eG Foodblog: CaliPoutine, MarketStEl & mizducky - The Shrinking

[CaliPoutine]

Ok, I need your help. I bought this smoked turkey sausage today and I'd like to make something with it tomorrow.

I also have many bags of Rancho Gordo beans that I'd like to use too. I have a few varieties to chose from.

Thoughts?

[kbjesq]

Ok, I need your help.  I bought this smoked turkey sausage today and I'd like to make something with it tomorrow. 

I also have many bags of Rancho Gordo beans that I'd like to use too.  I have a few varieties to chose from.

Thoughts?

←

The RG beans are so wonderful on their own that I don't like to do too much too them. How about doing the 90 minute bean thing but adding the sausages to the mix? Like a cassoulet?

Thanks - you just gave me a great dinner idea! (I have some chipotle chicken sausage in my freezer and some RG beans in the cupboard).

[MarketStEl]

OK, what did Satchel Paige say about fried foods?

Answered that already.

Sandy, thanks for your excellent photos of your area.  I've spent a little time in the East, but I'm still surprised when I see woods so near major metropolitan areas.  The railroad and canal shots have an especially evocative feel.

Eastern Pennsylvania, like most of the northeastern United States, was originally forest. Much of that forest was cleared in the 18th and 19th centuries for farming; after vast expanses of arable land became available through Indian removal and the Homestead Act in the later 19th century, a good chunk of this land has reverted to forest. My most memorable Harvard professor, John R. Stilgoe, who taught a course in the man-made envrionment of the United States that had a reputation as a gut course (it was popularly known as "Gas Stations" after the subject of one lecture in the course) but taught me a lot about how to read our landscape, referred to this reforested environment as the "wildered" landscape. Some of that "wildered" land has been cleared again to grow houses, but this time, the house farmers have left some of the land in its reforested state. The residents love this because it makes them think they live in "the country." I love it because I can entertain that illusion too before heading back to the real city.

...and yes, I'll bite: what's the tale you tell about yourself that might be either amusing or mildly insulting?

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I hope I can answer this before running off to grab some cash at the Wawa and catch the 4:05.

One of the first people I came out to after coming out to myself around age 20 was my then-roomate, a gruff but likable New Yorker (Jewish variety) named Eric Kreitzer who shared my love of jazz. (His response to my announcement was classic and very reassuring: "So what do you expect me to do? Run from the room screaming?")

After he moved back to New York, I went down to visit him for a weekend. One night, we hung out at some Village jazz clubs with a friend of his named Tibor who lived on the Upper West Side and had met me on a visit to Boston, where I lived at the time. We repaired to Tibor's place for conversation and such, then I left before the others to head to a prior appointment.

The next morning, at breakfast, Eric told me, "You know, after you left, I told Tibor, 'By the way, did you know Sandy's gay?'

"Tibor said, 'How refreshing!'

"I said, 'What do you mean?'

"He said, 'A homosexual without all those annoying mannerisms!'"

Gotta run -- it's 3:35 pm.

[mizducky]

So I've been trying and trying to organize my thoughts re body image and dieting/weight loss among lesbians, as well as bisexual and transgender women, as I've witnessed and experienced those, and how that influences my attitudes. And I've been struggling with it, because it's an extremely complex field, with a lot of variation.

As a whole I would say that, yes, in my experience queer* women are a good bit more relaxed and reasonable about body image and a good bit more liberated about carrying some weight.

Mind you, that's an "on average" observation. On the one hand, right off the top of my head I can think of three lesbians of my acquaintance who have gone for gastric bypass surgery to lose weight, and know of many more who struggle with their weight using less drastic measures. And I know from (painful!) personal experience that there are at least a few women in the community who do not get romantic with fat women because their weight is a turn-off for them. On the other hand, I think of some of the radical lesbian-separatist fat liberationists I knew in Boston in the 1980s, who were--and I expect still are--defiantly proud of their Venus of Willendorf-shaped bodies, and view any effort to lose weight, even when ostensibly done for health rather than appearance, as traitordom to the cause.

But I also know whole bunches of women in the community who really don't sweat carrying some weight; who care much more about their body's fitness than looking like the actresses on The L Word ... in fact, on one of lesbian email lists I belong to there is right now a humorous discussion going on about how none of us look like, or even know any women who look like, the women on "The L Word." Myself, I think a much more accurate portrayal of all the ways our subculture looks and behaves is Alison Bechdel's celebrated long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For.

