Empty Calories

I have just proven that you can gorge yourself silly on fabulous Chinese food and not eat a single nutritious thing.

It's the eve of my cousin Shirley's funeral and all the cousins in the area, and their spouses (spice?) met at this wonderful Chinese restaurant (I know it was wonderful because its name is Wonderful Chinese Restaurant). There were 8 of us (my "date" was my mother, since Walt is in Santa Barbara).

We did the usual "pick your own dish and we'll share" bit and I realized when the food came that except for my mother, who had ordered a snow pea/mushroom dish, every single one of us had chosen a dish that was fried and/or sweetened. We had no more than FOUR versions of fried sweetened meats, one candied shrimp with walnuts, and a dish that had a bit of regular beef sandwiched in between fried prawns and more sweet fried chicken. Then there was sweet and sour chicken, a couple of fried dishes, and chow mein with crispy (i.e., fried) noodles.

What's more, at the end of the meal, the plate that had the most leftovers was my mother's nutritious selection.

The nice thing is that my mother and one cousin (and spouse) are leaving on a camping vacation on Sunday, another cousin had come down from Reno and was headed back, one cousin is dieting (though I think she's "dieting" like I'm "dieting") and one couple just didn't want to take food home.

So I took it all home with me and it should make at least two meals for Walt while I'm gone next week.