Sugar Free [Lucky Me]

I love cookies and I LOVE candy. Every day at 2:30pm I dig into my desk supply of sweets or go scrounging for them in others' offices. I eat my fair share whenever it is available at gatherings, and I bake and bring goodies into the office to share regularly.

Towards the end of the year after three holiday-related work parties, a few of my coworkers talked about taking a break from sugar in the New Year. I made fun of them at the time ("I'm not going to be a slave to diets!" I said), but when I got home from a Christmas trip home—aka family food fest 2013—and was so over cookies I thought I might give them up for good, I decided I could make it through a sugar fast. Not permanently, mind you, just for 21 days—the supposed length of time that it takes to break a craving (though 6-8 weeks is recommended to make it a long-term habit).

I started doing some research, found some sugar detox plans but they were all paleo-ish (NOT for me. I love bread and cheese), so I decided to just make my own personal rules that involved significant changes, but were still doable.

My 21 Day Sugar Detox Rules

21 days eating no foods with sugar in the ingredients, no fake sugars, and no alcohol. (honey, maple syrup are allowed in small portions)

This commitment inadvertently cut about half of the carbs from my diet because it meant almost no bread, no bagels or sweet breads and no cereal. Needless to say, one day into the experiment I was kicking myself (and others, if you must know). Have you ever tried drastically cutting carbs? It makes you light-headed and nauseated and stabby and pretty unpleasant to be around.

It's Friday, and I'm currently halfway through Day Five. I think I've made it through the "I hate everyone" portion of the diet, but I'm still sleepier than normal and feel hunger pangs more frequently than I used to. I chew on dried coconut chips when I want chocolate and I eat a tablespoon of almond butter while my husband wine in the evenings. It kind of sucks, but I'm doing it. And that's more than I can say about any health-related effort from the past.

Follow me on Instagram to see what I've been eating this week!





The main less I've learned so far is the impact of making good snack choices. Other than breakfast, my main meals haven't changed much. But now that I know I can't go get a pastry from Starbucks at 10am, I have to plan to pack a hard-boiled egg and cashews and hummus. And then they're right at my desk and they taste yummy and I think—how has it taken me this long to eat good snacks? Intentionality people.

I hope that at the end of this "detox", whether it turns out to be 7 days or the whole 21, I will have learned that enjoying treats is wonderful, they just cannot be a part of my daily snacking habits. I've already learning that making intentional snack choices takes only maybe five minutes a day. (much less scary than I imagined it to be!)

In case you're interested, here are a few resources I looked to for inspiration:

Meg Fee's series on giving up sugar
The 21 Day Sugar Detox (too extreme for me! but some helpful tips)
Is Sugar Toxic? (NY Times)

I'm feeling a little silly doing this detox and talking about it, since I don't usually subscribe to the strict healthy eating, paleo, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free stuff, nor have I ever been particularly healthy in my life, but I guess we can all make healthier choices, right? Have you made any changes recently? Wish me luck!

Fast, healthy and affordable lunches

Ok, so I know that post title might sound too good to be true. I've spent years of my life stressing out at 7:25am trying to throw something together for lunch that day. You know, that perennial problem of a full refrigerator, but nothing to eat.

I'm not saying I'm super [lunch] girl, here to save you, but I have picked up a few tips and ideas - mostly from people more awesome than me - to share. Hopefully this will inspire you to plan your breakfasts, snacks and lunches (and dinners) better for minimal stress, and maximum health!


love my Built NY lunch bag!*

Since I started tracking my calorie intake and exercise on MyFitnessPal, I can tell I've been somewhat more intentional about what I eat. But I still haven't lost more than a pound, and I frequently find myself getting stuck on days when coworkers bring in cookies, cake and bagels, because I haven't brought enough food to work to resist indulging. I realized that I conveniently forgot to record a lot of these little indulgences, which is why I ended up continually under my calorie count on paper, but in real life haven't seen the evidence.

