laniloa

Spring classes start today and I'm proud to say I'm down 16 pounds from my Florida high. I managed to drop 2.4 pounds in the past 20 days despite the intensive class schedule that left no time for the gym and a week on the road with some very nice meals. I've tried to walk as much as possible, including 2 miles between meetings last week. I have the shin splints to prove it. Note to self: don't walk 2 miles in dress shoes. It is snowing right now and I'm skipping the bus to get my 1.5 mile walk in anyway. Maybe not the brightest idea since I already have a cold but I just want to keep moving.

Clean out the fridge soup.

Spicy chicken soup with plenty of bok choy, carrots, and egg noodles. Take that, snow!

I gave myself a break during finals, the holidays, and my first blizzard in decades and stayed away from the scale. This morning is the first time I hopped back on the scale since the last post and I'm down 2.2 pounds for a total of 13.6. While I didn't meet my original goal of 15 punds by the start of school in September, I'm pushing to be down 15 by the time the spring semester starts in a couple of weeks. I'm in a 9 hour/day intensive class now and will be on the road for a week so it will be a good challenge to keep eating well and try and squeeze in some exercise. Despite the icy roads and snow, so far I have resisted hopping the bus to school so I at least get the 1.5 mile walk each day.

I've spoken to a few of my Maine lobstermen friends and their communities are really hurting. There is a pretty big ripple effect --- gas, bait, repairs are the ones you would expect, but also some of the community services they support. After school programs, soup kitchens, and apprenticeships for the next generation are all getting hit. A lot of guys are trying to go without a sternman to cut costs but that has a big safety impact, especially in winter. For all of you who like to support small farms, this is the equivalent. Around here the chix are about $4.99/lb and the selects are $6.99/lb. Most of the groceries will steam them for you while you shop making it super easy to enjoy a good lobster. I had lobster risotto for New Year's Eve dinner and a lobster roll today for lunch.

I have lived across the street from India Castle in Cambridge for six months but never eaten there. Two reasons -- 1) I never saw anyone eating dinner there and 2) I have satisfied my Indian jones while eating with classmates at a place closer to school. Now that the semester is over, I have seen that India Castle is packed at lunch and I'm not heading into school. Tonight I picked up some lamb saag and garlic naan. Both were excellent. The saag had a nice kick to it and much more meat then you typically see. I'm going to have to try the lunch buffet one of these days.

That probably would have encouraged me to buy a box!

They had a lot up here. I'll tell them to send them south to you! Generally, I like salty stuff but this was just too much.

I picked up a box of chocolate covered sea salt caramels the other day. They were awful. The chocolate was too thick and instead of a few flakes of fleur de sel, there were way too many large chunks of dead sea salt. I'm talking large rocks of salt. Suck on a salt lick large rocks of salt. These were in a red and white box and sounds different then the ones others are describing. Choose carefully. On the bright side, the caramel inside was quite good.

Roasted potatos and asparagus with some freshly caught, super sweet Maine shrimp. Tossed with lime juice and cumin. Comfort food after a rough budget final.

Risotto with roasted asparagus and tomato and spicy sausage. Very tall glass of Snoqualmie unoaked Chardonnay brought over by my cousin. For dessert -- writing my public narrative final paper. Tasty!

Mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette Gnocchi with bolognese Garlic bread Chocolate cinammon brownies Too much wine to recall what we drank My third set of dinner guests in 10 days -- I'm just loving having people to cook for again. That most of my classmates can barely boil water and therefore truly love a homecooked meal where nothing is from a box or jar is an added bonus. Added bonus are the containers of sauce now happily waiting for me in the freezer.

Semi-potluck at my place. Gumbo, roasted veggies, and kit kat bars from Happy In The Kitchen. Too much wine and beer. It'll be tough to work on my budget assignment tomorrow but the company was worth the headache.

Another month, another check-in. My tracking has gotten a little jumbled so I am down 3.6 pounds on my chart but I somehow didn't record the last few entries I posted here on my chart so I'm not down that much since my last post. (I was trained as a scientist -- charts are good ) Whatever. The bottom line is that I am down 10 pounds and 17 cholesterol points since I started. I don't notice a huge change in the mirror but I see the increments each day. We'll see what mom says at Thanksgiving. My biggest challenge continues to be getting to the grocery store once a week so I can have good breakfasts and at least some decent lunches and dinners per week. The rest is sacrificed to limited time or wanting to enjoy that limited time with my classmates. This year is just flying by.

