omg.....look where I'm eating tonight....

http://www.ciudad-la.com/

This is owned by the ladies of "Two Hot Tamales" fame for TV Food Channel junkies and lordy!!! IT"S SO GOOD!

OK so, last time I went I ordered that gaucho steak on the dinner menu TWO mojitos and endless crackers and tapanade beforehand....and somebody ordered guacamole or something & I had some of that.....

What is hard is that everyone will order appetizers and pass them around!! ARRRGH!

One thing is we have theater at 8:00 so I really only have to keep my hands off of everybody's hors d'oevres etc. for two measly hours, is all.

My plan is to order grilled fish and veggies, one glass of wine requested to be brought with dinner (wine seems to make me go what-the-**** re: appetizers!) AND THAT'S IT!

WISH ME LUCK!

Good luck! Be strong!

Re: the wine - why not order water to drink, then ask for the wine when your dinner actually arrives. I've often done that due to indecisiveness, but restaurants are usually quick about bringing drinks so you shouldn't have to wait for it. That way you can't have it with the appies accidentally.

Jax

One thing about living in Mississippi. I don't have to worry about an overabundance of fine restaurants to choose from. Actually, the town I live in is/was a tourist town pre-Katrina and we do have some relatively nice restaurants. It's just not convenient like it is in a city. Good luck Kate.

How did it go Kate? I hope you weren't too stressed.

I had a poor day yesterday - not in a general sense but in a Sonoma wave 1 sense. I did finish the tub of ricotta in the fridge plus I had a very un-Sonoma supper - DH brought home a roast chicken from the store and I ate it with (white) sourdough bread and a tomato. Not the greatest sin in the world but much more than I have been eating in the last few days. Scale is forgiving this morning though - the same as yesterday (169.8 for my "official" Friday weigh-in).

Back to wave 1 today! I thought about extending wave 1 but I really don't eat much (usually!) in the way of sweets or white flour products, so I think I'll move to wave 2 on Monday anyhow. I also know that I don't crave such foods, but I will always eat them occasionally. Besides, I know I'll have a glass of wine on DH's birthday on Monday.

I'm off camping for the weekend, have a great Labour Day weekend to all,

Jax

Hey there! That is always a good idea to have water, water, water before the meal arrives but alas I was in the bottle-in-the-middle-of-the table situation and in the Forgive-Me-Father-For-I-Have-Sinned category I will count my second glass....

However, on the bright side, I didn't have the second glass till all the evil appetizers were cleared off the table, didn't have the deliciously decadent "mojito" (rum drink) they are famous for, ordered grilled Mahi Mahi for my main course, didn't order any first courses or dessert, didn't finish all the butter mashed yuca on my plate...just tasted it!

All and all I give my pre-performance performance a B. Not perfect but not bad and I'm the same weight today, so, yay. No harm no foul.

It's kind of strange but the fact that I posted this here and what I was going to do....I swear I really DID think of that!

Oh and btw if anybody lives by a touring company of "Jersey Boys" you really must GO GO GO!! You'll burn lots of calories on the standing O's! It just LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!

My friend who moved to the South says the "fry everything that's not nailed down!" LOL...

Hey Petra did you move down there from PA to help out after Katrina?? I'll bet they had a lot of people settle elsewhere during the cleanup and stuff, they must love having doctors move in to town!

Hey jaxjob, Wave 1 seems HARD! I did the very similar Phase 1 of South Beach diet and although I stayed on it perfectly, lost only 3 pounds during the 2 weeks, but I have to admit I really need more structure as far as portions and stuff go....I just tend to overeat, even the good stuff!

But I HATE the "points" thing at WW, that worked so well for my mom, for whatever reason it makes me NUTZ!!! My mom lost 30 lbs on WW like 10 years and she's still looking up the "points" to everything etc...she's such a good WW person.

I really like the more relaxed Sonoma method of portion control with the smaller plates and suggestions on filling them.....for some reason I find that doable, the amounts fine and the whole thing amazingly not crazy making!

Sort of. I've always loved this part of the country and many professionals fled post-Katrina opening up a lot of good jobs. Yes, they are happy to have professionals move in. In fact, I'm getting ready to change jobs cause I don't like the one I have and all I had to do was pick up the phone and make one phone call. I could have had several others if I was trying.

I have typically been one of these people who needs to obsessively weigh and measure all my food so I know EXACTLY what I'm eating so this portion control thing is different. So far it seems to be working for the most part. The only down side is that you have to prepare so much-can't use many convenience foods.