Stealing Chicken

Before we delve deeper into the mischievous world of poultry theft, I have to have my morning brotein bar.

Don't forget my lunch brotein bar!

Then I decided that it would be a good day to go to Sprouts, just to see what they might have on sale. Initially I thought it would be a solo adventure, but I ended up convincing Sidney to accompany me. When we got to the store, I just kind of wanted to walk around and gawk at all the wonderful things they had there. Most of my attention was focused on the bulk items section, where they have dark chocolate covered pecans and almonds, yogurt pretzels, gummi worms, and pretty much everything good in the world. Sidney also enjoyed this, so much so even that she couldn't leave without grabbing a few things...

She got some gummi worms, of which I had one.

These worms are extremely soft and have a very good flavor, so naturally I had to try the other variety.

She also couldn't leave without getting some yogurt-covered pretzels. And, of course, I had to try one.

These were also ridiculously good.

I then went to the chicken section and found an amazing deal. They had chicken thighs on sale for $0.99/lb! I grabbed two 2-pound packages and then headed straight for the meat counter. They also happened to have their chicken sausages on sale today, so I got 4. I got 1 apple flavor, one hot Italian flavor, and 2 sweet Italian flavor. With this, we headed for the checkout. All said and done and I got about 5.5 pounds of chicken for $9.50. This is pretty much a steal if you ask me! If I hadn't gotten any sausages, I would have ended up with 4 pounds of chicken for 4 pounds. That just sounds ridiculous coming out of my keyboard.

When we got home, we realized that there were still some left over chicken legs from a few nights ago, so I warmed those up and ate them.

But I would be remiss if I let this day go by without trying at least one of my chicken sausages. So I fired up the grill and threw down the hot Italian.

After a little bit, it was done and ready to be smashed. I sat outside on what turned out to be a beautiful day temperature-wise.

The sausage itself was actually pretty good for a chicken sausage. I think I'll always prefer pork sausages, but that's because there's more fat in those. This entire thing, weighing 5.75 ounces cooked, only had about 172 calories! It also had a nice dose of brotein. So there I sat, enjoying the treasure that I had found today and enjoying the weather while listening to the Royals game.

Magic Carpet Ride

Today was back to a normal day. I started it off with a brotein bar.

After my class, I kept up my newly restored gym habit by doing some HIIT cycling. I had another brotein bar just prior to pedaling my butt off.

After said butt-vanishing pedaling, I again had a brotein and BCAA shake to ward off any potential muscle-robbing gremlins.

Then I headed home and worked on some homework. A little while later I was informed that we would be going out to eat to celebrate Sidney's birthday as a family. That's awesome, but I'm thinking, "I just had a cheat day..." My cares immediately vacated my head when Sidney suggested Aladdin Cafe as our destination. I mean, I had only had just over 500 calories today plus I did some strenuous exercising.

So let's begin. I started off with a cup of the amazing lentil soup.

Like I said, amazing.

I even swiped a small piece of pita/naan from Sidney (with her permission; I didn't want to die) and used it as a lentil soup-delivery vehicle. It was even better than I had imagined.

For my main course I ordered a gyro meat and hummus plate. It came with vegetables...

...and of course my very own basket of pita/naan!

This plate, which I didn't even see on the menu, turned out to be the best discovery I had made at this restaurant (other than the buffet, of course, but that's in a different league). But this plate essentially compiled my favorite items from the buffet together in a single dish!

I had pita/naan, hummus, and gyro meat! That's the Big Three! It was a dream meal, and partly so because it wasn't a buffet. This meant that, while not as good of a value, I didn't eat nearly as much as I would have had it been a buffet. I am thankful for this, because with food this good I find that I cannot control myself.

Now, normally when we eat at a restaurant on Mass, we head to Sylas and Maddy's for an after dinner treat. But this was a celebration of Sidney's birthday, after all, and no birthday celebration would be complete without...

And no birthday cake would be complete without candles. Since there were neither two "2" candles nor 22 regular candles, Sidney got creative and suggested a Roman Numeral 22.

