Recovery Week

Sorry this post is so darn late but it further proves our need for a recovery week. Life has been crazy these past few weeks and especially THIS week I have not been able to focus on anything, including food. We have not been eating poorly necessarily. I have been making salads and eating fruit. But food has definitely not been our focus.

So what is going on? I just had an amazing bridal shower throw by Ryan's mom and sister at a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Silverton, Oregon. As a result I have tons of presents to put away thanks to our generous guests. One friend recently came over and said, "your house looks like the Crate & Barrel warehouse." I think this friend was being too kind because a warehouse would never be as disorganized as what we have going on. I also have thank you notes to write! And laundry and packing to do because we leave for a family raft trip this Friday. So between eating rafting food and bridal shower food and some quick food in the middle we are pretty much too busy to give a food rule the focus it deserves.

Next week.

In the meantime, here are two pictures to give you a taste of what we are dealing with in the Orwick household:

Sushi Madness & Rule #51

This past week we finally got it together to do something we have been wanting to try since December 2010: homemade sushi. For Christmas I bought Ryan all of the things needed to make sushi (besides the fish) and somehow we have put off trying it until now. BUT, what better week to try it then a week that has a food rule focused on the first bite! Sushi is all about first bites because you can make each bite taste a little different depending on the filling and what condiments you add.

Below are the pictures from our Sushi Madness. We intended on making three different rolls: 1. Shrimp tempura roll 2. Spicy tuna roll 3. Veggie roll Little did we know that each recipe made enough for four plus rolls on it's own. Thus, we ended up with sushi madness. It was pretty intense for two people to try and eat 12+ rolls in under 24 hours. We ended up having sushi breakfast, sushi lunch, and two sushi dinners just because we wanted to eat it all in the 24-hour window before the raw fish became at risk for spoilage.
















This week we are moving on to Rule #51: Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it. This will be a week with a lot of homemade goodness so we can take our time to eat slowly and enjoy our delicious food.

Slooooowwwwwww DOWN! & Rule #50

Trying to eat slower is a near impossible task unless you have some pretty intense focus. Our normal dinner conversations this past week went:

"KK, we need to eat slowly." "Alright." (3 bites later...) "Oh shoot, I forgot." (Repeat).

I remember a meditation weekend I did in college where there was no talking allowed. We ate in silence and really concentrated on every bite of food. I was surprised how fast I would become full because I was so attuned to my body. Also, each bite of food (even though it was Whitman food service--which I have to say was pretty delicious) tasted amazing because we allowed ourselves to pay attention to every hint of flavor.

Now I am stuck eating dinner every night with the love of my life.....not too bad, but it is definitely harder to eat slowly when we are concentrating on sharing/listening about the day's events.

This week we have Rule #50: "The banquet is in the first bite." This means that we should be savoring the first bite because it's all down hill after that.....less exciting taste and more calories. Kind of reminds me of what they say about drugs....you can keep eating (or shooting up) but the first bite (the first high) will never be as good as all of the rest, but you keep eating (using) hoping that is not the case.

This past weekend my childhood neighborhood showered me with love. It was an amazing event and not only did I get a lot of new and exciting stuff for the kitchen...I also got a favorite recipe from each guest. This should keep me very busy because I want to try them all!

"Consult Your Gut!" & Rule #49

A common phrase this past week in the Orwick household has been "Consult your gut!" (usually exclaimed as someone gets up for seconds of something). It's amazing how much your visual perception of something dictates how much you eat. For example, if I dish Ryan up and spread the helping all over the plate he seems more satisfied with the portion size than if I put the helping in one heap on his plate. Sometimes it was not fun consulting my gut because I would really want "one more piece."

This upcoming week we have Rule #49: Eat Slowly. I ate dinner the other night with a dear friend and we had these amazing wings at Pok Pok (Portland people should know what I am talking about). My friend and I marveled afterwards on what a good menu choice this was because it forced us to eat slowly (pulling the meat off the bones with our hands), which in turn helped us to consult the gut. Pollan recommends you eat slowly in one of two ways: 1. Liquefy your food & 2. Put down your fork between bites.

Here is a picture (sorry it's kind of dark) of me learning to belly dance at a Lebanese restaurant we went to for my friend's birthday (another occasion when it was not so fun to consult the gut!):




HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!

