June 14
Breakfast: lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from limeade, ricotta cheese, hemp protein powder, blueberries, frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, and kale. This tastes good when I first try it, but once it sits around a while the texture becomes lumpy. I think the limeade curdled the ricotta. Fortunately, I bought my husband some nice big stainless steel straws for our our anniversary ("silverware" being one of the traditional 5th anniversary gifts), and these make it easier to ignore the texture of our smoothies.
Mid-morning, I am in Silver Spring and have half an hour to kill before picking my kid up early from school, after a morning exam. The most convenient spot to buy a coffee near my parked car is the Tastee Diner, so I do something I don't normally do these days: go in and take a table by myself. For $3.98 (plus tip), I have a decaf coffee and "a biscuit" (but, when it arrives, it is two biscuits), with butter and jam. Quite a deal. I read a book. It is fun.
We get home about 10:30. A slow morning. After finally showering, I have another cup of coffee around noon and get to writing. Lunch after that: a leftover chicken leg, an attempt to reproduce the British "bacon roll" with soft white bakery toast, butter, and leftover cooked bacon from last night, and leftover asparagus. This was a lot of heavy food and the whole "bacon roll" thing just didn't taste quite right. It is no wonder that the scale says I have gained 5 lbs. since last Thursday. While this seems physically impossible, there is no doubt that I have been doing my best.
Afternoon shopping (Co-op) [note that this trip is when I found the "Man of God" LED clip-on light]: raspberry lemonade, organic pear juice, can cat food, organic roasted cashews, 3 rolls toilet paper, bananas, strawberries, fresh sage, swiss chard, 2 local peaches, 2 avocados. $38. I feel vaguely queasy from my lunch.
Breakfast: lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from limeade, ricotta cheese, hemp protein powder, blueberries, frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, and kale. This tastes good when I first try it, but once it sits around a while the texture becomes lumpy. I think the limeade curdled the ricotta. Fortunately, I bought my husband some nice big stainless steel straws for our our anniversary ("silverware" being one of the traditional 5th anniversary gifts), and these make it easier to ignore the texture of our smoothies.
Mid-morning, I am in Silver Spring and have half an hour to kill before picking my kid up early from school, after a morning exam. The most convenient spot to buy a coffee near my parked car is the Tastee Diner, so I do something I don't normally do these days: go in and take a table by myself. For $3.98 (plus tip), I have a decaf coffee and "a biscuit" (but, when it arrives, it is two biscuits), with butter and jam. Quite a deal. I read a book. It is fun.
We get home about 10:30. A slow morning. After finally showering, I have another cup of coffee around noon and get to writing. Lunch after that: a leftover chicken leg, an attempt to reproduce the British "bacon roll" with soft white bakery toast, butter, and leftover cooked bacon from last night, and leftover asparagus. This was a lot of heavy food and the whole "bacon roll" thing just didn't taste quite right. It is no wonder that the scale says I have gained 5 lbs. since last Thursday. While this seems physically impossible, there is no doubt that I have been doing my best.
Afternoon shopping (Co-op) [note that this trip is when I found the "Man of God" LED clip-on light]: raspberry lemonade, organic pear juice, can cat food, organic roasted cashews, 3 rolls toilet paper, bananas, strawberries, fresh sage, swiss chard, 2 local peaches, 2 avocados. $38. I feel vaguely queasy from my lunch.
After shopping, I put the chickpeas on to cook for Madhur Jaffrey's Swiss Chard with Tomatoes and Chickpeas, and turn my attention to other matters until they are done, 2 and a half hours later. At a more reasonable dinnertime, I prep the rest of the vegetables for this dish and stick a couple of red peppers in the oven to roast. As Jaffrey suggests, we eat the chard dish with a crusty wheat bread, two kinds of Italian cheese (an aged piave and a fresh asiago), and roasted red peppers. This is a pleasant meal; the bread-and-cheese board on the table is always popular when it appears at my house. I don't do it that often because, in order to control portion size, I tend to plate my family's meals in the kitchen. (This works well for us, except the part where kid tends to waste about 1/3 of the food on their plate. However, they do this even when they have served themselves.) I like the chard, especially the prep tip that suggests slicing the pretty red stems fairly small and cooking them along with the leaves. It's striking how much this adds to the visual attractiveness of the dish. I have also discovered, as I noted in a previous post, that I greatly prefer the texture of these long-cooked greens recipes when the pot is not covered. It requires adding some extra water, but the final texture is much less gelatinous.
Have I forgotten to mention that I've been drinking a glass of wine most nights with dinner, or after dinner, for the past week or so? I have leftover bottles of both red and white wine open (as well as sherry. How long does sherry keep? Anecdotal answers range from one week to forever (I think the people who said "forever" might have been my parents). Tonight I have white wine.
Also, the last two mint chocolates. And I am hungry again before bed, so have a little more bread and cheese.
June 15
A regular work day. Breakfast: lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from raspberry lemonade, plain Greek yogurt, hemp protein powder, almond butter, blueberries, banana, and CSA lettuce. I had another cup of decaf coffee (lightened with heavy cream of late, as I finish up the cream from the cheesecake) before work, and another one once I got to work. I was hungry.
Lunch when I got home at 2:45 was regular coffee, the last leftover chicken leg from Friday night, and leftover asparagus. Then I had to rush back out again in order to take my kid to a brief doctor's appointment. Home again 4:45, more decaf coffee, reading, a very short nap, housework.
I started dinner about 6:30-- a use-up-what-you-have-in-the-house sort of affair. We had an egg scramble with CSA kohlrabi and garlic scapes, cilantro and the last of the fresh asiago cheese; also fruit salad made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and the first good peaches of the year; and white bakery toast with cream cheese and the blackberry jam we bought at the beach. Also I had a glass of red wine.
