Yuzu-fever!

B & I are talking about this Sunday being a trial run -- she'll leave the house at 8am and not come back until 5:30. Between those times, me & Edie will strap on our guns & go out big game hunting, ride 125 miles on bikes, compete in a yoga chatarunga-off, swim the length of the Hudson River, cook a 12 course meal. Or maybe try to get her to nap while I see a movie. What ever is more reasonable.

Thinking about this piece, about how scientists have codified what I already knew -- exercise and going to the gym is not a good way to lose weight, if you're just gonna eat more to make up for the calories you burned off. I weighed myself for the first time since I stopped working at the restaurant: 223.6. I was surprised -- I thought I'd be heavier, as I've been eating horribly. My fatty-fatt range is between 230-235. I think I only went 10 lbs lighter with the crazy minimal eating I was doing at the resto.

My friend P, who makes me look like Kate Moss when I stand next to him, has always expressed amazement about how I ride my bike so much, but don't lose weight. My bike riding makes my body strong, great cardio, etc, but to ride distance then NOT take in the calories I just expended makes me tired, cranky, uncomfortable and unable to hang out with the human race. I've accepted that biking is not really a weight-control thing. Even when I went cross country, I made sure to take in enough calories to maintain a very steady weight loss -- too much and there could be trouble on the road.

So what to do? It occurred to me if I'm gonna do this, there are two main things to tweak my life habits. 1) Eat a little bit less the majority of times, excluding logical times like bike riding and social occasions. 2) Cook more at home. I think as the months start to cool down, yoga and weights are gonna get ramped up, but the real way to maintain a slow, steady weight loss is by eating more home cooked food, and less food over all.

Unfortunately, around 9:30, the combination of the heat, the baby crying and both B & I having the same idea at the same time -- ICE CREAM! -- made me leave the house, get some, come back, and gorge a bit too much. So much for being good.

BREAKFAST: 10am, organic cheerios with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, slice of streetza, quart of gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
As I was up on the northern tip of Manhattan on my bike, realized I would like a slice of pizza. Mediocre slice joint, slightly crumbly crust, gluey cheese. Thought it was the most northern slice joint in Manhattan (Dykman and Broadway), but I saw a Papa John's about 5 blocks north near the Columbia fields.

DINNER: 7pm, grilled chicken breast with rice pilaf, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nice having a load of chicken stock in the freezer that I made a week or two for no reason. Covered the bottom of a pan with olive oil and butter, sauteed minced shallot, then fried some sushi rice in it before covering with the stock, salt and a few bay leaves. In 20 minutes, it was some of the best rice I've made yet. Not "light", but toothsome and bursting with flavor that white rice is not known for. Some of the chicken breasts spared from the stock process, I sliced thinly, coated in a mix of oil, worchestire, dash of hot sauce and a splash of yuzu juice, a tangy Japanese citrus I've had in my fridge for a while -- kinda like a concentrated grape fruit flavor. Cooked up on a grill pan, topped the rice, this was kinda like a decadent, over-the top version of the sloppy chicken-and-rice plates you get from a vendor on the streets nowadays. The citrus acid splash made everything just pop nicely, gonna go yuzu-crazy next time I cook. Maybe seafood?

EVENING SNACK: 9:30-11pm, 4 ice cream cones, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
-sigh-