After reviewing some of my eats the last couple days, I am realizing my weight gain has everything to do with what I am eating.  Saturday for lunch Tony and I went ot Nozumi for their calamari fries.  Holy cow, I dream about these fries – lightly battered and then mixed with a shaved vinegar slaw with spicy dipping sauce. 

I stole that picture from Google images since I accidentally erased the pictures I took. 🙁  While that in and of itself isn’t too bad, we also had huge sea scallops that were served over crab risotto – and then I thought “I’ll get the spicy chicken bento box!”  Um, yeah – it comes with miso soup, tempura shrimp and veggies and spicy chicken – I did eat my greens on the plate – I love the radish dressing that comes on Asian salads.

Then Saturday night was ribs.  Oh, and yesterday at lunch for twinfest?  I ate tortilla chips, fresh veggies dipped in a dill sauce, and had 1 1/2 slices of sausage and pepperoni deep dish pizza. 

It’s so funny, but growing up I hated deep dish pizza.  The first thing I would do is take a fork and scrape off all the chunky tomatoes.  Now I realize it makes the pizza.

Oh, and I made fried chicken last night!  Not just any fried chicken.  It was Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Kit I got from Williams-Sonoma in the discount bin.  It only cost me $3.75, and Tony and I agreed it was about the best damn fried chicken we’ve ever had at home.

But I have to warn you, there is some planning involved in making this fried chicken.  First off, it comes with a brining spice pack.  You need to boil that and let it cool for 2 hours before adding the chicken for a 12 hour soak.

Then yesterday morning, you drain and rinse the chicken, pat it dry, and leave it in the fridge another 8 hours.  The package said to let the chicken sit out for 2 hours before frying, but I left it out for only an hour – I am not sure what another hour sitting out would have done?

Then dunk the chicken in buttermilk, then into the prepackaged coating mix  – it made it clear NOT to shake off any of the excess coating.  I also fried it at a much lower temperature – 330 degrees.  I cooked the dark meat for 14 minutes, and the white meat for 12 minutes. 

The outside was super crunchy, the chicken was so tender and flavorful from the brine – perfection.  And guess what?  Tony will actually eat these leftover! 😀

Let’s just say I am happy the kit came with two mixes so we can make it again – just not this week.  I think I’ll be staying away from deep dish pizza, ribs and fried chicken for a while.  Why does tasty food always have to have so many calories?!

I am off to the gym to swim – gotta work off my weekend eats!

Question of the Day:  What’s your favorite – deep dish or thin crust??

Make it a great day!