Friday, June 15, 2007

The Grip

During a recent luncheon with a friend I had a "moment', something intriguing, if you will. I am profoundly observant - to useless habits that others are unaware of, but yet extremely important to me. Not to label myself a creature of habit or anything, a "pet-peeve" would be politically correct. Before I dissect the details of this particular event I would like to make a point of view and say if you all don't have this same "pet-peeve", there is something wrong with you, not me.

I HATE IT WHEN A BURRITO AND/OR A SANDWICH BREAKS APART.

I remember it clearly. I was sixteen years old and working part time at the Del Taco in Diamond Bar. Pam was my boss and told me to take a 15 minute break and make myself a meal if I am hungry. Scored!

My meal was the usual - Macho Combo Burrito, extra beef. However, greed got the best of me this time as I made the burrito bigger than usual. After an approximately three bites in, there were noticeable wet-ness dripping down on the pinky side of my palm; my burrito had a leak on the bottom. Beef, sour cream, lettuce, beans, the whole shebang had disrupted. Although I managed to finished the remainder of my meal (with a fork), I was completely discouraged and irritated with myself, promising to forever avoid the unavoidable.

It wasn't until my college years a friend had suggested I should try to hold the burrito differently, in the center of my palm. By using my thumb and pinky as the control mechanism while placing the other three fingers gently on the back of the burrito as leverage, my meal stays intact. The finger position is done to abstain the inner treasure from overflowing atop, also preventing the bottom unfold. The trick is to have the burrito sit comfortably in the center of your palm, all you have to do is firmly squeeze both the thumb and the pinky just before you bite into it. Well, he who gave me a life-changing suggestion shall be a great friend. He has been a good friend since. I do not recall a single disaster since I adjusted my mechanics.

In a very subtle way, I glanced at my colleague as he struggled to rebuild a completely dismantled Pastrami sandwich with a fork, stabbing the remains off of the wrapper. I casually offered him my advice. As bizarre as I may have sounded, deep down inside he knew that I, also provided a life-changing way of life in burritos.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A Brand New Man - For Now


Where do I start? The recent lack of food blogs fell head first from my time management, or lack of; as well as an alteration of lifestyle. Now, being a new business owner, like many others - I joined Small Business of America. That simply means less time to write (I am working on improving this) and more time for work.

Oh, I also gave up eating Beef and Pork about three weeks ago.

It's okay. The world didn't end, I didn't get ill, nor did I stop eating. All I did was challenged myself to see if this carnivore can live for 45 days strictly on Poultry, Fish, and Greens. (For the purpose of this blog, I am going to refer to Beef/Pork as red meat, even though pork is not).

It wasn't until the end of my first red meat-less week I realized how much Beef and Pork I consumed daily. I was running out of ideas, menus, restaurants, recipes, and was exausted with anything and everything had to do with Chicken, Turkey, and Fish. I exuberantly reminisced things like:

1) Tacos, Carne Asada Tacos, Buche and Lengua Tacos, Carnitas Burrito
2) Pho, more Pho
3) Burgers..... Bacon on a Burger...... Bacon Alone.
4) Steaks..... Steaks wrapped in Bacon.... Bacon Alone.
5) Ribs, beef ribs, baby back ribs, any animal that had meat on ribs.
6) the list goes on and on.
7) Tacos.

I was eating red meat daily, wow. It doesn't matter what meal or how it was cooked, I DEFINITELY had more red meat than an average person should.

Going back to the diet. This new diet has made eating EXTREMELY difficult. I used to drive to work thinking about a special/great/delicious lunch place to eat. Now I drive to work thinking about the same thing, only to be disgusted by the thought of some bland Chicken/Fish/Salad Dish. All of my favorite restaurants are dead to me as my taste buds suffocate in a pool of red meat-less saliva. Nothing sounds good. I mean, how much Tuna Salad can I really eat? Or Turkey Sandwiches? Or Cobb salad? Maybe a "Grilled" Chicken Sandwich? Lets face it, the only thing that should ever be "Grilled" is either a huge slab of ribs or a thick cut of any meat from a cow.

Did I tell you I miss watching that little drop of grease drip through the BBQ grill, only to land on the charcoal slightly underneath and it makes that little splash sound followed by a sensational smell of smoke? That was fantastic, now everything is not so fantastic.

The good news? I shed a few lbs, probably lowered the cholesterol and blood pressure a little bit, that's about it. Living healthy isn't easy, but somebody has to do it huh? This little "Challenge" of mine ends on the 4th of July. I plan to pig out on July 5th until I can't walk anymore. After that, I am going back to red-meatless weekdays, treat myself on weekends. I hope this can balance and satisfy my crave fPublish Postor Fogo De Chao.

Lastly, I have quite a few "explorations" prior to this life-changing lifestyle I acquired that I still have to write about. The next few blogs will have pictures and my love for beef, but it was all done in advance. I apologize for the act of disappearance.