Anna Blume

By leaving the skin in the pan, you may save a few calories, but you are missing out on the primary source of Omega-3 oils (very beneficial fat). I'd suggest oiling the fishskin with EVOO--maybe just a teaspoon's worth, and cooking in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or a nonstick pan. And eat the crispy skin--the HDLs help lower your cholesterol.

That's what I did, Zora, thinking I was adapting a go-to recipe to the Challenge. It hadn't occurred to me that I was depriving myself of the O-3, but of course you're right. I guess I'll grind up some of the flax seeds in the freezer and put them in my oatmeal...

SALMON

Of course, there are a lot of different possibilities with any kind of fish, and with salmon, the least caloric is what will be welcome when the temperature rises again: poached with cucumber or a shaved fennel salad or asparagus.

However, two good at this time of year:

1) Coat a thick, center-cut fillet with drained, plain lowfat yogurt, a little salt, Szechwan pepper and fresh dill. Marinate for half an hour, then bake in preheated oven at 450 F for 10-11 minutes.

Good w a couple of small, smashed Yukon Gold potatoes (skins and all) mixed with lowfat buttermilk and 1 t butter. Or grain of choice. Snap peas, steamed.

2) Crispy skin salmon w gingery greens

Bittman's How to Cook Everything book, p. 301, which can be modified to reduce calories somewhat. When finished, you lift fillet out of pan without the skin, losing most of the 200 calories in a T of EVOO; you could also use far less oil.

Basics: trim dark greens of choice, removing thick stem, cutting leaves into ribbons. Braise with a little oil, water clinging to leaves, garlic, minced ginger and onion until tender. Alternate: steam or boil till tender, then put in pan with even less oil and just flavor with ginger, etc. Drizzle on half t soy sauce and 1/4 t Asian sesame oil per serving at end.

Heat cast iron skillet for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, score skin of salmon in cross-hatch fashion, cutting through till flesh revealed through slits. Put 1 T or less EVOO in skillet, heat, then put fillet in pan, skin side down, covering immediately. (Bittman uses a grill or suggests broiling.)

Leave 5 minutes, then check. 10 mins. at most. Don't turn over. Use spatula to lift out of pan, minus skin, and place on bed of greens. Squeeze fresh lime juice on top, a little soy or salt and 1/4 t sesame oil.

Serve with small sweet potato of choice, cooked in jacket, slit, and eaten just with salt.

Delicious.

Back when I was a yute, my "go to" cookbook was Great Good Food by Julie Rosso...My friends politely gnawed on the chicken when I offered them up...

I can't remember many incompetent recipes in the book, but I do remember how horrid that overly earnest, misguided phase of Americanized cuisine minceur was. There's an all-purpose lower-calorie dairy whip you're supposed to blend, made of cottage cheese or some other awful stuff, and then use as a substitute for heavy cream, sour cream, and all sorts of superior ingredients.

I think I kept the book for two excellent recipes: one for Dirty Rice with black beans and another for Acorn Squash Soup with lentils--though certainly when you're boiling peeled winter squash, you could make your life easier by chosing a different kind of squash.

I love Marcella Hazan's cookbooks, but I generally don't trust any of her recipes. In Marcella Cucina, for example, she has a beef stew recipe on page 313 where the beef chuck gets cooked till very tender, about 1 hour. A beginning cook might plan a dinner party around this recipe and have some very hungry guests before the beef was tender. The previous beef stew recipe, on p. 311, gives two hours of cooking the beef chuck, which is still probably not enough, but regardless, they can't both be correct.

Well, I could definitely see your point on these instructions since any good Italian braise should take around three hours. However, I wouldn't essentialize on this basis. As far as I'm concerned, Dr. Hazan is to be worshipped for clear, simple (if sometimes complicated or time-consuming) instructions in recipes that dealt well with what was and was not available to home cooks in the US 20-30 years ago. There are only two recipes in her Classic--now Essentials--cookbooks that I dislike: carbonara (not authentic & a bit greasy) and eggplant parmigiana (greasy), though the latter, altered, is the basis of what I do to this day. Until I discovered The Splendid Table, Hazan's ragu was on my short list of favorite things to eat in the world no matter who's cooking. I'd still make it if I have ground beef, but no veal, pork, pancetta, prosciutto and Italian sausage hanging around the house.

