Another week off the diet (food)

Last week was my first week on the low GI phase, but I think that because I ate too little food in general, I lost more weight in that week than I wanted. So I decided to take this week off. Some might ask, "isn't losing more weight better?" However, I'm trying to make this a longterm thing so I want to pace myself.

Highlights from this week include:

A little hole in the wall in Manhattan Chinatown called Yuen Yuen (on Bayard St) where I had a turtle soup with Chinese medicinal herbs and frog clay pot rice. Both were delicious and hopefully I'll get some of the desired health benefits from the turtle soup. This place has other Chinese medicinal soups, including snake soup and chicken with American ginseng, but if I didn't find out about it on the internet, I probably would have never thought to step foot in the place.

A visit to Jackson Heights for some Indian buffet. I used to live in the area, so I decided to stop in for a cheap and filling meal. This leads me to discuss a question that I pondered when I first ate Indian food in that area. What is the difference between Saag(wala) Paneer and Palak Paneer? Most Indian restaurants serve saag paneer which they advertise as spinach with cheese. However, in some of the ones in JH, they have palak paneer instead in their buffet. Palak essentially means spinach, so what's the difference between the two? According to wikipedia, Saag is a curry made from spinach as well as some other greens such as mustard leaves and other mustard greens. Palak Paneer, on the other hand, is a variation that is almost always made with spinach. I personally think the difference is that saag refers specifically to a curry made with spinach/mustard greens such that the curry itself often becomes green, whereas palak paneer refers to spinach with cheese, which can then be served in a generic brown curry. Anyone have a better answer?

Ate at Matsugen with a friend (review following in the next post).

Got some katsu from the Japanese grocery store on 41st street and Madison Ave to go. They put out a 5.99/lb buffet after 4pm with choices usually including katsu pork and chicken, karaage, grilled mackerel, yakisoba, inari sushi, age tofu, and many vegetables. This is the only katsu I have found that still holds up really well after taking it home.