Boca: Asheville

We recently took a quick trip to Asheville, NC to hang out with our friends Amy and Rob Phillips. This trip has become a bit of a tradition with Rob and I. We had a great time that night, maybe a little too much and we were feeling it the next day. We took a nice walk down Lexington Ave where we found a great little restaurant simply called Boca. Not only do they have one of "Asheville's Best Chefs", but they were also voted one of "Asheville's Best New Restaurants". It's a small restaurant inside that serves brunch, lunch and dinner.
They had a very exciting lunch menu full of freshly prepared items. For an appetizer, we shared the soup of the day which was a tomato chorizo soup with kale which was one of the best soups either of us have ever had. It was also great for what was ailing us from the night before. We followed that with the Baja Fish Tacos and a Cuban Pork Sandwich, both very delicious. We were both impressed with the friendly staff, full bar and the large outdoor patio. We can't say enough about our servers as they were both fantastic.
Check them out next time you're in town! www.bocaasheville.com

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Day 5 this cleanse ain’t no jive

AHHHHH!! I am feeling pretty damn good tonight. Not sure why. Maybe it was the tomato soup. Last year on day 5 we were dealing with a snow storm and I was on my last leg. That was the day I started cooking more for us. I just broke down because I couldn’t cook chili which is my favorite during snow (as if we get a lot of it). I jumped into the kitchen and put my adequate skills to work. I have a friend we used to call the soup Nazi when I worked in a restaurant and I just did what he used to do and put some stuff together and made a tomato soup. Last year Jules said it was the best tomato soup she had ever had. Well this year I did the same. I came home and decided that tomato soup was my turning point last year so I was going to do it again this year. Man it kicked ass too. Well, Jules looked at me and said “what did you put in here different to make it taste funny”. I know what you are thinking, WTF, cause that was my initial thought as well. I mean I slave over a hot stove all night so that when my woman comes home I can make her happy and I get “it tastes funny”. I guess that is payback for the many times throughout history a man said the same silly shit to his lady. But you have to love Jules for the fact that she doesn’t hold anything back. No sugar coating anything up in this crib. Well she can kiss my A$$ because that soup was rockin’. {editor’s note: I explained quickly that “a funny taste” doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. The soup was great!}

I said yesterday I was done with the brown rice and I wasn’t kidding. God bless the person that decided to find products to help people that can’t process gluten. We have found Organic Brown rice noodles. That’s right your heard me correctly, and it is good. OK the regular pasta is better, but for a substitute it’s good and I’ll take anything to get away from the taste brown rice. I added the macaroni noodles to the soup and it was like heaven in a bowl let me tell you.

Jules is working my sciatic and funny bone nerve. Don’t let her full you on here. She acts like she has just been a damn bundle of joy and that is just not the case. I am about to take her out if she doesn’t check her attitude at the door. It is understandable for the most part. I am still a little moody but today has been the best so far. {editor’s note: All I know is that I have felt pretty happy the last five days with the exception of a few hours one day. I will say, this time around, it seems easier. I don’t have nearly the cravings I had last year on the cleanse.}

Compliments I have received have been, “Your boobs are smaller”. Yea I know, right? Who in the hell do you think would give me that compliment? That’s right my little bundle of joy over here. {editor’s note: Someone has to comment on the changes taking place. Besides, man boobs are sexy, right?} Pretty sure no man wants to hear that his boobs are smaller. I didn’t even know I had any as far as that is concerned. I mean when you lose weight it is crazy the shit people will say to you thinking it is a compliment when all the time you are thinking ‘what? I had man tits or something?’ Next was one of my customers who saw the video of us measuring and he said ‘man when did you guys film that you sure as hell don’t look that big anymore’. I said Friday and he said ‘WHAT!! you looked all blown up man’. Funny how no one says anything to you while you are fat as hell. They all wait until you are losing to let you know what they really think. I sure hope all these people would tell me if I had a booger hanging out of my nose.

