Serious Eats
Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 4: The Gauntlet
I have to say I'm not looking forward to getting on the scale this morning. If you noticed up top I subtitled this post "The Gauntlet." This past week was a very difficult one to sustain my diet. Why? Let me count the ways:
I tend to celebrate my birthday as a multiple-day affair, and this year my wife and I embarked on a three-day Woodstock-like celebration. What did we do?
Good friends treated us to dinner at Babbo. As a show of respect the kitchen at Babbo sent out seven desserts for us to try. Gina DePalma's (our newly ensconced Rome correspondent) desserts are amazing, but oh so tempting.
On Saturday some friends came over for dinner. I cooked a gorgeous pork roast on a rack with roasted vegetables and potatoes underneath to catch all the pork drippings. As an appetizer I tested a nacho recipe for the Super Bowl. For dessert my wife made the chocolate cake Dorie Greenspan posted about last week, accompanied by phenomenal vanilla and coffee ice creams from Grom.
And we haven't even gotten to my actual birthday yet.
On Sunday, my actual birthday, we went to a terrific restaurant in my neighborhood, Ouest, with my brother and his wife and my cousin. I ordered very lightly and took half of my pork entrée home.
I taped a video restaurant review of Alto, a terrific upscale New York Italian restaurant. I try to take one bite of each dish for the camera, but the producer is always asking me for "more food to face shots, please."
I went to a party at Bar Boulud celebrating the relaunch of the very handsome, elegant Gourmet.com. Since I had already tried all of the restaurant's phenomenal charcuterie, I managed to avoid eating any of it this time around. There was lots of other food to try, including a truly delicious fish and chips .
I know it's churlish, even ridiculous, to be complaining about all the amazing food I am tempted by on a regular basis, but it does make it extraordinarily hard to lose weight. And I do face the health problems all people struggling with their weight do.
All right, it's time to get on the scale. I'm going to be happy staying the same this week. I did it! I stayed even. I guess it's better than gaining. Next week will be better, I hope. How did everyone else do?