Great topic, Heather.

The first edition of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything has a lot of errors, though it had gotten to the point where I wondered if cookbook authors felt that, just like a certain kind of rug woven by nomads in Afghanistan, each effort had to have a few flaws to ward off the evil eye. For example, you're told to add the tomatoes "now" in a recipe for coq au vin. Why in coq au vin? Nor are they listed as an ingredient. Brown bread? You're told instructions for steaming will follow, but they don't.

Michele Urvater won a James Beard award for Monday to Friday, a cookbook that basically told professionals, especially working parents, that it was okay to mix frozen corn into cornmeal and serve the mush for dinner--sort of the Walmart version of Polenta with Fresh Corn in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook--without welling up mit Guilt und Angst. Again, there are a handful of excellent, quick recipes, but among the ones that sound really, really dreadful, there are others that sound kind of good that turn out dry or flavorless or unfortunately flavored. And never stock your pantry with things you're told will make simple, quick desserts in an emergency if you don't normally eat them as is. I finally tossed that expired can of crushed pineapple.

I am annoyed by pedestrians with cigarettes in hand if not without sympathy for many who can't quit or lack incentives to stop. I reserve judgment for parents pushing strollers as they smoke and teen-agers who ought to be locked up when caught in the act and forced to listen to WAMU's Sunday morning programming for one week, straight.

One consequence of the ban I've noticed:

Now, when walking past bars & restaurants after 7 PM, I have to endure the powerful smell of cigarette smoke emanating from the crowds huddled at the entrance.

Non-smokers are also vulnerable when approaching large public buildings where employees, students, or other visitors are taking a smoking break.

I wish that these places would find a nice, open-air space other than the entrance for smokers to congregate. The city shold place restrictions on smoking at the entrances to buildings, too.

Note: Trader Joe's carries frozen organic blueberries (and other berries) and they're great! Also the good thing about frozen berries in plain yogurt is that the juices release in the microwave, so they get swirled in the yogurt. Yum!

I highly recommend what Whole Foods calls "wild" frozen blueberries, sold in tall thin foil bags (silver, blue & white).

However, the variety of frozen fruit at TJ is excellent and there is one type of Canadian blueberries that might be comparable to the type at WF. With the exception of the blueberries, the prices of frozen fruit seem best at TJ. I noticed something called Tropical Blend (?) that might appeal to you since it contains chunks of mango.

I personally like crisp apples cut into small slices in yogurt. I'll compromise by eating the variety called Pink Lady at Giant, but otherwise I have to say that there is no comparison between a good crisp apple purchased from the right vendor at the farmer's market and something from a grocery store.

Another possibility at breakfast: smoothies made from banana (I buy over-ripe ones, slice & freeze them individually), a favorite frozen fruit, skim milk and yogurt. No sweetener is needed if you use very ripe bananas. You could also do this with ice cubes and some of your beloved orange juice, no dairy. You'd still have the fiber of the frozen fruit and an entire day's quota of fruit.

N.B. A glass of orange juice=two servings of fruit. One serving of produce= 1/2 cup. (I've made the switch to fresh fruit only because I love grapefruit. I'll go back to juice once the season for good citrus fruit ends.)

This past Friday evening, as new stocks were being put on shelves, the store was out of only one item on my list which shouldn't have been there in the first place (the frozen potstickers).

Since I am making a mushroon stew for this month's Italian regional cooking thread over at Egullet (where I mentioned donrockwell in a post last week), I was especially pleased with both the quality and price of:

• button mushrooms, 8 oz at $1.29
  
• crimini, 10 oz., $1.69
  
• shitake, 4 oz., $2.69
  
• Combo oyster, crimini & shitake, 8 oz., $2.99
  

Also managed to find a lot more decent produce than before, ending up with parsnips for half the price of WF, 2 lbs of organic carrots (at .79 cents a pound, best price in town), scallions (14 for $1.19) & brussel sprouts for $2 a lb.

