Incredibly, in spite of what some have described as my “alarming eating habits”, I’ve managed to shed 10 lbs since leaving for my Asia trip. And I accomplished this without the benefit of working out. I owe it all to The Snake Soup Diet. It’s an amazingly quick and easy way to lose weight. No more sweat-soaked hours on the treadmill or annoying eating plans that force you to avoid baked goods. The Snake Soup Diet takes off the pounds without your having to kill yourself to reach that target weight (although it could kill you first). Now many of you reading this at home are probably thinking “Sounds great. But where am I going to get my hands on some snake soup?” Well don’t despair. For those lacking quick and convenient access to reptiles, might I suggest an equally effective variation perfected by a friend: “The Hot Seafood Casserole Diet”. Unlike diets that force you to follow a strict regimen throughout the week, rewarding you with a pitiful “cheat day” every so often, this diet works in reverse. All week long, you get to eat what you want and how much you want. Brownies, ice cream, braised pork belly with fries. Go nuts! Then, at the end of that week, visit your mother and have her make you a seafood casserole for lunch. Put the leftovers in the back of your car and park it in the hot sun for the entire afternoon while you run some errands. At the end of the day, return home and consume the leftovers. Then sit back (you’ll no doubt be doing a lot of sitting for a while) and wait for The Hot Seafood Casserole take effect. You can actually feel it working! My buddy lost an incredible 9 lbs in less than a week. Now those are results worth bragging about! And speaking of eating (or not as the case may be) –

One of the nice things about arriving late to a dinner party is that the food is usually ready by the time you arrive. There’s nothing worse than somebody telling you to be there for 6:00 p.m., getting there for 6:00 p.m., and then standing around until 8:30 or 9:00 waiting for dinner to be served. I’ve learned my lesson many times over and now make it a point to eat roughly an hour before the appointed arrival/supper time. How much I eat depends entirely on where I’m headed. If it’s a friend’s house, I’ll usually make do with a sandwich. But God forbid it’s one of those charity events where the meals always taste like they’ve been prepared by the cafeteria staff of your local hospital. In that case, you’re looking at a full meal with dessert, thank you very much.

Tonight, it was a friend’s place: Maisa and Alex hosted. And, although dinner wasn’t exactly ready when we arrived, we thankfully didn’t have to wait long to chow down. The short wait was made all that much easier by the appetizers served to tide us over: some Greek sausages – loukaniko – made with ground pork, beef, cheese, parsley, and hot pepper flakes for taste. The sausages were sliced and topped with a little lemon juice. I had to give myself a four piece limit at the risk of cleaning off the entire plate. Soon after, dinner was served: a very garlicky salad that included bacon pieces (you can never go wrong with bacon), and roast lamb with roast potatoes. A nice tzatziki sauce accompanied the main course but the lamb was so tender and flavorful that I ate mine “straight up”. According to Alex, he marinated the lamb in lemon juice overnight, then slid garlic chunks into the meat which he seasoned with salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. Truly divine, the type of lamb that would turn even the most hardened of lamb-haters. Like my buddy Carl. For dessert, in keeping with the Greek theme, we were served some galaktoboureko (which my friend Steve maintains is a perfectly scifi name) which is a milk custard-filled pastry. The (Battlestar) Galaktoboureka was fantastic. And it was paired with some very tasty loukoumades, deep-fried little doughballs drizzled with honey and sesame seeds. Service was outstanding. In summary, for those of you looking for a good, home cooked Greek meal, look no further than Maisa and Alex’s place.

Finally – this blog has averaged about 45 visits a day until today when that number jumped a little (last time I checked, it was about 360). The reason for the slight uptick is obvious and I’d like to thank all of you who have taken the time to pop in to see how Jelly is recovering from her dental surgery. Rest assured, she is doing fine and back to her usual lively self. To put your minds at ease, I have included a pic of her nestled amongst our shoes.