So...um...yeah

Yup, I'm such a blog flake.  But I had to take this opportunity to share my latest food endeavors.  So I finally, after many months of procrastination and planning, grabbed dinner at Ted's Bulletin.  Three words: Homemade Pop tarts!!  A-may-zing.  Flaky, buttery and just the right sweetness of real strawberry filling.  My dining companion, who shall remain nameless until we name her, had the cherry one.  Tart deliciousness.  The sides (which were not nearly as fabulous) included scrambled eggs and bacon.  But even more delicious was that "adult milkshake" I consumed as an appetizer.  I'll be back there for sure!

Meanwhile, I have decided  to expand my horizons when it comes to cooking at home.  I've recently and quite randomly encountered a blog that posts recipes from Azerbaijan and beyond.  Apparently they eat a lot of ricotta-like cheese in Azerbaijan.  I can get with this.  My first attempt at Azerbaijanian cooking will be this recipe for chocolate ricotta muffins:  http://www.azcookbook.com/chocolate-ricotta-muffins/
Easy enough.  And quite familiar.

Now that my supposedly calorie-restricted diet for my BFF's nuptials (in which I was the MOH and wore an unforgiving gown) is over, I plan to also make this delicious creation from a different country across the globe: Butter paneer curry naan pizza!!  Out. of. control.

Been busy eating....

Yeah, that's right.  I've been way too busy stuffing my face with a variety of fabulous foods post-fast to even post about them!

Well, not really.  I'm bad at keeping up with things like this, but I'm trying to get better at it.  I have to update my faithful reader (s?) on my eating tour of the fabulous city of LA as well as give an update on my latest fatfat plans to eat my way through DC's list of the best places for real macaroni and cheese (not the blue box kind that I dedicated an entire entry to a couple of months ago).  Both updates are to come asap :)

Ode to office food

So, to follow PR's point, I think I have totally developed some Rexie tendencies from my fast.  I actually find myself not craving sweets, meat, eggs, cheese or dairy so much anymore, which is probably a good thing.  And I'm not hungry like that these days.  But, this has made it difficult for me to discuss decadent, fatfat-esque on this blog.  Don't get me wrong, I've definitely been eating well.  I've made everything from Jamaican jerk seitan chili to vegan enchiladas with gooey melted rice cheese on top to spicy and sweet African peanut stew with couscous.  Yes, I said rice cheese.  The brand I bought actually tastes better than real mozzarella cheese, which in my opinion is one of the most bland cheeses on earth.  Especially in its freshest form.

Anyway, I sit here typing after having just finished a conversation with a co-worker while hovering over her candy dish.  I miss the days of convenience foods in my office: The random bagels with tubs of room-temperature cream cheese hanging out in the kitchen mid-morning after early meetings; the picked-over  and unidentifiable baked goods brought from home sitting on desks; the cookies and brownies left over from afternoon meetings that have been randomly cut in half by a neurotic co-worker concerned about her own calorie count.  I even miss the vending machine even though I would never eat most of the options it offers.  But most of all, I miss the sandwiches left over from lunch meetings.  I used to go for the inevitable turkey and cheese option or anything on a croissant.  I don't know what it is about smoked turkey lunch meat that I love so much...

Anyway, my fast is over this Sunday.  I'm still thinking about a semi-permanent predominantly vegan lifestyle.  But the first thing I break my fast with will be a glass of red wine.  Oh how I miss my wine!

It's been a while...

Princess Rotound-a returns after a brief vacation.

Sorry to leave the blog for so long but PR was going through some major life (and food) changes. New job, newly single in the new year. This, of course, means a new diet.

Which crazy crash diet did I choose to ring in the new year, you ask? Remembering the mantra- "moderation is not your friend"- I chose the "Maker's Diet" (NO! It has nothing to do with Maker's Mark!), for all intents and purposes a crazy, crash diet billed as a transition to healthy eating. http://organicfanatic.blogspot.com/2007/06/makers-diet-how-to-get-started.html

For the first two weeks, you cut out most all fruits excepts berries, most beans, carbs, and pretty much anything Satan tells you to eat. I continued to eat shrimp because quite frankly, I never real understood the whole bottom dweller thing. I realize rebelling on this small point while not questioning why I can only eat berries makes no sense but I digress.

I also promised myself not to fall off the wagon if I cheated. So for the first week, I definitely ate small pieces of candy, a cookie crumb, etc. to get me over the initial shock. But by the second week, I was looking forward to my yummy breakfast of hard boiled eggs, strawberries, and almonds. I didn't actually want to cheat. I moved the bread off the table at dinner and learned to love olive oil and vinegar on salads. Salmon is now my best friend. And I may now account for .5% of California almond sales.

I lost 8 pounds in the first two weeks. It was awesome. The only drawback is that I was also attempting to exercise and with no carbs in your body...good luck. There were also some unfortunate GI side effects but no one wants to hear about that. Let's just say I think I might have cleansed out that cheese stuck to my intestinal walls back from the third grade.

Oddly enough, I am having more trouble adhering to the diet now that I have more options. Could it be I only respond to deprivation and rexie-like* tendencies?

*"Rexie" is my shorthand for simulated anorexia because let's be honest, a big girl like me ain't ever really gonna pull the real deal anorexia. Not to make light of a very serious disease though.

Chocolate sheet cake

So I'm day three into this intense sugar-free vegan fast, and every hour or so my mind wonders to cake.  It doesn't even matter if I'm in the middle of something totally unrelated and unappetizing.  I keep picturing myself sinking my teeth into a huge piece of chocolate chocolate cake that I'm holding in my bare hands.  The frosting is smeared all over the lower half of my face.  This is not a fancy piece of cake either.  It's the one-bowl kind (though it's till made from scratch).  My mouth is actually watering right now...

Terrible.

Yikes!

Um, yeah.  No way...

Not for the lactards...

 

Liberate your mind and your mouth will follow...

In my previous post, I mentioned my manic plunge into self-improvement in this new year.  A major part of that is an intense vegan fast I will be practicing from the 9th through the 29th of this month.  Now that does not mean I won't blog about the rich and decadent foods that bring pleasure and comfort to my life.  It probably means that I will be inspired to blog even more about them.  I have a feeling that practicing self-control when it comes to food aggravates the little devil on your shoulder who works even harder to convince you to indulge.  Especially when you have been eating very healthy and start to think that just one cupcake or one chocolate bar won't hurt.

I intend to use this space to release all of those temptations and will continue to share my musings on the foods that inspire, excite and enrich our daily lives.