Chocolate Sour Cream Cup Cakes with Peanut butter Frosting and Salted Caramel drizzle

Another rainy day, another afternoon baking.  This recipe will need a little tweaking to perfect. The cupcake was a little on the dry side, but the flavor was excellent so I thought I would share anyway.  

Mike said he didn't love the frosting because it reminded him of cream cheese too much and he is not a fan of cream cheese. Maybe I accidentally discovered a healthier alternative to cream cheese frosting? 

Chocolate Sour Cream Cup Cakes

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup granulated natural sugar substitute or sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups GF all-purpose flour store bought or home made. I made my own. 3/4 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup teff flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch, 1/4 cup potato starch.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips. I used Ghirardelli 60%.

Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers. In a mixing bowl, combine boiling water, butter, granulated sugar, and cocoa powder. Beat on low speed until smooth and sugar is dissolved.

In another bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, and vanilla.

Add sifted dry ingredients to the cocoa mixture alternately with the egg and sour cream mixture and then fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill cupcake cups about two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting

• 6 Tablespoons all natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used vanilla)

Mix until well blended and spreadable.  Add more cream or yogurt, as needed, until the desired consistency is achieved.

Salted Caramel

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water and cook over medium-high heat. Boil without stirring until it turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream and vanilla, whisking until it is very smooth. Let cool for around 20 minutes, until it’s just barely warm and still pour-able.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them with the peanut butter frosting and then drizzle with the caramel.  I added chopped peanuts as a texture contrast. I love the crunch.

The First Rainy Days of Mud Season, Oven "Fried" rice and Chocolate Orange Bread (again)

Yesterday was a much needed rainy day as the last few weeks had been hot, sunny and unusually dry for spring in Northern Maine.  Both the landscape and my home were ready for a rainy day. Somehow I managed to avoid getting scorched by the dry heat, but the local landscape hadn't been so lucky.  For 2 weeks we had been under an extreme fire hazard warning, and there was at least one forest fire raging just across the Canadian border.  My home had also suffered because of the beautiful, summer-like weather.  No way was I going to be stuck inside cooking and cleaning when I could be outside grilling, spring cleaning the yard and prepping for my first garden.  It was just too nice to be inside so the house work, aside from laundry, was set aside to wait for a rainy day.

We started the day the same as always.  Isagenix.  Mike and I have both written about our morning ritual before so I won't bore you with the details.  Saturday is a bit of a splurge day.  We have coffee and a light brunch so I pulled out some scones out of the freezer.  These were left over from my baking last week.  I was really curious to see how well they handled being frozen, and a few hours later we found out.  The scone itself was still delicious. The texture was a little crumblier than when it was fresh, but the flavor was very good.  The Lemon drizzle, while still very good, had lost that bright lemon flavor and really was better when fresh. Still, they were good enough that we couldn't stop at just one. We both ate 2. Good thing we had a busy day planned to help burn those extra calories.

Between Breakfast and Brunch we gave the house some much needed love.  Everything, and I really do mean everything, had been covered in yellow pollen. Pollen is sticky.  Did you know that?  So everything had to be washed twice, including the floors.  Sadly, because of this we only managed to clean half the house yesterday and will finish up the rest today.

During breaks in the cleaning, waiting for floors to dry, etc., I plotted and schemed food for the week.  Scanning the refrigerator, freezers and pantry I came up with a few ideas. The left over roasted chicken would be transformed into oven fried rice.  I already had most of the ingredients on hand, but would need some mushrooms.  Recipe below.

While I was going to be going to the grocery store anyway, I thought I would plan the meals for the week.  Google is my friend.  I picked up ingredients to make Salt Cod & Chorizo Chowder. I already had some salt cod and chorizo in the freezer.  And also on the list, Chicken & Mushrooms in Tarragon cream. Yum.  I will share both of those recipes after I have tested them since they may need tweaking.

Because we had eaten all the scones I also needed a brunch recipe for today so I decided to try the Chocolate Orange Swirl Bread from All Day I Dream About Food.  Last time I had tried it I had forgotten to add the protein powder and it still tasted delicious, if a little on the sweet side for our personal tastes, so I was excited to see how it would turn out if I actually included all the ingredients.

The first recipe I made is from my mom.  The recipe card she wrote out for me years ago simply has the title as Rice. Because really, this was the rice we always ate growing up.  The ingredients list is short and the prep very easy, even with a few tweaks I made yesterday.  Once popped into the over it needs very little attention. Other than an occasional stir, it can be ignored for about an hour.  The perfect dish to make the house smell yummy while you are busy with other chores.

Rice - Oven "Fried"

• 2 cups long grain rice.  My mom would have used white rice, but I didn't have any so I used brown. The only adjustment needed for this switch is in the cooking time.  Brown rice will take longer. 
• 1 package onion soup mix.  This is what the original recipe called for, but when I couldn't find an onion soup mix that didn't have ingredients I would prefer not to eat I decided to make my own.  If you are not bothered by MSG, you can use the a store bought mix, otherwise I will include my recipe below. 
• 1 8 ounce can mushrooms, with juice. 
• 1/3 cup soy sauce.  I used Gluten Free. 
• 1/3 cup oil.  Whatever you use for cooking every day.  I used grape seed. 
• 3 1/3 cups water
• Cooked chicken or beef - Optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients in a covered dish. Stir. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the liquid is absorbed, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Using brown rice, my cooking time ended up being about 2 hours.  Cooking times will vary depending on the rice used and on the oven so keep an eye on it.

The rice was soooooo GOOD. Mike and I couldn't stop eating straight from the pan.  Good thing we aren't sharing it with anyone else.

Home Made Onion Soup Mix (Equivalent of one onion soup mix envelope)

2 Gluten free and MSG free Beef Bouillon Cubes, crushed or otherwise blended into a powder, or equivalent powdered beef bouillon
1 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
3 tablespoons dried onions

Mix everything together and use the whole recipe in the rice.  Make extra to have on hand if you like

Chocolate Orange Bread - Tweaked

The original recipe can be found here. Chocolate Orange Swirl Bread

Yield: 16 servings

Chocolate Swirl and Glaze
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Kelly's Notes: My modification to the glaze was to omit the sweetener. If you like sweeter sweets, check out the original recipe.  I have provided the link above.

Orange Bread
3 cups almond flour
1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder. I used Isagenix IsaPro.
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated Stevia Based Baking blend (Original recipe recommended Swerve Sweetener or erythritol, but I can't get either of those locally)
3 large eggs
Zest of medium orange
20 drops stevia extract
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk (dairy or almond)

Kelly's Notes: With the bread I again decreased the amount of sweetener.  I also used whole fat cows milk instead of the almond milk called for in the original recipe.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 300F and grease a loaf pan well.
• In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and butter together until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add granulated sweetener and beat until lighter and well-combined, about 2 minutes.
• Beat in eggs, one at time, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
• Beat in orange zest and stevia extract.
• Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, then beat in orange juice and milk. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.
• Spread half the batter into the prepared pan, and then dollop with about 2/3 of the chocolate glaze. Use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the batter.  
• Top with remaining batter, and swirl a bit more, then smooth the top.
• Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until top is deep golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Drizzle with remaining chocolate glaze.

My only complaint with this recipe is the serving size.  1/16, really?  I could have eaten the whole loaf.

I have not been able to get the bread to have a swirled effect using the technique above.  This technique works really well with thinner cake batters, but with this loaf I ended up just having a chocolate layer both times that I tried it.  Still tastes delicious.  If you try this recipe and manage to get the swirl effect to work, please share your technique.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share.  I think we are going to have to buy a camera.  A real one, as all pictures shared so far have been taken with a phone.

And guess what.  It's raining again today.

