Going to the Movies

It's my favorite time of year again: Oscar time. All of the movies have been judged and the nominations have been announced. Actresses are picking out their dresses. Nominees are writing out their impromptu acceptance speeches.

And me? I'm getting ready to attend the AMC Best Picture Showcase. This is the day where AMC shows all of the best picture nominees in one day. This year is different, however, because there are TEN nominees. So, AMC is showing the movies over two days: February 27 and March 6. And I'm all in for the whole shebang.

Here's the line up:

Saturday, February 27

10:30AM: AVATAR (3D)

1:45PM: Up

3:45PM: A Serious Man

6:30PM: Precious

8:45PM: District 9

Saturday, March 6

10:30AM: An Education

12:45PM: The Hurt Locker

3:15PM: Up in the Air

6:00PM: The Blind Side

8:30PM: Inglourious Basterds

The only movie I've seen so far is Avatar, which I will happily see again. And the price? $40. That includes all of the movies and a large, unlimited-refill popcorn.

It's this popcorn that we need to discuss.

Because this is an all-day affair, I am trying to be pro-active about meals and food selections. Trying to decide what I'm going to super-sneak into the theater. (AMC is putting the smackdown on outside food.) The first item of business is to figure out what the damage is with the popcorn. Turns out that DAMAGE is exactly the right word.

Are you sitting down?

An AMC large popcorn is:

• 16 cups of poporn
• 1,030 calories
• 57 g of saturated fat

That's 25 points. Ridiculous.

I found a great article about all of the movie popcorns out there. Read it here.

My plan is to request just half a bag of popcorn. We'll see how that goes.

Restaurant Week Part II

Today, we went to Province for Restaurant Week.

Another awesome lunch for $22!

This one I calculated at 32.5 points.

Starter

Farm Raised Shrimp and Market Vegetable Salad | orange mojo

Our server advised that the shrimp is flow in daily fresh from Belize.




Entree

Dietzler Farms Beef and Black Bean Chili | jalapeno cornbread, herbed crema

Today is National Chili Day!

Dessert

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese and Molasses | honey ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle

No nuts, no raisins.

Restaurant Week in Chicago....Part I

This is Restaurant Week in Chicago....that marvelous time of year when all the fancy-pants joints in the city lower their prices on prix fixe menus, so that those of us NOT on an expense account can afford to check them out.

Today's lunch at Naha was $22. My calculations came up to 23.5 points.

Starter

Fanny Bay Oysters from Vancouver Island with Pernod, Crème Fraiche and Candied Citrus Sorbet

Entree

Great Lakes Whitefish Hot Smoked and Mustard Seed Glazed with Beluga Lentils, Buttered Leeks and Jerusalem Artichokes

Dessert

Banana Tartlette, Spiced Rum, Toasted Cashews, Vanilla Chiboust “Custard” and Salted Caramel

End of Week Four----Weigh In Day

Last week's weight: 263.4
This week's weight: 261.6
Difference: -1.8
Total weight loss: -16.2

Weirdly, I sort of look forward to weigh-in day. It's a checkmark of achievement. Plus, I get the 35 weekly free points re-loaded.

I'm not thrilled about losing only 1.8 pounds.

It's clearly the end of the honeymoon period of rapid weight loss. We've moved into the "recommended healthy weight loss" area. But c'mon. 6 pounds in a week is WAY more fun than 1.8 pounds.

Will re-evaluate and see what needs to be done to get my numbers back to where they should be.

National Pancake Day

Today is National Pancake Day. (Actually it's National Pancake Week and NPD is September 26 according to this website, but whatev.)

IHOP is giving away short stacks of buttery goodness.

Quite frankly, I think it should be a national paid time-off holiday, where everyone stays home and makes pancakes for their loved ones and watches old movies in their jammies.

But that's just me. Celebrate how you will!

Weekend notes

1. Bridal showers are hard. Bridal showers that feature a mexican feast are harder. Enchiladas and fajitas and chips and guacamole and beans and rice and tres leches cake?

