Cowboys and Outlaws

I'll eat another brotein bar when pigs fly...

Well, that was quick!

In other news, we have determined that there is a family of skunks living under a front porch. This is not good, especially when the stench of skunk is prominent throughout the house! So we set out some traps. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any skunks. But the effort was not fruitless...

We caught a kitty!

After Ted inspected his black raspberry inventory, he needed someone to pick them. That someone would be me!

Far less therapeutic than picking cherries (although no ladder is required), picking black raspberries can be a tad treacherous. You see, black raspberry plants aren't as happy to part ways with the fruits of their labor as are cherry trees. Black raspberry plants have some rather prickly thorns. And you'd think it wouldn't take long for a picker to figure this out. But me, having a lofty iPod app-official IQ of 84, couldn't figure out what the heck was stabbing me in the fingers! I first thought it was a stray weed here and there. On closer inspection, however, I realized that the thorns were on the black raspberry plants themselves! Tricky little sots, these black raspberries!

Eventually, though, I was able to develop an efficient picking technique that spared my fingers while allowing me to fill a bowl full of sweet goodness (and a future pie).

I then went inside and determined that it was time to reward myself with the gift of cardiovascular health.

After this second brotein fiber bar, and three bars total, I starting conserving calories. I was sitting at 570 calories on the day, with 60 grams of brotein. I started conserving (aka fasting aka starving) because today was a special day. Today happened to be Sidney and I's anniversary. Throwing tradition to the wind, we would be celebrating not an annual anniversary but a monthly one. On this day, 30 months ago, Sidney and I "officially" began dating. With such a momentous occasion at hand, Sidney and I decided that we'd go out and have a nice dinner date. She chose the still relatively new Indian restaurant in town, Bayleaf, since she had yet to eat there (and she knows that I like it). So the plans were set in stone.

And that means they're still up in the air.

Later in the day, Sidney's dad complete planting all of his crops, all 2,200 acres of them. This is a big deal. This is a bigger deal than, say, a 30 month dating anniversary. This was real cause for celebration. And besides, when your family-in-law-to-be invites you to dinner, especially in celebration of something, you go with them. It's only right! And besides, they chose a rather enticing restaurant...

Admittedly, my parents and I used to be rather frequent patrons of Longhorn. My fondest memories from back then (and they stretch a ways back) include my discovery that lettuce isn't evil and every waiter and waitress's face when I would order a large steak, often in the realm of 16 ounces or so. Bro, even at 8 years old I could eat BIG.

I also remember the bread they would bring out, with plenty of butter, of course! Well, now their bread is quite different, but not in a bad way. Instead of a traditional wheaty bread, it is now a honey pull-apart bread, but still with butter!

I was, however, still determined to stay within or in the ballpark of my calorie limit, so I had a very small end piece...

...with butter, of course!

I then ordered with my meal the house salad with Italian dressing.

Now here is where my past memories come back into play. It was at Longhorn many, many years ago where I discovered that I didn't hate lettuce. That was only the beginning of my salad eating conquests. So here today, I decided to take a leap and see if I could eat this entire salad, tomatoes and all. I went in fighting, with a vigorous determination I had not levied at a food since probably the Everest challenge back in September 2013. Here is the result:

In full disclosure, I did not pawn any of the tomatoes off on anyone else present. I ate them all. And, as hard as it is for me to admit, I did not gag a single time. It may be that these tomatoes were in small enough pieces or maybe they weren't all that flavorful to begin with, but I experienced no real bad tastes in my mouth while eating this salad. I'm not sure what this means, but if I lose my hatred for tomatoes, I lose a piece of my soul. I lose a piece of what makes me me. Living with an entire family that likes tomatoes, and having grown up with parents who like tomatoes (love in my dad's case; he eats them plain!), hating tomatoes was my thing! If I lose that, what will I have?

While I was left to ponder this now somewhat tangible possibility, our main courses were arriving. Sidney got a ribeye with a side of 4 cheese and bacon mac and cheese.

I tried a bite. Good, but not the best ever.

But now it was time for my food. I ordered the Outlaw Ribeye (18 ounces of brotein!) with a side of steamed broccoli.

I don't know if it's butter or salt or other habit-forming substances, but there is something about this broccoli that is just amazing. I would even consider ordering this over, say, fries, mac and cheese, or a potato even if I wasn't cutting. It's really that good.