I hope you will try these and if you do, please share your experience.  Did you make your own tweaks? How did it turn out?

Whole Grain Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Scones with Meyer Lemon Drizzle

Saturday morning espresso and baked goods will never be the same again.

Mike and I have a weekend ritual/splurge.  Saturdays and Sundays we get up and follow our usual morning routine, but with a twist.  1 oz Ionix Supreme, 3 squirts Isamune and water. Approximately 15 minutes later we have 1 scoop Mars Venus cleanse in 1 cup of water and 2 Mars Venus minerals each, Mars for Mike and Venus for me. Then within 10 minutes we have a 3 scoop Mars Venus shake in 1 cup of water, again Mars for Mike and Venus for me. With the shake we have our Ageless Essentials with Product B and a few other supplements.

This is our normal every day morning routine, but on the weekends instead of having our usual snacks we have a special brunch-like, mid-morning meal with homemade espresso/cappuccino and some type of baked good. Usually the baked good is Udi's cinnamon raisin bread toasted and served with organic peanut butter, creamy since the texture of the Udi's bread is very delicate.  But today, well yesterday really - I had to get some supplies after all, I decided to bake something from scratch using ingredients I have never used before.  Crazy I know! What if it turned out terrible?  Don't worry, there was a loaf of Udi's cinnamon raisin bread in the freezer, just in case.  I was a boy scout after all.  No that isn't a typo.

The ingredients I had never worked with before are teff flour and sorghum flour. Since they were new to me I started by researching GF flour blends that used teff and sorghum.  Gluten Free Girl and the Chef is a great resource, as is a new blog I found yesterday, Gluten Free Gourmand.  I highly recommend that you check out both of these blogs.  The recipe below is based on the Blueberry scone recipe found on the Gluten Free Gourmand site.

So here it is, Whole Grain Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Scones with Meyer Lemon Drizzle

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Ingredients

3/4 cup Teff flour
3/4 cup Sorghum flour
2 Tablespoons Tapioca flour
2 Tablespoons Potato starch
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder (make sure it's GF)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup chilled cream
1 egg
Zest from 1 Meyer lemon
1/3 - 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen wild Maine blueberries, but fresh would work great. And specified the range because I used the 1/3 measuring cup, but filled it to over-flowing. I love blueberries)

Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, 2 knives or your favorite method, until the largest pieces of butter are pea-sized. Keep this mixture cold, chilling it in the freezer if the butter starts to soften. especially important on warm days.

Whisk together, in a separate bowl, the cream, egg and zest.

Add the wet ingredients to dry the ingredients. Stir until the mixture starts to hold together, add the blueberries and then gently knead the dough a few times with your hands. If the dough is too sticky to handle once it's combined, you can add about a tablespoon of flour to coat the surface of the dough for easier handling. If the dough seems dry and won't hold together easily, add 1-2 Tbsp more cream and knead it in, being careful that your butter chunks don't melt into the dough.  If the dough starts to get too warm during mixing, chill it in the freezer for a few minutes before proceeding.

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Gently push the dough into a flat disk about one inch high. Moisten your hands with water if the dough is sticky. Cut into eight equal pieces and arrange them on the baking sheet about one inch apart.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one comes out clean.

While the scones are baking make the Meyer Lemon Drizzle.
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whisk the lemon juice and powdered sugar together until smooth.

Once the scones are done baking, place the baking sheet on a cooling rake for 5 minutes to set before removing them from the baking sheet and placing them directly on the cooling rack.  This will allow the outside edges to firm up a bit and make the scones easier to move.  Place the baking sheet under the cooling rack and drizzle the scones with the Meyer lemon glaze.  Allow to sit a few more minutes to let the glaze set,  then enjoy your scones!

These can be eaten warm out of the oven, or at room temperature.

May 5, 2013. Day 2 enjoying the scones.  The lemon flavor in the drizzle has intensified nicely.  Mike says it is very good.  He likes the more intense lemoniness.  I do as well.  The texture is a little crumblier.   Not unpleasant, but a little messier.

Second update: Mike just looked at me and said he wished we hadn't frozen the rest and asked how long they would take to thaw.  They are that good! 

Home Again, Home Again (Jiggity Jig)

Mike, here. Back home, safe and sound, after my week-long business trip in Dallas, getting Usability training.  Yesterday (the final day) was spent mostly seated: either flying through the sky, or waiting at a gate to fly through the sky.  Oh, and, of course, eating.  

Gluten-wise, yesterday was pretty much 50/50.  I didn't go out of my way to avoid gluten, but I also didn't deliberately look for it, either.  Here's how the day unfolded:

Up at 4:30 CDT, like I had done throughout the week prior, staying in sync with Eastern time, so I wouldn't have to deal with any kind of jet leg (even an hour can make a difference).  This also gave me an extra hour to pack and get going, so I wouldn't have to rush.  And, finally, it allowed me to, should I choose, leave for the airport early (which I did, and it turned out to be a very good thing).  

Breakfast was the usual Isagenix products: Ionix, minerals, lithium oratate, M/V cleanse, and M/V shake.  Nom.  Got all that in my belly, packed up my bags, made a final check of the room, and was down at the lobby just before 6:30.  Checked out, saw the cab was ready to take me to the airport, so off I went.

As we're heading for the on-ramp, I see a fire truck go speeding by on the overpass.  Ruh Roh.  Sure enough, we've gone not 2 miles when traffic grinds to a halt, and we crawled for about 10 minutes before getting to the scene: first I see a wheel (no tire, just the actual wheel it goes on), followed by a fire truck diagonally across three lanes, and beyond it, a pickup truck on its side, facing the wrong direction.  

No, the fire truck was fine; it was there to help force traffic to merge into one lane.  Even the pickup truck didn't look too bad...for a truck that had obviously rolled over.  There were no ambulances there by the time we reached the scene, so I do not know if anybody got hurt (hopefully not).  So we're all trying to merge from four lanes into one, and this is in the midst of a massive construction project that seemed to be affecting all of Dallas.  I have no idea what the circumstances were, leading up to the accident, but they certainly picked an interesting place to do it in.  

Anyway, we get clear of the accident, and it's smooth sailing into the airport.  Which, in and of itself, is a city.  Overpasses, ramps, spirals, exits here and there.  How anybody can find their way around (even with the massive signs) is beyond me.  I think my brain would just overload itself were I trying to drive and make my way in DFW.  Holy...

Anyway, I get to the ticket counter, check my bag (not carrying it on for the return trip; if it doesn't make it all the way home with me right away, it's not the end of the world), and manage to get quasi-upgrades on my tickets (which have me in a middle seat from Dallas to Charlotte and then to Boston.  Eww).  I say quasi-upgrade because I still have a middle seat to Charlotte, but it's right behind the exit row.  The guy who got the window seat actually has no seat in front of him, so he can stretch his legs out, meaning they're not wandering into my area.  Well and good.  And I scored an aisle seat for the Charlotte-Boston leg.  Not on an exit row, but it will do.  

Had my last IsaLean bar while waiting to board the plane in Dallas.  Hit the spot.  Supposed to be for lunch, but I was hungry now, and didn't have the conference snacks to rely on.  Plus I knew I would have some extra time in Charlotte for a sit-down meal, so it just made sense.  

As it turned out, all three flights were better than I had expected, because they were all about 20 minutes shorter than expected.  Must have been some damn good tailwinds that day.  I amused myself pretty much the entire way home by reading on my tablet (finished my reread of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien - a tough read the first few times through but now it's starting to make a bit more sense - and started on the latest Charlie Parker novel by John Connolly - if you are a fan of supernatural thrillers and Maine locales, then I strongly urge you to check out this series, starting with Every Dead Thing - be warned; he doesn't pull any punches, gore-wise), and the occasional chat with my seat mate(s).  

