Day 35 - Special Occasion Temptations

Morning health update - weight is 178.4  BP is normal at an average of 122/78.  I've been a little bit gassy.  Probably from a Peligrino water I drank at lunch the other day.  I'm very happy with my weight.  It seems to have stabilized at the high 170's and that's exactly where I hoped to be in the final week.  I will most likely put on about 5 pounds after this is over so if I can stay at or below 185 I will be happy.

I am only working until 2 today because Debbie and I have a wedding to go to this afternoon.  I was still able to take Ty out to lunch and went to the same deli as I took Jamie yesterday.  Interestingly, Ty ordered the same exact thing Jamie got yesterday - without any prior knowledge of her order.  And yes, again we went to Hoffman's for an ice cream.  I'll be attending this facility quite a bit starting next week I can assure you.

Before the wedding I wanted to get some Survivor Diet food in me in order to resist the temptation that were to follow.  I made 4 fluke sushi hand rolls with lettuce and ate them right before we left. The wedding was at a really nice red church with an old pipe organ in Elberon.  A couple hours later the reception was at a place in Shrewsburry called Shadowbrook.  I had heard very good things about this place in the past.  Typically weddings have incredible food and this might have been a good opportunity to invoke my "Special Occasion Reward" so that I could partake in the culinary delights to come.  It would mean I would have to give up one of my other weekly rewards but I have two or three to potentially give up that I have not even used yet.

Tough to pass up

 Well, when we got there I was tempted by several things but not tempted enough to break form.  That was, until I saw the ice sculptures filled with jumbo shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell and caviar.  Hmmm.  Time to invoke?  I grabbed a plate and filled it with these delicious looking seafood items and took it back to my table.  However - - - I made a last second decision to NOT go off the diet despite this special occasion.  Pass the water please.  It was difficult to resist but I did it.  I think the sushi rolls that I made prior to the wedding did the trick - just enough to fill me up so that I had the will to resist temptation.  A pat on the back for me (from me).

Day 34 - Truck Trouble

I dropped off the truck this morning and have been anxiously awaiting a call from the garage to see what it needs.  I was hoping for them not to say that whole under body is rusted out and it's a goner.  I'm glad I got some fishing in yesterday morning because I may have been without a boat for a short while.  However, when they called late in the afternoon they said that the problem was with the left front hub assembly and that it was all fixed.  How about that!  It wasn't cheap but to have it done in a day and not have to wait very long - that was well worth it.  I was very grateful especially since I thought it was going to be a much bigger problem.

I took Jamie and her friend Corrine to lunch today.  We stayed local because I didn't have my ride.  I suffered through watching them eat at the Italian deli followed by some pretty impressive ice creams at Hoffman's.  I had a sparkling water for lunch today and all I got from it was some uncomfortable gas.

It was a huge relief to be able to drive my truck home from work today.  I had the usual for dinner and followed it up with a popcorn dessert again.

I'm getting hooked on this stuff!  Too much of anything can start to take its toll over time though.  I'll have to keep the moderation idea in mind.

Day 33 - The Final Week Begins

Not to sound fanatical or desperate for food (because I'm not), but I got up 'naturally' this morning at about 5:30am and decided to go fishing for about an hour and a half before having to go to work.  This is very unusual for me.  I am certainly not a morning person.  Perhaps I am becoming one?  I looked at the weather forecast and the tide and saw a brief window of opportunity to get out for a little while.

I was on the water fishing by 6am.  The weather was starting to get lousy and there will be few opportunities for the next several days.  It was windy, foggy and drizzly.  On top of that there was a tremendous amount of seaweed in the water and it was getting snagged on my line every time I dropped it into the water.  Not a good sign.  However, I had several good spots marked from the previous few trips that I decided to go directly to in order get a few quick fish and head home. 

2 fish on at one time!

Despite the adverse conditions, my plan worked very well.  I got the job done.  I managed to catch 4 keeper sized fluke with at least as many short throw backs.  I spent about an hour fishing and was home before the rest of the family was even awake.  I was smart about putting these fish right into an icy cold cooler and there they will sit until cleaning time.  There will definitely be another big fish fry soon!

