Day 18 - Tuesday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, black.
Lunch: One bowl of Bean Cuisine's Pasta e Fagioli.
Dinner: A salad day. The usual -- red/green lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, grn pepper, carrots, chopped mushrooms, cucumbers, chopped red beets, garbanzo beans (all salad ingredients chopped fresh, unless otherwise noted). Splashed with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Skim milk to drink.

After dinner: Nothing (licked PBnJ knife).

Day 17 - Monday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. One cup of tea, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk.
Lunch: One bowl of Bean Cuisine's Pasta e Fagioli.
Dinner: A scaled down salad, followed by one bowl of Bean Cuisine's Island Black Bean Soup. Water to drink. (Needless to say, we left out the optional two cups of diced ham.)

After dinner: Went to a show, and had three Double Diamond drafts, plus split a plate of nachos and salsa with The Muse.

Day 16 - Sunday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, w/ splash of whole milk.
Lunch: Skipped.
Dinner: Splurged, and enjoyed a new recipe, conceived by our Very Own Muse -- boneless chicken breasts sliced and sauteed in olive oil with red, yellow and orange peppers, garlic and onions and some light seasonings. A Manischewitz long-grain wild rice and lentil pilaf on the side (which looks nothing like the picture on the box, but tastes much better than it appears. Main course preceded by a scaled-down version of The Usual Salad. Water to drink.

After dinner: A late bowl of Bean Cuisine's Ultima Pasta e Fagioli soup. De-e-e-elicioso! (Substituted chicken broth for beef, and added one lb bag frozen spinach.)

Day 15 - Saturday
B-fast: One serving (~1 cup after preparation) of Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal. Plain. 2 cups of coffee, caffeinated, black.
Lunch: One bowl of Giant Eagle grocery store brand chicken and pasta soup.
Dinner: Seems Saturday is becoming the week's reward day. Initially thought that a nice piece of fish would be a good idea, but The Muse wanted sushi, so we forwent Tram's in favor of Young Bin Kwan, where The Muse had the deluxe sushi and was happy, The Chile had his usual (Hunan Style Chicken) and was happy and Yours Truly, well -- I ordered something Korean -- a bibim something or other -- described as "buckwheat noodles with vegetables in a hot spicy sauce" -- sounds good, no? Yeah -- until I get this thing, which is a pile of noodles, in a bowl, in a brown sauce, topped with cucumber slivers -- still sounds good. But it was cold. And sweet. Not exactly what I was looking fwd to on a windy, snowy Saturday evening... Oh well -- we shan't be ordering that again. Live and learn, I s'pose. The dining experience was preceded by an order of steamed dumplings (2 each), and accompanied by a mild tea which was shared by all.

A Nod to Decadence: Had a few sips of The Muse's chai while driving around a posh new residential development in a rather lovely and unexpected snowfall.

After dinner: Had about a bottle of Clos du Bois Merlot w/ The Muse. And too, too many pumpernickel pretzels. Not happy about that.

Cravings, if any: Everyone else's orders, plus that nice piece of salmon or trout accompanied by a baked potato that I had floating around in my mind.