i hope you like avocados.

because we sure do. whenever people come over, i like to put something delicious out to snack on.



My reasoning is twofold.
a) it's just what a good hostess does.
b) our friends like to drink. it's a good idea to eat if you're drinking.

mmmmmmm....



My favorite thing to make is guacamole because it is DELICIOUS and everyone loves it, everyone can eat it (vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, etc) and just one avocado makes enough for about 4 people.

All you do is slice up the avocado, squeeze some (I like a healthy dose) of lemon or lime juice (or both) all over the buttery green deliciousness. Dump some salsa on top (go easy, you can always add more at the end. At this stage less is more.)



Now, take your fork, and go bananas! MASH MASH MASH MASH!



Taste, and enjoy! Eat it on chips, celery sticks, or by the spoonful when no one is looking.

Then tell your boyfriend to stop taking pictures of you because it's making you BONKERS and party the night away!

Update!

Well, here is the as-promised update! I have successfully given up carbs of all sorts for (as of tomorrow) an ENTIRE WEEK! I'm pretty proud, and it hasn't really been that hard, if you can believe that.

That said, I am not going to do the whole 2 weeks. I feel like I got what I wanted, which is a resetting of the old bodily workings. I feel good in my body again, dropped a few poundages, and I'm going to continue to avoid the old carb family of foods, but I'm going to allow delicious alcoholic bevvies back into my life. It's going to be hot this weekend, I plan to do some park-sitting/picnicing with pink prosecco, and no goofy diet stuff is going to stop me!

Basically, I feel like this week has re-aligned all my insides, and my relationship with food and eating, therefore it was a great success! It forced mindfulness, which I used to be a master of, but lately had been slacking.

Anyway, enough of this. Less regime, more hedonism!

Confession.

I have gained 8lbs. 10 since my perfect happy place, and 8 since we moved out here. Confirmed today by my trusty new scale.

Ugh. What's a girl to do? Obviously, this cannot be tolerated. So, I thought I'd use you, dear reader, as a sounding board and check-system. I'm no-carbing it(sort of phase one of South Beach), and your job is to keep me honest. I'm not really too worried about it. I like and eat a lot of vegetables anyway, and dessert isn't ever very tempting. Plus, you can still eat good things like CHEESE when low-carbing it up, so that's something. Honestly, and I realize this might ring the alarm bells for some, the hardest thing to give up is drinks.

We don't drink at home much, not regularly anyway, but when we meet friends, it's usually for drinks at the super awesome pub down the street which I love with passion. And though I can still join David and co. there, I will be the weirdo drinking soda water. That's going to be sort of a pain. But small sacrifice for having my body back, and I've been missing it for a few months now.

What's odd is I really don't know how I gained the weight, it just sort of happened. Regardless, I know for a fact that low-carbing it works, and so I am going to stick to it! I'm in CRAZY intense summer classes for the next couple weeks, so its not like I was going to have that much fun anyway...

Well, you didn't really need to know all that, but I thought maybe writing it for all the world to see might make me stick to this for the whole 2 weeks that I hope to. So thanks. I'll still write about fun stuff and food etc. - maybe more than before! Or not...

I considered this regime, but ultimately decided it sounded a little dicey and with this 8lbs and bikini season looming, I couldn't afford to mess around.

AnthBo

I have owned the Les Halles cookbook since the day it came out. Have I ever once cooked something out of it? No.

Until tonight! After a long day of hard reading (Bourdieu anyone? UGH. But sort of in a good, brain-massaging way. Sort of. I digress. Finals, sorry) I came home, mentally exhausted. But my body was restless.

Moments like these are just made for a good cooking project, and as it happened there lurked in my kitchen 3 open, but barely touched, bottles of red wine. Clearly, this called for Boeuf Bourguignon! And not just any would do, oh no! I wanted to slave away for a while, I wanted exhaustion, anticipation, heat, slicing and searing, maillard reactions!

Clearly a job for my love, the guru, the self-effacing stud-muffiniest : Anthony Bourdian and his fabulous Les Halles cookbook. Most of the recipes in this book call for things that I will likely never go buy, like pigs blood. This one, however, is blessedly simple.

2lbs beef (I bought stewing beef, he calls for shoulder)
6 carrots, chopped in 1 inch pieces
4 onions ( I used 3, it was plenty)sliced thinly
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
1 cup decent red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons flour

1. Get all your ducks in a row. Get the olive oil heating up, almost smoking.



2. MEAT. People like meat. Put salt and pepper on it.



3. Brown the meat. Don't grey it, get it good and maillard-y.



4. Take all the meat out. Drool at it for a sec.



5. Dump the onions into the meaty residue. Let them cook. 15ish minutes. After 10, add a little flour. This will smell very good.



6. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Bring it to a boil, and simmer briefly.



Are your carrots and bouquet garni ready yet?



7. Add everything to the pan.



8. Add enough water to cover it all. Bring to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 2 hours.

9. Serve. He says it's better the next day, so tomorrow night we're going to eat it with baguette and wine and cheese and salad and friends! You should too! Mmmmm.




10. Make like me and have a night of it! Put on some Bruce Springsteen and Bangles goodness, and your favorite cute apron, pour yourself a glass of wine and get cooking! AnthBo would.



Minus the apron maybe.