Today I ended my fast with some snacks at work and then a wonderful dinner at home.
When I got home, my wife asked me to make a margarita for her, so I made two! One for her and one for me. 😊 It’s a simple recipe, one part fresh lime juice, one part Cointreau, and two parts Tequila. Shaken with ice in a shaker, then served on the rocks. Delicious! 🍸
While we enjoyed our drinks, it was time to prepare the meal, which was beef fajita tacos. 🌮 My wife bought 1¼ lbs. of marinated beef at our local carcineria, which I grilled on the backyard barbecue. Meanwhile, green and red bell peppers and onions were sauteed, beans were heated up, and a pot of rice was cooked.
We had both flour and corn tortillas, Salvadoran sour cream, cilantro, tomato, avocado, and hot sauce. It was yummy! But of course I probably ate a bit too much. It’s easy to do with such delicious food. 🍴 And coming off a fast, even a short one, makes the food extra tasty!
Below are a couple more photos of the meal: a close-up of one of the tacos, my wife setting up the food photo, 📸 and the yummy sour cream.
Today Mariko made some amazing food… as you can see from the photo above she did some baking. The rolls looks amazing, don’t they? And she also baked a loaf of bread for kids’ sandwiches. The bread tastes so good, and Mariko uses fresh ingredients and of course there are no preservatives.. the best bread ever!
And for dinner, she prepared the kids’ favorite… Pasta Carbonara. Plus figs wrapped in prosciutto, and a wonderful salad of grilled romaine lettuce and baby tomatoes. I helped by grilling the greens. 😆 As I have mentioned in previous posts, Mariko treats us so well with all the delicious food.
Ironically, today I started a water-fast so I couldn’t taste any of the goodies. I think normally it would be really difficult to resist, but fasting gives you a sense of empowerment over food. Still, with today’s dinner I did feel a bit of temptation, but I will look forward to eating when my fast ends, although I am not sure how long I will go for this time.
In other news, today was the first day of school for the kids and it was pretty much back to the routine as if summer break never happened. Life is just moving very quickly it seems.
Today’s photo is of the delicious salads my friend Mikey and I enjoyed for lunch at Salata. When we get together, Salata is one of the top choices! I think it’s still a little odd that a salad can be so delicious.
Like many people, I grew up eating a lot of meat, and salad was just something that you ate before the main course. But now I believe that we are conditioned by Big Food into eating that way… I guess for my entire life we’ve had ads and food industry-influenced government telling us what foods are “good” for us, how much of it we need to eat, and when we need to eat.
It’s difficult to see things any other way if that’s all you’ve been exposed to. Other lifestyles can seem weird, unhealthy, or just plain wrong. That’s why I think you need to shake things up… for instance traveling to different countries or living abroad can really open your mind. Learning about other cultures and actually being immersed in them makes you question a lot of things.
I tend to look at people who have traveled extensively, or lived abroad, differently than those who have lived in the same place their whole lives. I really feel like they have a broader way of looking at the world. Of course this is not always the case, but there’s something to be said of first-hand experience and forming opinions based on direct experience, rather than forming a worldview based on mainstream news.
So, back to the salad… I am grateful that my friend Mikey suggested this lunch. It was a new experience for me, something I would never have considered, but one that I found I enjoy quite a bit! What else should I try?
I mentioned in a previous post that I had fasted (drinking only water, black coffee, and tea) for multiple days, 72-hours being the longest stretch without calories. That experience opened my eyes up to how we’ve been taught to depend on our 3 meals a day, and how it is not necessary to follow this lifestyle. It’s actually quite easy to skip a meal or two, and there are health benefits to extended water-fasts. But we’ve been taught that we need to eat. Constantly. That hunger is bad… we’ve also been taught that hunger=starvation. But hunger is not starvation at all.
Most of us have plenty of fat to keep us out of starvation for weeks. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But when you have done an extended fast, you realize that we don’t actually need to eat as much as we are told we need to. During a long fast, you actually lose the craving for junk/unhealthy foods and you can look at that craving from a detached point of view. Big Food has designed our diets to keep us craving high-fat, high-salt, and sugary foods. A water-fast will give you greater clarity about this. And you will recognize that there is a lifestyle where in which you are not dependent on Big Food’s guidelines.
Talk about a different point of view!!! I know most people will think it is crazy to go without food for 3 days, but have they tried it? I think if you do, you will have a broader view of eating, and how strong we can be mentally.
Wow, that was a bit of a ramble, wasn’t it? Anyways, I encourage anyone to look into water-fasting, and try to broaden your minds too! It’s seriously one of the best things I have ever done for myself in my life.
If you’ve read this far… thank you thank you thank you! 😄
Today’s photo is of Fuchiko, the tiny OL (office lady) who appears in people’s photos, usually perched on the edge of a a cup or glass. Mariko went shopping and came home with a bunch of blueberries and I wanted to take a photo of them for Instagram, but then I thought it would be a little more interesting with Fuchiko in the photo.
So… a little bit of drama in this one! I guess I was inspired a bit by the awesome Instagram feed of Takuya Tanaka. He’s so creative!
こんばんは!Hi, how’s it going? Did you have a good Monday?
Mine was pretty good… at work I got to work on a creative poster project, and I am pretty pleased with how it came out. Of course, I need time to “clean the palette” and then have a fresh look at it so I can make adjustments, but I think the design is solid. 😄
On the home front, Bay requested Jambalaya so Mariko made a delicious version of the dish. She used the boxed mix and added some veggies, sausage, shrimp, and a yummy cream sauce (which I am pretty sure isn’t traditional)! We all enjoyed it! 🍴
Mariko’s home-cooking was greatly missed by me while she was in Japan, and I am so happy to be eating like a king again. 👑 Already we’ve enjoyed Japanese curry, and now Jambalaya. The side dishes are wonderful as well – fresh salad, potato salad, lotus, marinated tomatoes, etc. I’m gaining weight again! And happily. 😊
Have a good evening, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
おやすみなさい!
– B
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