Just a note

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Beebamom

Just a note to say I have definitely not abandoned this site. The food in Italy has been more of a challenge than I imagined. Too many times I have not been able to control what is served. So there will be a lot of postings after we get home on Thursday because I will have to be “dining lite” to lose the weight I have gained on this trip!

I truly believe that my current weight loss journey will be the one that sticks. I plan to view my three week eating extravaganza in Italy the way normal non-neurotic un-fat people do – I had a good time. I gained a few pounds. Of course, that is to be expected on vacation. I’ll just eat really conservatively for a week or two and take it off. No biggie.

Good luck to me!

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Roasted sea bass

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Beebamom

Finally something I can post on Dining Lite. Tonight in Ragusa we started with a vegetable soup with garbanzo beans and followed that up with a whole roasted sea bass. The chef brought out three fish for us to choose from and then went back to the kitchen and cooked it. We also had a contorni of caponata.

Whole roasted sea bass

John did a good job filleting it. I had no bones at all. When we were finished with our dinner, the chef came out and offered to cook us some spaghetti on the house. I guess sharing a small fish and some soup and vegetable just didn’t seem like enough for him. With many grazies, we declined eating more.

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Napoleon of eggplant, tomato, and burrata cheese

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Beebamom

Napoleon of eggplant, tomato and burrata cheese

I had this as a first course for lunch in Lecce. It was served cold and I gave at least half of the cheese to John. These past couple of days the dining has become more difficult. I am struggling to find good choices and I know I am eating more than I should. The only positive from this lunch was that we ended up not eating dinner because we were too full from lunch.

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Tubettini con spada (Small tubular pasta with swordfish)

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Beebamom

Along with a salad, this tubettini con spada was our lunch down at the very bottom of the heel of Italy. It was in a light sauce. The small tubes were like ditalini but were striated like penne rigate. John added olive oil as a top dressing. I did not. It was good and filling. It was served with a spoon so I imagine it is considered more of a soup than a pasta.

Tubettini con spada

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Acqa frisa

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Beebamom

Acqa frisa, a cold Puglian soup, is a bowl of water in which are floating pieces of tomato, pepper, cucumber, and onion. Olive oil is added. You are then served a basket of stale bread and you let it soak in the water. Except for the olive oil, pretty diet-y.

Acqa frisa

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Assorted (fried) seafood

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Beebamom

One of the best ways to stay on a diet is to order something that you don’t want to eat.

Lightly fried shrimp with head, two small fish with bones and heads and squid

This was served after an antipasto of raw shrimp with heads, raw squid and assorted raw shellfish. Then there was rigatoni which were undercooked dressed in a light tomato sauce with the above assorted shell fish and squid except cooked this time. Can’t say that there was much about the dinner I wanted to eat other than the bread and wine.

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Orecchiette with turnip greens

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Beebamom

I am trying to make choices that are either seafood or vegetable. This did not turn out as tasty as I had hoped but it was fairly light without too much oil. I think something was lost in translation. We are currently eating a small breakfast, followed by a large late lunch and then a light dinner. It is working well so far.

Orecchiette with turnip greens

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Tagliatelle wrapped in eggplant, deep-fried, and served with a tomato cream sauce

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Beebamom

Sometimes you make mistakes. Especially when the menu is in Italian. I only ate half of this and only because I was really hungry. All the cooking makes the pasta like mush. Apparently this is a dish you can only find in southern Italy and Sicily. I would avoid it.

Not a good choice

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Sea bream with a zucchini crust

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Beebamom

This was dinner at the Cefalicchio Country House in Canosa di Puglia, Italy.

Sea bream with zucchini crust

After eating so low fat for so long, it is hard not to think everything that has a top dressing of olive oil is too greasy. I’ll probably get over that. I am not sure it’s a good thing.

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Grilled swordfish on cauliflower puree with fennel, carrots and spinach

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Beebamom

During our trip to Italy, I am going to post what I would consider good selections for dinner when eating out. We had this fish as our main course in Benevento, Italy. Because we were pretty exhausted after the long flight and drive, we ate in the hotel. We were really impressed with the quality of the food.

Grilled swordfish on cauliflower puree with spinach, fennel and carrots

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