Celebrate Good Times!

There are a lot of people who think I live the life of a cloistered nun...or maybe I should say a starving musician..I don't, not all all. Life is not all pain and suffering for me....really. I do have fun, and I do enjoy the finer things in life on occasion.

And when I do this, I really  do this right!

True, I tend to stick to a fairly rigid and calculated diet most of the time, but I also love food and wine and I love to let loose and celebrate, for no other reason than I feel alive!

Saturday David and I went to the Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco. It is usually an eating and shopping extravaganza when we go.  We always (always) start off with fish taco's and red wine at Mijita. We sit outside and people watch.

Then off to the bread shop (Acme) and to get some cheeses too.

Next is Hog Island Oyster Farm. David eats several different oysters before he decides to buy dozens of the usual Sweetwater's....

I get three dozen mussels so I can make steamed mussels for lunch on Sunday. 

We stop at the Wine Merchant's for a glass....I have something sparkling and David has something still. I think it's about 11:00 am so that means it is 8:00 pm in Spain- time for a drink!

We are hungry again so off to Zuni Cafe for lunch, they hold 1/3 of their tables from reservations to accommodate walk ins - they value the neighborhood people! (good to know huh?) So you can almost always get a table just by wandering in!

We always order the shoestring fries, they cannot be topped. I believe they make their own ketchup too.

I love Ceasar salad and theirs has a good anchovy taste.

David orders arugula and shaved purple asparagus with citrus.  I think he just wanted the goat cheese toasts.

Burger time! They have some killer burgers here....I am really looking forward to this.

Rare...just the way I order it! On homemade foccacia with housemade pickles and onions and aioli.

 Yup, just what I needed.

I almost ordered the sand dab but David did and I figured it wouldn't be enough protein for me. But it looked great huh?

Dessert. Gateau Victoire...I have written about this cake before...It is so good it has been on the menu every single day since the restaurant introduced it in 1982!!! I am beside myself. 

Don't even try to take any from me!! But David and I will share this one piece.

Home, I unpack my bag of two boxes of Recchiuti chocolates...the Fleur de Sel Caramels  and the Peanut Butter Pucks. 

Sunday I will train hard and not regret the fun and food I enjoyed on Saturday!

Almost There

I had a burger last night. I was feeling too thin and looking stringy. I can get away with that, lots of people cannot so don't think it's "the approved diet" of Figure competitors. I can eat starchy carbs, I am insulin sensitive, I don't bloat up and have problems digesting them. My blood sugar doesn't spike wildly and then plummet.  Now, I rarely (RARELY) eat any white carbs anyway. Hardly ever eat bread of any kind, pasta is an occasional treat, don't eat many potatoes, so the whole deal may be that I don't eat an excess of that stuff on a normal day anyway.


But, I did last night (I had a bun). I only have a little fat left to lose, and I am getting close to losing it too fast (I always do this), so now I can "eat up" once in a while to make sure I don't get too thin. My burger was lean grass fed beef, the good stuff that you can eat raw if you like!


I went to the gym in the morning looking and feeling great! My muscles were happy and full, skin tight across them. 


I was standing at the box, getting my things together and Wendy came up, a big smile on her face. "You must have a show coming up, you look fabulous! I mean, don't get me wrong, you always do, but I can really see it now, super lean and muscular".


We talked about my diet for a while, she wanted to know what I was eating, I explained mainly lean protein, lots of vegetables and small amount of brown rice, lentils or sweet potatoes.


Monique, a trainer who is also a competitor stopped by. "Doing the SF Show?" she asked. "You look lean". I explained I had a burger the night before, I was getting too lean too fast now. "Be careful, don't be ready too early" she advised.


What is interesting, although none of us are experts at "peaking" at just the right moment, many of us can control it very closely to ensure we gain, lose or remain somewhat stable. It is a very fine balancing act. Something as small as a few additional fish tabs can slow the fat loss! I have used this technique before. 


It is also just as easy to backfire on us too. It does become a bit stressful trying to balance it all.


I was done lifting, and in the back free weight room I was joking with Mike, Anthony and Bobbie, we were talking about the different gyms in Los Gatos, they are thinking of changing. 


I gave my opinion on all. "I have just been to every single club in this area, I know all about every one of them!" I told them.


Bobbie replies "Of course 'Miss trains three times a day' does!"


I replied "I am only on three a days for 28 more days, then it's back to two a days! At my age you gotta slow down a little." (chuckle chuckle)


Bobbie laughed and said "I'm not so sure about that. You look pretty freaking sculpted these days. Lately you walk in the room and it looks like you got two sets of shoulders on you!"


I thanked him laughed and started to leave. I told him my shoulders only look so good because I have a trainer who knows what he's doing!


I was on a cloud the rest of the day!