A musing on amusement parks

I wish I knew how many WW activity points one earns meandering around an amusement park for 6 hours in 90°F heat. I wonder if it offsets a corn dog or french fries.

Oh well, I'm not going to try to figure it out.  I'll just have to be careful the rest if the week and make sure to get in a few good work outs.

It was all fun and worth it to celebrate my little brother's 28th birthday at Kings Dominion!

Weigh-In Wednesday Week 7

Waddup wonderful weaders, it's Weigh-In Wednesday, week seven!

I'm still on the downward slope, but it was just a 0.4lb loss this week.  No gain so, no worries.  Total loss is 14.2lbs.  Woot.

Looking over the past week, I was mostly on track except for one day when we had the company picnic.  A few beers and boxed wine (ooh la la!) added to a mango water ice added up quick, but was totally fun.  I think I ended up using the great majority of my extra weekly WW points that day.  Unfortunately, it made the end of my UNFATTENING week kinda rough.   I had to keep a very close eye on my intake lest I go into the red.  However, it motivated me to get back to exercising and I did a good amount to try to offset indulgences. Best part is that now I'm on track to making exercise a regular occurrence.  There's a silver lining to EVERYTHING.  I'm like freakin' Pollyanna.  I was even kinda sort of unable to use my leg for a while! OMG I AM Pollyanna.  Or Forest Gump.

Sorry, I think the exercise is doing weird hyperactive things to my brain.  Oxygenating it, or something...

Anyway! this week, my goal will be to try harder to reign it in with the overeating.   It will be a challenge with a birthday dinner to go to on Friday and Kings Dominion on Saturday.  But I'd really like to lose more than half a pound next week.

While I love blogging about THE UNFATTENING along with my other random food experiences,  I am finding that it's making what I find to be meager amounts of weight loss into events larger than they really are.  I know 14lbs is a good amount of weight.  That's 14 boxes of butter.  Fifty-six sticks of butter.  (Hilarious at how I'm using butter as a unit of measurement.)

No, not Butters.  Though this is 12lbs of Butters on green beans.

This is a 1lb box of butter.  Look, it's cultured.  You can only use it on fancy things.  Like haricot vert.  Which is French for green beans. Ooh la la.

This is 14lbs of butter.  Enough for 32 batches of Cook's Illustrated's perfect chocolate chip cookies. Cookies are also a valid unit of measurement.

I know my clothes fit looser. I know I can do a few yoga twists a little easier because there's a little less belly to get around.  My rational brain knows it's a good thing.  But I look in the mirror and I look the same.  And I have sooooooooooooooooo far to go.

But sharing THE UNFATTENING!!!! with you all has also been really neat because I've apparently inspired some of you to embark on your own journeys toward unfattening and more healthy lifestyles.  I'll try my best not to judge how you go about your journey (unless you're starving yourself), but I'll be here if you need support/advice/someone to smack that second Twinkie out ya face.  Of course, I'm no expert on anything.  The only diet I believe in is one where eating fewer Calories than burned will result in weight loss.  When that stops working, then I'll gladly take your advice on how not eating a particular thing and eating a lot of another will be the miracle I've always been looking for.  But until then, everything else out there is a waste of my time.

So, dear friends, good luck and happy eating (in moderation)!

Tea Time

LeCreuset kettle, french press, cast iron tea pot, a big cup of caramel candy rooibos with a little milk and splenda, and really bad nighttime lighting.

A hot beverage is my UNFATTENING life saver.  Perfect mid-morning or mid-afternoon when I've forgotten to pack myself a snack or before bed when I'm feeling unsatisfied but should be going to bed soon anyway. It's warm, it's filling, zero Calories (unless you add cream and sugar), and there are so many flavor options.

I don't drink coffee or caffeinated tea regularly, so I reserve those for before noon.  I don't ever bother with decaf because they still contain some caffeine and taste...different.  

I'm pretty straightforward when it comes to coffee.  I like diner coffee. If you have a Keurig, I'll take a Donut House, thanks.  I'll drink a Starbucks cafe latte and figure it's a good way to get a dose of calcium, but I hate their coffee straight because it tastes burnt.  I hear the blonde roast is pretty good, though.  At home I grind whole Dunkin' Donuts beans freshly each time and use a french press.  

