I had the good fortune of having a good friend from overseas as a houseguest for a few weeks; she was visiting Toronto and Canada for the first time. She is an ‘A’ and is on the blood type diet as well. I did my best to make sure her stay was (BTD) comfortable and stocked the fridge and freezer with food we could both eat. Made sure we had meat we could both enjoy …chicken, turkey and salmon. Took her to the market the afternoon she arrived to stock up on some ‘A’ staples, like lemons, grapefruits, goat cheese, soy milk, tofu and amaranth. I even went to the trouble of getting some Spelt biscotti with almonds done up so she could have a treat with her daily coffee. It was nice to experience what a mixed blood household would be like in the kitchen. (Word of advice to single men who have female friends as house guests for a few weeks …your kitchen will probably not look the same as it once did…the set up will be totally rearranged…are female A’s a little obsessive compulsive about kitchens?). Between our daily excursions around town, we shared many cups of green tea and glasses of red wine from all parts of the world (Canadian, Italian, French, Australian and Chilean).

One of our excursions one night was to “China Town”. Toronto, outside of San Francisco, has the 2nd largest “Chine Town” in North America and it was there for the first time that my good friend and I saw what Jackfruit looked like. Jackfruit, you may or may not know, actually contains a good lectin that inhibits the tumor producing T antigen. Anyone, who has a history of cancer or is undergoing treatment, should try to get their hands on some of this odd looking fruit either fresh or canned…it’s a cancer fighting super food for all types. If you have a china town or Chinese market in your neck of the woods, there is a good chance you can find the fruit.

At the same time my guest was here, a naturopath from Italy was also visiting Toronto. She had seen my face on the BTD web site and requested through a third BTD party that we meet for an espresso (there are some things Italian O’s on the diet will never give up) and lively chat regarding the BTD. Between my broken Italian and her broken English we talked about many things (mostly about cancer fighting foods …Jackfruit being one of them… for O’s…she has a cousin currently undergoing treatment). She addressed me several times as ‘dottore” (doctor in Italian) and I kept correcting her that I did not have the credentials…even though it was kind of nice hearing it.

Last night, my traveling friend and I went for Greek food. We started off with some fried (in olive oil) goat cheese which was oh so good .I was in serious need of some lamb this particular evening. I was getting sick of the ‘A’ white meat by now and desperately needed some red meat. All Greek meals come with the customary potatoes (all the B’s reading these last few lines should be salivating about now), which we both declined, and opted for salad as a replacement. At the end of the meal, I decided to be a bad boy; I ordered a piece of baklava, which is a filo (wheat based) pastry smothered in honey and walnuts (we all fall sometimes but two out of three ingredients aren’t bad). It’s one of my favorite deserts and it has been years since I have had one.

I dropped my friend off at the airport this afternoon and we said our good-byes. When I came back to my place I could still smell the faint aroma of amaranth cooking on the stove (she had it for breakfast every morning). ‘Now if I can only figure out where she put my onions’... I’m making a chili tonight.