2. Beer tastings are hard too. 52 ounces of beer in three hours.

3. Thank heavens for bachelorette parties that have enough sense to serve sushi.

Jello Mousse Temptations

OMG you guys. Jell-O has come out with a mousse and it's really great. It's light and fluffy and airy and delicious. Seriously, this tastes like the inside of a donut.

And it's ONE POINT.

Diet trick!

If you hang your swimsuit
On the refrigerator door,
The goodies inside
Will be easier to ignore.
~The Quote Garden

Mardi Gras

I've given up Mardi Gras for Lent.

That's sort of a joke. (Mardi Gras won't be around for another year, Lent ends in 38 days or so.) But after going out on Mardi Gras and celebrating like I was in New Orleans, I got to thinking about hurricanes and points. The average hurricane is 7 points. I had four.

They were fantastic. And fun. And delicious.

Until around midnight. Now I wonder, can I count vomiting as an activity point?

End of Week Three----Weigh In Day

Last week's weight: 266.6
This week's weight: 263.4
Difference: -3.2
Total weight loss: -14.4

Okay. I'm not gonna lie. I was a little disappointed not to make it to 15 this week. SO close. However, when I was putting my new weight into the WeightWatchers online tools, the site informed me that I had reached my first goal: 5% of total body weight or 14 pounds. There were big stars and rejoicing and it reminded me to be thankful for every pound lost. Not just those in multiples of five.

Reason #5 to Lose Weight: Transportation Seats or Baby Got Back

I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung
Wanna pull up tough
Cuz you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that butt you got
Make Me so horney
Ooh, rump of smooth skin
You say you wanna get in my benz
Well use me, use me cuz you aint that average groupie

I've seen them dancin'
To hell with romancin'
She's Sweat,Wet, got it goin like a turbo vette

I'm tired of magazines
Saying flat butts are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back

So Fellas (yeah) Fellas(yeah)
Has your girlfriend got the butt (hell yeah)
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake that healthy butt
Baby got back

Oh, Sir Mix-A-Lot, you are in the minority, I fear.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Mostly, it has come to mind in the morning on the bus on the way to work. The 134 is crowded in the morning. It's bad enough to be bundled like Ralphie's little brother, Randy, from "A Christmas Story," but if you're fat, it's so much worse. You try to sit on an aisle. Or one of the front seats where you can lean off the edge. You can see the panic in the other bus riders eyes as you approach the last seat left on the bus. There's not enough space really for a little girl to sit, let alone you. Everybody squishes. Some people seem a little put out, but really the Lincoln Park crowd is too polite to do anything other than grimace.

I spend the rest of the trip convinced that my fellow riders are contemplating my weight. (They probably are.)

The CTA seats are currently 17.5 inches wide, but it seems that the typical CTA rider is growing wider than that: the newest buses are moving toward an 18 inch seat. There really isn't an option but to go with a larger seat: some of these riders are WAY bigger than me. However, the new configuration eliminates the possibility of oozing into the aisle, which could be problematic. The point is that I am not alone in my dread of the seats. (Apparently, I am also not alone in my disgust of Blagojevich's idiotic plan to give senior citizens free rides on the CTA on the eve of a shut-down due to lacking of financing. I'm glad to see this gross misuse of funds might be eliminated. Sorry, Grandma, you've got to pay to ride.)

Whilst I've been dreading the CTA seats, Kevin Smith has been fighting the friendly skies. This is my nightmare. This is his podcast.

Kevin Smith 'Too Fat' to Fly Southwest

By Bob Meadows

Sunday February 14, 2010 04:10 PM EST

Kevin Smith, sitting on a second Southwest Air flight

Courtesy Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith's most famous role is a guy who rarely speaks. But he's got a lot to say – much of it profane – after being kicked off a Southwest Air flight because he didn't fit comfortably into the seat.

