Monday, July 16, 2012

Time with food and friends

I like road trips.  An excuse to get a change of scenery or meet up with friends, they're awesome.  I consider anything within a 10-12 hour drive road trip territory depending on how much time we have and what we want to see.  We made a road trip this weekend to visit with a friend and her family. We brought a huge cooler because we were meeting at this great grocery store and after doing some research, I knew they'd probably have stuff we couldn't get.

Because one can never have enough frog and beer shaped cheese.
 
I was ecstatic to see rambutans!  We got a few and had them with dinner.  I was instantly back in Hawaii.

Because I am really a 9 year old boy inside who still laughs at stuff like this.
We made a good dent in the ol' grocery budget.  I got some of that PB2 peanut butter powder to add to smoothies, a few cereals we don't have here that aren't exactly high on the nutritional scale (Cap'n Crunch Cinnamon Roll and Maple Brown Sugar Life), Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa for some push pops, lychees so I can pretend I'm back in Kona having just come back from the farmer's market then we picked up some of the stuff we'd need for the week anyway like pineapples, bananas, sandwich bread, apples, etc.  Figured if we're gonna be at a grocery store, might as well kill 2 birds with one stone, yeah?

Then it was off for lunch where the sneaky poo heads bought our meals.  We evened the score paying for them to storm a nearby castle.

Creeepy!
It was fun but dang it was stagnant and humid there.  I thought my face was going to sweat off!  We had a great visit and can't wait to meet up again.

I wish for us road trip didn't mean 'food free for all.'  That's one lesson we can't seem to grasp.  It's like it's license to go batchit crazy.  We passed this sweet shop and of course had to stop because what was the likelihood we'd be back, right?  *rolling eyes*  We got a caramel, peanut butter ball and sea salt turtle...each.  We had some crap earlier in the day too and I was so disappointed in us that we essentially had 2 high cal days in a row.  Our punishment?  A late and brutal Atletica workout that burned just over 1000 calories.  It doesn't offset what my usual Sunday deficit is but it might give me a fighting chance this week on the scale.

What did you do this weekend?

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26 comments:

  1. Okay, beyond the whole "spotted dick" name, I can't imagine eating that stuff. The image on the can is the most unappetizing thing EVAAAH.

    I'm totally like you, when I travel, I want to eat! And eat a lot! But as long as you're not road tripping every weekend, I don't think it's a bad thing. Eating is a part of the experience of traveling, you know? I'm glad you had a good time! :)

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    1. My friend gave some to me years ago as a gag and then I think the next time she came to town we broke it open. It wasn't horrible but I'll pass. :-)

      I guess a lot of it was like there were better choices to be made and I chose not to make them and the things I had weren't necessarily worth the calories.

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  2. We have a grocery stoer that sells "spotted dick" and I giggle every time. We picked up some rambutans over the weekend because my daughter said "those look creepy, lets eat them!" WHAT!?! OK!! Haven't cracked them open yet. I've been eating for about 2 weeks now, and I know it's killing me. Got to get it together! At least you got in a killer workout. I'm glad you had fun on your road trip = )

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    1. I know, I do the same thing...I always point to the Dill Weed too. Apparently I'm Beavis. Eat the rambutans! They're wonderful. They taste like peeled grapes. Just take out the seed in the middle.

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  3. Spotted Dick? Oooh, and microwaveable too!! (I admit I had to look that one up. I am now educated.)

    Sounds like you had another one of your great weekends!!

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  4. Walked 9 miles overnight Saturday to Sunday for the Relay for Life and then spent Sunday trying to walk as little as possible. I'm still a little tired this morning after staying up all night Saturday, but otherwise I'm recovered.

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  5. I had kids and grandkids out both days. Originally planned to have them both out on Saturday but oldest son couldn't come until Sunday, so we staggered their visits. Had a delightful time, but like you, ate way too much. Just ordered pizza Saturday night, but Sunday I made a HUGE dinner and of course had to sample everything but the cheeseburgers. I had one hotdog instead. But then daughter-in-law brought this luscious orange cream poke cake http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/orange-cream-poke-cake/d50f8fe1-f8f9-4db1-b765-8e33436f9d06?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Facebook&niseg4=BettyCrocker&creativeID4=Post
    (that I had suggested she make and bring out so I could try it...but just have ONE piece), and I did indeed have that one piece. OMG, It was so good. I don't eat much cake, but I could have eaten 3 or 4 pieces, so I figure one small piece was pretty darned good. I made her take the leftovers home with her. But I still have homemade chicken and noodles and pasta casserole left over. Yes....we had way too many carbs. I BAD!!

    Back with it today--I promise! Your weekend sounds wonderful. We are taking a road trip in a couple of weeks, going to nearby (200 miles) Kansas City, MO. We'll hit the amusement park there with the grandkids, then going to a Royals baseball game. Youngest son will be there finishing up his railroad engineer training (and testing!), and since he was down there earlier this summer for 3 weeks at the beginning of his training, he has some great restaurants for us to try. Can't wait!

