Fais do do

For the record, Thanksgiving isn't really a big deal to me, what being all immigranty and stuff. No the biggest challenge for me is business trips, specifically to the greatest area of the country, culinary wise.

If all the states in the union were to have a giant food fight, I’m convinced Louisiana would win; hands down, the best food in this country comes from down there. Being the 5th fattest state in 2010 almost seems like an insult, when they should clearly be in first with the culinary delights they put together.

Four to five times a year I make a three to four day jaunt across the state for work, flying in to New Orleans, driving through Baton Rouge to Lafayette for cajun, and going back to New Orleans via New Iberia, Morgan City and Houma for some good ol’ creole. The trip is usually a binge of gambling, drinking, bullshitting, and eating. Daily gumbo, etoufee, fresh baked bread, daiquiris, bbq, bread pudding, béarnaise, wine, beer, butter, sugar, cream, more butter and everything deep fat fried. Also, there were some business meetings in there.

Well this trip I avoided the majority of it. Did I slip up and have a bread pudding? Yes. Was the quality of the jerky I ate not to the highest standard? Probably. Did we need to order those later bottles of wine? Probably not. But I’m not going to sit here and feel sorry for myself. In a land where there’s a possibility of me taking in more calories before 10am than most crossfitters take in during the day, I did pretty f-bombing well.

One, be prepared. Having appropriate snacks while your boss pulls over on the side of the road for fruit pies is always good. Two, fill up on the good stuff, hardcore. I’m sure the prep tactics at a lot of places weren’t 100% paleo, but whatever, “oh you have grilled shrimp? Hook a bro up”. Three, ask. I’ve been down there enough to know what’s usually on the menu, and attempted to make it myself enough times to know what’s in it. If I didn’t, bam, just ask. They love talking about their cooking, and will always entertain someone interested in learning.

Enough jabbering, down to details. If its from the gulf, grill it up and give. I had flounder stuffed with shrimp and crab, boiled shrimp, bbq shrimp, seared yellowfin, crawfish omelets. If it walks, check the preparation tactics, and eat. I had a fantastic bacon wrapped venison steak and venison sausage. Some pretty decent rabbit too, a nice fatty meat. Also, never can get enough tasso. I’m a little wary of where gumbo sits on the scale. Yes its filled with shrimp, chicken, andouille, and crawfish (depending on what kind you order) but its also based on a roux, which is flour and oil. There’s also some rice in there, but any place worth its weight should be serving it to you table side, at which point you can preach sacrelig and ask for no rice.

I haven’t been as strict as I was the first two weeks, that’s for sure, but I have been mentally in the game and before I even stopped home last night from the airport, I picked up a few pounds of meat. I’ve been mentally aware of everything I’ve put in my body, even if I was shitfaced (honestly it takes me like two or three glasses of wine now). So stop feeling sorry for yourself, and keep strong.