17 Steps Forward 10 Steps Back

The Fare at Forastero

I fucked it up again guys! I regained weight because of beer during the week as well as one LATE night meal because I was drunk and hungry and needed sustenance after the fantastic play "Doppelganger" at  Steppenwolf! So, before I go into what may have been my weakest Cheat Day yet I will tell you how I am going to come back, and I want to thank a few people for calling me out while I was slipping. It keeps me in check, THANK YOU. That mixed with the weekly weigh-ins really highlight when and how I am fucking this up.

This week. 0 Beer, Strict Diet, back on the bike, plus some muscle training to get back down to sub 250!

I am going to start this Cheat Day with the bad ass meal I ate around 2AM Friday night. NO, though technically 2 AM is Saturday morning not Friday night, it does NOT count as Cheat Day. As stated before in this blog Cheat Day should begin as soon as I wake up Cheat Day morn as to not effect my weigh in, Which I am sure it did this week.

The amazingly delectable late-night meal was devoured at a new family owned establishment on North Ave. between Second City and Steppenwolf called: Forastero. Forastero boasts a lovely and new late night atmosphere, BYOB status, and a Mexican-Korean fusion. There is a high amount a care put into every dish we ordered, including something as simple as their french fries which came with a garlic aioli. French fries are a hard thing to fuck up but they are also hard to get perfect. I will say everything about these fries was perfect, down to the temperature, which stayed hot for an alarming amount of time.

The other items I tasted from this fine establishment all receive a similar praise. Everything came to the table piping hot and the dishes were packed with an intense and interesting level of flavor. My three tacos were each unique and delicious. The "Esta Camaron" was stuffed with fried shrimp some light veggie garnishes and two delicious spicy sauces: a Korean aioli and seasame sauce. Fuck my nuts off I love spicy sauces and theirs CRUSH. I also ordered the "Porky Pig" which was STUFFED with shredded pork that was so nice and juicy! I am VERY aroused. The third was a "Tinga de Pollo" because it had chorizo in it and you KNOW I love chorizo.

Finally I ordered one of their house specialties (and staff favorites) for the table: Dak Wings. These puppies were scorching hot for what felt like forever. The sauce they were covered in was hella (that's right I'm using hella now) unique and deadass to die for. It was a pomegranate molasses mixed with the spice of Guajillo and Gochugaru peppers. Seriously go check this place out! Especially if you are in that area often. You will NOT be disappointed.

The rest of my cheat food included home made smothered and covered Waffle House Hash Browns (YUMMY DUMMIES!) and a chocolate covered donut.

Side note: Be careful going to the grocery store the morning of cheat day as you are buying food that is supposed to last several meals. Not only does it leave you with tempting excess, but it also costs more than you think!

I DID go to Taco Bell to get the new Wild Naked Chicken Chalupa (meh it was fine, FILL THAT FUCKER UP WITH THAT BEEF, BELL! COME ON!). I also got a Beef Quesarito, a Chicken Quesadilla, and a Cheesy Gordita Crunch with a Doritos Locos Taco....so...sorry not sorry!

Then there was BEER, waddup Alex?! Mostly Busch Light from a can and Miller Light Pitchers from the bowling alley. "Which bowling alley you TUB OF DUMP?!"

Come on! Easy on the nicknames! If you want to bowl, please go to Timber Lanes! And that my friends wraps up this week's Cheat Day! Of course there wasn't as much to eat as usual, what with my late Friday night meal I am counting, but I still managed to eat some real nice shit! Some shitty ass shit! Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and eat like you life depended on it.

ELE,
Zach

And 2 For the Walk

Good day Cheaters. I write to you this week with FANTASTIC news! I am down 17.4 pounds since my first weigh in! Now, no one has been complimenting me (ASSHOLES) and that's probably a good thing. Everyone should continue to call me fat so that I don't lose my focus. I still need to lose 45 pounds after all! Thank you all for your encouragement, even if the only encouragement you give is silently reading this blog!

I put another epic Cheat Day into the books so lets get started. Here is how I lost weight this week. I woke up at 8:30 or so in order to get some quality time with my boo and get a nice hearty Cheat Day breakfast. Liz and I went to the Over Easy Cafe for what turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise! I had never been and it has been years since Liz had been so she could not remember the quality of the place. It's a short walk from where we live on Damen and Argyle. We've passed by it several times as another favorite of ours is right next door:  Bang Bang Pie and Biscuits! and there's always a massive wait outside of Over Easy Cafe so it's like how could it be that friggin' good?! Especially when there's a BANGER of a breakfast place right next door.

Our main concerns were the wait (OBVIOUSLY!), portions (CAUSE CHEAT DAY!) and there menu contained mostly egg heavy dishes which I can eat all GOD DAMN week long on the slow-carb diet! So I was concerned alright. I don't want to waste a fucking cheat meal on mother fucking eggs, I don't care how friggin' good they are. Guess what though you guys! The squashed ALL of these concerns. There was a wait, yes! Which sucks for breakfast. You're tired, you're HUNGRY and...let me take a minute to describe the Cheat Day morning hunger alright!

