Day 18 - Forgetful

Whoops! I had a little brain fart today and I forgot to prepare myself some breakfast AND lunch before work.  It was an early start and I was checking e-mail or something and before I knew it I had to leave for work.  I had a bluefish fillet in the fridge but not cooked and I had some rice and beans but I didn't pack any up.  I also had leftover greens that I am still a bit repulsed by.  So needless to say, I had about an 8 hour stint from 5 am on without anything but water (and that damn 1 piece left of chocolate angel food cake staring at me - sitting in a ziplock bag on the counter all day at work). 

Day 17 - Sashimi lunch

Bloggedy blog blog blog. . . It's tough to write stuff every day!  So far, not much to report.  My weight dipped a little bit again today (15 pounds lighter than starting day).  I feel quite good.  I was really looking forward to my sashimi lunch but it was a bit anticlimactic.

Day 16 - Wind blown kayak

Breakfast - glass of water
Lunch - bottle of water, container of rice and beans and the smell of a chocolate angel food cake. Mmmmm.
Dinner - glass of water, piece of striped bass
snacks - glasses of water, handful of beans here and there.

When I got home from work around 7:30 I had the great idea to jump in the kayak for a quick fishing excursion but as I started paddling to my spot the wind picked up quite a bit.

Day 15 - Keeping busy

Today I was dreading the fact that I really didn't have much to do and the weather report was once again forecasting rain and yuck.  However, I got through it fairly easily by finding some stuff to do around the house that I had been procrastinating.  In the middle of the day there was about a 2 hour break in the rain and drear so I used that opportunity to hop on the kayak for a little exercise and I was pleasantly surprised at the result.

Day 14 - I hate Day 14

I don't have a whole lot to do today.  It's raining outside so I'm stuck inside and my kids have a recent fascination with the TV Food Network.  Granted it's better than Nickelodeon or goofy cartoons but the food, the food, the FOOD!  It all looks sooooooo good.  Ace of Cakes, Good Eats, The Best Thing I Ever Ate!  Come on!  All I want is something sweet and savory and my meal plan just aint cutting it. 

Day 13 - Mastering the smoker

Although it is Saturday there is no rest for the weary.  It's kids baseball day!  Ty has a game at 8:30 am followed by Jamie's at 11.  Debbie is doing some work this morning so I am on baseball duty.
It was fun but we were rushed in the morning which made it difficult for me to eat breakfast.  I quickly sauteed some striped bass pieces which were quite delicious.  I'm getting pretty good at that and the way I slice it makes it cook very quickly. 

Day 12 - Smoking some fish

I have a nice batch of striped bass pieces drying in the refrigerator today.  Last night I made some brine with water, salt and some maple syrup (almost all gone).  I soaked the fish overnight and this morning I laid it all out on a drying rack and put it in the fridge.  I am trying to get a pellicle to form which is a sticky glaze on the outside of the meat.  This will let the smoke adhere to it.

Day 11 - Blues in the backyard

This is a long fishing report so if you're not interested then don't bother.
I had to add another post to Day 11 because of this very exciting event (if you're a fisherman).  After work I took Jamie out in the kayak at the end of my street.  There is access to the Branchport Creek of the Shrewsbury River.  I rigged a bicycle-kayak trailer so I can get some exercise when I go kayak fishing.  I'll post pictures of that later.  Anyway, we put the kayak in basically in my backyard and as we start paddling out we saw the splashes of many fish all around. 

Day 11 - The need for green

Got on the scale this morning and it read 179.  Down 11 pounds from my 190 starting point.  So that's 11 pounds in 11 days.  Interesting.  I'm not really intent on losing a bunch of weight with this diet and about 175 is as low as I really want to go.  I figure if I go to 175 then after I stop the diet I will probably put back on about 5-10 pretty easily.  So my target weight is ideally somewhere between 180-185.

That being said, I am going to have to figure out how to stay on this diet til the end - without losing any more weight (once I hit 175ish).  Hmmm.  Another challenge. 

Day 10 - Surviving the day at work

I had to rush a bit this morning because I had a long day ahead.  I work until 6 and then I have a digital photography class after work.  I had to get my camera together, make lunch, steam some clams, vacuum up some more fish fillets and get ready for work.  I was in a rush and left the kitchen a whirlwind - sorry Deb, I'll clean up later.  I got to work and at some point in the mid morning a box arrives and is sitting on our lunch table.  It had a Dr Cuozzo label on it so it must be from his office.  I opened it up and inside