Cravings: not many today. went by a BBQ joint and longed for the pig. GOD BLESS THE PIG. Krispy Kreme donuts were mentioned today and I am not even a big sweet eater{editor’s note: This was a craving of Jules due to a Krispy Kreme school sale. Was the first long term craving I’ve had}. Oh and a sausage biscuit. not sure why but I love me a damn bisquit.

Thanks again for reading and stay tuned as we are going to have some videos coming out on Any Ol’ Thing.

I am off to the deep sleep and vivid dreams. Until tomorrow!



A Jules Addendum:
I bought some Kale the other day and figured I’d try out some Kale chips for an afternoon snack. I used to come home from work nearly every day wanting chips or some other crunchy snack so this was the next best thing since I was out of sweet potatoes. Here’s the recipe I came up with. They were pretty tasty!

Kale Chips:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut off individual leaves of Kale from a fresh bunch
Place leaves in a large ziploc bag with the following:
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2t Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper as desired.
Close the bag and shake it to coat the leaves
Lay the leaves on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes.
Check them often so they don’t burn.
Once they’re crunchy, they’re ready to eat! Sprinkle with your favorite vinegar for an extra flavor.

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Day 4: Pounds out the door

So I am down six pounds. Kind of shows just how fat my ass was to lose that much weight in just three days with no exercise. Today, I am the grumpy one. I go through phases and am a bit moody.{note from the editor: phases? They must be long phases then} I am kind of tired and the cravings come and go. I have decided that everything would be better with some damn meat in it. I spent a year and a half once not eating meat, however I ate seafood. This is hard man, I mean hard. If I could even just eat some damn beans I would be happy. Oh and I am done with BROWN RICE. I mean I can’t stand the taste of it anymore. I think that is what I dreaded the most beginning this thing. I could still taste the brown rice from last year. What the hell is wrong with WHITE RICE. I guess I need to look that up because I am struggling already and we have a long way to go. In some ways it seems easier and in others it seems tougher but we can’t put our finger on which is easier or which is tougher. {editor note: Jules has not had any problems with the rice. She has actually been quite pleasant about the food. Very little cravings and no complaining from her. Not sure where this WE is coming from.}

This is only day four and I think the first five days last year were the worst. Jules just looked at me and asked if because we did the cleanse last year our bodies don’t need to cleanse again this year LOL. I think she is having a tough time as well. She doesn’t seem to be losing any weight but she didn’t last year either. That just means that she wasn’t that overweight. {editor note: “that” overweight?}

We miss our friends.
Julie had a good friend come to town and say she wanted to hang out but we have not heard a thing from her since Julie told her we were only drinking water and eating vegetables. That is some funny shit. I am pretty sure we would have had a better response if we had the plague. Otherwise, we are staying close to home as it is way too tempting to be out there hanging with you beer drinking meat eaters.

I am sleeping pretty good though. I think it is about time for the really vivid dreams. That is one of the pretty kick ass things about the cleanse. The dreams ROCK. Also I can already tell that my jeans are fitting better. Jules said my face is already starting to get skinnier. So same as last year I am losing weight in my face, head and ass. The gut always seems to be last.

The meals

Today we did a shake, then a salad for lunch and then cabbage rolls for dinner. The cabbage rolls would have been fantastic had it not been for the brown rice. Jules had a couple of helpings (might have something to do with the lack of weight loss LOL) so that meant she loved it. She is also tired of hearing me bitch about the brown rice as I am sure you are but I am SICK of it. I sure hope I don’t have vivid dreams about brown rice cause that would suck. {editor note: I asked Rusty if we were allowed to have two cabbage rolls on the diet and he replied yes. He was the one that measured the rice so I took his word on that one and the book clearly states that we can eat as many veges as we want.}
[caption id="attachment_160" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cabbage Roll Guts"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cabbage Roll and Brussel Sprouts"][/caption]

Cravings for the Day:

Chili Dog with mustard and onions. A cold Pepsi. Doritos would be nice as well. I would love one of our Taco Salads as well. Cheese, Cheese, Cheese. Oh how I would love to sprinkle some cheese on my salad. I have just decided that I like food too damn much to be doing this to myself but the reward at the end is worth it or at least that is what I am telling myself.