It's the hangriest hunger there ever was. I have very little patience when I'm not SHOVING bread and cheese covered in butter and sugar into my face after the first half hour I'm awake.

Anyway, The Over Easy Cafe offered free cups of delicious Intelligenstia coffee while you wait out in front of the restaurant, which really went a long way in curbing my HANGER. They have a list of weekly specials, one of which was a DELICIOUS and ENORMOUS breakfast sandwich which I ordered and ate the SHIT out of. I ate it so HARD that at one point the waitress came by the table and said "damn, you are serious about that sandwich."

The Appalachian Spring Breakfast Sandwich

Blue Berry Crunch Pancakes

To which I replied yer "GOD DAMN FUCKING RIGHT! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?!" The sandwich was known as The Appalachian Spring Breakfast Sandwich and contained some usual stuff like eggs. Some unusual but rather tasty stuff it contained was smoked pork belly, tomatoes, a TON of fontina cheese, and these things called ramps which may be the most delicious onion I've ever had. The toasted telera roll it was served on was soft and buttered and to DIE for. The sandwich also came with some standard but cheat-a-rific home fries. Liz ordered blue berry crunch pancakes which I tried as well and they were also super delicious! I give the Over Easy Cafe a SOLID point and pump!

The rest of the day was spent filming yet another episode of our upcoming web series "A Bit Touched." So the rest of my cheat day consisted of 7-Eleven snacks yet again. We're talking tortilla chips and fake cheese dip, Cheeto-paws, Donuts, "Deadpool" Trolli sour gummies, Taco Bell Fire Sauce Doritos, and 7-Eleven Pizza. Something I didn't tell the rest of the cast and crew was that when I went on the snack run I stopped quickly at a pizza spot on the corner called Godfather's Pizza and ordered 2 sub-par slices for the walk to the 7-Eleven to get the snacks.

Friend and Rock Star James Manno opened my eyes to the quality of Chicago slices a few weeks ago. The consistency of the New York style hand-tossed thin crust crust at Godfathers and all over the city is just dry and cardboardy. The rest of the ingredients are always fine as far as pizza goes. In this case the cheese, sauce, and pepperoni were solid enough to carry the slices.

It's now time for Alex Romero's favorite section. It's time for beer. One of the main concepts in the episode that we shot on Cheat Day was that I we drink Milwaukee's Best and LOTS OF IT. Why did we do that to ourselves you ask? Because we are freakin' idiots and we like the nickname "Beast Ice"! But it really wasn't as bad as I remember, I must have drank about 7 of those things before we left the shoot and hit up Nick's on Wilson to meet back up with our favorite bartender Nick Taylor! He poured my Allagash Whites, 3 Floyd's Alpha King, and Miller High Life's all night long. READER WARNING: DO NOT OVER IMBIBE ALCOHOL! IT IS NOT SAFE! DRINK RESPONSIBLY!

Oh also, I went back to 7-Eleven and bought an Italian Sub for when I got home to soak up some of that beer. It was an awesome Cheat Day people. This web series is going to be SO ridiculously stupid and hilarious and we hope you like it. I am on my way to meeting my goal ALL while eating and drinking like a ridiculous monster! I LOVE IT and so do you! Don't LIE! I'm told my dad reads this and is confused as how this is a diet blog yet all I talk about it eating horrible food and drinking shitty beer. Well, DAD, the rest of the week I only eat vegetable, protein, and beans. Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and eat like your life depended on it!

ELE,
Zach Finch

Cheat Day Mayo

Hola Cheaters! This past Cheat Day was also Cinco De Mayo! Unrelated to the holiday I was very busy on Cheat Day so there wasn't a TON of cheating going on really... But don't stop reading! There was also a ton of crazy silly shit happening throughout the day as well!

I awoke late Cheat Day morning and weighed in at 2 pounds lighter than last week's weigh in! The was despite the fact that I drunkenly ordered a beer...and taco bell...the night before, at about 3AM after Liz's opening of the AWESOME show she is in: American Blues Theatre's Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. I guess I ought to make one thing clear for my Cheat Day fans. Cheat Day begins when you wake up and after you weigh in Cheat Day MORNING, not at midnight the night before. It is not a calendar day, it is a celebration! So, Liz and I woke up too late this Cheat Day to away to a local breakfast place for a nice Cheat Breakfast, as we both had appointments we had to keep in the afternoon.

