So, how am I going to slow myself down? I’m going to count my chews. I know, that sounds a bit crazy but if I do it I can make this new habit stick.

Check back in five years.

We made our way to McDonald’s and, of course, I thought it would be a good idea to have a nugget eating challenge. This time, though, I would only attempt to eat 50 nuggets. As I said on Twitter, I was trying to eat 50 just so I could see how hard it would be to eat 100 at a later date. I thought I could eat 50 with little problem. Boy was I wrong.

About 12 nuggets into the challenge I knew that I would fail. I wasn’t full. I was disgusted. The grease on the nuggets is positively revolting after only a few nuggets. The few times that I’ve order McNuggets in my life I’ve only gotten 4 nuggets at a time. Obviously not enough to be prepared for a 50-nugget (let alone a 100-nugget) challenge. Yuck.

So, I quit at 28. I had 2 nuggets left in my third box of ten and, although I could have eaten those, I thought ‘what is the point?’. I gave up and I will now not eat McNuggets until at least 2020. I’m glad I tried and now know that eating 100 nuggets – at least by me – is impossible.

My two fellow nugget-challengers, Sam and Austin, did better than I did with 40 and 32 nuggets respectively.

Photo credit: Ben Wagner.

I did well with beginning my exercise routine again though. I ran on Tuesday, Friday, and played football on Sunday. I ran two 5Ks, or 6.2 miles, and had “ok” times for both runs. I have no idea how much exercise I got playing football but I’d be willing to guess it was a much better workout than simply jogging. It was a lot more fun too.

My current weight is, as my goal was, 205 pounds for a loss of two pounds this week. Next week I’d like to be 203 or below. My goal, per week, will continue to be 2 pounds or more (but not much more).

My goals for this week, besides being under 203 pounds, are that I eat much better, drink only 1 night, jog at least 10 miles total for the week, and doing one other active thing this week.

They plan on taking full advantage of both Facebook and Twitter with their new venture to make announcements, share deals, and generally keep everyone up to date with new things going on at the restaurant.

If you want to see the type of talent that Dave has, here is an episode of Eat Weird that features his talents.

Several episodes of Eat Weird feature Dave’s dishes so be sure to check them out. Enjoy and see you at AuRants this summer.

Yes I have been known to eat fish eggs right out of the fish. I don’t do this for shock factor – I do it because I truly enjoy trying out new things to see if l like them. Side note: The fish eggs right out of the fish tasted to me a lot like grits with a sprinkle of salt.

Which is my I’m proclaiming my love for sushi. I’ve mentioned sushi here before but I’ve never just come out and say that I love it. Or, jot down the reasons why. Oh, and by the way – the photos that spurred this post on are photos from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market that I saw linked to from the Flickr Blog. Tell me that place doesn’t look like a fish-lovers Graceland.

I suppose I love sushi because it is nearly unadulterated. Most sushi is first frozen to kill any potential parasites or whozawhatsits – but besides that you’re getting fresh, raw, unblemished fish from the ocean into your mouth. Most of the time the tastes from sushi are subtle. Many people like to spice up their sushi with wasabi and soy mixes – and I do too on occasion – but I truly do enjoy the subtle tastes in sushi all by itself.

I find that I enjoy subtleties in most of my foods. Wine, for example, is something I enjoy even more when the fruit of the wine isn’t altogether apparent, but you need to search for the tastes, usually on the finish, to figure it out. I was given a lovely homemade apple wine from a friend not too long ago and the taste of the apples was so subtle that I found the wine extraordinary. Some would sip the wine, expect to be hit with the flavor of apple all over their palate, and be disappointed when that didn’t happen. I, on the other hand, actually am pleasantly surprised when that doesn’t happen.

The subtleties found in sushi are many. The taste of sushi is, at least for this novice, extremely hard to articulate. On the one hand, you have the combination of raw, nearly tasteless, meat combining with the taste of some of the best rice you’ve ever had. Sushi rice is typically prepared with a dabble of vinegar to keep the rice loose – which brings an altogether “freshness” to the sushi. I suppose one of the main tastes of good sushi is, well, freshness. It tastes like you’re eating something brand new.

Other tastes seem to come from the type of fish that it is. The subtle differences between red snapper and salmon, as an example, seem to be more in texture and density than in taste. I can tell the difference between the two blind-folded (I think) but it’d be more based on the feel of the fish than the taste itself. Most sushi has a base taste. That base taste is spread out over all the difference kinds of sushi and then subtle hints are thrown in to mix it up. I suppose that base taste could be best described as the ocean. Not overpowering, mind you – but just enough for you to know where it came from.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. I love sushi. If you’ve never tried it. Do yourself a favor and try something new just to see if you like it. Maybe you won’t catch a fish in a lake and eat the eggs out of it like I did – but perhaps you can have a nice sushi chef make you a few pieces of heaven to try the next time you have the chance.

