Exploring Puerto Rico

Exploring Puerto Rico
At Cafe Puerto Rico in Old San Juan

Monday, September 20, 2010

Obsessions.... good or bad?

So I decided to hit the gym today after a long long time. My friend Sharlene gave me the stare this morning indicating that I have been growing handles all over my upper body! Upon entering the gym, the instructor cried out: "Honey, I have not seen you in a while! And you were doing so well!!!!!!" Did I have "fat ass" suddenly written all over my face? I wanted to say: 'I was traveling for work' but that would be a lie. I only traveled for the past two weeks. How would I explain the hiatus from the gym for the past two months! Climbing those 3 flights of stairs to get to the weights room was not easy. I surprised myself by my huffing and puffing. And there, another instructor tells me the same thing! My only solace was seeing Sharlene give me a huge smile letting me know how proud she was of me. A part of her apparently thought that I would not come!!

Ok, reality check. 20 minutes into the body pump workout, and I knew I could not use the same weights I used before. My body was shaking in many places. Push-ups were brutal. But the instructor was super nice to suggest alternate moves so I do not hurt my ankle. My ankle is doing well but sometimes in an uneven surface, I still experience a sharp pain. My brace and ace bandage will accompany me to Machu Pichu!

My strongest critic is by far my husband! If I indulge in a bowl of ice cream or dessert or try to get a second serving of anything, he would invariably poke me in the waist or under my chin and sarcastically note "eat my sweets eat!" or would even make a snide remark that I would make a good sacrificial goat for the next Eid! Not only does it spoil my desire to eat, but makes me want to scream at his: "have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?!?!?!"

My worst reality check comes from visiting my favorite clothing store: Ann Taylor. I don't know why I keep shopping there, but it depresses me everytime. Most of the clothes are made for size 0! And on the occasion I do fit into something, it's after a lot of digging and feeling fat and ugly!

Oh well, the obsession I feel will continue... And just in case we do go to Bangladesh this December, it would do me good to shed some weight. Otherwise, in every household, the conversation would invariably start with: oh you have lost weight from the last time we saw you! or you have put on a lot of weight since we last saw you! It never fails. And the second question would invariably be: when are you two having a baby?!?! So people in the US talk about weather. In Bangladesh, it's one's weight or hair and of course procreation!

So my new plan (a-hem! only started tonight!) is to avoid poultry and red meat and go for fish! Don't know how long it will last as I will still have to cook chicken for hubby. But will try to stick to fish as much as I can! I have not taken any picture of the fish I made tonight. But it turned out sublime. Best of all, it took only 6 minutes!!!!

Ingredients:
-- Fillet of flounder. You can use tilapia, cod, catfish, sole or anything you like.
-- Ajwain, Lemon juice, red chilli and salt to taste. Olive oil to fry.

Process:
1. Pat the fish with paper towel. Sprinkle fish with some ajwain, salt, red chilli and a squirt of lemon juice.
2. In a saucepan with a drizzle of olive oil, fry the fish for 3 min each side. When you flip the fish, sprinkle the other side with some ajwain, salt and some lemon juice.

I have never cooked fish with Ajwain, but watched my friend Shannjit's mother do so last weekend. In Panjabi cooking, apparently, Ajwain and fish go hand in hand. Trust me. It is REALLY yummy!

Will let you know how long I will keep on the new obsession...

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