starting off

So here goes:

I am a foodie (who is sometimes weak and does McDonald's drive thru).  I wear reading glasses because I think they look cool, and they DO make it easier to read.  I hate socks.  Seriously, there is very little redeeming about them.

I am also a road warrior.  I spend approximately 90% of my life living in hotel rooms while I consult with clients across the country on the implementation of my company's software.  At first, this was awesome.  I got plenty of money from work to find the best restaurants in town and try incredible food.  I was eating out 4-5 nights a week.  Come to find out: restaurants serve crazy big portions of food.  I am getting big.

Mix this with some crazy body stuff where everything hurt (seriously, like 9 different places on my body were super tender and at times more or less worthless), and I realized that if I'm going to continue my job that I love, and not stop walking/picking things up/not crying when I bend my knee I need to find a new plan.  The goal is to figure out ways to eat healthily while on the road, hopefully to some extent by preparing my own food in my hotel room.  

I have made one serious attempt.

My company offers a pretty comprehensive benefits package, including a dietitian on staff that we can visit with for free.  A few months ago I took advantage of this service, and the biggest thing that came out of it was an awareness of hot plates.  I guess I was such a goodie two shoes in college that I didn't even know these contraband devices existed.  I went out to the store and bought a hot plate and a variety of other necessities.  I set out on my next trip and was excited to try my new cooking setup.

Here is my setup in the bathroom.  Yes, that is raw chicken.

Cooking.  I basically chopped up the chicken and threw in some canned tomatoes and spices.

Finished product.  Paper plates are where the "ish" part of "gourmetish" comes in.

So, this wasn't a dismal failure.  Here are the challenges:

• Food safety: I'm not sure it's a great idea to have raw chicken on my bathroom counter.  Or have my dinner prepared in the same room as my toilet.
• Leftovers.  Short of packing leftover containers, there is not a great way to store leftovers.  Bored in hotel room, this led to eating several portions worth of this deliciousness, kind of canceling out any health benefit I may have received.
• Bulkiness. Packing a hot plate, spatula, spices, oil, and of course the paper plates does not exactly make for mobile lifestyle. 
• Laws.  It may be illegal to use a hot plate in hotel rooms in many states.  I'm not particularly asking.

I had given up on preparing (cooking, microwaving, assembling?) food in my hotel room for a while, but I am not a tiny man.  It's time to get this under control and what I eat on the road is going to be a big part of that.