I can vouch for Jessica that when she commits to something, she sticks with it, and this challenge wasn’t easy. For three weeks, Jessica had to eat only prepared foods and no alcohol. This means she ate dinner before going out to meet friends for a meal, sipped on water while others sucked down beers and mixed drinks. It was impressive. Lets she what she has to say about the experience now that it’s over….

They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit. My previous habits included eating whatever I wanted, not really exercising, and talking about how I should be eating better and exercising more. I was feeling sluggish and knew it was time for a change so I decided to take the 21 Day Challenge with My Fit Foods. The challenge includes cutting out alcohol, caffeine, soda, and eating only My Fit Foods meals for 21 days. There is also a liver cleanse (cranberry juice, apple cider vinegar, and lemon) every morning which is designed to speed up your metabolism.

The daily cleanse was definitely my least favorite part of the challenge, but  I was super excited about having all my food made for me. I thought the hardest part would be cutting out caffeine.

The folks at My Fit Foods created my meal plan based on my preferences and goals. They warned me that the first three days of the challenge would be the worst and that I might be irritable. They were definitely right.

Four of my co-workers took the challenge with me so it was really helpful that we could encourage each other along the way. We also got free delivery to the office so that was a huge plus! Occasionally our orders would come in wrong but they typically fixed it fairly quickly. We had little patience when our delivery was wrong because we were completely dependent on their food!

Not being able to drink or eat out definitely made me a little anti-social but I knew there was an end date so I decide to really follow the plan and not cheat. There are three cheat meals built into the three week plan so I very happily cheated during those.

A couple of things to be aware of if you decide to try this:

• 

  Two varieties of chicken salads. Photo Credit: My Fit Foods Facebook Page

  The food is very tasty but there is ALOT of chicken on the plan and not much available for vegetarians. My co-workers and I kept joking that we were going to start clucking soon if we ate one more piece of chicken so they altered our plans a bit to include less chicken

• The portion sizes look really small but because it is nutritious and balanced it is surprising how quickly it fills you up
• The price is about $550, discounts are available if you do it with a group so I paid $500 but it includes 3 meals and 2 snacks each day which totals about 105 meals during the 21 days. Big bonus is you don’t have to go to the grocery store for 3 weeks! Note that it is more expensive for men to do the challenge because they have bigger portions.

Overall, I am definitely happy I took the challenge because I lost five lbs and it is kind of amazing how when you eat good, nutritious foods that you actually feel better and have more energy. I decided to maximize that energy and start really working out. I have been bitten by the running bug and am up to 3.5 miles which is a big deal for me because I have never been a runner! I really missed the taste of coffee so after the challenge I switched to decaf with soy milk and agave nectar but I am still off soda and have found that I didn’t really miss it. And of course, I brought the alcohol back in moderation.

Have you tried one of these challenges or eaten at My Fit Foods, Mel’s Meals, or Snap Kitchen? I’ve tried Mel’s Meals and Snap Kitchen and bought the recent Groupon for Snap. I like that it’s an easy option to eat healthfully on-the-go and am glad these companies exist, but since I can make the time to cook for myself, I’m not sure I’m the target market. I would be curious to try one of these challenges to help kick-start a healthier lifestyle and some much-needed weight reduction though!

I’ve known Bubbe for less than a year but she introduces me as one of her grandchildren to the staff and residents in her retirement community. It’s very sweet. I call her Bubbe which isn’t a conflict of interest for me because: a) all of my grandparents have passed away and b) my grandmothers were known as “Mama” and “Nagymama” respectively.

Bubbe checks her look in the mirror before heading down to the dining hall.

Bubbe is a kindred spirit. She loves food — especially dessert and chocolate (like her grandson Adam). One of her favorite topics is what they serve in her cafeteria vs. what they served at the Medallion, where she lived until this past spring. I love listening to her talk about anything, especially about her history and of course food.

Adam and I sat and talked with Bubbe, along with Marilyn, a family friend, before Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Bubbe (BB): I don’t like pumpkin pie. [turns to Marilyn] You love it?

Marilyn (M): Me? Yes, I do.

BB: I think about all that goop that you take out of the pumpkins when you make it. And, you put a lot of cinnamon in it.

Adam (A): You don’t like cinnamon?

BB: I love cinnamon.

