Dukan – Days 219 & 220 – Dukan Recipe Cuban Flank Steak

Posted on March 27, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PP day 🙂
Tuesday was a PV day 🙂

Monday:
Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 81.2 lb/36.91 kg
Tuesday: No change – same, same

Tuesday food (since I have no recollection of yesterday… LOL, I DO know it was PP)
Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: Green leafy salad and tin of tuna
Dinner: Cuban Flank Steak… recipe below.

I have to say, this is YUMMY!!! And if you leave out the mushrooms and only add onions, it’s a PP meal.

I got the recipe idea from although I didn’t use flank steak and mine come cut in chunks already, which is how I have to eat them, given I don’t have an oven or a grill.

Serves 1

8 oz. of Top Round, flank steak or in my case Chinese Beef Top – Cubed
Marinade:
Juice of 1 large Lime
1/8 cup of Olive Oil
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
**To make this Whole30 compliant use Coconut Aminos**
1/2 tsp favorite hot sauce or chili powder… I used Daddy Mac’s Awesome Sauce (my son-in-law makes this with his home grown habanero peppers!)

With dinner:
1/2 Large onion chopped in chunks
And if a PV day, handful of mushrooms

Prep time: 2 minutes
Put meat in bowl or zip top baggie.
Put the rest of the marinade ingredients in there.

I thought about this marinating in my fridge ALL.DAY.LONG!

Shake, shake, shake and put in the fridge for 8 or more hours.

Cook time 11 minutes
Remove marinated meat from fridge.

When I took the lid off… yum… the smell was incredible!

Put 1 Tbsp Olive Oil in skillet or wok.
Heat to Medium-High.
Put the meat in and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn meat over.
Put the onions in and cook for 3 minutes.

Notice that lime is still in there 🙂

Toss the mushrooms in, if you’re making it a PV dinner, and cook for 3 minutes. I used Enoki mushrooms which are kind of like al dente pasta when cooked… sorta. And they basically have NO CARBS!!!

Plate and Enjoy!

My pics may not be stunning or artistic, but you can tell this food is GOOD!

I’m off to Hong Kong for 3 days tomorrow (Weds – Friday) to renew my visa and get a little R & R. I’ll try to keep you updated from there!

p.s. C25K is moving right along… I am running 2 nights on, 1 night off and not having any problems with it… I’m enjoying it! 😀

Ciao!

TRAVEL – HAPPY 2012 NEW YEAR!!

Posted on January 1, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Dukan Day 133… PV day, no weight change. Happy New Year, Everyone!

I thought about doing a wrap-up post, but you know what… The past is the past, I’m going to leave it there… All in all I had an amazing year, visiting with friends and family, reconnecting with old friends, holidaying with friends and chatting endless hours on Skype (thanks to Cathy!).

This post will be all about my posts last year! Hot off the ‘word’ press, my stats for my blog in 2011. To start, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by to read and a BIG thank you to those that comment. Your words all mean so much to me! In the next few days, my blog will have over 11,000 hits, which isn’t a lot compared to some blogs I read, but it is for me. 🙂

I would also encourage you to read the blogs of others. I am currently following 19 blogs. Most of them arrive in my email inbox and I click on the link to read on their site. I usually either “Like” it or leave a comment… I know how much those comments and “Likes” mean to me!

So, here is the summary of my blog 2011:

To kick off the new year, we’d like to share with you data on your blog’s activity in 2011. You may start scrolling!

Crunchy numbers
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,300 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

In 2011, there were 101 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 112 posts. There were 200 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 69mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was August 24th with 299 views. The most popular post that day was Spring Cleaning in the Heat of the Summer.

How did they find you?
The top referring sites in 2011 were:

facebook.com
dukanblogging.blogspot.com
charlottesdukandiet.wordpress.com Following
dukandiet-journey.blogspot.com
thedukandietandme.blogspot.com

Some visitors came searching, mostly for flamidwyfe, dukan blog, velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord, and sandi midwife dukan blog.

Where did they come from?
Most visitors came from The United States. The United Kingdom & United Arab Emirates were not far behind. (AM I SEING A UNITED FRONT HERE???)