On my way to work I noticed a strange grinding noise coming from my truck's left front tire area.  This did not sound good at all but I can't imagine what would have caused this overnight.  At lunch today I stopped in at a local garage and they were nice enough to have me bring my truck in tomorrow to check it out.  On a whim I went to the Chevy dealer to see what they had available.  Even used, these Suburbans are quite costly.  I think it would be a much better idea to try to fix what I have rather than get something new or used.  Hopefully this will be a pretty quick fix because without the truck, the boat is out of commission for a while.

I worked all day and it was a bit stressful at times.  When work was over I had all of that fluke to clean at home so I set up a fillet station in my garage and got busy.  Unfortunately, the fish from the previous day (that had died in my live well) had gone slightly bad.  I didn't want to risk it so instead of cleaning these three fish for food, I made bait slices out of them.  Hopefully they will come in handy sometime in the future and not be wasted.  Other than those three fish, I meticulously cleaned all the others and I have a very nice stock of fluke at the moment.

Wonderful fish and veggies for dinner

 I had a nice dinner of broiled fish, asparagus and rice and after dinner I treated myself to a wonderful bowl of popcorn with spiced honey butter.  Man, I really found a winner with this treat.  It's got salty, sweet, spicy and crunchy all rolled up into one pretty healthy treat.  I have a feeling I will be making this quite often in the future.

Day 32 - Making Use of the Whole Day

Today is the last Tuesday that I will be starting work a little later (10am start).  After that I start at 8am on Tuesdays.  It's along story, but that's just my work schedule in the summer.  Today I decided to take advantage of the early morning and invite my friend Brad out for a sunrise search and destroy fluke mission.  We left at 5:30am and were fishing in the river by 6. 

 

It didn't take long to start bringing in the fluke using my Wonder Rig.  Brad started by using a jig and shortly abandoned this method in favor of mine.  It's just that good.  We found some really nice holes that produced some quality fish.  In under 2 hours we were finished and had about 7 very respectable fluke and one bluefish in the livewell.  We also threw back several fish that we just about a half inch short.  I landed the largest fluke of the year today - a nice 23.5 incher.

 

 

Please excuse the NY Giants sweatshirt I am wearing.  I have designated it for wiping fish guts and slime on - so it will officially be my garbage hoodie.  But I agree, no self respecting Cowboys fan should be caught dead in a Giants sweatshirt!

 

We were back home by 8:30am and it felt like we had already had a full day.  The rest of the family was just waking up.  I gave 3 nice fluke to Brad and kept 4 for myself.  More fluke to clean! 

 

I left my fish in the livewell on the boat with the aerator pump on all day.  My objective was to keep them alive while I was at work and then make up a nice ice water cooler to chill them in overnight.  This was a big mistake.  When I returned home from work (8 hours later) I found only one of my fish still alive in the tank.  The others had died and without the ice to chill and preserve them, they had been sitting out in a warm water bath all day long.  Not good.

 

I attempted to chill them all, despite a slight funky smell that the dead ones had.  My gut is telling me that these 3 fish are just not going to cut it.  We'll see tomorrow when I get the knife out.  I feel bad but I only have myself to blame.  If these fish go bad then I will chalk it up to a learning experience and try to not make that same mistake again in the future.

 

I brought some Honey Bits into work today to offer to my co-workers as a sample tasting.  Almost everyone enjoyed them.  You just can't please all of the people all of the time can you?  I packed a nice lunch of, you guessed it, fluke, asparagus and rice in a tin foil pack to be broiled in the toaster oven.  It was a long, tiring day and I suffered some lower back pains on occasion.  I'm not sure why I had the pain but I'm sure I was tired because I was up at the crack of dawn and going non stop all day long.

 

For dinner I enjoyed my first salad of the season - right from the garden.  I also managed to pick yet another helping of asparagus.  Did I mention that it seems like a never ending asparagus crop?  Man, they just keep on coming.  I should post some photos of the garden soon.  It's really starting to change now.  It's amazing what can happen in a few weeks. It was good to get some greens tonight.  Always nice to have fresh garden veggies during the SDC.

 

First Garden Salad

 

Sauteed Asparagus

I also enjoyed a small plate of fluke sushi.  It's a very mild fish when it comes to sushi and sashimi preparations.  I can't really rave about it but it's easy to make and a nice treat.

