Valentine’s Day has been and gone, and except for one thing, it went pretty smoothly, not counting the tent*.
The missing component was my Valentine’s Day Video. I’ll not be releasing one this year.
I shot it over three session and two days, it included three or four great dishes.
And then I sat down to edit it.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like the audio. I didn’t like the fact it was 17 minutes long. But mostly, I didn’t like the way I looked.
I’ve struggled with weight issues my whole life, and of recent times, it’s got out of hand. I’ve been on the right path for 5 weeks now and at least it’s going in the right direction. In addition, I been unwell and I looked like crap.
I LOVE VALENTINE’S DAY. I try to do something special each time, and this time around, rather than the usual plan (home cooked breakfast at one end of the day and dinner out at the other) I suggested a picnic supper to watch the sunset at one of our many splendid local beaches.
If you’re dieting, I find both the idea of settling for an inferior meal, or of saying “It’s a special occasion, pass the chocolate” to be cowardly.
The carefully selected picnic food went down a treat. I iced some 1001 Nights with a little honey, and Lady Devotea had chilled some champagne.
Here’s the food:
I made a salad from fennel, rocket, tomato, cucumber, red pepper and midnight beauty grapes. I created a zero-fat yoghurt dressing with tea salt, pepper, mint, garlic and tea seed oil added to the yoghurt.
I steamed some chicken tenderloins in Sow Mee tea and then cooled them, slicing them and adding them to the salad.
For dessert, I made a very low energy trifle. I made a jelly out of Ceylon Black Jasmine tea with mixed sugar and sweetener, added diced honeydew melon, added a layer of thinly sliced Weight Watchers Ginger Kisses cakes. The top layer was a Vietnamese
Jasmine custard with cherries.
So there we were, in a tent (I’ll get to that*) watching the sunset.
OK, so there were suddenly a bunch of storm clouds. It didn’t matter. We went a-strolling along the beach. We even saw this little fella:
All in all, a lovely Valentine’s Day.
Then we went back to the tent (almost there*) and packed up, and went home.
The first few raindrops falling as we left the beach.
*OK. We bought a pop-up tent. It popped up splendidly. I could not unpop it, despite spending ten minutes wrestling with it on the beach. As I write this, it is jammed in the back of Lady Devotea’s car, waiting for us to go to the tent shop and ask them to fold it.
As a fellow husky and recently oft-sick man, I empathize. I also think that we’re our own worst critics. I think the community at large would’ve still loved a vid from you. Granted, 17 minutes is running on the long side for Youtube, but still.
This sounds like a perfect day including the wonky tent that you will never ever forget. I think it is hard sometimes in a time when food is seen as the equivalent of celebration to change that habit without feeling like you’re sacrificing. You handled it beautifully and it sounds like an elegant and lovely meal. I hope you feel better soon and best of luck on your hard work to get more fit.
I know these tents and I was afraid of them not unpopping, hence me buying a “normal” one.
17 minutes of you? I might even buy it 😛
I can’t imagine a more pleasant way to diet @thedevotea . You should consider writing a cook book. For your many DevoTeas. Seriously. I’ve always been impressed with your cooking videos too.
We would have loved to have seen you, every ounce of you. Well, not every but most.
Pete and I also went to the beach on Valentine’s Day, simple sandwiches and tea. It was lovely.
An update: I took the tent back to the place I got it and they showed me how to fold it. They swear it happens all the time.
Thanks Rob!!! Check out my blog on how I lost weight with Proper Nutrition!!! Good luck man!!! Keep working hard!