Time to Celebrate

OK, so I don’t want to brag BUT my total cholesterol count is 147 and my blood pressure is 110/84. My fasting blood sugar is 88. Since I am not at my ideal weight I can at least gloat that my “other” numbers look good. My doctor said I have good genes (little does he know). I think my lifestyle choices have a little to do with it as well.

Speaking of lifestyle, last weekend there was a lot to celebrate. For one it was a three day weekend and my brother and his family came to visit me. It was my youngest daughter’s 18th birthday, President’s day and Chinese New Year’s. How could we not have a party and eat! I went to the farmer’s market early on Saturday morning where I bought fresh fish, scallops and shrimp. Then I bought all kinds of fruit and vegetables. I bought fresh goat cheese and bread for an appetizer. We ended up grilling the fish and I made two kinds of salads and two vegetable dishes. I thought it seemed like a typical family feast and everyone had a good time without the usual calorie intake. For desert I bought dark chocolate to melt and fresh berries. I like to buy my berries from a grower from Pismo Beach. I have actually done a taste test between these locally grown berries and the ones you can buy for much less at the grocery store that are grown in another country. The extra dollars are worth every penny. If you have a choice buy locally grown berries. They are delicious.

The next morning we had dim sum. Dim sum is dicey as there are many temptations in the high calorie range but there are also several smart choices on the menu like Chinese broccoli and shrimp har gow. If you can resist eating too many, you can keep your calorie intake down to about 400 calories and still enjoy yourself.

The food part is never that difficult for me. It’s the wine. I love red wine. My friends and family all know I love red wine so they give me bottles of it for presents. My husband gave me a membership to a wine club for Christmas so it gets shipped directly to the house. How’s that for temptation? But because I don’t need the extra calories I swore of it and have not had a drop since New Year’s Eve. That is until last weekend. I had so much to celebrate AND my family was in town. After a great meal and all the dishes are cleaned up, I love to plop on the couch and drink wine with my sister-in-law. I love staying up late at night and talking to my brother about when we were kids, about our kids, about what we did wrong and what we did right. More about doing the right thing next time.