"You [messed] with the wrong sedentary processed-foods eater!" Smith, whose next film,Cop Out, comes out Feb. 26, posted on Twitter.

It was one of many Tweets recounting the actor/director's humiliating expulsion Saturday from the Oakland-to-Burbank, Calif. flight. Southwest said in a statement airline officials had called Smith to offer their "heartfelt apologies," but also stated his removal was for the "safety and comfort of all customers."

Smith, 39, originally purchased two tickets "as he's been known to do when traveling Southwest," the airline noted, but when he decided to fly standby on an earlier flight, only one seat remained. Although he had been seated, he was asked to leave.

"If a customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement," Southwest said.

I'm Fat

Smith, who played Silent Bob in his Clerks movies and who has battled his weight for years – "I know I'm fat," he confesses – was given a $100 voucher and arrived in Burbank on a later flight. But he was in no mood to accept an apology.

"I broke no regulation, offered no 'safety risk' (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)" he Tweeted. "I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn't about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I'm being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like 'Please don't tell...'"

After landing in Burbank, Smith wrote, "Don't worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised."

Smith added that while the ordeal was embarrassing, his "Jersey Girl training" (the 2004 flop starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez was helping him cope.

Weekend Notes

• Alcohol is tricky. It's not getting any easier. Drinking 1/2 beers helps, but that's gonna get pricey.
• Here's how I conserved my points on Saturday: I slept until 3:00p. What am I? In college? Who does that?
• Eggs are probably a better choice than pancakes & syrup, but not as delicious. Special hash browns? Very delicious.
• I made more soup this weekend. That might get old pretty soon.
• Really looking forward to getting on the scale tomorrow and resetting for a new week.

High Level Challenges

Crazy week of dining!

Today I'm meeting a good friend for lunch at Kendall College, where she is a teacher. Kendall has a culinary arts school, so we're having lunch there.

This is the special Valentine's Day pre-fixe menu for lunch:

Friday, February 12

First Course
Rosemary Tagliatelle, Grilled Artichokes for Two

Second Course
Roasted Rack of Lamb, Bordelaise, Celery Root Puree for Two

Third Course
Warm “Sticky Date” Pudding, Buttered Toffee Sauce for Two

Includes one glass of Champagne per person.

This sounds like it might not suck. At all.

Tricky Tricky Tricky

The best part of WW is that you can eat whatever you want. The tricky part is maintaining the point level.

FOR EXAMPLE, tonight I have drinks at Sullivan's (Yum!) and dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House (Yum!). Both of these places are awesome. And I want to have what I want there.

Sullivan's is my favorite happy hour place. On Thursday nights, martinis are $5. FIVE BUCKS. Yes, I could go there and drink a happy spritzer or a rum&diet for low, low points. But what I want is FIVE DOLLA' MARTINIS! And I want four of them. Specifically, the Knockout. That's 16 points. Which is a lot.

Then dinner is at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Confession: I have history with Ruth's. I was the bitchy, condescending hostess for awhile. When I was in a good mood, I could run that restaurant. When I was in a bad mood, it was unpleasant for everyone. Everyone. Most specifically, the poor suburbanites who came to the big city for their stupid anniversary or birthday or whatever, and who expected to be remembered from LAST year when they celebrated their stupid anniversary or birthday or whatever. Needless to say, because of my *attitude* I got fired and had to return to my fallback career: lawyering. Rats.

So, I could go to Ruth's and have a nice piece of fish. Or a salad. But c'mon. It's a STEAK house. What I want is a big fat ribeye. OMG. OMG. OMG. I'm settling for a petite filet. (Settling. I know. I'm a bratty brat. Ack that.) And still: that filet? 19.5 points. That's a whole day's worth of points for a smaller Weight Watcher. Also, that doesn't take into consideration that Ruth's presents their steaks BATHING in butter. (Glorious butter!)

Don't even get me started on the sides. Oh, that my favorite veg was fresh asparagus rather than creamed spinach au gratin! Potatoes! Bread! Salads with bleu cheese!

