Sunday 1.8
It is going to be hard to eat as well as last week, but I’m going to try. Lunch today was just a yogurt and a half a pb&j with potato chips. I highly recommend the lemon & cream Chobani. It’s more dessert than breakfast. That’s probably why it’s my favorite right now.
Dinner was tremendous though. I tried a method for cooking polenta that I saw Jacques Pepin do. I used a 4:1 ratio of polenta to homemade chicken broth. Then I baked it in the oven at 350° for about an hour. I topped it with New Orleans style shrimp and sausage. It was so good I had seconds. I also made a couple of cocktails, 2oz dark rum, 1/2oz peach brandy, juice of half a lemon, 2oz OJ, 1/2oz cranberry juice, splash grenadine, dash of bitters. For a little sweet, I split a little plate of my Christmas chocolates with my wife.
Monday 1.9
I started out the year trying to lose weight and though I am down a little, I still have a long way to go. For lunch, I popped over to DeNo’s and got an Andrew’s Spicy Italian for the first time. It’s got Mortadella, Hot Ham, Salami and Pepperoni, so I probably didn’t help the weight loss. I also had a bag of chips.
For dinner, I did better. I had a salad of mixed greens, scallions, carrots, red pepper, tomato, and some shredded chicken. I made a salad dressing from lemon juice, olive oil, parmesan cheese, black pepper, garlic, parsley, and a bit of sour cream. For dessert, I had a small piece of my Christmas Claxton Fruit Cake. I’ve only got about two pieces left. Right now I’m making shrimp stock for dinner tomorrow.
Tuesday 1.10
I ate well today. It started with a nice lunch of cheese, mini toasts, ham, my homemade pickled red onions, and some mixed greens.
My Cambodian godson was coming over for dinner, but we were hungry waiting, so we had some more cheese and more onions with a baguette for a snack.
For dinner, I made a brilliant brussels sprout risotto using garlic, shallot, wine, brussels, and shrimp broth. (I made that last night you might recall from above.) On top of it, I place broiled swordfish with a lemon-garlic-oregano sauce and blistered cherry tomatoes. For dessert, I had a couple of small bites of both carrot cake and tiramisu that my godson brought. A very good dinner!
Wednesday 1.11
My boss has been working remotely for the past few months and so we meet every couple of weeks to catch up. Today was a catch up day so we went to Novara in Milton for lunch. It’s a nice looking place, upscale with a big bar and even bigger TV’s. At lunch they were playing the movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze, but I guess they also play football games on Sundays. It didn’t really make sense to me until I learned the restaurant used to be a movie theater. I had a tuna melt with fries, which was really good and a pickle that I didn’t eat.
I had a late meeting at work, so I stopped at Ken’s on my way home and picked up a chicken kabob wrap. That’s two weeks in a row that I ate one. I also got an order of mozzarella sticks. I spit both with my wife and enjoyed them as always.
Thursday 1.12
My weight was down this morning so all this food journaling is paying off. For lunch I had a bowl of kiwi and a slice of fruit cake (see Monday’s pictures for the fruit cake).
Dinner was more exciting. I had some leftover chorizo from Sunday’s dinner so I made breakfast tacos. I scrambled eggs, fried up the chorizo, and made pico de gallo. I also topped the tacos with cheese, hot sauce, and my pickled onions. They were so good that I had two and then I had another. Of course, I made some margaritas to go with it.
For dessert we finished off the last of the Christmas chocolates and had some of the Domaine Kildare Digestif we picked up in Montreal at the Christmas Market. Hopefully, that didn’t blow the diet too much.
Friday 1.13
Friday the thirteenth. No bad luck for me just good food. I didn’t have any lunch today, but my friends at work shared some nice spreads they got from the Greek International Market. I really like the guacamole with feta, and I’m not a big fan of avocados.
Dinner, was even better. My wife and I had an early meal at the bar at Karma. It was our usual Friday night hangout for a long time, but making time has been hard lately. It was good to be back and the food was great. We had the salt and pepper chicken wings, some sushi, and a couple of cocktails. My two favorite types of sushi there are tuna tempura with volcano and negihama maki. We got both. I also got ebi, maguro, and saba nigiri.
At home we had dessert, chocolate peanut butter ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top. At least that was mine.
Saturday 1.14
I arrived in St. Louis this morning to visit my family for the long weekend. So much for eating light this month. That is going right out the window. After stopping at Bolyard’s Meat and Provision to get steak and sausage for tonight’s dinner, we had lunch at Imo’s. I at the better part of a 14″ sausage and pepperoni pizza. It was amazing. I hadn’t eaten Imo’s in an Imo’s in so long, and having it just out of the oven was wonderful.
For dinner, we went over to my brother’s house. He and a friend had gone deer hunting in the fall and had venison backstrap from the trip. We grilled it up along with the ribeye and kielbasa I brought. My mom made twice baked potatoes and green beans with bacon. We also had a cheese plate, some Manchego and a fresh Missouri goat cheese called Coeur de la Creme Plain from Baetje Farms. There is no way I didn’t put on weight yesterday!
Roundup
I started the week making some amazing shrimp and sausage and ended it eating grilled venison. The middle wasn’t bad either. The swordfish with risotto that I made on Tuesday was outstanding and so was the tuna melt I had for lunch Wednesday. I also loved my breakfast tacos, dinner at Karma, and the best Imo’s pizza I have had in a long time! You know the week coming up is going to be exciting since I have three more days in St. Louis.
Links:
New Orleans style shrimp and sausage
quick bite: DeNo’s Pizza and Subs
quick bite: Ken’s NY Deli
Domaine Kildare Digestif
Coeur de la Creme Plain
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