Rolled into Charlotte, sat on the runway for 20 minutes waiting for the gate to unblock.  Serves us right for getting there early; who do we think we are, anyway?  Got into the gate, realized my departure gate was about 200 feet down the concourse, and there was a restaurant to the other side and a restroom directly across.  Excellent.  2 hours to my flight.  Outstanding.  Let's eat.  

Restaurant was a burger joint, and I was tempted, but the Asian chicken salad caught my eye.  Hmm.  That sounds really good.  OK, I'll do that.  And it was quite good, if a bit heavy on the dressing (sesame soy peanut).  I imagine there was gluten in the dressing, and there was definitely gluten in the chow mein noodles (fried), and, oh yes, in the 14 oz glass of Stella Artois I enjoyed with the salad (back when I thought I might get a burger).  So, 50/50 for lunch.  Not bad. 

Left the restaurant, went to my gate, made sure all was well, then wandered over to an empty gate with lots of free plugs, to charge my various electronics while checking email and chatting with Kelly.  I think Facebook Messenger kept me sane on this trip.  

Boarded the flight to Boston, took off on time, had a lovely chat about my childhood days in Boston and Southern Maine with a couple of Bostonian ladies (one of them actually lived on Tha VineYaaad), which definitely helped pass the time.  We also chatted about what would be a good place to grab dinner at the airport.  I, of course, recommended Legal Seafood, and opined that we would probably be in sight of it when we exited the gate.  

Well, we rolled into Logan an hour early, and did not have to wait on the runway.  Got to the gate, walked up the runway, and we were staring Legal Seafood right in the face.  Perfect.  

The flight to Presque Isle always flies out of gate B9 (which is right downstairs from Legal Seafood), so I already knew where it was.  Headed down to get my boarding pass, but nobody was there yet, not even the Penair agents.  No problem, a flight would arrive in an hour, so I would have dinner first. At Legal Seafood, of course.

Went back upstairs, grabbed a seat right by the "exit" (a railing, basically), and enjoyed a nice steaming mug of clam chowder (the correct pronunciation is "CLAY-am CHOW-dah") and a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  As can be expected, there was gluten in the chowder (most chowders use a roux to thicken them, and that means wheat flour, not to mention the generous heap of oyster crackers I threw in to make it all perfect).  And that was just the appetizer.  I decided to blow the whole gluten thing out of the water by having the tuna burger (freshly ground and mixed with chili paste).  Fries were meh, but the burger was insane.  

Resisted the urge to have another glass of wine, paid my bill and headed downstairs to the gate again, to get my boarding pass.  That all set, I found another plug and charged my phone while chatting some more with Kelly (who was, at this time, heading down to Presque Isle to have dinner at Ruby Tuesday while waiting for my flight to arrive).  

As I was getting ready to board, I realized I had forgotten to take my minerals and evening pill pack.  And I didn't feel like buying a $3 bottle of water just for a few gulps on pills (if I drank the whole thing, I'd have to pee halfway to Presque Isle.  I'm a small guy, but the bathrooms on those Saab puddle jumpers are downright tiny.  I'll do it if I have to, but if I can avoid it, well...).

Well, no problem,  They always offer a light refreshment on the Penair flight: water or a soft drink and pretzels or Chex Mix.  Perfect.  Got all my pills together and tucked them into my shirt pocket.  And we boarded.  Hmm, looks like they took out a row of seats and adjusted the rest accordingly.  Look at all this leg room!  Sat back and enjoyed the ride.  Got my water and Chex Mix, took my pills, read for a bit, and before I knew it, we were on the ground.  Again, about half an hour early.  Damn.  Charmed flights, for sure.  Very cool.

Met my sweet patootie at the gate, gave her big hugs and kisses, grabbed my bag, and home we went.  Had a few glasses of wine before crawling into bed and sacking out, but no more food.  Good to be home.  Oh, yes.  I'll unpack tomorrow.  :-)

So!  The wrap-up.  Gluten items today included:

• Chow mein noodles in the salad.
• Possibly the dressing in the salad.
• The beer with the salad.
• The roux in the chowder.
• The crackers in the chowder.
• The bun on the tuna burger.
• The Chex Mix.

Probably more than half the meals, all in all.  Maybe less.  Dunno.  It was yummy, and again I didn't go out of my way to have gluten, it just worked itself in.  

So now it is Sunday, and we are enjoying some glutinous items before basically tossing every ounce of gluten out of the house today and tomorrow (with the exception of some homemade meat pies which we will save for a very special occasion; those are a lot of work and we don't want to just chuck them) and are hitting the ground running once again.  This time, for good.  But for today: one last homemade thin crust pizza session.  Wheat dough.  Ahh...

Glutinous Remorse

Good evening, folks.  Mike here, again.  A mere 13 hours since my last blog post, but as I am flying out bright and early tomorrow, I probably won't have time to get my blog post in.  So, why not now?  I have just finished dinner after a long Day 5 (the last day of my Dallas training), and as I ended up going a little overboard on the gluten intake today, and am feeling it, it is also a good time to write my blog post, for that alone.  

So!  Day 5.  Usual morning routine, pretty much to-the-letter identical to yesterday.  The only difference was that instead of having tea while waiting for the doors to the classroom to open, I decided to splurge a little and have a cafe mocha.  Homemade style. So, packet of hot chocolate mix dumped into a cup of coffee, with some cream and sugar added.  It was good, but not great.  Still, it didn't suck.  

Class begins, and we quickly dive into the nuances of Usability Testing.  Pretty fascinating stuff.  Snack time rolls around, and they serve...bread.  Lemon poppy seed and zucchini (separate slices, that is.  They might not be so good together).  Oh, what the hell.  I have a slice of each.  And, just for good measure, since is the last day, more sesame sticks. Those things should be illegal.  Some vanilla tea to complement and off we go.  

Lunch time rolls around, and I'm good.  Back to my room for an IsaLean bar and my minerals.  The last chocolate decadence.  Just one oatmeal raisin left, and that will be for on a plane or in an airport somewhere tomorrow.  

Back down to class.  Now we're actually dividing into groups and coming up with tasks for people to do that we can observe.  I volunteer to be the guinea pig and get walked through a couple of tests on using a mobile calendar app.  Was a lot of fun, actually.  

Afternoon snack.  Oh, sweet merciful crap, they pulled out all the stops and baked freaking cookies.  Oh, all right.  One chocolate chip, one oatmeal raisin.  And some apple-cinnamon tea.  And water, of course.  Plenty of that today.  

We finish up our final section of class, and that's it.  Seminar's done.  Do I really want to go wandering around North Dallas, looking for dinner?  Nah.  So I go up to my room, take my evening pills, and eat an apple I had grabbed yesterday and hadn't felt like eating.  Wanted to give my tummy something to keep the pills company, in case dinner took a while.  

So, down to the hotel bar for my final meal here.  Same server, everybody remembered my name despite me only being there a couple of times over the week.  Well, I do tip well; that probably didn't hurt. But I will chalk it up to southern hospitality.  

So, one final glass of wine, a nice Northern California Cab.  Very nice.  For an app, I think I will have...ooo, a charcuterie plate.  Basically italian cold cuts, served with some bread (didn't know about that until it arrived), cheeses, veggies (onions and asparagus) and mustard.  Nom.  But it was a big plate.  OK, the app just became the entree.  And the menu didn't mention the bread, but, well, now I can make little sandwiches. I do love to play with my food.  So, yes, more gluten.  

