Honey Nut Scooters

I have this crazy sweet tooth. This isn't good. Sugar is like crack to me. I can wake up, swear I won't anything sweet and make coffee and toast. Within minutes I'm smearing honey all over my toast. I buy this great natural (no bad stuff) pecan raisin bread. I justify it as "healthy sweetness" and I've convinced myself that I'm getting some benefit from the pollen molecules in the honey. As I'm squeezing out the golden bee nectar I actually scold myself in my mind and then answer it by telling my "healthy" self to "Shut up". Then I sit down and drink my coffee and eat my pecan toast with very little guilt. For coffee lovers I buy Goya decaf and use a french press. A dash of agave, a sprinkle of "pumpkin spice" and a splash of half&half. Shit that's good! The other day I was in the local Fine Fare store here in Inwood and as I was walking down the cereal isle I was looking at all the different cereals and granolas. God I love granola (but rarely eat it). I once bought some of that expensive unique "special" granola ...called "Naked"? I think it cost $6.00 or so for a small bag. Got it home and it tasted like wood shavings. The good shit is the Quaker granola. Full of sugar and oil. As always, the healthy stuff tastes shitty, the bad stuff is great (why is that?). On this trip to the store I swore I wouldn't buy ice cream nor cereal. I decided fruit would be my treat for the next few days. As I walked past the millions of boxes of cereal I picked up these things called Honey Nut Scooters.... basically they're generic Honey Nut Cheerios. They were only $1.99 and in a bag instead of a box. I said to myself in a robotic voice..."Hmm... no box, green packaging and a great price. I must buy them". My healthy voice in my head screamed out "We said No Cereal". I mumbled "shut up" and put the scooters in my basket. After I was home and all the groceries were put away I could hear those little o's screaming at me from the cabinet. My curiousity lasted about 7 minutes and I tore the bag open. I wasn't just eating, I was conducting an experiment. It was a serious taste test. Generic vs the real thing. I grabbed a handful and chomped away comparing the taste of these while trying to remember the last time I actually had a real Honey Nut Cheerio. I couldn't tell the difference. I tried to ration the bag and basically one handful led to two and then three and the bag was gone in two days. It's honey nut crack. I can't believe this little imitation honey soaked cheerio has this much control over me. Same thing happens with ice cream. If it comes into the apartment I'll take a spoonful everytime I pass the freezer. Just a spoonful, no more...but after 54 trips to the kitchen it doesn't take long before that 1/2 gallon of Breyers is gone. 3 days to be exact. I'm always amazed when I go to someone's house and I peak into their freezer and they have old ice cream in there. The kind that has the ice crystals all over it. I've never had an ice crystal on anything in my life. That's just weird. Like going to someones apartment and seeing a bowl of M&Ms. They HAD to have JUST put those out seconds before I got there. M&M's last about 8 minutes in my place. I read that in 1900 the average person in America consumed about 6 pounds of sugar a year. The average American in 2006 consumed about 152 pounds of sugar a year. Lord knows I made my quota. Last year I did the master cleanse everyone's heard of. Lemon juice, maple syrup. pepper flakes, water. After finishing the cleanse I stopped sugar for a few months. I finally got that sugar monkey off my back. I kicked the "white devil". After a few weeks people would walk up to me and say "Stephen...you look so fresh and awake and bright eyed". "Gosh Stephen, your skin looks amazing". I did feel better and I noticed I even had a flat youthful stomach. I almost had a six pack...maybe a 4 pack. That lasted a few months and then like most junkies I fell off the wagon. I think it was maple syrup on blueberry pancakes at La Bonbonneire, a diner in the West Village. Damn that sugar monkey....

In my defense, I do watch what I eat from a fat content aspect. And, I haven't eaten beef or pork in over 25 years and I rarely if ever eat anything fried. No, my weakness is the white stuff.

Todays photos: My wonderful friend of 16+ years Annie whom I rarely share photos of for reasons unknown to me. I have so many good ones I can't ever decide which to post. We do roadtrips and photoshoots and end up laughing and talking more than shooting. More of her to come. Then there is the Birdance. After a mild snowstorm the pidgeons on Hudson Street were pecking around in the snow looking for food. I liked the tracks. Again Amber. She's a wonderful, beautiful friend. We rarely shoot in a serious way with hair, makeup or styling. We just go out (or stay in) and snap pretty photos. Hard to take a bad photo of Amber.

Wonderful Annie

Birdance

Again Amber