I thought this was absolutely brilliant!

And since Sidney's mom made this carrot cake, that makes this carrot cake the best carrot cake in the world. I'm certainly not arguing with that at all.

Most everyone else opted to supplement their cake with some vanilla ice cream, but I wanted the flavors of the cake and frosting to really shine through. This is also my way of saying, "This slice of cake already had 650 calories, I don't want any more!" In all honesty, though, I really did want to taste the cake and frosting unadulterated. I'm glad I did, because the combination of this cake with this cream cheese frosting is simply amazing. And if we're being technical here, this is a carrot cake with literally a pound of carrots in it, so this is basically the same as eating vegetables for dessert, right??

At any rate, this was a very worthy Part II to Sidney's birthday, albeit this judgement is based solely on food.

Rocks on Rocks on Rocks

Let's play a game called Find the Brotein...

Did you find it? I sure hope so, because I had some work to do and I need the energy!

I headed out to pick up some more rocks. You know, I'm getting pretty good at this rock picking up business. Pretty soon I'll be a Class 1 rock wizard. It did afford the opportunity for a pretty beautiful view, though.

After a couple hours of picking rocks up out the field, it started to rain. Now, I'm not afraid of a little rain, but I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of a field with nothing to my name but a load of rocks. So I dumped the ones I had and went home.

I wanted a broteinous snack, but I also wanted to conserve my brotein bars as much as possible. I got to looking at the nutrition info on my peanut powder and realized that it has a lower calorie:brotein than the dang brotein bars! So, I doubled the serving size for a total of 140 calories and 16 grams of brotein.

This time I did add a couple teaspoons of sugar just to sweeten it up some. Unlike PB2, this is just straight up peanut powder.

I mixed in some water until it had a consistency that I liked and dug in.

It still didn't taste a whole lot like peanut butter, but I didn't expect it to. It did, however taste like extremely dry peanuts. Either way, it was a good little brotein snack.

And it's a good thing I went light on the calories so far today, because for dinner it was suggested that we order Chinese food from Rice House. And y'all know, I ain't one to turn down some Rice House!

I have no idea how many calories are in this container, but I ate them all. I really wanted to eat half and save the other half for a later date, but as I was eating the beef and broccoli I knew that that wasn't a possibility. I then decided to save just the carby lo mein for later. But then I made the mistake of taking a bite, and once that happened it was all over. Before I knew it all the food was gone. I did do some manual labor today, so that could help prevent any unintended hugeness. Miraculously (or maybe not so), I didn't feel full afterward, so maybe I really didn't eat too too much food. I'm starting to think, though, that I'll never feel full again.

Sidney's dad then offered up some sweet corn, for just a test of maturity if nothing else.

It was still a little young, but it still tasted good. Plus all that fiber will really help a bro on a high brotein diet out.

I later found the remnants of some cake that had just been baked. These cake pan liners were still covered with crumbs from a freshly made carrot cake, and I wasn't about to let them go to waste.

Yes, that's right. I shamelessly scraped them with a fork and collected all the yummy wonderfulness onto a plate.

I took one small bite and then gave the rest to Sideny. I mean, it is her cake after all. It's only right if she gets to enjoy the biggest part of the preview!

June Birthdays, Part II

Today was the 22nd anniversary of the birth of someone incredibly special to me. Yes, of course that someone is none other than my wonderful fiancée Sidney. But before we could do any celebrating, we had our daily responsibilities to take care of. I had school and she had nannying to do. And let me tell you, she nannies hard!

When she left to do her nannying, I left to go to school. When I got in my car, I found a nice little surprise waiting for me...

After my class, and because I knew that Sidney and I would be going out to eat later, I decided to get back into my gym routine...at least partially. I had another brotein bar and then I did some HIIT cycling. I then walked out of the gym without lifting a single weight. But that's okay. To prevent the immediate and total catabolism of all my muscles, I had a scoop of brotein and a scoop of BCAAs.

I sure did miss the amoxicillin-esque flavor of the blue raspberry and chocolate mixed together!

