Pumpkin Pie

This sweets thing is becoming as easy as pumpkin pie. This weekend I baked a pumpkin pie as part of a pre-Thanksgiving feast. Not eating it was made easier by the fact that my time making it was spent silently cursing it and its precious crust. I now understand why they sell pie crust in the store.

I also only made one pie while I followed a recipe for two. I know for a fact that I didn't halve one of the ingredients, and I saw after the fact that the recipe for just one pie is not exactly half of everything for two. So I'm pretty sure it tasted awful. This made it easier not to eat, but I was cooking it for my soon-to-be in-law's, so instead I worried about it. I wouldn't want to make everybody sick just before joining the family. Plus, the turkey caused enough headache for the day.

In the end, one piece of pie was eaten to rave reviews. As good as pumpkin pie is and as much as it is a vital piece of Thanksgiving, in my head at least, you don't really need it. There is so much other good food - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes - that even for a true pumpkin pie lover, it's just extra goodness. It's like the cherry on top.

I did eat something sweet though. I'm not free from sin. Tiff made a dessert as well. I'm not sure what they were called but they were slow-cooked apples covered in brown sugar. I had never had them before and they smelled delicious, so I thought I should at least try them... and the recipe suggests serving it with whipped cream, so I had to get the full effect.

I'm Tanning!!

I've been tanning a number of times since my last post about it. I thought I should explain the process a bit.

First off, the place is really nice, meaning it's clean and I'm not too worried about catching any diseases. This is a good thing. I've heard stories about places that sound gross to be in fully clothed, let alone stripped down to your skivvies.

Okay, so we got a deal that was for tanning booths, not tanning beds. When you walk into the place there are four rooms with beds on the right wall and the left wall is lined with these enclosed booths that each have a door the size and shape of an airplane bathroom. You go into this dressing room, which is small for me and I'm not that big of a guy. The opposite wall has a heavy vault-type door that leads to the tanning booth itself.

My first time it took me awhile to figure it all out. I was standing there with very little on and eye protection that could blot out the sun, albeit very stylish... I couldn't figure out what to do next though. I even tried just standing in front of the lights for a minute but nothing happened. It turns out there's a button you have to press, and then the blinding light turns on.

The room itself is the same size as the dressing room, but it doesn't feel nearly as small. The lights are close but they are all behind a cage, and I am glad we aren't using the coffin-like beds. Although, once your feet are in place, you have to grab on to these hooks that are on the ceiling - wouldn't want an uneven tan. It could easily feel like some sort of awful torture chamber though, locked in some small cage, dangling from the ceiling with your toes on the ground.

For me, however, my feet are flat on the ground and my hands are barely above my head. Plus, there's a nice fan going and you can turn up the music. For lack of better word, it's really nice. And the lights and the heat. The waiting room has a big sign listing off the benefits of tanning, the focus being on that it make you feel good, and they are right. It just makes you happy. I have yet to leave that place anything but happy. Even when I know I burned.

Anyways, the burning has stopped for the most part, as has the itching. The incessant itching and scratching and reaching for places that cannot be reached... that only lasted a couple days anyways. For the most part, I'm starting to tan. There's not much of a difference, but it's a start.

Diet Pepsi

I mentioned I drink soda. I feel like I'm bucking the system a bit, not to mention a native-Atlantan traitor, as my soft drink of choice is Diet Pepsi. I like how it tastes. I like how it fizzes in my mouth. For a long time, I was getting 2-liter bottles, but then I switched to cans a few months ago, just to make sure nothing was going flat.

I enjoy Diet Pepsi.

Diet Pepsi uses artificial sweeteners and therefor has no sugars in it. It is however sweet, but I wildly stated that I would not drink soda. Thus, one of the harder parts of this is that I said goodbye to Diet Pepsi.

And said hello to Turkey Hill's 100% Diet Green Tea. It contains no sugars or artificial sweeteners. Ideally, I would be replacing soda with water, but sometimes water needs a little pizazz. That's when I reach for a tall glass of Turkey Hill's 100% Diet Green Tea. It turns out the tea has the aspartame, the same stuff that people at Pepsi it in Diet Pepsi to make it Diet. But green tea is suppose to be healthy, right?

