Much as I like to cook, I like to go out even more! We go for foods I won't cook at home, which saves money (no buying pkgs of this and bags of that of which I only need a little and rest goes unused), ensures portion control, and I never, ever have to spend time doing prep or washing dishes. Woohoo! Anyway, here are some of the more interesting dishes that have crossed our path in the last couple of months as we journey from restaurant to restaurant. Maybe some of you will find some inspiration for your own kitchens: Inexpensive ethnic: - A small Portuguese grocery store offered five different brands of linguiça (they have many more, but they rotate them according to availability and limited freezer space). We chose three to pan-fry and taste-test, two local Northern CA and one from Boston MA. Spouse is Portuguese-Chinese so linguiça is one of his Favorite Foods. The Boston brand was too smoky and had too much red wine vinegar in it to be eaten alone, but baked with cannellini beans was excellent. Locals win, which made us proud, LOL. - Tea-smoked salmon at a "this is California BBQ" place. Nice-sized filet, with gentle smoke flavors, not overcooked. A bright green cilantro sauce goes well with the fish. It's derived from a Barbara Tropp recipe in her long-ago China Moon restaurant/cookbook (still available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/China-Moon-Cookbook-Barbara-Tropp/). Tea smoking is a classic Chinese cooking technique, usually used on poultry. It's great with the salmon; even pleased my Spouse who is not a salmon lover. - Khashi Ko Masu, goat in a rich gravy which the menu describes as common in Nepalese households. We specified hot for the chile level. This Ko Masu curry showed how what is good home cooking can be as fine as anything at a four-star bistro. It had a complex and well-balanced spice mixture, richly flavored without being oily. We've had a lot of curries in our lives, but this ranked as one of the best gravies ever. A great bistro would drizzle this sauce over a few slices of lamb tenderloin and charge $30 a plate. This small friendly neighborhood Indio-Nepalese restaurant uses throwaway neck bones with almost as much meat on them, along with a full cup of gravy, for a bargain $8.99. - Thai coconut soup: Spouse chose chicken, with a heat level of "hot." Not the usual clear broth, but a creamy bisque-type soup. Flecked with chile flakes, full of juicy thin-sliced chicken breast strips and generous shavings of fresh young coconut, this was a phenomenal bargain at $3. The coconut cream was rich and thick, lightened up with not only lemongrass but kaffir lime leaves. We love Thai soups, and this was one of the tastiest versions ever. - In the SF Bay Area, KFC has a very different meaning for foodies. With our large Asian population, it means Korean Fried Chicken. Batter-fried wings are generously doused with a sweet, mildly hot gojuchang. At a new restaurant we tried, their version was tasty although not great. It's always been a one-dimensional dish, with nothing complex or subtle about it. Everything is in the execution, and this restaurant delivered a slightly better than average version. It wasn't quite our style preference; we prefer a lighter batter, juicier chicken, and less goopy sauce. But we're in the minority here; a great many people like hard-fried battered chicken with lots of goopy sauce. - Stewed tripe, Ethiopian style. Very tender strips in spiced butter and onions, but actually a little bland. We'd like to try it with a souped-up chile level, the way they make zigne, their stewed beef. Spicy stews with great injera, one of our favorite bargain loves. Upscale eateries: - Stopped by a local gourmet marketplace and chose a Prosciutto di Parma to taste-test against a Jambon Serrano. The winner was…both. We liked them equally well, especially in Spouse's beloved Croque Madame. Toasted ciabatta rolls with Swiss Gruyere, with gently fried eggs on top: the best breakfast sandwich ever. We also bought some merguez sausages, which are in the freezer so they'll get super-chile-hot! Perfect with eggs or creamy polenta, I haven't decided which to do yet. - Prickly pear crème brulee. Most fruit custards are unsuccessful creations; either watery and weak-flavored, or too thick and sweet. This was a well-executed balance of fruit and creamy custard, sweet but not overly so. A lovely rosy pink color, too. - Standard fritto misto of shrimp, green beans, artichoke hearts, shishito peppers, and fennel. It was the dip that made it outstanding: an "onion ash mayo". This was one of the few Scandinavian/Modernist touches we've enjoyed, a remarkable creation. It had great depth of flavor without any 'ashy' taste, or even a strong onion taste. It was just simply…yummy. All three diners wiped the dip ramekin clean! - A Southern version of minestrone: white bean soup with tasso ham, full of diced vegetables, sliced shiitake mushrooms and whole small white beans. The tasso ham was generously diced and gave the soup a gently spicy edge. Really lovely, well-balanced but not heavy. - Fried chicken which was fabulous (lightly battered, exquisitely juicy and flavorful) but even better were the Caribbean-style accompaniments: collard greens in spiced coconut cream, black-eyed peas, and spicy Ghanian peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was lightly spiced but not chile-hot, and when the coconut cream from the collard greens was mixed into it, this was a great combination. Many times peanut sauces are cloying in texture and taste; this was not. Some lightly pickled