Darkfoxx 3: With A Vengeance

[Pookie]

ah I didn't know that, it's never been banned here in the UK  as far as I am aware. I think I would have noticed the riots in Scotland should it have been the case.

[Ordimoi]

*chuckles* Yeah, I don't think he tasted it within the salami at all, it was just an interesting tid bit. The closest I've had to offal is Octopus..... which isn't even offal but it is pretty weird XD

[Pookie]

*laughs* I love trying pretty much anything, I've eaten frogs legs, shark, ostrich, whole mini octopus, crocodile.

 

Or various bits, my parents used to make brawn, nothing like opening the freezer to get ice cream and finding half a pigs head, complete with eye staring back at you.  

[Fonzico]

Gah! That would terrify me!

 

I want to start eating more offal, but I never have had ANY before, (aside from unknowingly, such as in salami, I suppose) and it scares me. I tried buying some liver one time, but I ended up feeding it to my cats. :/

 

I like calamari, does that count? Lol my hubby makes me eat the baby ones because they freak him out, but their little tentacles are yummy!

[Ordimoi]

*chuckles* A pigs head in the freezer would probably stop my heart for a minute. Oooo, I did try frogs legs once! *chuckles* Kind of forgot that might be considered offal. They weren't that bad at all. 

[darkfoxx]

Lol. @Fonzico: check anywhere the kind of hipsters that wear handlebar moustaches congregate or any "cheffie" restaurant. Offal is becoming quite the trendy thing in our hemisphere. And no, calamari is not offal. Just damn tasty when done right!

I'm not sure if lungs are outright banned .. I seem to remember someone prepping lungs on some cooking show or another. But then again, I do watch a fair amount of UK shows, so it could have been a UK chef.

Black pudding I know we have in the States. I had it somewhere as a kid - it wasn't Scottish style, though, and was bland as all get out.

It was suggested that I try to find an expat pub - if anyone is going to have the good stuff, they might. Fortunately, I know of a fan-freakin-tastic pub/chip shop/expat refugee right in Brooklyn.

[Ordimoi]

Ooooooo, there aren't really a lot of pubs that would serve good Scottish food around here *scowls* I will search though and see if I can try some good Black pudding! (because now it is in my head..... and I really want to try it)

[Pookie]

Actual offal wise, I love liver and heart, I only like kidney if mixed into something like steak and kidney pudding, just alone it has a taste you can imagine is due to what it actually does. 

 Never tried tripe, not sure I fancy it but nor has the opportunity come up to try it... I tried jellied eels when we came here to London and regretted that, not good! (cat loved them though)

 Would like to try marrow-bones. 

[Fonzico]

Hope the vacay is still going well! Try your best to come home with an accent

[darkfoxx]

@Fonzico: You have no idea. I've been thinking in Scottish accents all week and I'm a natural accent sponge. Head to mouth translation has been interesting; the hubbs with his Brittishisms on overdrive has not been helping.  

 

The trip was great overall. I will post a big recap and of course link pics when I get them processed. Thinking about them right now is overwhelming, but we will get there.  

[darkfoxx]

Big Week 1 & 2 Update

 

Goal 1: Drink Like A Fish. 

 

Week 1 I did fabulous on this goal. I kept very, very hydrated and felt great. A

 

Week 2 I did completely horrible. Irn Bru, coffee and tea do not count as water. Needless to say, I was crazy dehydrated all week. Partially from the Irn Bru, partially from not wanting to carry heavy water around with my heavy pack and heavy camera bag. This goal was supposed to stay during my vacation to the best of my ability, and although I had something liquid with me at all times, I was still crazy dehydrated. I will give myself a bit of grace because I really did have something liquid on me at all times and I had at least 1 bottle of water a day, but damn was I thirsty. B

 

 

Goal 2: I See Those Workouts. Let's Take Them A Little Further. 

 

Week 1 I rocked it and even put in a little extra knowing I was going into a walking only vacation. A

 

Week 2 I also rocked it. We walked and hiked tons - to the point of exhaustion and beyond every day. I really noticed a difference when I was able to run the length of a terminal in Heathrow to catch our connecting flight after hoofing it up multiple escalators (and tripping on one - one of my nightmares!) and rushing through the rest of the airport. Back in January there is absolutely no way I would have been able to do that. And on top of all the walking we did, up hills and down, for some reason I decided spider pushups would be a good idea in Inverness. I did 10 half-assed ones, which was just crazy. A

 

 

Goal 3: Metrics! All The Metrics! 

