Monday, February 15, 2010

A Case of the Mondays?

Actually, today has been a brilliant day -- a brilliant weekend actually. But as you may have noticed I have not kept good on my promise of the food journal. As I mentioned, we didn't bring the laptop to SGU, but I never finished writing that I ate a sugar cookie on Friday's trip, or that on drive down I felt really good about things because I had made spinach salads for us!

We usually stop off at some lame fast-food joint and eat 'potatoes' that aren't worth the animal fat their fried in. Like Michael Pollan says: "Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does."

I think Danny was a little bummed he missed an opportunity to 'suffer through' a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, but I think he'll survive. (Maybe I should've put the orphan quotes around chicken instead - eh?)

Ok so down to business:

The Art of Eating A Cupcake (or two)
So yes, I made it to 25 Main. As I mentioned, on Saturday I had my Peanut Butter Chocolate divinity and relished every last bite of it. I actually brought it home, took it out of the box and cut it into six pieces so I would slow down and enjoy it. A little Winder Farms milk...perfection. We actually ate there this morning for breakfast (grilled 'panino' with spinach, artichokes, fontina cheese; some fruit to share with Holden, and grilled potatoes. Steamed milk with vanilla)... and we completed the trip with one more cupcake... that's two in a weekend. I think when I was pumping I would eat three a day on our St. George excursions. I don't think the two cupcakes are going to be THAT big of a deal for tomorrow's weigh in; but the Five Guys Fries, the Papa Murphy's pizza, sugar cookies and eating out on Sunday will tip the scales... literally.

PS. Great to run into you at the joint Jo. Congrats on the wedding!



Giving Up the Animal
So I'm thinking of giving up Animal for Lent... obviously not becoming a vegan or anything; I think I am still going to eat cheese, drink a little milk, indulge in some ice cream occasionally. But I feel like there are so many positive reasons to do this. (*According to a United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization Report - global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases -- more than transportation.) But I'm wondering if I can 'do this' until Easter. We're going to Maui for my sister-in-law's wedding...isn't it like required to eat fish when you're in Hawaii? So maybe I'll give up eating animals that walk. I'm also going to throw in shrimp, crustaceans and the like because after reading about the degredation to Thailand, I can't eat them in good conscience either.



A (not-so) New, Pop Secret
Let's shift to something I am going to eat. POPCORN! We haven't been much into "POPCORN!" (can't say it without getting excited) at the Mangum (Suite-Mangum) casa. It's not that I don't like it. Oh, quite the contrary. I think POPCORN! is a delightful treat... but I don't have a popcorn popper; making it over the stove with oil makes me anxious with Little Bits at my feet, and the stuff you buy in bags for the microwave is full of crap. Enter my best friend in food (he doesn't know it yet, but I'm a big fan!) Mark Bittman tells us all it takes is a brown bag, a microwave and some kernels! (I'm not usually a fan of microwave cooking, but this little secret is too good to pass up.




Other food from today I ought to tell you I ate:
Two pieces of Papa Murphy's pineapple pizza-POPCORN! w/ salt and a hint of olive oil- some oranges slices...





*From Mark Bittman's 'Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.'

2 comments:

Melanie said...

2 thoughts.

First. I totally gave up chocolate for 2 months...not done yet, but I put a clause saying I could eat it on V-Day. Not super rational to say I wouldn't eat it that day so you could totally do it but just say you are going to eat the little swimmer ONLY on the trip.

Second. I bought my popcorn popper at the DI for $1. Awesome investment. Usually that sort of thing makes me wanna vomit unless I can clean every inch of it but we have LOVED it!

QNC said...

The 90 Calorie single person popcorn bags from Orville are the best. Small enough for 1 person, low in calories, but still very satisfying. And you can use your microwave - so now scary stove needed. :)