Thanks for reading and I forgot to tell you that Jules was on my sciatic nerve earlier but I still love her. {editors note: ditto on the nerve and double ditto on the love}

Recipes coming soon! We had to try them out once before we posted them for sure. Should have one up by the weekend.

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Day 2 and 3: Jules, it's just you and me!

WE’RE BACK!!!! 2011 started out wonderfully with our first Standard Process cleanse, however we were unable to keep up the good work and gained all the weight back we lost as well as continued to eat terribly. Sometimes things happen in your life that derails you from goals set. Well, 2012 is here and we are going at it again. I don’t mind failing but I will not tolerate myself quitting, so here we go.

Yesterday was day two and it didn’t seem so tough. We woke up ready to get the day going. We started with a shake and decided that while on the cleanse we could fill up our time with getting our house, building, and lives in better order for the new year. It was a beautiful day so we decided to get outside and go through our storage building to start the purge along with our cleanse. One thing I failed to consider is that while cleansing, especially in the first few days, there are not any carbs to help with energy so I completely wore my ass out. I was beat to say the least and starving my ass off by the end of the day. We had a large salad for lunch with a tomato vinaigrette and then we did a stir fry for dinner. Jules loved the stir fry and I will admit it was good, but after eating it so much last year, I was done with stir fry. A shake night cap and then to bed.
[caption id="attachment_147" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Stir Fry"][/caption]

Woke up this morning craving CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN with the white gravy and mashed potatoes. Well guess what’s NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!! I have no idea why I was craving CFC but I could almost smell it. So, I started with a shake and was pretty pissy to say the least this morning. Jules woke up in a great mood and ready to go. Didn’t last long as she turned on me and I had no idea who in the hell I was hanging out with. We went to Ruby Tuesday’s to eat the Salad Bar while Olivia ate Grilled Chicken. I despised that child for a moment as she ate her grilled chicken and mashed potatoes in pure bliss. Jules and I grudgingly gnawed on raw greens and vegetables but we knew that in the end it was all going to be worth it. After some shopping at Trader Joe’s Jules and Olivia passed out in the car as we drove home. As I said this was a tough day for Jules.

Tonight we discovered LENTILS!! How damn wonderful they are. WOW I wish I knew about them last year and maybe I wouldn’t be so tired of stir fry. Tonight I cooked up some Mexican lentil chili and it was fantastic. I can’t wait to have it again. We will be posting a recipe for this on a later date. It is one in which I use for black beans but I just substituted Lentils and added some mushrooms that worked surprisingly well.
[caption id="attachment_149" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lentil Chili"][/caption]

Not sure what tomorrow will bring but we will continue to muscle through this until the end. Thanks for following us and thanks even more for stopping by Any Ol’ Thing. We are going to have some fun this year for sure.

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Day 1: Here comes the fun!

We spent the eve of day one at Trader Joe's because they have a great selection of fresh and organic fruits and vegetables. We got enough food to fill our fridge for a few days anyway. Then, we had to spend some time cutting up all that food!
[caption id="attachment_138" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trader Joe's Shopping Loot"][/caption]

After a visit to Trader Joe's, we bellied up to the bar at Hickory Tavern to eat all the fattening appetizers they had including sliders, chips and salsa, crab dip and wings. Oh, and some beer. We knew it was going to be a while before we could indulge so we went for it. They were small portions though so we didn’t actually eat as much as it sounds like.