vegetables (cabbage, sweet green pepper slices and raw carrot slices) garnished the dish. Just that little hint of acidity livened up everything. - Duck paté salad, which wasn't a salad in the traditional sense. It was a long straight piped line of slightly foamed duck liver mousse, sectioned with three thin baguette toasts that were full of airy holes, toasted to the golden brown of Melba toast. Colorful segments of barely cooked kumquats were sprinkled over the plate. This was rich yet airy, visually stunning, and Spouse loved it. He said it was a perfect starter for a day that felt like summer. - Poached egg with caviar. The sous vide poached egg was on a bed of melted leeks. The caviar is sprinkled generously on top. On the side, in a napkin to keep them hot, were six fluffy blini, so good that Spouse kept urging me to request more blini so he could eat them himself! When you break the egg yolk, you get a wonderful soup of egg, leeks, butter and caviar to eat with the blini. A luscious, amazing dish. - Asparagus salad. White and green asparagus just-picked from the restaurant's garden, barely cooked. Tiny halves of hard-boiled quail eggs decorated the top, along with a scattering of pink rings of pickled pearl onions. Underneath was a housemade sauce gribiche. The asparagus was cooked but still crunchy, the eggs amazing with the gribiche. Traditionally another hard-boiled egg is sieved on top as a garnish, but the small size and delicate taste of the quail eggs made this unnecessary. Although the pickled onions weren't needed, they were surprisingly good with the asparagus by itself. It was a lovely, fresh, satisfying salad. - Fried calamari with apricots. The baby calamari rings had a light golden batter and were delicately tender. They came with a creamy vadouvan sauce, a judicious amount of finely diced barely-cooked carrots, and a few tart fresh apricot quarters. This was a wonderful combination of flavors and textures. Vadouvan is the French curry spice mix, and I suspect the name is often used on menus to coax reluctant diners into experiencing the flavor of curry mixtures as a seasoning, rather than just cheap Indian buffet food. Regardless of whether the mayonnaise was seasoned with true vadouvan or merely a mild fragrant curry, this dish turned out to be the winner of that evening's dinner. We literally fought over this one. ================ * One notable loser: Truffled chicken nuggets. Spouse was unable to resist seeing what an upscale McNuggets would be like. He received half-a-dozen two-inch neatly-cut cubes, with a crisp golden-brown crumb coating. Alas, they had an odd texture, as if the chicken breast had been cooked, shredded, and then recombined into the cubes. The black truffle flavoring on the chicken shreds was very heavy, almost overpoweringly so. It was an awkward pairing with the whole-grain creamy mustard sauce that underpinned the plate. Spouse ate it, but said he didn't really care for it and wouldn't order it again.

Jess: Remember the puzzle over what cause our cravings for sweets ?? I still take Brewer's yeast (high in chromium, B vitamins, selenium) for my sweets-craving. I consumed Brewer's yeast for my immune when I was sick with flu-shot reaction, it took away my craving for sugar (despite drinking just lemons, no sugar). Now I cut down to 1/4 dose (only twice a week), just to supply chromium to stabilize my blood sugar. It does help with craving for sweets, see below excerpt: http://www.livestrong.com/article/101523-herbs-lose-weight/ "Chromium: This trace mineral helps metabolize carbohydrates. Some diabetics take it to help stabilize their blood sugar. It also can be used to curb cravings for sweets. Susan Brown, a certified clinical nutritionist in East Syracuse, New York. She recommended 200 micrograms of chromium four times per day to a woman who craved sweets. The woman was amazed at how quickly her cravings were tamed." *** From Straw: Months ago, I reported that eating eggs daily helped with my craving for sweets ... found that eggs are good sources of chromium: Foods High in Natural Chromium Beef Brewer’s Yeast Dark Chocolate Chicken Eggs Oysters Potatoes with the skin on Whole Grains Apples Read more: http://undergroundhealthreporter.com/sugar-cravings-how-to-control/#ixzz44hqTBlAK WebMD also reported that chromium helps with craving for sweets, see below: " June 3, 2004 -- A popular nutritional supplement may reduce serious carb cravings in people with depression. The supplement is chromium picolinate. John P. Docherty, MD, president of Comprehensive Neuroscience Inc., White Plains, N.Y., and adjunct professor of psychiatry at Cornell University, penned the report. Docherty's study enrolled 113 people with atypical depression. Two-thirds took chromium picolinate supplements for eight weeks, and one-third got a placebo. Researchers found that atypical depression patients who also had carb cravings improved with chromium compared to placebo. "In that group with high carb craving -- a third of the patients -- we had a very significant benefit from chromium picolinate," Docherty says. "Compared with placebo, it had a 2-to-1 advantage in reducing depression overall." http://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20040603/chromium-may-cut-carb-craving-in-depression?page=2 **** From Straw: I used to buy chromium supplement but threw that away, after studies linked that to liver-damage. Brewer's yeast is much better, since it has all B vitamins, along with chromium and selenium. Will have to find the amount of chromium and selenium in the dosage.

