I wanted to clutch my chest and fall to my knees...but that thought endured for a mere nano second. Hardly a blip. I scurried away resuming my search for the non-food related object. But it reminds me of how wired I am visually. I bet I could recall maybe 25 or 30 specific kinds of chocolate I recognized in that flash. But I am committed and remain unmoved. I really like this diet because it has very clear parameters. You can have this. You cannot have this. Makes it very easy to stay on course. Plus I have to reiterate that the "eat as much as you want" of the allowed food groups rule is the most satisfying part of Dr. Dukan's plan. If I am constrained by calories, my nefarious brain stem, the reptile part of things that run most of what I do immediately begins to plot and plan for override. I cheat on myself. But this way I can compensate by volume when the going gets tough. Most times I am content to eat regular portions. But once in a while I feel like packing it in on the level of say Claim Jumpers. Instead of chicken fried steak with a pound of mashers and gravy I get a boggling heap of perfectly seasoned rare lean beef. I'll take it.
Yesterday I problem solved for others, got some business done, met with clients and generally had an easy day. No events and pretty much on my own. Chef was in the kitchen putting about 130 gallons of pancake batter together for the Swedish Center's monthly pancake breakfast. They do this as a fundraiser with an army of volunteers but we support them with professional expertise in ordering, preparing and augmenting their service staff. They will feed from 800 to 1100 people Sunday morning and it takes some organizing to get things to flow in a calm and efficient manner. So anyway, at the end of the day after a very busy September I treated myself to a long massage session. Then I headed over to my friends Kathie and Jackson's house for dinner. They possess the darling Monaco, who is half sister to Luc, the catering poodle. Kathie often keeps Luc during the day and the two pups do their best to wear each other out. A good thing. I had some flank steak marinating at work. I bought a bulk amount at Cash and Carry. I think it was 5 pieces, around 9 pounds total. We have an inside grill top at work and it is very easy to flop one on the hot grates and get delicious meat in just a few minutes. Flank steak and its cousin skirt steak are desirable for flavor, not so much tenderness. That is why you have to either cook it very quickly to a medium to rare or you cook it slow and low for a long time. This breaks down the tough membranes and renders it to a tender state. I prefer the rare method. I cook one off at work, carve it up and the kitchen lions gather with me and we all stand around, slip steaming slices of rare beef down our gullets and gossip or laugh. This is my idea of team building.
We also do these wonderful antipasto platters with all kinds of sliced sausages, olives, some goat cheeses and these fantastic oven blasted vegetables. There was part of one left over from a party the night before and I got it out since this is a protein and vegetable day. I could not have the olives or meats but I could have the vegetables. So I set it out and had a few veggies. Then the Chef and I both started in and soon there was not enough for dinner. Now comes the fantastic part of being me. We just grabbed a bunch more fresh veggies from the walk-in reefer and sliced it all up. Tomatoes, asparagus, sweet peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash all marinated in balsamic vinegar, a splash of canola oil and heaps of seasonings. Chef threw it on a large baking pan and into a very hot oven. The high heat caramelizes the veggies and creates a bounty of very wonderful tastes. To reach the sublime, she also cut up some leeks and no less than three cups of peeled garlic. These are roasted for a longer period of time. There is nothing better than spearing three or four cloves of oven roasted garlic on your fork and tossing it back. I give no thought to bad breath.
So I bring these veggies and my raw marinated meat to our small dinner party. Jackson and I take the meat out and throw it on a very hot grill, I microwave the veg to just warm and in minutes we are eating a remarkable dinner. One that is part of a weight loss plan. Kathie coos over the whole cloves of garlic, hesitates a little over the breath dilemma and forks a couple down. Breath be damned. I love this diet.
I visualize my weight loss with 5 pound bags of sugar.
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