Year 2, Day 164: Dragon Chef, What Number?

I had a realization this morning, as I stumbled into the sunlight, feeling the years more keenly that I usually do upon waking. My card game used to be a carb fest: white sugar, white flour, malt coupled with fat, caffeine and alcohol. I realize now that it has transformed from a carb fest to a fat-fest. That is to say, what I am eating differently from what I eat most days is the large volume of fats, and in this case, nuts. This morning I thought, "what is the anti-fat?" "What can I eat that will counteract the fat?" And of course, the answer is really exercise, because you need a little fat to make all the other fiber and stuff get absorbed by your body. So I just had my regular breakfast.

Breakfast
1 Cup Kashi Go Lean/Heritage Flakes
1 Small Banana
1 Cup Unsweetened soy milk
Green Tea

Snakenz
Coffee
2 small bites of Ruby's french toast with Vermont Maple Syrup
tiny bite of Emily's Cheese Omelet
2 handfuls of cashews/almonds

Lunch
Romaine, Cabbage Salad with Celery, Red Pepper, Feta, Almonds and Balsamic Vinegar
Chicken Breast
A few bites of Ruby's leftover hamburger

Dinner: Bernard's (Chinese)
Spare Ribs
Steamed Chilean Bass (which is actually Patagonian Toothfish)
Sesame Chicken (which is really candy)
Green Pea Pods
Broccoli

Not a great day from an eating perspective. If I can't eat like a monk on a diet prior to the card game, I know I should eat like that afterwards. But Aileen was in town and so we all sort of went with the flow. We had lots of yummy Chinese food for dinner. Ruby discovered boneless ribs (as her father had, 20 years ago) and ate nearly half a plate full. I tried to stick to the fish and the greens, but I do have a soft spot for chicken, rolled in chestnut flour, deep fried, and then dipped in a sweet sauce and ladled with sesames. It reminds me of "Dragon Chef"—a takeout Chinese place in Brighton with an open kitchen and a gruff staff who would take your order (only after demanding that you order by number) and deliver it to my college apartment. Ray (my roommate) and I and Emily often made the perilous trip rather than take our chances on their spotty delivery service. Because of their open-style kitchen, it was always worth the trip, but we really went so we could eat the boneless spareribs out of the bag on the way home.