Over the almost three weeks since we arrived in Barcelona, we’ve ordered about 70% of our meals through Uber Eats. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to find meals that fit into my way of eating. Tom has found several options that appeal to him.
We are both doing intermittent fasting to lose weight before the cruise. Since neither of us is drinking alcohol and snacking on biltong throughout the day, we’re thrilled to be losing weight, at long last. After too much fun in Marloth Park, being away from that party-like atmosphere, losing weight finally became possible.
Most of my cruise-type attire didn’t fit me for the past few years after I gained about 25 pounds from heart medications, which I no longer need to take. When I stopped taking those meds, I thought the weight would fall off. But, it didn’t. On numerous occasions, while in Marloth Park, I attempted to lose weight, but despite my efforts, I was unable to maintain any losses.
Now, in Spain, limiting how often we eat and how much we eat, it’s finally falling off. I still have a way to go and don’t expect to reach my goal by October 27, but I am determined to be very strict on the cruise. Neither of us ever gains weight on cruises. Although we enjoy many of the offerings, food isn’t a big motivator for us on cruises. There are plenty of other events we enjoy on the ships.
In the past few days, tired of Uber Eats meals, we decided to make chicken and beef taco salads. We brought an entire container of low-carb, sugar-free taco seasoning with us. With all the topping items available to order online, our grocery order arrived this morning with everything we needed.
We both load up our salads with lettuce, seasoned meat, diced tomatoes, onion, green olives, and freshly grated cheese. I purchased a container of guacamole, which I’ll add to my salad. Neither of us uses the tortilla shell that one often sees with taco salads in restaurants, which has too many carbs and is entirely unnecessary.
While I was showering after the groceries were delivered, Tom started cooking the meat using three separate, smaller pans of varying sizes. There wasn’t a pot big enough to cook all the meat.
Once he was done, I started cutting the vegetables, keeping each item separate from the other since we each like to control how much of each item we add to our salads.
There aren’t any small bowls, only full-sized pasta bowls, that take up too much space in the small refrigerator. I couldn’t find any plastic bags at the online grocery store. I rummaged through our luggage and was able to consolidate a few large ziplock bags, leaving me with one plastic bag for the diced tomatoes. I place the remaining diced items in measuring cups without lids. It will have to do.
Tom grated the delicious aged cheddar cheese onto a dinner plate, which I covered with paper towels. Once I seasoned the meat, I placed the entire pot, which fit all the meat, into the refrigerator after it was cooked and cooled. Tom’s Crystal Light Iced tea and my herbal iced tea are in individual sauce pans and have taken up space in the refrigerator when no pitchers are available here either.
This made me appreciate Louise’s well-stocked kitchens in her houses in Marloth Park. We’ve never wanted for a thing! After all this hoopla to cook a meal, I suppose, once we finish the pot of meat, we’ll continue ordering from Uber Eats, which, at that point, in three days, will be for the remaining 20 days, including the day we meet Linda and Ken for lunch, until we head to the ship on October 27. We can hardly wait.
No word on the package yet. We wait, checking the UPS tracking every few hours.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, October 4, 2015:
