Simple Randomness

Eating the Same Thing Every Day

Do you ever find yourself just eating the same thing all the time?  I’m finding I’m in one of those ruts where I really don’t have much variety in my diet.  Here’s a sample:

• Eggs, Toast, and Cereal
• Oatmeal, Hard-boiled Eggs, Banana
• Hamburger Patty with either rice or bread plus salad
• Some type of sandwich
• Whatever my wife makes for dinner
• Egg Sandwich or Cereal

I need some variety!!!  Granted, right now I’m just tying to eat enough to add a little more meat to my skinny frame, but I could still use some variety.  Any ideas???

The Paris Buffet

As I’ve already mentioned several times, I was in Las Vegas last weekend.  Now, Vegas is known for a couple of things, but one thing that I think is really worth going down there for is the good food!  I’ve eaten at a couple of restaurants down there and they’ve all been fabulous.

So on Saturday me and the guys I went down there with decided to go and eat at the buffet located in the Paris Casino.  Wow was that some good food!  I had some crab legs, prime rib,  sushi, pastas, and all sorts of other stuff.

It’s funny, because on Thursday before I left my wife and I went with her grandparents to a local buffet called Chuck-a-Rama (I’ve wondered since I was a kid where they came up with that name…).  Talk about a night and day difference!

So when it comes to buffets, do yourself a favor and only eat at the ones in Vegas.  At least, that’s my advice!

New Rankings on Monster and Rockstar Energy Drinks

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve gone away from Rockstar energy drinks and have instead been drinking Monster.  So far the results aren’t too bad and I really like a few of their flavors!

So for fun today, here are the rankings so far for the best flavored Rockstar and Monster energy drinks:

1. Rockstar No Carb - Still the best flavor!  I love this stuff!
2. Monster Khaos - This stuff tastes really really good and is a very close #2.  In fact, who knows I might change my mind in a couple of weeks.
3. Rockstar Guava - Still a really good drink.  Great flavor, that’s why its in the top 3.
4. Monster M-80 - Just had this one for the first time this morning.  Needed a little boost after getting back from BlogWorld last night.  Really good flavor, I like it a lot!
5. Rockstar Mango/Orange/Passionfruit - This one used to be higher on the list, but then I tried the Guava and No Carb.  Still a really good choice for flavor though
6. Regular Rockstar/Monster - I really don’t know which of these I like better.  The regular flavors are ok, but I don’t like one more than the other really.
7. Monster MIXXD - Honestly, I didn’t really like this one.  But it wasn’t the worst that I’ve ever had…
8. Rockstar Pomegranate - This one was very flat and didn’t have a lot of flavor.
9. Rockstar Punched - This one was just nasty.  That’s all I have to say about it.

So there you have it, the new updated rankings for some energy drinks.

Now honestly, I need to ween myself off this stuff.  I’ve been using it more lately just because of my insane schedule but I need to find some alternatives.  I’m sure the caffeine isn’t doing me any good…

Monster Khaos - One Good Drink!

Ok, so if you’ve been on this blog for any period of time you know that when I’m dragging I sometimes will grab a RockStar energy drink to keep me going.  Well the other day I decided to try something different so I grabbed a Monster Khaos instead.

Wow!  That drink has some really good flavor to it!  You see, I don’t really care for any of the regular flavors of the energy drinks, I’d always rather go for the better flavored ones.  And Monster Khaos is one of the best that I’ve tasted!  I think it even rivals my all-time favorites which are the RockStar Guava and No-Carb flavors.

Anyway, that’s the random topic for the day.  Does anyone else have a favorite flavor that I should try?

Some Really Cool Seafood Recipes

I know I’ve said this before, but I love seafood.  I’ve probably also said before that one of the down sides of living so far inland is that we don’t have fresh seafood.  But that is not reason enough for me to want to move into the South East (sorry, I just couldn’t handle all the hurricanes!).

So I was checking out the website www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and came across some really interesting recipes. Right now on their site they have 5 of their finalists for the contest, and they all look rather interesting and delicious.

But, if I was going to vote on one, I think I would go for the Texas Gulf Shrimp by Chef Mark Holley from Texas.  Now granted, it’s hard to say that this would be my favorite because I haven’t tasted any of them, but when looking at the picture and looking over the recipes, it caught my eye the most.  Maybe it’s because I love shrimp .