 

Fluke Sushi

Another long day in the books.  I may have another fish fry in the near future because my supply is growing again.  That may depend on the quality of the fish tomorrow.  The weather is turning lousy again starting tomorrow afternoon so I'm glad I had time fish today despite being a work day.  As long as I'm not lazy, and the tide is right, I can get a couple hours of fishing done in the morning before work.  Pretty cool.

Day 31 - Just Another Manic Monday

Today was the last day off of a long weekend.  I have several straight days of work ahead so I wanted to see if I could gather some more food for the next few days.  I met up with my new friend, Dave and we made an attempt at the first spearfishing of the year.  the ocean temperatures have reached an acceptable level and the water was relatively calm.  Time to jump in.

We started at 6:30am and headed to Deal.  There are several rock jetties in Deal that usually have fish around them.  I had read some fishing reports the night before talking about several 50 pound striped bass that have been caught in the area.  Boy would that be nice to see. 

Filled with delusions of grandeur, my expectations were set way too high.  Unfortunately, when we got to the water it was so cloudy that I could not even clearly see my hand in front of my face.  I made several attempts to go to the bottom to see if the visibility was any better but it wasn't.  In fact, I didn't even know I was at the bottom until the tip of my speargun hit the sand.  Never saw it.

Conditions looked perfect - different story underwater

This is the worst possible situation to come across while trying to spearfish.  It takes a lot of energy and preparation just to get into the water and when the conditions are this bad it makes me miserable.  We packed it up and left - disgruntled.

At home I was faced with the task of cleaning and drying my wetsuit and equipment - not to mention all of the SAND!  I hate sand.  It was everywhere - despite all of my efforts to keep things clean.  I also spent a good part of my day working on a new design for a diving board/float that I plan to use on my next dive.

In the afternoon I finally made time to cook all of this fluke I have been accumulating.  I have way too much to keep refrigerated so my plan was to bread and fry a mass amount of fish and then freeze it for later.  It took a couple hours but I think it was well worth the effort.  This is my favorite way to eat fluke and although the breading and frying is not part of the Survivor Diet, I will have several bags of ready-to-eat fish for after the diet.

 



 

This is where the Foodsaver vacuum sealer comes in handy.  I don't really like to freeze fish for any extended period of time but when you have this much, the vacuum bags are the answer.  These pieces will stay very fresh for about a month.  After that, the quality starts to go down a little.  I prefer cooking the fish first instead of freezing it raw and then cooking it.  I think this makes a big difference.  When I go out fishing I can now take a bag of fillets out of the freezer and bring it on the boat.  It is an easy lunch. Once it defrosts you can just open the bag and eat.  It's best on a sandwich though.  I remember that from last year - The Best Sandwich Ever.  You're going to have to look that one up if you're interested enough.

Fluke - ready for the freezer

Finally, at the end of this very long weekend, we made a nice fire outside in the pit and I made a batch of smoked bluefish out on the smoker grill.  It should be ready for tomorrow.

Bluefish jerky

While we were spending a lot of time in the backyard I made an attempt at another primitive fire.  Fail, fail and more fail.  I got lots of smoke but I just could not get an ember to ignite.  I was so exhausted after this day - after this week!  Back to work tomorrow - and once again I will be working on Wednesday so I will have to prepare enough food to last the week.

Day 30 - Losing the Battle of Will

After getting up really early and working hard for several consecutive days, I decided to sleep in a little today.  It was really nice.  I had a softball game scheduled for 10am so the early morning belonged to me. 

While playing my game, I snacked on a large piece of my Honey Bit candy.  This was a chunk that was stuck to the dish and after we finished making the and wrapping the little bits, this big hunk was left over.  It wasn't huge but definitely too big for one mouthful.  I made it last throughout the game but I made the mistake again of overeating the candy.  Ugh!  That's right - a sugar rush headache.  It wasn't terrible but it was dull and nagging for a good part of the rest of the day.  This sucked because we headed down to Lavallette and I was not feeling in the party mood.

