Everyday Systems

I went to Red Robin tonight and ordered my customary (and delish!) grilled chicken "burger." It usually comes with a reasonable serving of fries on the plate, which I figure I can eat on occasion and truly enjoy. Tonight, however, they forgot to put the fries on the plate, so the server brought me a whole basket of those evil things. I ended up eating most of them!!!! They are like drugs!

I've been doing No-S since 1/1/11 and this is my first real failure. It brings back all those, "well, I've blown it again" feelings. I know tomorrow is another day and I'm determined to make it an N day, but it sure feels yucky to realize how easily I can be thrown off course.

Whidbey Woman wrote:I've been doing No-S since 1/1/11 and this is my first real failure.

You're doing brilliantly. "Mark it and move on."

They are probably more like a drug than you think.

Nothing that everyone else here hasn't done. Keep moving in the right direction.

Whidbey Woman wrote:I went to Red Robin tonight and ordered my customary (and delish!) grilled chicken "burger." It usually comes with a reasonable serving of fries on the plate, which I figure I can eat on occasion and truly enjoy. Tonight, however, they forgot to put the fries on the plate, so the server brought me a whole basket of those evil things. I ended up eating most of them!!!! They are like drugs!

I've been doing No-S since 1/1/11 and this is my first real failure. It brings back all those, "well, I've blown it again" feelings. I know tomorrow is another day and I'm determined to make it an N day, but it sure feels yucky to realize how easily I can be thrown off course.

Mark it an move on. It happens.

I always find that situations like you found yourself in (food served on muliple dishes) highlights

THE POWER OF ONE PLATE.

In the early days of building NoS habits, I often repeated to myself the mantra (from the book): "one=done" in an attempt to convince myself of the fact. (If I had chosen to, I could just have easily said to myself "Oh, THAT doesn't look like very much." ).

However, the repeated positive experiences of "one=done" being true strengthened my NoS habits, so that now, the phrase isn't an attempt to convince myself that I won't starve, but rather, a reminder that "more than one=uncomfortably full and yucky" and something to be avoided.

And, lastly, you didn't "blow it"; you learned something: two plates is too much. Even after 2.5 years on NoS, I am not very good at estimating how much food I've eaten/should eat when it is served on more than one plate. I hate "virtual plating" as I stink at it.

So, yes, mark it and move on. Don't go down the diethead road. Don't "punish" yourself for yesterday. Enjoy your food today.

HTH,

Once again, I'm so glad I posted. Your words of encouragment and wisdom are just what I needed.

I love the one=done mantra! I just finished reading the book, but I think I need to read it again and pull out some of the pearls.

Thanks again.

I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World. Make sure Red Robbin gets those tasy little things on the plate next time.

Over43 wrote:I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World.

I think there are a lot of foods worse than fries -- and even doughnuts for that matter.

wosnes wrote:

Over43 wrote:I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World.

I think there are a lot of foods worse than fries -- and even doughnuts for that matter.

Gushers and my grandfather's sugar-free, fat-free "pancake syrup" come to mind.

Please notice I said they "might be", not they are...

wosnes wrote:

Over43 wrote:I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World.

I think there are a lot of foods worse than fries -- and even doughnuts for that matter.

Have a look here for some examples:

http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Nicest of the Damned wrote:

wosnes wrote:

Over43 wrote:I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World.

I think there are a lot of foods worse than fries -- and even doughnuts for that matter.

Have a look here for some examples:

http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/

That just made me hungry.

exdieter wrote:

Nicest of the Damned wrote:

wosnes wrote:

Over43 wrote:I love fries, and other than doughnuts, they might be the worst food in the World.

I think there are a lot of foods worse than fries -- and even doughnuts for that matter.

Have a look here for some examples:

http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/

That just made me hungry.

... and made me feel sick.

I liked the Chocolate Mousse Burger and Shortbread Fries, though.

Speaking of french fries...I made some for dinner last night using this recipe.

They aren't something you make often, when you're in a hurry, or when you want to make a LOT of fries, but they're very good. I use one good-sized (not one of the huge baking potatoes) potato per person.

I made oven fries the other night.

Like wosnes, it isn't something I often do, but I do sometimes. And a medium potato per person isn't going too overboard.

wosnes wrote:Speaking of french fries...I made some for dinner last night using this recipe.

They aren't something you make often, when you're in a hurry, or when you want to make a LOT of fries, but they're very good. I use one good-sized (not one of the huge baking potatoes) potato per person.

Wosnes, thanks for posting that - sounds tasty and more fuel efficient than heating a deep fryer or an oven. Very fortunate for me I started my lower-carb experiment before I saw this!

One thing did make me wonder: I see the writer saying this practice (starting with cold oil) dates back to before the 1970's. Back in the 1950's and '60's, in the part of England where I grew up, we were still frying with lard or beef dripping - had that been supplanted by cooking with oil in the US by then, or would that have been confined to ethnic groups concerned about religious animal-fat issues?

Graham wrote:

wosnes wrote:Speaking of french fries...I made some for dinner last night using this recipe.

They aren't something you make often, when you're in a hurry, or when you want to make a LOT of fries, but they're very good. I use one good-sized (not one of the huge baking potatoes) potato per person.

Wosnes, thanks for posting that - sounds tasty and more fuel efficient than heating a deep fryer or an oven. Very fortunate for me I started my lower-carb experiment before I saw this!

