Good Morning, Cupcake!

ADDENDA:
At 7:30am, I feel something crumbly against my lips and my wife squealing, "Guess what this is!! Yummy!" I smell chocolate and feel a little bit like a dog having his nose rubbed in his poop - after 4 fitful hours of sugar-addled sleep, the last thing I wanted to wake up to was the source of my bad sleep rubbed in my face! But at the same time, it was wonderful to wake up to a giddy, wired Betsy. The remaining dozen or so cupcakes were taken by B this morning to her work for distribution, I wonder how many actually made it...

Last night's session with Ilsa was interesting. She in no uncertain terms said based on this blog, I'm eating too much - not too surprising, as what I'm eating has been maintaining my weight for a while now. Of course, though fuel in, energy out and the metabolism that governs it is not a totally simple equation (if it was, all determined people would be skinny!), Ilsa made some interesting recommendations about hitting lunch harder, low-lighting dinner and adding more snacks. Funny, she didn't push me to eat less, it almost seems like she's asking me to eat more, though she hinted the pain is comin'...

Past few meetings, she also has been highlighting my parents - ocassionally, I go off on tangents on this blog when food memories trigger parental memories. Thinking about it, theres a lot there, don't know how comfortable I am disgorging it all here, but I guess it can't hurt...

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, waffle, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 3/5
At a diner with a friend I'm helping with a PowerPoint VC pitch. Looking at the menu, found nothing that would really be Ilsa-approved other than eggs, which is not going to happen this life time. Usually I would of done bacon, but I suspected they'd have ridiculously salty industrial stuff.

The friend I was with, whose been in my social circle since high school, used to be a bit of a tubbo, but for the past 4-5 years has been very trim and healthy looking. For breakfast, she ordered a plate of eggs over medium, cornbeef hash and potatos, and took most of it to go (she said she ate 2 eghgs earlier that morning). I wanted to get into a detailed conversation about her weight, but felt it wasn't the right time - a) we were talkin' business and b) you just can't spring a conversation on a lady like that unless it comes up smoothly...

LUNCH: 1:15pm, center-cut pork loin chop with gravy over homemade pasta, seltzer, cupcake ring, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
First bite into the pork evoked two immediate reactions. One was, "Holy CRAP!", the second was, "there is no way is there going to be any left over chop!" I've made pork medallions a few times before, and they were dry, tough, not very tastey and over all similar to my mom's horrible lamb chops (hmmm, that's a story for later, and the "puke chicken", too...) The first bite of this was moist, bursting with that yummy cooked flavor, and all together appetizing. Taste-wise, yes, this was restaurant fare. Presentation-wise, it looked like a mess, but hey, whadaya gonna do. As I was finishing the gravy, a head-hunter called to set up an portfolio review, so I let it thicken more than I would of otherwise, but it just intensified the flavor.

The pasta was good, my first time eating homemade from frozen. Unfortunately a lot of it stuck together into one big lump, how do I avoid that?

To avoid being wasteful, I used up the excess cupcake batter and frosting in a bundt pan, making the shallowest bundt cake ever, and burnt on underside to boot. Still, I ate about a 1/3 of the ring, and it was weirdly good/bad. Cupcakes need work.

DINNER: 8:30pm, hijiki tofu burger on ww pita, large spinach salad, small(?) portion of sesame noodles, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
Picked up some work at the old job in the eve (nice to get a day rate for an hour's work), then did a basics yoga class with the HVS, was nice to do something physical. Walked down to Dojo after for a vegan meal, a meal I used to enjoy when I was vegan myself and is still pretty satisfying. Funny, the 'large' spinach salad didn't seem so large (except for the honking cup of carrot dressing, which I used 1/4 of) and the noodle appetizer was easily 1.5 bowls by itself. I guess in the future, I can drop the noodles....I know conciously that with out them I'd still roll out of there satisfied, but somewhere less rational I just don't believe it...