Food

I Have a New Nemesis, Well Technically Two of Them

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On my road to a lower weight i have learned many things about food and about myself.  Recently the biggest things I have learned are who are my enemies.  I didn’t think I had many of them but I have learned that not to be true.  Early on in my weight loss mission I learned French Fries were not only not my friend but they were evil.  They became nemisis number one.  For years we were so friendly.  I ate them and they kept being so tasty.  Now they are generally what makes a meal ok to wow I will gain weight tomorrow.

This past month I learned of another rival, the once so nice cake.  MC has been making test cakes for Teagan’s upcoming birthday parties (we are doing one for Family and one for Teagan’s friends).  Being a good husband and father it was my duty, no responsibility to sample the test cakes.  What I learned was two fold.  One, MC makes fantastic cake but I kinda already knew that.  The decorations are pretty amazing.  Two, cake is now my nemesis.  Granted I ate 3 slices in one day of the first test cakes but I didn’t expect to gain over 2lbs doing so.  It took over a week to get back down to the weight I was before I ate the cake.  I know I need self control but it is not my fault my enemies are so tasty.  I am great if I just dont have any and stay away from it.  That is what I do with fries, but cake is harder to resist after I have one small slice I have to have more.

I think I need to fast leading up to Teagan’s birthday.  That is my current solution for birthday cake problems that are in my future!

Test Cake

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MC has been experimenting with cake for Teagan’s upcoming first birthday.  This weekend she made her first test cakes.  One was in a duck mold.  it looked horrible but tasted perfect.  The other one was a traditional cake that also tasted fantastic.  MC is really good at this cake stuff but her decision to start a baking hobby is a challenge since I am dieting.

I was eating so much of that awesome cake that we had to throw out what we had left over after giving away a ton of it.

Dinner on the Beach

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Today Teagan took a power nap with me while I walked her in the stroller on the beach. She then took a two hour nap after lunch.  We got lucky.  The weather continues to be fantastic.  For Lunch we walked to the Westin Hotel and grabbed food at their poolside cafe since MC & I  did not think that much of the poolside cafe in our hotel.

For dinner we had reservations for a beachside meal right on the water in the sand at our hotel.  It was one of the two splurge nights we decided to have on our stay.  It was pretty amazing to sit and relax at a table right on the beach.  They timed it so we started to sit down as the sun was going down.

The food was pretty good.  it was the first time i had a lobster bisque soup.  The service was a bit slow but we attribute that to the distance the servers had to travel to get to us!  Teagan was very cooperative also.  She generally is a fantastic baby and she fell asleep in MC’s arm’s after it got dark but not before she was up way past her bedtime.  Overall a perfect day in Aruba.

 

2013-08-07 Dinner on the beach

Lunch With My Mom & Sister

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Today was my mom’s birthday.  When talking to my sister last night she mentioned that she was going into the city with my mom for a show and they were going to grab lunch.  I pointed out sarcastically that I work in Times Square and I also have been known to eat lunch.  She didn’t know why she didn’t think of asking me but we made plans to get lunch.

We met up at an italian restaurant around the corner from my office.  That was coincidental since my mom got a recommendation from a friend to go there.  We had a nice lunch.  I had Veal Parm.  It was good to see both of them especially since I wasn’t going to see my mom for dinner on her birthday.

Sushi Tasting Menu

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Tonight MC and I finally used a Travelzoo discount MC got me for Fathers Day.  It was something like 75% off a 6 course tasting menu at a very well reviewed sushi restaurant.  I didn’t know until last night it was in the Katano Hotel were Joe & Karen got married.  We scheduled for our baby sitter to stay late with Teagan and we went out to dinner.

The location in relation to our offices wasn’t optimal since there was no direct subway so we ended up walking in 90+ degree heat to the place.  The exercise was great but the heat was brutal.

I didn’t realize it was a tasting menu when we I got the present.  Generally I am wary of them because i am picky.  This time it was generally good.  There was something for me to eat in every course.  I was even a bit adventurous and tried some new stuff.  I am not a fan of eggplant.  The food was very good.  I was just still hungry after the meal before desert.  I ended up ordering 3 pieces of ale cart sushi.  I even splurged on a $13 piece of fatty tuna.  It was well worth it.  Very tasty.  The entire meal was very tasty.  I am not sure if we would do it again especially since the full price meal would have been a huge bill, but we were both glad we did it.

Out of Town Guests

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Friday MC’s sister in law Cathy came to visit.  She hasn’t seen Teagan since before she was 6 months.  She lives far enough away that trips are difficult.  We meet her in Bryant park and then took the subway home.  MC and Cathy went to dinner and I put Teagan to bed.  After they got back from dinner we hung out and talked a bit.

