Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Getting Started... Soon...

I moved.  That's my excuse for why I haven't seriously started this journey yet.  But, come September 1st, I will go grocery shopping and come home with a bag full of pink ingredients, and probably some ice cream that isn't.  In any case, I had a pink meal a few weeks ago at Baci & Abbracci, a great Italian restaurant my mom found in Williamsburg.  We thought it was empty when we got there (didn't need reservations I guess) but it turns out they have a back yard - something that makes any meal taste better, in my opinion.

I wasn't starving when we got there, but I decided to order the beet & goat cheese gnocchi because it sounded just too perfect for my taste.  And I'm glad I did!  It came with a cream & spinach sauce (sounds heavy right?) but it was superb.  And it was pink!  I love beets, because they make things pinker, and they make things sweeter.  It looked a lot like this dish from a restaurant in soho (which I found on someone else's blog, 89thandbroke.com):



The sauce was light and creamy, with the spinach adding a little dose of green to an otherwise mushy (in a good way!) dish.  The gnocchi was soft and slightly chewy, with the cheese flavors coming through just enough.  I did end up with a few leftovers, but let me tell you, it wasn't because I didn't like it enough to finish it!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Pink Diet – A Brief Description

Mascot of the day: Crocheted pink bear cupcake




Why pink?
Good question.  First of all, I have always loved pink.  When I first had a favorite color, I would tell you it was pink & purple (each from one of my twin cousins, whom I idolized).  Pink represents being a girl, and proud of it!  Pink is a color that I've felt for a long time should be widely accepted as a professional branding, but is (unfairly) not.


Why the blog?
I've decided to start this blog as a record of my goal to stick to a 'pink diet'.  This alone raises several questions, which I will attempt to answer before embarking on my diet journey both in part to clarify for others what it is I am doing (and why), as well as to set a few ground rules for myself.

First of all, pink foods tend to be healthy.  For the purpose of this experiment I am defining "pink foods" as any food that is naturally pink in whole or in part, died pink with natural ingredients, or is an off shade of pink, like red or purple.  That is, no red 40 food dye (my arch nemesis, as you will see!!) or other artificial colors.  Secondly, pink has a lot of positive connotations (pinkeye aside) like awareness for breast cancer research.  I don't have any personal goals with this worthy cause, but if there's any benefit to it that arises from this, all the better!

What's the goal?
This started out as an experiment just to see how much pink food I could come up with – and stomach – but even in discussing this goal it has begun to take on a life of its own.  Pink food, as I've defined it above, includes lots of fruit and veggies, and includes a pretty well-rounded variety of foods.  A brief brainstorm today with a friend of mine uncovered the following list of foods that fall into my category, which I'm sure will expand as I go about accomplishing this.  Feel free to comment or send me more ideas for pink food!

My goal, to start, is to make one entirely pink meal a week, or more if I can, and see how far that gets me.  If I find I have just too many food items to make I might adjust the goal, but for now it's an exercise in endurance.  And honestly, I can't think of another kind of exercise that more appeals to me than one involving lots of food and pink things!

So have a look at the list of pink ingredients below, leave some feedback, and stay tuned!


  • beets
  • wine
  • purple onions
  • eggplant
  • rhubarb
  • radiccio
  • radishes
  • paprika
  • guava
  • grapefruit
  • grapes
  • feijoa?? (fay-YO-hah)
  • most berries
  • swiss chard
  • birthday cake
  • pink lemonade
  • paprika egg salad
  • fruit punch
  • pink cocktails!
  • purple yams/potoes
  • purple carrots
  • salmon
  • purple cauliflower
  • pomegranates
  • asparagus
  • indian corn
  • purple cabbage!
  • plums
  • purple pasta
  • pickled eggs?
  • pink elephant as a last resort
  • apple sauce
  • pinkberry
  • watermelon
  • shell fish
  • pork - meat in general
  • tuna tartar
  • sushi
  • cherries
  • pink lady apples
  • candied flowers
  • candy
  • dates
  • figs
  • tarot