Hey!! Watch out for that Karma!

I got an unpleasant dose of Karma yesterday. I decided not to go to the gym yesterday. I was feeling very tired, my asthma was acting up, and my home computer was calling my name (I really wanted to get home and play Heroes of Might and Magic); so I didn’t go to the gym when I was done with work yesterday.

If I had gone to the gym I would have probably walked over to Transfer Point to catch the bus. But instead I choose to skip the gym and walk just up to the corner to catch the bus. As a result of this, I slipped on the ice in front of the house on the corner and messed up my back. Karma.

My back is better today and I’ve learned my lesson. I will be going to the gym even if it means not pushing myself because I’m tired or my lungs are acting up.

Diary: Yesterday: Breakfast – A yogurt, Banana, Red Bull. Lunch – A serving of Hamburger Soup with Crackers. Dinner: Country Fried Steak (frozen) with rice, cabbage, and corn.

Today: Breakfast – Banana and Red Bull. Lunch (planned) – A serving of Hamburger Soup.

Gym: At least 30 minutes at the Nat.

Month 2 Check In

Today is February 27, 2008 and that puts me 2 months into the lifestyle change. Hows it going?

Food:

I have not hardly cooked at all this month. Some of this lack can be blamed on my horrid flu that I had in the middle of the month, some of it can be blamed on my sparse bank account, some can be blamed on my being too busy/too lazy ( a combination that is truly winning!).

Exercise:

I’m still averaging 5 days a week, I might even say (when I’m not dying from the flu) that I got in 5.5 days a week on average. I am going to the gym for a longer amount of time than last month so I can say that I am improving in this aspect. I even went in to see a personal trainer last week and got some new weight training exercises to do!

Self-Denial:

I still haven’t had any alcohol or Ramen. And although I do miss having both as options I can say that I could go forever with out them if I needed to (thank goodness that is not likely to happen)

Weigh In:

I hopped on the scale that is at the gym (Supreme) in the women’s locker room this afternoon just before my work out. I have decided that this is the most reliable scale I have available. (Though I do appreciate the gift of the new scale from my dearling sister) According to this scale I weighed just under 195 today.

Verdict...I've lost another 3lbs. Total weight loss in 2 months….12lbs!

Reflection:

This was a tough month on me. I got sick which is never anything I bounce back from easily. It always takes me a little time to get back into my routine. I would have liked to see more weigh loss (especially if I am going to be able to have booze with my sister when I go visit at the end of next month), but I am still pleased to see some progress. And I can in fact say I do see a difference now. My clothes fit looser and my face is a bit slimmer (no more double chin!). I don’t have more energy yet. But I have seen a fairly dramatic drop in my appetite. This is both a boon and a bane: I eat less overall as I am less hungry and I nearly never want a snack between meals, but I have to force myself to eat breakfast as I have no appetite in the mornings anymore. Oh well, I still do what I can.

Plan:

I want to try and cook something next month as I will soon be out of frozen home-made dinners. This may be a bit of a challenge as I am flat broke and can not even afford Red Bull (though I keep buying it as the thought of giving it up too makes me want to cry). I need to go to the gym 6 days a week for at least an hour each time.

Today's food log:

Breakfast: A banana and a Red Bull

Lunch: A left-over Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich from Falbo’s

Dinner: Some hot wings from Sentry and a slice of Sentry pepperoni pizza with a Red Bull
Snack: A bunch (literally) of green grapes and some blueberries

Gym: Supreme from 3:30 to 5:30 Cardio on the elliptical and arm weights

Notes from the Kitchen: Canned Soup Magic

'Tis the season for the Flu and I have had a doozy! I had one of those buggers where you have just enough energy to drag yourself to the kitchen and open a can of soup for food. I am well now but I can assure you all I was not a few days ago.

With my recent stint as an invalid fresh in my mind I wish to impart some lessons in canned soup magic.

As with everything…you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I have begun to suspect that with mass-market food the plan has been to succeed at doing the opposite…pleasing none of the people all of the time. Canned soup is bland, salty, mushy, and kind of gross when you think too long about it. So lets not dwell on it and move on to what we can do about it.

If you are very sick or just being lazy then cheap canned soup can be your friend. But it does need some help to become palatable. For this you will need to acquire (in addition to your canned soup of choice): frozen corn or peas (or both), a variety of spices or your choice (ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, curry powder, basil, oregano, marjoram, etc), Flavored oil (toasted sesame oil, chili oil, or spice infused olive oil), frozen pot stickers, fresh spinach, fresh shredded cabbage (like for making coleslaw), eggs, and crackers.

Now…You don’t by any means need all of these things but a good combination of them will enliven even generic condensed soup.

Step 1: Open soup, dump into a medium pot, and reconstitute according to directions on the can.

Step 2: Season with a combination of spices. This is especially necessary if you bought the low sodium soup. I like to use ginger, chili, and garlic in combination with the sesame oil for an Asian influenced soup.