Tea on the other hand... I'm admittedly a huge tea snob. I currently have about a dozen different kinds of tea and non-caffeinated 'teas' in my cupboard right now.  My favorite purveyors are Capital Teas and Teavana.  If I lived in NYC or Canada I'd probably go to David's Teas.  My favorite black tea is black dragon pearls, but Teavana is sadly, currently out of stock.  My favorite green is gyokuro genmaicha because it tastes like rice. Otherwise, I like trying all the flavors.  I easily drop waaaaaaay too much money every time I walk into a tea shop.  

When it comes to making tea or coffee at home, I'm...particular.  I use all three of those pots in the pic above to make a few large cups of tea or coffee. America's Test Kitchen and Alton Brown would approve.

First, I fill the water kettle with cold water.  I stick a probe thermometer down the spout and heat the water to the desired temp.  Too cold and you aren't going to taste anything.  Too hot and you'll extract all the yucky overly tannic flavors.  For coffee, I set my thermometer to 198degF. Below, I've copied a table for tea brewing amounts and temps from Capital Teas.

From Capital Teas 

"Preparing Tea

Tea Type	Amount of Tea (tsp.) per 6 oz. water	Brewing Temperature (°F)	Recommended Steeping Time (min.)
Green	1	175	1-3
White	1.5	175	3-4
Black	1	195	3-5
Oolong	1	195	3-5
Mate	1.5	175	3-5
Rooibos	1.5	208	8-10
Fruit Tisane	1.5	208	8-10
Herbal	1.5	208	8-10

For iced tea, brew at double the strength for the maximum recommended time, then dilute with ice."

Once the water reaches the desired temperature, I pour the water over the tea or coffee in the french press.  I put the lid on and wait the recommended steeping time.  I usually wait 3-5 minutes for coffee.  The rest of the hot water in the kettle goes into the cast iron Japanese tea pot to prewarm what is essentially a holding vessel.  When the timer goes off, I push the french press's plunger down.  I empty the iron tea pot and fill it, and my cup, with the coffee or tea.  

Doing all of this requires a little more effort and dish washing but it ensures your beverage is perfectly brewed and kept warm.  Sure, a typical drip machine or a Keurig or a bag of tea dust is faster, but I don't like to drink coffee or tea for the caffeine kick alone.  It's not just a functional drug.  My little tea/coffee ceremony gives me the opportunity to do something slowly, properly, and appreciatively...basically mindfulness in a cup.  The more mindfully I eat, the less likely it is to overeat.  So, spreading this concept from a simple cup of tea or coffee to every bite I take should really help in THE UNFATTENING!!!!!!

Weigh-In Wednesday Week 6

I was retaining water recently, but now I'm all better (until it happens again in a month.  Yaaaay being a girl). I was up 0.8 lbs last week but this week I'm down...wait for it...drumroll please!....4.4lbs!

Sounds like a lot, but 4.4lbs - 0.8lbs of water weight gain = 3.6lbs over two weeks, or 1.8lbs a week.  Right on track. My current total loss is 13.8lbs. 

THE UNFATTENING! DUN! DUN!!!! DUNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! continues!

I made stuff!

I have been very lucky to have become friends with a farming family. Kerry, a friend from work, is engaged to be married into this family. Occasionally I get to purchase fresh eggs, asparagus, or whatever fruit happens to be in season.  Right now is strawberry season.  Tiny little ruby gems of sweetness, not the apple sized octoploid monstrosities of styrofoam blandness you get at the supermarket.  And I've also been very extremely lucky to have been invited to come learn/help in the kitchen along side Kerry under the tutelage of her soon-to-be-mother-in-law, Nancy.  Today I helped make freezer jam. It was super easy especially since I just happened to arrive when the picking was all done!  But also, Nan basically follows the Sure-Jell pectin instructions but increases the ratio of strawberries to sugar because they don't like it so sweet and prefer a looser consistency, perfect for topping ice cream or pancakes.

We were jammin'.

Plenty of jam for me! Plus some fresh berries of the larger variety.

And since Kerry and Nan have been so kind to let me help out and hang out with them, earlier that day I baked up some lemon pistachio scones.  I used my standby scone recipe, but this was my first time trying this flavor combination and I REALLY like it!   Goes VERY well with strawberry jam :)  I got the idea of putting them together because a couple weeks ago, I made fresh strawberry scones and thought they would be fantastic with lemon curd.  So, same flavor profile, just in reverse.  Plus I had pistachios and they would add some texture and color.

