There’s a few of these little family restaurants stuck right in the middle of residential neighborhoods in the barrio south of downtown. These places are probably grandfathered-in from an era when no one cared about trivialities like zoning laws. Check out the Google street view to see what I mean.

They have a pretty good enchilada plate combo for $5. They’re pretty serious about their enchiladas, and make them with care. Stop by if you’re close for a unique experience.

The Awarewolfs held the 2nd Annual Costume Crit(erion) tonight behind the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. I showed up a bit late, so I didn’t see Bojac win the main race. Afterwards, we headed out for a late night ride through North Park, ending up at Pioneer Park. Appropriate for Halloween, it started out as the first cemetery in town, but is now used as a park (only a few headstones remain).

I was on the bike all night, riding around and having fun. If there was ever a real-life Peter Pan experience, hanging out with the fixie crowd near midnight would be it.

All this goes into the pot of soup I make once a week (plus a cup of pasta, and some lemon juice, not shown). It’s really easy to make, and always turns out great in 20 minutes. You saute the usual mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) first, adding garlic in at the end. When the onions are translucent, you add in all the chopped ingredients, water, and some broth or bullion. I add the liquid from the cans of beans, and usually hold off adding the zucchini, squash, and bell pepper until the last 7 minutes of cooking, when I also add the pasta. All together, it only takes 20 minutes of total cooking time, with very little prep.

After cooking your own soup, you wouldn’t even consider eating canned soup again. That stuff is junk food by comparison. Campbell’s says “Soup is Good Food”. I agree, but wouldn’t consider a can of Campbell’s to be good food.

I made spaghetti al pomodoro tonight, but didn’t quite make enough to go around. I ate 200g of the fresh noodles, but probably could have eaten 400g. There’s just not that many calories to 200g of cooked spaghetti (it’s probably only 320 calories or so). I also had an apple turnover, some ice cream, a Cliff Bar, popcorn, and some protein shake, totaling another 1200 calories. I’m going to guesstimate I ate about 2500-2700 calories today.

Today was a rest day after biking 270 km last week. I only got on the bike to pick up a bean burrito for lunch. I also walked a few km, including 15 flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Click here to see what Jimmy Moore had for dinner tonight.

Yum! I ordered this classic beef kabob dish last weekend from Darban on 5th & Cedar. I normally consider this an excessive amount of meat for one person, but I was really hungry from all my riding that day. I was pretty full after eating it, but later on that night, I ate half a plate of chicken kabob leftovers.

Occasionally, I feel like eating some meat. Ideally, I’d probably prefer this plate with about twice the vegetables, and half the meat. But then I’d want to eat two plates of it. Which is what I did anyways, when you count the midnight snack and the next morning’s breakfast.

Lately, I’ve been slightly worried about getting enough protein. As I lose weight, I still want to build my leg muscles for cycling. I probably need to eat at least (80 kg)(1.2 g protein/kg/day) = 96 g/day of protein. As my diet is about only about 12.5% protein by calories, I’d need to eat (100 g/day)(4 cal/g)/(12.5%) = 3200 calories per day. I’m probably doing that, especially on hard training days, so I’m probably fine.

But who knows, maybe I could optimize my weightloss and cycling training with a slightly higher proportion of dietary protein. The best solution would probably be a protein shake for recovery, with no other dietary changes. Eating a little bit of meat for taste and variety is great, but you don’t need this amount of meat for a meal.

That’s Jeff, who co-led this month’s Disco Pirate themed Bike Party. Critical Mass was leaderless tonight, so they all followed us, bringing their 6 car police escort along with them. They finally ended up going their own way, to everyone’s relief. We had a lot of fun, and played portable disco music. I wore a vintage 70’s disco shirt and a Haggar polyester leisure jacket. I love that jacket, and will wear it around town.

Tonight’s Awarewolf Full Moon Bike ride was more like Bojac’s K.I.S.S ride tonight, with the crazies racing at the front of the pack, because that’s what G-d made testosterone for. I actually lowered my PR on the E Mission Bay Dr. segment by about 30s (almost 10% faster) while chasing after two guys at the front. We hung out in the unlit park in Crown Point for a while, chatting and drinking (a Coke for me).

The nice video of a previous FMBR shows what the ride is like, excluding the craziness that happens in the front of the pack. It’s all a blast. I raced back with Barry and David, and got home in a soaking wet t-shirt at about 11pm. I ate 250g of spaghetti before going to bed.

Thanks to AWLF founder Charlie Sears for organising everything as usual.

I hit a new low weight this morning, and I’m finally heading below 80 kg, towards my final weight of 70 – 75 kg. Losing these last 5-10 kg will be fun. I’m eating the way I want to, unafraid of any of the popular diet superstitions (e.g., “carbs make you fat”, or “fat makes you fat”), and watching my weight ease down to where it belongs.

I picked up 500g of fresh spaghetti from Assenti’s on my way back from spin class. I made traditional Spaghetti al Pomodoro, using some olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil. I ate 250g of the spaghetti, but I’m still hungry. I’ll probably pick up another 3 lbs of corn tortillas from Gabriel’s. Or maybe I’ll get a veggie burrito from Taco Rey on 4th. Or maybe I’ll just eat the other 250g of spaghetti. I’m not sure. All I know, is I’m still really hungry.

Rode the monthly Paseo de Todos with Urban Bike & Social last night, which went so smoothly, there was a 0 minute wait crossing the border back into the US. It didn’t even feel like an 80 km ride, nor did it seem like 1:30 am when I got back home. I got this Korean Asada taco from a food truck in San Diego. In Tijuana, I had a carne asada taco, a cheese & bean quesadilla, and a cane sugar Coke. (They tell me that Brasilian cane sugar is cheap, and they don’t subsidize corn in Mexico, thus no HFCS.)

I ended up eating more animal products than usual this week. I had about 6 eggs, 500g of meat, and some butter, totaling around 1500 calories. So about 7.5% of my calories came from animal products this week. That’s a bit more than my usual 5% average, but not too bad in the scheme of things. My meals never felt too heavy or greasy, as they always included plenty of fresh vegetables.

My neighbor has introduced me to a lot of things here downtown, including a 12 km walk around the park, and the fish taco truck on 30th in South Park. Two fish tacos, a fish soup appetizer, and a Mexican Coke made with real cane sugar, served in an enchanting al fresco dining environment, all for just $5.45.