Who were they?
Your most commented on post in 2011 was Dukan – Day 100 – Wow!

These were your 5 most active commenters:

1 nancy sandelier 88 comments
2 kathlucky 72 comments Following
3 Moonday 26 comments
4 Vicki C. 23 comments
5 caroline 20 comments
Perhaps you could follow their blog or send them a thank you note?

Attractions in 2011
These are the posts that got the most views in 2011. You can see all of the year’s most-viewed posts in your Site Stats.

1 Spring Cleaning in the Heat of the Summer 5 comments July 2011
2 I CAN DUKAN 15 comments August 2011
3 I CAN DUKAN T-1 and counting 7 comments August 2011
4 For the Love of Children 6 comments June 2011
5 Dukan – Day 2 Attack Phase 12 comments August 2011

THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE REALLY COOL, SPARKLY AND COLORFUL VERSION OF THIS SUMMARY, COMPLETE WITH FIREWORKS!!!

Click the button below, or paste this link into your browser:

https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?yib=2011

HAPPY NEW YEARS… I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be an amazing year!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.
Oprah Winfrey

Pic of the day: lunch at Dan Ryan’s… Last lunch of 2011 🙂

Dukan – Day 132 Hong Kong Bound!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP Day.

Daily weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: 57.8 lb/26.31 kg

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!

My friend Lucy and I are in Hong Kong to celebrate the New Year. They have a Times Square here, so we’re going to watch the ball drop and then the fireworks over the harbor… should be a great time!

We were picked up by the driver, Jerry, at 1030 and he brought my coat that he picked up at the tailors… Fit like a glove! So nice to have a coat made just for you. The tailor also knows that I’m losing weight and said he’d be able to alter accordingly 🙂

My gorgeous new coat!

Then off to the Hangzhou airport for the 2 hour flight to Hong Kong. Plane took off late due to mechanical issues and we arrived in Hong Kong at 530 and headed to our hostel. As part of my New Years resolutions, I’m going to travel on a tighter budget and this was a good way to start that off… LOL. Here are some shots of our room, some of them taken from OUTSIDE the room, since it is so small! The room is 12 x 6′ and the bathroom less than 3 x 3′, but functional and what do you need a fancy room for anyway?? (this is what I’ve been saying to myself over and over… I will eventually buy into it!)

Our ~~jail cell~~ hostel room door.

The SSS bathroom… Have to say the water pressure was amazing!

Then out for a quick bite to eat and then we found the Pause Cafe in the building we’re staying at… Total dive, but awesome coffee! We’re totally going back to play darts Saturday night, before going to Times Square!

Shooting darts at Pause Cafe

Lucy made me open my eyes for a pic!

Then off to bed for a rest up for Saturdays fun-filled day!

HAPPY LAST DAY OF 2011, my friends… It’s been a crazy year for me and I don’t regret one minute of it!!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others are gold! (changed to my liking!)

One last pic… The “hotel” across the street from ours… Who only sleeps for an hour??

Dukan – Day 103 – Goodbye 47!

Posted on December 2, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PV day.

Daily weigh loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: ??? I don’t have my spreadsheet with me…

So, I usually blog in the morning about the day before, which I’m doing now. But, the title is appropriate for today 🙂 More on that at the end.

Woke up after 8 happy to be with friends in Hong Kong. I am amazingly grateful for my blessings of having a job that enables me to travel. And off we went in search of breakfast and passport photo booth for Lucy & Ethel so they could apply for their visas to visit China.

Quick walk to Times Square to find out the photo places open at 11, shuhada! We tuck into a busy little diner and order eggs and sausage. Just the right portion for me, but the girls were a bit concerned that I’ll be starving them 🙂 (Ethel just opened the bathroom door after her daily weigh in to let me know she lost 0.9 kg since yesterday morning… She’ll be a believer soon!)

We then got their pictures done and took a walk around city center. The whole city is decorated for Christmas and is beautiful…

Then off to the visa office at 2 pm.

Lucy & Ethel filling out forms…

The LINE!

