Atkins, Day Sixteen

Arbitrarily, I've decided to stop keeping track of everything I eat in a day (I'm sure you're relieved). Basically, I think I'm figuring out how to make Atkins work and I've learned lots about my eating habits, so I'd say the listing has served its purpose. I'm not sneaking foods in or trying to go over my carbs in a day - I've just stuck to the "diet" and enjoyed it.

This evening I made up a recipe for hot Italian sausage with peppers and mushrooms in a spicy tomato cream sauce, heavy on Romano cheese. It was mostly delicious, but I know that I should have reduced the sauce before mixing it with the other ingredients. Instead I made it all in one pan and tried to simmer it down... it's just not the same.

I was reminded of an experience in a restaurant just after I learned to make vodka sauce, when I was served a dish that kept separating into oily constituent pools. It goes without saying, I was disgusted, and not for the oil (because everyone should know that half of restaurant sauces is oil), but for the amateurish cream sauce. My twelve-year-old indignation knew no bounds. Really though, there's something about learning to cook that makes one especially offended when someone professional does it wrong.

Otherwise today was a good day, and I'm hoping for another sizable loss at weigh-in tomorrow.

I'm a little worried about visiting my parents this weekend for Mother's Day - they have a knack for blowing my diets - but I think I should be able to keep it together and resist sweets or the big starchy potato roll my father always offers with a burger.