So...whats for dinner?

Short grain brown rice "bowl" with bok choy and 2 fried eggs.

DH and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary by going out to our favorite Italian restaurant Charlie Gitto's. I had my usual wedge salad with the house dressing and linguine with clams in a wine garlicky sauce. It was wonderful. Or anniversary was actually yesterday but the restaurant was closed yesterday so we had jambalaya in honor of Mardi Gras.

I'm really disliking this new format. REALLY hard on the eyes

Happy Anniversary!

Finally able to log in after trying for several days.

Last night's dinner was chicken scampi with garlic parmesan rice for my son,I tried a spoonful and it was delicious; and a caprese salad with for me.

Tonight will be pork spare ribs (currently in the crock pot) I'll add some BBQ sauce for my son and after I take out my portion, roasted sweet potato and the remaining caprese salad.

I have a book club meeting and was asked to bring dessert so I made Tiramisu (my pic did not upload )

Sous vide pork loin "chops" with the leftover veggies and rice from yesterday.

Congrats, Nancy & Eric!

Wally, sable is my absolute favorite fish. And when I lived in Seattle, we called your part of the Olympic Peninsula the "banana belt," with Sequim as its epicenter. It got about 300 dry days a year, and was warmer than east of the Sound.

Today for breakfast I had black coffee and half of a small chocolate-filled paczki and decided the deliciousness nonetheless wasn't worth the cheat. We have 2-1/2 remaining; Bob decided that for Lent he would hit the treadmill every time a sweet craving hit him (unless I was asleep, as the treadmill is in our bedroom); my HK wants nothing to do with them (and her DH has advanced T2DM and not much of an appetite). When I got back from my mani, I made guac and spread it on fiber toast with a dry-fried small pastured egg (Trader Joe's). After purging my crispers of science projects (aka "guess what this used to be") I went produce shopping. I'm glad everyone was still wearing a mask, so I too could perform a public service and shield everyone from my fierce avocado-toast garlic breath. Dinner was chicken soup (TJ's), insalata Caprese, roast chicken, sauteed broccolini, and mushrooms in butter & Madeira with over-the-hill black truffles. (My slicer bit the dust, so I had to use a rasp grater instead).

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I've been absent for a few days because I had a tummy bug--which at first scared me into thinking I'd gotten an Omicron BA.2 infection only a month after Omicron Classic; both a negative home test and the Immediate Care clinic's P.A. reassured me I didn't. (Well, sorta reassured: see below). After we got home Sunday night from Shaw's Crab House (three Hood Canal oysters, riceless gumbo, a T. each of creamed spinach & steamed broccoli and a stone crab claw for me; and the other three oysters, regular gumbo, veg, jambalaya and crawfish etouffee for Bob), I pulled a Butcher Box sockeye salmon filet out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge. I forgot to take it out of the cryovac until it had nearly thawed; by Mon. evening there were still a few ice crystals on it and I deliberately overcooked it (145F--supposed to be 120F) so I figured I was safe. Later that night, I overindulged in pistachios, sugar-free chocolates (sweetened with not just Stevia but also "sugar alcohols" that can cause gastric "excitement"); plus some chips (both flour tortilla & chickpea) and a couple of "real" dark chocolate nonpareils. I also didn't take my 8-hr. Tylenol at bedtime because I didn't want to overmedicate myself. Bad idea.

Mardi Gras dawned and I awoke with a back on the verge of spasming. I figured an Aleve would work faster than Tylenol. I drank my black coffee and held off on breakfast, waiting instead for paczki delivery...an hour & a half late, and they arrived ice cold. By then my empty stomach had begun mightily protesting the NSAID-and-coffee-acid assault but I ate half of one anyway. And my temperature was rising as the weather got colder due to the infamous "lake effect." Took a home rapid-antigen test: negative. I began to wonder if that salmon-defrosting mistake might have had undue consequences, so I consulted Dr. Google (I know, I know) and found a bunch of articles warning me about botulism and to seek medical attention STAT. By then every kind of thermometer I own (no, not that kind) registered "fever" so I hightailed it to the Immediate Care clinic. They assured me I almost certainly did not have a B.2 variant infection, but wouldn't PCR swab me for flu because the analyzer could register "COVID+" through the end of April. They also said that botulism would have given me neuro-visual symptoms and other foodborne illnesses would have caused "productive" double-ended GI distress. They even took an EKG to rule out a heart attack, and declared I had "gastritis, perhaps viral." They sent me home with instructions to take Tylenol till the fever disappeared, push fluids (water and Pedialyte) and make sure I got enough calories via the BRAT diet. (I hate bananas, and plain white rice isn't worth eating). Too shivering (and by then, temp nearly 101) to stop off and buy Pedialyte, so when I got home I popped a potassium pill and licked some sea salt off my finger before knocking back a liter of water, a couple of Tylenol, a little cup of applesauce and a piece of matzo. (The only bread in the house was hi-fiber...nope). And I slept and slept and slept, waking only to pop more Tylenol on schedule. Spent most of Wed. napping, drinking water (and an espresso to cure the caffeine-withdrawal headache) and taking Tylenol until my temp stayed below 100 for 4 hours straight. Woke up today feeling much better--but again, with a caffeine-withdrawal headache. (Unfortunately, woke up 3 hrs. earlier than I'd hoped, thanks to the city's Streets & San. crew madly chainsawing and digging up every tree on the block to prep for sewer & water main replacement--not even earplugs helped).

Let me tell you--there are three things that reset your dietary willpower more effectively than anything else: an impending weigh-in (and consequent scolding); the humiliation of needing even the flimsiest of shapewear to get into a dress two sizes larger than anything else I own; and having no appetite for 48 hours. Talk about intermittent fasting! Tonight, I looked at every sweet & starchy no-no in the house (even the "keto-friendly" labeled kind) and shuddered. May the discipline last, at least into Passover.

