Eat PopTarts and Lose Weight!

Ok, you have probably heard about the professor that lost 27 pounds in a couple of months on a diet of twinkies and doritos and other tasty foods. He did it by limiting his calorie intake to 1,800 calories a day. You check out his story by clicking HERE

So that got me thinking. You all know how much I love my Brown Sugar Pop Tarts, so wouldn't it just be smart of me to have 4 pop tarts a day, 1 Banbury Cross donut, a twinkie, 5 Tab colas 2 cinnamon bears. Think of all the weight that I could lose! Yeah, I am not going to do it, but it is pretty tempting realizing that PopTarts could make me an even sexier beast.

Summer night + Meatball Stand = I'm not quite sure

Carter is obsessed about making money. He is constantly looking for ways to make more money. Well, he may have come up with his most genius idea yet. He came up to Brodi and told her that he was going to set up a meatball stand. Yes, our 7-year old decided that instead of selling silly things like lemonade on a hot summer night, he would sell tasty meatballs.

Brodi asked him how much he was going to sell the meatballs for and he told her, 2 for $5. Brodi smartly explained that may be a little much and he adjusted that to 3 for $1. Or as he would say, '6 for $2. If someone walked by his meatball stand, he would hold up his notepad and say 'May I take your order please?' Every new person that came around the corner, Carter would say to Brodi, 'Looks like another customer is coming up.'

Shockingly enough, his meatball stand did not make him hundreds of dollars but thanks to nice family and neighbors, he was able to bring home a little cash. At the end of the selling frenzy, he let us know that tomorrow that he is going to sell steaks.

'Grate' lunch yesterday!!

I grabbed some lunch at McDonalds (DON'T JUDGE ME!!!). Now, I can make some spelling mistakes. I understand when you are typing up an email and you make some mistakes. It happens to all of us.

Well, I went to pay for my meal and the card reader was not working and the well-crafted sign let me know that fact. But as you can see, there is a pretty brutal spelling mistake. I asked how long the card reader had been down...all day. So, that sign has been up all day and no manager fixed it and nobody corrected it. I still have yet to decide what is worse--spelling it 'grate' or that strange creepy drawing at the bottom of the note. And for those curious, my meal was fine. DON'T JUDGE ME!!

You probably can judge a cereal by how it spells

Nothing better than seeing a kids cereal which kids eat and having them spell the name wrong. Kids across the country now learn how to spell 'cookie' -- 'kookie'

With that said, please no comments on my crappiness as a dad for still buying the sereal, uh, I mean, cereal. At least it is better than the chocolate cherry ice cream covered in caramel cereal that I bought for them last week.

Dinner for a Night...an Aroma for a Month

I love Indian food. Probably too much. I think part of it has to do with my trips to Pakistan and loving the food there but I am always on the search for good Indian/Nepalese/Pakistani food. Utah actually has a pretty solid group of restaurants serving pretty good indian food. The Bombay House, the Himalayan Kitchen, Kathmandoo, Ganesh, Royal India and Five Star India are all tasty indian restaurants along the Wasatch front.

I decided to make up my own Butter Chicken. It was surprisingly good. The best part of it all though has to be that the smell basically infests the walls of the kitchen...so now, pretty much everything we eat has a nice aroma of curry. Eggs? Yep, taste a little bit like curry eggs. Grapes? Yep, with a hint of curry. I am thinking that by the time the smell goes away (and judging by the smell yesterday, it may take a few weeks), I may just have to cook up another batch of food.

Box mesh, tennis and basketball

We went out to dinner on Friday night for our Valentines Day. I picked a mexican grill restaurant downtown which we had never tried. It had a fun atmosphere and it started off well. We ordered our food and we waited and waited and waited. Finally, our waitress came over and apologized and told us that there was a computer problem with our order but that our order would come out soon. Fine. The manager actually came by and apologized as well and offered us dessert for the inconvenience. Cool. Thank you.

Well, our dinner came out and we had a nice dinner until the very end when Brodi leans over and takes out what looks like a hair out of my food. Egads. Well, almost all of the food was gone so we decided to let the manager know after our check came. We eat a nice dessert and then we finally mentioned it to the manager. The manager replies, 'Are you sure it was a hair? Was it gray and kind of rubbery? Now, normally I would not have spent much time analyzing the hair, but it was just like he described. I replied Yes, it was. He then explains that it was not a hair but it was 'box mesh' that got into my food. Box Mesh? I actually think he was right and that it was not a hair, but it led me to a few questions that I was too tired to ask:

• What the frak is box mesh?
• Why is it dropping from the skies into my food?
• What the frak is box mesh?

These are questions destined to remain unanswered.