This morning we were all tired because Teagan was up for over an hour at around 1AM or so crying.  She is typically a great sleeper and a great baby but we think she was teething.  She kept us all up.  Once we were up we all went for breakfast.  The french cafe place we wanted to goto was busy so we ended up at an irish place that does breakfast/brunch.  MC and I have walked past it before but never tried it.  I had an omelette.  It was good.  We all shared scones.  They were ok, but the ones at the farmers market i typically get on Sunday’s are much better.  Teagan was great at breakfast and sat in her stroller almost the hole time.  After breakfast we walked Cathy to the subway and said our goodbyes.  I grabbed a Cappuccino at Starbucks (one ding against the breakfast place was they only did regular coffee).  From there we ran one or two errands and then went home and feed Teagan lunch.

In the afternoon we ran out again to goto the grocery store.  MC wanted to look for fresh food to use to prepare meals for Teagan.  We ended up opting not to get anything and will use Fresh direct since it looks like they had better stuff.  On the way home I ran over to the Liquor store and got some Pimms.  I wanted to get some for a while since I really liked the taste when I had some in the UK last year.  Thankfully the store by our apartment had some and we just bought the rest of the ingredients and the grocery store.  I made one to have at dinner and it was very tasty.

We made fish and potatoes for dinner.  I tried tuna instead of the usual sword fish i like.  I was not as big of a fan with the tuna.  I will go back to sword fish next time.

 

Brunch With Family

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We went to MC’s cousin Brian’s to see her Aunt, Uncle, and several cousins especially two from out of town and their toddler!  We don’t get into Manhattan that often with Teagan so it was nice to get out.  MC’s cousin’s apartment was really nice and they had a great spread from Fresh Direct for brunch.  It was good to see her family.  Some we just saw at our place for brunch but others we haven’t seen in over a year.  it was great to catch up.  It was nice to get Teagan to meet her little cousin.

After brunch we headed right home since there was a chance of rain and Teagan needed to eat and nap.  Thankfully she napped a bit on the way home.

Drinks With Rich at The Station House

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Even though I was feeling sick earlier in the week I was hoping I was up for making it out for dinner/drinks with Rich.  His wife told me he would be solo this weekend since she was going away with the kids.  It was a perfect time for him and I to meet up.  Once I realized I was still up for meeting up we settled on a new place in the neighborhood to try out.  The Station House menu looked good so out of the several new places we looked at we decided to check it out.

We haven’t hung out in months so it was good to get together and just have a drink and grab some food.  I stuck with my typical Jack and coke.  Even though their menu was very interesting I opted for a burger.  I have been dieting so a good bacon cheeseburger was a nice splurge.  I also tried the fried snickers desert.  It was not as good as I thought it would be but the burger was very good.

MC’s Parents Visit and Brunxh

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MC’s parents came to visit this weekend.  They came Saturday morning and stayed over night.  We had lunch at our house and they hung out and got to play with Teagan.  For dinner we went to Agora since MC loves it.  We wanted to take her dad out for a belated birthday and early fathers day.  We had a really good dinner even if MC had to take Teagan away from the table for a bit to feed her since she was being fussy.

Sunday some of MC’s cousins (and a cousin’s girlfriend) came over and we all had brunch.  MC made a french toast casserole.  It was really good.  She used the Paula Dean recipe she used when her brothers family came to visit on new years.  We had a good brunch.  It was good to see MC’s cousin’s.  We hadn’t seen either of them for a year.  We also had cake for MC’s dad’s birthday.

MC’s parents left to go home in the mid afternoon after her cousins left.  It was a short visit but a good one since they hadn’t been over since before the new year.

My Dad’s 70th Birthday

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Today was my dad’s 70th birthday.  My sister and her family and MC, Teagan and I were supposed to meet up with my parents for dinner near my parents house.  As I was going to catch the train and meet up with MC she called that Teagan apparently had a fever.  I knew she spit up earlier but didn’t think anything of it.  Turned out she did it 2 more times.  MC had to go home and I went to dinner by myself.

The dinner was good.  We went to an italian place near my parents that my dad likes.  it was good to see Carrie, Michael and the kids as well.  My dad liked his present.  My sister and I got him an autographed football that had the autographs of 3 Giants players on it.  He is hard to shop for so I am glad we found something he liked.

After dinner I got a ride home from Michael.  By the time i got home Teagan was sleeping, but she got up briefly later on and we gave her more meds.  Hoping she feels better tomorrow.