Thanks for the anniversary wishes and sending some to you and Sharon Eric!

Ugh Sandy - glad you are on the mend. Hoping the upside is that you fit easily into your MOG dress! I've never given a thought to thawing vacuumed stuff in the package. Guess I'll be rethinking that!

Meals have been unexciting. Tonight will be calzones stuffed with sausage, peppers and cheese and a salad.

My local upscale grocery store is offering fresh grouper (my favorite) this week. It's $30 a pound. Sigh . . .

Tonight I made pan-fried Branzino (super fast) with a pineapple, lime and parsley salsa, roasted cauliflower and leftover chickpea salad (red onion, celery, parsley with olive oil and lemon dressing). The recipe was for grilled pineapple but I just used a hot pan with some avocado oil. DH was very happy and wished I had made more than single servings of the fish.

I haven’t made the farro yet, but I’ll have more time to cook over the weekend.

I have to do a cholesterol test on Monday so I’ve been limiting my meat consumption. Monday is also my bone scan and CT day. I’m hoping that the tests will calm my fears about my back pain being further progression

Spaghetti squash and capellini with semi homemade sauce. Prego with added chopped portabello mushrooms, red bell peppers, olives, and cooked ground turkey, all of which will be done before this post submits.

Last night I nuked cauliflower rice rather than actual rice. It was pretty good.

Going to Regalia early tonight to beat most of the storms. My Butcher Box shipment arrived--most of it completely thawed. Unlike most places that ship perishables overnight, they did not use any form of ice packs this time, just layers of corrugated fiber-filled cardboard. I literally saw the truck (unmarked) pull up and heard the box (literally) dumped on my porch. Brought it in immediately and noticed how little it weighed compared to prior shipments--when I unpacked it I discovered why. I had to pull stuff out of my freezer and give some of my stash to Gordy & Leslie just to shoehorn the new stuff in. I already extended my shipment interval to three months (as long as the site allows); with just the two of us at home and Bob working too late most nights for dinner, I can't use enough of it before it gets freezer-burned.

Oven roasted chix drumsticks in a basmati rice w/ salsa (to make a sort of spanish rice) and leftover broccoli.

Had to create a new account as my old one was not accessible and IT is working on it. So frustrating.

Tonight's dinner is going to be lasagna a salad and garlic bread. I've got an angel food cake in the oven. Will make a berry sauce to put over.

Guacamole toast (keto bread) with an egg for brunch. Late lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich on keto bread. Dinner was four hot wings with celery & tricolor pepper strips and blue cheese dip. Managed to intermittent-fast (15 hrs) but it's frustrating and I'm still gaining on less than 1200 cal./day. The exercise I got today was chasing Happy around the house, up & down stairs with our HK till she finally caught him to put him into his carrier for his vet visit (liver-panel blood-draw and mani-pedi). My left foot is making exercise impossible: the only shoes that don't hurt my elongated third toe (courtesy of a callus on the inside & bone spur inside) are either padded sandals or UGG boots. I can't even wear socks. I can't use the treadmill or exercise bike barefoot. And lately, the toe wakes me up occasionally (as does a burning callus below my bunion). I'm afraid that's not going to earn me any sympathy from the weight mgmt. team on the 23d (this time I see the cardiologist, not the NP) and I will be prescribed meal-replacement shakes (which, if they're anything like Premier Protein, Atkins or FairLife, are utterly disgusting. The only thing worse-tasting is that old "predigested protein" stuff from back in the late 1970s).

I am so tired of having to "eat around" the menu at restaurants, either begging for substitutions or leaving stuff off my plate--it's getting to the point where the only advantage of dining out is not having to clean up afterward, because anything permissible I can order is no different from what I can cook. And I can't even complain about it because the NP is like "I'll see your boredom & frustration, and I'll raise you my Type 1 diabetes & celiac disease."

I think at my weigh-in I will demand that my bloodwork include thyroid levels--especially because I'm constantly feeling chilled even when it's >70 degrees according to the thermostat. And I also think it's time to consider ditching the letrozole--it's been almost 6-1/2 years.

I have been unable to log in since the launch of the "improved" web site. It has been frustrating and I am among those who find the font too small. I hope all this upheaval is helpful for somebody.

Today is my birthday, marking my last year in the 70's. DH and my younger sister and I plan to go to lunch at Pontchartrain Poboy and enjoy some fried shrimp and catfish. Also oysters if they're available.

Then Thursday night we have dinner reservations at our club. Members get a free dinner entree during their birthday month and I will claim mine.

Dinner last night was small white lima beans cooked with smoked sausage. They came out perfect. Sides were brown rice and tossed salad.

I am in one of those periods when "What's for dinner?" is not a question easily answered.

For those who write long posts, I would suggest that shorter paragraphs make reading easier.

Happy Birthday Carole

Happy Birthday, Carole!

Sandy, I feel your pain. Sometimes, not eating enough calories forces the body to think it is in starvation mode, slowing down metabolism. As I've mentioned, since I graduated from college, dietetics information has changed a great deal...still...I wonder if you just ate normal, regular, real food instead of "made like" food (keto breads or foods made to taste like the real thing) and just watched portions. I know, I know...portions are very hard. If you aren't seeing results with what you are doing, maybe it is time to change things up.

Eric, that drink sounds very tasty; almost like a liquid lemon cheesecake!

We are going to have frozen burgers, quinoa and slaw. No idea what to do with the quinoa...maybe I'll use up the last of the jarred salsa and add it to the liquid it will cook in.