My post on Tour of Ca, etc

Yesterday, when the Womens Club Book Club met at my house, I mentioned my mention (are you following?) of the bike race/tour coming in May. Dixie gave me a big "duh" and reminded me this was OLD news. Yes, I know Dixie, but I now know that I have at least 19! readers, and some may be out-of-towners (and in fact are) and I wanted them to know in case they wanted to rent their 2nd homes here in the shores for that weekend, or attend, as NCity is woefully short of housing for the humongo crowd that will be here AND the Bay Area (where most of the 2nd homers live) may not be covering the event as much. So "duh" back.
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By the way, I concur on Dixies wish to go vegetarian. I was a vegie for a full year in my 20's, and it felt great. Fell off the wagon and never went back. Plus it DEFINITELY conflicts with my love of animals, AND the fact of feed lots and all that anti-biotic use, ugh! Anyhoo, Phil recently got a bad report card on his cholesterol count, so it's time to take a 2nd look at living at least without the red meat (oooooh, how we love our bbq'd tri-tip) or lots less (oxy moron). Now, I like to say I quit smoking (at 25) in one day, but truly, I just quit BUYING ciggs in one day. Instead, I would appeal to my still smoking friends "do you think I could bum one little ole cig from you. I'm trying to quit, and if I buy a pack, lord knows I'll suck up the whole darn thing in a day, pleeeeeaase." This worked for about a year, which by the end they were "on" to me, and cut me off the free ciggs. So then I quit in one day (well, a year and a day). Where's she going with this??? Well, 2 weeks ago I started trying to cook with little or no meat, rather than going COLD TURKEY (no pun intended). Here's how it goes: instead of having pork chops, use 1 chop to make a huge pot of green chili pork stew, with lots of veges, green enchilada sauce and black beans. Eat in whole wheat burrito, plain in a bowl, or over brown rice. Voila, only 8 oz meat in about 3 meals. Same with chicken. One chicken breast, 2 caesar salads with chicken, plus chicken/vege soup (more vege's than chicken). Stir fry is a snap with very little meat, lots of veges. Want that steak? Just have 1/2 a filet with 4-5 jumbo prawns, surf AND turf, voila half the red meat as usual, say, twice a month. This may seem like all common sense stuff, but I guess we just got accustomed to making meat the main event. Anyhow, we'll see if the cholesterol and weight go down without actually "dieting." I know the grocery bill has already gone down. Thought I'd share that "food for thought."
PS: The bloggess's blog on the cat on Morgan Freeman's head made me cry (for happy). She sure can improve my day! check my link.