I think the queer women's community generally gets its greater ease around body image from two main sources. One is post-1960s feminism, which early on started critiquing the cultural imperative for women to be slender at all costs (including their health). The early landmark book on that topic was Fat is a Feminist Issue, and IMO it still offers a good, balanced, non-extremist POV on unhooking one's brain from distorted cultural attitudes about appearance, weight, dieting, and food-obsession.

THe other source, I think, has been the liberation of queer women's culture, which has had several waves of development since the 1970s. I've witnessed queer women owning and celebrated more and more of their countercultural status, and feeling ever more free to look however they want to look--whether that's butch, femme, lipstick lesbian, granola-crunchy, post-punk, leather-girl, or just plain ol' all-American comfortable-in-her-own-jeans-and-teeshirt lesbian. And that freedom to present however you feel like presenting has spilled over into feeling okay about--even in many cases preferring--women who have a good bit of poundage on their bodies.

How all this reflects on behavior around food, exercise, and weight maintenance, however, also varies all over the map. I know some women who are staunch vegans and others who are gleeful omnivores. I know some women who are dedicated athletes and others who are couch potatoes. There are women who are deeply commited to holistic health, and others who are smokin' and drinkin' and carrying on in the bars. I dunno if there are lesbian-oriented Weight Watchers meetings, but there are for sure lesbian-identified Overeaters Anonymous meetings.

You see why I'm having trouble summarizing all this?

But long story short: my personal experience is that I have run into some weird dieting mentalities even within the queer women's community, but significantly less often than among straigh women. And yes, that's still a screamingly huge overgeneralization -- but there's no denying that the relatively more relaxed attitudes about weight and dieting in the queer women's community has played a huge role in my gradual self-liberation around those issues.

*There's still a wide variety of opinions within the LGBT community about the use of the word "queer". Lots of folks have adopted the term, many because they like how gleefully in-your-face it is, others because they like the politics of redeeming a bad old epithet and turning it into a positive word, and others because it's just plain ol' more convenient than typing "lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/etc.". Other community members are not fond its use, because it still has lots of stigma attached to it; many have painful memories of having that word flung at them in a painful or threatening manner. I like the term, but at the same time I'm aware of other's sensitivities, so my personal compromise is to stick in long footnotes like this one explaining all this stuff as sort of a caveat emptor (caveat speaker? Anyone know their Latin?).

(edited to catch at least a couple of typos)

Edited January 10, 2008 by mizducky (log)

[Pookie]

Hey Randi - if you want company at dinner on Saturday I will (most likely) be available. Darryl has to work and this baby is not showing up anytime soon.

[daniellewiley]

But I also know whole bunches of women in the community who really don't sweat carrying some weight; who care much more about their body's fitness than looking like the actresses on The L Word ... in fact, on one of lesbian email lists I belong to there is right now a humorous discussion going on about how none of us look like, or even know any women who look like, the women on "The L Word."

Well, that show doesn't really represent ANY cross-section of female community - straight or gay. I also love how everyone they encounter (for the most part) ends up being a lesbian. (This is not to say that I don't LOVE the show.)

Anyway, sorry to get off topic - it was really interesting reading your take on this issue!!

[ruthcooks]

Here's a tip which gets your metabolism going in the morning: drink a cup of hot or cold water with a tablespoon of lemon juice in it. Works for me; makes me ravishingly hungry within about a half hour. Eating about 6 times a day and keeping carbs low is about the only fool proof way to lose weight I know.

One revolting "fact" I read: it takes only 2 calories a day to maintain a pound of fat. Therefore, if you're 50 pounds overweight, one of those 100 calorie snack packs can do you in. (This is in direct opposition to a comment read elsewhere on the web about a grossly overweight person: "Can you imagine the volume of food he must eat to maintain that extra weight?)

I'm lucky that I love plain water and can't abide carbonated drinks. In the winter I add decaf green tea, decaf coffee, hot cocoa, chicken broth and warm milk. In warm weather, forms of diet peach tea (Snapple is the best), lemonade or orangeade sweetened with Whey-Low sweetener, or fruit flavored water.

Best of luck to all you bloggers.

[racheld]

ahem. . .

orator?

[CaliPoutine]

Hey Randi - if you want company at dinner on Saturday I will (most likely) be available. Darryl has to work and this baby is not showing up anytime soon.

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That would be great, as long as your sure the baby won't come in the middle of Prince Albert Diner.

I'll email you.

