Thursday, March 29, 2012

Sniffle, sneeze

Oooh, my allergies finally caught up with me today.  Despite getting a blissful 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night I woke up feeling tired with a very sore throat.  I noticed some of those yellow wildflowers (either ragweed or goldenrod?) blooming away on the side of the road today so I blame those.  I tend to start reacting when they show up.

My allergies are certainly light compared to some, so I try to count myself lucky despite my discomfort.  All the same, I was glad that today was already planned as a rest day for me workout-wise.

It was too chilly to eat breakfast (or lunch or dinner) outside today, but I still slipped out there to get a bit of natural light.  My breakfast wasn't particularly pretty, even in natural light, but it's super-tasty and one of my current favorites.

Barbara's Bakery shredded wheat, walnuts, raisins, xylitol, cinnamon, banana
Plus coffee and egg with salsa
It was playdate morning here today, so Charlotte and I welcomed Carolyn and Abigail while Emily was in preschool.  I was out of Babybel wheels, so I had one of the orange-and-white-twisted-together cheese sticks that Emily picked out at the store yesterday as my morning snack.  

On the way home I stopped by BBs Bagels and Bread for my free coffee of the day and was pleased to find a place that was much nicer than I had assumed and whose coffee is roasted by Baltimore Tea and Coffee.  One of the neatest things about this whole Coffee Madness promotion (other than having an excuse to check out new places and the getting free coffee part) is finding out that some of my favorite places roast and supply the coffee for other shops.  I'll definitely know where to get a decent cup of coffee no matter where I am in the county after this!

My hazelnut coffee with a splash of skim joined my salad to become lunch.

Greens, chopped apple, Irish farmhouse blue cheese, sunflower seeds, dried figs, olive oil, balsamic vinegar
 After I had my salad I decided some whole grains would not go amiss, and upon discovering the last slice of Wegmans 100% whole wheat bread in the fridge I lunched on that as well.


At least most of it.  Once the girls discovered that I was eating it I was obliged to share with both of them.

I have done some wandering from my usual eating formula this week, and by that I mean having leftovers instead of a big salad for lunch or cottage cheese instead of my typical smoothie as a snack.  I haven't found anything that satisfies me nearly as well as my old standbys though, so I went back to being boring and predictable today.  And I loved it.

Nonfat greek yogurt, frozen berries, kale leaves, coconut milk, banana, vanilla extract, a drop of stevia
Around 4:15 I felt myself getting into the dangerously hungry zone, so I finished off what remained of the green papaya salad and I was good to go until dinner was ready.

Green papaya salad
Dinner...Asian ground beef with purple cabbage over brown basmati rice, copiously sprinkled with cilantro
 I took the girls with me to M.O.M. after dinner so we could pick up some small organic candies to put in the plastic eggs for Emily's preschool Easter egg hunt tomorrow and also to give Will a bit of a rest since he was feeling pretty poopy allergy-wise too.  I picked up this chocolate bar while I was there and made it my dessert when I got home.


I was actually pretty disappointed!  I thought that at 85% cocoa it would be nice and bitter but they must've compensated with extra sugar or wax or something because it was not bitter at all and the consistency reminded me of eating clotted cream.  My 70% cocoa Theo bar tastes more chocolate-y than this.  It would be good for people who like milk chocolate but are looking to develop a taste for dark chocolate.

I can't believe I just said that.  I used to be such a milk chocolate fiend and I couldn't stand even Hershey's dark chocolate which I think is only about 60% cocoa.  Now it's milk chocolate that I can't stand...it tastes WAY too sweet to me (with the exception of some European milk chocolates).

I am currently debating whether or not I am going to expend the energy to prepare and eat a grapefruit.  I am leaning towards yes.  I'll update you on the outcome of this exciting cliffhanger tomorrow.


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