Muffalettas Please

I'm hungry.

Not something that has been in my vocabulary in the last 3 months, and I'm happy (sorta) to report my appetite is back.

Right now, 11:15 am, I'm hungry. It's what happens when I don't eat breakfast (and coffee doesn't count as breakfast apparently). So I'm sitting in my scrapbook room looking at recipes online when a muffaletta crosses my path. Not a real one, a recipe. Suddenly I'm ravinish.

Open Google and make the request, "Dear God Google, where can I find a Muffaletta in Redmond?" Now Redmond is not a hot pot of Italian food, or creole food, or well Irish. And yet, what appears on the result page but a crusty old restaurant I've been dying to try since the day I laid eyes on it some number of years ago, The Celtic Bayou.

I know, right? Irish and South? What the dickens? And yet, this restaurant I drive past daily and have always wondered what could it be like. Their website says, "The Celtic Bayou is a Cajun café and Irish pub that offers excellent authentic Cajun, Irish, & American foods along with award-winning handcrafted beers brewed by local Washington breweries. " Which really confuses me. Is it cajun? Is it irish?

And so I have a mission. I won't go today because, well that would be weird...although, that muffaletta on their menu is calling my name. Who in the Seattle / Redmond area wants to go with me to try this place out?

So now that my appetite is back, I don't want to gain the 28lbs I lost. Who knew having your ovaries removed was a viable diet plan? And what, you ask, did I learn during the months of no eating.

Well, I'll tell you. Cuz you asked so nicely.

1. I'm a clock eater. I have lunch at 11 and dinner at 5pm regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. Know that now means I'm going to pay attention to actual hunger not time.

2. Portions and habits. Habitually, lunches for me was a full sandwich, bag of chips and a soda. I discovered during my hiatus of eating that I don't 1) need the chips and 2) need the full sandwich. The diet coke is a given, so don't even ask me to give that up. That's like asking me to cut off my right arm. And eating out - the portions are ridiculously large. Learning its 1) okay to order an appetizer and salad instead of an entree and 2) share the entree. I'm trying to be very aware of my portions at home as well. I bought myself a scale to help me understand just what 3 ounces of meat looks like, or 8 ounces of fruits, etc. (Side note: I discovered eating on smaller plates help tremendously with portions. Visually, my plate looks full w/o it being full).

3. Starches. I'm a carb girl. I love me my bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. Somehow while on the eating hiatus I didn't crave them at all. And now, while I'll eat them, I don't crave them. I have, therefore, taken them out of my dinners. I grew up with dinners being a meat, a vegetable, and a starch. It's part of the holy trinity of dinners. And now, I've made my trinity, meat, vegetables, and a big huge salad.

And so those are my three lessons. It doesn't mean I won't get in the car and drive 2 miles to get that muffaletta - or I could walk there...yah...um...hmmm, it's raining. Never mind. I'll just go downstairs and make a salad.