[prasantrin]

Oh Rona, you always make me laugh.  Robin has a lot of willpower and she's very stubborn.  She's also very competitive.  She wants to lose more weight than me this week.  I'm sure she will too.  My metabolisim is so screwed up from too many years of dieting.  To answer your last question, honestly I'm not sure.  She's really improved her eating habits since we've been together.  She hardly ever eats fast food, she cut way way back on alcohol and she also stopped eating red meat.  She has a user ID here on Eg, maybe she'll weight( no pun intended) in.

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It's my "honesty" (read "tactlessness"), isn't it?

I find competition works well with me, too. I used to have a yoga thing with a friend--we had a schedule of when we were supposed to do yoga, and if either of us didn't do it, that person would have to put 10 dirham in a pot (we were in Morocco at the time) and if we half-assed the routine, we'd have to put in 5 dirham. Then at the end of our stay, we got to divide the spoils. I think we both got wrought-iron hanging lamps from the money, but I think her money paid for about 80% of them. I hate losing!

That's great that her eating habits have improved. It probably happened without her even realizing it, thanks to you!

[CaliPoutine]

So I've been trying and trying to organize my thoughts re body image and dieting/weight loss among lesbians, as well as bisexual and transgender women, as I've witnessed and experienced those, and how that influences my attitudes. And I've been struggling with it, because it's an extremely complex field, with a lot of variation.

I've also been trying to organize my thoughts regarding this issue. Honestly, though I never really thought about it much. I came out when I was 17 when I met my first partner. At that point, I probably had maybe 10lbs to lose. My ex never had a weight problem. We were together for a long time and I steadily put on weight. After years of therapy( I did live in California ya know) I figured out why I ate and gained weight in that relationship. After we broke up and I entered the dating world, I never had a problem finding a woman. I actually prefered to date "athletic" women who were normal weight. How hypocritical of me!!. Looking back, I think I was fat phobic. I did meet one gal who said to me after about 6 weeks of casual dating " If you were 50lbs thinner, I'd marry you in a minute". I was pretty shocked by that and looking back I should have said " But who says 'd want to marry you". I think that was the first time I actually thought about being overweight. I never really looked at myself in the mirror and though " Omg, I'm fat". I couldnt even say the word outloud. When I met Robin, that all changed. She was so refreshing in the fact that she was totally comfortable with who she is. She also grew up in an area that doesnt really give a crap what you look like or how you're dressed, etc.

I think growing up in California had a lot to do with my views and feelings. I was concious of how I looked, how I dressed, etc but since I'm a "lipstick lesbian" I never really identified with the radical feminists or overweight butch lesbians. I also never cared if men found me attractive or not( it was always the black of hispanic men who came on to me, they like a little junk in the trunk).

Anyway, now I'm off on a tangent and I should probably stop before this gets deleted.

[tamiam]

All this talk about weight and attractiveness is interesting. Like most of us, I harbor totally conflicting views about the whole thing. In the end, I enjoy my food more than I hate my poochy tummy (except during swimsuit season).

Tell you one thing though, I'd much rather hug a person with some meat on their bones than someone super-thin. Does anyone else have a strange (I mean negative) reaction to hugging a really skinny person?

[azlee]

Ok, I need your help.  I bought this smoked turkey sausage today and I'd like to make something with it tomorrow. 

I also have many bags of Rancho Gordo beans that I'd like to use too.  I have a few varieties to chose from.

Thoughts?

←

which beans do you have. that sausage would make lovely red beans and rice if you have red nightfall beans. you could even use quinoa instead of rice

[CaliPoutine]

which beans do you have. that sausage would make lovely red beans and rice if you have red nightfall beans. you could even use quinoa instead of rice

I have black valentine, rio zape, yellow indian woman, cranberry and borlotti.

[CaliPoutine]

After a short nap, I started on dinner.

This is turkey breast meat, some onion, garlic, mushrooms, peas,herbs de provance, a bit of ketchup, worcestershire sauce, flour and chicken broth.

I steamed some fresh carrots and fresh green beans too

Top with the leftover mashed potatoes. Its a very thin layer.

It was tasty. We had salad too.

I was going to bake 2 oatmeal cookies from Small Batch Baking, but frankly I'm a bit sick of cooking today.

In other news, Robin came home from work with 2 snacks left( the balance bar and the cheese/crackers). She has a bit of a cold and thus isnt very hungry. Plus she said " she's so busy at work, she doesnt have time to eat". Hmmmm, must be nice!!