I love hot scones.  Thank goodness I had people to give these to, because I would honestly eat the whole tray. 

Mmm, flaky butteryness.  

This is my favorite scone recipe.   It's moist and buttery and therefore, very much an American scone.  More like a sweet flaky southern biscuit, rather than a lean, dry English cream scone that requires moist accoutrement like  clotted cream and jam.  The secret is the egg.  I used to make cream scones that were good and I thought "more traditional" and taste like the ones you get at Starbucks.  But then I found this recipe and I haven't looked back.  

The best thing about scones is that it holds up to tons of substitutions, so that you'll almost always have all the ingredients you need and make the flavors you want!

(Lemon Pistachio) Scones

2 cups flour (I've used all purpose and whole wheat white.  I've also substituted a third cup with soy isolate powder for some protein and it turned out okay, but a little dry)

1/3 cup sugar (I've used sucrose and whey low.  I think splenda for baking would do fine here)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I typically use a heaping 1/2 tsp of kosher salt because I'm too lazy to get the table salt and the kosher is always on the counter.  And I like how sometimes you get a sudden kick of salt amongst the sweet from a big kosher grain)

8 Tbs frozen unsalted butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup sour cream (I also use plain fat free greek yogurt, clabbered milk, or buttermilk)

Optional stuff

1 cup of pistachios (or other nuts (toasted and chopped) or dried fruit (chopped) or fresh fruit (chopped) or cheese and peppers or crumbled crisp bacon for savory scones, but I'll decrease the sugar to 1/4cup)

lemon zest from 1 big lemon  

juice from 1/2 a lemon

1tsp almond extract

milk or egg

--------------------------------

Preheat oven to 400degF

Toast your nuts (if using) in a dry pan over medium heat. Chop roughly and let cool completely.

In a small bowl mix the egg and sour cream together.  

If using, add in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and almond extract to the egg mixture.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.  

Grate (on box grater or food processor) the butter and mix into the dry ingredients. Alternatively you can cut the butter into 1/4 inch cubes and cut it into the flour with forks or a pastry blender.  But I highly prefer the grated butter because the pieces of butter incorporate evenly and seems easier to me.

Toss the cup of nuts (or whatevers) in the dry ingredients.

Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined.  

Dump out onto a floured surface.

Smoosh into a ball and knead 3-5 times. Do not overwork and do not let the butter melt. 

Cut the ball in half and shape into two disks, about 6 inches in diameter.

Cut each disk into 6 pie pieces.

Place on a lined baking sheet about an inch  or two apart.

Brush tops with milk or an egg wash. 

Bake on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy! Best when hot :)

Seriously?

I know you shouldn't weigh yourself everyday. Weight can fluctuate +/-2lbs on any given day.  But I gained a whole pound since Wednesday. That's just messed up.
Stop messing with my mind!!!!

Wrong way

I woke up to cat vomit on the scale. 

This was appropriate.

Turns out you cannot eat out every freaking day of the week and expect to lose weight.  Or maybe you can but I'd have to deem you some sort of fantastic mystical dieting guru of wonder.  You probably also get your food energy from thoughts and poop rainbows.

Perhaps it's just a skill I need to work on? Dining out responsibly.  Not pooping rainbows.

So in the fifth week of THE UNFATTENING!!!! DUN! DUN!!! DUN!!!!!!!!!!!! I gained. That's right GAINED 0.8lbs. 

It made me sad.

So sad. Like this.  I'd sob with him, but his giant forehead is too mesmerizing.  It's a good thing he has bangs.  No, there's never really a good reason a man has bangs.

Also, his eyebrows remind me of this cat: 

So worried. Don't worry weird little cat.  A little weight gain happens.

Or I could cry like this. Or not. I don't think my face can do that. Thankfully.

Ok, so let's look back at my week. Tons, TONS of dining out.  I kept track of everything and I think I did well on tracking the portion size correctly.  I weigh and measure all of my food at home, so I'm pretty good at estimating food out in the big wide world. But maybe I was off. Also, restaurant food has TONS of salt.  So, it could be water retention.  And the last straw I'll grasp at here is that I am a female human.  We retain water for all sorts of reasons and no reason at all.  Women are mysterious, as most men will tell you.

Enough crying (unless it will help with water retention).  What am I going to do about this travesty?  