Dinner was lovely.  And, how about dessert, asks Robin the server?  Well, let me finish my wine and ponder this, while I look at a dessert menu. Turns out Robin is the dessert menu.  No, not that she's offering herself to me for dessert, but that she has it all up in her head, and she starts rattling things off.  Cheesecake, bread pudding, apple tarte tatin, ice cream, fruit and cheese (did that one earlier in the week), et cetera.

Hmm.

She walks away and I finish my wine.  Do I want dessert?  Do I want to just go back to my room and call it good?  Dessert?  Room?  Dessert?  Room?

And two words insinuate themselves into my consciousness and gently damn me:

"Bread Pudding."

Ahh, f**k it, let's make my journey to the dark side (at least for this evening, anyway), complete.  In a flurry of ridiculous metaphors, I abandon my Yoda inclinations to go straight to my room in favor of that Darth Vader of gluten foods.  "Come to the Dark Side,  we've got Bread Pudding.  -V."

Yes, it was awesome.  Yes, it was purty (they made a drizzly pattern of sauces on top, and at first I thought they had given me the cheesecake).  Yes, I savored every bite and only managed to refrain from licking the plate by a sheer act of will.  

Paid the bill.  Walked up the stairs (small victory, there) to my room.  Immediately realized that my body was probably going to be very upset with me, so took a Gas-X.  And then spent the next two hours, burping mint and farting...well, let's just leave it at that.  

Do I regret it?  Right now, yes.  Once I feel better, I will probably regret it less.  And tomorrow, when the cravings are kicking in, I will probably regret it not at all.  Hopefully I will prove myself wrong and try to behave as best as I can on the way home.  Time will tell.

The good news is that I will have a 2 hour layover in Boston, and my gate is just downstairs from Legal Sea Food.  And, well, they have sea food.  Imagine that.  Very good sea food, as a matter of fact.  I can eat healthy there, by damn.  So dinner should be pretty safe.

Breakfast is covered (shake).  As for lunch?  Well, I have a bar, but I might end up eating that at DFW before boarding the flight (as it will have been close to 3 hours since I ate that shake at that point, and it doesn't exactly stick with you for that long (that's kind of the point; it's easy to digest - at home I am usually eating some greek yogurt and granola by that time).  So, lunch is up in the air.  I'll be in Charlotte, NC for noon, with another 2-hour layover (the first one, actually) so perhaps I can take in some Southern Hospitality (Dixie style) and get something to eat there.  Of course, the Deep South isn't exactly known for healthy eating (they're working on it, tho).  Anyway, I am not going to worry about it; things have a way of working out.  

What I don't regret is the experience.  Dallas definitely has its share of charm.  Of course, I am only basing it on a couple city blocks of experience, mostly inside this hotel.  But I liked what I saw.  

Sleep tight, folks.  Most likely I will blog some more tomorrow.  Gotta do something besides eating on those 2 hour layovers, right?  

The Routine Becomes Old Hat...and the Halo Slips

Hiyo, Mike here.  Day 4 of my Dallas trip.

By now, I have pretty well established a morning routine, that I only deviate from slightly, here and there.  So this is pretty well how each day begins:

• Alarm goes off at 4:30 AM.  Lie in bed for a few seconds, rubbing the crud out of my eyes, yawning and scratching my head.  
• Get up.  Drag on my puttering-around-the-hotel-room outfit: shorts & a T-Shirt.
• Use the bathroom.  
• Mix up my Ionix.
• 3 squirts of Isamune.
• Unplug my phone charger from the wall in the bedroom (phone's the alarm clock) and take it into the living room, where I plug it into the wall there.  Phone's fully charged, but it won't be for long (you'll see why shortly).
• Power up all my devices and go through the process of connecting back to the Hotel's Internet (wired on the laptop, wireless on the tablet and phone).  Pretty simple, just gotta go through their gateway once and hit "Connect to the Internet."  No password needed; it's complimentary.  That should really be standard in all hotels, but I digress.  
• Log into Facebook and message my sweet patootie that I am up (she usually beats me to it and there's a message waiting for me, or it pops up just as I'm about to type "I adore you" into the chat window).
• Check my work email.
• Check my personal email.
• Check Feedly.
• Check for Words With Friends moves.
• By this time, Kelly and I have been chatting back and forth on FB for a while and we switch to Google Hangout, so we can see and hear each other.  And while a talking head in a box isn't quite as good as the real thing, it's a damn sight better than voice alone, or just text, or (like in the old days) nothing at all.  And of course, video eats battery, and I'm using my phone, so it's good that it's fully charged.
• Have my cleanse and minerals.
• Have my shake and pills.
• Continue chatting with my sweetie until it's time for her to get to work.  Hang up and plug my phone back in to charge.
• VPN into my work machine and take care of any issues needing my attention that mere email couldn't do.
• Write my blog from the previous day (this is where I am now).
• Lay out my clothes for the day.
• Shower.
• Shave.
• Polish the fangs.
• Get dressed.
• At this point it's usually 8 am CDT by now, so I head down to the registration desk for the conference and get the thumb drive with today's materials on it.
• Go down to the front desk and redeem my "Green Housekeeping" slip for some Starwood Prefered Guest points (I could also get a $5 voucher to use at the restaurant, but I just take the points instead).
• Sit down in the hotel lobby and crack open the laptop again.  
• Check any work email or news feeds that have come up until around 8:45.
• Classrooms have opened, so I go up and get a seat.

And so on and so forth.  My life is pretty well automated.  I'm a geek with OCD (and a touch of dyslexia), so this is a good feeling for me (if a bit boring at times).  This is not to say that I don't occasionally mix it up a bit, but by and large this is the routine I have settled into while I am here. Not too shabby.

So, that's the way that Day 4 more or less played out.  Class today was The Human Mind and Usability.  Very interesting to learn that a good chunk of web design is basically just mind games.  But very fascinating.  

Anyway, enough dry talk, now we come to the food for the day.  So...breakfast was the usual.  First snack was...ooo, yogurt, fruit and granola parfait!  Very nice!  And the tea all day was the organic vanilla rooibos.  They brought it back, and I could not get enough of it.  OmNomNomNom.  

And then...well, let's just say that I made up for not eating any sesame sticks the previous day by having a shit-ton of them today.  Maybe if I eat enough of them this week I won't want them for a long, long time. So, yeah, there's the gluten for today.  Well, it's the start of the gluten, anyway.  Read on.

Lunch is usually when I have my bar and a piece of fruit.  Well, I had grabbed the fruit and run it back up to my room with a bottle of water at break time (and to grab a sweater, because it was actually cold in the classroom today!  Glad I brought a sweater with me).  

But when I got back to my table in the classroom, waiting for me was the menu for today's lunch, which was, incidentally, paid for by NN/g.  Burrito buffet.  Beef and chicken, with rice, beans, queso fresco and salad.  OK, well, guess we'll be having the bar for dinner, because that is just too good to pass up.  And it was pretty yummy.  I think I could have asked for corn tortillas to remain gluten free, but I just went with the flour, because I didn't want to hold up the line.  I did, however, avoid the carrot cake.  So lunch was, with the exception of the tortillas, gluten free (there might have been gluten in the spice in the rice, but there was no orzo, so I'll call it good).

Afternoon snack rolls around.  Let's see, what did they put out for us...HUMMUS!  EEEEEE! HUMMUS IS YUMMUS!!!!!  And it looked hand made, too.  Oh, baby.  Of course, it was served with crackers and flatbread and stuff.  Gluten abounds!  OK, so this is going to be one of my "off" days.  Grabbed some of those, enjoyed them thoroughly, and then had more sesame sticks for good measure.  If I am going to do a thing, I am going to do a thing, if you know what I mean.

I did managed to behave for the rest of the day.  Had my bar, and that was it.  Oh, yes, and my pills.  Still had an apple from before, but didn't eat it.  Had a touch of heartburn and it was a Granny Smith apple (acidic - not appetizing).  I'll have that with lunch today.  