So it is time to kick my booty into gear. Now my goal is 200-250 calorie mini-meals 5 or 6 times a day. This is surprisingly less difficult than I thought it would be. Here is an online journal of what I have bought and eaten during the day over a week's-ish time. (what's bolded are my favorites)

Grocery Store
eggs $4
bagged salad $2
fresh fruit (whatever is on sale) $5
Bolthouse greek yogurt ranch dressing $3 (45 calories for 2 tbsp, AND protein!)
shredded rotisserie chicken, or pre-grilled chicken breasts $6
roasted almonds $4 (I love the sea salt and vinegar flavor)
dark chocolate $3 (Trader Joe's has great options for dark chocolate covered-just about anything you can think of. currently eating dark chocolate covered pretzel thins)
hummus $3

Costco (bulk)
Crudites $10 (lasts two people for 1 week of  daily snacks)
Organic apple packs $7
Frozen mixed fruit $5
Kashi: Go Lean Crunch $5
Greek Yogurt $7
Pico de gallo $4


Pulled from my pantry
whole wheat bread
almond butter or natural peanut butter
honey
chocolate syrup
Tortilla chips



Monday
Breakfast: greek yogurt, honey, Kashi go lean crunch, 203 calories
Mid-morning snack: 1/3 c of roast almonds with dark chocolate m&ms, 215 calories
Lunch: 1/3 bagged salad, 1/2 c. chicken, yogurt ranch dressing, 180 calories
Afternoon snack: Rainier cherries, cookie, 150 calories



Tuesday
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs (or hard boiled made the night before), coffee with cream, 190 calories
Mid-morning snack: apple slices, 1 tbsp almond butter mixed with 1 tsp cookie butter, 225 calories
Lunch: Chips and pico de gallo, crudites with ranch dressing, 250 calories
Afternoon snack: 1/2 c. Kashi go lean crunch 96 calories



Wednesday
Breakfast: 2 slices whole wheat toast with almond butter, 260 calories
Mid-morning snack: 1/2 c. greek yogurt with  1 tbsp chocolate syrup, 140 calories
Lunch: leftover pork tenderloin with mango salsa, coconut rice and asparagus 260 calories
Afternoon snack: crudites with hummus 110 calories



Thursday
Breakfast: fruit smoothie (frozen fruit, greek yogurt, orange juice or milk, protein powder)
Mid-morning snack: Kashi Go Lean crunch, 96 calories
Lunch: grilled chicken on salad, fresh fruit 175 calories
Afternoon snack: chips and pico de gallo 160 calories



Friday
Breakfast: Special K with Red Berries, 2% milk, 219 calories
Mid-Morning Snack: apples slices with almond butter and honey, 253 calories
Lunch: leftover pollo asada with rice, pico de gallo and chips 300 calories
Afternoon Snack: crudites with ranch 80 calories


Total spent = $71

But almost all of these ingredients will last me for 2 weeks +. So it's about $35/week or $7 a day for breakfast, lunch and snacks.



Total time prepping = 1 minute each day

I love storing individual serving of Greek yogurt, fruit or veggies in these Weck glass jars* E got me for Christmas. I reuse the same bags to store chips, cherries, etc so I don't get tempted to eat more than one serving. I leave the bagged salad, roast chicken, dressing, almond butter, almonds and chocolate at work so I don't have to pack it every day.

Despite the fact that my lunch prep is quick now, it does take some time to plan, purchase groceries and get things together at the beginning of the week. But by figuring out what kinds of things I can eat and packaging them up the night before, I just grab two containers and/or bags of whatever food I've gotten ready, and stuff it in my lunch bag, and I'm off!

Obviously, the calorie count isn't going to apply to everyone - this is just what works best for me right now. But however much you eat, it is important to take time eating! Since your body doesn't register that your stomach is full for 20 minutes, I stretch out my lunch break to be eating for that full amount of time. If you have to eat fast, another trick is to eat as much as you know you should, and if you feel hungry, resist eating more for 30 minutes. If you're still feeling hungry then, you can find another light snack. But more often than not, you won't be!

*affiliate links

Italian Zucchini Pie

After instagramming the making of dinner this week, some you guys requested the recipe. It's been a while since I've posted on here anything food related, so I'm glad to remedy that. But I do post what I make for dinner several times a week on Instagram! Follow me @lattelove.

