Well, haven't walked since I've been back. Diet has been a bit chaotic too.
I've been thinking about what approach I should take with my diet. I've been eating a lot of Italian in the last year or so. I like Italian food because it uses real ingredients, and treats them simply. It has to be a good thing, in my mind, to eat an eggplant, or some lamb or some tomatoes. They tend to be made tasty using salt and olive oil.
One option is to move more in the Asian direction. I have been there before. There was a time I only really cooked Asian. I was thinner then, which is my goal at the moment. Unlike Italian though, I see a lot of Asian cooking as flavouring rice with bits and pieces. So in the end the meal really is the rice, whereas with Italian the meal is the ingredient.
Taking the "you are what you eat" approach to things, I think I'd rather be an eggplant than some polished rice.
Rather than being driven by cuisine though, I really should be driven by ingredients. I should really be thinking, what is it I would like to eat this week, and then use simple techniques drawing from whatever cultures I can to make those ingredients palatable.
Take salmon for instance. Not a big fan. But if I've learned anything in this journey, it is that you can change habits. I would like to eat it twice a week. It could be grilled with a herbs and oil in the Italian fashion. It could have a side sauce used by the French. It could be made into an Indian curry. Or it could be in a vietnamese soup.
I think my week would be more interesting if I nailed a couple of these dishes and cooked them pretty well every week. Repetition is fine by my book. I could sleep with the same hot chick of my dreams once a week. Same with food. I just need to find the hot chick, sorry, the recipe and ingredients, that do it for me.
So if I were picking things I'd like to eat once a week they would be salmon twice, eggplant, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The other day could have a meat dish. Tomatoes could also be in there somewhere, simmered in olive oil.
Just need to get experimenting and sourcing.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Day 211: Back at work
Well, back into the salt mines. What a long fucking day.
I'm going to spend this week just trying to get back into the routine. Cooked nice vege stir fry.
I'm fucking exhausted. Travel really takes it out of you.
Got someone at work who said she had my card for years as her husband worked for a brewery and she wanted to talk to me. He'll be at the XMas party this Friday and we'll be able to talk about piss together all night. Wheeep.
So goals for this week are getting the food back on track (no shit) and getting back into my daily walk.
I'm going to spend this week just trying to get back into the routine. Cooked nice vege stir fry.
I'm fucking exhausted. Travel really takes it out of you.
Got someone at work who said she had my card for years as her husband worked for a brewery and she wanted to talk to me. He'll be at the XMas party this Friday and we'll be able to talk about piss together all night. Wheeep.
So goals for this week are getting the food back on track (no shit) and getting back into my daily walk.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Day 209: Carpet
Ah, fucking bath leaked and now the carpet is wet in my flash apartment in Queenstown, on my second last day here.
Just what I fucking need.
Just what I fucking need.
Friday, December 3, 2010
DAY 208: Part II Winery
Well, I'm a sucker for temptation that's for sure. Just did a winery tour, complete with a tasting, in the fucking cellar. That's right, in the cellar, in the mountain, in the most awarded winery in New Zealand.
The smell hits you as soon as you walk in. Then wine by wine, they put a glass in my hand, the smell of which I inhaled like a starving man, and which reminded me, to my very core, of all the good wonderful things to be done with alcohol.
Did I tell you I really like alcohol? I really really like it. I appreciate it. I evangalise it. I seek it out, think about it, write about it, encourage others to bask in its wonder.
But not this time. I had to hand the glass to my girlfriend, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, and had 8 glasses in the cellar instead of 4.
She was on top of the world by the end of it. I was almost out of my mind.
My advice is not to do things like that.
The smell hits you as soon as you walk in. Then wine by wine, they put a glass in my hand, the smell of which I inhaled like a starving man, and which reminded me, to my very core, of all the good wonderful things to be done with alcohol.
Did I tell you I really like alcohol? I really really like it. I appreciate it. I evangalise it. I seek it out, think about it, write about it, encourage others to bask in its wonder.
But not this time. I had to hand the glass to my girlfriend, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, and had 8 glasses in the cellar instead of 4.
She was on top of the world by the end of it. I was almost out of my mind.
My advice is not to do things like that.
Day 208: Next steps
Well, I've only got a couple of days more in NZ.
I've been thinking about things, and really want to ramp it up when I get home. Focus on results weight wise, rather than being fit for Milford.
So on my friend the scales on Monday morning. I'll keep the Cootha routine. I think it's a good one. It's just what next after that.
I might dump the backpack though. I don't think it's good for your back.
