Bagna Cauda (Anchovy-Garlic) Popcorn | Serious Eats : Recipes – When this recipe came up in my RSS reader today, I just stared at it dumbfounded for ten seconds. And then I started to drool.

My friend Heather from college recently posted on FB about her spiralizer, and it was like my brain exploded. Why don’t I have one of those? I’ve done a few paleo “mock” pastas by cutting zucchini ribbons with a peeler, but it’s time-consuming and awkward. I WANT TO CRANK. So I started looking around. I found several of the “pencil sharpener” variety, but they seemed very limited. (Let’s be honest: a spiralizer is already pushing into unitasker territory. At the very least I wanted one that’s as versatile as possible.) The 3-blade crank model definitely seemed like the preferred model by experts*. Amazon had it, but to my surprise I actually found it cheaper locally at Victoria’s Basement. (They have a sale on now, so be quick if you want one.) I picked one up on Wednesday and then put it to use last night on some Zucchini Ribbon “Pasta” with Fried Egg. Obviously I went with spirals instead of the ribbons though! The machine worked great and wasn’t too awkward to rinse down afterwards. WHAT SHALL I SPIRALIZE NEXT?!

* I discovered to my utter amazement and delight that there is an entire food blog dedicated to spiralized vegetables. I’m not even kidding. I’m going to have to read all of it.

As you may have surmised, I didn’t quite make it the full 30 days for the Whole30. I made it 25 and then got a bit derailed by Australia Day. I had bircher muesli with yogurt that morning at breakfast, and then over the course of a long dinner party had a lot of alcohol and some chocolates too. I definitely paid the price the next day. (“SNOOKUMS HALP I HAVE POISONED MYSELF WAAAAAAAAHHHH!”) I finished out the week eating clean with the exceptions of a gummy worm Thursday (during an 8-hour work meeting, so really just eating one qualifies as superhuman restraint) and some drinks last night to celebrate our mortgage refinance. I’m feeling pretty good about transitioning to more of an 80/20 approach, which should allow for a bit more spontaneity and the occasional meal out as well.

Overall weight loss in January 2015: 5.3kg. Woot!