Week 3, continued

T January 16, 2007, continued w evening meal only

• Scalloped potatoes w ham reheated in milk

• Braised chard w onions, etc.

• Tastings of carrot & fennel soup during prep

• Clementine & tastings of applesauce during prep

W January 17, 2007

Walking #2: 40 minutes

• Half grapefruit & coffee w milk

• Oatmeal w dried cranberries and combo whole & skim milks

• 2 spaghetti squash fritters, batter made w parsley, shallots, aged Gouda, buttermilk, egg & flour.

Dab of light sour cream on each

• Cup of carrot-fennel soup w dill (onions, turnip, red lentils, broth, white wine…)

• 2/3 cup of applesauce

• 7 gnudi w ¼ lb. sausage, diced fennel, mirepoix, tom sauce & Romano (Batali)

• Red leaf lettuce salad w red bell pepper & shallot vinaigrette

• Clementine

R January 18, 2007

• Half grapefruit & coffee w whole milk

• Oatmeal w a few dried cranberries & whole milk

• Half cup applesauce

• Black bean soup w light sour cream (??? finally!) & warm cornbread

• 3 clementines

• Ba Bao La Jiang (8-treasure tofu, adapted) w brown rice

3 oz. pork loin, 7 oz. tofu, chard stalks, carrot, scallions, ½ red bell pepper,

½ zucchini & roasted fresh peanuts w usual aromatics & sauce. Ate half. Probably 2 T of peanut oil involved.

• Navel orange & last chocolate truffle from Christmas (80 calories)

F January 19, 2007

Walking #3: Approx. 50 minutes

• Half grapefruit. Coffee w whole milk

• Thick slice of WW French toast w 1 T maple syrup and ½ t butter

• 2/3 cup yogurt w 1 t honey, ¼ c frozen blueberries & Meyer lemon zest

• Leftovers from last night (8 treasures & rest of M's rice) & clementine

• Second coffee w whole milk

• Clementine & 1 cube of mediocre cheese while shopping

• Carrot-fennel soup w extra broth & light sour cream

• Cornbread w corn

• Clementine

• Persimmon cake reheated (3 in. x 1 ¾ in.) w dab light sour cream & applesauce

S January 20, 2007

Walking #4: 65 minutes

• Half grapefruit. Coffee w whole milk

• 6 popovers w 1 ½ T raspberry preserves

(2 eggs, ½ c flour, ½ c whole milk & 1 ½ T butter)

• Apple, 1 dried apricot, 1 cube candied ginger & about 10 raw almonds

• 2 oz. water-packed tuna w lemon juice

• Tortelli (cabbage) sauced w reduced brodo, butter & sage; Parmesan

• Spaghetti squash w gouda

• Salad of red leaf lettuce, cucumber & red pepper w light sour cream dressing

WEIGHT: Zero change, again up & down all week.

Moral: Increased exercise makes no difference when you eat scalloped potatoes and ham. Good cooking fat (olive oil) has many calories as butter, so lighten up. Cf. breakfasts, especially. 4 out of 7 were "treats".

• More oatmeal breakfasts. Take advantage of the welcome drop in temperature.

• Start keeping track of amount of fat used daily. Look for alternatives in menu planning as well as cooking methods such as braising (oil plus liquid) or oven-roasting w EVOO preheated (thins coating of oil) vs. stir-frying

• Increase & intensify physical exercise. 3 ½ hours walking (plus incidental) is not sufficient. 4 days this week? 5 days next.

Seven pounds in three weeks, and they really seem to be gone since you've moved from a quick drop to gradual loss.

Impressive!

So, what are you doing now that you weren't doing before the Challenge--or vice versa?

"Stronger" as in thick woolen socks with a reinforced heel and toe, worn with hiking boots while ascending a steep, wooded path on a Thursday morning in March just as the sun is starting to rise, while carrying a week's worth of supplies into the wilderness, forging rivers and streams

as opposed to glistening, thin silk stockings woven by nimble-fingered fairies whilst a harp plays.

