Peanut butter, Bananas and Tortillas

I have been ignoring this blog for far too long. I have been busy with Race Across America but that is now over, and I can get back to doing what I love to do. Riding and eating real food.

My week on RAAM was mostly peanut butter and a banana on a tortilla. The racers ate a variety of mostly boring but nutritionally dense food. Quinoa with vegetable soup and chicken made into a sort of stew. Nothing you'd eat at home, but they seemed to love it. Pasta with cream sauce was another biggie.

I felt that the prepared food was for the racers and didn't partake. Hence the bananas and peanut butter. In a nutshell, my diet was hideous and I gained weight.

So once my laundry is done and my life is a bit more normal, it's back to Weight Watchers. I had lost 10 pounds pre race. I think about three of those pounds are back. But I will eat well and healthfully and in time I'll take that weight off and maybe five pounds more.

That is not to say I didn't do a bit of high caloric celebrating when the race was over. Annapolis is my old stomping grounds and I was not going to let a little thing like weight control keep me from soft shell crabs and crabcakes. Yes, we have crabs here in Northern California but they are not the correct crab. I am a blue crab east coast crab girl.

I stayed with my friend Luisa and we went into Baltimore to my favorite restaurant, Woodberry Kitchen. She had never been there so it was a real treat for me to introduce her to the place.

As always, the food was perfect. We had a zucchini dip and braised snow peas and pea pods for appetizers. For entree Luisa had a cold plate with farro and vegetables. And yes, I had a soft shell crab.

I was going to order a glass of Peju Cabernet, but the waiter nudged me toward a Maryland Cabernet from Black Ankle Winery. I was not sorry. I can drink Peju here in NoCal.

And it would be a sin not to order dessert at Woodberry, so we got two and split them. One was a raw rhubarb tart with buttermilk cream and rhubarb sorbet. Stunning! I had never thought of using raw rhubarb and I'm going to have to give it a go. The other was a delicious sour cherry pie with cream ice cream. We had a pot of a mellow French press coffee (chocolate overtones-- the only way I have chocolate is in the overtones of coffee and red wine).

I managed to sneak in one more soft shell crab for lunch on my Monday traipsing around Annapolis. I stopped by the dock and saw two solo racers come in. Not much of a crowd on Monday so was glad to add a pair of clapping hands and a cheering voice.

Today will be laundry, refilling prescriptions and definitely some food shopping. Loads of fresh vegetables will be in the cart. Can't wait to start eating well again.