    Road trips are great and sometimes we have to let loose a bit, right? As long as we remember how we live 90% of the time!

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    1. Sounds like you had a great weekend. Will have to check out that recipe link. Yep, I'm all for letting loose a bit on road trips but sometimes you can make better choices and use the road trip as an excuse. Hence my problem.

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  6. Good thing I was done sipping my coffee when I spotted the Spotted Dick...wtf???? The cheese was pretty freaky too. You guys do have some interesting adventures! You HAVE to sample certain things from a road trip...that's the point. I'm glad you allowed yourself an extra hi cal day, I know you'll go into overdrive to kill those cals this week. Now I'm off to google Spotted Dick (oh brother, the links I may get on that search! and rambutans...never heard of them! Hope they taste better than they look! Have a great week! Meowsie.

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    1. Yeah, I don't know I would look at the image section on the Google search! :) Try rambutans, they're awesome. If you like grapes, you'd like them.

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  7. I've never ever seen rambutans. Maybe I wasn't aware I was looking for something edible that looked like that-lol. I'll keep my eyes peeled and pick some up if I ever come across them. Sounds like a loverly time was had by all. Hope you have an awesome week!

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    1. HA! I know. I would never have tried them if a local in Hawaii gave us some for free to try back in 2002. Now we get them whenever we can!

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  8. It's tough to take a road trip and NOT overdo it at least some, at least I know it is for me--when am I going to have a chance to try ____ again? (Bad excuse, but it's hard to always make good choices!) Sounds like a great time, though, and getting in a killer workout at least helps offset things a bit. Did a 5K race on Saturday, then helped with radio communications for a half marathon on Sunday and finished with a 3.75 mile run that evening. Have to get back to work to rest up, LOL!

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  9. Well, my fellow 9-year old, I giggle every time I pass the Spotted Dick at Kroger, too. And I'll admit, I sometimes make it a point to go on that aisle. :) A friend from Cornwall made Spotted Dick for us from scratch, and it was really quite good.

    I try never to think of exercise as punishment but as something I do as a kindness for myself. When that doesn't work, I think of it as being akin to make up sex. Anything to keep it in a positive frame of reference. :)

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    1. I did try it at some point and it wasn't bad but nothing I'd seek out. I suspect homemade spotted dick is better than canned? (When am I going to get to say that again?)

      Well, trust me, more than a few opportunities came up to make the right choice on what was *not* a designated high cal day so a hard "punishment" was in order. A run of the mill strength workout was not going to cut it and I will remember that the next time it comes up, regardless of what I choose to call it. We all do whatever mind tricks we need to that works for us. :)

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  10. It was a nice little road trip and a good reason to get out and explore with some people we haven't seen in awhile.

    That workout was indeed punishment. But a good punishment because I know that I am doing something good for me and sometimes I need that swift kick in the "spotted dick"!

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    1. Yes it was. But we road trip quite often so we can't get in that mind trap of "oh, it's something we don't get regularly" and then go gonzo on it.

      Yep and from now on it will be our punishment if we veer off the track. That one is truly hard to get through, I don't think it'll ever be easy!

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  11. I am the same way on a road trip! It's a mini-vacation and even when I bring the healthier stuff along, more of the healthy stuff returns home than should. Oh well. We only live once!

    I went to the gym and lifted, spent time with my son on Saturday, got my hair cut, we looked into new phones...nothing big but I treasure the time I get to spend with my son given that we are both working 2 jobs right now and he goes back to school in a month. I worked on Sunday. That's about it.

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    1. I think when you road trip on rare occasion it's okay to go for it a little more...we road trip more than many so if we keep living it up every time, the scale will never move! ;)

      Sounds like you had a great active weekend! Woo hoo!

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  12. I did a whole lot of nothing! LOL Well, it's not like I stared at paint drying, but it was a decidedly low-key weekend of watching Battlestar Galactica (the 21st century one) on DVD (super awesome show!!)

    But later this week we'll be road tripping it by traveling about 4-5 hours to Laughlin for a 3 day mini vacation before coming home late Friday. I'm already mentally trying to prepare myself for not acting like because I'm on "vacation" that I eat everything...we'll see how I do!

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  13. Thank God for Google so I didn't have to ask what spotted dick was. lol With Bill back on his ship we have no plans until he returns the first weekend in August. We'll be going to Avery Island, Louisiana, where Tabasco sauce is produced. I'm 53 and never been there. Looking forward to it!

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  14. We just got home from our road trip today--10 hours on the road today makes for some tired butts and kiddos! GREAT road trip though but I hear ya on the humidity--of course I'm a heat and humidity wimp. We laughed our guts out at a reunion of people I had worked with 15 years ago, met some great friends who were sneaky too, went to a museum and let the girls go crazy swimming in the hotel pools that we stayed in. Good memories!! Glad you had a good weekend!

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  15. Hubs and I are planning a road trip this weekend, so I'm going to try my best as far as the food is concerned. Of course, now that our road trips often involve active things like hiking (Please, Weather Gods, be kind!), I can be a LITTLE naughty without having to beat myself up too much about it.

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