The next night, we took the family out for Utah sports night. We went to watch the Ute tennis team smack around Idaho State (if you haven't gone to a college tennis match, you should...highly entertaining--we took the boys to about 5 of their matches last year and this was our 2nd time this year so far). We then went and cheered on the Utes as they lost to #15 ranked New Mexico in overtime. Overall, good weekend...box mesh and all.

Random Food Thoughts

I talked to one of the Coca Cola delivery guys at the local Smiths. He said that his store goes through about 12-14 twelve packs of Tab every week. He said though, while most drinks get sold on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays...the majority of Tab is produced during weekdays. He says that is because older people buy it during the week. Who woulda thunk that Tab was drunk mainly by old people? Don't kids also love Tab?!?

Last Fall, I picked up some chicken nuggets from KFC. I asked the guy at KFC how much regular chicken is bought every single days at just that store. He said if you add up the chicken wings, legs and breasts, over 1100 individual pieces of chicken are bought from just that store. Egads. That is a lot of chicken.

So, at Wendy's, they serve square hamburger patties. Why don't they serve it on square buns? I understand the round hamburer patty and round bun...I don't understand the square hamburger patty and round bun.

I love cheddar cheese. But I don't think that I have ever seen cheddar cheese sold in round packaging. Other cheeses are sold in round packaging, but cheddar cheese is always sold in rectangle or square packaging. Why?

New favorite best cereal? Strawberry Honey Bunches of Oats is terrific, especially if you combine it with its sister cereal 'Just Bunches, caramel.' Tasty treats. Don't get me wrong, it still cannot match Pop Tarts in terms of goodliness, but it is a great cereal.

Did you know that they serve salads at Arbys. I didn't either. But, they do.

A rearview mirror look back at 2009

I thought that I would give a quick recap of some of my favorites over 2009. It was a good year, but as Brodi says, ends of eras stink, so it is good to move on to 2010.

COOL THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR

Pakistan--It was very cool to travel and spend over a week in Pakistan with Brodi. We had a chance to eat some interesting things (sheep brain masala is not as good as it sounds), see some wild stuff (the Waga Border where Pakistan and India have a stand off nightly between their borders) and just have a great time.

Rocky Mountain National Park--We spent a lot of time hiking, boating and having a relaxing outdoorsy time. We hiked up to 12,000 feet which was awesome especially having it snow on us...in August.

Carter: This year he learned how to ride a bike as well as learning how to swim. He was pretty proud of himself. He is now in the 1st grade and his teacher says that he is a class clown, but he gets his homework done and he does what she wants him to do when she asks.

Beckham getting potty trained--Yay. Except when he decides that he doesn't care if he messes his pants. Boo. He is in pre-school now and he continues on the long Johnson tradition for boys in taking fooooorrrrreeeevvvveeeerrrr to speak. He is getting better though.

Brodi's Dad continues to beat back ugly Pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed almost 2.5 years ago. Huge, major Surgery was 2 years ago. He is doing great right now and is back to work as a Pediatrician at his practice.

My first nephew is home from a mission. Little Peter came home from his mission from Spain. When he was a newborn, my sister and brother in law brought him to my Freshman basketball games. Crazy that he is that old...crazy that I am that old.

Brodi is writing up a storm--She has a NYC agent and a book out on submission with a second one getting close. In the next year or two, look for her name, because she is going to be big. Join the masses who religiously read her blog: Brodi blog


TELEVISION
1. Dexter: Seriously, no creepier yet thoroughly enjoyable show on TV. The ending was absolutely fabulous and equally disturbing.

2. Battlestar Galactica: This series is done. This was the last year. This show hit every issue imaginable (torture, discrimination, human emotions, etc.). I can't say enough about this show and I am sad that it is over.

3. Fringe: If you like creepiness, sci-fi-ness and great stories, then start watching this show. Every week seems to surpass the week before. You gotta love Anna Torv.

4. Burn Notice: Mindless entertaining fun about a former CIA operative that was 'burned' and is now fighting to regain his good name while also doing good things for people in need. Light entertainment but a lot of fun.

5. Modern Family: A new show about a 3 families (the dad and his family, the son and his gay partner and the daughter and her family). A truly hilarious show with a good heart.

6. True Blood: Terrific and inappropriate about a small Louisiana town with a handful of vampires and crazy stuff. Not for the faint of heart but very good storytelling and very compelling.

7. Better off Ted: Just a nutso comedy about a company that does crazy research. Very funny and offbeat.

8. NBA Game Time: Yes, I know that it is not a typical show...but I love watching this show on NBAtv where they break down every single game that happened during the day. Better than Sportscenter because it only focuses on the NBA.

SLC RESTAURANTS

Indian: Himalayan Kitchen: I am a huge Indian food lover...and this is fabulous. It barely beats out Bombay House on Foothill and Ganesh in Fort Union.

Greek: Dasks. I like a lot of the small little greek restaurants. The Other Place downtown is also very tasty but stay with the greek...don't branch out to some of their other servings.