But one nice thing about having lunch as my knife-and-fork meal instead of dinner was that I was able to go right back to the room after class was over.  With Kelly being an hour later, this gives us more time to chat (first via FB, later via Google Hangouts) before she crawls into bed.  And with me trying to stay on the same schedule as her, it means I get more time to unwind before going to bed as well.  

I don't imagine I will do that today, however.  I still want to check out that Indian restaurant.  Or get out and see a little more of Dallas, even if it just means walking over to the Galleria again and trying a different place.  I've heard a lot of good things about Five Guys, except that they're pricy.  Which I don't have a problem with, as long as the food is good, but still, I can get a decent burger anywhere, so I don't know.  Won't really make up my mind until this evening anyway.  

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Gluten factor for Day 4:

• Sesame sticks
• 2 large flour tortillas
• Several pieces of grilled flatbread
• Miscellaneous crackers
• 1 chocolate brownie (I forgot about that until just now.  How I forgot is beyond me; it was fantastically fudgy with chocolate chunks in, quite possibly one of the best brownies I've eaten, ever)
• More sesame sticks (for good measure).

Not exactly a shining example of gluten free goodness, is it?  Well, Kelly and I talked last night and we decided that the 80/20 rule for gluten isn't really working for us, because any gluten at all can lead to cravings, and cravings suck.  

So, when I get back, starting Monday (possibly Sunday although I doubt it), we're going cold turkey for at least a month.  May 17th is Kelly's birthday, and we will probably hit a nice German restaurant we love over in Grand Falls, NB, and that means spaetzle, but that will be the exception, not the rule.  Other than that, no gluten.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  Cravings be gone!  

But in the meantime, I still plan to have a little fun.  I will still endeavor to make largely gluten-free choices, but won't freak out if it pops up here and there.  Saturday will be airport day, and all bets are off, but today and tomorrow I can exercise moderation.  

And that's Day 4 and extras in a nutshell.  Over and out!

Social Studies

Good Morning!  Mike, here, and today I will talk about Day 3 of my business trip.  Second round of classes; new instructor, starting to see some familiar faces, getting used to where everything is and how the conference is run.  Pretty cool.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  Let's go back to the start of the day. 

Alarm went off at 4:30 local time, which translates to 5:30 EDT, so basically I'm staying on the same internal clock.  This is working out surprisingly well.  It also gives me a good 2-3 hours to get ready for the day, which I am liking quite a bit.  It helps that classes don't start until 9 and I can't really do anything with them before hand (other than register at 8 and browse the slides from the presentation to get familiar with them beforehand). Back home, when I get up and I am ready to go, I head into work to get stuff done sooner rather than later.  It's just how I'm wired, I guess.  

Anyway, had my Ionix, M/V cleanse, minerals and shake.  The usual.  Chatted with my awesome better half via Google Hangouts, made bird noises to freak the cats out, made strange faces in the phone camera to make Kelly laugh, it's all good.  We've been keeping in touch all day via Facebook chat anyway (we get frequent breaks in the class, so I can always jump over to FB and see what she's said in the last hour and a half), so that has been really nice.  Makes it seem not so bad to me, anyway.  

So!  On with Day 3!  Finished breakfast, hopped in the shower (no singing), and I was ready for my morning shave.  Normally I only shave every other day, but since I had all those extra free samples from the Art of Shaving, I made use of them.  And quickly learned that one sample is good enough for 2 days at least.  Unfortunately, I only learned that after I had squeezed the entire contents of the pre-shave oil packet onto my hand.  Oh well, can't get it back in the packet, may as well use it.  

Needless to say, my face was nicely pre-oiled yesterday.  Even half a sample packet of shaving cream felt totally luxurious.  Did the double lather-and-shave bit (once with the grain, and then once against the grain for a closer shave.  Works marvelously).  Some post shave balm and my face was nicely peeled.  Right, time to go down and register for today's class.  Well, I did get dressed first.  

Registered for class, got my second thumb drive (collect the whole set!  It's like Pokemon, only they all look the same!) and sat down in the hotel lobby with my laptop to pull the slides onto the local hard drive and review them before the doors to the classroom opened at 8:45.  

About halfway through this, there came a god-awful screech from somewhere in the hotel lobby (I should mention that the hotel has an open-air atrium that goes all the way up to the top floor, so it's a huge vertical space) and air starts blowing at a very fast rate.  At first I didn't think anything of it, but when I started noticing all the front desk staff standing in the middle of the lobby, looking in the air and frantically talking on their walkie-talkies, I got a little concerned.  And at this point the air is blowing every napkin in the place around the lobby in little tornado patterns.  Hmm. Should I be ducking for cover at this point?  

Anyway, somebody twiddled some kind of control and the air stopped blowing, but I still don't know what that was all about (one of the guys at the social later said that we all almost died, but he also admitted that he was a pathological liar, so I'll take that with a grain of salt).  I'll ask about it today when I go to redeem my green houskeeping coupon for the 500 SPG points.  

OK, so the course starts.  Different instructor, but also excellent.  Good sense of humor, decent material.  First break was the standard trail mix...but hey, fresh fruit smoothies!  All right!  I grabbed a strawberry one.  Nom.  I was very proud of myself in that I completely avoided the sesame sticks this time around.  They're good, but I was saving my gluten for later.  Actually, I was originally seeing if I could avoid gluten completely on this day.  Ultimately, that didn't happen, but it was a fun little experiment.  This morning's tea was organic chamomile.  Oh yeah, baby.  

OK, back to class.  Lunch time rolls around.  Debated doing the buffet downstairs, decided ultimately to go back to my room and have my bar, plus a banana I grabbed at snack time. Think that was the right decision.  Caught up on my news feeds, took my minerals on time, got back down to class with minutes to spare.  It helps that the classrooms are on the floor directly below mine, close to the stairwell, so getting from my room to the classroom is basically a 30-second walk.  Very cool.  

Those of you who travel, have you ever noticed how stark the stairwells are compared to the rest of the hotel?  It's quite the contrast, really.  Lush carpeting, soft lighting inside, vs bare concrete, big steel handrails, harsh lighting and general ugliness in the stairwells.  You would think they'd try and spruce it up a little bit if they actually think people will use them.  Then again, they've got these fabulous glass elevators for people to use; guess they want to promote those instead.  Doesn't make much sense to me to use the elevators, but I might think differently if I were on the ninth floor. 

Anyway, class resumes for the afternoon; really getting into the topics.  Had a great discussion with the instructor about perceived affordance and expected behavior.  If an interface has a picture of a button (or even what remotely looks like a button - just some text with a box around it), people will try and click it.  If you don't make that clickable, that's not very good design.  Interesting stuff.  

Afternoon snack rolls around, and they really threw us a curve ball.  The usual trail mix (I may be really sick of trail mix by the time I get back from Dallas, but I am enjoying it now), plus sliced vegetables and dip.  I would have had the veggies (they had asparagus spears!  Do I go 3-for-3 on asparagus consumption this week?), except that the dips were blue cheese and ranch.  Gak. And here's the weird part.  They also had candy bars.  Yep, full-sized candy bars.  Reeses peanut butter cups.  Snickers.  Hersheys.  Etc.  

I stuck with the trail mix.  Still no sesame sticks.  Go me.  And my afternoon tea was, I believe, Relaxation.  Organic, but I have no idea what was in it.  Not as tasty as the others, but still yummy.  I also managed to stay more hydrated than day 1, keeping my water glass filled.  Good to be hydrated, but I had to make many trips to the bathroom.  Today I might sit closer to the door so I don't disrupt anyone.  We'll see.  