I know, I play basketball a lot. But it is the sport that I could play every single day and not tire of it.

I had one ‘bad day’ on Saturday (for reasons I’ll leave out for now, but suffice to say the day consisted of not very good food, although it tasted great, and a lot of couch time). I’m going to try to avoid this type of day this week.

This morning I weighed in at 194.something pounds. My scale consists of a rotating dial with small numbers that are hard to read from 6′ 1″ above it. That is a loss of 2 pounds for this week. I’m feeling very good, fitting into clothes better, and ready to have an active summer. This brings me down 13 pounds in 1 month and 1 week. I’m looking forward to shedding this last 7 pounds, to beat Pat, before mid-May.

I hope he took it.

This week I’m going to try very hard to make the entire week one of a balanced diet. It seems that each week I’ve either done well at the beginning of the week and struggled toward the end, or vice-versa. I’m hoping to buck that trend this week.

Just to be clear, I’m still 196 pounds for a loss and gain of 0 pounds. I fully attribute this to eating too much. I didn’t eat anything I’d be ashamed to admit. I didn’t drink much of any alcohol (a glass or two of wine for the entire week). I didn’t snack. I didn’t eat very late. So I just ate too much and maintained my weight. Not the worst thing in the world.

Looking forward to owning it this week though. My goal is to lose three pounds.

Last week I weighed in at 207 pounds. I was able to play basketball twice, do some light jogging once, walking twice, and a little “yard work” once. As far as eating is concerned I did good with temporary lapses in judgement on Saturday and Sunday night (I had beer). But overall I think I did great this week.

As of this morning I weigh 203 pounds for a loss of four pounds this week. Since my goal is an average of two pounds per week this is obviously better than expected.

My goals for this week are to cut down on carbs, eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks, go completely beer and wine free for the week, and lose two more pounds.

How did you do? And what are your goals for this week?

I had the privilege of cooking the dish for episode 7 of Eat Weird. I chose to make mussels over linguini, a very simple meal that anyone could make in their home kitchens and with any budget, because even though Chris tries to focus on things that are much more “weird” – I don’t think many people my age or younger have had mussels or any type of seafood.

It may sound odd that I say that – but more and more I am noticing that people’s explorations into food are more and more constrained to things that come in boxes, are frozen into a brick, can be warmed up in a microwave, or can be purchased while leaning out of your car’s window. We’re really hoping that Eat Weird, in some very small way, changes that.

Have you ever had mussels? Head on over to Eat Weird and let us know.

My long-time friend Chris Fehnel has launched a new video blog called Eat Weird. The premise is simple; Live well, Eat Weird. You see, many times us Americans (and perhaps many of you reading this that are not Americans) tend to think certain foods taboo. That is, you think they’re weird.

Maybe you grew up in a “normal” household eating meat and potatoes. Perhaps you grew up in a “modern” household where you either ate at a restaurant or you warmed something up in the microwave. Or, worse yet – all you’ve ever done is snack in front of the television.  Regardless, I believe we can all agree that the culinary and food-loving pedigree present in most households of this 21st-Century are poor.

I’m as guilty as any. Or at least I was. Since striking out on my own and getting married my diet has consisted of, well, whatever I can get my hands on.  Growing up with a father, born in Indonesia and raised by well-traveled Dutch parents, who loved to cook – I was often treated to what some would consider extremely exotic meals. Rattle snake, shark, cow’s tongue, and countless Indonesian dishes were on the table every night. And I mean every single night.

My wife wasn’t so fortunate. She and her single-mother would rarely cook anything of consequence. Make no mistake about it, Eliza is an excellent cook now in her adult life. When she hits the kitchen and I hear pots and pans smashing around – I get all together excited at the prospect. But for the first few years of our marriage – we were married young – we ate like Americans in every sense of the phrase.

That is why Chris’ show Eat Weird strikes so close to home for me. It is because his show is a direct reflection of where I am right now in my food-eating journey. As I travel around the world to locations exotic and otherwise, I try everything I’ve never had before. This spirit of willingness has always been inside of me, lurking. But it has only shown itself through motivation to actually work towards its end – rather than passively allow life and opportunity to pass by – within the past 4 or 5 years. That is, I’ve always been willing to eat anything but I have only recently begun to seek these delicacies.

I had the privilege of helping Chris shoot his first two episodes using only Eliza’s Flip video camera. The quality, content, mood, and overall feel of the show will mature overtime – that much Chris knows for sure. But sometimes you just have to start. Sometimes that is the most challenge part. Now that he’s got his feet wet – ideas, circumstances, and opportunities are flying in from all directions. The road ahead looks promising both for his own food-eating diversity but also for his fledgling show which, I think, could end up being a huge hit in six months.

Congrats to Chris for launching this new show and I look forward to following his journey in the world of good food while I continue my own. No matter how weird some may think it.

Photo credit: Eliza Devroe.