I ate bread, and it was OK. And then it wasn't OK.

It's been about eight weeks since I started my potato-free, wheat-free, no-dairy-plus-grains adventure.  Other than occasional memory lapses, I've committed wholeheartedly to the diet.  I just feel so great, why wouldn't I?  (Although I still have zero energy where running is concerned... frustrating.)

Wednesday night we cashed in our 2-for-1 Chinook Book coupon for the Oregon Culinary Institute.  Their motto is "Training Kitchen Ninjas"; more fitting might be "Training Tattooed Hipsters"... but whatevs.  I'd been once before and had a great experience, so I checked the menu last week, verified that it seemed mostly safe, and reserved a table for their fixed price 4-course dinner.

And then the night came.  We were celebrating. I was weak.  (I miss bread.)  I was also experimenting a bit - maybe now that my system is happy, a little indulgence would be OK? 

It was a good lesson.  And a fantastic meal as well.

All I have to say about the starter is this:  whoever decided that speck ham and peaches were a perfect pair should be the next president. 

grilled speck ham wrapped peach, 

 flageolet bean fritters with calabrian chili aioli

Well, maybe that's not all I have to say about the starter.  The peaches melted in your mouth, and the salty/sweet combo was wonderful.  The bean fritters (what I should not have eaten, exhibit A) were quite tasty too, although the aioli was a bit too creamy or oily - we couldn't decide which.  For the record, I only had a tiny taste of the fritters.

Next up: salads.  And what I should not have eaten, exhibit B.

salads of arugula and fennel, summer greens with figs
... and that darned bread

 
in addition to learning that I need to stick to this diet, 

I also learned that I need more figs in my life

The tender figs in the salad were bursting with flavor and paired deliciously with the olives and other vegetables.  My arugula and fennel salad was bright and spicy.

In total I probably ate about a piece of that bread, breaking off little chunks at a time and eating lots of "me-friendly" food in between.  It was good, but it wasn't that good.  Not good enough to scrap eight weeks of progress.

sauteed salmon with sweet corn, chanterelles and bacon

grilled carleton farms pork chop with speck ham and roasted veggies

The salmon was pretty basic, but the pork chop was possibly the highlight of the evening.  Sorry, pigs, but it was a ham, bacon and pork chop kind of meal.  (Notice the lack of reference to "what I should not have eaten" here.  Ha!)

Maybe this is common in fancier restaurants or with fixed price meals, but I loved that there was no rice, no grains, no pasta - just meat and vegetables.  Simple, healthy, how food should be.

creme brulee and caramel nut tart

And for dessert, I planned to just try the caramel nut part of the tart and ended up eating half of the tart shell too (what I should not have eaten, exhibit C).  It was tasty, the whole cream ice cream was tasty, the creme brulee was tasty...  And I should not have eaten any of it in that combination.  Just the creme brulee or ice cream would've been fine, I think.

This was the point where I resigned myself to the forthcoming pain.  Oddly, it hit me about 16 hours later, instead of the usual four.  But it hit me hard, and lasted quite a while.

Which is not to say that I won't eat bread again. 

But it's going to have to be some pretty damn good bread.