The Visible Woman...February 21, 2004

Saturday, February 21, 2004

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A Journal from Austin, Texas.
A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.

health and mood

drunk on food

The friend we've been visiting has been talking about three-star restaurants in France. He keeps saying, "You can get drunk on food."

You can get drunk on alcohol, too, of course.

I start the day with black coffee. Then there is a spinach crêpe with tomato, onion and some sauce. It is served with buttered toast and jelly and some home-style potatoes. I only had a little of the latter. More black coffee.

Our friend invited us over for Bloody Marys. He'd mixed up a pitcher of his favorite recipe of mix. He offered us the option of vodka (yes, for me) and lime (yes) and a bit of black pepper (yes).

After our drink, we go to lunch. Cafe Pacific is in a toney part of Dallas. We have trouble parking in the center (Highland Park Village). A Rolls Royce is parked on the curb by the valet stand.

The 'snack' delivered to the table with menus is shoestring fried sweet potatoes. Delicious. We all munch, getting down a basket of them.

We drink two bottle of fume blanc of some ilk with our food. I have snapper with some risotto and some vegie. It's a big portion.

There is a Cafe Americana during the shopping. (Never shop after drinking. I have two new pairs of Cole Haans.)

We start the evenings meal by waiting at the bar with a glass of 'wine by the glass' which is an OK, not great, Shiraz. (St. Martin's Wine Bistro is the location.) More people show up than we'd planned, including some kids. But we are accommodated. Four of us share a bottle of Pinot. I have Champagne Brie Soup (they are famous for it but I wouldn't recommend it.) I have seared rare tuna with some pasta. Mostly just eat the tuna.

Yeah, you can get drunk on food. Or drink. But, oddly, I didn't do either today.

we have temporarily lost the video portion of our program

JUST TYPING

Eating and drinking.
But just the right amounts.
Really, seriously.

Food Diary.

breakfast
[Cafe Brasil, Dallas, TX]
see above in essay

lunch
[Cafe Pacific, Dallas, TX]

see above in essay

snacks

Bloody Mary

dinner
[St. Martin's Wine Bistro]

see above in essay

Today I
- thought a little about the whole philosophy of writing down everything you eat and remembered that I'd forgotten to write down one of those power bars I had the other day. It's easy to forget 180 calories.

Time flies....

We got up, had coffee and went to the Melrose's tiny workout room for a bit of cardio. Then we cleaned up and went to a place called Cafe Brasil and had more coffee and breakfast. Then we walked a good distance. I looked for things I recognized from when I lived there and we went to a weird comic book and toy store and walked through World Market. We saw some guy mooning but we weren't sure who the moon was intended for...maybe the people waiting in front of Lucky Cafe? Surely not us.

We dressed a bit and waited for our friend to pick us up. I'd never seen his house...which he has owned since 1988. It is small but nice. We had a Bloody Mary. Then we went and had lunch. Then our friend's wife took off for an appointment and the three of us wandered in stores. I found a couple of pairs of shoes at Cole Haan and FFP got some socks. He bought a shirt at the Polo Shop. We did lots of looking and had a coffee. Then we went to a new trendy area called West Village. FFP bought some boxer shorts in the Lucky Jeans store (and I though we'd never buy anything there) but mostly we just wandered and admired some nice men's clothing at one store. Our friend dropped us off and we headed for Lower Greenville. I was hoping to check out a sort of Deco Antique Mall but it was closed so we just went to the restaurant where we were meeting people and waited at the bar. Relatives drifted in and we ended up with dinner for fifteen. Everyone was a relative except one of Dad's friends from his old neighborhood. I was glad to see everyone but it wasn't the best for visiting although the restaurant was reasonably peaceful. One of my aunts had just fallen and had an abrasion on her forehead. My late cousin Janis' family (husband and three boys) were there. She died of breast cancer. It reminded me, along with the discussion of Dad's goiter, of the fragile life we lead. My dad's three sisters were there and they had made a visit to their brother today in a nursing home for 'pictures of all of them together.' A reminder of their sisters who are gone. To me anyway. The whole gathering seemed to be about loss. Of vitality, of life. I'm pretty sure most everyone else was just enjoying a nice meal.

We headed back to the hotel and gladly fell asleep.

Reading.

Newspapers. Tried to start a Robbe-Grillet novel but fell asleep.

Voices of D-Day. ed. Ronald Drez. (On bike.)

Pending:

A DVD course on WWII. (

The Conquerers by Michael Beschloss.

nothing

Exercise

recumbent bike	40 min
treadmill
ergonomic rower
water aerobics
chest, shoulder, triceps
leg, back, bicep
lower back
ab exercises
stretches
walking	mile? more?
tennis

It was good to get a workout in while traveling.

.

.

I felt sad at the end of the day but I enjoyed visiting with my friend and shopping with Dallas' elite while sort of laughing at them.

It's a Tangled
Web we weave...these
days of our lives.

One year ago
"Well, it was so good. Good company, good wine, good food. Mike is overseeing the menu and the food is fantastic. I have a salad of Peruvian potatoes and quail's eggs. I have seared rare tuna on German potato salad with caraway vinaigrette and tatsoi. (And, no, I don't know what that last thing is.)"

Two years ago
"Somewhere along the line, I sit my wine glass down and it falls askew, spilling contents and breaking so I have to get up and clean it up, find the glass bits on the floor...the stem seems to have disintegrated. So, yeah, I get another glass and some more wine."

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