Hey Look! Photos!

Good news: I've put up a bunch of new photos.

Bad news: They're from my trip to Japan last November.

I've stayed up a bit past my self-imposed bed time (I simply can NOT get enough sleep!) the last couple of nights to work on a couple of new photo sets. It's part of my promise to myself to work on one day's worth of photos from past trips each night.

Unfortunately, these two new sets only get me to about the midway point of my Japan trip, and I have a lot more photos to go through. Still, it's better than going out and spending euros I don't have. Although I'm sure progress will halt once again when college hoops action starts up again on Thursday night.

At any rate, the fruits of labor can be seen in the last couple of sets in my Eating Japan photo collection.

You know, between that trip and the previous trip to Europe in September, I packed on a shit-ton of weight. Probably because both trips involved non-stop eating.

Oddly enough, fort his last month I've been eating just as much and almost as often, yet the last couple of days I've really noticed that I look like I'm wasting away. Ok, not wasting away, but definitely slimming down. I think that so-called "French Paradox" is finally at work, with the magical ingredients in red wine and coffee making all that foie gras, butter, and unpasteurized cheese just flush right through me.

Tonight's dinner: 1/3 of a fresh baguette, a huge slab of salmon (sautéed in butter), a cup of flageolet beans swimming in butter and cream, and my leftover potatoes Dauphinoise, also steeped in butter and cream. Mind you, I eat like this ever day. Except when I'm stupid enough to buy a bucket of KFC. Which will likely never happen again.

And despite all that, I've lost around 15 pounds, feel lighter and more fit than I have in a couple of years, and am more fleet of foot going up and down stairs, hauling groceries, and jaywalking through the insane six-way intersections.

Vive la France!