Where, after over an hour we find out that Ethel needs more documents because she’s from the Philippines. She needs a return tix to Manila (which we were going to book in Hangzhou) and hotel voucher… What to do? We decided to hit up a sushi restaurant and figure it out. I was able to google map a travel agency 175 meters away, so after a hurried lunch we rushed over and got to the agency at 403 pm. Note that the embassy closes at 5 and if we didn’t get them documents before then Ethel & Lucy would have been stuck here until at least Monday, and Hong Kong is an expensive city to be stuck in!! I have to add here that we don’t realize how lucky we are to be from the Western world until we find friends who aren’t and realize it is much more difficult for them to travel as freely as I can.

Troy, the amazing travel agent (and not bad to look at either) got to work right away on the reservations while Lucy and I darted back downstairs in search of wireless so I could email him Ethel’s flight info to Hangzhou and he could print it for those pesky immigration people. Lucy says while we’re running back to the agency that she feels like we’re on The Amazing Race!

Troy got the tickets done in under 20 mi it’s!!! And then we started running the 3 blocks, which includes taking stairs up and crossing over the highway and then back down and arrive at the embassy at 441. They let us in! YAY! And we go right up to the desk we were at before. After a few tense moments the girl accepts Ethel’s papers and then states… “oh, because she is not applying from her home country, she is from the Philippines, AND this is her first time applying for a visa to China, she may not be approved… WTF!!?? Deep breaths… We smile, we thank, we’re told to come back Friday after 4 for the decision… We’re praying it all goes well, if not, we make other plans.

After that fiasco we trek back to the hotel, feeling a bit deflated, but trying to keep positive. The girls took a little rest, I read my emails and the other blogs I follow and then we got ready for the long hike to Ryan’s Chicago steakhouse. My favorite in this city. I had my standard bacon cheese burger and a house salad, no bun, no fries, of course!

Then a walk around the mall…

My jacket now zips and I’m very happy about that 😀

And then the long walk back to the hotel… Fabulous day!

Now for the “Friday” part… It’s Friday morning and my last day of being 47. It’s been a crazy, emotional, fun, nightmarish, amazing roller coaster of a year. I’ve had a few endings and a couple of awesome new beginnings. Life is very, very good and I absolutely can’t wait to see what adventures I’ll experience in my 48th year.

To my mommy… I know that today is a tough day for you, I’m sure daddy is smiling down on you, saying Happy Anniversary… Thanks to both of you for creating me.

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Dukan – Day 102 Up, Up & Away… Again!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by flamidwyfe

I’m actually sitting on the plane waiting for take off. I was suppose to fly to meet Lucy & Ethel tomorrow, but the hospital needs me for marketing on Sunday, so I’m flying a day early. I can’t wait to surprise them at the airport!!! In one of those cool things that happen in life, our flights are at the exact same time today, so they are also sitting on an Emirates plane in Dubai, probably also ignoring the safety video, but probably not blogging 🙂 Their flight is at 1005 UAE time and mine is at 1405 Hangzhou time… I get there 5 hours before they do 😀

I brought the scale with me, but I didn’t upload my weight spread sheet to my iPad, so will have no clue until I’m back on Saturday on total weight loss, but will keep up with daily loss.

Well, the plane has just taken off, I think I’m going to eat a couple boiled eggs (airplane food is definitely not Dukan friendly!!) and then take a little nap… Will do more blogging later.

OK… Fast forward… I took a bus from airport that took nearly 2 hours to get to hotel. We’re upgraded to a suite because of my birthday… How cool is that?

The toilet is a Toto and has some pretty interesting buttons that individually clean your bottom and the seat warms up when you open the lid… Very posh!

Then I had to take the subway and train back to the airport to get the girlies. They were very surprised to see me 🙂 Here’s the sign I had…

And the reverse sign…

I love surprising people as evidenced by this blog from 18 months ago: https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/camino-blog-updates/

Taxi back to hotel, then a very late dinner at a street cafe 🙂 Glad to be with friends!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 62

Posted on October 22, 2011 by flamidwyfe

Yesterday was a PV day
No change in weight loss, which was a little disappointing because I’m right at the crux of reaching a goal and I thought I’d surpass it, maafi mushkila or as the say in Chinese ma watea (no promblemo).