Also, the last two mint chocolates. And I am hungry again before bed, so have a little more bread and cheese.
June 15
A regular work day. Breakfast: lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from raspberry lemonade, plain Greek yogurt, hemp protein powder, almond butter, blueberries, banana, and CSA lettuce. I had another cup of decaf coffee (lightened with heavy cream of late, as I finish up the cream from the cheesecake) before work, and another one once I got to work. I was hungry.
Lunch when I got home at 2:45 was regular coffee, the last leftover chicken leg from Friday night, and leftover asparagus. Then I had to rush back out again in order to take my kid to a brief doctor's appointment. Home again 4:45, more decaf coffee, reading, a very short nap, housework.
I started dinner about 6:30-- a use-up-what-you-have-in-the-house sort of affair. We had an egg scramble with CSA kohlrabi and garlic scapes, cilantro and the last of the fresh asiago cheese; also fruit salad made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and the first good peaches of the year; and white bakery toast with cream cheese and the blackberry jam we bought at the beach. Also I had a glass of red wine.
June 16
No work today; my last day at home before my husband and I go on a three-day weekend trip to Shenandoah National Park. We've been looking forward to it. But I have lots to do today. I have the usual breakfast, unusually early (husband woke up at 5:15 for some reason): lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from pear juice, hemp protein powder, avocado, banana, blueberries, strawberries, and CSA red lettuce. This was a particularly pleasant one. Nothing weird.
After showering and dressing, another cup of decaf while I get to work on my computer. That's the last of the heavy cream; kind of a relief.
By lunchtime, my kid is home from their last final exam (goodbye, 9th grade!) and I have a couple of errands to do in town, so we go out for lunch at our local Thai restaurant, eat outside at a table on the sidewalk. Kid orders up a storm, and I have a garden roll (fresh veggies and rice noodles wrapped in rice paper, peanut dipping sauce), an eel-and-avocado sushi roll, and a pomegranate lemonade, of which I drink half (kid finishes it). Somehow we manage to spend $46 on lunch. And it wasn't because of me, just saying.
When we get home, I have coffee, and in the afternoon, there is another cup of decaf, of course. I can't say what I was doing; husband and I are going away for a long weekend tomorrow, and this day is a blur in retrospect. Always so much to do to get ready.
Shopping (Co-op): toothpaste, pantiliners, quart of Brown Cow plain fat-free yogurt, 4-pack of Q ginger ale, hair de-frizzer, quart of Brown Cow vanilla yogurt, Knudsen "Mega-Antioxidant" juice, bottle of Pinot Grigio, coconut water, organic fusilli pasta, goat cheese, 2 packages organic spaghetti, 2 individual cups lactose-free plain yogurt, baking soda, multigrain English muffins, coffee, 2 lemons, shredded parmesan. $80.
For dinner, I fix some fusilli pasta with sauce made from things I need to get rid of: canned plum tomatoes, fresh sage, fresh tomatoes, garlic scapes, red wine. We sprinkle some goat cheese on top, but this turns out to be a mistake, because the goat cheese tastes slightly rancid. Goddamn co-op, which is terrible about keeping on top of product freshness. I paid like $6.50 for that cheese. Side salad of mixed lettuces, cilantro, strawberries, balsamic vinaigrette. Glass of white wine.
No work today; my last day at home before my husband and I go on a three-day weekend trip to Shenandoah National Park. We've been looking forward to it. But I have lots to do today. I have the usual breakfast, unusually early (husband woke up at 5:15 for some reason): lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from pear juice, hemp protein powder, avocado, banana, blueberries, strawberries, and CSA red lettuce. This was a particularly pleasant one. Nothing weird.
After showering and dressing, another cup of decaf while I get to work on my computer. That's the last of the heavy cream; kind of a relief.
By lunchtime, my kid is home from their last final exam (goodbye, 9th grade!) and I have a couple of errands to do in town, so we go out for lunch at our local Thai restaurant, eat outside at a table on the sidewalk. Kid orders up a storm, and I have a garden roll (fresh veggies and rice noodles wrapped in rice paper, peanut dipping sauce), an eel-and-avocado sushi roll, and a pomegranate lemonade, of which I drink half (kid finishes it). Somehow we manage to spend $46 on lunch. And it wasn't because of me, just saying.
When we get home, I have coffee, and in the afternoon, there is another cup of decaf, of course. I can't say what I was doing; husband and I are going away for a long weekend tomorrow, and this day is a blur in retrospect. Always so much to do to get ready.
Shopping (Co-op): toothpaste, pantiliners, quart of Brown Cow plain fat-free yogurt, 4-pack of Q ginger ale, hair de-frizzer, quart of Brown Cow vanilla yogurt, Knudsen "Mega-Antioxidant" juice, bottle of Pinot Grigio, coconut water, organic fusilli pasta, goat cheese, 2 packages organic spaghetti, 2 individual cups lactose-free plain yogurt, baking soda, multigrain English muffins, coffee, 2 lemons, shredded parmesan. $80.
For dinner, I fix some fusilli pasta with sauce made from things I need to get rid of: canned plum tomatoes, fresh sage, fresh tomatoes, garlic scapes, red wine. We sprinkle some goat cheese on top, but this turns out to be a mistake, because the goat cheese tastes slightly rancid. Goddamn co-op, which is terrible about keeping on top of product freshness. I paid like $6.50 for that cheese. Side salad of mixed lettuces, cilantro, strawberries, balsamic vinaigrette. Glass of white wine.