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April 8, 2006
Food at the CR Conference
So what does one eat at the CR Society Conference?
Well, travel day Wednesday was a bit sketchy for me due to travel and time change. I had my usual breakfast, and a quite satisfying megamuffin for lunch. But dinner time came when on the plane to Tucson, and MR had his dinner but I was planning to go out with friends after we arrived, so I didn't eat. I was already under calories for the day so far because I had no afternoon snack, so I was very, very hungry. Then we went to the reception, had a great time, but I somehow lost the crew that was going out to dinner afterwards. By this time I was VERY hungry, as I had not eaten in 12 hours and was under calories to begin with. Luckily, one of the brothers had a car and took us to Trader Joe's to stock up on food stuffs. I frightened him by eating two orders of Trader Joe's shrimp and avocado sushi, totaling 660 calories. Had a 4 oz glass of wine upon returning to the room and still came out under 1200 for the very long day.
Yesterday began with the miracle of waking up at a CR Conference next to MR. The firebreathing prophet of the biotech rapture is really rather cute and cuddly, and he buzzed about making his breakfast salad while I tried to catch a little more sleep. He was fairly quiet, so I was able to sleep until about 7 and felt quite rested, having had no cat howling at me throughout the night. He figured out that the dining room would serve eggwhites, so I had eggwhites with the flax oil we brought from home and a bowl of the fresh cut fruit on the buffet. The fruit here has been delicious -- citrus, melon, grapes.
Lunch was a group meal catered by the hotel, and turned out to be a quite respectable salad bar, some roasted turkey, and a huge fruit platter. All buffet, so MR was able to weigh all his food appropriately. I weighed my turkey but constructed a large salad of lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and vinegar by eyeball. 10 g of hazelnuts for fat, which I weighed on baby scale. My lunch companions were somewhat infatuated with baby scale, so she had to be passed around and admired. Accurate to the tenth of a gram!
For dinner we went out to a Mexican place where I had a salad with chicken, no cheese, no dressing, and put salsa on top. I split a bottle of wine with Brian Delaney, Miss Tenacity and others.
Lunch the next day turned out to be quite respectable salad at the hotel restaurant salad bar, complete with cottage cheese. I was cold after lunch so Luigi Fontana let me borrow his jacket. Very dashing, very Italian. Dinner was a group event with salmon (which reminded me of cat breath but was the only protein so I ate it) and salad and more of the excellent fruit. I finally got to catch up with Robert K, and then got a glass of red wine afterwards with Brian Delaney, who has promised me that he will visit me and MR in Philly at some point in the summer or early fall.
Today I had eggwhites, a big salad at lunch, and for dinner we went back to the Mexican place where I had a big salad with roasted chicken and some guacamole in addition to a mountain of veggies. Had a beer with Aubrey de Grey beforehand, a beer at dinner that I thought I was going to split with Robert K but then he ordered his own, and a glass of cabernet afterwards at a meeting with Aubrey and some CR Society luminaries. Miss Tenacity pointed out that I had quite a tolerance, but I explained that it's all a matter of timing: spaced out over about six hours and with lots of food, I can handle several drinks. On an empty stomach or in rapid succession, the same amount would have made me fit only for being carried to my room.
More soon on the science, which has been fascinating. For now, to bed. MR is already asleep and I'm afraid my typing will wake him.
Posted by april at April 8, 2006 11:10 PM
Comments
Thanks for the detailed account. Amber (my cat) wanted to bite me, so I had to fight him off to read your post. Now I've distracted him with a pen to bite, so I can write this. Think I changed his brainwaves. Good strategy with cats or humans. Wish it were that easy with difficult humans.
Posted by: Marti at April 9, 2006 7:00 AM