eating soggy-tomato toast with my hands. Definitely much more fun eating with chopsticks and hands than usual knife and fork. At dinner, my lover pointed out that the sweetcorn skewers were cheating so I removed them and went in with fingers. Potato is easy - tackled the skins with a combination of hands and stabby chopsticks. And the salad? No problem - I could pick up an atom with these babies :)
Sunday
And today... alas no Sunday roast! But it's time will come :)
Overall - I don't like eating with the big green spoon, but it does make me aware of what I'm eating (and wonton soup dumplings were a lot easier). Rice is a pain in the arse, but my favourite thing to eat was the fried breakfast. I loved the bits - and that's where a roast might work too. Roll on the weekend (or before... main revelation is how fixed/dull/rigid/unchanging my eating habits are).
Monday
Nothing too challenging today! Muesli, soup and bread, toast and a chinese (coincidence!). It was odd using a huge spoon - you can't get the whole thing in your mouth... I realised that the type of meal is dictated by the crockery - there's no reason you can't eat a steak with chopsticks, but you'd need to serve it in little pieces.
Tuesday
Muesli and soup & toast again (my chopsticks stayed pristine). I thought about jacket potatoes and beans for lunch - just to stretch myself a bit - but am all out of spuds. For dinner I had rice, peppered mackeral (which I cut up into rough bite-sized pieces) and salad. I am a complete adept with the chopsticks (should I have christened them with oily stinky-fish?) - I could pick up a grain of salt with them. Bizarrely, the thing I found most difficult to eat was rice. I now know why chinese rice meals are served in small bowls - otherwise you end up chasing it around the plate. I did contemplate getting the spoon, but I persevered and ate every last grain (probably picking up the last 20 grains individually). Phew.
Wednesday
Not that I'm a creature of habit or anything... muesli, toast & cheese, then chilli (and a bit of toast). Chilli and rice proved challenging - it's harder chasing rice around a large bowl than around a plate.
Thursday
And today I had the same food again. The chilli was easier. I am now more interested in the fact that I eat the same food every day - day in day out. More iar around food I think - maybe I'll develop an eating disorder. At the moment it's very very ordered eating.
Friday
And today - same old same old - but I did venture out a little at dinner (the chips were quite tasty - just a strange colour balance!).
Saturday
Today was a little more adventurous.... Began with a fried breakfast - it needed a little more preparation (cutting things up!). I liked the bite-sized pieces, and I also liked eating soggy-tomato toast with my hands. Definitely much more fun eating with chopsticks and hands than usual knife and fork. At dinner, my lover pointed out that the sweetcorn skewers were cheating so I removed them and went in with fingers. Potato is easy - tackled the skins with a combination of hands and stabby chopsticks. And the salad? No problem - I could pick up an atom with these babies :)
Sunday
And today... alas no Sunday roast! But it's time will come :)
Overall - I don't like eating with the big green spoon, but it does make me aware of what I'm eating (and wonton soup dumplings were a lot easier). Rice is a pain in the arse, but my favourite thing to eat was the fried breakfast. I loved the bits - and that's where a roast might work too. Roll on the weekend (or before... main revelation is how fixed/dull/rigid/unchanging my eating habits are).