[lucylou95816]

MizDucky, thanks for the information regarding lesbians and weight issues. You made a comment regarding weight watcher meetings for lesbians. At least here in Sacramento, we have a neighborhood that is dubbed "Lavender Heights" and it is primarily an gay/lesbian community with many businesses, restaurants and bars that are owned and operated by the members of the community. There is an old victorian house that they call the Lambda house, that is sort of a community center and they hold gay/lesbian alcoholic anon meetings and weight watcher meetings. Not sure if that's important, but did want to share the diversity in another town.

[azlee]

which beans do you have. that sausage would make lovely red beans and rice if you have red nightfall beans. you could even use quinoa instead of rice

I have black valentine, rio zape, yellow indian woman, cranberry and borlotti.

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the borlotti make a killer soup, the sausage would be great in the soup. with the black valentines i would maybe do a baked or broasted casserole with rice or some grain and the sausage seasoned with herbes provence or just rosemary or thyme. i use the yellow indian woman for chili.

[cathrynapple]

I have always read and learned that it takes about ten calories per pound, not two. maybe it's different with "excess" weight?

we burn calories just breathing and existing, so depending one one's metabolic rate, this can differ.

so, with NO exercise and extra calorie burning, a 150 lb very sedentary person only needs about 1500 calories a day. (which is a typical "weight loss" amount for someone who weighs much more than 150 lbs.

on a relating note, most nutritionists i've talked to recommend that a female of healthy weight and average activity consume about 1800 calories a day to maintain that weight.

[mizducky]

we burn calories just breathing and existing, so depending one one's metabolic rate, this can differ.

so, with NO exercise and extra calorie burning, a 150 lb very sedentary person only needs about 1500 calories a day. (which is a typical "weight loss" amount for someone who weighs much more than 150 lbs.

on a relating note, most nutritionists i've talked to recommend that a female of healthy weight and average activity consume about 1800 calories a day to maintain that weight.

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Yep.

This relates to one of the touchstones of my food plan, as taught to me by my instructor back at the HMO wellness program. According to her, diets that set your calorie intake any lower than 1400 calories per day are really below the minimum to keep one's bod even modestly satisfied; anything below 1200 calories is downright unhealthy, as is a rate of weight loss greater than about two pounds a week.

Excessively low-calorie diets make your bod think you're in a famine, sooner or later awakening the Lizard Brain, ready to gorge on anything edible to fend off the perceived starvation state. And excessively rapid weight loss can do damage to your kidneys, precipitate gallstones, and wreak any number of other nasty havocs on your innards. But if you simply set your daily calorie consumption at or just slightly below an amount that would be adequate to maintain a reasonable goal weight--say, around 1400 to 1500 calories--your body will proceed to slowly but surely shed pounds until it eventually reaches equilibrium at that goal weight.

Now, as you get closer to your goal, the rate of weight loss will slow down--in math geekspeak, you're asymtotically approaching the limit of your goal weight. This tends to freak out people stuck in traditional diet mentality, where showing a significant weight loss each week is the (IMO unrealistic) ideal, and plateaus are seen by the dieter as failure and by others as a sign that you're cheating--because if you're not losing weight you must be doing something wrong, right?

Wrong, I say! The deceleration in weight loss is totally natural; plateaus are not to be dreaded, but accepted; and as long as you continue to eat healthily and moderately day in and day out, the weight will continue to come off in its own good time.

Anyway, that's how I see it.

[mizducky]

So, what have I been doing with my day, foodwise?

Well, I woke at about 9:30am, had my usual cup of yogurt and cup of coffee at 10 am, and turkey roll in pita at around noonish. At about 2:15pm I dropped Mr. E off at San Diego's LGBT Center for his weekly Gentle Yoga class:

... and then went to visit two places that happened to be the sources of my blog teaser photos.

First one was Ranchos Cocina, a Mexican restaurant in North Park that is very popular with the alterna-groovy crowd because it offers many vegetarian options in additional to carnivore fare:

Ranchos currently has one additional branch, over in Ocean Beach. (They used to have a third branch a little south of OB on the Point Loma penninsula, but it's been "closed for renovations" for seemingly forever.) The interiors are fun: exposed brick, lots of little prints by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, lots of little gewgaws of the sort I think of as "Mexi-Gothic":

Normally I have to make special room in my daily food intake for a Mexican meal, because of all those lovely carbs. But I've come to discover there are plenty of Mexican dishes that are lighter in nature, such as this soup:

Listed on the menu as "Mexican Seafood Chowder," I think this is more properly called caldo de mariscos. The broth has got *lots* of chiles in it, and I think also some tomatoes and a seafood stock base. There's a respectable sprinkling of fish filet and big shrimp in it, and slices of green bell pepper and other veggies. Comes with fresh corn tortillas. I managed to resist eating more than two tortilla chips. If they'd been really talking to me too much, I would have asked the waitress to please take them away.