I've done a preliminary point count for the evening: I'm at 49.5 points. For dinner. I get 31 for the day and 35 extra for the week. And I haven't even mentioned dessert.

Are you kidding me? Caramelized banana cream pie? Dude. This is my porn. (Seriously. I've been staring at that picture for 4 minutes. I'm checking into rehab with Tiger.)

So, the TRICKY part is the planning. I need to spend the day putting together this jigsaw puzzle of dinner/drinks. Give up the spinach to eat the banana cream? Give up two martinis to have a dinner roll? Further to that end, saving all my points means coffee for breakfast and zero-point soup for lunch, while thinking of steaks and martinis and pies all day.

That's tricky.

Reason #4 to lose weight: Passport Control

(Let's start by assuming that reasons 1-3 are things like: health, attractiveness, make my clothes fit.)





Reason #4 to lose weight: Passport Control

* Are you like me? Are you unable to go through Customs in the airport and see the sign for Passport Control without singing it in the style of Prince?

Generally, the men and women who guard the borders of the world are courteous and abrupt. They don't chat. They may "welcome" you home or to their country, but for the most part, they aren't looking for a conversation about anything personal.

Except for the two cases listed below.

* Border Crossing from Israel to Egypt February 2008

I hand my passport to the Border Crossing guy between Egypt and Israel. He looks at my picture and looks at me. Looks at the picture and looks at me. This is what he says: "What happened?"

Me: Excuse me?
BCG: What happened to you?
Me: I don't know what you're talking about.
BCG: Before, you look like this (pointing to passport). Now (gesturing toward me). You must have had some good cooking!

Then he laughs and laughs.

I nearly started an international incident. Hurt feelings + 75 minutes of sleep** = cranky American.

Weirdly, I was sort of a goddess in Egypt. I guess they just don't see that many tall, uncovered blondes. I had a lot of marriage proposals. Just think...I could be running a stall selling spices in Cairo right now.






*Customs Office at airport from Thailand into Cambodia February 2009

I hand my passport to the customs guy at the Siem Reap airport. He looks at my picture and looks at me. Looks at the picture and looks at me.

This is what he says: "You're big."

Me:

CG: How much do you weigh?

Me: How about you just give me my passport now?

I was not a goddess in Cambodia. I did not adopt a child or infuse a tremendous amount of money into the economy. Mostly I was sweaty.

So, Reason #4 to lose weight is to avoid unsolicited comments at Passport Control.

**that's another story for another blog

Another option for dieting....

Tapeworms.

End of Week Two---Weigh in day

Last week's weight: 271.6
This week's weight: 266.6
Difference: -5
Total weight loss: -11.2






At what point will these pictures get better? Not. Hot.


Well, this result is okay with me. I may have to adjust my goals. My success keys this week have been: planning and the miracle soup.

Tonight? LOST and a Chipotle burrito.

Weekend notes

"If you’re fat, it’s your fault. Stop blaming food companies and diets and look in the mirror. You’re the problem. You’re the solution. Grow up, get tough and fix it.” –Steve Siebold, author of “Die Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People.”



A few weekend notes:

1. I think pancakes might be the most perfect food.

2. Sushi is a great, low low points option for dinner. Ten pieces and a roll = 10 points. Yum!

3. I overcame a food panic attack last night by sleeping it off. I literally opened and closed my freezer, fridge and pantry doors no less than 15 times each. I'm not sure if I thought some magical, low point, satisfying food was going to appear somehow. (It didn't.)

4. Love parties with healthy snack options.

40 Days To Beach

I leave for Mexico in 40 days.
I leave for the British Virgin Islands in 48 days.

I am not swimsuit ready.

My goal is still to lose 15 for the trip. Obvs it would be awesome to lose more, but realistically...I'm sticking with 15.

I do need some new swimsuits and I'm not really looking forward to the process of finding one. Probably Land's End or Target is my best option. I have one but really? For 12 days of sun and swim and sail? I probably need three or four.

