Intermission

We interrupt this travelogue for a little food talk.  You guys know I can’t go too long without talking about food!  But come back in the next day or two for the Safari report!

So.  The food on the trip.  First of all, there was plenty of food.  I think I mentioned our breakfasts every morning.  For lunch we sometimes had local food, which as far as I could tell was really low in fat, high in carbs.  Very little fruit, and the veggies seemed limited to a few carrots, some kale, and plenty of cabbage.  They used some kind of bean and what looked to me like lentils.  Okay this is funny.  I called this lentil-stuff gumbala in my last post.  So when I did a google search just now to see what was in it, my blog entry was the fourth listing that came up.  Because evidently there is no such thing as gumbala.  They make something called ugali, but that is not what I am talking about.  Oh well, doesn’t matter.  The main point is, I ate too much food.  I had some trail mix with me, which I really didn’t need to eat.  I knew when I was eating it that it was just plain stress eating.  For dinner, quite a few nights we went out to American type restaurants.  We also tried Ethiopian food (no thank you) and ate at a great italian restaurant.  That was the only food picture that I took the whole trip, because the plate was so pretty.  It tasted as good as it looked. (Chicken  Marsala.)

There was lots of excellent coffee over there too.  Not too many sweets, so much so, that when I had a few squares of dark chocolate that I had brought along, they tasted too rich and too sweet.  I don’t think their food was too highly salted either.

But by the time I started the long trip home, my food choices had really eroded.  I had french fries more times than I have had in the past two years, and the last two days (when I was in America,) I literally only had junk food.  Except that bowl of cheerios I had for breakfast the last morning.

So since I’ve gotten home, I’ve had a little bit of a sick feeling in my stomach.  I’m not sure if that’s part of jet lag, or if I am trying to get sick, or the result of those last two days of junk food.  I’m choosing to believe its the junk food.  What?  Do you really want to know the specific junk food?  Okay.  I had airport pizza, a candy bar, McDonald’s, and fried chicken.

Moving on.   So, I am so happy that since coming home I have eaten absolutely purely nutritious foods.  Homemade yogurt, fresh fruits, roasted brussel sprouts, salads, custard oatmeal, etc.  Here’s a few of the things I remembered to snap pictures of:

Dinner last night!  I was quite thrilled with this creation.  Or recreation.  An old favorite that has been remade.  Used to be fried chicken fingers, with full fat white gravy, mashed potatoes, and canned corn.  Now–chicken tenders sauteed in a tiny bit of coconut oil, mashed cauliflower, and fresh corn (microwave cob in a wet paper towel for three minutes and then cut off the cob.)  The gravy is some leftover almost fat free gravy that I made after Thanksgiving.  Yes, it was in the freezer.  Mashed cauliflower note:  I read this, but still had to try for myself.  It does not work to mash the cauliflower with a hand potato masher.  They just tasted like mashed cauliflower.  Somehow putting it in the osterizer breaks down something and turns them into mashed potatoes!

Mid-morning snack–1/2 a small Fuji apple with THE MOST DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER ever!!!  Justin’s, that I found on sale at Whole Foods.  And a lo-bar.

Ooh.  Something new that I picked up at the gym today.  A creation of Vicky’s called Marble Pistachio Halva.  I asked Vicky what it was and she said the Halva was simply a mixture of tahini paste and I think ground pistachio nuts.  The swirl has carob in it.  Oh yumm.  Quite rich, but good for you, Vicky says.  Just a little nibble now and then.  The thing about Vicky’s creations like this is that they are not the sweet/salt combo that drives you to eat more and more.  Just enough to satisfy.

One more foody item.  Today I was going to meet a friend for lunch to talk about my trip and some other stuff.  I kind of agonized about where to eat since I am counting calories now.  I suggested Jamba Juice, since I knew they had the oatmeal that I like for only 220 calories.  And once again I was so impressed with their choices and the fact that they have the ingredients listed and the calorie count of everything in their store.  I think its a great place to go for lunch with friends.  My friend (who is doing Weight Watchers right now) was also impressed.

So, I am so happy that I have gotten back on track so quickly and easily.  For now I am actually carefully tracking my food until I lose the Christmas/travel weight.  According to the gym scale, I have already lost 4 pounds. (Yes, Shelley, I couldn’t resist!  I checked it out on Monday, the day after I arrived home.)  And I am most happy that I have made it to the gym two out of three days since returning.  Today I was already back to using my pre-vacation weights on both free-weights and machines.

Isn’t this the cutest?  We are so happy to be back all together.  Noah is so happy to be home, and he has been such a good boy.  I am hopeful that we have entered yet another era of more grown-up and less energetic Noah.

Have to go back to work tomorrow.  So will get the safari report up in the next couple of days.