Round

I don’t like fennel. Somehow I thought I could get myself to like it if I kept buying it and eating it, but munching on it today at lunch I realized that I just don’t like it. So I’m going to stop buying it (at least for myself - my DH likes it).

There are so many raw veggies that I do love - red peppers (well, any color, but the red, orange and yellow always taste better to me and have more phytonutrients). I love carrots, celery, fresh cherry tomatoes (not old ones however). Cauliflower, broccoli, it’s all good to me in the crudité world. I miss jicama - can’t find it here in France and I love that stuff w some lime squirted on… I usually have to hold myself back at the market to not buy too many for our small European fridge (plus all the work to cut it up that I usually do on market day).

I’ve been trying to expand my palate in recent years, but it honestly hasn’t been that successful. Well, I’ve learned to like stronger cheeses (living in France will do that to you!) but I still dislike all things licorice or anise (thus the fennel), fishy-tasting fish (although white fish without much flavor I do like), and I also dislike all organ meats. Both the idea and the origin and the smell of foie gras make me nauseous - a problem at dinner parties as it’s the classic French “fancy” thing to serve, but I haven’t given an inch on that. I’ve tried (without success) to like more fish, since fish is good for you and I think it’s a shame I don’t like it, but I just don’t. I don’t like oysters or a lot of other seafoods too (although I like scallops, crab and lobster, and I can tolerate shrimp). Salmon is much too strong for me, and it’s another dinner-party staple, but again something I just can’t bring myself to eat.

I also dislike the flavor of ham and most pork. Especially the stronger cured hams, but even for everyday grocery purchases. I don’t go out of my way to avoid all pork, but I don’t order it, and sometimes the taste will be in a dish and I’ll just find it too strong and stop eating it. Another food aversion I’m not trying to change - most pork is quite fatty and I get enough protein from other sources, no need to worry about it.

But fruits and veggies I generally like, there are very few I dislike, and I somehow thought that I “should” learn to like the fennel. But I don’t. In fact, to be more specific, I don’t like it raw. Maybe if it was cooked I’d like it better, but I’m not going to go out of my way to find out - there are so many veggies I really do like I don’t quite see the point in forcing one more into the repertoire.

What are your “don’t like it” foods?

Well, the trip to London was not without its price - I’m up one pound this morning.

I’m not too surprised - walking all over the place can only partially offset 2 servings of gelato, toffee pudding, smoothies and all the other yummy but caloric fare we took in over the past few days. But the walking was good for my heart, my legs, and my spirit.

In general our meals were reasonable but certainly not dieting, but most of the the breakfast choices were reasonable. It’s probably the number of “square” meals and all the snacks did me in

Although I had hoped to maintain this week (knowing losing was asking too much) I actually consider the week a success, because I was doing well before heading to London, and in London I did make several good choices (even if I made several bad ones too). But mostly because I started on this weight-loss path again even though I knew I had this weekend coming up. And since I had really toyed with the idea of “starting” after the trip, I am so glad that I started beforehand, so the one pound gain is actually a non-event. Had I chosen to keep putting off getting serious again, I probably would have gained at least another 5 pounds in the past few weeks, having my “last” of many many treats…

As for the pound, I’m not too worried about it - I have 3 normal days before we’re off for another long weekend, but the coming weekend should be more reasonable (staying in France but going away w friends).

We are having a lovely time here in London for a few days.  We had a 4 day weekend in France this weekend so we came to London for a short couple’s getaway.

My eating has not been really dieting, but not too outrageous and we’ve walked a ton. Today we hit one of the top “trendy” restaurants in town for lunch — Saint John.  We were quite disappointed, which is really saying a lot because we are not strangers to upper-end eating nor to star chefs, but this place did not live up to it’s reputation at all.  Luckily such disappointment did not also break the caloric bank - both my starter and main courses were very light (although not very interesting or flavorful) and dessert was shared w my DH.

I really enjoy this city - it’s so close I should make it a point to come more often.  It gives me an ‘at home’ feeling without the airfare or jetlag of a trip to the States.  And for the time being a trip here for us is really affordable (even though the city is fiendishly expensive) because we have a friend who has an apartment here & he lets us use it free.  Someday I imagine he’ll either give up the apartment or live here himself, but for the time being it’s wonderful.