Last night we celebrated the solstice since we will be visiting family on Christmas day, and wanted to have our own little celebration. I invited a friend and scoured the Internet for winter solstice recipes—of which there are not many! Mostly I came across general ideas and suggestions: black eyed peas (which I HATE) for luck, citrus to remind us that the sun is returning, and roasted meats.
Well, that got me thinking and I remembered a meal I had earlier this year (in the photo) that featured a slow-roasted pork shoulder. The recipe was from David Chang’s Momofuku restaurant in New York, and I quickly located the famous recipe. Sounded simple enough!
And it was. And oh, so delicious!
I modified the original recipe for a 5 pound roast (instead of an 8–10 pound roast) and figured the points based on a 4oz serving. You can see the WW-erized recipe here. A little high in points (for pork) because of all the sugar, but not out of the question for a special occasion.
I served it with a roasted root vegetable gratin modified from this community recipe, subbing in grated manchego cheese and the veggies I had on hand, and a kale apple salad from the “I (Heart) Leftovers” WW cookbook. We had clementines for dessert. We were planning to roast marshmallows over a bonfire to continue the solstice celebration, but it was awfully cold, and we were awfully full of pork, so we blew out the candles and said goodnight.
Wonderful meal, but now I am regretting all that salt! I need to go weigh in today before heading out to visit family for more than a week, and I’m sure I will see it on the scale.
Earlier this week I found out that I got the job I had applied for as a receptionist at Weight Watchers. It’s the perfect second (fifth?) job for me, as it can be very part time and work with my schedule. I will start my training in the new year when I return from visiting family for the holidays, and I’m very excited—but I’m also very nervous. One of the requirements for receptionists is to stay within 5 pounds of their goal weight. I have been hovering at 5 pounds from goal for… I don’t know. Six months? A long time.
And then, last weigh in, I was up more than 3 pounds. Hopefully a combination of wearing my boots on the scale (I usually don’t) and water retention, but it was a little scary.
I must get back down. I must lose those last 5 pounds. And I must do it heading into a huge celebration week, in which there will be a ton of wonderful things to eat.
My attitude this time around has always been that I will not give up the things I love, but rather learn to love them in moderation. That will be difficult, to say the least, this next week; but now I have a really excellent reason to prevail.
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