Carrot Cake and Mindful Eating

Weight Watchers is all about mindful eating. Portion control. Trade offs. But this week was Jerry's birthday and I admit, frequently, my eating was mindless. It was all about senses-- sight, smell and certainly taste.

On Jerry's actual birthday we went to the Panama Hotel, a neighborhood restaurant that is a favorite.

We ordered appetizers of a beet salad (mindful) and mushroom ravioli (no doubt, mindless). I stayed pretty well under control with my entree-- grilled salmon with root vegetables. I ate only half, saving the rest for another day. And one glass of Zinfandel. But I did have dessert-- a peach cobbler with Tahitian vanilla gelato. And I ate it all.

The next day was austerity mode. I know skipping breakfast is generally seen as a no-no, but I woke up absolutely not hungry. I met a friend for lunch and had a blt, which believe it or not, is Weight Watcher friendly. No mayo, two slices of bacon really does not add up to a lot of points.

But last night we had a birthday dinner. Our friends Sha and Lora, and Jerry's sister Donna and her spouse Linda were guests. Donna and Linda are vegetarians, so I decided to do a no animal flesh dinner. The dinner was to be simple, so I went heavy on the appetizers.

We had a feta and sun dried tomato dip with endive for dipping, Jerry's favorite aged-Gouda cheese, olives, and roasted Brussels sprouts with Balsamic vinegar. All pretty light and mindful.

Dinner was another thing. No matter how you look at it, pesto is fat and calorie laden. The pasta itself, and then the pesto, which I made with pine nuts, garlic, butter, olive oil, Parmesan, and, of course, basil. I used angel hair pasta, which for me, is the right pasta with pesto. I had gotten some tofu with garlic and black pepper at the farmer's market, so I added that as well.

I roasted some lovely squash I got at the farmer's market, and that was dinner. For dessert, we had a carrot cake that I made with olive oil. It was light and really delicious. I made a cream cheese frosting.

And I had a million glasses of wine. We started with a Wellington Victory Reserve, which was delicious, and moved on to a cab and a Zin. Really, three bottles of wine for six people isn't outrageous, but it seems every time I turned around I, or someone, was filling my glass.

So today I am back to austerity. We shall see what Tuesday's weigh-in brings.