You've got to coddle your eggs *photos updated*

In keeping with the goal I declared yesterday, I am modeling my lifestyle after the principles set forth the the book, "French Women Don't Get Fat." This model really seems to work well for me. After all, last summer while in Europe, I lost 15 lbs. eating lots of cheese in Amsterdam, bread and cheese and tarts in France, and pizza, pasta, and gelato while in Rome. Overall, the key is to (1) walk a lot, (2) eat 3 meals a day in small portion courses, (3) slow down a little and enjoy life.

This morning for breakfast, I had one egg scrambled with a little bit of cream cheese, one slice of bacon, two small slices of brioche with honey, and tea.

Let me just start off by saying that there is no way that brioche is anything close to a "diet" food. However, in keeping with the principles of the French, I choosing my indulgences. Also, in keeping with those principles, I am limiting it to twice a week, and am also balancing out the rest of the day's meals to compensate for the high butter and fat content that gives brioche its tasty goodness.

I whipped the egg with a fork until it was pale yellow and fluffy. Then, I cooked it slowly over low heat. Cooking eggs at higher temperatures are what makes them rubbery. So, your patience will be rewarded if you cook them over a very low flame. Just at the end, I added a few dots of cream cheese. Marlo got me hooked on this and if you have never tried it, you should. It makes your scrambled eggs wonderfully creamy. It is even better with a bit of fresh tarragon. In fact, it is so good that this month's Gourmet magazine published a recipe for this exact combination.

Lastly, about the dish I served my breakfast on. Renee, the person I am staying with in Oklahoma this summer, inherited these plates from her grandparents. The size of the plate inside the rim is less than six inches wide. So, while you are dining on a dinner plate, the actual food-area is the size of a salad plate. Whenever I look at dinner plates to buy for home, I find the more modern ones are nearly 12 inches or more across, with an eating area of at least 8-10 inches. I love Renee's plates because it makes it seem like you are eating an entire large plateful of food, but you are not. Notice how my one fluffy scrambled egg seems like a big portion?

My planned menu for the rest of the day is:

Lunch -

• Italian yellow potato salad, which is a few yellow potatoes tossed with a little olive oil, lemon, Italian parsley and green onion.
• Tarragon chicken salad on a small tomato.
• Honeydew melon.

(Note about lunch: I used small salad plates - compare their size to the utensils. Also, I ate 1/2 of the potatoes and left a few tomato slices as well. Learning to make smaller portions.)

Dinner -

• Chilled cucumber soup (the one I made last week).
• A small amount of pate and baguette.
• Blanched asparagus.
  
• Turkey burger (meat only, no bun, no cheese).
  
• Grapes.

(Note about dinner: I ate the small bowl of soup, 1/2 of the pate and bread, 1/2 of the turkey burger and asparagus, and all of the grapes.)

The other thing I have done today is I gave my hair a deep conditioning treatment and did a facial masque - all while writing this blog post. Too bad it is Sunday or I'd probably run right out for a manicure and pedicure to top it all off.

I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as I did.