It's Friday. Why not include both types on your weekend shopping list and report back?

I have a container of red miso paste that I use to make soup when the weather is a bit like this. White miso is a bit more delicate in flavor.

Red's more robust. I can't really get more nuanced than that.

Good luck with challenges today.

Today was birthday number three and the birthday girl chose On the Border. Again. And I had the fajita salad. Again. And I refused to eat the chips that sat in front of me for an hour and a half. Again.

And then I had salad for dinner. Again.

Deconstructing Signs and Signifiers Sited in the Repetitious Usage of the Word "Again" While a Crew from WJLA Channel 7 ABC Sets Up a Shot, Idling 5-6 Yards Away from Bedroom Windows at 5:30 AM to Do a Story on Tolling Cars

Weariness and boredom come across in addition to frustration.

I wonder if your standard fare has gotten monotonous and when it includes salads, they're less than inspired.

I know that one thing I dislike about diet plans or cookbooks on healthful eating is that there is an utter lack of creativity when it comes to promoting produce.

Since you're spending time at eGullet looking at the WW thread, why not make a habit of looking at the Dinner thread regularly, too? That is, if you enjoy cooking or grocery shopping. The photographs often feature beautifully fatty, rare meat, oozing cheese and the like. Nonetheless, there are some very talented home cooks whose plated, tossed, stuffed or steaming colorful vegetables might give you some new ideas.

I know your principal goal is to lose weight, yet everyone seems to be stressing the importance of changing one's approach to food. It seems equally beneficial to try incorporating new dishes into your repertoire, ones based on produce you don't normally buy. I would recommend purchasing Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone which has lots of simple, unfussy recipes that might inspire you to try new things.

Since you said you prefer vegetables incorporated into your main dish as opposed to side dishes, you'd discover lots of alternatives to a meal centered around a piece of meat. Novelty, color and variety quell boredom and might help you develop different appetites.

What made you ask?

Miso lasts forever and only a spoonful (or two) is needed for a single serving of soup, so it's extremely economical.

It's usually associated with hippy-type eating, but years ago one of the best meals I have ever eaten started with a mushroom-rich soup in a delicate broth with a miso foundation. (The restaurant no longer exists.)

I have a container of red miso paste that I use to make soup when the weather is a bit like this. White miso is a bit more delicate in flavor.

It's traditional to start out with a light quick Japanese broth made with a type of dried fish flake and seaweed, though that's not necessary. Then add whatever you wish to make it nourishing and filling. Usually I stick to soba noodles, small cubes of tofu, scallions, thin slivers of carrots and a dab or two of toasted sesame oil. Good with shitake or other Japanese mushrooms, ribbons of spinach, sprinkling of sesame seeds, radish....

Here's a very basic recipe from Epicurious.

As a source for inspiration, this is not the best reproduction, but Piero's Brera Madonna depicts an egg suspended from the vaults of an architectural space as a symbol of rebirth or resurrection.

This was actually the fate of ostrich eggs in Western Europe where they were found above altars.

So, if you buy one, drain it carefully.

19 to go. Though my hair was wet and I hadn't shaved yet, so I figure you could probably subtract another pound and a half.

First, great new avatar!!

Second, thanks for the source of inspiration. My hair's grown past my shoulders and were I to cut it, I might lose another pound at the very least...

ARE you working out, by the way? I am curious about the extent to which all of us are amping up physical exercise.

eta lunch: uh-oh. Two things happened unexpectedly that could not be postponed; as a result lunch was a latte and four bites of crappy cheesecake from Mayorga; a later snack of hot chocolate could be be turned down out of politeness; it's 4:30 and I'm starving and I don't want to let myself eat becuase I'm going out later, but if I don't eat I will pig out at dinner... oh dear.

eta: snack was 1/2 cup brown rice

First, congratulations, too, especially on the measures taken at the restaurant meal. Suggestion:

I found that if I bring an apple to work it sits on my desk or in the bottom of my lunch bag.

