more potatoes, please

ny: day 7

I don't want to mislead anyone with my title, but I broke my fast on day 5. I didn't really get sick of my choices, I just stopped. I'm still eating potatoes (home fries) this morning for breakfast. I don't think I could ever get sick of potatoes. They merely soak up flavor and are vehicles for condiments: butter, sour cream, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar. They can also be baked, fried, deep-fried, boiled, and broiled.

This was a pretty good meal I made on day 4, green beans and potato gratin made with gruyere cheese. I discovered that green beans taste sweet when blanched.

I ate carne asada tacos everyday for five days and sometimes twice in one day. I tried different stands in my neighborhood and this diet has spawned a new food search. I will find the BEST CARNE ASADA TACO IN ALL OF LOS ANGELES!

adventures in the outside world

krystal: day 5

I think I could eat crackers and cheese forever. I haven't gotten tired of anything yet, but I am hungry a lot.
I didn't know that rye crackers don't have wheat in them--always thought they were like whole wheat crackers.
I went to Trader Joe's last night to get more goat cheese--got goat chedder and a three-pack of crotins--plain, garlic & herb, and four peppers.
They didn't have beets though, so will have to get those today to make more borscht.
It was a little dizzying to walk through Trader Joe's--such an array of food!
I think cheeseburgers (Jade's choice), in hindsight, was an excellent choice. This diet would be easy if it weren't for social things--you can have cheeseburgers (or nicoise salad, actually) almost anywhere, but borscht is hard to find.
I would like a nice Bloody Mary this weekend . . .

Less is More

jade: day 3

Remember Julie's theory that the reason some diets work is because when faced with such limited food choices you just decide not to eat?
Well, today I only had a cheeseburger. Medium rare, topped with cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce, ketchup and some ranch dressing. Nothing else. And I wasn't even hungry.
Weird.

Premier exit...

I have to admit that I had a bowl of spaghetti last night which is *not* on my list. So, I will be the first to throw in the towel ( the shame...it's only been 3 days).

I did actually make somewhat of an effort for those 2 days...I found out that salmon is really delicious fried, and sauteed in lemon juice (that's a condiment...right?).

But just for fun, I will keep at the list that I have and come up with recipes, just so at least for our potluck, I can contribute some worthwhile recipes.

No discouragement, though, for you ladies who seem to be right on track w/ all of this!

enjoying the idea of lunch

Leilani: Day 3

last night na young offered me a glass of orange juice and i took it! then she offered me some Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream and i took that too!

this morning when i went into work, there was an oatmeal cookie lying on the kitchen counter so i ate half of it!
i'm done!
i'm officially off the diet and i couldn't be saner. Good thing cause i thought i was going crazy. Could be mercury poisoning from eating all that tuna, symptoms of which include, but are not limited to: "Short-term memory deterioration. Difficulty concentrating on tasks which require attention and thinking. Avoidance of social contacts which demand that you get out of your introverted behavior. Loss of temper; switching between different moods for no particular reason. " Lesson learned: don't diet.

anyway, good luck fellow eaters, stay sane. For those who've already fallen off the bandwagon or are about to, i look forward to reading your confessions.

today is a new day

ny: day 3

i had some blogging trouble earlier, but i think i've got it figured out now. i'm still in the running for the cash prize. my meals from yesterday were boring so i'll skip the listing, but trust me i didn't cheat.
breakfast: calcium and b-complex vitamins, black coffee
lunch: 3 tacos from 7 mares on sunset
dinner: potato gratin made with cream and gruyere cheese

random thoughts

krystal: days 1 and 2




Finally got the pictures to work . . .
these are day 1, and then dinner day 2.

The one problem with this diet is that it makes me very conscious of food--which make me hungry. Would be much easier if it weren't for that.

So, I finally finished making my borscht at 1 am last night/this morning--just had a taste before going to sleep, but had a big bowl for dinner tonight.
It has: short rib, pork sirloin, beets, onions, carrots, cabbage, parsley, dill, peppercorns, bacon, bay leaves, salt, pepper. and garnished with sour cream. The recipe is insane--you make three separate parts--the meat broth, the beet broth, and the vegetables--then combine them all together. It is yummy though--you can taste the different flavors, rather than them all being one thing. Ha! Hope this is making you guys hungry . . .

Strangely, what I'm craving is more along the lines of junk food--potato chips, cheese puffs, candy bars. And I don't even really like candy bars. (Except for Lion bars--which you can only get in Europe, so I can never have them.) Have also been wanting a Caprese sandwich from Bay Cities--a really good deli in Santa Monica . . . thinking of French bread and mozzarella.

Maybe alcohol will be my strategy. I'll just fill up on beer . . .

The List

Belated--but here it is.

Taking Apart my Nicoise Salad

julie, day two

The ingredient used to prepare my Nicoise Salad:

romaine lettuce
green beans
hardboiled egg
tuna
anchovies
potatoes
cherry tomatoes
goat cheese
red onion
dressing (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard)

I have been eating my nicoise salad in phases -- does this mean I'm already disqualified? For example, for a snack, I've been alternating between cherry tomatoes, hardboiled eggs and dabs of goat cheese. Otherwise, I've been on track, absent the vege-mackerel incident. I bought mackerel in bulk at the Korean market, and have been preparing it alongside brown rice. I've already eaten that meal three times. I'm starting to feel weak/lethargic...and my hands continue to smell faintly of fish.

