250 Grams

In 1974 the House rejected a bill to convert the U.S. to the metric system by a vote of 240 - 153. It was said at the time that is was a vote against "procedure" because it would not allow any amendments, than it was against converting to the metric system itself. Labor was against it as it was not made clear who would pay for the conversion. While science and engineers had converted by the time the bill had come to the floor, Labor's issue was more about workers such as carpenters who would have to pay for new tools themselves to do their job.

So by now, you might just be speaking out loud to the cosmos asking: "What has this got to do with cooking?" I've recently moved from the state of Maryland in the United States to Montreal, Canada. It is a shift of the "state of mind".

I decided to make chicken with a creamed garlic sauce. The recipe called for a 3 oz. packet of cream cheese. So I pop down to the local IGA grocery and find the smallest packet of said cheese. I check the weight and lo and behold - 250 grams! I did not have my Iphone with me so I could not instantly check the conversion. So there I stood, trying to remember my grade school teacher's voice telling us about the conversion. Nothing but silence answered the query of my memory - I just stood staring at the little packets of cheese. I was ignorant of that knowledge. I've since found that: 100 grams is equal to 3.53 ounces.

As a child I was so very happy that the whole metric thing was shelved - I thought why fix something that's not broken? However in my adulthood I see it was a mistake. Yes it would have been a great expense to convert the U.S. infrastructure, but a global standard makes life easier on everyone.

To wrap up, the garlic cream sauce was very yummy (recipe below) and I will learn to keep a little conversion chart in my pocket when at the store. It will ingrain itself in my memory at some point.

The sauce:

1 or 2 large gloves garlic (more if you are a real garlic lover)
2 Tbls butter
3 Tbls flour
1 can chicken broth (450 ml or about 15 ounces)
Cream Cheese (3 oz. or 85 grams) Cubed small
1/2 Tbls pepper (black)

Cook for 1 minute the 2 Tbls butter with the minced garlic. Then add the flour and whisk till creamy and bubbling. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk constantly till the mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour over chicken and rice or some pasta. Very tasty. If it seems a bit to thick, just add a bit more broth.

If you like, toss in some sliced veggies like small squash in the sauce then pour over the chicken. I cooked the chicken on the stove top in butter just till done and tender. By the way, this is enough for 3 or 4 skinless chicken breasts.

I'm not going to mention calories on this one. Enjoy!