So, class winds down, and I head back to my room to freshen up.  Now comes the moment I have been waiting for...and simultaneously dreading.  The cocktail social.  Now, those of you who know me will know that I am a pretty chatty guy...with people I know.  I tend to clam up when I'm around strangers...at least at first.  Then I get nervous and won't shut up.  So I have to find the happy medium between wallflower and lampshade-head.  I very cautiously walk back down to the social, expecting it to be mobbed (something else I hate).

Got a very pleasant surprise: there was probably only about 20 people.  I was expecting it to be packed (there are like 150 people at this conference).  Guess everybody was too tired.  Well, that's OK.  A waiter comes up to me and asks if I would like Chardonnay or Merlot.  Well, now, I believe some Merlot would be lovely.  *sip*.  

And, hey, there's today's instructor next to the cheese and crackers!  Perfect way to break the ice.  I walk up to her and say, "well, that was fun!"  Which leads to a nice long conversation about life, the universe and everything.  She lives in Cape Cod, went to school at Northeastern (where I spent my freshman year back in 1988-89 before transferring down to UConn), her boyfriend is from Canada, so I talk about Kelly being Canadian, which of course leads to the "well, how did you guys meet" story, and so on.  Great chat.  

Then her car arrives and she heads back to the east coast (quick conference for her, but evening flight.  Eww), so I wander over to a couple of women who work for a medium-sized group insurance company (different from the P&C company that I work for) and we talk UX shop for a while (they're more well established whereas I am just starting out - neat contrast).  Then I go over and talk technology and travel in general with another group, and we more or less closed the social hour out.  Topics such as psychology (the pathological liar and how he amuses himself while traveling), technology (why do they still use a 3.5" floppy disk icon for Save), Spinal Tap (don't even ask), and other general items related to the conference.  Really fun bunch; I will be seeing a couple of them in today's class (The Human Mind and Usability).  

Oh, yes, the food selection at the social was mainly finger foods: cheese, crackers (I did partake, so there goes the gluten free day), coconut shrimp and beef satays.  The latter two had some great sauces.  And since the social was in the bar area of the hotel lobby, I stuck around afterwards and had "dinner", which were actually 2 different appetizers: grilled red curry shrimp over a pineapple pico de gallo and jicama/apple slaw, and 2 bavarian pretzels and mustard.  With a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (Kim Crawford, I believe) that acted as both beverage and dessert.  It was fun and tasty.

Unfortunately, the social involved standing for an hour and a half, so I had a pretty sore back afterwards that marred the meal somewhat, but the seats are comfy, and the server remembered me from the first night I was here, so that was kind of cool.  

Limped back to my room (to hell with the stairs, I don't care if it's only 2 floors up, I'm taking the elevator, dammit), took my minerals and evening pills, caught up on my email and feeds, hung out with Kelly until we both almost fell asleep, then crawled into bed, and slept like the dead.  

So, the gluten count was a resounding zero for most of the day, but then I made up for it in the evening with crackers and pretzels. And the coating on the coconut shrimp was most likely breaded.  They also had some kind of triangle pastry as well, and I am sure it was awesome, but I forgot to get any before they took it away.  Probably just as well.  I still think I managed to keep it below 20%, so I am very happy with that.  

So now it's Day 4, but I will talk about that in tonight or tomorrow's post.  Not sure what my plans are, yet.  Still thinking about that Indian restaurant around the corner, but there is also a Persian Kabob place right next door to that.  Hmm.  I'll probably wander up and see which one looks and smells better.  I might end up doing both over the next few days.  We'll see.  Until next time!!!!

The Art of Savoring

Good Morning!  Mike, here, again.  This post is going to cover yesterday's adventures, which were Day 2 of my trip, and Day 1 of my training.  For anyone who is interested, the training is with the Nielsen Norman Group, who specialize in User Experience (UX) and Usability training.  They host Usability Weeks throughout the year, and I am at the one in Dallas.  Training has been great, so far, but that's all I will say on the matter, since that's not what this series of posts is about.  

So!  Day 2.  The hotel bed (a king, which is a little silly for just me, but I am not complaining) was very comfy, but of course the first night in any strange bed is always going to be a little odd, so I didn't sleep great, but I slept good enough to function.  That will do.  I decided to keep to my Eastern Daylight Time schedule, and since I normally get up at 5:30, that meant I was up at 4:30.  Easy enough to do when you're used to it, and you have a good alarm (I used my phone; works great).  

Up at the crack of 4:30.  OK, well, it was probably closer to 4:40; had to orient myself and answer that age-old, first-day-of-travel question: "Where the #$%& AM I, anyway?" Staggered into the bathroom, and made sure I got some Ionix Supreme into me ASAP. Very good idea.  It tastes like butt (I really miss the old flavor), but it's so worth it.  Add some sprays of Isamune, and I'm at least ready to begin my day.  

Breakfast was the usual: Mars/Venus cleanse & minerals, and about 20 minutes later, a M/V shake with the Ageless Essentials daily pack and the M/V lithium oratate.  Yeah, I will shamelessly admit it, I am such an IsaJunkie.  But, at age 42, I still have a baby face and feel like I'm in my mid 20's.  And my mind is still that of a 14-year old, but we won't go there. 

During all of this time, I was talking with Kelly via a Google Hangout (technology is awesome), so we had our usual morning chat.  Good to keep in touch.  The cats are a little wigged out at not having their daddy there, but they at least have mommy to cuddle and pester (good for them, not so much for mommy).  

Anyway, down to the hotel lobby to register for today's course.  UX Basic Training.  That took all of 5 minutes.  Another 45 until the doors open, so I sat in the lobby and checked work email and such.  Technology. It's awesome.  

Course began. Great info.  Lots of fun.  Engaging instructor.  Etc.  10 am rolls around, and it's snack time.  And the hotel put out a pretty nice spread.  A "trail mix bar", with bowls of nuts (pecans and peanuts), seeds (sunflower), dried fruit (banana chips and raisins), granola, yogurt, and, oh yes, sesame sticks. I love sesame sticks.  So that was my gluten for the day.  Had a nice mixed bowl of everything, along with a cup of organic vanilla rooibos.  And grabbed an apple to have with my lunch.  There were also some muffins, but I very carefully ignored those.  

So, good start, yeah?  Back to training.  Lunch rolls around.  IsaLean bar!  Woooo!  This one was the Oatmeal and Raisin (dipped in yogurt).  Nom.  Plus the apple I snagged earlier.  Drink was good old eau (as in H-2-eau).  So far, I'm doing pretty good.  They had a lunch buffet with southern fried chicken (nom) for $13, but I wanted to have some fun after class, so I stuck with my bar.  Yay for me!

More training.  Really enjoying the subject matter.  Had a fun little exercise where a group of us came up with a scenario for using an automated ticket kiosk.  They have those in theaters now?  I haven't seen a movie in the theater since Fellowship of the Ring (2002), so I am decidedly out of touch.  Anyway, back to training.  

Afternoon break comes around.  More trail mix!  Oh, and they put out some salsa & guacamole!  With thick cut corn tortilla chips.  Ooo.  Grabbed some of each (skipped the guac).  Drink this time was an herbal apple cinnamon tea.  Didn't exactly go with the salsa, but was great with the trail mix.  And, yes, I was bad: had more of the sesame sticks.  I am not made of stone.  :-)

OK, training is winding down.  Back to the room.  Took my pills because I didn't want to pull those out at some restaurant and look all weird (well, weirder than I normally am, anyway).  What to do for dinner?  Hmm, that Indian restaurant around the corner is a bit of a walk; maybe I should save that for later in the week.  Let's check out the Galleria: a monster mall across the street and down a bit from the hotel.  First, I needed to find the entrance.  Ah, there's Macy's.  In we go!