Instead, I'd recommend spending time in the morning or even the night before, coring and cutting up the apple into eight slices and putting it in a container with red pepper strips, carrot sticks and other things you could easily reach for and snack on while working.

I don't know how available ripe mangoes are this time of year, but a good peeled mango sliced and eaten with a fork can be more satisfying than juice.

The brown rice might be more appealing, too, if you made it into a salad. Pour on some (Meyer) lemon juice while it's still warm. Some zest. A little cayenne and cumin. Sliver scallions. Diced cukes.... Possibilities are endless. It could be a meal with chickpeas, parsley and a conservative number of sultanas (raisins are caloric) or chopped dried fruit of your choice.

Here's my formula:

Pounds Lost = (Calories Burned - Calories Consumed) / 3500

What is the basis of "3500"?

* * *

For the people I know who have embraced WW and achieved long-term success, the major factors have been:

1) weighing and measuring food to change their concept of the size of a portion

2) a route towards self-discipline

3) an incentive to exercise on a regular basis

4) support from peers; pride and guilt in being held accountable at meetings

I think the point system is both too restrictive and too complicated for my purposes right now, though I respect how it helps others. It simply highlights the aspects of dieting that repel me. However, I know that if I tried to calculate the number of points that went into the scalloped potatoes I made last week, I would hang my head in shame, sooo point taken. No more of that kind of dish.

Interesting that you could forget about eating for almost an entire day.

How do you feel about fruits and vegetables, Bill?

I noticed that you regretted the fact that RW falls during the Challenge rather than right before.

Are there any memorable salads, vegetable soups, roasts, purees, sauces or other sources of inspiration you've had while dining out that you might incorporate into your weekly diet?

Thanks, Bill.

Yeah, I think the other reason I was disappointed in the book is that the ideas offered weren't revelatory so much as they were unappealing . I'll take your word on the arrowroot!

Okay, I'm the first person on the second page to blow my cover. Most of you really think my name is Anna Blume, anyway. While I felt posting my food diary would be obsessively self-indulgent, I figure you don't have to read it and it is, as Porcupine says, a way to be accountable.

I suppose that coming out of the food pantry is a way to acknowledge that as self-righteous as I wanna be about the fact that I eat lots of fruits of vegetables and rarely go for junk food, I'm fairly certain I spent my most recent past life as a dairy farmer known throughout the closest village for the fabulousness that is my butter and cream as well as my caustic tongue.

Aint gonna go vegan, but I could cut down the amount of dairy fats I consume.

About a year or so ago, I ordered a remaindered book on nutrition from the CIA which, it turned out, was designed for chefs to help their patrons lose weight. I was disappointed at that point that so much published on nutrition for the general population pertains to weight rather than healthful diets and what foods fulfill what needs, but I was also in self-denial. So, I'll start consulting it and maybe cook that amarenth (seeds used as a grain vs. leaves) that I picked up one day on a lark.

FOOD & EXERCISE DIARY 2007

Week 1

T January 2, 2007

• 6 oz. OJ & coffee w milk

• Plain yogurt (2%; c. 10 oz.), w cranberry sauce & 1/3 c granola, all homemade

• 3 small apple-ricotta pancakes w butter and maple syrup; glass of 2% milk

• Small banana w 2 T of peanut butter; 4 oz. of 2% milk

• Fennel & blood orange salad, 2 chopped cured black olives w lime juice & EVOO

• 1 ½ small roasted beets dressed same way (minus olives)

• ½ oz. Prosciutto di Parma

• 4 oz. glass red wine

• 10 gnudi (spinach) w butter, tomato sauce and Parmesan

• Roasted Bosc pear w red wine (1/3 cup; ¼ c sugar), honey & a little Parmesan

W January 3, 2007

• OJ & coffee w milk

• Yogurt w honey and a small banana

• ¼ lb. hamburger on one large slice WW (home baked) w lettuce, mayo, garlic, Worchester sauce, mushrooms and T aged Gouda