Still felt a bit crappy in the morning, but had that lovely birth so it balanced it out.
Breakfast: boiled tea egg
Went home at 900 am to try to sleep from being up all night, not happening… Construction in flat above me, kid screaming in a neighboring building, new business must have opened because fireworks going off outside (this happens day & night, in fact it happened at 545 this morning, thank God I was up preparing for my flight!), then the kids at the school were outside doing calisthenics and marching. So, I got up and did laundry.
Lunch: Kath’s bran crepes x 2 eggs.
Back to work to teach class to nurses… Exhausted to the point of nausea 😦
Snack: boiled tea egg
Finished office work at 430 and walked home, stopping at halal Chinese restaurant to pick up dinner, shaved beef with cilantro and green beans and mushrooms with red hot chili peppers. They have finally stopped offering me rice 🙂
Up early for this mornings flight to Hong Kong.
So now I’m on a flight to Hong Kong on what is called a border run. I’m on a 6 month visa to china, but have to exit every 30 days until I get my residency visa, so I have to do an overnight stay and fly back tomorrow. Plan on doing some hiking in the hillsides of the city both days and will have pics to post in my next blog.
Ciao!

Traveling Girl

Posted on April 27, 2011 by flamidwyfe

So, off I go again on another adventure. This one proves to be challenging and fun… How my week went:

10 days ago Barbara Harper (www.waterbirth.org) asked me if I’d like to do a waterbirth training in Shanghai, China. Um, duh… of COURSE I WOULD! I love Barbara, I have loved her from the first time I read her book, Gentle Birth Choices. I used to show the video to every single childbirth class I taught. Then I met her and she’s even better in person (LOL). Her energy, her vision, her everything is amazing.

So, next step was to get the time off from work… which I managed to do without a hitch! We made plans and the plane tickets were purchased and off I would go on Saturday, April 30th to Shanghai.

Then, off to get a visa to visit China… ROADBLOCK AHEAD! Because my current employer hasn’t managed to obtain a Residency Visa for the UAE yet, the Chinese Embassy could not issue me a visa to travel to Shanghai… PANIC MODE. What to do? Will I have to fly to the States to get a visa? Call off the trip? As I’m hyperventilating, trying not to cry and basically yelling on the phone at the PRO from my job, the Chinese embassy man is tapping on the glass to get my attention.

I walk back to him, people part ways because the crazy lady is coming through, and he proceeds to tell me he has a solution for me… you do??? You can give me the visa? Um, no, but you can FLY TO HONG KONG to get it. LOL… my laugh cracks me up. Living in Abu Dhabi is like livin’ la vida loco… seriously. Now this is Sunday, I’m suppose to go to Shanghai on Saturday… SIX DAYS AWAY! and now this guy is telling me that to get into Shanghai, I’ll have to go to Hong Kong…. how to do.

Next stop… Emirates Airlines. I drive over to their office which is on the Corniche:

Abu Dhabi Corniche

Instead of going into the office, I walk over to the water and sit for a few minutes, collect myself, have a little chat with the BIG GUY upstairs and beg him for just one little thing to go right… just one, let’s not make this day too difficult for me, ya hear? I’m fragile… LOL

I then proceed to go over to the office and find the nicest Iranian girl in the world, who helped me, got me a GREAT seat and didn’t charge me a change fee for my flight. She booked me to Hong Kong, then HK to Shanghai and left my return flight the same. The good news… I get to fly on the A380… biggest plane in the sky… two stories of luxury at it’s finest. Even the cheap seats recline!

So, then back to work the next day to tell the boss that now I need 3 more days off from work! But, simple as pie, maafi mushkala! Now I have less than 24 hours to pack for a 2 week trip… I can DO this!

Packing itself was a challenge, but I am so happy that I did all that laundry on Saturday! Why was packing a challenge, because I think the cats KNOW when I’m leaving… this is the kind of games that they play:

Marina trying to sneak her way in to the suitcase!

And this is what her brother Oyster did when I told him I was leaving for 2 1/2 weeks:

Oh no, Mom, not again!