Hmm, what to eat, what to eat.  Let's see, there's a seafood place in the Westin - nah, I'd rather do that with Kelly, and I did tuna last night.  Hmm, the Grill on the Alley.  Looks promising, but the reviews were kind of meh.  And their prices are pretty high.  Just because MMG is footing the bill doesn't mean I want to go all Tony Stark on them.  

What's this place?  The Townhouse Kitchen and Bar.  Hmm, looks promising.  What's this?  Smoked Beer Can Chicken?  I think we have a winner.  Half a chicken, plus a side of mashed potatoes with truffles and gravy, and grilled asparagus.  All for $17.  Well, now. 

And, hey, now.  Checking into Foursquare netted me a 50% off coupon for up to $15.  Well, how about that?  Let's celebrate with a glass of wine.  Nothing too pretentious, maybe the house Pinot Noir.  A little leery, as it's only $3, but I can always order something else if it's awful.  Well, it was very much not awful.  Quite tasty, as a matter of fact.  And the guy doing the pouring was new (so my server told me), so I got a rather generous glass.  Yay for me. 

In short, the dinner was really, really tasty.  I must say, however, that I hope there are no indecency laws in Dallas.  It is not possible to eat half a roast chicken and look dignified.  Sooner or later you just gotta pick the damn thing up with your hands and risk coating your entire upper body in rich, chickeny goodness.  Well, fortunately I managed to keep the carnage restricted to my face and hands.  And my server took pity on me and brought me a wet nap.  Full tip for her.  And the service was fast!  OMG was it fast.  I swear it was not 2 minutes after she took my order that it was on the table in front of me.  Of course, it helps that the chicken was smoked, so it was probably ready and waiting to go, just needed to grill the asparagus.  

Paid the bill (I think it came to $12 after the coupon; major bargain); tipped my server (always tip your server for the full amount of the bill before the coupon; they do no less work with or without it; they deserve the full tip - Kelly and I always start with 20% and go up or down depending on service - this was definitely an "up" meal), and wandered around the Galleria for a little while.  Very swanky mall.  Rolex.  Louis Vuitton.  The Art of Shaving.  

Wait, what?  Holy...I love their stuff!  Kelly got me a starter kit from the Art of Shaving many years ago, and I still have (and love) the brush.  Badger hair.  Stiff yet soft. Very good for raising the stubble up before mowing it down.  It's pricy: a good brush is $50 or more, but I've had mine since 2007 or so.  You get what you pay for.  

Anyway, I had a really nice chat with the lady working there, told her about my experiences with the product, etc.  Asked about a few things, smelled their latest blend (Sea Kelp - very mild), and she gave me a bunch of free samples.  Think I will shave every day this week.  Oh, and they have a barber that comes in later in the week and does straight-razor shaves for $35 a pop.  I am sorely tempted.  I've always been curious, but have never wanted to try it myself.  I might do it on Thursday or Friday.  If I do, I will blog about it.  

OK, enough walking.  Back's starting to get sore.  Back to the room to relax and unwind, and of course hangout with my sweet patootie.  Early bed; I was under the covers by 8:30 local time (9:30 EDT), and dead to the world not long after that.  

So: There was probably hidden gluten in a few places, but to the best of my knowledge, I managed to limit it to just the sesame sticks at snack times.  Oh, and probably the gravy on the mashed taters.  I think I am well under my 20%.  I may not have made the best choices, but I think I ate fairly healthfully over all.  

Next up: Day Three!  As I write this, I have finished my breakfast (same old, same old) and  will most likely hop in the shower and shave (free samples!).  Got an hour before registration and another 45 minutes after than before the doors open, so plenty of time to get ready.  Bring it on, world!  

The Joys of Airport and Hotel Food

Howdy, all.  Mike, here.  One of these days, I'm going to sign on with something different, just for kicks, and see what people say.  "Hi ho, Kermit thee frawwwg here."  Might be interesting.  :-)

As some of our readers on Facebook may know, I am in Dallas this week, on a business trip (if it were personal, we'd both be here; oh well), and I decided to do a series of blog posts this week about eating healthy and business travel.  I do not claim to be an expert in the field, as this is my first business trip in...well...ever. OK, I had a 2 day conference in Boston back in 1996 or so, but as I didn't have to fly to get there, living in Connecticut at the time, that really doesn't count.  Unless you have to change time zones and/or step on an airplane (or three), it's just not the same.  

My trip actually began yesterday morning, so I am a little behind.  I will try and make the time up at some point this week, but the goal is to post at least one entry for each day of the trip, with a final wrap-up post sometime this weekend.  Conference runs through Friday, and Saturday morning I am flying back to Caribou.

Before we get into the particulars, I do want to establish some basic parameters and goals:

1. At least one, preferably 2, Isagenix meals a day.  One Mars/Venus (well, only Mars, since it's just me) shake/cleanse, and one IsaLean bar.
2. Ionix Supreme at least once a day; preferably in the morning.  Got a couple of spares, just in case.
3. Mars/Venus (yeah, yeah, it's a habit.  I can't just stop typing that on a dime) minerals at least 3 times a day, with or closely around each meal.  Lithium Oratate with breakfast and dinner.
4. Largely gluten free.  I believe the guideline we have established at the Mike & Kelly household is 80/20 - so gluten should be less than 20% of our meals, cumulative over a single day.  Obviously, it's hard to actually measure this, so we wing it and try to err on the side of caution. 
5. And, of course, blogging about it daily. :-)

So!  Day 1.  The trip out.  Cleanse/Ionix/Minerals/Shake - check.  Caught a gorgeous flight from Presque Isle to Boston.  Only about half full.  The flight attendant served me my cup of water, no ice, and then (uh oh) dropped a bag of pretzels into my lap. 

Well, we're starting this early, then.  Oh, I shouldn't.  But, but pretzels!  And, remember, 80/20.  You're good so far.  So I happily munched on them for the trip.

Got to Logan.  Next flight out is in the same terminal.  No clearing security again.  Yay!  Gate is right upstairs from the arriving gate.  Yay!  And it's 50 feet from the Legal Seafood counter.  Well, now...

Got the basic omelet (which, as I have mentioned on FB, is anything but basic).  3 eggs, monterey jack cheese, bacon, "home fries", which are really just thick cut potato chips, and brioche toast. 

I was strong.  I ate everything but the toast.  I wanted to eat it too, but figured I'd had the pretzels, so had better stand pat.  And, really, I was full anyway.  So this was my brunch.

Hopped the flight to Philly.  Another half-full flight!  Paradise!  On an Embraer plane, no less.  They have more comfy (and slightly wider) seats in coach.  Awesome.  This is turning out to be a great day! 

Until we landed in Philly.  I emerged from the gate onto an extremely crowded airport.  Fortunately, I didn't have very far to go, but the next flight was boarding in 10 minutes, and it was going to be a long flight to Dallas.  And it was full.  Over-full, in fact.  And, oh yes, I had to check my roll-on.  Kind of defeats the purpose of having a roll-on, really.  But at least it was the last leg of the trip. 

I really need to have my minerals.  But I have no water. And no time to hit a vendor kiosk.  Crap.  So I ended up dry-swallowing them.  Not pleasant, but man what a difference those minerals make when you're stressed out.  I believe Kelly has mentioned in the past that when you stress out, your brain burns through those essential minerals like a frat boy burns through dollar bills at a bachelor party. OK, she probably didn't use that metaphor, but you get the idea.  So while it wasn't great to dry swallow them, it's much much better than waiting to have them with food/water.  But I digress (you were waiting for it, weren't you?  Admit it). 

