third-to-last snackie-snack

Since my most recent doctor's appointment, I haven't been following a particular diet plan, but I aim to go hard starting on the 21st of this month. My next doctor's appointment is exactly three months later, on July 21, the day after Moon Landing Day. Three months is what I need to reset my A1c reading (I hope to get back down to 5.7 or lower if possible), and in terms of weight, I'm aiming to be down to 95 kilos. That may be asking a lot, but I definitely want to be below 100.5 kilos, which I believe was my record low. I'll talk more about my plan of attack later, but for now, let's say I've been enjoying myself, dietarily, without going completely off the chain the way I did this past December. (I'd like to think I learned my lesson; this last doctor's appointment was an embarrassment.) So over these last few days, I'm allowing myself some final indulgences.

My buddy Mike recently texted me about National Grilled Cheese Day, which I missed, but the notion of eating a grilled cheese stuck with me, and I made two grilled-cheese sandwiches tonight, as well as two small croque monsieurs, the French version of a gussied-up ham-and-cheese sandwich blessed with many flavors and textures. There are different versions of the croque monsieur ("Mr. Crunch," I guess, or "crunch-gentleman"); mine involved oven-toasted bread, specialty ham (courtesy of John Cook Deli Meats), a blot of mustard on the bottom slice of bread, shredded Gruyère on the ham, a Gruyère Mornay sauce on the top slice of bread, then more Gruyère on top of the sauce. Bake that at 400ºF in the oven for about five minutes, then broil that sucker for another five minutes to get the top cheese layer spotted and savory. The sandwiches all came out fairly well, although I think I could have broiled the croque monsieurs a couple minutes longer. Enjoy the visuals! You'll see the croque monsieurs, the grilled cheeses, and a nice bowl of tomato soup (because how can you have grilled cheese without tomato soup for dipping, right?).

The bread I used came from my mortal enemy, Paris Baguette. It actually wasn't that bad. It was a "native yeast" loaf, whatever that means, and it had roughly the consistency of the generic loaf we Americans call "Italian bread," although I suspect most Italians would say that "Italian bread" is nothing like the real thing.

food-porn angle, giving you a glimpse of ham

the grilled cheeses

grilled cheese plus tomato soup made with passata, heavy cream, salt, pepper, oregano... and at the last minute, the leftover Mornay sauce that I'd used for the croque monsieurs

food-porny angle

the sensual dip

I have two more things to make before I batten down the hatches: (1) a slow-cooker chocolate cake, and (2) Instant Pot bread, which means I need to go out and buy an Instant Pot. I might actually save the bread for my cheat day at the end of the month, when my coworker's wife makes food for us (I hear she's going to do Italian, so some sort of garlic bread might be a good accompaniment). Come to think of it, I also need to make my buddy Charles's brownie recipe, but I'll save that for a keto weekend because, as Charles and I discussed, it may be possible to make his recipe keto, using almond flour instead of regular flour, etc.