 

Week 1 I rocked it out. A

 

Week 2 I got a pass - I kept track of most of what I ate until it became too crazy. The highlights/lowlights: venison for almost every dinner in Scotland; black pudding and/or haggis + crazy fresh eggs + country bacon + toast for every breakfast; chips (fries) in Scotland; lots of white potatoes in Scotland; a cone of fries in Amsterdam with curry catsup; Scottish oaties pretty much every night with or without shortbread cookies; absolutely nothing of nutritional value in Amsterdam - automat fried things with beef gravy and/or cheese + 1/2 a waffle with caramel and marshmallows + stroopwaffels + a metric ton of cheese samples; a bread and lunchmeat heavy continental breakfast in Amsterdam (with perhaps the first fresh fruit and veg I'd seen in a week); fish & chips in Scotland; pound cake in Amsterdam; bottles and bottles of diet Irn Bru; lots of coffee with cream and real sugar; strange water drinks with vitamins and stuff in them; bizarre but fantastic Icelandic roast beef sandwich with dense rye bread, peaches, pickled pears, a mustardy tartar sauce, and pickles; some sort of cardamom flavored Icelandic donut; chicken curry on the plane; a skirt steak dinner on a bed of tortilla chips before leaving NYC; and lots and lots of local dark cask ales. 

 

Luckily I got a pass on this week and managed to not make myself sick. I found some fantastic goat and sheep cheese in Scotland and Amsterdam, which I had to bring home with me to go along with my hubby's aged gouda. 

 

I also, shockingly, managed to not really put on any weight while I was gone. On Friday, April 19 I weighed 133.4 lbs. On Monday, April 29 I weighed in at 133.5 lbs. Way to go me. 

 

 

Goal 4: Finish What You've Started.

 

Week 1 I worked on this goal a bit, but was mostly consumed with packing. A 

 

Week 2 I actually got a little knitting done - not as much as I had planned on doing (because of all the napping), but I did manage to get a solid couple of hours in - good, since I jammed my knitting in my pack instead of my warm polar fleece. A 

 

 

Overall, I am pleased with my progress. Week 1 was great; week 2 was a vacation week, so the eating was insane, but all the walking balanced it all out so I'm happy with the end result. 

[Fonzico]

Sounds like you had a great time! I can't wait to see the pictures

 

Excellent job with your first couple weeks - I know you'll come in even stronger in the last four!

[Ordimoi]

You did an awesome job for both weeks! You were on vacation so I would say that you get at least a B+ in your Metrics goal for still being able to recite all the food you ate XD 

 

[darkfoxx]

Lol. It's mostly because I'm an obsessive list-maker. And I did completely forget the fantabulous sirloin steak stuffed with haggis and coated in a really very extraordinary pan sauce. But now I've remembered  

[Pookie]

That is a very delicious looking list there!

 

I'm glad you had a good time, and getting to see the results of your fitness making your life easier and better is a really good thing, a reminder that it really is worth all the effort.

 

Now where is my cardamom doughnut? 

[darkfoxx]

Lol. I spent my entire vacation wondering just where the vegetables were. Not that it's not very easy to get no vegetables when eating out in the States. 

 

What is up with Europeans keeping eggs outside of the refrigerated section? I noticed it at at Tesco in Scotland, and in an AH in Amsterdam. Why, Europeans, why? 

 

And yes, that Icelandic cardamom doughnut was fantastic. I had no idea what it would be; just wanted to taste something local and different, even if we were only visiting the airport. (a fact we need to rectify - Iceland was gorgeous to fly over and the Project Runway-esque show I watched on the plane was kind of awesome). And they seemed to take their bananas language in stride enough to poke fun at it  

 

I warn you, these puppies aren't healthy in the slightest: kleinur. 

[Pookie]

*shrugs* eggs are just not put in the fridge here, my parents never did at home even. I do now though once they are home. But its not something all that big here, they can absorb fridge smells, they are harder to cook cakes and stuff with if they are cold as well.

