A New Hurdle: Vacation... Favorite Restaurants!

Oh Boy!

If you've read any of my previous posts, you know that I am food obsessed. I hail from New Orleans, where they breed the food love right into you. I also lived in Atlanta for 22 years. Atlanta is no New Orleans, but it has a lot of great restaurants. I'm going to Atlanta this weekend, and my husband and I are planning a lot of our trip around our favorite restaurants. Pray for me!

I Miss the Food!

 

We live in Reading, Pennsylvania now, where they are "food backward" and the selection of  "good" restaurants is slim. And when I say "good" in reference to Reading, I mean places we will go to more than once. They love steak here, and they love to burn it. If you order it medium rare you either get it well done (as in "Medium rare meat is gross and you aren't gonna eat it here,") or practically raw ("You want medium rare? I am going to show you how disgusting under-cooked meat can be.")  It really stinks. Other than steak, its the whole frozen breaded seafood thing, Italian (not great Italian, though) and pizza. Is pizza Italian? Not sure, but you get the picture of food in Reading, PA.

In Atlanta we had many restaurants we loved. Ethnic food, yum. (Reading has no good ethnic food that I can find.) We'll be visiting Thai Chili (OMG Curry Catfish!), Mexico City Gourmet (Steak Tacos to die for),  The Havana Sandwich Shop (Cuban sandwich with black beans and rice... fantastic!), and The Sundown Cafe (specialty tacos like fried chicken with tomatoes and lime mayonnaise, help me Lord.) We might also make a stop at the Bar B Que Kitchen (Southern fried goodness like smothered steak with every veggie known to man and biscuits... unlimited refills on the vegetables which include fried green tomatoes, fried okra, mashed potatoes, well, you get the idea.)

Making It Work 

I have to figure out the eight best bites I can eat at each place. Maybe I can stretch it to twelve if I am lucky. Oh God, the pressure. Living in Reading has actually been good for me diet-wise, so few meals to lust over at the local eateries. This will be my first real test since getting banded and I'm nervous. What if I can't control myself?

I'm just kidding, of course, but this sort of situation is one I really didn't envision when I got the band. I was so focused on the daily eating I would do, I never thought too much what it would be like when I went on vacations, where invariably for us, food plays a major role. I figure I'll do what they tell you to do, take tiny bites, eat slowly and chew forever. At least I'll be chewing something I like!

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