Ranchos also serves some very nice coffee, brewed with a nice hit of cinnamon, but I abstained as I was planning on getting coffee at my next stop ...

(to be continued)

[mizducky]

My next stop was the weekly North Park Farmer's Market, staged in a parking lot behind a CVS pharmacy:

Alas, the pickings were a little on the slim side today--the lady I usually buy decent tomatoes from was not there. But, my coffee connection was, and ready to serve:

This guy makes a damn fine espresso drink, and has some very intriguing whole bean coffee flavors. And his mobile rig, built into the back of a fireapple red SUV, is really stylin'! Check out his outfit's website here: Presher Coffee. (I thought the company name was simply a cute pun, but it's actually the name of one of the owners!)

It was getting on towards 4pm, so I headed home so I'd have plenty of time to start in on dinner (Mr. E takes the bus home from his class, so I met him there.)

(to be continued...)

Edited January 11, 2008 by mizducky (log)

[prasantrin]

Question, which may have already been answered but I don't remember reading it...

For all three of you (Sandy, Ellen, and Randi), when you go out to eat, do you find that you eat your entire serving, or do you take some of your meal home?

This past summer I was back in Winnipeg, and trying very hard not to gain much weight (I had given myself permission to gain 5 lbs, but no more). We eat out a lot during summer (no air con at home, so we hate to cook), and it can be so easy to over-do it. I found that taking home 1/2-2/3 of my meal really helped, and I ended up losing 2 lbs rather than gaining any. But now that I'm back in Japan, where most restaurants don't let you take home your leftovers, I feel like I have to eat everything on my plate!

How do you all deal with stuff like that? Do you just leave food on your plate? Or cut down on other treats to make up for the extra you do eat?

And mizducky--I'm very impressed that you were able to stop at 2 tortilla chips--especially fresh ones! Salty fried things are one of my weaknesses--I'd have just eaten the whole basket!

[mizducky]

I had thought I was dining out this evening, but plans changed. Mr. E made a request for hamburgers; I decided to do them Salisbury steak style (no bun, mushroom gravy). I had a nice big bunch of fresh spinach I wanted to use, the remainder of the box of mushrooms, and a bunch of rice left over from the previous night's dinner that would be good under the gravy.

Here I'm letting the washed spinach drain, and attempting to persuade the package of ground beef to finish defrosting already! (I hate defrosting meat in the microwave; some corner of it always starts getting cooked, in a not-nice way.)

I buy 7% fat hamburger not by my preference, but Mr. E's; while I prefer a higher fat content in a burger, he finds that too greasy for his taste. So to keep the burgers nice and juicy I mix in a whole egg. I also add a handful of bread crumbs for texture, plus some kind of seasoning blend to perk things up a bit--tonight it was the Italian herb blend.

Here's the mise for the mushroom gravy:

In addition to the mushrooms, I minced up a fat clove of garlic, and a shallot. (I bought a big bag of shallots dirt-cheap at a local Vietnamese market; even if some of them are a little too dodgy to use, it's still a bargain.)

Then the cooking started getting rather hectic, so there are no photos of me making the gravy (standard butter/flour roux); steaming the spinach; and broiling the burgers. But here it all is, dished up:

Got leftovers of one burger, some spinach, a bunch of gravy, and still some rice left. The burger will make a nice lunch for Mr. E tomorrow.

Oh, incidentally, I wanted to show you my little habit of always keeping a box of cut-up snackable veggies in the fridge:

This is actually more for Mr. E's benefit than mine. His snacks had tended to be exclusively cookies, crackers, peanut butter, and the like; left to his own devices, I'm not sure a fresh vegetable would ever cross his plate. So I decided to make sure there was always a nice, high-visibility box of ready-to-eat veggies in the fridge. And he's really grown to like it. He'll maybe only eat a couple of carrot sticks or such at a go, but at least it's more than he had been doing. And whenever the veggies start getting a little too aged, I eat the remainder and refresh the box. Just call me the Human Disposal--but in a good way!