This would be a really cool cook off to go to.  I mean think about it, a bunch of really good chefs getting together to cook the best seafood you’ve ever had?  What could be better?!

So if you’re into seafood I recommend you check the site out and see which one would be your favorite.  The other great thing about it is that you can see the actual recipes and even try to cook them up yourself!  Who knows, maybe you could be a great seafood chef in the making!

Domestic seafood is the way to go.  I know that one thing my wife always liked to do as a kid was go to the pier and get some fresh seafood when she was visiting her grandparents in California.  I never really had those kinds of experiences, but would sure love it!

Another Cool Thing About Quinoa

So a while back I wrote about the food quinoa.  Since then I’ve had it a couple of times and its really quite good!

The cool thing about quinoa is that it goes with anything.  You can just eat it plain and its good, or even better you can mix it in with stuff and it tastes good as well!

For example, yesterday I mixed it in with some fettucini alfredo.  It was good!  Then, I was going to have a tuna sandwich after going to the gym, but I forgot to bring the bread.  So I just mixed quinoa in with the tuna and it was really good that way!

Gotta love these foods that go good with everything!

Super Food Quinoa!

Ok, so as you probably know I’m trying to eat healthy and actually gain some weight right now.  In some of the material I’ve been reading I had heard about this ancient grain called quinoa.  These sources said it was really good for you, etc.

So over the weekend my wife’s aunt gave her some to try.  We cooked it up and it’s actually pretty good stuff!  Not a very strong flavor, but its just as good warm as it is cold.

And the thing that amazed me is that it’s packed with protein!  Here’s a quick comparison for you on what you get out of a cup of quinoa vs. a cup of brown rice:

Brown Rice:

• Calories - 215
• Fat - 1.7g
• Carbs - 44.4g
• Protein - 5g

Quinoa:

• Calories - 636
• Fat - 9.9g
• Carbs - 117.1g
• Protein - 22.3g

This stuff is packed!  It’s a little bit pricey, but being that I’m trying to increase calories to gain some good weight, this looks like a great food to incorporate into my diet!

Hitting a Plateau

So I’ve written a few times in the past that I’m actually doing a workout program right now to gain some weight.  So for a while I actually put on some pounds, but lately I’ve stalled.  I guess I’ve hit a plateau!

Whenever this happens it just means that it’s time to look back and see what you have or haven’t been doing.  Then reasses and make some changes.

In my case, I know that I haven’t been eating enough.  So for the next couple of weeks my goal is to make sure I eat as much as I know I should be eating and stop skipping on meals.  I’ve had some major schedule changes in the last 2 weeks that threw me off, but now it’s time to get back on track.

One of the Best Burgers I’ve Ever Had!

So last night my wife and I decided to go to Chili’s.  We had a gift certificate that we haven’t used yet, so we figured why not.

Now honestly I haven’t been to Chili’s in quite a while, and in the past I’ve just thought that they were ok.  So this time I decided to try one of their burgers and I ended up going with the Jalapeno Smokehouse Bacon Big Mouth Burger.

IT WAS SO GOOD!

I’m a big fan of Fuddrucker’s, but this burger I think rivaled that even.  The bacon on it was really thick, the jalapenos were more flavor than they were spice (just how I like them), and just had a great flavor to it!

So if you’re in the mood for a burger, either go to Fuddrucker’s or get this Jalapeno Burger from Chili’s!

Wanna Go on a Picnic?

Just today a friend of mine sent me a blog post from MyNextPicnic.com, and I thought it was a really cool idea (here’s the post if you’re interested): what you do is set a timer, start driving, and where ever you are when the buzzer goes off is where you have your picnic.

Wouldn’t that be a fun date idea?  I’ll have to try it sometime with my wife.

Honestly my wife is always interested in going on a picnic.  But we don’t really have the stuff for an official picnic.  So I might have to send her to MyNextPicnic.com for some picnic baskets and such, or maybe I’ll just surprise her and get one anyway!

I think the best thing about a picnic is just being out in nature eating some good sandwiches and having fun in the sun.  It’s a great summer activity that I honestly haven’t taken advantage of this summer at all.  Well, good thing the summer isn’t over yet!