This week I vow to eat out less and cook at home more. I'll remember to drink TONS of water.  The more water you drink, the less you retain.  The body is a hoarder in desperate times.  

I like water with a citrus slice (orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit) and some herbs (mint, basil, parsley, a teeny bit of thyme is interesting, too). Refreshing! Less boring than plain. More natural than powdered crap in a packet. 

I've also started exercising.  Sunday there was the bike ride on the Indian Head Rail Trail.  Yesterday I went to zumba at StudioX.  And today I went to yoga and did a little cardio on the elliptical at my gym.

And let me be totally honest -exercise sucks. Right now anyway.  I used to LOVE zumba. LOVE it.  I'd go nearly every day of the week.  But half way through this class, I was thinking of walking out. Thought I was gonna die.  Luckily I had enough sense left to shut up my panicky brain and modified the moves (just arms or just legs) until I felt like my heart wasn't going to jump out of my chest.  But, it really does not help that I have to wear my cage.  

Pivoting is restricted and I'm not keen on jumping much anymore, even though I am allowed. It kind of weighs me down a bit, as if I've got a little kid strapped to my leg. So it's hard to really get into the Latin rhythms, ya know?  Luckily I don't have to wear it while biking or doing yoga.

Yoga was pretty good.  I do wear soft volleyball knee pads so that I can get on my knees comfortably and they don't restrict movement much at all.  No fussing with folding the mat over when on all fours.  I highly recommend them for any yogi with sensitive knees.  I was a little concerned when we started the class on all fours and proceeded to do like 10 minutes of variations of cat and cow and child's pose.  Made it through though, with only a modest amount internal whining.  Got in a very nice half moon pose later in the class, so in the end I was pretty happy. 

But the most important thing is to remember to just keep at it.  Celebrate the successes and accept, learn, and move on from the failures.  Generally a good idea for all aspects of life. I'm in it for the long haul.

CALM DOWN

I'm starting to get food planning anxiety.  It's a lot like the anxiety I get on Mondays at work- how it seems like I have so much work to do and I have to get it all done quickly and it stresses me out and I start to get overwhelmed.  But the day goes on and I realize that, yes, I have a lot to do, but I don't have to get it all done today. And by the end of the week, the work has been spread out and all the important stuff has been done.

This week I had a lot on my plate (haha!) in terms of social eating.  There was my Buffalo Wild Wing outing on Wednesday, margaritas and mexican food on Thursday, weekly potluck breakfast at work and lunch with my dad on Friday, bbq on Saturday, spent the day at my parents' on Sunday (which always means lots of food), and still a birthday celebration on Monday at Sugo.  

So, it's meant a lot of budgeting. And a few times of me stressing out over what I could eat so that I could have tons of WW points left over for dinner.  I've calmed down.  It's fine. But when I'm going out to eat for dinner, breakfast and lunch have got to be light, duh. DO NOT SKIP MEALS.  You will regret it.  It only messes with your metabolism and you are likely to binge later. Nonfat greek yogurt with fruit or an veggie-full egg white omelet for breakfast is a good start.  Calorically light, but high in protein to keep me full.  Fresh fruits and veggies for snacks.  Salads, easy on the dressing and carbs, for lunch.  Did you know Panera has a hidden menu of low carb, high protein and fresh veggie stuff?  You do not get a side of bread and instead of dressing they squeeze fresh lemon juice over it. I like the chicken and hummus bowl because you can use the hummus as a sort of dressing.  It was satisfying.  Strangely, I did not take a picture of it. 

I did take pics of my meal at Uncle Julio's, though!  YUM!  The salmon is really good.  Much better than Copper Canyon Grill's salmon, FYI, which is where I had lunch on Friday with my dad (I do recommend the french dip and burger, though).  Sometimes when I go out, I go whole hog (ahem, BWW) and order all the fried stuff on the menu.  But then I have to only eat half and take the rest home.  Other times, I'm just tired of taking stuff home and get something relatively light, like the salmon.  I eat all or most of the salmon, some of the carbs because they always give too much, and then I don't feel like I need a doggy bag. Oh, by the way, that's my usual just-happens-to-be-Skinny guava margarita and I shared that cajeta covered ice cream. Delicious, especially with a side of work gossip!

I also took pictures of my food at my friends' bbq on Saturday.

Look, Dana! It's blog worthy!