[caption id="attachment_137" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hickory Tavern Pre Cleanse"][/caption]

Our first day was a little more rough for me than I thought it would be. I was very tired all day and would have gone to bed at 7 if I didn’t have a kiddo and a Rusty looking at me like I was crazy. We ate the norm, shake in the morning, pills, salad for lunch, more pills and then for dinner we tried something new. We discovered some other cleansers online using rice pasta by tinkyada so we drove to the nearest Lowes Foods (which seems to be the only store in the Charlotte area that carries it) and made a little marinara to go with it. Our marinara was made from some jarred tomatoes, courtesy of Rusty’s Mom, onions, oregano, mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper. We are going to perfect it on a later day and post the true recipe as it was quite good.

We did end up sleeping early. We tried to watch a movie and couldn’t finish it. One thing about the cleanse is that it does make you tired in the evenings. In another day or so, we look forward to having more energy through the day.

Our goals this year are:
Rusty wants to lose 15 pounds and drop his cholesterol
Julie wants to lose 10 pounds and fit into her favorite jeans. Long term Lower BP would be good too.
After the cleanse is over, we want to start a 90 day Body by Vi Challenge (More on that soon)

Julie
Weight: 150
Height: 5’8”
Chest: 40 ¼”
Hips: 41 ½”
Waist: 36 ½”
Head: 22 ½”


Rusty
Weight: 225
Height: 5’10”
Chest: 47 ½”
Hips: 47”
Waist: 48”
Head: 24”

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The Standard Process Cleanse Overview

We have recently ventured on our second annual Standard Process Cleanse.  It is a 21 day purification program that helps you get to and maintain a healthy weight.  With a diet heavy in fruits and vegetables, this cleanse helps remove toxins from your body which can contribute to fatigue, weight gain, digestive problems and even a stuffy head.  The Standard Process cleanse stimulates detoxification specifically in the liver, kidneys and the intestines.

Find the full informational booklet about the cleanse here.

We were introduced to this cleanse by James Whittle of Blue Ridge Acupuncture Clinic in Asheville, NC.  He is also the owner of living-qi.com/


Last year being our first year, our results included:
Julie went off blood pressure medication due to natural low blood pressure.
Rusty lost 15 pounds
We both had an overall feeling of energy and alertness
The most wonderful sleep and dreams that we’ve ever had

The results are dramatic, however, the 21 days can be a bit tough.  Our basic schedule looks like this:

Days 1-10 Food Schedule:

• You can eat an unlimited amount of vegetables from the list of nearly 50 fresh vegetables and greens they include in the plan book.   It is recommended you use organic as much as possible and remember that a serving is approximately ½ C.


• You should eat twice as many vegetables as you eat fruits.  Your fruits should be fresh or frozen only and be organic whenever possible.


• Each day, you can also have ½ C of cooked rice or up to 1 C of lentils


• Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day and limit use of Olive oil to 4-7 teaspoons per day.

Days 11-21 Food Schedule:

• Eat the same as days 1-10, however, now you can eat meats, including deep sea fish (such as Salmon, Cod or Sea Bass) as well as free range, hormone free, organic chicken.  You are allowed 2-4, 3 oz servings per day with half of those being fish.

Days 1-7 Supplement Schedule:

• 2-3 Standard Process shakes per day(these are full of protein and can be mixed with your favorite fruits)


• 7 Standard Process Cleanse capsules 3 times per day


• 3 Gastro-Fiber capsules 3 times per day

Days 8-21 Supplement Schedule

• 2-3 SP shakes per day


• 3 Gastro-Fiber capsules 3 times per day


• 5 Standard Process Green Food capsules 2 times per day

That’s right, you didn’t see any alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, nuts, seeds, dairy, grains (except for rice) or any processed foods included here!  That brings us to the top three things we usually miss on this diet: cheese, bread and beer!!

So, here we go!  Follow us over the next 21 days to see how we handle this journey.

 

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Hello world!

Any Ol' Thing was created while we (Rusty and Julie) were doing a cleansing diet.  As we were creating new and interesting recipes, we figured why not record what we're doing and share them with our friends!  From there, it grew into celebrating all of the things we love to do from traveling to dining to music.

Thank you for joining us on our adventures! Feel free to contact us to set up a tour of your facility or to share ideas you may have for us to do on the site!

 

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