The best part of this particular recipe is that I was able to find half of the ingredients in my garden! (zucchini, onions, parsley and basil). Nothing like a recipe made with freshly picked produce from the backyard.



This is a family recipe from E's mom and I make it every summer because our garden produces SO many zucchinis. (Sometimes I like to switch up by shredding the zucchini instead of slicing it.)



Italian Zucchini Pie
1/4 c butter
4 cups of thinly sliced zucchini OR 2 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini (approx 1 1/4 lbs or 3 med zucchini)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
salt and pepper to taste

2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs

1 can of crescent roll dough

Melt butter over medium low heat and saute onions and zucchini for 8-12 minutes (6-8 if using shredded zucchini), adding garlic half way through.

While that's cooking, chop up your herbs and set them aside. In a mixing bowl lightly beat the eggs with a fork, and stir in the shredded cheese. Preheat oven to 375.

Remove onions and zucchini from heat and stir in herbs, salt and pepper. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray and unroll each crescent roll as if it were a pie slice, gently pressing the pieces together to make a crust.

Pour the zucchini mixture into the bowl with the eggs and cheese and combine well. Pour mixture into crescent pie crust and bake for 3540 minutes at 375.

Slice up and serve with arugula salad and a glass of your favorite vino!

Graduation party planning: the details

I thought it might be helpful to go through some of the work we did and costs to E's graduation extravaganza. We had an open house for 80-100 (I never did get a final count as people were in an out all afternoon/evening) and we had a friend cater, so the costs were significantly lower that if you'd hire a restaurant.

Seating
We borrowed the tables, chairs and canopies from our church, which was a huge relief and saved us a lot of money. E and my dad picked up everything on Friday morning and set it up in our backyard.

Food
You guys saw these photos (and sadly, I did not get photos of main dishes, or desert), but we did not skimp on food. I wanted a 'foodie' barbecue, and it was the highlight of the party. It was so fun to have everyone be surprised by the lack of typical backyard barbecue food like hamburgers, hotdogs and potato salad, and instead enjoy:

-Baba Ghanoush with pita chips
-Roquefort cheese dip with honey-marinated pears with rice crackers
-Grilled pineapple salsa with tortilla chips
-Smoked haloumi cheese with pickled cherries

-Tri-tip with chimmichurri sauce
-Pulled pork with peach barbecue sauce
-Grilled corn with spicy mayo and cotija

-Brownies with vanilla ice cream and stout caramel sauce

Food for 80 people + tip for our friend: $650

Beer

We picked up a half keg from a local brewery, Stone Brewing Company. It was a hit, but we overestimated how much people would drink. We were drinking flat beer for days after to use it up!
Cost: $110 (our friend got a discount)

Sangria
While E arranged to have beer for most people, I wanted to cover our bases, so I made a large batch of Sangria. We paid a little more than I usually would, so we could get a good Spanish red wine. We used this recipe, but skipped the maraschino cherries and accidentally doubled the sugar (DON'T make this mistake!)
Cost: $38
Time: 20 minutes (+ refrigeration overnight)

Bunting
I made the bunting we used by cutting triangles from a set of  blue fabric quarters from Joann's. I pinned them in double fold binding tape (also from Joann's) and stitched along the top. I had originally planned to put the bunting on a drop cloth wall hung on the canopy, but it ended up being too windy.
Cost = $13 (Fabric: $5, Binding tape: $8)
Time: 2 hours




Graduation caps
I found this idea after Beka pinned the inspiration photo. To keep it easy, I bought blue frosting in a squeeze can which I used attach the pieces together and for the tassel. The tops are fudge-covered grahams from Keebler and the bottom is mini Reese's with mini m&ms to top it off. It took seconds to put together each one and they were a hit, especially with the kids!
Cost: $18
Time: 30 minutes

Chinese Lanterns:
I trolled Weddingbee boards to find suggestions for cheap reliable chinese lanterns. We ordered them from  jadetime.com. The shipping price is pretty spendy ($11 via UPS), but we got 28 blue and white lanterns in three sizes and they arrived in two days.
Cost: $47

Napkin rolling!