Italian: Setebellos. The pizza here is fabulous. Very, very good. Other nice italian places are Canellas, Cinnegrill (mainly for nostalgia purposes) and Gepettos (also for nostalgia purposes).

Thai: Pawitt's Royale Thai. This opened up in the past year and has tasty thai food. Well worth a visit to this Holladay restaurant. Thai Lotus downtown is enjoyable as is Thai Gardens in Midvale.

Hamburger: Fuddruckers. It is a chain, I know that...but I do enjoy these burgers more than Apollo, Red Robin and Training Table. I will say though that The Counter (down at the Gateway) was terrific but it is now out of business.

I am looking forward to 2010.

Noodled

The day after Christmas. I cooked lunch for myself and the boys. One boy really wanted Mac and Cheese. Another boy really wanted Farfalle noodles. I really wanted Top Ramen. I cooked up all three. Pretty pathetic, huh? But kudos to me as well... 3 different meals in 13 minutes. How impressive, albeit not very healthy overall, is that? All three of us are happy now.

Give me some Candy!

I love treats. There are a few candies that I could eat until the cows come home. My teeth from my earlier days show just how much I loved candy (5 root canals with 5 totally street gold crowns...seriously, take a look inside my mouth, those crowns are probably worth more than my house). So, now I have brought to you all, my top 6 favorite candies:

1. Sweet and Sours: These are like tiny bits of heaven. Something sweet, something sour, something awesomely tasty. These are usually available in the larger candy bins at the grocery stores where you can buy bagful after bagful and they weight it out based on how many pounds. Lets just say that the total is usually impressive when I am buying.

2. Twix: Who ever had the genius idea of mixing tasty cookies with caramel and chocolate, was an absolute, well, genius. Bravo to them. Now, they have gotten creative with peanut butter Twix, etc...but the original is the best and will always be the best.

3. Mike and Ikes: My senior year of high school was spent grabbing my backpack and two big handfuls of these candies. I would put them on my lap as I drove my beautiful Toyota Tercel to school each morning. Nutritious and delicious.

4. Twizzlers/Red Vines: I like Twizzlers probably a bit more as they are usuall softer and denser, but man, those big tubs of Red Vines are truly evil. My mom used to buy those tubs and 50% of the time they would be fresh (you have no idea if they will be fresh or stale when you buy them) but if they are fresh and soft, I could honestly go thru about 45 of those in one sitting.

5. Bilar: These are a swedish candy. I had a companion, Ryan Lewis, and there was a little gas station right by our apartment. So every night as we were walking home, we would stop and grab us a big of bilar. Fabulous. Brodi and I discovered the wonderful world of global capitalism with IKEA as you can buy bag upon bag of bilar there. I actually think Brodi likes these candies more than I do.

6. KitKats--Who doesn't love these chocolate wafers. And they truly had one of the best little jingles ever and it was immortalized in the Office.

The Office at IGN.com

A wonderful, beautiful day of Healthy Eating

Today is one of the great special days of the year: National Doughnut Day. I don't think there is a National Lasagna Day...nor is there a National Sausage Egg McMuffin Day. But there is a donut national day and thats because donuts rock!

The Salvation Army created the holiday, which is always celebrated on the first Friday in June, in 1917 to boost the morale of troops fighting in WWI. According to holidayinsights.com, those doughnuts were fried in oil inside an American soldier's metal helmet.

I like to consider myself an expert. I have the pounds to prove it. There is Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts and other great places. With that said, the best donut is a little shop in downtown Salt Lake City, Banbury Cross. If you haven't been there or if it has been a while, celebrate National Donut day next week--they won't mind.

Give me those foods and I would live happily ever after

I have no idea why I was thinking about this over the weekend. Maybe it was because I took the kids down to the public library and we stayed longer than expected and I was starving, so I began to wonder--if I was stuck on a deserted island but was told that I would be given 3 dinners and 1 breakfast that I would have to live on for the rest of my life, what would I pick.

Now, I know that you have all wondered that, so now is your chance to put your 4 meals (3 dinners/lunches and 1 breakfast) in the comments section. But for me, here is my list:


For Dinner
Ribeye Steak and mashed potatoes--If you know my food choices, you would have seen this meal coming from a hundred miles away. Actually, I could probably survive on ribeye steak all by itself. If my house does not smell like steak, something is wrong.
Spaghetti--This is the perfect lunch, dinner or breakfast. I would prefer Brodi's or my mom's brand over anything store bought. But seriously, few things are as tasty as a nice little spaghetti breakfast.
Hamburger and Fries--This was a tough call as I love pizza as well, but it would be good to have the nutrition of the french fries.


And for breakfast:
Belgian Waffles and Hashbrowns--you can't go wrong with either.

So there you go...give those 4 meals and I would make it happily for the rest of my life.