Day 40 - The End of Days

Sunday - The last day of Survivor Diet 2012.  This couldn't come soon enough. Due to poor planning on my part, I ended the SDC on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend instead of Friday.  Oh well.  As a result I did not get to enjoy the food and drink that was available at the shore celebration with my family.  This included a rack of pork roast, a variety of alcoholic beverages and some chocolate dessert treats.  Instead, I brought a couple pieces of fluke that I had prepared a few days ago, a bag full of steamed crabs and another bag of romaine lettuce from the garden.  In actuality I think my meal was just as good (if not better) than what was prepared by others - with the exception of the pork roast - which was very difficult to pass on.

So day 40 came and went and later that night I was reflecting a bit on the successes and failures of this year's SDC.  If I had to sum it all up in a few words I would say it was somewhat of a failure, anticlimactic and a bit boring.  On the positive side, I lost about 15 pounds from when I started but my goal was 25.  On another positive note, my blood pressure is completely normal and my headaches have been virtually non-existent.  On another positive note, I fit into many of my size 34 pants (previously 36), I have lost one notch on my belt, I fit into most medium sized t-shirts (although large is still a better fit).  On another positive note, I have learned about raising bees and now have a thriving hive in my back yard - and although I didn't start this early enough to get any honey production from them this year - I'm optimistic for the future.  Plus, they will help pollinate the vegetable garden all summer.

Ok - why so bad then you might be thinking?  Well, once again I did this whole thing alone - nobody seems to have any interest in joining me so although I get a lot of support from others, it's not the same as having additional participants to share experiences and learn from.  I feel like I'm running out of new ideas and new foods to eat.  Doing the same thing year after year - salt from the ocean water, clams, backyard greens, trout, bluefish, striped bass, fluke, crabs, beans and rice.  Over and over and over - it gets monotonous.  That's why I introduced the chickens last year (didn't turn out so well because my neighbors made me give them away) and the bees this year.
Secondly, I feel a little defeated because I did cheat a bit this year.  And although I justified it by giving up several weekly rewards it still feels as if I only did the challenge half-assed and if you ask me, this year I was not up to the challenge.

Where do we go from here? Each year I try to reflect on the experiences I have gathered and try to come up with a plan for a way to live life better in the future.  After asking my 11 year old son, Ty what I should do he replied, "You need to continue this for another 3 weeks."  Other than not really wanting to, I didn't have a very good response for him - so I decided to do it.  I still have 10 pounds to drop and I'm going to do it - 3 more weeks.  The 2012 SDC Extension is now scheduled to end on Sunday, June 17th.  There you have it.

I don't think I'm going to blog every day but I'll try to fill in the blanks where I can and take pictures or video of things I eat and adventures I experience.  One thing to look forward to in the next month is an adventure for Giant Tuna up in Cape Cod.  Stay tuned. . .

Day 39 - The Crabs Have Arrived!

Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.  It's a perfect morning to do a little crabbing with the kids.  I spent some time last weekend re-baiting the crab trot line with about 60+ new pieces of chicken wings.  After seeing a few crabs last week and catching that one delicious soft shell crab last Tuesday - I figured it was time to throw out the trot line and see what's out there.
Unfortunately it was dead low tide when we started at about 8:30 in the morning.  It was me (the driver), Jamie (spotter), Ty (netter), Gavin (counter).  It took a while to get the line out and get things going.  Although it was not fast and furious, we managed to catch 17 respectable crabs in a couple hours.  There were lots of egg bearing females that we had to throw back but most of the males we caught were very nice sized.  These crabs will make a fine final meal for the SDC 2012.
I went through the garden when we go home and picked the remaining swiss chard that was still good.  While I was steaming the crabs, I also steamed up some of the chard and ate a whole plate full of that.  It was really good and I have been neglecting my greens a bit over the past few days.  There is a lot of romaine lettuce in the garden now - ready to eat.  I think I'll wait until I can make a nice dressing for it on Monday.  I've had a few plain salads over the past week and it's starting to lose its appeal.  Is it really a salad - or is it a bowl full of lettuce leaves?  Whatever.
After steaming the crabs, I cleaned them all up and threw the shells back into the river.  I have a full bowl of steamed crabs, several pieces of fluke and a bunch of lettuce - no problem with quality meals to the finish line.  It would be nice to have a big double scoop of chocolate ice cream with marshmallows though.  Well, a couple more days and that will be ok too.
We are going down to Lavallette on Sunday and that is Day 40.  I didn't plan this schedule very well.  Day 40 was supposed to be on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend!  I incorrectly counted backwards when I chose the starting date a few months ago.  Oh well.  It is what it is.  My Dad is going to be slightly disappointed because he is planning on cooking a roast of some sort.  He'll get over it - and I'll try to stay true to the end.