Plates, Plasticware, Napkins
The leftover cloth from the bunting was cut into strips and used to tie the plastic ware/napkin sets together. We purchased the plates, plasticware and napkins in large quantity at Costco and only used about 1/2 of them.
Cost: $45
Time: 30 minutes


Total cost for party


Food and tip for our friend: $650
Beer (1/2 keg from local brewery)& Sangria: $148
Decor & Supplies: $168
Rentals (canopy, tables, chairs): free!


Total: $966 (or about $12/pp)

Thankfully, E's parents helped with some of the cost, and my parents and sister put almost everything together the day before and day of! In some ways I feel like we planned and executed a mini-wedding. I hope someone finds this helpful when planning their own graduation party or backyard barbecue in the future. I definitely loved hosting a big party, and I can't wait to find an occasion to do it again!

Days 2-3 on Live Below the Line: What Counts?

Living Below the Line (see here)

By day two, we were already facing a big dilemma - what counts?

It's very difficult to determine what to consider part of the $1.50. For instance, if I have a bag of m&ms I got on clearance after Easter that cost me $.49 - I can eat 1/4 of the bag as a snack, right?
If my aunt gives us a dozen grapefruit and oranges from their backyard tree that I didn't pay anything for, or I pick broccoli, radishes or lettuce from the garden - do I calculate my $1.50 based on their value in a grocery store, or not factor them in to my cost?

Conversely ,we've made a [moral] decision to purchase only organic, cage-free eggs, which cost $3 a dozen. Can I pretend I bought the $.99/dozen version for the purpose of my calculations, because I could get eggs for that cheap? I can handle buying cheaper bread, non-organic milk, etc because those are a matter of nutritional value and personal preference, but do I change my moral standard for a week-long exercise?

The types of food you can eat on $1.50 a day are basically bland and/or carbs. Rice and lentils. Lentils and rice. Pasta and oats. Oats and more rice. White bread. Minimal spices, minimal vegetables. Basically no meat. I really wonder what kinds of food you can purchase in third world countries with $1.50. If it's much more or much less than what we can get here. The quality of food you can buy here on that amount is abysmal, so all we've really purchased is rice, oats, lentils, vegetables on sale, and combined that with whatever we still have in our refrigerator. Costco packs of crackers and cookies for snacks, because the only way to afford a snack is if it's processed, and purchased in bulk. I miss variety, and flavors, and meat!

This was a tough week to try living below the line, as E has all his final papers due, and he wasn't getting enough brain food to finish strong. So we've supplemented with extra  food we have on hand at home(I would still imagine he's under $2-$2.50 a day).

This whole thing it not easy and it doesn't feel that great, but it is a really eye-opening experiment!

Below the Line

This week, E and I are attempting to live on $1.50 per day for food. We're participating in a campaign called Live Below the Line to help raise money for organizations that help fight extreme poverty. 1.4 Billion people all over the world live on less than $1.50 a day for food and we're seeing what that is like, firsthand.

When this campaign came through my BzzAgent profile, I wasn't sure how interested I would be in it. I'm not entirely sold on the idea of giving up food, just because others are hungry. But we realized that if we do live off of $15 for a week, instead of the usual $50-60 I spend on groceries a week, we could afford to donate that money to one of the sponsoring organizations in the campaign, which help some of the population in extreme poverty all over the world.

We're one day in and it's been more of a challenge than I thought. Working out is getting put on hold because I can't afford to consume enough calories to sustain a workout. Carbs like rice and pasta are the cheapest options, so they're staples at most meals.
I thought I'd record what we eat and share the approximate cost so you can get an idea of what you can afford on $1.50 a day.



Day 1
Breakfast: 1 c. oatmeal with 1 tbs brown sugar, splash of milk + cup of coffee $.55
Lunch: black beans and tomatoes with chips $.45
Snack: 2 oreos $.08
Dinner: pasta with homemade pesto of radish leaves, and radishes from our garden. $.51
Day 1 Total = $1.49

We both felt hungry and lethargic throughout the day, but we're drinking a ton of water - almost twice our usual intake. I'll post another update soon!

p.s. If you're interested in donating, you can do so here: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/lattelove

p.p.s. This isn't a sponsored post and I didn't receive anything to blog about it. I'm participating in the campaign for personal reasons, and just wanted to share!

