You Ask…Tony’s Answers

Happy Friday!  Here a few questions readers had to ask Tony, with his answers. Without further adieu:

Helen wants to know “Tony: How do you feel about Biz giving up her wine? I’m asking because I assume you have not given up your cocktails!”

I am always very impressed when Biz puts her mind to something. I am very proud of her and support her to the best of my abilities. She knows that she is not dieting/working out/giving up wine for me. I love the way she looks no matter what!

Your assumption is correct, there is no reason to talk all crazy.

Anne Marie wants to know: “tell us something about Biz that we don’t already know.”

Hmm, when sleeping next to her she doesn’t move. No turning over, no nothing. She sleeps so soundly I could have sex with another woman, in our bed, and she would never know. The really odd thing is that she usually drinks coffee an hour or so before going to bed.

She fears bugs more than anyone (except my son Joey who will run screaming from any bee).

I have to help her put on her workout bra, she usually comes to me looking like she has a straight jacket on, begging for assistance.

Mary wants to know:   “how he’s feeling about the Sox season this year. Is it making him mad? Sad? Frustrated? I’m all of the above about it and annoyed!”

I know not what you speak of. Years ago we had a baseball team in Chicago, now we have only the minor league team that plays in Wrigley Field. Perhaps we may again have a team on the south side, but that won’t be for a few years.

MJ wants to know “ why can’t girls fart?”

There are many things I refuse to discuss when it comes to womanly “issues”. I have found this to be the only way I can live with that horror. I adopted this as a young lad, and will, to this day put my fingers in my ears and yell blah blah until I have left the area. Unfortunately when the sound or smell of those things you asked about carry from the kitchen to the living room, I am forced to discuss the un- discussable. I think we can all agree that when that thing is going to happen she can go in the basement or outside, its the polite thing to do!

I hardly ever hot box, as you know I am a gentleman..

And Louise had a question about the Bears vs. Packers, but I didn’t see Tony’s reply to that in my email – I’ll update that later today – I think he’s officially gotten the football jones with all these pre-season games!

UPDATE:  

Louise …….Who is going to win when the Bears and Packers play each other?????

I think they will be a little closer games this year. November 4TH the Bears will squeak by 75-3, and they last game before the Bears enter the playoffs the Bears will crush the Fudgies 80-0. Soldier Field will erupt and the crowd wall all throw cheese wheels at the team that wears puke colors.

Helen also had a side question to me – asking if I’ve still given up my wine even though our DietBet challenge is over, and the answer to that is . . . YES!   For years I’ve been working out, eating pretty healthy, only to blow it by drinking wine at night which leads to . . . “I think I’ll just eat three cups of pretzels before going to bed!”  I actually thought it was going to be hard to ditch the wine – especially in the summer, but it hasn’t been a big deal.

I made another batch of crack granola, if for no other reason than to redeem myself from my last batch.  This one turned out perfect.  I am going to make more today and bring some to Hannah – I’ll be seeing her tomorrow!  I ended up having about 1/2 a cup of granola with another piece of my Green Monster casserole – no picture of my actual breakfast, but I ended up bringing the granola, pan and all, to cool on my drive to work.

About have way to work I was at a stop light and looked in the back seat and realized I forgot my gym bag.  I had so much stuff I was carrying, the granola, my purse, my lunch bag, coffee – that I didn’t realize I was missing it and it was too late to turn back.

A few months ago I would have thought “just skip a workout – no big deal!”  But I know me.  One skipped workout at lunch morphs into one skipped Insanity, and before you know it I’ll have let three days go by without exercising!

So I drove to the bike path near my office – a quick 2 minute drive.  I haven’t been here in the longest time – in 2011 I used to bike this trail at least 3 times a week – I need to bring a pump to put air in my tires – my bike is still at the office!

I felt like Roz taking a walk at lunch and taking pictures!   I ended up walking for 40 minutes – I would have gone longer, but I was starting to get a blister on my right foot – my work shoes aren’t the best walking shoes!

I ended up bringing leftover Cincinnati chili for lunch.  While my granola was baking yesterday morning, I threw a spaghetti squash in the microwave to cook through.   It was small, so I nuked it for 5 minutes, let it cool and then just threw it in my lunch bag.  I find it easier to get the strands out if the squash is cold for some reason.

I mixed that with 1/3 cup of real spaghetti and 3/4 cup of chili with some cheese on top – filling and delicious!

On the way home I picked up my night time insulin.  I tried not to cry when this rang up.

But I try to put things into perspective.  It’s only money.  I am healthy.  Tony is healthy.  We have food to eat and a roof over our head.  In the whole grand scheme of things isn’t that all that matters?

And after reading Janetha’s blog yesterday – a friend of theirs has a daughter who was cancer free for a whole year – and now it’s come back and she needs a bone marrow transplant.

She went from this:

To this:

Check out Janetha’s post about how you can help if you can – they are doing a fundraiser and also trying to find a bone marrow match.  I didn’t even know that they only need to take a swab of the inside of your mouth to make a match?  I just assumed it was a long drawn out process with lots of blood draws!

So I have officially burned my pity pants!  

So what is a super delicious and cheap dinner you can have?  BBQ chicken drumsticks and baked potatoes!

I put olive oil and salt and pepper on baked potatoes and put them in the cold oven before I left work.  Tony turned the oven on at 400 degrees at 5:00 and they were ready by the time I got home to put everything else together.

We used the copycat Rudy’s BBQ sauce – so good!  We were both licking our fingers during dinner!

I threw some broccoli on the grill too:

I cook my legs to 170 – it may be on the higher side, but the meat was still juicy and tender – there is nothing worse than biting into a piece of chicken that is raw on the bone.  Not sure I know that first hand – ha!

I also don’t add the bbq sauce until the very end.  While I cooked the chicken on the grate above the heat, I finish them off on the grill.

While watching dinner we watched Top Chef Masters – love that show, and I love the admiration and respect these master chefs have for each other.  After that I got my Insanity pants on (not to be confused with the pity pants!) and banged out a 40 minute cardio power and resistance while Tony watched the Bears game.

He happened to come into the kitchen just as I was finishing, so we did a dual gun show shot!   I actually love that it isn’t in focus!

Stats for the Day:

• 1875 calories, 78 fat, 138 carbs, 20 fiber and 124 protein
• (snacks of honeydew melon, Chobani and almonds not photographed)
• 29% of calories from carbs, 38% from fat and 33% from protein

I think Tony and I are going to try to create the best burger for Sutter Home’s burger contest for dinner tonight.   Um, first prize is $100,000 – YOLO!  We have an idea, which obviously turns out amazing in our head – we’ll see!

I think Tony will just be happy to read that last paragraph and realize he won’t have to eat pizza on a Friday night!

Make it a great day!