I made the most of it and having other people around was a slight distraction from my headache.  When we arrived, the cousins were fishing off the dock.  I sat with them for a while and we managed to pull up a very small crab.  Everyone wanted to toss it back but this was the first crab of the Survivor Diet and was not to be wasted.  It didn't take long to quickly steam it and although it was small, it still tasted the same as a large one.  I should have taken another misleading photo like the jumbo shrimp cocktail from a few days ago.

The crab was a nice treat but there were oh so many other delectables all around me - not to mention the beer and alcohol.  I was offered sausage and pepper sandwiches, jelly donuts, brownies, sliders, chicken, broccoli, drinks, etc. - the list goes on and on.  I brought some fluke with me and broiled up a few nice pieces for dinner.  I resisted the temptations as long as I possibly could but in the end I am only human and I did some illegal picking.

To keep things honest, I made a list of my cheats and I'm coming clean with this confession:  Bite of a slider burger, about 5 strawberries, a chocolate peanut butter brownie, some Caesar salad and a bite of breaded chicken.

In my defense (for what it's worth), the sliders were about to go into the garbage and the Caesar salad was dressed and left over and was not going to make it another day.  Essentially these things were going to be wasted.  If anything, I could use more greens so I felt it was my duty to have that salad - and I didn't even finish my plate becasue the dressing was just a bit 'heavy' for me. 

The other stuff, well, I don't really have an excuse for it.  I'll tell you this though. . . if I wasn't doing the SDC, I would have eaten about 5 brownies, 20 strawberries, a sausage pepper and onion sandwich, about 4 pieces of breaded and fried chicken, 2 sliders, two plates of salad, broccoli, tomatoes basil and mozzarella with olive oil, wild rice, multiple beers, a couple mixed drinks, other finger snacks, a jelly donut, a cream donut, milk, juices, sodas, chips, dip, pretzels, a large ice cream cone and a variety of other desserts and candies.

Wow!  That's a long list.  I never realized how much I would normally consume in an afternoon down the shore.  Moderation just goes right out the window.  I feel pretty good about my slight cheats considering what might have happened.  There ya go folks.  Modern American gluttony at its finest.  And that was just a basic weekend afternoon in the summer.

I'll have to try to remeber this post when I am no longer on the Survivor Diet.  Making a list of everyting you eat in a day can be a real eye opener.

Day 29 - Father Daughter Fishing and Fun

Rise and shine - 6 am.  It's another weekend to get up early and get busy.  My fishing partners today were Jamie and Corrine.  I woke a little earlier than the girls so that I could make them a couple of bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches to bring out on the boat this morning for breakfast. 

June, the dog, decided to come along on this trip and once again we had a successful outing.  I came out on top with the largest fluke measuring 22 inches.  Jamie was a close second with 'Stumpy' - a 21 inch fluke with a mangled tail.  It was a somewhat slow start but once we found the hot spots we kept pulling fish up and started to fill the live well.  Overall we came home with about 8 keepers.  The girls did really well hooking and netting all of their fish.  We made a video with the GoPro and I will get around to editing and posting it some day soon.  It was a little chilly but the girls stuck it out for several hours.

Back at home I had a bunch of fluke waiting to be cleaned from the day before and this new bunch took their place in the ice bath - waiting their turn to be cleaned tomorrow.  Now I had a significant amount of fish to last for all of next week as long as I am careful.  I even have enough to give some away.  I'll probably bring a few down to Lavallette to give to dad.

I also cleaned a bluefish today that I am planning on putting on the smoker grill for some bluefish jerky.  This was the first bluefish of the season.  That's a bit of a surprise but I'm not going to complain about that.  I put the cleaned pieces into a zip top bag with a honey and salt brine and in a day or two I will dehydrate and smoke it.

We are planning on a trip down to Lavallette tomorrow afternoon to spend some time with the family.  This will be a big test of will as I know there is sure to be a lot of food available.  I almost don't want to go all together but I think it will be a good challenge for me to try to resist.  We'll see.

Day 28 - Flukey Friday

Weight update 180.4 pounds (down 17.6 pounds overall).  Blood pressure 122/78.  Pretty good so far on the healthometer.

Ok - today I had a very pleasant surprise!  I have been talking all week about the opening day of fluke season this Saturday but stupid me - - - it turns out that it is TODAY!  Wow - good thing I am totally prepared for it with my bait and my rods and my secret spots. 