Cooking, and a great lasagna recipe

I love to cook. 

This statement makes both my mother-in-law and my mom look at me quizzically and say "It won't last long!" or "why?!".

I grew up in a household with a reluctant cook. My mom isn't at her best in the kitchen, and while she made dinner most nights of my childhood, she never has really enjoyed it. (And she admits this freely. and has lots of other wonderful talents! love you, mom.)
Anyway, I grew up with a pretty limited cooking repertoire, mostly casseroles and dishes with minimal ingredients and boring spices, which left me with a blank slate when I entered my own kitchen. Early on in my marital cooking adventures I discovered epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, and The Pioneer Woman, and from there - dozens of food blogs. A whole world was opened up to me and as I began to see food as a creative expression rather than just basic sustenance, I started to love it. I bought and used spices and ingredients (and cheeses!) I'd previously never heard of, cooked all kinds of ethnic foods, and *gasp* even started experimenting without using a recipe.

Now when I get home from work I kick off my shoes, put on an apron and start chopping, sauteing, or roasting - it's easily one of the most relaxing times of my day (even more so with a glass of wine for company!). The kitchen has been my haven, my retreat after a long day.

Before you roll your eyes at my waxing poetic about my love of cooking - please know that I fail often. Oh, the flops. E and I have worked out a system for avoiding hurt feelings in those situations. When he loves a meal, he asks me to save the recipe for a repeat. When he doesn't love it - he still eats, still thanks me for dinner, but doesn't suggest holding on to the recipe for future dinners. This works well for us.

We had a friend and classmate of E's over for dinner last week (as we do almost every week) and I made lasagna that was save-worthy. It was so good I had to share the recipe, which was adapted from The Bride and Groom First & Forever Cookbook.

Homemade Meat Marinara (this is my best guestimate as a lot of the seasoning is 'to taste')
4 - 14 oz cans of sliced tewed tomatoes
8 oz of ground beef
8 oz of hot Italian sausage
2 tblsp olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, miced
2 tsp oregano
1 large handful of fresh basil (or 2 tsp of dried basil)
2 tsp of sugar
salt
pepper

Crumble and brown the sausage and ground beef together in a heavy bottom pot for 8-10 minutes. Strain out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 1 tblsp of olive oil to the pot over medium heat and cook onions for 3-4 minutes, then add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
Pulse the stewed tomatoes in a food processor, two cans at a time, until lightly blended. Add to garlic and onions, with oregano and sugar (and dried basil if you don't have fresh). Stir for a minute, and then add the cooked meat to the mixture.
Simmer over medium low heat for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and stir in fresh basil  and another drizzle of olive oil.



Lasagna  (adapted from The Bride and Groom First & Forever Cookbook, which I cannot recommend highly enough)
Serves 6-8

8 oz cream cheese
12 oz ricotta cheese
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 c. pesto
1 pkg (8 oz) of no boil lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Blend cream cheese and ricotta until well combined, and stir in parmesan, pesto and 1/4 tsp pepper.
lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan and then layer as follows.

1 c. meat sauce
noodle layer
1 1/2 c. meat sauce
1/2 of the cheese mixture in spoonfuls
noodle layer
1 1/2 c meat sauce
other 1/2 cheese mixture
noodle layer
1 1/2 c meat sauce
noodle layer
rest of meat sauce
mozzarella cheese

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 10-15 minutes to brown the cheese. Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Staycation in San Diego

Part of my Christmas gift to E was a night's stay in San Diego during our week off. A little staycation.

We started with some quiet reading time at Barnes and Noble.  E is always reading, but this time it was for fun, not school!


One of E's stocking stuffers was movie tickets. We went to see The Descendants. I'm amazed that George Clooney could pull off the family man character, but he did and the movie was very poignant.

