Losing Weight, it’s about the Taste

I wanted to step up to a subject which is on nearly every one’s mind. There will be no depressing political harangues, no complicated arguments, just descriptions of pure pleasure–losing weight and enjoying the process. “Ha!” you say. “Fact or fantasy?”

In our case, fact. I’ve lost 27 pounds, my wife reached her ideal weight at 112 pounds, and our good friend, the tennis coach, has lost 25 pounds. Did we eat lettuce leaves and celery sticks slathered with yummy, non-fat yogurt? No!

We learned that taste is everything–lots and lots of sparkling good taste that is so satisfying to the palate that eating larger amounts of food just doesn’t happen. Case in point, our typical Sunday night meal. This was so good that I wanted to share the details with you and assure you that this is a perfectly good way to diet.

First of all, I shucked some fresh, salty oysters with my trusty oyster-lead and my grandfather’s hand made knife. Just four apiece, but served with really stinging-hot, high-quality horseradish tamed with a few drops of fresh lemon juice. We smacked our lips over the shellfish and took a few sips of the Three Tree wine that I had chilled for this purpose.

My wife unrolled the paper around our whole, smoked whitefish and separated the meat from the bones while the coach sliced up portions of Porter cheese, some Cedar Grove, peppery goat cheese, and broke off small chunks of something that tasted like good Havarti  from Buckaroo Cowgirl Creamery (I kid you not).  The crackers, or flat bread, were crispy, seed-encrusted  bars that wouldn’t intruded on the delicate taste of the smoked whitefish. A dish of tart green olives was available to cleanse the palate between cheese.

My wife’s small salad added a bit of bulk to the dinner. She likes nuts and a few currants over halved cherry tomatoes from our garden. This mixture is bedded in the torn leaves of butternut lettuce. Champagne dressing with a hint of Spanish olive oil really blends these tastes together.

I’d planned on serving my dessert specialty which is a ripe peach-half heated in the microwave, covered with a tablespoon of sour cream, and laced with agave nectar which I also use instead of sugar for baking bread–the glycemic index is much lower than regular sugar or honey. However, we were so stuffed by our tasty, yet small meal that we had to put off dessert until the following day. I decided to have one last bit of Porter cheese as dessert.

Which brings to mind a question I’d like to ask. What exactly is Porter cheese?