I've been refreshed a bit over here. I'm going to try and improve myself in a number of ways when I get back. At work. With health. Try and use this grog free time to really get some results professionally and personally.
I've only got 22 weeks left in this 'Year off the grog'.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Comment
See Claire at http://nomorepissingaround.blogspot.com/2010/11/alcohol-is-not-my-friend.html
And my comment:
Grogger said...
Ah my friend, my non-drinking mentor who in truth inspired my year off the piss, my fellow drinker. The battle between good and evil. The battle between being social, bonding with fellow humans, participating in the rituals of society, letting one's hair down, engaging in debauchery, or just enjoying a drink.... and the negatives that come with it (including depression, weight gain, addiction and time theft).
I guess I have the non-drinking perspective now. You are slowly losing yours. The Year Off The Piss will become a blip for you. A dim memory. The perspective, slowly but surely, will be lost, and replaced with a drinking routine that has every chance of ramping over the next 12 months to exactly what it was. Alcohol is like that. It just seems so so good. Why not just one. And if you can have one, why not another, especially if you are having the time of your life. It wouldn't be fair not to. In fact, it would be rude and anti-social not to.
It is interesting you felt flat after two wines one day and was able to push through with a run the next. I found as I got older (35 now) that even small amounts of alcohol made me feel flat the next day. Larger amounts more so.
I think you hit the nail on the head in your blog post where you identified that being off the piss allowed you to focus on larger things. It did not distract you with the routine of being pissed, hung over, depressed or whatnot. You had some clarity.
There aren't any right answers here. No correct behaviour. It is just how you want to spend your time on the planet before it ends, or before you get so old as to not enjoy it as much. Much pleasure can be found in either route, and it is deeply personal.
December 1, 2010 11:19 AM
And my comment:
Grogger said...
Ah my friend, my non-drinking mentor who in truth inspired my year off the piss, my fellow drinker. The battle between good and evil. The battle between being social, bonding with fellow humans, participating in the rituals of society, letting one's hair down, engaging in debauchery, or just enjoying a drink.... and the negatives that come with it (including depression, weight gain, addiction and time theft).
I guess I have the non-drinking perspective now. You are slowly losing yours. The Year Off The Piss will become a blip for you. A dim memory. The perspective, slowly but surely, will be lost, and replaced with a drinking routine that has every chance of ramping over the next 12 months to exactly what it was. Alcohol is like that. It just seems so so good. Why not just one. And if you can have one, why not another, especially if you are having the time of your life. It wouldn't be fair not to. In fact, it would be rude and anti-social not to.
It is interesting you felt flat after two wines one day and was able to push through with a run the next. I found as I got older (35 now) that even small amounts of alcohol made me feel flat the next day. Larger amounts more so.
I think you hit the nail on the head in your blog post where you identified that being off the piss allowed you to focus on larger things. It did not distract you with the routine of being pissed, hung over, depressed or whatnot. You had some clarity.
There aren't any right answers here. No correct behaviour. It is just how you want to spend your time on the planet before it ends, or before you get so old as to not enjoy it as much. Much pleasure can be found in either route, and it is deeply personal.
December 1, 2010 11:19 AM
Day 207: Walked Milford Track
Well I walked the Milford Track again with my olds and cousin. 53k including 1 mountain.
It was much easier than last year, which I put down to my increased fitness and weight loss since giving up the piss and training every week around the bloody mountain.
So great outcome.
Yes I did feel like a beer at the pub at the end. But no, I didn't have one.
So where to from here? Well, I'm relaxing now still in Queenstown, recovering, and will be back in Oz on Sunday. I think from there I weigh myself and get serious about dropping a kg a week on an ongoing basis until I'm happy.
I want to keep up the mountain routine. And perhaps add some more exercise as well. I'm thinking perhaps weights and swimming.
It was good on the track to not be in pain cardio or legs wise. That's the benefit of fitness. I can only imagine what it would be like if I dropped a shitload more weight.
It was much easier than last year, which I put down to my increased fitness and weight loss since giving up the piss and training every week around the bloody mountain.
So great outcome.
Yes I did feel like a beer at the pub at the end. But no, I didn't have one.
So where to from here? Well, I'm relaxing now still in Queenstown, recovering, and will be back in Oz on Sunday. I think from there I weigh myself and get serious about dropping a kg a week on an ongoing basis until I'm happy.
I want to keep up the mountain routine. And perhaps add some more exercise as well. I'm thinking perhaps weights and swimming.
It was good on the track to not be in pain cardio or legs wise. That's the benefit of fitness. I can only imagine what it would be like if I dropped a shitload more weight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)