Dinnertime found us in Little Italy at a place called Mimmo's Italian Village. I had looked up reviews and recommendations for moderately priced Italian, and we ended up here. It turned out to be just ok. The pasta dishes were good, but when we wanted to order 'secondo' (and no, we didn't even use the Italian word for it) the waitress was surprised and asked if we wanted to take it to go. Not a good sign for an Italian restaurant. Also, E thought it was amusing that they were playing the Godfather soundtrack in the background. Anyway, we know we're never going to find the same amazing food without paying more money than we have right now. I'd give Mimmo's a 3/5 stars.

We stayed the night at the San Diego Hilton Resort & Spa, which would have been nice, except their jacuzzi had ridiculous amounts of chlorine in it and it ruined my bathing suit (and my contacts, and dried out our skin  blah). It's taken over a week to get reimbursed and get it all sorted out. (You may have heard about this on Twitter) So that part was pretty disappointing and frustrating and I kind of want to forget about.




For breakfast we planned to go to a spot that E's been talking about for a while - Hash House A Go Go. It's located in the Hillcrest neighborhood and it's popular. We slept in and didn't arrive until after 10am so we had an hour wait to get seated. Thankfully, there's a coffee shop a block down so we sipped on lattes and read while we waited. It was well worth the wait We had recommendations for our choices...I ordered the sage chicken benedict (with chipotle hollandaise!) and E ordered banana walnut french toast. Each plate was easily enough for two of us, and we eat a lot!

We went home mostly rested, full, and happy.

Weekend with Cait

My dear friend Caitlin is out visiting from Michigan, hence the radio silence. But I've also been busy posting daily at my style tumblr: Latte Loves Style through a 21-day clothing challenge hosted by Freckles in April.

Here's day eight's outfit.
Location: a colorfully tiled mural in La Jolla.



Since Cait's heading back to the mitten today, here are some other fun photos of her short visit:















1. Vista Farmer's Market
2 & 3. Old California Coffee House + lattes
4 & 5. Breakfast at Peterson's Donuts
6. Crab Cake sandwiches at The Cottage in La Jolla
7. Cait in front of the rainbow mural

ps. Other Adventures with Cait

[Secretly] Healthy Banana Bread

I hope you guys are ready for a yummy breakfast recipe that you won't feel quite as guilty eating every day.

So, why the healthy part secret? In order to get E to like something he's not used to, I tried to hide some healthy ingredients inside a normal recipe, without changing it enough that he notices. And it's really not that hard!

I took inspiration from the banana bread recipe from this cookbook and made my modifications. My secret ingredients were protein powder and wheat flour. simple, right?



And here's how to make it:

[Secretly] Healthy Banana Bread
makes 2 loaves

1 1/4 c. white flour
1 c. wheat flour
2 scoops (approx 1/4 c.) whey protein powder - plain
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c. canola oil
2 c sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups overripe, mashed bananas
1 c toasted, chopped walnuts (opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. In a large bowl, mix oil and sugar until well blended. Slowly add beaten eggs and vanilla, stirring just until combined.

Add the baking soda to the buttermilk in a separate bowl and stir.

To the main bowl add 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture, then half the buttermilk mix, another 1/3 of the flour mix, the rest of the buttermilk, and the last of the flour. mix just until blended, scraping the sides of the bowl.

fold in bananas and nuts.

Pour into to well-greased loaf pans, sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar, and bake for 1 hour (it only takes about 50 minutes in my oven, so I recommend testing with a toothpick after 45 minutes)

brew-tasting and food-trucking

We had company in from out of town most of last week - what is becoming an annual visit from E's best friend. This year he brought his best lady with him and we had a fun week hanging out. (plus their three-day trip to Zion)

in Coronado on Saturday

We heard about a beer tasting with food truck down in Mission Bay and headed over for the evening to Ballast Point Brewing Company.



I tried a blackberry ale (yum) and an IPA with lime, ginger and szechuan pepper (interesting)



The food truck with Miho Gastro Truck. Alex and I each tried the grilled peach burger with gorgonzola, and E had the lamb meatloaf sandwich. Both were top-notch.










I wish SD's food trucks would come further up to North County, but on the occasions we get down to one we always love the food!