Dana and Chris have a bbq every weekend of the summer.  They provide drinks, hamburgers, and hot dogs and guest bring sides.  I was craving a hamburger (the bun is hiding under the salad), but there were also some artisanal sausages brought by Judy, so I had to have a taste.  I need to be more prolific with my photography because I forgot to take pics of the chips and guacamole, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, homemade pickles, hard cider, and open-faced s'more that I had.  It's hard when you're having fun. Next time!

Thankfully my other social meals have been reasonable.  At the potluck breakfast at work on Friday, there was lots of fresh fruit so I "didn't have room on my plate" for junk.

Though if there had been a jelly donut, totally different story.  Sunday at my parent's was decadent- ribeyes for lunch and crab for dinner - but it was easy to keep it in control.  I'm not actually a huge fan of steak, so I didn't eat much of my ribeye.  And crab is so much work to get out of the shell, how could you possibly overeat?  My brother, sister-in-law, and I also took a lovely 14 mile bike ride, so we burned a couple Calories while making our butts sore!

So, one more social meal before weigh-in Wednesday and I still have a good amount of my weekly allowance of WW points left that I'm not going to have to freak out and act like a sad anorexic.  

It'll be fine. No need to stress out.  It's just food.

Milestone

Hip hop hooray, ho, hey, ho!  I've completed 4 weeks of THE UNFATTENING!  Last week was filled with really good food and lots of it.  And I enjoyed it!  But I stopped when I was full and kept track of all of it.  So, I lost 2.2lbs!  That's now a total of 10.2lbs!  

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only 10 million more to go!!!!!!! Slight exaggeration.  But at my height of 5'5", I should weigh no more than 144lbs.

That seems so tiny.  

I cannot remember a time when I was 144lbs.  Never in my adult life, that's for sure.  I've ALWAYS been overweight, even as a child.  

But that is the goal.  Who knows if I'll be okay at that weight.  It's so far away, I have plenty of time to reevaluate.  

After I entered in my weight in the Weight Watchers online weight tracker thingymabob, a little box popped up and told me I lost too much weight this week. 

Silly computer, losing weight is fun!  You can't have too much fun!

Oh but apparently you can.  You're only supposed to lose 0.5-2lbs a week after the first 3 weeks. You can risk gallbladder damage, kidney failure, thyroid problems, osteoporosis, increased estrogen production, lessening of sexual functions, heart irregularity and changes in blood pressure.   That's not fun. 

However, unless I keep losing more than 2lbs/week for a month, it's not a problem. 

And considering I celebrated my 10lb loss by going to Buffalo Wild Wings and having wings, fries, and fried pickles and NOT going to the gym today, even though I said I would, I don't think I'm going to have to worry too much.  By the way, the fried pickles are really delicious.

So, that brings up another topic: how to celebrate weight loss.  One one hand, the best prize is a lower number on the scale.  On the other hand, I like presents. But why do I need a present for when I lose weight?  Shouldn't I get a present when I do everything right, yet don't lose any weight?  You know, like how kids get an award for perfect attendance at school even though they're supposed to be there anyway?  You could be the worst student in the history of the world, but if you show up everyday, you get an award!  Good job!

Okay, so it's probably best to reward myself, if I am going to do so at all, when I actually accomplish something real.  Like for every 10lbs I lose, I can get myself a gift that is not food.  

(Motivating myself through the plateaus is really the whole reason why I started this blog.  And probably a topic for another time, so let's get back to presents!)

I like sparkly things.  So, I think I shall get myself some jewelry.  I think a nice idea would be a charm bracelet where I could get a new charm for every milestone.  Or I could get a new necklace for each milestone. Hm, no, the point would be to have them all together to remind myself of my accomplishments and to motivate me to keep going.  If it were necklaces and I wore them all at once, I'd end up looking like I'd spent Mardi Gras in the French Quarter.  Minus the booze and puke smell. And I'd keep my shirt on.

I think I'll go with the charm bracelet.  

And a trip to a tropical island when I reach goal.

Richmond is Delicious

The following images will make you think I eschewed the UNFATTENING for the weekend.  But lo, my dear friends, I did not!  Mouthwatering food was at every turn, but I only consumed what I REALLY wanted,  stopped eating when I was full, and kept track of everything.  

