Mastering the art of eating

Change from beginning of program: -4.0 LBs
Goal: 40 LBs to go

Activity: none

Temptation: creamy jalapeno dressing
Fruit and veg: 4

Saw "Julie and Julia" today. LOVED it! I read the book when it was first published. Julie's adventures in cooking were quite entertaining. I remember seeing Julia Child - in black and white - on TV when I was a child. I don't know if her shows were in black and white, but our TV was. My mother always said that French cooking was too complicated, so that's one cuisine I never learned to cook. I asked my mother recently if she had a copy of Julia's cookbook, and she replied that she did not because French cooking involved too many sauces. I guess some things never change.

The movie inspired me to cook. Just what I need when I'm trying to eat only what I need and not what I want. I bought her cookbook on the way home from the theater, and I have read through all of the front matter. I looked at a few recipes, but I haven't decided what to try first.

I did bake a batch of cookies to satisfy my need to cook. My artist friend is designing a wine label for our next batch of wine, and I'm paying in cookies. Most of the cookies are already packed and ready to be shipped on Monday.

From the time Bigfoot woke me up (9:30) until the time we got back home after dinner (8:30), today was rush, rush, rush. He woke me because we were moving CDs that had matured from the bank that offered 0.65% interest to the bank that offered 2.45%. We both had money to move, hence doing it together. I cashed out a few days ago, but he had to wait until today. I dropped him off at one bank, so that he could cash out, and I ran to the farmer's market that was just around the corner. Well, it was under the freeway and two lights and a right turn and a left turn away from the bank, but in Houston that is considered just around the corner. (By the way, the farmer's market had pretty slim pickins. The heat has killed just about everything.) A mere 15 minutes after dropping Bigfoot off, I picked him up and we headed for the new bank. Setting up the new accounts took forever because the systems were down and they had to do it more or less manually. In the meantime, my friend and her children were heading to our favorite Mexican restaurant. I had to tell them I would be late.

I dropped Bigfoot off and headed for the restaurant, where I wolfed down chips and the creamy jalapeno sauce/dressing. As I had not had a chance to eat any breakfast, I was famished. Although I ordered a taco salad with guacamole, I did not have a healthy meal. The 900 chips before the salad didn't help. And the decadent fried tortilla shell, dipped in more of the creamy sauce/dip/dressing just made me feel bloaty. But, boy, did it taste good.

We went to a bookstore that is going out of business and stocked up. By the time we located a newspaper to see the movie times, we had just 15 minutes to get to the theater. We dashed over there and made it before the movie started. But even though we were at a mutliplex, the movie was being shown in a small theater. And they had bussed in many residents of a retirement community. We had to sit on the second row and look up the whole time.

Then it was off to Target to get some breath spray for Bigfoot. One hour and $60 later, I headed for the house. To my surprise, Bigfoot was mowing the lawn. Why the surprise? He generally won't mow if I'm gone because if he got hurt he wouldn't have anyone to take him to the hospital. (He had a lawn-related emergency room incident before he moved in, so I understand his logic - for once.) While he mowed, I cleaned the kitchen and the pile that accumulated all week when I was in my work-induced funk.

Dinner was at a seafood place (not our favorite one) near the house where they serve 25 fried shrimp and fries for $12.95. It's a nice place, and I substitute a baked potato for the fries. I ate too many shrimp and still brought some home. Most of the potato is intact, and that will most likely be my breakfast tomorrow.

Since dinner, I have felt like crap. Probably the combination of too much greasy food (chips, dressing, fried shrimp) and too much food in general. And the heat. Let's not forget the heat.

Holy crap! I'm back over a barrier I had hoped to not ever cross again. The chocolate and alcohol every day this week finally caught up.

I just wish I didn't like food so much.