Day 8 DP - Pass da butta!

One week is in the books.  After surviving one week I am rewarding myself with a pound of butter and a small jar of rice seasoning.  And oh how nice it is to have some butter!  I still don't have any salt - more out of laziness than anything at this point.  I will get some soon from the sea.  To be able to cook with some butter and some seasoning is making such a big difference - especially with trout.  I have been recalling memories from my childhood - going camping with my dad, catching trout and cooking them in a cast iron pan over the campfire - drenched in butter!  Trout taste pretty good on their own but throw a little butter in the pan and it takes it to a whole new level.

Week 1 rewards

 I went to the market to buy my pound of butter with the idea in my head that I didn't want any average kind of butter.  I wanted something more special than that.  I was looking for something unique but I didn't really find it.  I did settle on a brand that was advertised as European style butter produced from the finest organic ingredients.  I bought half a pound and when it's gone I'll get the other half and continue looking for something unique.  The taste of what I purchased is quite good and will do just fine.

Today is Monday so I'm back at work and I had to prepare my breakfast and lunch in the morning.  Trout and more trout.  I prepared it on a pan made for my toaster oven.  Mixed with a little rice and beans and some seasoning and, oh yeah, lots of butter.  Well, maybe not lots.  After all, I only have a pound and I have to make it last for a long time.  Then I put it in the toaster oven and set it to broil.  This is a great method to cook trout.  It crisped up the skin and did a fine job cooking a couple fish in a short period of time.  By broiling, it also gave the rice and beans a nice crispy caramelization which added to their flavor.

Broiled trout

 At work I had to sit through a pizza lunch with the whole staff which was a little social get together - so I couldn't just duck out.  The pizza smelled soooo good - and don't get me started on the cheese steaks.  I sat there and drank water.

After coming home from work I was ready to broil up some more trout.  This time I did a little research on how to "de-bone" a trout by watching a Youtube video.  I carefully took the last 3 trout out of the refrigerator and tried the new method that I just learned.  It worked quite well and I was able to butterfly these fish so that they cooked quicker, didn't need to be turned over and crisped the entire skin nicely.  I cooked one more using this method for my dinner and the remaining two went back into the fridge for tomorrow.

Oh - almost forgot - the weight report.  After one week I weighed in at 193 after starting at 202 pounds.  That's 9 pounds in one week for all of you math geniuses out there.  Not bad at all.  My goal after 40 days is 175 and afterward I can accept about a 5-10 pound gain.  As long as I stick to my guns and my will power stays 'powerful' I should have no problem.

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”