This weekend I went to Richmond to visit my best friend, Grace, and her family.  And it also happened to be the weekend of my favorite food festival, Broad Appetit, where over four dozen of Richmond's restaurants offer small dishes of their food for only $3 each.

The festival was on Sunday, but I got there on Saturday.  And I was already hungry :)  Grace, her toddler, Penny, and I went to the Continental early Saturday afternoon.  The Continental serves great, imaginative, upscale diner fare.  

Grace had the black kale caesar salad with fried shrimp and jalapeno corn bread. 

Penny had an outstanding cheddar and gruyere grilled cheese with avocado and bacon.  Well, really Grace and I had some of it.  Penny had some fries.

And I had the breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans, and crispy pork belly.  

When the food came to the table, I was actually a little shocked at the size of my burrito.  It wasn't like a food competition 6lb burrito, but it was BIG.  In addition to a taste of Grace's cornbread and a couple bites of that super rich, super delicious grilled cheese, I ate about a quarter of that burrito and about half the home fries.  The burrito was awesome, mostly because of the shredded crispy pork belly inside.  The home fries could have been better if they had been crustier, but it's hard to turn down well-seasoned potatoes.  I ended up sharing the rest of the burrito with my brother and sister-in-law the next day and they agreed it was delicious.  Do not be ashamed of not eating an entire restaurant portion.  Your friends and family who didn't get to come with you will be grateful :)  So will your pants. 

Fast forward to the next day, after a light breakfast of coffee and a blueberry smoothie with greens and flax  seed, chia seeds, and all sorts of good-for-you-stuff, we headed to Broad Street for the festival.  Andrew, Grace's husband and Penny's daddy, joined us.  We got there at the start at 11am and there were already lots of people.  Some booths weren't quite ready yet.  But the first booth I came across a must-have was Tarrant's. 

Tarrant's Cafe's fried chicken and waffle with maple tahini sauce.  OMG. YES. Perfection.  Everything you'd want in chicken and waffles.  Not really sure what the tahini added, but it was all good.

I can't remember where these came from, but on the left is pig three ways on little edible spoons! On the right is a chocolate dipped macaron and some ice cream.  I tasted each of the spoons, but passed on the sweets.  It wasn't time for dessert, yet (for me, at least).

In the background is a taco al pastor. It was really good.  So good, Penny pretty much ate it all, haha.  Amazing how much little toddler can eat!  In the foreground is elote, or corn on the cob with crema, cheese, and chili powder.  That sort of counts as a vegetable, maybe? 

Now, this...THIS was amazing.  I went to the Mosaic cart and saw this on their menu board.  They weren't quite ready to serve, but I vowed to come back.  It was so worth the wait.  This is a jibarito.  I've seen it a few times on some food shows.  It's the invention of some genius Puerto Rican in Chicago.  It's basically a sandwich (in this case, pulled pork, swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a creamy sauce) where instead of bread, you have  flattened, fried plaintains.  AMAZING.  I knew the plantain would have to be green for structural integrity, but I was surprised by this jibarito, because there was a little sweetness to the plantain indicating a little more ripening, unlike the starchiness of something like a tostone which certainly uses a very green plantain.  I gleefully and without regret ate all of this, minus the two bites Grace and Andrew tasted.

There were a few more things Grace and Andrew had that I took bites of, such as some fusion tacos from Boka Takos (great! Really stuffed full of meat and Asian, American, or traditional Mexican veggies and sauces) and I had some conch ceviche (was kinda meh, but luckily not very Caloric).  There were TONS more vendors with seriously tempting dishes, but by this point I was pretty full.  I still needed dessert and on this hot day, an ice pop fit the bill perfectly.  

This is a watermelon mojito ice pop from King of Pops.  It was like biting into a slice of frozen watermelon with a bit of mint infused through. You can kind of see the green mint leaf suspended in the bottom of the pop.  

So, those were the food highlights of my weekend.  I also had very lovely, delicious meals at Grace's parents' home, as well as my parents' home.  Not as exciting, but just as fun because it was a good time spent with some of my favorite people. 

And in case you're wondering, yes, I pretty much depleted my extra weekly Weight Watchers points this weekend,  BUT, I haven't gone over (I don't think. I had to estimate a bunch of stuff).  So there is still hope for a little loss this week.  If not, that's okay, too.  I'll keep at it, this time knowing more about how to enjoy a food festival, family dinners, and restaurant meal all in one weekend.