 |
| Plumeria is often used in making leis in Hawaii. |
Today’s photos are from the post on this date in 2014 while living in Maalaea Beach, Maui, Hawaii, where we celebrated our second word travel anniversary at an Italian restaurant, sorely disappointed over the meal. See the link here.
No, I won’t get into the disappointment we felt over our second travel anniversary dinner in an Italian restaurant. Feel free to read the details in the link as mentioned above. In actuality, we’ve forgotten all about it, probably a few days after the event. Dining in TripAdvisor-recommended restaurants worldwide is no guarantee the food will meet any diner’s particular needs like ours; me, with my dietary restrictions, and Tom, with his picky taste buds.
 |
| Kimi Pink Ginger. |
The bottom line, if I can get a decent-sized serving of some animal protein, fish, or seafood along with a few vegetables, and if Tom can get beef, pork, or chicken with some potatoes or white rice, you’d think this would be a straightforward bill to fill. You’d be surprised how difficult this is to accomplish in many restaurants we’ve visited throughout the world.
Overall, we’ve had good to excellent experiences. Now and then, we’ve been disappointed, most often by the small portion of my protein, often only four ounces, .11 kg, simply not enough when I only eat once or twice a day. With prices so high at most locations, it makes no sense to place a double order when I can’t eat most of the accompanying side dishes.
 |
| I searched through no less than 500 photos of Hawaiian flowers, unable to find some of the names of those we’ve shown here today. |
Instead, I’ll often eat Tom’s vegetables, and I’ll give him my potatoes. When we return to our holiday home, I can always have a piece of cheese to tide me over until the next day. Most often, as we all know, “eat a small amount and 20-minutes later, you may be comfortably full.” This is often true.
We enjoy seeing a hearty portion on our plates when we prepare our meals. I often refer to us as “piglets.” However, when cooking low carb/keto meals, we can enjoy a portion sufficient to fill us to satiety, keeping in mind, we may only eat once or twice a day and generally don’t snack unless we haven’t had breakfast. In those cases, by 3:00 pm, we both may have a piece of cheese to hold us over until dinner. We rarely eat anything after dinner.
 |
| A wilted variety of Plumeria, perhaps. |
We tilt our heads in wonder when we’ve been on cruises, observing most other passengers eating breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner, drinks, and dessert. We would blow up like balloons if we ate so much food. Based on stats, the average cruise passenger gains 1 pound, .45 kg a day.
After 27 cruises the past eight years, we’d have a big problem on our hands if we’d gained on all these cruises, much more than the challenge we’re facing now, dropping enough weight to fit in the clothes in our luggage. I had the flexibility of different-sized clothes in the attic to accommodate an occasional weight gain or loss in my old life.
 |
| This must have been pretty before it began to fade away. |
But that’s not the case now. We’d better fit in those jeans when we leave here, whenever that may go. I haven’t fit in those jeans since August 2019 after gaining back all the weight I’d lost from the open-heart surgery (in February 2019) when the drugs I was on made me sleepy, lethargic, and hungry all the time.
This becomes particularly important when I recall checking out a few women’s clothing stores in Komatipoort, near Marloth Park. They either had large sizes or tiny, tiny, short-length jeans suitable for whom. I couldn’t figure it out. With my height and overly long legs, I can only wear jeans in the US.
 |
| More Plumeria. |
Since we won’t be ordering any clothing from the US to be shipped to us in the future, I’d better fit into the items I have on hand now after our recent package fiasco. I have two pairs of jeans and two pairs of shorts that almost worked. Tom’s elastic waist shorts fit, but his jeans are still tight. By the time we leave here, we both should fit into the clothing in our bags.
Tom, too, is losing weight along with me, now that he only eats a big breakfast and no dinner, having given up the chicken pasta and roasted potatoes. I am eating a small breakfast of one boiled egg and one slice of bacon, and dinner is a good-sized chicken burger patty, topped with Emmental cheese, an egg, and bacon with mustard on the side. This is working for both of us right now.
 |
| Maui goose. |
Sorry to so frequently mention food in our posts. Every time I write about food, my mouth waters, not so much as a result of trying to lose weight, but from missing out on many items, we’d love to savor, which aren’t available here. It’s hard not to think about it during these peculiar circumstances.
Have a tasty day, enjoying something you love!
Photo from one year ago today, November 1, 2019:
 |
| Clouds over the skyline in New York as we reached the USA. For more photos, please click here. |