Day 10 - January 14,11

Hello Friday,
      Only today and tomorrow and I could say that I have been on a diet program for a solid week. That's a record for me as I usually cheat in some way by now. Even earlier in the week, my wife came home with some of the standard junk supplies we like to keep around. Chocolate and not the good kind, O'Henry bars, Aero bars, etc.. The kids each had one and then they tempted me. Tempted in a sideways attempt. The kids would ask if they could have my O'Henry. They expected me to say, "No, I'll eat it later". This was after all my usual response. Not this week, I said,"Go ahead take it and share with your sister". This prompted several responses from my son, all of which were, "are you sure"?. Much to his surprise my answer was always the same. To most people that probably doesn't sound like much. To me it's like giving up air. You have no idea how much I wanted to say, "NO!!!" and eat that chocolate bar myself. Hell, just righting this down makes me want to go get one. I will not and that's that. I stayed strong and intend on keeping it that way. I think I'm going to give myself a pat on the back. Now that felt good.

     Too yesterday! Not every day will go great or fantastic or even smooth. I have figured this out this week and yesterday was one of those lessons. I've taken great pleasure out of participating in the meal planning and preparation this past week. Last night was defiantly the exception to this rule. For dinner we were to have a nice cube steak, slightly browned on each side then cooked in its own sauce in the skillet with onions and pepper. Did I ever **ck this up. I had no trouble flouring the meat and browning. The gravy however  was a nightmare. It wouldn't color bark as it was supposed too and getting it to thicken with the water and flour was a joke. In the end the gravy was an ugly thick grey color with bits of onion and the meat was over cooked with absolutely no flavor at all. The family all ate it, I think just be be nice but i couldn't. I cut it up and fed it to the dogs. I have to say their palette is less sensitive than mine. They ate it all up. I think even the cats were at the dogs dishes eating some. I guess I can't get it right all the time. Several of the dishes this week everyone really like and we filed away the recipes for another day. All is not lost, just 1 dinner.

Have a good one, keep strong and don't let setbacks keep you from your goals!

Thanx,
Looper