So, I get on the plane, and it's cramped.  Crowded.  Hot.  I was in the middle seat.  Between two octopi.  OK, that's an exxageration. The lady on my left (window) was tiny, but the guy on my right had to have been 6 foot 5.  Poor guy.  And they both had very large elbows.  And it's a 3 and a half hour flight to Dallas.  Well, crap.  But I made the most of it.  Had my Chocolate Decadence bar with some water midway through, and tried to read on my tablet.  Oh, and I should mention that during all of this I am dealing with my usual sore back.  Well, the back really stepped up to the plate yesterday, only the occasional grumble.  Thank you, god(s).  And, you know what?  That bar really filled me up and I was totally satisfied.  It doesn't, always.  But I had spaced out my meals just enough so that it worked out pretty well. 

Got off the plane.  Found my bag (intact).  Tried calling the hotel's preferred shuttle company: on hold with really dumb music.  OK, I staggered out to the taxi area, asked the first shuttle there if they went to the Meridien.  They did.  Eventually.  Good enough for me.  I hopped in, got taken to the Gaylord (huge), then the Crown Plaza (nice) and finally Le Meridien.  Ahh, here at last.  Checked in, saw my room (fantastic; corner suite on the 3rd floor; not high up, but away from the elevator; it will do). 

OK, cool.  Time for dinner.  Think I will unwind a bit in the hotel bar rather than trying to find a restaurant outside somewhere.  Plopped down and had a 3 course feast of awesomeness:

• Mexican street tacos (corn tortillas - hopefully gluten free)
• Ahi tuna au poivre with cranberry beet reduction, sweet onions, asparagus and pomme frites.
• Fruit and cheese plate, with olives and crackers.  Skipped the latter two, ate just the cheese and fruit.  And candied pecans. 
• Drink of choice was good old water.  It was awesome, chlorine and all. 

Staggered back to the room, had my minerals, chatted with Kelly, and went to bed.  Oh yes, had a second shot of Ionix.  Should have had that as soon as I got to my room.  Still was awesome.

Gluten count for today: as far as I can tell, just the pretzels in the morning.  I think it was a good day, all in all.

Up next: Day 2 - first day of classes.  Currently in progress, and the gluten count is still pretty low (with 2 meals down).  Yay! 

Give it just 4 days - plus e+ giveaway

Mike and I have officially been back from vacation since waking up Monday morning and we have not wasted any time in getting back on the gluten free and healthy eating bandwagon.  Happily we can already see and feel the difference in just 4 days.

We started our week with day 1 of a 9 day Isagenix program as an accelerated start to a 30 day program.  What is a 9 day Isagenix program?  Well first of all, it's 11 days worth of Isagenix products.  No, I don't know why they don't call it an 11 day program.  The 11 days consist of 7 shake days and 4 cleanse days.

Here is a link for a description of the 9 day program, shake days and cleanse days.
http://mloux.isagenix.com/us/en/file.ashx?id=0a0498da-0509-41c6-a71f-e729e08aa588

Our shakes days are a little different from the document because we have modified them for our needs and lifestyle.  No program will work if you can't make it fit your needs and goals. We follow the basics, but add additional snacks and enjoy our main meal for dinner instead of lunch because we like to eat together. Our cleanse days are a little different as well because we've incorporate a little something just about every hour, following a special cleanse schedule designed by Kjersti Cote, the daughter of Isagenix founder, John Anderson.

As of this morning, we've completed 2 shake days and 2 cleanse days. We are feeling great, less bloated and more energetic. We eagerly stepped on the scales and were blown away by our results.  Now, I have to say that scales are not a very good measure of progress when you are on a mission to get healthy.  Inches lost are a much better indicator of progress because fat loss and muscle gain might cancel each other out, but a pound of muscle is much more compact than a pound of fat. Having said that, unfortunately we don't have time to measure on a Friday morning. Though the inches released are obvious in how our clothes are fitting, the scale will have to suffice for today.

How awesome were our results???  I'm not going to tell you, but if you can guess you could win a 6 pack of e+. A $24 value.

For a chance to win leave a comment with how many pounds you think Mike and I (combined) released over the last 4 days.  I've rounded the number to the nearest whole number to make it easier to guess.  That way you don't have to worry about fractions of a pound. If you guess the number correctly you will be entered into a drawing.  You must be a resident of the US or Canada to win. 1 winner only. If no one guesses correctly, the closest number, without going over, will be used for the drawing. And please consider following our blog.

Information on e+ can be found at this link. http://www.mloux.isagenix.com/us/en/sharetheshot.html

Drawing will be on Sunday at noon EDT.  Winner will be announced on the blog, along with our 4 day results, shortly after.

*The weight-loss testimonials presented apply only to the individuals depicted, cannot be guaranteed, and should not be considered typical. A 2008 university study showed a statistically significant weight loss of 3.2kg during the 9-Day Nutritional Cleansing Program.

Off the wagon - 1 week quickly becomes 3 weeks

I think everyone has been there.  You start a new "good for you" habit and everything is great for a while and then slowly, or maybe not so slowly, you fall out of your good habits and back into your old habits.  I've read a lot of research that says it takes 21 days to form a new habit, some say 45 days and others 90 days.  Maybe it depends on the person?  I am not sure how long it really takes, but I am leaning more towards 90 days after this experience.

Mike and I were gluten free for 30 days and it was wonderful.  We felt great, lost weight, were experiencing many wonderful side effects and best of all, it was easy.  You never hear about good side effects from medications, but there were plenty of welcome side effects with going gluten free.  Read some of our previous posts if you want to get a better idea about the types of changes we experienced.

Still, we didn't stick to it after the initial 30 days.  WHY?

Well.....we thought we would go back to our old ways of eating for 1 week to see if we would notice the reverse effects.  Would we go back to feeling the way we felt before our 30 day gluten free challenge?  Or would there be no change?

The answer to that question is that we felt worse faster once we re-added the gluten than we felt better when we eliminated it.  That's a mouthful.  Essentially, it took 3-4 days of being gluten free before we noticed significant beneficial changes and this was likely due to detoxing from wheat and gluten.  But when we re-added gluten the negative effects were noticeable the very same day.  I am not sure if the onset of the ickies was actually faster, or if our sensitivity to not feeling as well was heightened because feeling really good was so fresh in our minds.  I am guessing more of the later.

That 1 week morphed into just shy of 3 weeks.  You see, we had 9 days between the gluten free challenge ending on March 5 and our Arizona vacation beginning and we didn't want to have to worry about gluten on vacation so....  I bet you can guess where this is going.  Yes, that's right.  We decided to extend the gluten free for all until the end of our vacation on March 23. In hindsight, BAD IDEA!

What were we thinking?  Well obviously eating gluten free wasn't and isn't a habit yet.  We easily slipped back into our old ways of eating, and even with the bloating and discomfort we just kept enjoying the scones and the tortillas, etc.  We didn't necessarily eat badly. No junk food was consumed and all the food we did eat was prepared from easily pronounceable, fresh (local when possible) ingredients. We did however eat larger portions than normal and we did not attempt to avoid gluten.  On some occasions the choices we did make were gluten free, but that was because those foods are natural gluten free, not because we were trying to avoid gluten.

Getting back from vacation, bloated, feeling gassy and with our pants snug around the waist helped us realize that we have had enough of flirting with a healthy lifestyle.

Back on the wagon!


I'll see if I can get Mike so share some of the amazing pictures he took with his Samsung Galazy SIII. Arizona is beautiful.  And Mike's dad is the most gracious host, taking us to many amazing locations.  We had a lot of fun.  Next year I think we need to check out the Sky Walk.

Mike, here.  I shared all of my photos on Facebook.  Here are public links to the albums.  Enjoy! 

• Grand Canyon
• Montezuma Well
• Verde Canyon Railroad