BB: Since I’m in Texas, I love pecan pie. I’ll tell you what I eat in the pecan pie [originally from Iowa, Bubbe also lived many years in Los Angeles]. Only the top. The pecan’s are delicious. You know what is one of my favorite pies? Key lime. I love key lime. Years ago, I used to make lemon squares as a substitute to that key lime pie but I never had that lime taste. To this day, Carol (Bubbe’s niece) makes them and calls them Aunt Bessie’s Squares.

BB: I like sweet potatoes. But, I’ve never eaten sweet potato pie. I’m not sold on all the crusts. I like most of the cream pies. They serve us wonderful desserts at the Belmont. They served chocolate cream pie and….That. Is. Good. It’s the real whipped cream. I hate cool whip. Real whipped cream has a very slight beige color. It’s off-white because it has more air in it.

Bubbe reviews the dinner menu as Adam looks on

Jodi (JB): Tell us about the club sandwich.

BB: That was a mistake. The dining room is being redone. The club sandwich had ham and bacon and cheese. So I bit into it and I looked in the corner and I looked all around and I says, I gotta find a place to spit this. I split it in my napkin. I didn’t eat it. It was whole wheat bread and I didn’t eat the lettuce and I didn’t eat the tomato and I didn’t eat the cheese or the ham. I didn’t suffer from not eating it.

BB: I’ll tell you the truth, I like the food at the Belmont, and I eat a lot more different things there than I ever ate at Medallion but I do miss some of the Jewish food.

BB: Once they had corned beef. Their corned beef [non-Jews] doesn’t look like our [Jewish-style] corned beef.

Lenny at Kenny & Ziggy's, a Houston Jewish Deli

Lenny (Bubbe’s son and Adam’s dad): They steam it, they cut it thicker and they usually serve it with cabbage.

BB: So I ordered a corned beef sandwich. They didn’t have rye bread so they brought me white bread. I can’t eat white bread, it sticks to the roof of my mouth.

BB: I don’t like goyishe [non-Jewish] food. I love shrimp. I don’t like clams, I don’t like scallops [Adam tells me that Bubbe keeps "kinda kosher," except for fried shrimp which is her favorite].

The conversation continued a couple days later when Adam and I sat with Bubbe as she sat down to dinner at the Belmont.

BB: I like grape juice. It tastes like wine. That’s what i drink. it’s supposed to be good for you. Trouble is, everything I like is fattening.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich dinner at the Belmont - on wheat bread, since Bubbe can't have white

BB: I have to put it on like this because I dribble [on tucking her napkin into her shirt like a bib].

BB: I put salt on everything. They [the cooks at the Belmont] don’t put salt on anything.

BB: I can’t have white bread [to the waitress ].

BB: I can’t eat white bread, I hate it [to me and Adam].

Stay tuned for more of The Bubbe Chronicles: Eating with Bubbe. I’m hoping that she’ll let me record video of her talking about food. She is the best story teller and remembers everything and I love the way her voice gets high at the end of each sentence.

• Light the first candle of the menorah (Hanukkiah) with the shamash (while in reality a candle, the shamash doesn’t count as one of the eight candles — their only purpose is for viewing).
• Recite the Chanukah blessings and sing songs.
• Eat fried potato pancakes (latkes), and sufganiyot (donuts).
• Play dreidel and eat chocolate gelt (potentially Twix this year as I haven’t been to a store that sells gelt yet).

In honor of this fun time of year, I wanted to share Tasty Touring guest blogger and Whole Foods Market employee Betsy Becker’s post about her favorite Chanukah recipes. Click on the picture to read:

Betsy wrote about Chanukah for Whole Foods last year and I did too. However you plan to celebrate the eight nights of this wonderful holiday, whether by enjoying donuts from Mrs. Johnson’s, fried potatoes from McDonald’s, or golden brown delights from your own kitchen, all of us from Tasty Touring want to wish you a very Happy Chanukah, y’all!

The background below was what Marc sent around the office yesterday after sharing some traditional Moon Festival goodies for us to taste.

Tomorrow is the “moon festival” in China. It dates back 3,000 years and is a celebration of the end of the summer harvest and is supposed to be the night that the moon is the biggest and brightest. Chinese people get together with their families, gaze at the moon, and eat moon cakes. In Taiwan, they BBQ outside, so if you have some burgers this weekend, take a peek at the moon and you can consider yourself cultured.