• 3 Satsuma mandarins

• Raw red pepper strips & fennel

• 3 Lucques olives

• 16 gr Prosciutto di Parma

• 1 carrot

• Handful raw almonds

• A dozen tortelli filled w braised cabbage, pancetta, onion, garlic, Grana, EVOO & reduced broth, sauced w broth, butter and Parmesan

• 6 oz. of red wine

R January 4, 2007

• OJ, coffee w milk and a small banana

• Handful of pistachio nuts

• Pasticcio (baked penne, tomato-vegetable sauce, ricotta, ham) reheated in whole milk

• Anjou pear

• ½ c yogurt and ¼ cup newly baked granola

• Lentil minestrone w rice and chard, grated Grana

• Navel orange & chocolate truffle

• Another ½ c plain yogurt w the new granola

F January 5, 2007

Walked at least 3 miles (40 minutes plus shopping)

• OJ, coffee w milk & yogurt w cranberry sauce and granola

• Last hot dog in freezer w mustard and ½ slice toasted WW

• Glass of skim milk, handful of granola

• Fennel and red pepper slices & pear

• Raw fennel, red pepper & carrot

• Salmon (½ lb.) baked w yogurt and dill, smashed potatoes (butter & milk)

• Red leaf lettuce & parsley salad w grated Gruyere (1 t) & Dijon-shallot vinaigrette

• Glass white wine

• Blood orange and a dark chocolate truffle

S January 6, 2007

• OJ & coffee w milk

• Apple

• Thick slice of WW French toast w butter & maple syrup; glass skim milk

• Celery stalk, dried apricots & pistachios for movies

• Pasticcio reheated in milk

• 2 celery stalks & carrot

• Cappelletti en brodo w Parmesan

• 2 oz. red wine

• Small sweet potato w butter; 4 oz. skim milk

WEIGHT: down ½ pound of 4 needed for month

Week 2

N January 7, 2007

Walking: 40 mins. w about 4 hours on feet (outside vs. in kitchen)

• Orange juice & coffee w milk

• Thick slice of WW toast w peanut butter & drizzle of honey; 4 oz. skim milk. Apple

• Handful of pistachios; single taste of blah chocolate cherry bread (c. teaspoon)

• Lentil minestrone w rice & Pecorino. 2 oz. red wine. Thick slice buttered WW toast

• Anjou pear w Gorgonzola. Multivitamin

M January 8, 2007

• OJ & coffee w milk

• Raw carrot

• Basmati boiled in milk, mixed w sautéed mirepoix, topped w cheddar and baked

• Small apple w 1 T of peanut butter

• Soup of mirepoix, more carrots & onion, butternut squash, red lentils, red pepper puree, paprika, pimenton and stock Psych: puree only portion to seem more filling.

• WW toast, buttered ( ½ slice)

• Persimmon cake w persimmon-Meyer lemon puree

T January 9, 2007

• Navel orange & coffee w milk

• Oatmeal w dried cranberries and whole milk

• Open-faced sandwich on WW w Italian tuna, capers, red onion, celery & 1 T of mayo. Rest of celery stalk. Blood orange.

• 1 ½ in. square (honest) of persimmon cake w fruit puree. Tea w milk & squirt honey

• ¾ small escarole, red onion & sausage pizza made w WW & 3 oz. mozzarella

• Red pepper strips (the whole pepper) & apple

W January 10, 2007

• Half grapefruit & coffee w milk

• Oatmeal w whole milk and cinnamon

• Bowl of the red pepper soup

• 2 small slices of last night's pizza [Psych: cut wide piece in half to seem like more]

• Granny Smith apple

• Scalloped potatoes w ham: at least 1 ½ T butter, a little less than ½ c whole milk, ½ oz. of Cheddar Cheese, 1 ½ t AP flour & a little under ½ lb. of Yukon Gold potatoes, ¼ Vidalia onion & ¾ oz. ham.

• Broccoli rabe w 2 cloves garlic, ½ T EVOO, chili flakes & ½ lemon

• Blood orange

R January 11, 2007

Walked briskly > an hour in cold at dusk, feeling invigorated. Have to remember how great that feels, though, unfortunately getting warm again this weekend.