Lunch Time? & Rule #48

I learned that I eat when I am bored but at least I do not snack. My day consists of eating breakfast and then sitting around at work thinking: I could either write this psychological evaluation or I could eat my amazing tomato tart? Hmmmmmm......this is how I end up eating lunch at 10:30am and then I am starving by 5pm. This is also why I do not have unhealthy snacks in the house. If there is food in my sights then I have no self-control. I combat this by only allowing myself healthy fast stuff such as fruit and veggies.

Aside from realizing how early I eat my lunch when I am bored this rule was pretty easy. Next week is Rule 48: Consult your gut. I am anticipating that my gut and I will become ONE.

Full-less and Rule #47

Wow, when you make really really good food it is so hard (for me) to show any sort of self restraint. This week we cooked several amazing meals and I took a modest portion and refrained from going back for seconds. Why do I like to feeling of being really full anyway? It's not like it's a good feeling. BUT, for some reason I always look for that feeling to dictate when I should stop my indulging.

So, I said good meals and I captured two of them:

The first was a grilled pork loin with a mango and jalapeno chutney (my fingers burned for days after peeling the jalapenos!).




The second delicious meal was a simple spaghetti with buffalo meatballs. Even though it was a simple recipe it was hands down the best meat balls I have EVER eaten.




Next week we have Rule #48: Eat When You are Hungry, Not when you are Bored. Luckily, with all the wedding planning, cooking, salsa dancing, and friend adventures, I haven't felt bored in a while....and when I do I will remember my poor garden that has really been suffering lately.

Seatt-less & Rule #46

Busy busy week! I think we had plans almost every minute of every day. Eating less was hard several times. The biggest challenge was celebrating Ryan's promotion of Senior Engineer at an amazing restaurant and listening to my gut instead of my taste buds. We also went to Seattle and I wanted to eat everything I saw. I had several proud moments such as asking Ryan to share a piece of cake with me instead of having my own piece (oh my goodness that took self restraint) and when I never went back for seconds (if you know me that is amazing because I always want "one more bite"). I also made cream cheese brownies for something and gave them ALL away (normally I would have eaten half the batch)!

Next week we have a similar Rule #46: Stop eating before you are full. Instead of asking myself, "Am I full?" I will be focusing on, "Is my hunger gone?"

Here is a picture of my beautiful Seattle friends who I got to visit with very briefly and I hope to see more of this summer!

Margaritaville & Rule #45

We finally got sun in Portland! AND heat! Yay for vitamin D! I was so good this week and really focused on buying higher quality food and not overeating. The one night where Ryan and I ate way too much was when we went to the restaurant Pok Pok with a friend. We let our friend order because Pok Pok is one of her favorite restaurants and she knew all of the best dishes. I couldn't control myself the food was so good--if you haven't been there you should go! You will pay more, but you might also eat more too....

To celebrate the sun Ryan made me a homemade margarita. Ever since we gave up high fructose corn syrup I have been missing my margaritas (the majority of margarita mix from the store is filled with horrible stuff). Ryan used limes and lemons and made a simple syrup. It definitely hit the spot!



This week we will focus on a similar rule, Rule #45: . . . Eat less. Pollan discusses how the caloric intake for Americans is way higher than necessary and is a major contributor to things like obesity and cancer. I will continue to work on skipping unnecessary second helpings and avoid eating when I am bored. I am sure Ryan will continue to accuse me of starving him. ;)

Week of Wining & Dining and Rule #44

It's hard to fail a rule telling you to drink a glass of wine with dinner every night. Sometimes we were even overachievers...



This next week, Rule #44: Pay more, eat less will be more of a challenge. My biggest food obstacle is overeating. This week we will really REALLY focus on the delciousness involved in every bite of food. Got to make it count! We will pay more and hopefully make up for it within our food budget by eating less.

Give Me Another One, Just Like the Other One & Rule #43

Our rule to regard nontraditional food with skepticism was so similar to many of the others we have done...basically eat food....not food-like substances that food scientists have created. We are getting so good at these types of rules that it has just sort of become our everyday diet (just like we originally hoped!).

We love the bulk section at Winco because you can get healthy things for super cheap.



The lesson is that you must read the ingredients (or notice their unnatural color!) because some things are definitely more food scientist creations than actual food, despite what the large sign might suggest...

Next week's rule is amazing! Rule #43: Have a glass of wine with dinner. YES PLEASE! This is a rule that Ryan and I will be able to stand behind one hundred and fifty percent!