Step 3: Add vegetables. This is when you would add the frozen corn or peas and the cabbage. You can add the spinach at this point if you like your spinach well cooked, if you only like your spinach wilted (like I do) hold off on adding the spinach now.

Step 4: This is when you all the pot stickers or the egg if using these.

Step 5: Leave the pot alone to get to near boiling or actually to boiling temp. Since there is nothing dangerous raw (unless you added the egg) you don’t need to cook this to death.

Step 6: Prepare your bowl. I like to put my spinach in the bottom of the bowl so that the hot soup pours over it and makes it wilted but not cooked per se.

Step 7: Pour the soup, add crackers (if you desire) and eat. Try not to burn your mouth.

Diary:

I’ve been sick as a dog, so of course, I have not been into the gym! And as for eating right…I’ve been indulging myself some as I’ve been miserably sick, so give me a break.

I am back on target now that I am well. I’ve been in to the gym 2 times since Saturday and plan on going today. And yesterday I met with a personal trainer so I should see the pounds just melting off soon.

Breakfast: Leftover Vientien Palace 3 star noodles with tofu (Probably not the healthiest thing and certainly calorific) and a Red Bull

Lunch: (not yet eaten) But I plan on having some home-made lasagna (400 cals) and a Mellow Yellow.

Kitchen Techniques: Ingredients: Onions

Onions are one of my favorite ingredients. I use them in nearly everything. I enjoy them both raw and cooked.

Recipe Note: When I say onion, I am generally referring to the common yellow storage onion. There are many other onions in the world that are available at your well supplied grocery store like Green onions – scallions, Sweet onions, Leeks, Shallots, Ramps, Red Onions, White Onions, and Pearl Onions. I use these in recipes but I will always specify which variety when I am not using standard yellow storage onions.

Why use them? They provide a flavor punch with very few calories. In about ½ a cup of chopped onion (3.5 ounces) you only have 38 calories. They also provide 10% of the Vitamin C and Folacin you need.

Shopping for Onions: Onions should be heavy for their size. This means if you have two onions that are about the same size the one that feels heavier is the better onion. The difference in weight is due to water content. The outer skins should be papery. You can select your onions individually or you can just go ahead and buy the orange mesh bag of them (that's what I do). The mesh bag offers a fast way to get a bunch of onions.

Availability of Onions (Seasonality): Onions are available year round but are most common March to September when they are fresh to most markets. Onions store well given the right conditions so stocking up on them when you have a good price at market is not a bad idea.

Storage of Onions: Onions can last several months in ideal conditions and can go bad in a couple of weeks in crappy conditions. What, pray tell, are ideal and crappy conditions you may ask? Onions want a cool dry place with lots of circulating air. If it is too humid you will get sprouting onions or rotting onions. The mesh bag is ok for storage if you are going to eat up the onions in about a month (I go through a mesh bag every other week if I'm cooking 2 times a week), or if you hang the bag so it is exposed to a lot of air. If you are going to hold on to your onions for longer you might want to try to store them in pantyhose hung from the ceiling. (To store them in pantyhose place them - one at a time - into a clean pair of hose and tie a not between each so that they have their own little nylon sack.) As you need them you can cut off the onion(s) you need and leave the rest hanging. (This is a great use of nylons with runs. You can also use this with thigh-highs too.) Do Not store them in the fridge!! Storing them in the fridge causes them to rot – The exception to this is an onion that has been cut but not used entirely. If you have a half-used onion you can store it for about a week in the fridge before it will go bad.

Preparing Onions: Onions can present somewhat of a problem for cooks in that they are round and not easily chopped into regular pieces. Be sure you have a sharp knife. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one as they tend to slip off what you are cutting and cut you instead. Also onions can make people cry so the faster you can get them cut the better off you are likely to be. Here is the technique I use to more easily deal with onions:

Cut off the stem end first, leaving the root end intact. Discard the stem end into the scrap bowl.

Then you peel off the papery outer layers and the first thin inner layer and discard into the scrap bowl. Then you turn the onion onto the cut stem end and slice off one side of the onion the thickness of the chop you are looking for.

Then turn the onion onto the freshly cut side and again slice off an un-cut edge at the same thickness.

Now make parallel cuts across the width of the onion making sure not to slice through the root end.

Now turn the onion over onto the second of the side cuts and make cuts parallel to it making certain not to slice through the root end.

Now you cut across the length of the onion getting the exact size pieces you want. Discard the root end into the scrap bowl. Chop the two remaining side pieces and move all the cut onion into a prep bowl.

Hints and Tips for Onions: Onions can make your hands smell funny after you've been handling them – try rinsing your hands with lemon juice to rid yourself of the smelly fingers (also works for garlic-fingers). Onions can make you cry – lots of old wives tales for solving this (and just like cures for hiccups) some work for some people others don't. Try a few until you find one that works for you (Light a candle next to your cutting board, hold matches in your mouth – heads out- to block the smell, put bread under your tongue, etc) Raw yellow onions are bitter – after cutting them, soak them in ice water. Change the water several times over the course of up to 2 hours before serving they will be oniony with out being bitter. Onion Breath? - Chew fennel seeds, Parsley leaves, gargle vinegar, or drink some coffee.