• Blood orange & coffee w milk

• Oatmeal w whole milk and dried cranberries

• Tuna salad (w vegetables & 1 T mayo)

• 1 T pistachio nuts

• 2/3 c new creamy, rich yogurt (whole milk) w 3 T cranberry sauce & 1 T granola

• 4 La Brea Tar Pit chicken wings

• Spaghetti squash gratin w mushrooms, butter, cream & Parmesan

• Broccoli rabe sautéed w garlic, chili flakes & EVOO. Lemon juice, half

• Granny Smith apple

F January 12, 2007

Walked approx 40-50 minutes.

• Half grapefruit w 1/8 t sugar & coffee w milk

• Yogurt w persimmon puree, cranberry sauce (1 T each) and granola ( ½ c)

• Escarole soup made w leftovers, including chicken fr 4 wings, brodo & 1 ½ nests of Angel Hair pasta. ½ T grated Romano. Delicious. Psych benefit: dense w variety of ingredients.

• Blood orange

• Scalloped potatoes w ham, reheated in milk and 2 steamed carrots w minimal glaze (1 t butter, 1 t honey, ginger & lime juice)

• 2 dried apricots

• Persimmon cake, 1 in by 2 in, reheated, yogurt dollop, 2 T & clementine

S January 13, 2007

Walked ca. 4.6 miles (Georgetown WF, round trip)

• Half grapefruit, coffee w milk

• Yogurt w granola and cranberry sauce

• Small bowl of the last of the red pepper soup

• Two dozen cappelletti w butter & sage

• 2 dried apricots and a clementine

• WF tastings adding hundreds of calories: 2 tortilla chips w dips, one spinach artichoke, other crab & artichoke; 1 pita chip; incredible NY Camembert on cracker; Canadian Cheddar (twice); 2 small cookies & piece of lacy cookie w dark chocolate; 2 Dutch cheeses; those great Spanish almonds, twice.

• 2 celery stalks

• Venetian roasted fresh sardines (4) & half glass of white wine

• Reheated spaghetti squash gratin

• Dried apricot

WEIGHT: Down 1½ pounds of 4 needed for month. Moral: Exercise makes a difference, even if it's just once a day, brisk walking!!!

Week 3

N January 14, 2007

Walking: 50 mins.

• Half grapefruit & coffee w milk

• Half celery stalk while preparing soup for oven

• 2nd cup of coffee w milk; 4 oz. glass of skim milk

• 6 small buttermilk (1%) pancakes w blueberries, topped w smidgen butter & less maple syrup than usual

• Clementine

• Handful of raw almonds

• Last 4 chicken wings & short-grain brown rice

• Broccoli rabe w garlic, red chili flakes, EVOO & lemon juice (2 c)

• Anjou pear

• Several tastings over course of day to adjust seasoning on black bean soup

M January 15, 2007

• Clementine; coffee w milk

• Yogurt w cranberry sauce & granola

• Scalloped potatoes and ham reheated in milk

• 2nd clementine

• 4 oz. water-packed tuna w lime juice

• Last of spaghetti squash and mushroom gratin (1/6 of 3 ½ lb. squash)

• Braised chard w onions, cilantro, paprika, garlic & EVOO

• 3rd clementine and multivitamin

T January 16, 2007

• Half grapefruit. Coffee w milk

• 3 blueberry pancakes w little butter & maple syrup (leftover batter) & 4 oz. skim milk

• Black bean soup w lemon and dab light sour cream

• Wedge of Peter Reinhart's buttermilk cornbread w corn (protein boost), no bacon or onions & ½ the sugar

• 2 clementines

I am hoping it's just the need to wait for results. I make my own granola, in part, to control calories (but mostly since I don't like overly sweet things) and I alternate this with regular oatmeal. I wouldn't be having it all, except I finally figured out how to make the best yogurt ever and 1/4-1/2 cup of granola sprinkled on top makes it even better, though fresh fruit beats even 2-3 T of cranberry sauce. As soon as the weather shifts back to winter again, I'll be happy with plain old oatmeal.