This may be good motivation to start with the "exercising" that all the kids are talking about.

"Habit is second nature, or rather, ten times nature." -William James

Experts say that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Tracking my points is a habit that I'm looking to keep. Habitforge is a good tool for that.

You sign up for free. Set your goal. And every day they send you an email asking whether you were able to keep you goal. They keep track of how many days in a row you were successful and how close you are to forming your habit. Plus, you can see how many other people out there are forming their own personal habits.

It's a pretty cool tool.

Week 2

Last night was the weigh in.

Last week's weight: 277.8
This week's weight: 271.6
Difference: -6.2

Obvs, I'm pretty happy with the result.




Not thrilled with this picture. Good grief. And I can't even blame it on a rough day at work---this was before work this morning. Apparently, I should keep myself surrounded with pictures like this so I can remain motivated.

I did, in fact, eat all of my points in brownies and mac&cheese. I'm a beacon of health.

"Time, patience, and perseverance will accomplish all things."

Tonight is my first weigh-in.

I've done that thing that they always tell you to do: "don't weigh in between weekly meetings." So, while I feel good about my week, I'm nervous. For the last couple of days, I've been feeling every single pound of my weight and have been reminded about why I'm doing this. Good and bad, I suppose. Good because it keeps me focused; bad because it's ick.

I'm also in the middle of doing that thing they tell you not to do: "skip eating all day so you weigh less at the weigh in tonight." Weirdly, I'm not starving. Just drinking a lot of water/coffee. I have a bunch of food, including a bowl of the zero calorie soup, but I'm holding out to see how long I can last.

I intend to eat all of my points in brownies tonight while watching the season premiere of LOST.

"People become successful the minute they decide to." -Harvey Mackay

Feeling successful after the weekend. I forgot how hard it is to balance alcohol and food and points. Mostly it just becomes difficult to remember to keep track of the points. I decided that I needed to do it in the middle of the Pink Pony Party, after having approximately 67 drinks. Yikes. (Fortunately, I think I was pretty accurate.)

We had a pre-game crew meeting/party at my house before the party, which was a really great idea (mine). It was easy to control the point intake when I controlled the food options: fruit bowl, veggie tray, chips and guac. Bar: vodka, rum and every kind of diet mixer. And I bought a ton of beer, which nobody drank. We ordered pizza and my friend brought amazing brownies and because I had been so careful about the other stuff, I felt free to partake and it wasn't "cheating." I used up all of my free points, but that's what they're for, right?

Also, I made a giant pot of WW's famous zero-point "Garden Harvest Soup" yesterday. Filling and no points. Love that. Need more of those.

Here's the recipe (I added broccoli and celery left over from the veg tray. I don't eat those veggies raw, so why not throw them in?):


Weight Watchers Zero Points Garden Vegetable Soup ♥

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 1 1/4 hour
Makes 9 cups

6 cups broth
Cooking spray
1 cup carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 teaspoons garlic
1/2 cabbage, chopped (or use a bag of slaw, the biggest chunks you can find vs the fine, don't skip the cabbage for it somehow makes the soup)
1/2 cup green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large zucchini, diced

Cook carrots, onion and garlic in soup pot with fat free cooking spray until the onions are soft. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender. Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 61 Cal (3% from Fat, 24% from Protein, 73% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; NetCarb10; 52 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers ... hmmm ... 1 point

NUTRITION NOTES This soup is low-cal, low-carb, high-fiber and no-fat. But hmmm. What about the claim that it has no points in the Weight Watchers world? I suppose so, since all the ingredients are "free". But honestly, a calorie's a calorie and so I count every one of them whether from chocolate cake or fresh vegetables. In my book, this Garden Vegetable Soup counts as 1 point but is a definite one-point winner.

KITCHEN NOTES
Zero point soups are easy to make without a recipe. Just cook a pile of non-starchy vegetables in 6 cups of a non-fat broth. It's even easy to convert one-point soups to zero-point soups.