History: Onions have a long and distinguished career as a domesticated food-stuff. There is evidence from the Bible and other sources both literary and archaeological that the onion has been cultivated since about 3000 BCE. It is believed that onions were part of the diet of the slaves who built the pyramids.

Myths and Legends: It is said in early cultures that onions were linked to the afterlife or eternal life because of the concentric circles you see when you slice an onion across its middle. Onions are also believed to have medicinal qualities. I don't know if I believe that they can cure any diseases but I eat them and enjoy a decent level of health. (Then again my sister won't touch them and she is as healthy, and perhaps more healthy than I am)

Food Journal-

Breakfast – 2 doughnuts – Red Bull

Lunch – Lasagna (my own) and a bowl of wild mushroom and rice soup (also my own) – Mellow Yellow

Dinner – Spicy shrimp over rice noodles (my own) – Mellow yellow

Exercise? - Sort of, I walked home instead of hitting the gym.

Restaurant review: Samba Brazilian Grill

“It's like I'm drunk on meat!”~Joe King

Joe took me out to Samba as a belated Birthday Christmas gift in response to my taking him to Sushi Muramoto for his birthday back in November.

Going to any fancy restaurant can be difficult when you are watching what you eat, but going to a Brazilian steak house is just plain suicide for your diet. Not that I'm complaining...Far from it! I loved every bite I shoveled into my mouth at this wonderland of meat.

Samba is a fairly new restaurant in Madison. It is housed on the second floor of the historic Women's Club Building. This building was where women who had been admitted to the University of Wisconsin congregated in their off time when the University was first allowing women to enroll. The building was recently slated for demolition but a local business owner intervened and after extensive renovations opened 2 restaurants on the premises: Samba and the Cabana Room.

The bar (where we waited for our reservation to come up) was unremarkable in décor, but the bartender was very personable and easy on the eye. He served the drinks with very little flair or ceremony but the drinks were what we asked for (Joe had a Mojito, I had a Cherry Pepsi) and prompt.

Our reservation was called promptly, indicating that the hostess of the restaurant is very well trained to ascertain how long the meals are spaced apart.

We were seated on a level above the general dining room, and there was yet another level above the one we were seated on. There was a second bar located on the level with us making our subsequent drink orders arrive in good speed.

The décor of the dining room would have been stunning if there had been more light. Many of the accents such as the cornices, crown moldings, and balcony rails were painted with a gilt treatment, which I found to be very attractive against the backdrop of the royal blue and burgundy paint. The whole design of the dining room engenders excess. The curtains stretch the length of both floors, as the room is open to both dining levels. All the accents are just that much larger than they need to be.

However, this extravagance all comes home when you see the plates. They measured over a foot across. Pure white platters for joyous gluttony.

Also on the table is our idol to aid in the worship of meat. This heavy large wooden pillar is marked with one green side and one red side. When you place the green side up you are calling to the meat gods to bring forth the bounty in the shape of gauchos carrying spits on which this evening were 9 different kinds of meat. When you turn the idol down and bring the red side up you are spurning the meat gods.

The nine kinds of meat available tonight (Duck Breast, Rack of Lamb, Leg of Lamb, Parmesan-Crusted Pork Loin, Balsamic Glazed Pork loin, Bacon-wrapped Beef Tenderloin, Flank Steak, Sirloin, and Sausage) were not the only bounty provided for our dining pleasure; there was also the “first course.” This was a very nice side bar that featured a few hot items (Garlic-mashed Potatoes, Saffron Rice, and Cuban Black Beans), some green salad fixin's, breads, cheeses, olives, seafood salad, pasta salad, potato salad, nuts and fruit, just to name a few items available. These offerings changed during the 2 hours we were there with new items being brought out as options became exhausted.

Our waitress was attractive, personable, attentive and prompt.

The food was good. I was very fond of the sea-food salad (which I suspect came directly from Sentry), the angel hair pasta salad, and the chilled asparagus from the side bar. Of the meat options the duck, the Parmesan-crusted pork loin and the sirloin were my favorite offerings. I may have voted the sausage higher except I received it very late into my feast and by then the law of diminishing returns had set in with a vengeance.

The atmosphere was not great even with all the positive decorating achievements. Since the dining room was located on two levels that were open to each other the area was terribly echoy, lending to a noisy dining experience.

Also the “atmosphere” (ie. the view of the people, both dining and serving) was not great. Although most of the wait-staff and gaucho servers were attractive enough as to make not comment on, the diners were a different story. As with most restaurants that promise to deliver more food than should be legally consumed in one sitting (even when fairly steeply priced) the clientèle were generally heavy and in a few cases grossly obese.

To sum up:

The food was good and copious, perhaps too copious – but I have only myself to blame if I overate. The flavors were good but not outstanding.

The restaurant was attractive in general but not wonderful.

I grade the place: B