I know about the nuts, fat and calories, too, it's just that I am not a big protein eater, either, and I find about 200 calories of almonds more satisfying than spraying a pan with Pam and turning a flattened chicken breast over in it without coating the thing with egg, fresh breadcrumbs, Parmesan and then, squeezing lemon juice on top.

Getting on my scale same time every day, so you're right to imply that the extra pounds at the end of the day probably started somewhere.

Just hoping for some magic words or magic beans from you all... For now, I think "patience" is it.

Cf. reference to detailed food diary. I am recording every single thing I've eaten for the past two weeks, though definitely not weighing portions. I don't know if I could do the WW point thing.

I just don't cook many of the kinds of dishes that are bound to appear on those pages, though there would be overlaps in most ingredients and in raw foods.

How do you account for the way the scale climbs and falls when gobs of butter, pork belly or a tall bottle of booze are not involved?

This morning, I got up to discover that I gained 1 pound yesterday after eating two meals and walking briskly for 50 minutes.

Weighed myself early in the morning again. 1 pound heavier than yesterday. Wasn't all that hungry so after a clementine, coffee (whole milk), then yogurt with 2 T of cranberry sauce (don't judge; it's a phase) and granola around noon, it would seem I have gained another 1 1/2 pounds. Have been drinking water, but, not gallons.

I've been keeping a detailed food diary since the 2nd, but I figure it's about as interesting as a dream log in iambic pentameter.

Suffice to say that most days I have been eating three meals plus 1-2 healthful snacks involving raw produce or a handful of raw unsalted nuts if breakfast lacked non-dairy protein. Yesterday, I delayed the weekend's blueberry buttermilk pancakes until noon after grapefruit and coffee, but went easy on the maple syrup and had less than a T of butter, including the amount in the batter (thin coat of canola since using a cast iron skillet). Dinner involved a little roasted chicken skin, but otherwise brown rice, a mound of greens (2 t EVOO), a large uncooked pear and just water to drink. Not exactly broiled cod with lemon and cabbage soup, but...

So, now I'm back to one pound over my baseline weight, starting the day at 1/2 pound under, and as I've said, I've been going up and down for what will have been a full two weeks tomorrow, the range not exceeding 1 1/2 pounds lower than base, but climbing up as much as 3.

I also have been tracking physical activity. Since I did little the first two weeks (less than 2 hours walking for the week), I have made a concerted effort to amp up activity on a daily basis, if only during the past few days. Initially, saw a pound come off each day.

This has been typical of my experience. I am no longer biking for miles up and down hills from my graduate school digs out on a dirt road in the country to get to the T.A. session on campus, but after around the age of 31-32, I've seen my weight rise at an annual rate that concerns me.

If you go to the path at the National Zoo where you're supposed to test your running speed against that of a cheetah, you can weigh yourself to determine what kind of prey you most resemble to feline predators in Africa. I'm a whole nother beast since when I first moved to this town; I'd feed a larger pack, too.

So, I've given up the real olive-oil packed tuna (rare anyway), bought me some tofu and short-grain brown rice (which I actually like). I'm not about to throw out the modest chunk of aged gouda on principle (I paid for it, I'm not Marie Antoinette...), though I will restrict my cheese purchases henceforth to Parm & Romano for grating.

I am not someone who has to become inured to days without Coke, chips, cupcakes or steak frites. Yet it seems that my resolve to not modify my normal diet is going to get me nowhere unless I am willing to spend more than 2 hours a day involved in strenuous physical activity.

I first made this dish a long time ago, based on a Madeleine Kamman recipe, which she said was Swiss. She recommended that the dish be made with a bone-in loin. In general, braised meat dishes have more flavor when cooked with a bone. I find that boneless pork loins--whether chops or roast-- are often dry.

True, but buying pork shouder also helps. There are numerous Italian regions such as Piemonte & Emiia-Romagna that braise pork (or chicken...) this way, with and without bones. Must be another example of the French stealing from the Italians.