In the kitchen I brought in some moon cakes (the ones with lighter insides are coconut and the darker ones are lotus seed). A lot of Americans aren’t used to them, so I cut some up so you can at least taste-test. I also put out some Pomelo (also a must for the moon festival). It is like grapefruit, so only eat the flesh, not the rind. The brown treats are made out of brown sugar and sesame seeds and taste kind of like molasses. For Chinese New Year I’ll make dumplings or something a little more familiar

As this a festival for friends and family, feel free to take a piece or two of my Chinese note paper to write a loved one.

There are a lot of variations, but the general story is that there were 10 suns that were scorching the earth, and Houyi the archer shot down all but one.  The Emperor of Immortals gave Houyi two pills for eternal life for him and his beautiful wife Chang’e. They were supposed to eat the pills together on New Year’s Day, but one of Houyi’s friends attacked Chang’e one day to get the pill. In desperation, Chang’e swallowed the pill to keep from dying. She started to float and fly away, but didn’t want to leave her husband, so she grabbed on to the moon to keep from flying all the way away. So it isn’t a man on the moon, it’s a woman. Houyi can only visit his wife during the moon festival.

You can buy mooncakes and other traditional goodies at MT Supermarket on North Lamar.

Shuck Shack’s website prominently proclaims “The Gulf Coast Comes to East Austin.” As a Gulf Coast native who is generally disappointed in Austin’s seafood options (see my recent Perla’s post), I was definitely dubious. I decided to go along for the Tasty Tour adventure anyway, mostly just to catch up with Katie and Jodi.

After checking out the inviting outdoor patio with wooden picnic tables, the simple chalkboard menu and the breezy, retro-esque interior, I figured at the very least, this would be a good place to take advantage of the $2 beer specials.

The menu was simple and while not cheap, the prices and nice-sized portions seemed to be about on par with your standard Gulf Coast casual seafood restaurant. Although most of the menu was focused on fried seafood, we decided to keep it relatively light by splitting the peel-and-eat shrimp, large salad, baked oysters and hush puppies.

As soon as I took a bite of a nice-sized, Cajun-spiked peel and eat shrimp, I realized this place was legit. With an almost lobster-like flavor, this was hands-down the best shrimp I’ve had in Austin and rivaled the boiled shrimp at Gulfport’s ‘Lil Rays, one of my hometown favorites.

My second-favorite dish was the hush puppies; deep fried but not too greasy, I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh cornbread flavor studded with kernels of whole corn hidden inside.

The baked oysters were plump, juicy and perfectly seasoned; a great alternative for those of us who can’t quite stomach the texture of raw oysters. The mixed green salad was pretty standard, but a nice, fresh healthy choice to round out the meal and served with a light caper vinaigrette on the side.

I’ll definitely be back to Shuck Shack whenever I need my Gulf shrimp fix. Next time, I’d like to try the New Orleans barbecue shrimp, Texas caviar and maybe the ceviche appetizer.

Laissez le bon temps roule!

And now for Jodi’s Thoughts….

Many of the Yelp reviewers complained about the high prices at Shuck Shack, and my expectations were low heading into the evening. However, I was looking forward to spending time with my girlfriends and excited that a new spot had opened in the old Azul location. Situated on a beautiful lot on East Cesar Chavez, the restaurant is in an adorable converted home surrounded by lovely trees, strings of white lights, and a games area with horseshoes, washers, and petanque.

It’s still hot so we stayed inside to enjoy the air conditioning but look forward to relaxing outside with friends on cool fall evenings. I ordered a $2 Pearl — Shuck Shack offers $2 Pearl, Pearl Light, and Lonestars all day everyday. Pearl is a San Antonio beer that I’d never tried before but was cool and refreshing. I was also won over by the free koozie it was served in.

The dishes were good sized and so flavorful. I loved everything we ordered and the hush puppies were the first I have ever enjoyed — served with a cool and spicy dipping sauce and flavored with jalapenos and corn. The shrimp was juicy and sweet, and the fried oysters were lovely and crunchy from the baked cheese on top.

Unlike Perla’s, the service was down-to-earth, the prices were reasonable (my total with tip was $18), and the atmosphere lovely. I look forward to coming back — hopefully before the rest of Austin discovers it.