Pretty soon after I got home, I was offered a ride in a house-sized piece of machinery.

Sidney's dad took me along for the ride as we cut some rye that had popped up.

It was kind of neat to see the big combine next to the 50 year old 2510. That was then, and this is now.

After all this, Sidney and I were finally off to dinner.

I surprised her with one of her favorite dinner places. This is becoming a tradition for her birthday, really. We went here last year too, although then it was the one on the Plaza and this was the one in Overland Park.

Upon being seated and getting our menu, I decide to take a look at the "SkinnyLicious" menu of lighter fare.

Just kidding!!!

I already knew what I would be ordering, but first there was bread.

I started off with a slice of each and some butter, but we all know that it wouldn't end here.

Oh no, far from it my friends. Before the night was out we got our second basket of bread and finished that off too.

And, like I said, I knew what I'd be ordering. I ordered a spicy chicken sandwich with Monterey Jack cheese and Buffalo sauce with the chipotle mayo and ranch on the side. I always make sure to order extra ranch, because A) they bring it out before your food, and B) they put it in this nifty little thing that resembles a genie's lamp.

Soon enough, though, the rest of our food arrived. I ordered my sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries, and they always bring out some ketchup, honey mustard, and blue cheese along with some other stuff I don't need (lettuce and tomato).

But just look at that chicken! It was big and juicy and fried to perfection with just the right amount of Buffalo sauce. There could always be more cheese, but this was still enough to get the job done.

I alternated between dipping my fries in the ranch and chipotle mayo and pouring the ranch over my sandwich as I ate it.

It really is very, very good. There's a reason why I order it every time I eat at The Cheesecake Factory. In fact, whenever I think about The Cheesecake Factory, I immediately think about this exact dinner. I don't even think about the other 9 billion menu items they have.

But anyway, here comes the interesting part. Being at The Cheesecake Factory, one may expect us to get cheesecake for dessert. But I had other plans...

Yes, right down the street was none other than the Olathe installation of the best ice cream shop in the world! When given the choice between Sylas and Maddy's and cheesecake, Sylas and Maddy's always wins. Actually, given the choice between Sylas and Maddy's and any dessert, Sylas and Maddy's always wins.

In fact, my number one fantasy dessert is to get a scoop of Da Bomb from Sylas and Maddy's and place it between two Sidney-made chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. This creation may be enough to unseat both creme brulee and that chocolate truffle pie, but I won't know until I try it! All I know is that it will happen at some point.

A little later, I took Sidney back up to the house where we put together a rack for our bathroom. Afterward, right as we were leaving, Sidney noticed something on the bookshelf that had not been there before...

I also surprised her with some little birdie earrings while we were at dinner. She enjoyed them along with the books as well. Overall, she said it was a good birthday, and that's all that matters.

Traitor!!!

Brotein bar for breakfast? Sounds good to me. 

Brotein bar for lunch? Sounds good to me.

My entire day from about 0830 to about 1730 was taken up by searching for and reading scientific articles. This can be quite interesting, but it can also be quite monotonous. I took a break around noon to eat lunch, then I went back to work. By the time dinner rolled around, it was decided (out of the necessity to use old ingredients) that we would be having Eggs Benedict. Notice you don't hear me complaining! This would be only the second time I'd ever eaten proper Eggs Benedict. The first time left a good lasting impression on me, so I was excited.

I was in charge of buttering and toasting the English muffins. Here they are before the addition of the hollandaise sauce.

And here they are after! They've also been garnished with a little paprika.

The hollandaise was delicious and buttery with a hint of dijon. The eggs were perfectly cooked with the whites set and the yolks still magnificently runny.

Just look at this deliciousness. Look at it!!

After eating two, there were a few extras, so I had one more.

Unlike last night, I knew about how many calories I had eaten, and I was well under my daily limit. The one variable I was unsure about was the hollandaise sauce. I don't really know how much I ate, so I decided to be done eating. But this was a very satisfying meal, and one that I think deserves to be made more often, especially when I'm not cutting! ;)