Day 38 - The End is Near - Or Is It?

Friday at work.  Fluke fillets in the broiler.  Lots of water.  Sound familiar?  I tried to get Eric or Jeanine to come down to try some trot line crabbing tomorrow for the Memorial Day Weekend kickoff - they were busy with other plans.  It is low tide tomorrow morning - so not the best for boating and fishing.  Maybe I can get the kids to go with me.  If not, I'll go by myself dammit!
I lost a couple pounds this week - overall down about 16.  The bulk of weight loss came in the first two weeks though.  Hasn't been much more after that.  It's interesting how I can shed 15 unwanted pounds in 2 weeks just by not eating junk food.  I think I'm at my ideal weight (185) right now but I need to lose about 5-10 more so that when I spring back after the diet it over, I'll hopefully be back to 185.  If I stop now, my post diet 5-10 pounds will come back quickly and I will not be happy with that result.  Plus I have a Biggest Loser competition at work so for the next 8 weeks I will be in semi-survivor diet mode.  I can do it.

Day 37 - Boring Post

Thursday at work.  Fluke fillets in the broiler.  Water.

Day 36 - Filled with Fish

Wednesday - The weather report looks good and the tides were telling me that fishing in the afternoon looks best.  I called up dad and we took off for some fluke around 11:30. It wasn't as hot as last Wednesday - but the fish are definitely still here.  We landed on really nice one - about 24 inches - and all together seven keepers.  We threw back about another 7 as well.  It was tough fishing but it was a nice day out on the water and we had a great time.  Can't complain about that. 
I put the fish in a refrigerator bin and will plan on cleaning them after work tomorrow.  I can honestly say I have too much fish now.  I still have about 8 packs of vacuum frozen pieces for a future date.  This batch will last me until the end which is only 4 days away.

Day 35 - Soft Shell Crab Delight!

I was at work all day today and planned to put the killie trap out on my way home.  I am going to try another fluke fishing mission with Dad tomorrow afternoon.  Well, as I threw my trap in the water near the boat ramp I looked down on one of the pilings and saw a nice big crab attached to it.  I was pretty hungry too so I drove home really quick to get my crab net.  It was still there when I got back and I carefully, yet skillfully scooped him up.  Right away I could tell that this was a softshell crab as it went kind of limp in the net.  Even better!  This was going to make a GREAT meal for me tonight!

Softy

Day 34 - Strawberries Abound

Egg sushi hand roll for breakfast

After coming home from work on Monday evening I checked through our strawberry patch and low and behold the redness had arrived!  Almost like magic overnight the green and pink berries have ripened into wonderful morsels of sweetness.  There wasn't a tremendous amount - but the sweetness is so welcome at this point in time.  And I know there should be more to come over the next few days.  So good.

And more on the way. . .

Day 33 - Softball Sunday

I call this day softball sunday because I have 4 games scheduled today starting with one at 8:30 in the morning up in Basking Ridge to play with Gary's team.  I brought the kids with me because Debbie is going into the city all day for something.  After playing two games up there, I drove back down here to play another two with my team.  I had water for most of the day and a couple bites of the kids bagels that they didn't finish.  They are such wasters it's ridiculous!
Well, the softball distracted me from early morning until about 3:30 pm and then I came home to broil up some fish fillets.  It was a good day overall - I'm sure I lost some weight.  I won all 4 games and had a good time - injury free. 
Tomorrow starts another work week.  I have fluke in the refrigerator and plenty of greens growing in the garden.  I also have a few strawberries about to pop soon so that will be a welcome sweet treat in the upcoming days.

Day 32 - Nothing planned

I'm sitting in bed on Saturday morning thinking about what to do today. I think I'll take the kids out for breakfast. It's going to be a nice weekend. I don't have any fishing planned because I have a fridge full of fluke. Oh, that reminds me - I have to vacuum freeze a lot of that fish to preserve it.
Catch ya later.

Plenty of Fluke in vacuum bags

Day 31 - Stung in the Head

Friday - stung in the head