But quick packing I did! Arranged for a ride to the airport with my friend, Laura, which meant GETTING UP AT 355 a.m. to go! But, ride beggars can’t be choosy! So we got up very early and headed out to Dubai.

I got to the airport with more than 4 hours to spare, which was nice, because those of you that know me well, know what travel anxiety I have. Nope… it’s not about flying… I have NO fear of flying because I have NO fear of dying. I just have general anxiety of making sure that I’ve got everything packed (I didn’t… I forgot the HK hotel vouchers on my desk at work and it was the FIRST thing they asked for!!!) and about getting to the airport on time. So, no problem there, given that I was there so early. I had a lovely breakfast and then sat and read for a few hours. Nice and relaxed. And then the plane pulled in… WOW! I hadn’t seen the A380 in person… just pictures and she is impressive… take a look:

My Ride!

After much anticipation, we were ready to board. I lucked out and had a flight attendant sitting two seats over, no one between us. She was on holiday and flying to meet her boyfriend in China. Awesome chick, very helpful and we have something in common… we both love playing…

ZUMA!!!!

OMG… I was so happy to see that they had something fun to do while flying! Jenni… I know you are just jealous as all get out now! 🙂 We had a great time playing and chatting.

Barbara made my reservation and requested vegetarian… which was fine, but I’M A MEAT EATER BARBARA! LOL! The meal was actually quite awesome:

Lunch on the Emirates A380

It was a pasta filled to the gills with yummy veggies (one I have no idea what it was, but it was yummy!) and a large, fresh roll, real butter and an interesting pudding like dessert. I watched Social Network while eating and it was a pretty decent movie, even though they portray Sean Parker as one of the founders of Napster…. which he was not.

I read my James Patterson novel, Fang, and then settled in for a very comfortable nap. The cheap seats on the A380 RECLINE! Yup, they do. And I didn’t have a seat in front of me, so I had tons of leg room (I tried a regular seat and it was more roomy than British Airways and Etihad). I slept without awaking for the 1 hour I had set my alarm to. I awoke to this charming young lady doing stretches in front of me:

Charming Young Lady

Later, she left her sunglasses and something odd (not sure what it was, honestly!) in the bathroom, after what I (and many others) suspect was attaining another notch in her mile high club belt… and I found it. She just about squeezed me to death for giving them back to her… too funny. I did, however, feel like I needed to be decontaminated!

All in all, a great flight. The service on the Emirates A380 was excellent! The food was pretty good and the flight was smooth, with only a couple of bouts of turbulence.

On the hotel transfer bus I sat in the front row to avoid motion sickness. They had 80’s/90’s music on the radio. The third song was “We Are the World” and by the end, I think everyone on the bus was singing it… even though the seats were high and none of us could see each other… on 2nd thought, maybe that’s why we were all singing… we were anonymous! The 2nd song we all sang together was Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”… Fun ride, I love singing… even if it is off-key!

So… just a couple of more pics to wrap things up… this is what the line looked like at the Visa office this morning:

Visa Line at the Chinese Consulate

I thought I would be there all day, but alas, I was there less than 2 hours! When I finally made it inside, through security and up to the 7th floor, I was #214… the number on the board was 145! Ack 69 people ahead of me, but it went very quickly. Now I just have to wait to pick it up tomorrow morning.

I decided to walk back to the hotel and stopped at a little specialty store to pick up some lunch… I got a Coca-Cola Light with lemon (something I can’t get in Abu Dhabi… the lemon part that is) and some sushi and my favorite chips in the whole wide world that I can’t find anywhere but HK.. Curry Chips. Next to the curry chips were these chips:

Kyushu Seaweed Flavored Lay's Potato Chips... who knew!

I was tempted, but I so wanted the Curry Chips more… shucks! So, now I’ve been hanging at the hotel all day. Started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. Catching up on some stuff on the computer, doing some competencies for my real job, reviewing work sent to me by my girls back at the hospital and playing Mahjongg Dimensions, which is, for some crazy reason, blocked by Etisalat, my sucky internet provider!

I hope ya’ll have enjoyed my update… more later in the week, after I’m in Shanghai, unless something earth shattering happens here in HK in the meantime… Ciao!