U2 360°, Il Fornaio and Halloween Friends

What a week! It started off with a bang. Mad came home on Saturday evening (after working during the day) with big news ... somehow, don't ask me how, but somehow she was able to wrangle up two tickets to the U2 360° concert on Sunday night. This was their final stop on the US leg of their tour. The concert was 100% sold out with an expected turn out of 100,000 concert goers (at the legendary Rose Bowl)! I was completely blown away! Never saw it coming!

We immediately went online and came up with a game plan - where to eat, where to park, how to zig and zag through traffic and the endless waves of people. Much to our shock, pretty much all of our plans panned out. We managed to have a shockingly delicious LC dinner at an Italian restaurant called Il Fornaio - Mad had a grilled seafood platter. I had a sliced steak and sauteed garlic spinach. We shared a plate of tomatoes w/basil and burrata cheese. To drink - Mad had a spicy Bloody Mary and I had a glass of red wine. It couldn't have been tastier and the service was ultra-speedy, just what we needed.

The concert kicked keester. It was a sensory jackpot. The Black Eyed Peas were the opening act. We do have some photos but I'll have to post those down the line. They're on Mad's computer and she's working at the moment - that's right, on Sunday. :-(

Apart from that, we had a lovely Halloween night. We had the good fortune of sharing the evening with some friends (two couples). There was plenty of LC friendly food available (spinach dip, marinated chicken breast, burrata cheese topped with basil and prosciutto, grilled asparagus, grilled zucchini w/onions, red wine and coffee). Lots of lively conversation and some much need laughs.

A lot of this weeks columns on Healthy Fellow focused on the ill effects of stress and how to overcome them. I suspect that's no coincidence. I often struggle with managing stress in a productive way. I recently found a supplement that seems to be helping me with that. So, if you any of you need some support in that regard you might want to check out my review of Natural Factors' Serenity Formula.

The plan for tonight is to make some stuffed tomato pizza and have it ready for when Mad arrives. Hopefully we'll have a chance to watch a football game as well.

Weight-wise, I'm staying relatively stable. I've been cooking a little more than usual - especially side dishes such as creamed spinach and mashed Parmesan cauliflower. Mad's been sticking to her program very well and she's been seeing some progress. I'm extremely proud of her. There's at a lot of temptation in her line of work - dinners, parties, premieres, work lunches, etc. Since making her commitment to an LC lifestyle, she hasn't veered from her path even once. I think that's pretty awesome. :-)

I send you all my best. I'm excited to see all the cool things that are happening in your lives - Oct's b-day, Angie and Low Carber's continued weight loss, Nancy's anti-diabetes crusade, Anne's soul searching, Sadekat's new business venture, Vadim's determination, Fit's 100 day challenge, Jimmy's 3 year anniversary and much more ... I see it all and it makes me smile. Thank you for that.