Admission: at a 75th birthday party, there were drinks abound... I had a taste of Diet Pepsi. I did not like how it tasted. My soda temptation is more or less gone. As long as I'm pounding down the Turkey Hill's 100% Diet Green Tea.

Sweets, Please

This time last week, nearing the end of a moderately successful vegetarian month, I looked forward to my sacrifice of sweets. I was confident that if I could eat all the meatless foods with as little trouble as I ran into, then I could do anything. Oh, how I was wrong. Giving up sweets is so incredibly more difficult. It feels much more like a sacrifice.

The thing about sweets is they satisfy you without filling you up. Whereas you look to meat for a meal, sweets are just a treat. A very, very good treat. And you look to a sweet treat when you're bored, or you've already had dinner but you just need something else... a little sweet treat.

Tiff and I did not have any plans this weekend, which was nice, but something was missing. I eat my fair share of sweets, but I don't think it's a tremendous amount. The fact that this sacrifice is so difficult is surprising to say the least. 25 more days before I can gorge myself in chocolate.

No Sweets - 1 Month

As I mentioned the vegetarian challenge was never very nutrition focused. Towards the end, and as Halloween approached, my daily meat intake was replaced by a daily sweet intake. I've always loved sweets, candy and cake and cookies and ice cream and doughnuts... who doesn't?

Lately - well, for the past few years, I haven't held back either. I want a doughnut, I go next door to Shoppers, home of the Colossal Doughnuts. I want some candy, I go next door to Wal-Mart, where you can get a pack of Twixes for a $1. I want some ice cream, maybe a milkshake, isn't that what made McDonald's so popular? And cookies and cake, that's what Tiff's for... gettin' in the kitchen and bakin' me whatever I want. Whenever I want.

And cutting whatever it is into little bite-sized pieces and feeding it to me as I recline in front of the tv. The rest of the time she fans me with incense as I sip a colorful drink with a bright umbrella in it..

Anyways, here's November's challenge. No Sweets - 1 Month. This includes any sugary dominated thing. Desserts or sugary snacks, so no Pop-Tarts, which I have access to at work every day and are delicious and easy.

Also, and here's the kicker, no soda. I don't drink much soda so this shouldn't be too bad. I usually drink one can a day, so I don't think I need the caffeine or anything, but we'll see how I do. It's going to be a watery November for me.

Wish me luck.

Put a Fork in Me

November 1st and I am done. Rather unceremoniously too. I had my slip-ups and my moments of weakness, but all in all, after some adjustment, the month went pretty well.

Highlights for me, as I've mentioned before are the portobello mushroom sandwiches. Those things are good. Really good. And the veggie subs from Subway are also surprisingly tasty. I think they may be my new favorite Subway item, after their so-soft cookies of course. And the meatless Chik'n Sandwiches, which I never commented on, are really good too. Tiff and I just bought a new pack that we haven't opened yet. When we do eat it will be a good indicator of just how good it is... but right now I'm still looking forward to them.

Overall, on John Duffy's Ratings Scale I think I got about a 17. Why so low? Well, I did eat sausage and chicken one morning. I could blame this on a slip of the mind as I honestly did not think about it until it was too late, but that's no excuse... and I did finish that spicy chicken taquito-thing even after I remembered. Those were some good bites though. Also, truth be told, I ate a Diablo shrimp or two last Friday... for those who know me, I guess I'm not very allergic after all.

Besides the slips into carnivorism, I didn't quite meet the true vegetarian dieter's diet. I had said that I would eat a salad everyday. That didn't happen. In fact, towards the end, the only salads I was eating were the ones when we went out to eat, which became more and more frequent as the month went on. Which brings me to the point that we weren't eating many vegetables at all as vegetarians. By the end of the month I think we were eating worse than when we could eat whatever we want.

So with the score of 17, maybe the question is why did it get such a high score? To which I say, I ate the damn veggie dog. And now, I am ready to close the book on being a vegetarian.