Day Thirty-one: Valentine's Indulgence

"Is you figure less than Greek?
Are your quads a little weak?...
Stay little Valentine, stay"

I took a half day off work today to surprise my girlfriend. I'd pre-arranged with the manager of the French Kitchen at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo to have a special PCP-friendly meal arranged for me, while my girlfriend got to eat from the bountiful buffet. She chose sea bass for her main dish though. Am I rubbing off on her?

I decided that since I was eating out, I'd have something I wouldn't prepare at home. I opted for a roast rack of lamb (three chops), with no oil, no salt, no seasoning at all, and some steamed veggies. I'd also asked for some whole grains and was told they had whole grain bread, so I went with that choice. The bread that turned up was white-bread-masquerading-as-whole-grain-bread, so I limited myself to one small roll. It was baked on site though and quite delicious, I must admit. Nothing on it, and I know we can have white flour based carbs once in a while if necessary, but I didn't feel like pressing the matter.

This was also my first taste of red meat in over a month--probably the longest I have ever gone without red meat as I've always loved a good steak, home-made lean burgers, or lamb. I found the meat so oily from the fats that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The steamed veggies that came along with it were tastier, and that's coming from a red-meat lover and the lamb was roasted to perfection. No complaints at all about the chef's efforts. I took apart the lamb with Dexter-like surgical precision (disturbing image?) and cut away all the fat, though.

And then it was time for my indulgence. I knew I wasn't going to go for wine this time. I have two wine fridges at home and I love good wine. I've spent a pretty penny on drinking fine bottles over the last few years. I went just last year on a tasting tour in South African wine country.  However, I've gone on longer stretches of being off alcohol, for example, when training for triathlons, so I knew that I hadn't hit my breaking point to where I was craving wine yet. No, as I've mentioned a few times on past posts, bakeries have been driving me crazy each time I set foot in them. So I opted for a baked dessert: Tarte tatin made with apple.

And here it arrived:

First of all, from the moment it arrived I knew I didn't really want it. Just look at it. It looked so greasy, crusty, and disgusting. I took my first bite and I thought I'd bitten into raw sugar. It felt granular in my mouth and insanely sweet. I thought I wasn't going to finish it. From the third bite on, though, it tasted a lot better, and the apple came on stronger and the crust receded into the background a bit and it was, I'll admit, not bad. But I enjoy plain yogurt with fresh cut Fuji apple in it (my evening snack on more than a few occasions) more than the tart in terms of apple-based desserts. I still couldn't bring myself to eat the sugary crust though, and I left all of that:

And then it hit me...pretty much as soon as I put my fork down, and in spite of having a black coffee with my dessert: food coma. I hadn't had one of those during the entire PCP. I had almost forgotten what they were like. Since I had the afternoon off, I went home and took a 20-minute nap, then hit the gym for my daily workout. Quads are constantly sore these days from the extra leg work, and the floor jumps caused massive burning towards the tail end of each set.

As the last surprise, I then took my girlfriend out to the Cotton Club to catch a Valentine's jazz concert with Alaskan up-and-comer Halie Loren performing. Fantastic venue and phenomenal talent. We had a great time. Before arriving there, I planned on coming home after the concert finished (815pm) to eat my PCP food at home. But I looked on the menu at the Club and saw a PCP path right there before me. Now, Japan can be very tricky with requests on food, but lo and behold, ask and ye shall receive. I got a big salad of nothing but mixed veggies--beans, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, lettuce, rocket, yellow and red tomatoes--with balsamic vinegar. Winner. For my protein, I selected a seabass poiree, but had them hold all the sauce, all the salt, nothing but grilled fish with a tiny bit of olive oil and pepper on the side. Very tasty on its own and another winner. Met the artist and thanked her for a great show and went home happy from a fantastic evening.

Final thoughts: I feel a slight headache as I write this. I found that I was a lot thirstier today than normal and needed more water throughout. I wasn't a fan of the fatty lamb and the greasiness it left in my mouth. My indulgence dessert was less tasty to me than apples in plain yogurt, but had I stopped at one bite, I would have had an even worse image of the tart. That said, I am not rushing out to get another apple pie any time soon. The disguised-as-whole-grain-white-bread-ninja is now obvious to me--but I have to admit that it tasted good. I don't normally eat bread anyway, but this is an interesting twist and reaction from my body to PCP. Also, one meal out every once in a while might be doable, if you prearrange some things. But two in a day is pushing it. Though the chefs followed my requests and prepared wonderful dishes, I still feel better on the whole after eating my own prepped meals.

Lastly, music is good for the soul--live music that is. If you are feeling a little down with winter and not going out and sticking to the regimen everyday, try going to a venue and checking out an artist. They may help give you just the right "pick-me-up" to get you through your workout....quizas, quizas, quizas.