Day 16 - A Test of Will

Sunday - Mother's Day

Mother's Day always seems to have big meals and tempting food preparations attached to it.  I often consider invoking the "Special Reward" rule when such an event is upon us.  Especially when I am doing all of the cooking and food prep.  Here's how it all went down. . .

I invited my mom and Debbie's mom up for the afternoon and dinner.  Because of the dissimilar interests in certain foods I ended up preparing two main dishes - Grilled Lamb Chops and my now famous Poached Salmon.  Let me know if you would like the recipe.  It is fantastically moist with a rich and flavorful cream sauce.  I invented this dish one day while trying to think of a new salmon preparation and it was so good that I wrote down all of my steps so I wouldn't forget.  It's also very simple.

I had to prep the lamb chops a day in advance using a "quick dry aging" method that I adopted from a Good Eats episode on cooking a proper porterhouse steak.  Needless to say, I spend the majority of the day in the kitchen cooking delicious foods that I am unable to eat.  I timed it all so that everything would be nice and hot and ready to serve at the same time - not an easy task.  It all smelled so good.

I sat down with everyone with my bowl of white rice and some smoked striped bass.  I have to be honest - I spooned a few tablespoons of the salmon cream sauce over my rice just to give it some power.  It was so good - but oh so bad at the same time.  I paid the price for cheating.  Since my body has been this temple of purity and low toxicity for 16 days the introduction of a rich creamy sauce did not sit well at all.  Almost instantly it had my stomach in knots. 

A few minutes later I found myself in the bathroom with a bad case of diarrhea.  See what happens when you stray from the rules?  I don't think people are really supposed to be drinking the milk intended for a newborn calf - do you? 

I hear and read a lot of things about people being lactose intolerant.  Perhaps this is true but perhaps so many people have adapted an actual 'tolerance' to lactose products like milk over the course of their lifetime.  We've always been told of the health benefits of milk for "strong bones and teeth" due to minerals like calcium as well as the vitamins contained in milk.  As mammals, we start life with nothing but mother's milk to sustain us.  But then as we grow we are weaned off because we no longer need the benefits provided by our mother - like antibodies, vitamins, minerals, etc.  We begin to develop our own defense system against foreign invaders that would otherwise compromise our health.  Same thing goes for a baby cow or a baby 'pick your mammal.'

I'm going off on a little lactose tangent here but perhaps there is some truth here that my body was telling me.  Perhaps it was telling me that this creamy sauce, although delicious, was not welcome inside.  My body reacted to this substance by communicating to my brain a message not to eat that anymore - or else there will be trouble.

I spent the rest of the afternoon suffering from food envy of the worst kind.  It was all my doing.  I bought it.  I prepared it.  And I served it.  The finale came in the form of this caramel coated triple layer sponge cake with a custard filler between layers and chocolate covered strawberries on top.  A test of will for sure.  Especially when everyone got too full to finish it off.  I was throwing away paper dessert plates with chunks of moist cake and half eaten strawberries still remaining.  What a day.  So glad it's over with.  Debbie hid the rest of the cake so I didn't have to look at it for another minute.  (Thanks)  Sorry there are no pictures to accompany this post - it would be too difficult for me to relive it again with pictures.