Congratulations @Faron79 on the weight loss and A1C progress! Huge achievements! Really great to hear @legomom23 finding a system that works for you. I think that's definitely the key. I am working really hard to motivate myself out of a bit of a rut. I am slowly losing a few winter pounds, but am really really struggling to take any off. I've been working hard to do 2x 36hr fasts per week and it's helping budge the scale a little, but not much. Frustrating for sure. Otherwise I'm trying to focus on eating healthy foods and being more mindful of snacking. I've also been doing well sticking with my no alcohol during the week plan to keep my alcohol consumption really low. It's never been a big problem for me, but I feel it is healthier for me personally to not drink alcohol most of the week, and then only in moderation when I do. Today is another 36 hour fast. Wish me luck as I power through this. As far as exercise, I am struggling with a really sore shoulder/back/side/arm situation. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what's wrong, but basically any effort with my left arm, especially over my head, is quite painful. Sometimes it's been painful just doing nothing at all. I took an extra day off of swimming (between normal non-swimming days) to try to rest it and it's a little better. Massage this Friday evening should help too. Meanwhile I'm trying to keep running (weather is finally warming up) and swimming most of my other normal days. My sweet sassy dog has been a little aggravating to run with. I want to speed up our runs a bit, but she just doesn't. It's important to get her exercise too, so I won't leave her behind. I did have the vet check her last year when she was doing this to make certain nothing was wrong. One frustration I ran into last weekend: photos. I am terrible at posing and apparently I sometimes pick unflattering clothes. We had a big get together at our house and the group decided to do a group photo quickly with a phone. I was wearing a brand new shirt and feeling reasonable about myself after my weight loss over the last year. But when I see the photo, somehow I'm sticking my stomach out and my shirt is bunched up unflattering. Bottom line, I look like I have a gut. I don't think I do, but that's sure what it looks like. UGH. On a positive note, the ladies at our get together (that are mostly younger than me) commented on how good my skin is looking. I do hope that's a reflection of trying to eat healthy for many years (despite over consuming calories through certain periods) and I hope I can keep it up. I certainly can see some aging in my face and definitely in my body, but I hope my efforts to take care of myself, eat nutritious foods, get plenty of exercise, make a difference in the long run. On a final note, I am really bothered by the judgement I sometimes hear about peoples' weight and bodies. A woman I know is beautiful and has always been thin, sometimes extremely so. She has never once had to worry about her weight. She exercises to have a body builder type body and it shows. But she has never in the 25 years I've known her needed to do anything special to maintain or lose weight. She made a comment about a lady at her gym, who in her words, was heavy but was working out a lot. She commented that the lady must not be eating well, otherwise she would be thinner. It really got under my skin. Ever since adulthood, I have struggled with my weight. Even when I am exercising 6-7 days / week and eating healthy foods, I absolutely still struggle with my weight. This is the first time in a long time that I've felt like I am making progress and it has taken an unbelievable amount of self control and quite honestly, hunger, to get here. Every body is different. Different metabolism. Different capacity for building muscle. Different bone structure. The amount of effort one person might need to put in to maintain a healthy body weight is different than the amount of effort another person may need to put in. And I am so sick and tired of the judgement and the assumption that being fit and thin only requires exercise. I didn't know what to say to her so I said nothing, but I wish I'd had a thoughtful way to help her understand that not everyone has the same experience that she does with weight. Apologies for ranting, but I feel like I don't have anyone with whom to share that frustration.

Used Williams Chili Seasoning for years. Couldn't find it in stores when we moved to Wisconsin so I had to order it online. I liked Williams because it does not contain salt. Also liked the readily available bulk packaging. Inevitably, I would run out so that led me to using whatever. Which was usually packets from Aldi. Then I would run out of those. Now I'm using Bueno from New Mexico or a couple of chile powders that I bought when I was in Mexico. Chile powders, not chili powder. Along with cumin, black pepper, Mexican oregano, coriander or cilantro, sometimes some smoked paprika. sometimes chipotle (either powder or canned), sometime jalapenos or arboro chile and always either Vegemite or Marmite. Sometimes add masa, sometimes corn kernels but neither most of the time. Always pinto beans. But never ever any pasta (it's a Wisconsin thing to put macaroni in chili.) Back to the original question--I have seen Mexene in stores but probably before moving to Wisconsin. Now I am curious about it and will certainly give it a try if I can find it locally.