As I was going to bed last night I was checking some of the local fishing forums online and I came across several posts of people looking forward to fluke fishing Friday.  I did a double take and then checked the dates to make sure.  How cool is that?  I worked Wednesday so that I could take Friday off and it's paying off big time right now.  It would have sucked if I had to work today.

I woke up at 6 and the tide, current and weather forecast were just right for fishing in the river today.  Unfortunately I didn't have anyone to fish with but I managed quite fine on my own.  I even made a video that I hope to edit and post soon.  Overall I did very well while many other boats around me did not.  I have a great system for fluke fishing in the river and as long as I have some killies it's almost a guarantee of catching fluke.  I caught my 5 fish limit in an hour and threw back a lot more that were undersized.  Overall I must have caught about 20 fish.



Dog-Fish

When I got home my fish were still alive in my live well that I made out of a large garbage can.  I went to the store to buy a few bags of ice so that I could chill my catch before cleaning them.  I dunked the fish in a cooler with an ice water bath and will chill them for 24 hours.  It's going to be fluke, fluke and more fluke for the next week.

Jamie had her friend Corrine sleep over tonight because I offered to take them fishing in the morning.  We thought it would be fun to make some more Honey Bits candy.  I showed them the process and they were both very helpful - especially when it came to cutting and wrapping all of the individual candies.  Instead of bunching them all together like last time, we cut little squares of parchment paper and wrapped each piece.   It took some time but it was worth it.  These candies will last me a while as long as I don't gobble them all up like I did last time. 

Honey Bite - round 2

It was very late when we finished and we had to get up early for more fluke fishing in the morning.  I certainly had a full day today.  Very busy.  I am looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the long weekend.

Day 27 - Missing Thursday

I have to be honest.  I have not been updating my daily events lately.  So busy.  For today, I'm drawing a blank.  It's a few days past Day 27 as I write this - trying to recall my day but I've got nothing.  Thursdays are typically 8-5 work days for me and the only thing I can remember is that this Thursday is like a Friday because I took tomorrow off to jump start the Memorial Day weekend.  My plan for tomorrow will be to try a little early morning fluke scouting - again, looking forward to opening day of fluke season on Saturday.

I know that I have been diligently checking and baiting my killie trap - but I also know that I have written that all before.  Oh well.  Sorry that I couldn't provide more information about Day 27 but sometimes that happens.  It's not easy doing the Survivor Diet by itself - let alone trying to take photos and video and keep up with a blog and a Facebook page.  Oh - and run a business and have a family and a life all at the same time.  So I think I deserve a little slack for this day.

One thing I do remember is my Thursday lunch out with Jamie.  We went to Fuji (sushi restaurant) and instead of just sitting there twiddling my thumbs watching her eat a delicious meal, I ordered a couple pieces of fluke sashimi and a bowl of white rice.  I'm doing a little Survivor Diet trading.  I am very confident that I will be catching many fluke in the upcoming weekend.  As long as I give away at least one fish then it will make up for the fluke that I eat today.  It's a bit of a stretch of my rules but I think it's acceptable.  After all, I make the rules.  And although I try to stick to them as closely as possible - there are times when they can be bent a little.

Day 26 - Working Wednesday Waiting for Weekend

Normally I am off on Wednesdays but due to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I had planned to work the Wednesday in exchange for taking Friday off and having a nice long 4 day weekend.  Sacrifice now and hopefully enjoy later.

I have been diligently checking and baiting the killie trap and I am beginning to accumulate a good  number of killies.  They're not very large however.  I prefer the large ones but I can't really control that part.  All I can do is keep the biggest ones I catch in my holding bucket and continue to catch new ones in the trap.  I even had the trap out without any bait in it and still managed to get a bunch.  I will be ready for the fluke on Saturday that's for sure.

I have been still eating much of the same foods with an occasional new item from time to time.  The norm has been rice, fish, asparagus and I have had the occasional treat of candy and popcorn.  I have also started to incorporate some sushi rolls into my menu but I am not really using much soy sauce because it is so salty.  It's amazing how you begin to notice these things when you have been eating bland food for a few weeks.