 

Ah, I'm forbidden from deep frying anything at home. I'm sometimes rather clumsy and that sort of shenanigans is asking for trouble... also is a good thing for the fact I cannot sit in the kitchen making doughnuts which are quite possibly one of my favourite things!

[darkfoxx]

I thought you would die of salmonella or some other egg born freakiness if you left them out of the fridge for more than an hour -- which totally sounds stupid when you say it/type it out loud -- apparently not; Europe has been around a lot longer then the US, and seems to be doing fine. Even if they *do* eat lungs. And unrefridgerated eggs. 

 

I know all about being barred from certain kitchen activities due to clumsiness. I am a world class klutz and have been banned from: using the mandoline while unattended (though this rule has been relaxed since I haven't sliced my fingers off and manage to injure myself every time I use a grater); boiling any large pot of water (this ban lasted for a year + after I scalded my entire hand so bad I had to visit the emergency room and miss my hubby's getting out of the Navy party - which I was catering and hosting); using a big scary butcher cleaver (that ban was never going to last - how else am I supposed to whack open a butternut squash?); and at one point from using any type of sputtery fat (after burning little dots all the way up my arm). And I'm still standing and still love to cook  

[Fonzico]

Keep refrigerating your eggs, DF! The problem is that a) US farmers are not required by law to vaccinate their chickens against salmonella, and in the States, they wash the cuticle off the egg, making it more susceptible to bacteria. It's the inverse in the UK, hence the room temp eggs. If you had your own chickens, vaccinated them, and didn't wash the egg until right before you used it, you could keep them at room temp just fine. Source

 

It's funny you mentioned that, because I just stumbled across that article last week, or I wouldn't have known.

[darkfoxx]

Interesting ... no wonder the eggs tasted and looked much better everywhere we had them. 

[BlamedCat]

Keep refrigerating your eggs, DF! The problem is that a) US farmers are not required by law to vaccinate their chickens against salmonella, and in the States, they wash the cuticle off the egg, making it more susceptible to bacteria. It's the inverse in the UK, hence the room temp eggs. If you had your own chickens, vaccinated them, and didn't wash the egg until right before you used it, you could keep them at room temp just fine. Source

 

It's funny you mentioned that, because I just stumbled across that article last week, or I wouldn't have known.

I didn't know that either... thanks for the edu-ma-cation!

[Ordimoi]

*blinks* An interesting lesson XD It does sound like the eggs might taste better over seas...... but I don't know.... *chuckles* 

[darkfoxx]

Week 3 Day 1 Update

 

Goal 1: Drink Like A Fish. 

 

Had my morning tea, 1 Smartwater bottle of water, 1 glass of water and some scrounged sips. And somehow I was still thirsty when I went to bed. 

 

 

Goal 2: I See Those Workouts. Let's Take Them A Little Further. 

 

I did Yoga Meltdown Part 1 - and it went better than expected. A little difficult, but nothing was out of reach. 

 

 

Goal 3: Metrics! All The Metrics! 

 

Metrics. Spreadsheet. Lurve. Math! Blergh!

 

I had my usual DH's green smoothie for breakfast; my favorite kale & edamame salad from Trader Joe's for lunch; a snack of those tasty, tasty mixed nuts & cherries that has been calling my name; and a repeat of the chipotle lime turkey meatballs I managed to think about during my entire vacation, this time with baked sweet potato fries. 

 

I got close to my protein goal in (63g), a bunch (93g) of fats, high carbs (142 - just in the maintenance band), and a bunch (1321mg) of salt. 

 

 

Goal 4: Finish What You've Started.

 

No work on the core of this goal. I did however, process some pictures from the trip and this will take priority over knitting or crafting until it is done. And the trip book. Got to finish that. 

 

Overall, a pretty good day for just getting back into the swing of things. 

[BlamedCat]

I'll say, you're doing good for jumping back on the wagon.  Proud of ya for snapping back into place so quickly.

[darkfoxx]

Thanks, @BC. I didn't give myself the option to laze about, and I think that really helped. We got back Saturday, walked a bunch Sunday at the Cherry Blossom Festival, and by Monday my brain was back into 'this is a normal week and I normally do Yoga on Mondays' mode. I'm pretty pumped about it.