One thing did make me wonder: I see the writer saying this practice (starting with cold oil) dates back to before the 1970's. Back in the 1950's and '60's, in the part of England where I grew up, we were still frying with lard or beef dripping - had that been supplanted by cooking with oil in the US by then, or would that have been confined to ethnic groups concerned about religious animal-fat issues?

I really don't remember what fat was most used in the 50s, but by the 60s the various vegetable oils/shortenings had replaced lard in most cases. I don't remember my family using lard (or even bacon grease) at all, but I do remember friend's families having a container of bacon grease and/or lard in the refrigerator.

The 50s and 60s were near the beginning of the belief that vegetable oils were better and healthier than animal fats (which is now being proven not to be the case).

Synchronicity... we had oven fries last night too. Recipe on my personal thread.

I do them in large wedges. They take about 1/2 hr - quicker than wosne's version, but somewhat different in result.

We eat about 1/2 large baking potato or 1 med potato per person when I do these, or about what we'd eat normally. But because I use a spice mix, my family doesn't slather them in butter the way they do baked potatoes.

I wonder how it would work for yams. No sweet taters at the store yesterday but they did have yams.

Blithe Morning wrote:I wonder how it would work for yams. No sweet taters at the store yesterday but they did have yams.

Grocery stores often call sweet potatoes yams.

Nicest of the Damned wrote:

Blithe Morning wrote:I wonder how it would work for yams. No sweet taters at the store yesterday but they did have yams.

Grocery stores often call sweet potatoes yams.

Yes they do and it's aggravating I think yam fries might even turn out better than sweet potato fries because yams are starchier and a little less sweet.

KCCC wrote:Synchronicity... we had oven fries last night too. Recipe on my personal thread.

I do them in large wedges. They take about 1/2 hr - quicker than wosne's version, but somewhat different in result.

We eat about 1/2 large baking potato or 1 med potato per person when I do these, or about what we'd eat normally. But because I use a spice mix, my family doesn't slather them in butter the way they do baked potatoes.

I do the oven fries, too, but last night I was in the mood for "real" fries. They were so good!

Ok, now I'm hungry for fries again. This time I'll make them myself, though.

By the way, I make oven fries with sweet potatoes (or yams - whichever is on sale) quite often. Very yummy!

Greetings from the mainland
(I'm assuming you're on Whidbey Island, and if you are, lucky you!)
I made the oven fries last night with a bit of olive oil and Mrs Dash's sf seasoning, and a whole lotta black pepper....tasted great but IKWYM bout those Red Robin fries....they must sprinkle them with crack or somthing, they are soooooo addictive
glimmer

wosnes wrote:

KCCC wrote:Synchronicity... we had oven fries last night too. Recipe on my personal thread.

I do them in large wedges. They take about 1/2 hr - quicker than wosne's version, but somewhat different in result.

We eat about 1/2 large baking potato or 1 med potato per person when I do these, or about what we'd eat normally. But because I use a spice mix, my family doesn't slather them in butter the way they do baked potatoes.

I do the oven fries, too, but last night I was in the mood for "real" fries. They were so good!

Lol! I looked at your recipe, and they looked good enough to almost make me reconsider my personal ban on deep-frying food. (I don't like to do it, it's messy, the food generally not good for you anyway...but mostly, to be honest, I just don't like doing it). The "it takes one hour" recalled me to my senses. I rarely have that much time to cook.

KCCC wrote:

wosnes wrote:

KCCC wrote:Synchronicity... we had oven fries last night too. Recipe on my personal thread.

I do them in large wedges. They take about 1/2 hr - quicker than wosne's version, but somewhat different in result.

We eat about 1/2 large baking potato or 1 med potato per person when I do these, or about what we'd eat normally. But because I use a spice mix, my family doesn't slather them in butter the way they do baked potatoes.

I do the oven fries, too, but last night I was in the mood for "real" fries. They were so good!

Lol! I looked at your recipe, and they looked good enough to almost make me reconsider my personal ban on deep-frying food. (I don't like to do it, it's messy, the food generally not good for you anyway...but mostly, to be honest, I just don't like doing it). The "it takes one hour" recalled me to my senses. I rarely have that much time to cook.

Because this is cooked at such low heat, it's not messy at all. The stove gets more splattered when I make a stir fry. For something cooked submerged in oil, they're not at all greasy. They're definitely among the best fries I've ever had -- bar none.

I don't think I've ever deep fried anything. For these fries, there's just enough oil in the pan to cover the potatoes, which as the recipe says should be in a single layer.

I was making a sandwich for dinner and I wanted something like fries or chips to go with it. I thought about running out to buy some chips, but then remembered this recipe. Not only was it cheaper than buying even a small bag of chips, the quality was better than anything I could have purchased. While I like oven baked fries, I wanted "fries."

I sauteed some chicken last night to use in a pasta dish, and it was a lot messier than making the fries.

Michael Pollan wrote:
Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself

There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking a soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard to make treats so cheap and easy that we're eating them every day. The french fry did not become America's most popular vegetable until industry took over the jobs of washing, peeling, cutting, and frying the potatoes -- and cleaning up the mess. If you made all the french fries you ate, you would eat them much less often, if only because they're so much work. The same holds true for fried chicken, chips, cakes, pies and ice cream. Enjoy these treats as often as you're willing to prepare them -- chances are good it won't be every day.

This recipe appeared 10 months ago and I've made them twice -- not bad.