But then there was the steak.

This steak, just, wow. Now, on this one I know it's the salt. It was very salty, but it was so so so so so good! I may very well order this, at Longhorn at least, over the prime rib. I know, that would be sacrilege. And to fully confirm this decision, I would need to sample both steaks side-by-side. But this steak seriously questioned my go-to prime rib with au jus.

And to all my loyal and devoted reader, it will come as no surprise that I finished it. You've seen me down 1.5 pounds of plain chicken breast. Compared to that, this was, well, just better!! I did, though, take my time to really enjoy this steak. I took small bites, chewed slowly, and really savored the flavor. It was very good and very satisfying.

Another reason, although a very small one, why I ate so slow was that I knew everyone else would be ordering dessert. I would not be ordering dessert. I had a cut to keep! But no one else would let me go the night without a little dessert. Sidney and her parents shared a platter of cake and ice cream called the Chocolate Stampede, and they forced a spoonful of it in my face:

I ate it, and it was good. But I was satisfied with the small portion. I kept the spoon so that they could not repeat these tactics, but Sidney's sister donated her spoon to their cause. As expected, they filled the spoon with more carbs and demanded that I eat it. So I did. It was good.

And again, I was satisfied. And again, I kept the spoon. Now they were out of spoons, so they conceded to simply eat their dessert themselves.

There are two substories involving this dinner. Longhorn is a steakhouse chain, which some may consider to be an inferior choice to a local, high end, and much more expensive steakhouse. And they may be justified most of the time. However, there is one benefit of eating at a national chain. Everything on Longhorn's menu is listed on their website with full Nutrition Facts information. And, to my extreme benefit, everything I ordered had already been logged in MyFitnessPal. So I knew pretty darn near how many calories and brotein I was eating. It is rare that this is possible at a restaurant like this with food this good. I am eternally thankful to Longhorn for making this possible.

Now, I know that with the small piece of bread (with butter, of course!), the small bite of mac and cheese, and the two small bites of dessert, I most likely went over. But in my estimation I couldn't have gone more than a couple hundred calories over, which is perfectly fine. Now, the other substory regarding this dinner pertains to why I didn't just go ahead and make this my cheat meal and cheat day. It had been, after all, 9 days since my last cheat day. My explanation is rather simple, but there a couple aspects that need to be addressed.

1. The first reason I decided to eat within my cut is that, over the past week, I've been seeing some tangible progress. I know I've mentioned this before, but seeing visible progress is a big motivator. And along these same lines, if I can eat a delicious meal and still stay within my calories, why wouldn't I do that?? That is the definition of a win-win during a cut! I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything, everything I ate was delicious, and I stayed within my calories. That's the ultimate dream meal right there!
2. The second reason I didn't want this to be a cheat meal is quite the opposite to my first reason. When I have a cheat meal or a cheat day, I want it to be worth it. And when I say "worth it" I mean I want to eat some of my favorite foods, and I want to eat as much of them as I want. In less words, I like my cheat days to be at buffets. And the buffets I prefer are Indian, Mediterranean, and Chinese. Buffets offer up more variety than other restaurants and they allow the opportunity for as much food to be eaten as is preferred. To put it quite simply, in order for Longhorn to be a proper cheat meal, I would need to order a salad with ranch, an appetizer or two (cheesy bacon dip and calamari), some soup (shrimp and lobster chowder), an Outlaw Ribeye, a Prime Rib with au jus, Parmesan crusted chicken, chicken tenders, the Primetime burger, broccoli, fries, mac and cheese, some mashed potatoes, and a couple of desserts (Chocolate Stampede and Molten Lava Cake). All totaled (yes, I totaled this on the menu), this would cost about $138. Now, that is more than the $9-$14 standard buffet price, and I'd would have more leftovers than would fit it my refrigerator. So you see, buffets are golden for cheat days!!

This second reason is actually the more important of the two, because I have really been craving either Aladdin Cafe's Mediterranean lunch buffet or Ruchi's Indian lunch buffet. I've been wanting to take my parents to both of these places since they have been to neither. So, there you have it. I will refrain from cheating until I eat at one of these two buffets. The only question is, which one will it be??? Stay tuned to find out!