[mizducky]

For all three of you (Sandy, Ellen, and Randi), when you go out to eat, do you find that you eat your entire serving, or do you take some of your meal home? 

This past summer I was back in Winnipeg, and trying very hard not to gain much weight (I had given myself permission to gain 5 lbs, but no more).  We eat out a lot during summer (no air con at home, so we hate to cook), and it can be so easy to over-do it.  I found that taking home 1/2-2/3 of my meal really helped, and I ended up losing 2 lbs rather than gaining any.  But now that I'm back in Japan, where most restaurants don't let you take home your leftovers, I feel like I have to eat everything on my plate!

How do you all deal with stuff like that?  Do you just leave food on your plate?  Or cut down on other treats to make up for the extra you do eat?

And mizducky--I'm very impressed that you were able to stop at 2 tortilla chips--especially fresh ones!  Salty fried things are one of my weaknesses--I'd have just eaten the whole basket!

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Oh yeah--I understand that dilemma! I was definitely raised to do the "clean plate club" thing by my mom; I really have trouble leaving food on my plate! Somehow that same mentality doesn't affect me WRT things like the tortilla chips, probably because I'm fortunately not so much into snacking on chips--but sometimes they do call to me too much anyway, and if that happens, like I said, I'll ask the server to remove them.

Otherwise, I either try to choose entrees that I know will contain just the right amounts of food for my allotment for that meal--like the soup I had earlier today, which I know from past experience has just a modest amount of protein and a whole bunch of veggies and broth. Or I'll deliberately eat more lightly the rest of the day so that I can get away with a bigger portion for the restaurant meal. Or I'll officially declare the restaurant meal one of my pre-planned splurges, which I'll then balance out with more moderate eating the rest of the week.

In any case, I seldom try to force myself to eat only half a portion and take the rest home, because I know from past experience that I risk losing that arm-wrestling battle to ol' Lizard Brain. Somebody way at the beginning of this blog brought up the old See Food Diet joke. That's where my inner Lizard is at--when he sees food, he eats it. And don't anybody dare get in his way, he'll bite yer arm off.

[MarketStEl]

I also never cared if men found me attractive or not( it was always the black of hispanic men who came on to me, they like a little junk in the trunk).

Anyway, now I'm off on a tangent and I should probably stop before this gets deleted.

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Damn straight! (Oops, sorry!)

You had me almost ready to quote Sir Mix-A-Lot!

BTW, that turkey shepherd's pie looked real good. I've got some leftover turkey in the freezer. Think I will try it (I've made turkey shepherd's pie in the past myself, but your version looks tastier than mine).

MizDucky, thanks for the information regarding lesbians and weight issues.  You made a comment regarding weight watcher meetings for lesbians.  At least here in Sacramento, we have a neighborhood that is dubbed "Lavender Heights" and it is primarily an gay/lesbian community with many businesses, restaurants and bars that are owned and operated by the members of the community.  There is an old victorian house that they call the Lambda house, that is sort of a community center and they hold gay/lesbian alcoholic anon meetings and weight watcher meetings.  Not sure if that's important, but did want to share the diversity in another town.

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I think the only one of us who does not live in a "gay ghetto" or gay-identified neighborhood is Randi -- and for all I know, there's one of these in Exeter too. You can tell you're in Philly's "Gayborhood" -- that's what everyone calls this corner of Washington Square West -- from the street signs, which went up this past spring (I'll post one before the blog's over).

I'm not going to stake my life on this, but I will wager that gay men and lesbians who do not live in the established gay neighborhoods of our larger cities do not feel as much pressure to conform to a perceived ideal (or anti-ideal) body image as those who do.

Should I make it out to San Diego, Ellen, I will insist on meeting you at either Bourbon Street or Lei Lounge. Those two bars are owned by the same brothers (one gay, one straight) who own three of the most popular clubs in Philly's Gayborhood: Bump, which I featured in my first and second foodblogs; Pure, an after-hours club which also made it into foodblog 1; and Woody's, long the city's busiest gay bar (trivia stat: it's the largest purchaser of alcohol in the state, according to Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board figures). The man whose nickname still graces the bar, Bill Wood, now runs an upscale restaurant called Knock in the Space That Eats Restaurants on the street floor of my apartment building right next to the building entrance. As Woody's reputation preceded him, this place will probably have a longer life than the restaurants that preceded it; the bar patronage alone will keep it afloat.

Illustrated narrative to resume next post.