The Cooking Diva Blog: Original Tropical Creations by Chef Melissa De Leon

Starving? V.I.P. Delivery - Restaurant Guide to the RESCUE!

It was 6 PM yesterday when my biological clock, and my almost little stomach screamed out loud for some attention. Some of you already know what I am going to say, but most of you don't. Anyhow, I have been on a very nasty diet program that has helped me to lose 20 pounds+ during the last month and a half. I say nasty for a good reason, it consists mostly of just closing my mouth, my beautiful mouth and say no to the all the food I adore the most: CARBS!!!

This is one of the parodies of life, because among other things I am a pastry chef. It is a torture, the most horrible thing to happen to a human being. I've to touch it, inhale the beautiful aromas of a kitchen at work, and then I can not eat anything of what I have created?

OH!!! I am in pain, my heart is in deep pain, full of food anguish and dispair.

Now, back to yesterday afternoon, ...by accident (oh yes!!!, believe that one) I found the V.I.P. Delivery, Guide Restaurant I picked up at the dentist office last Monday. OH! what a coincidence, I was at the end of the rope of my diet- starvation program's cravings, and THEN, suddenly I find the menus for some of my favorite restaurants in the city. Great! I decided to try this service that I have been tempted to try before, but I guess I was not desperate enough :) They deliver to your home, the food of some of the great restaurants in town, AND also the food from some others that I do not really think they should have in the menu, but anyhow...It is not my business.

I ordered from Beirut Restaurant (Lebanese Food) and Marbella Restaurant (Spanish & Seafood). After working some ~~problems~~ details out with Eddy, from the V.I.P. Delivery home office, mostly due to a nonsense surcharge of $2.00 they wanted to add to the total because they had "printing mistakes" on the last issue of the magazine, we agreed on the prompt delivery of the food.

Just briefly, let's clarify my emphatic complaint due to the nonsense $2.00 surcharge they wanted to add to my total. You know, I would NOT care less about paying them the $2.00. The issue here is that as a customer, I CAN NOT, and I would NOT allow them or anyone to charge me for something that is not advertised. Being a responsible business owner, I KNOW that it is ridiculous to charge for something that people do not know about.

To my surprise, the food was right on time, still warm, it just took them 30 minutes to deliver, and it was DELICIOUS!!!

BTW, their website doesn't show all of the restaurants included in their latest issue of the magazine. So, make sure to pick up one of them before you place your order!

Buen Provecho!

Melissa

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Tags: restaurant reviews panama, food blogs, cookingdiva, cooking, panama, restaurant, food & drink, food, chef melissa

by Chef Melissa - CookingDiva · April 08, 2006 · 09:10 PM
Permalink · Comments (14) · TrackBack (0) · Categories: Food & Drink · General · Restaurants in Panama

Hey Melissa,
I need that nasty diet info! I need to lose 20+ before I come to visit!

Comment by: Kelly • Apr 8, 2006 10:04:48 PM

Bueno Melissa, me alegro que hayas perdido el peso. Lo difícil es mantenerlo abajo... :D Pero you can do it. Un saludo.

Comment by: Antonio Touriño • Apr 9, 2006 12:47:49 AM

Hmm... is this why you have not been to my blog lately? ;-) A few carbs and some chocolate scared you away LOL !

Hmm.. I should probably cut down on too many carbs too. Maybe I should not go to my blog either ;-)

Comment by: Nerissa • Apr 9, 2006 2:42:02 AM

Kelly! I just have 2 light meals a day and one very complete with lots of protein and veggies. Once in a while bread or a sweet is ok, but not every day.

The most difficult thing has been to eat my dinner earlier. I am used to have dinner between 9-11 PM, but now I am trying to have dinner between 6:30 and 7:30 PM

The 2 light meals consist mostly of 1-2 tall glasses of fresh raw milk.
-----
Antonio: gracias! mi mayor motivacion es que ahora me puedo poner jeans a la moda sin que se me salga la llantita :)

-----
Nerissa: Oh, that tuna casserole you have over there right now is sinful! Thank you for your visit :)

HUGS,
M

Comment by: melissa_cookingdiva • Apr 9, 2006 7:56:26 AM

Greetings from My Dhaba Melissa.