Leilani: 5 meals, days don't matter anymore

Been eating this for the last 5 meals. A few thoughts:

1. Aged white cheddar (aged 2 years) tastes like what I would imagine a man's used socks taste like after he's run at least three miles. It's even covered with a light sweat sitting on the countertop - can you see it? Doesn't matter, I can taste it.
2. Starkist albacore tuna in a pouch is actually very moist and juicy. It's a little less cardboard, more shredded paper. I'd recommend it except for the fact that I feel like a cat eating it.
3. Matheny's tartar sauce is ambrosia. It's creamy & delicious. I want to stick my hands in the jar. I want to bathe in it. I bet I'd get super soft skin.

cheeseburger tour

jade: day 2

A girl can't live on In-N-Out.
Well, actually, she can. But as long as I'm doing a cheeseburger diet I might as well try all the good cheeseburgers in LA.
I think I've had most of them (My Father's Office, Apple Pan, Chateau Marmont, Hamburger Hamlet, Fatburger, etc.) but I'm ready for more! A Pie 'n' Burger trip is, I think, a must.
Any others?

post-lunch addendum:
Had a business-y lunch and stuck to the diet! It was at Yabu, a Japanese restaurant, so it wasn't really all that hard. I had soft tofu on ice topped with grated ginger, soy sauce and furikake (a sesame seed/shredded seaweed/chili topping), and spinach in (I think) a peanut-miso sauce. Tasty!
But I'm still kind of hungry.

just in time

ny: day 1

my four food groups: carne asada tacos, green beans, potatoes,
gruyere cheese

breakfast: homes fries, made with 3 red potatoes, oil, salt, pepper
lunch: two carne asada tacos from yuca's
dinner: mc donald's french fries, size medium
snack: half a tumbler of crown royal

waiting for the borscht

krystal: day one

breakfast: three light rye crackers, boucheron (cheese), a taylor pear.
lunch: two dark rye crackers, garlic and herb chevre.
after work snack: two light rye crackers with butter and honey; one light rye cracker with boucheron.
pre-dinner: pear with sour cream and cocoa powder, beer.

fyi, whole foods at fairfax and third opens at 7am. yes, i went there, at that time, in search of short ribs and pork butt, for my decadent borscht, partly drawn from the recipe for borscht at the (no-longer-there) russian tea room in new york.
and so, they are now simmering away, for four hours--which would make it--oh, about midnight--before i can add the vegetable part and have the first serving of my borscht.
smells good . . .

and oh yes, checking whether pears were in season was definitely worth it--they are delicious now!

hungry already!

jade: day one

Maybe Haagen Daaz is the preferred last food for people about to embark on silly diets? Last night I ate the majority of a quart of HD vanilla with fresh cherries and peaches - yum!
Haven't eaten anything since. Part of my competition strategy: the less meals eaten, the less quickly you get sick of your choices. Of course, I don't see how anyone could get sick of my #1 pick:
*Cheeseburgers!
But before this starts sounding like a remake of Super Size Me, please note that my three other foods are:
1. Tofu
2. Spinach
3. Mango
My refrigerator is full of mangoes (ten of 'em!) and spinach (two big bunches!) - I'm planning a pilgrimage to a San Gabriel Valley supermarket to stock up on tofu.
But first, I'm going to In-N-Out.

a hedonistic diet

I slowly ate half a carton of Haagen Daaz ice cream, strawberry, last night, in preparation...

My "diet" consists of:

(1) Potatoes
(2) Peaches (last minute change from apples)
(3) Salmon
(4) Carne Asada burritos! (my second last minute change...although I have to ask, isn't this
interchangeable w/ veggie burritos, since they both have the same ingredients, excluding
the meat??)

I wish we could add one "freebee". I'd add eggs.

leilani: day one, 10am

a diet that's not really a diet because everything is so damn delicious!
[you can do it- this starving yourself thing is easy, stay positive]

1. lentil soup
2. cheddar cheese(white & yellow, sharp & mild)
3. pears (asian & european)
4. tuna (canned & fresh)

[really want steak, want oysters, want guava, want anything that's not on this list]

vege-mackerel

j dawg diet profile:
(1) nicoise salad
(2) mackerel
(3) rice
(4) apples

Do I get disqualified for eating fake mackerel made out of soy protein? Not that I'm currently eating fake mackerel made out of soy protein...

krystal: the day before

all i can eat: borscht, wasa crackers, goat's milk cheese, pears.


i haven't eaten yet! this is just a template/example! it's still monday!
that's all. (bring on the the mcdonald's breakfast! the bibimbap! ice cream! the cherries!)

The Rules

The story of (That's) All You Can Eat:
Over a Saturday afternoon brunch (consisting of egg scramble, rosemary potatoes, jicama salad, bacon, sausage, cherries, and bread pudding) we spoke of food and not food.
The lemon juice/cayenne pepper/maple syrup diet was ridiculed. The Atkins diet was scoffed at. The cabbage soup diet was briefly considered then dismissed out of hand. The fruit juice fast was pooh-poohed. The South Beach diet was casually tossed aside.
What, we wondered, about an all-you-can-eat diet?