Snack Montage

My appointment was a small, VERY indie, film shoot for a web series I co-created called "A Bit Touched," A "Chooch Chat" creation! It was our first shoot of this run and it was a blast and a half! Aside from starring in the episode I was in charge of props and catering (perfect for Cheat Day!). After I got to the location I dropped the props off and offered to run to a 7-Eleven for some snacks for the cast and crew. I brought my boy Andrew along to help carry. I got a bag of barbecue chips, a bag of new Taco Bell Fire Doritos, Tostitos scoops (to go along with the can of queso previously purchased for props), a bag of James Harden sneaker gummies, a case of Coors Light, and a case of water (ALWAYS a necessity Cheat Day or not). I also did what I always do in a 7-Eleven on Cheat Day, got Taquitos. I specifically bought 4 of them (ALL FOR ME!), 2 jalapeño and cream cheese and 2 taco and cheese...ya know for the walk back to the film location! NOMNOMNOM

Corn Dogs

Without giving a lot away about the episode (coming your way soon) there were corn dogs on the set, and lots of them. My costar, Anthony Giamichael, is eating corn dogs basically throughout the whole thing. He ultimately ate about 8 or 9 whole corndogs over the course of about a 5 hour shoot and it was hysterical. He was in great pain, and all the rest of the cast and crew were just cracking up. There was a moment in the episode where I also eat corn dogs and I made out of there having eaten about 4 myself (DELICIOUS and less hysterical). Corn dogs would never be my go to Cheat Day treat but I must say, I enjoyed them while I was eating them. I'd be singing a different song if I had to eat nearly 10 of them, but I rarely eat corn dogs and they are a nice treat on occasion and a bit of a change of pace. An American Classic! Also on set I drank about 4 Coors Lights and had 2 glasses of delicious Irish Whiskey.

Margaritas

After the shoot we had to drop our filming gear off. When we did I popped open a Sierra Nevada and pounded it before we turned around and hit the bar Nick's on Wilson where our friend Nick was tending bar! He made us a toight Green Tea Shooter thing that was sugary and delicious. He also mixed me up 2 DELECATBLE margaritas for Cinco de Cheat Day. I drank 2 other beers (one of which came with a shot of Malort...ugh Chicago amirite?) while we played Big Buck Hunter at the back of the bar (I suck at it). Nick got off work and led us to another bar where his friend was bartending where I got two more beers and another shot of whiskey...another beer filled Cheat Day nothing WRONG with that.

Lindo Guadalajara Exterior

Horchata

Cheat Day was coming to a close and I had been thinking about Mexican food all day (obviously!). I had decided that I would be going to one of my favorite late night spots for food, Lindo Guadalajara. This will also be my local spot of the week to review. This Mexican spot is open 24 hours a GOT DANG DAY, so it gets points for that. I have been here many times and they are always on top of things so this particular experience doesn't exactly dictate my over all rating of the food or establishment. I ordered a Horchata once I sat down. If you haven't ever tried this delicious milky-cinnamon beverage I recommend you get one and soon, it is a treat. Lindo's Horchata is a little light, which I actually prefer. I also ordered a chicken burrito suizo meal and THREE chorizo tacos. That's right! I went for it! If you couldn't tell by the rest of the description most of the cheat day was spent drinking not eating so I had to fill this tummy! And what happens next WILL shock you!

Chorizo Tacos

The Lindo staff had FORGOTTEN my burrito suizo dinner and JUST delivered me my three tacos like I'm NOT a big fat dude at the end of a drunken night over here! I wolfed those three tacos down in a flash and then awkwardly watched my friends, who had joined me at Lindo, finish their food. I was naively hoping that perhaps the staff did not forget my burrito completely but were just taking their time with it and giving it extra special care. They were not. The waitress did however catch my forlorn gaze and eventually waddled over and asked, "Oh! did you still want that burrito suizo?!"

Burrito Suizo Dinner

What I should have said was "YES GOD DAMMIT IT AND I WANT IT NOW! DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?! THAT'S RIGHT! CHEAT DAY! AND DO I LOOK LIKE I AM FULL TO THE POINT OF PAIN TO YOU?! NO I DON'T! SO GO BACK THERE AND TELL YOUR KITCHEN TO WHIP ONE UP FOR ME CHOP CHOP!" But what I said was, "Oh, yes please, and can you make it to go?"

They got me my burrito suizo even before my friends were completely finished with their meals. I did not crack it open to eat it their in the restaurant. I waited to eat it until I got home, like I ordered the burrito with a side of shame and I DID eat it while I watched episodes of "Last Man on Earth" from the comfort of my own home. This little mis-step aside Lindo Guadalajara gets a complete Point and Pump. They are doing the lards work being open 24-hours and serving up cheap but well flavored Mexican food!

Once the burrito was all gone I quickly passed out on the couch thus ending another epic Cheat Day! This week was a strange Cheat Day but TONS of fun none the less! I think it just goes to show that not every Cheat Day requires a plan. Sometimes you just have to go about your day and cheat where you can. It's about getting one (or four) for the walk, it's about eating some things you wouldn't normally consider, and of course it's about celebrating a holiday no matter how late it gets. Take care of yourselves! Take care of each other! And eat like your life depended on it!

ELE,
Zach Finch