We miss your entries at VCC Q1 2006 - the deadline being today. :-) Thought of reminding that to you. Cheers!

vkn

Comment by: VK Narayanan • Apr 10, 2006 9:39:15 AM

I'm glad you found some tasty and quickly delivered food!

I need to loose 20+ pounds, but sadly enough, I'm not willing to starve for it. *sigh*

Besos,
Paz

Comment by: Paz • Apr 10, 2006 11:55:27 AM

Little Melissa, I can't bear the thought of you starving yourself out there and being tortured by pastry work! How horrible! I hope your food was wonderful, because you deserved it!

Comment by: Michelle • Apr 10, 2006 6:52:28 PM

Ah Melissa, there is plenty of good food that is low in carbs. However, I do admit that I am glad that I am now on phase 3 of my diet so I can eat more carbs than I used to. I still try to avoid white flour and sugar though, so that will not help you with those pastry cravings. Also I never eat potatoes. Congrats on the 20 pounds. I wrote a post on Blogher about dieting for bathing suit season and all the young feminists are pouncing on me. I don't care though, I think it's a sign of self-love to monitor your eating and maintain a healthy weight.
Hugs,
Kalyn

Comment by: kalyn • Apr 10, 2006 9:25:47 PM

VKNarayanan: my apologies, I missed the deadline...I'll do my best to participate next time :)

Hola Paz: sometimes starvation is not necessary. In my case, what I know has made a big difference is having dinner earlier. That way I can go to bed earlier, get my beauty sleep and wake up with lots of energy!

Thank you Michelle for your thoughts...I sometimes while shopping, I find my ex boss, Mr. Riba or his father and they always say that I put on some weight after I left them---I always threaten on going back there to work for them just so I can be so stressed up and over worked that I get back to size #2. We laugh! They are great people :)

Kalyn, I really enjoy a high protein + veggies diet. It is really what works better for me. What happens is that since I cook for other families, etc, I've got to taste a few things. Somehow all that tasting went bananas :) Regarding your article at BH, I think you did great. The issue here is that we should accept and love ourselves the way we are. IF for any reason we are not happy with our weight, the hair, the skin or something else, we could try to change it, BUT never forgetting that what we are doing is for us. Our body is ours :)

Comment by: melissa_cookingdiva • Apr 11, 2006 7:58:53 AM

A few months ago a friend of mine suggested the "South Beach Diet" to me because it helped him a great deal to keep his beer belly in check :-)
So I went and bought the book and stayed on it for about 4 weeks.
It really worked. I lost about 12 pounds, exactly what I wanted.
Now I am back to my normal cooking pleasures...last night I prepared caulifowers, boiled potatoes, sause hollandaise and pollo Milanesa, accompanied by a very tasty, rich red wine from Argentina.

kinedst peruvian regards
Inka

Comment by: Inka-Wolfy • Apr 11, 2006 11:38:57 AM

How torturous having to look at pastries all day and not being able to eat them. I really admire your fortitude and will power not cave in to temptation.

The best diet book I have read recently is a book entitled 'French Women Don't Get Fat'. It explores the paradox of the French who have a diet high in fat and carbs yet remain one of the slimmest European countries. The key seems to be the French's inherent love of food, which teaches from an early age to savour each and every mouthful, enjoying a variety of different flavours and textures as opposed to the glutinous quantities consumed by those especially in America.

Glad to hear that your diet is going so well

Comment by: gastrochick • Apr 11, 2006 2:37:24 PM

Melissa, sounds like you have done well on the diet. I have had to start all over again but I will make it. I worked in a bakery while going to culinary school and it was pure torture not to eat things at the bakery. My weakness was the fresh pipping hot crusty breads from the oven. I would carry a stick of butter and hide it so I could slather it on that hot bread. How bad is that??? I feel your pain! lol!

Comment by: Vickie • Apr 12, 2006 7:37:06 AM

Hola Diva, felices pascuas a ti y a toda tu familia. Espero que tengáis unos días bonitos. Con cariño

Comment by: Cannella • Apr 12, 2006 5:11:36 PM

You're right. Starving is not necessary. And it's always a good idea to eat earlier, rather than later. I'll have to put that into practice. ;-)

Best,
Paz

Comment by: Paz • Apr 13, 2006 1:37:32 AM