Year 3, Day 169: Vineyard in T Minus 4

I have been working hard and getting ready for vacation. It's been hard to track down good strawberries, but the Canadians have been coming through for me. Unfortunately, they only have them at Russo's when I walk there, necessitating I carry them home while sweating with my salad. I ate quite a few on the drive home, too.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch: Russo's ($5.17)
Romaine, red pepper, feta
chicken, broccoli, mushrooms
balsamic vinegar, pepperocini

Snack
5 Sticks Beef Jerky
2.6 oz Boston Lite Popcorn

Dinner:
Hamburger
Pickles
Asparagus

Went for a brisk walk today. On the way back we noted that there was a police investigation in progress. No doubt looking for perps. Should I start worrying about this walking thing?

Year 3, Day 160: Primos Via the Bubbling Brook

For the first time since I started the diet, and only time I can remember when I have not been sick, I was not hungry when I woke up this morning. So I did the only natural thing: I didn't eat. It took about two hours until I was ready. Then we didn't have lunch until nearly 2pm-- and dinner at 7pm. Not surprisingly, there were no snacks today, which again, excepting sickness, is the only time I can ever remember that happening.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean!
Heritage Flakes
Quebec'n Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch
Tilapia a la Em
Salad with Feta & Almonds

Dinner: Primo's
Mixed Field Greens with Balsamic
Pollo Espinche

Emily, my niece and the kids wanted to go to the Bubbling Brook for dinner. Since it's in Westwood, we decided to find a nice restaurant down there we could go to en route. We figured if all the places were bad along the way we'd just eat there. It's a Howard Johnson type place, hamburgers and fried clams. As it turned out, the last place we visited before that plan took place was Primo's-- an Italian restaurant that absolutely had not one visitor. We practically surprised the staff who claimed the absence of ANY patrons was simply "Westwood in August." The chicken was dipped in egg and fried- not advertised on the menu- but the food was good. Then we went for ice cream, which I wisely demurred.

Year 3, Day 151: The Fruit Scientist

OH GOD, LET IT BE TRUE.

August 1, 2007

Summer's sweet headliners
Strawberries are here - the real, local deal - and the crop looks bountiful. Chefs who wait for them all year find intriguing roles for that perfect flavour

JULIAN ARMSTRONG, The Gazette
A bumper crop of Quebec strawberries is forecast and, in contrast to earlier times, it won't come all at once and then be gone. "It will be a big, big, big strawberry season, for sure until the beginning of October," says Andre Plante, a Marche Central official.

Montreal chefs are already working their magic with the berry they have been waiting for all year long. Responding to the prospect of all those sweet, juicy local strawberries, they are expanding their strawberry repertoires, from Grandmother's shortcake and a strawberry mille feuille, to the more far-out: Strawberries with seafood, anyone? Or in vinaigrette with the savoury likes of red onions and basil?

"It's one of our best strawberry years ever, and maybe we'll even have Quebec strawberries at Thanksgiving dinner," said Plante, executive director of the Association des jardiniers maraichers de la region de Montreal.

Fruit scientist Shahrokh Khanizadeh agreed, citing the traditional varieties of Quebec's favourite berry that are on sale now, and the new breeds that have extended the season into autumn. "We had wonderful temperatures (this spring), no frost at blossom time, and the perfect amount of sunshine and rainfall," he said from his federal research farm at L'Acadie.

Breakfast
Kashi
Canadian Strawberries
Massachusetts Blueberries
Bananas from Ecuador
Soy milk from Silk
Coffee from Peet's

Snack
1.5 oz Boston Lite Popcorn
4 Sticks Beef Jerky
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar

Dinner: Quince
Assorted Olives
A few bites of very white bread with mushroom butter (this sickened emily)
Smoked Salmon on a Slice of Pickle
Field Greens "Dressed for the Season" (this meant Almond Slivers, Cherries and Goat Cheese)
Artic Char, on Spinach and White Bean Succotash

Dessert
1 Small Meringue cookie with Almond Slivers

I came home early and Emily and I played tennis indoors at the Wellesley spot. The lights went out in the middle of our second set. She won both 2-6 and 5-7. We tried to go to Sweet Basil (a fave Italian spot in Needham) afterwards, but it was crawling with ants (shaped like people) and so we tried the next best thing, which was the place across the street with very few people in it. This turned out to be a good choice and certainly better than the Rice Barn, a restaurant a little farther away with absolutely NO people in it.

Year 3, Day 135: Driving to Quebec

Frustrated by two successive trips to Russo's without local strawberries, and devastated by the crappy taste, texture, appearance of Driscoll's sub-par product, I leave work early to suss out a local farmer's market where I am disappointed. A few phone calls bring me to Volante Farm, where I land two quarts of Quebec-based strawberries which look like native Massachusetts strawberries and taste fantastic. At $6.99/quart they are truly an indulgence, but I must have them. I pack them carefully in a box, considering whether I should buy a third quart and skulk away, eating them in the car on the way home.

Breakfast
Kashi (last of mass. strawberries)
Heritage Flakes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Snack
4 slices of turkey
1 beef stick
1.5 oz boston lite popcorn.

Lunch: Chang Shin Yuan
Chun King Pork
Shrimp & Broccoli
Pea Pod Tendrils
Tea

Dinner
Hamburger & Brisket
Salad
Equivalent of two ears of corn, as unfinished by Magnolia

Cahn Shin Yuan closed for two weeks, it was tough. Today was our triumphant return, and it felt so good. Perhaps giving in to a little indulgence, we ordered a third dish between two people, though it was a vegetable, and it Pea Pod Tendrils, and they were so yummy. We finished everything.