There are two things that I find a little annoying about my current battle with leukemia. One is the shortness of breath and the other is the loss of appetite.
I am in one of the best restaurant towns I have ever seen, but I have almost no appetite and feel full very quickly. I have visited Off the Hook, Chases on the Beach and JB’s Fish Camp in my first week in New Smyrna and I would dearly love to go to the Garlic, but there is no way I could finish a meal there. I could take home the leftovers and I may try going for a filet with minimal accompaniment. I have had raw oysters at Off the Hook, steamers and a great clam chowder at Chases and rock shrimp at JB’s. I will undoubtedly be back to JB’s for steamers and probably hit up all three of those places for a blackened grouper sandwich without the bread.
The rock shrimp seems to be a commodity only found on the east coast of Florida. I had them the first time I visited RB Lawrence before making Florida my regular winter home. I had some the second Sunday of my stay this year. I had forgotten the technique of shelling them but remembered as I went and polished off a half-pound along with a couple of Heineken Zeroes. I did see a sign while I was at JB’s noting that those with kidney, liver, blood or immune system issues should beware of eating raw oysters…which I love…to avoid serious illness. I am going to wait until I can check with my medical team before I have raw ones again, but I may do some Oysters Rockefeller or Oysters Bienville in the meantime.
Other places I plan to visit include The General Public House, The Grill at Riverview, Norwood’s, Merk’s Bar and Grill, The Baker’s Table, Ruthy’s Kozy Kitchen, Wake Up Café and Colt’s Pig Stand. The General Public House and the Grill at Riverview are new to me. Merk’s, The Bakers Table and Norwood’s are all places I have visited in the past, Ruthy’s and the Wake Cup Café are breakfast places and Colt’s is a barbecue place I frequented last year. I will have to try to limit the sides and will probably still be taking home doggie bags, but dining out in New Smyrna is always fun.
I will also do a significant amount of cooking on my own. While it is hard to cook for one without a lot of food waste, I will do some things that can be stretched out…Shepherd’s Pie turns into a beef hash on day two…and things that I can control the portions of. I plan to do a blue cheeseburger without the bun and with a side of cottage cheese and I bought a couple of filet mignon at a reasonable price and will cook them with a blue cheese or gorgonzola sauce. I can always make two meals out of a pork tenderloin with mashed sweet potatoes on the side.
And I can do small portion meals of scallops over pasta in a butter-garlic sauce, ravioli and spaghetti and meat balls. I can also get by with just a slightly over-sized shrimp cocktail or one of my specialty salads that will last a couple of days. I inherited my sister Judy’s allergy to tomatoes and cucumbers (but I can eat pickles…riddle me that one) so I make some different types of salad. For big family gatherings, I usually provide a Wally Waldorf…lettuce, diced pear, diced apple, mandarin oranges and when I remember to add it, chopped celery with a toasted coconut topping and a mayonnaise, cinnamon and coconut dressing. Day to day salads usually include romaine lettuce with chopped egg and blueberries, raspberries and mandarin oranges…and sometimes diced shrimp tossed in. A peppercorn dressing goes nicely with all and if I can find a pear gorgonzola I will use that. Raspberry vinagarette is also a good option.
Since the onset of the leukemia and loss of appetite, I have been drinking nutrition shakes, eating granola bars and yogurt over the middle of the day. Breakfast has been either shredded wheat or another cereal or a couple of Eggo Belgian waffles. I have been thinking about doing a omelet or scrambled eggs and sausage, but haven’t quite worked up the ambition to do so yet.
All of this healthy stuff would absolutely floor those who know my past eating habits. I was at the home of Brian and Kelly Chezum (Brian and Kelly moved next door to me on the Stiles Road when Leslie Weisenfeld leased her house after getting a professorship in North Carolina. Brian is the A. Barton Hepburn Associate Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence and Kelly is Vice President for Government, Corporate and Foundation Relations at Clarkson.) for a Thanksgiving Dinner with several others who all brought dishes. Brian asked to go around the table and tell how much butter went into our contributions. Mine was my special wild rice recipe and my answer of “a pound” brought a gasp from the rest of the diners.
Yogurt and bowls of berries aside, while I have lost my appetite to a significant extent, my sweet tooth has returned! I have three candy jars (licorice, fruit slices and candy coated expresso beans) and a bowl of hard candies (root beer and Horehounds) and two boxes of fudge in the fridge. There has been some debate with my medical team over the last few years as to whether I was diabetic or not. I think it is more like pre-diabetic and I control my A1C with Metformin, but the current sweets craving may let us know one way or another.