I'm still trying to get into the rhythm of things. I just can't believe how little free time I have. There are too many great things going on at school and it is like trying to drink out of a fire hose sometimes. I only get to the grocery once a week so I'm cooking more early in the week and eating leftovers towards the end. I've done a lot of freezing so I'm not eating the same thing each night. I got one of those little Reynold's vacuum seal things and it definitely helps. I freeze individual servings of brown rice as a big time saver.Mostly, I've been keeping things pretty simple and I'm not having as much variety as I normally would, but so far it hasn't bothered me. I use my few nights out (like a fantastic one last night) to make up for that and get different things. I'm eating a lot more veggies, entree salads (arugala, braseaola with a ginger lime dressing; wilted spinach with shrimp, peaches and chipotle vinagrette), and making good use of sales to stock up on chicken, shrimp, sausage (a little goes a long way), and pork. Easy sautees with different pan sauces to make it interesting -- orange hoisin, maple mustard, chipotle lime, lemon thyme, lemongrass ginger, red wine and cherry, etc. Not doing take-out was an easy one for me because it isn't worth giving up an evening out with friends and there aren't any really great places around me that might make it worth the splurge if I were really tired. Those are the nights I embrace eggs. I usually have some leftover veg or frozen ratatouille to turn into a fritatta. I bring fruit, nuts and my water bottle to school each day to avoid the sirens song of other snacks. Last weekend we took a ride to an orchard and I stocked up on a variety of apples. The honeycrisp are fantastic this year. Let me know what you find works for you. I wish I were farther along then I am but having just taken on another project to assist one of my professors with her work, I suspect progress will be even slower. As long as I see progress, I'm OK.

Unpasteurized apple cider from Cider Hill Farm. Would rather have the hard kind, but I still have a case to prepare.

Pork chops from Stillman's Farm with a pan sauce with apple cider, a touch of maple syrup, mustard, and tarragon. Served over polenta with a side of green beans almondine.

Haven't checked in in awhile...school has been phenomenal but with a more then humanly possible amount of reading. It has taken me some time to adjust which has meant eating out more and exercising less then I would like. The good news is I'm still down another pound, slow as the loss may be. Even better news - I pulled out an old pair of jeans I haven't fit into in a year.

I haven't been yet but have been asking around in preparation for a lobster splurge after my first module is done. Many have recommended Neptune more for lobster roll then whole lobster as it has the advantage of a cold lobster with mayo roll or a warm lobster with butter roll to satisfy all types. And, if you are willing to go the roll route, you might want to check out James Hook which is operating in a temporary building after their old place burned down. They are more fish market then restaurant but they put out a nice lobster roll. If this is too downscale, maybe do this for lunch and dinner elsewhere in your price point.

Had a fantastic lunch at Rami's at 324 Harvard St in Brookline. My shwarma was loaded with chunks of juicy, well-seasoned lamb, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, a smear of hummos and a healthy drizzle of tahini all on a freshly-made pita. As much as I wanted to keep eating because it was so delicious, it was just too much. Just a few steps from the Coolidge Corner T stop on the Cleveland Cricle green line.

Enjoyed a nice lunch today on the patio at Gran Gusto on Sherman St in Cambridge. I had the caprese pizza with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatos and basil. I'd put it a half-notch below 2Amys which, in my mind, makes it darn good pizza. They had an interesting selection of meats, salads, and small plates as well. A guy at the next table had the baked gnocchi that looked fantastic.

This ran on Diary of a Foodie and the recipe can be found here.

Final exam tomorrow so needed something quick and easy. Scrambled eggs, basil and prosciutto on a Portuguese muffin. I picked up the muffins at the farmers market and they are amazing. Look like an English muffin but a little lighter and with a sweet-tang. There are a few Portuguese and Brazilian bakeries in the area and now where to explore next.

Had a lovely brunch today at Sel de la Terre (255 State Street, Boston) right on the water across from the New England Aquarium. We had a group of 12 so we wanted a place that would take reservations and have a good location for an afternoon of exploring. A nice blend of breakfat, lunch and bridging the gap items. Several complained that the portions seemed small, but I thought that was just relative to the too large portions we are used to seeing. I had two poached eggs over turkey hash with a touch of hollandaise. At your typical brunch, you would have been served 2-3 times as much hash. It was very good and I would have eaten more if it were there, but I would have been a lot less happy walking across town. It came with a small wedge of what was called butter-roasted cornbread but seemed more like a dense corn pudding in terms of texture. It was the highlight of the meal with a nice contrast of rich texture but light, fresh corn taste.

There are a bunch of peach orchards around here. I spoke to a fourth generation MA peach farmer briefly yesterday at the market and hope to get out to his farm next week for some you-pick peaches and tomatoes. I remember peach picking trips in CT and MA when I was a kid.