Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Summer Meal Plan

C'mon summer, are you HOT or not?

In any case, it's nice enough to eat salad. Three-quarters of the year is too damn cold for salad, so in summer I fill up. What's not to love? It's delicious, it's easy to make, it fills you up, and it's low in calories. If you make salad the way I do! It's all about the little salad on the green salad...

My dad was a bonkers evangelist about eating greens when the getting was good, and now I'm bonkers like that—

Breakfast
Monday through Friday - Yogurt and Blueberries, Banana, and Almonds
Saturday and Sunday - Muesli with Yogurt, Blueberries, and Banana
Sunday, every so often - Bite Cafe

Bite is kind of better than Hollywood —I kind of hate to say that, because I love Hollywood for its own self— and just as cheap; but it's a farther walk, so we've just started going there for Sunday breakfast. I had french toast with roasted pears and pumpkin seeds & pomegranate sauce, and pit crew had a pulled pork omelet with gruyere cheese om nom nom...

Lunch
Monday through Friday - leftover green salad
Saturday and Sunday - Peanut Butter Sandwich & OJ2O, unless I'm still stuffed from Bite breakfast

Snack
Monday through Friday - Apple or Strawberries and Stick Cheese

I refuse to call this string cheese. String cheese strings, this is just a stick. It's good to eat, though.

Dinner
Monday - Green Salad
Tuesday - pit crew dinner
Wednesday - Green Salad
Thursday - Peanut Butter Sandwich & OJ2O
Friday - PIZZA NIGHT

Now that the weather's nice, we're going to try all the pizzas in the neighborhood. Perhaps I will review them! Yeah and yum!

Saturday - dinner out, usually

I think we haven't been home for Saturday dinner in two months, this must also be a summer thing...

Sunday - Choppers!

Monday, June 29, 2009

What I Did On My Summer Break

Really it was, like, two days. Not even two days. Three hours Tuesday night and three hours Wednesday night. A six-hour summer break.

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
WORK
Grocery & Cooking
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Laundry & Cleaning
PLAY
Derby Lite
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
PLAY
Derby Lite
HOBBY
Review & Plan
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
WORK
Office
HOBBY
Review & Plan
PASTIME
Wolverine
PLAY
MOD Skate
 
my summer
 
break
PLAY
Derby Lite
PASTIME
Art Institute
PASTIME
Outfit Bout

And I spent the six hours caught between "Should I spend these two evenings crossing every last thing off my to do list, so I can finally sit down to write" and "Should I spend these two evenings ignoring everything on my to do list & just sit down to write already" and so not doing anything on my to do list and not writing. And also not doing nothing, which is what a break is really for. If you're not getting anything done, you at least want to be getting nothing done. And I didn't even get that.

Eh, it happens. I'm still learning the do nothing thing.

Well no, I wasn't so bad. Tuesday after dinner, me and my pit crew moseyed over to Pulaski Park to investigate the public pool (family swim is free 6:00 PM–7:15PM every day), then scooped up Joe for ice cream and sat on the Greenview stoop for longer than the ice cream lasted. Wednesday I got it into my head to roast potatoes and green beans on this ninety degree night, and had green salads with tuna and roasted potato salad on the Bosworth stoop & went in and wrote a very little bit lying upside down on the chaise. That's nothingish, for me.

So I didn't get all the rest of my t-shirts surgered into cute dresses, didn't get the rest of my calories calculated for past recipes, didn't get ahead on writing blog entries, and didn't send queries for my screenplay. I did research some agencies. I did get all my fabric shoved into the red dresser in the front room. I did get new glasses. I did get down to 124 pounds.

I think now get every last thing done on my to do list. Get new contact lenses. Get new wheels for skating at Orbit. For the love of god, get some summer clothes for work. I never want to go clothes shopping, everything else seems more important & meanwhile my clothes are turning into rags on my body.

Then I go to LA. I'm going to LA, by the way, in less than three weeks, to visit my dear friend Bonita who is having a baby and whom I am making a short film with.

When I get back, SIT DOWN TO WRITE.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

9.3.1

SUN 28 MON 29 * TUE 30 * WED 1 * THU 2 * FRI 3 * SAT 4
MORNING
talk

nah
MORNING
sleep

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
sleep

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
sleep

dammit
MORNING
poke aboot

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
sleep

Zzzz
MORNING
sleep

no time
  Eat Pray Love Eat Pray Love Last Vampire 5 Last Vampire 6    
Muesli n Yog
WORK
Grocery & Cooking
Yog N Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee n Muffin

WORK
Office
Yog n Special K
WORK
Laundry & Cleaning
 
PLAY
OP FOJ Parade
PB SW & OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
Gr Sal w Potato
WORK
Office
Gr Sal w Potato
WORK
Office
Pit Crew Pasta
WORK
Office
Gr Sal w Chicken
WORK
Office
Chicken n Bread
HOBBY
Review & Plan
Chez Megahurtz
PASTIME
Zzzzz
Apple n Cheese
HOBBY
Review & Plan
Apple n Cheese
WORK
Office
Straw n Cheese
WORK
Office
Apple n Cheese
WORK
Office
Straw n Cheese
WORK
Office
Space Brownies
PASTIME
Twilight
$5 Pizza
PASTIME
The Dreamers
  Eat Pray Love optometrist walking shopping    
Choppers
PASTIME
Night Watch
Day Watch
Gr Sal w Chicken
PLAY
MOD Skate
Pit Crew Pasta
WORK/PLAY
set up closet hooks
set up wheels
Gr Sal w Chicken
Popcorn

PASTIME
True Blood
Cousins
PLAY
 
Ice Cream & G.A.
PASTIME
twilight
Ice Cream & G.A.
PASTIME
Brighton Rock
Ice Cream
EVENING
sleep
Pie
EVENING
Last Vampire 5
EVENING
Last Vampire 5
EVENING
Last Vampire 6
EVENING
Atomic New Wave Dance Party
Tac Bur Exp
EVENING
sleep
EVENING
GLASSES ON

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Summer Break, Back Next Week

poppy_skating

9.2.13

SUN 21 MON 22 TUE 23 WED 24 THU 25 FRI 26 SAT 27
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

No
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

Shoot
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
 

OJ2O n Vitamins
  Man-Kzin VII Man-Kzin VII Man-Kzin VII Eat Pray Love Eat Pray Love  
Bite
WORK
Grocery & Cooking
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee & Bagel

WORK
Office
Muesli n Yog
WORK
Laundry & Cleaning
OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
Pit Crew Chili
WORK
query agencies
Office
Gr Sal w Potato
WORK
Eat Love Pray
Office
Gr Sal w Tuna
WORK
optometrist
Office
Gr Sal w Potato
WORK
Office
Gr Sal w Potato
Pizza & Diet Coke

WORK
Office
$5 Pizza & OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
 
HOBBY
Review & Plan
Chex Mix
WORK
Office
Chex Mix
WORK
Office
Grapefruit
WORK
Office
Grapefruit
WORK
Office
Grapes n Cheese
WORK
Office
 
HOBBY
Review & Plan
  Man-Kzin VII
pick up wheels
1/2 walking walking Eat Pray Love Art Institute  
Choppers
PASTIME
Wolverine
Gr Sal w Tuna
PLAY
MOD Skate
Spagh Bolognese
Nuts
Ice Cream

PASTIME
Greenviews
Gr Sal w Potato
HOBBY
practice
Bills
PB Sw n OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
$5 Pizza
PLAY
set up D-Rods
t-shirt surgery
WCF
PASTIME
Outfit Bout
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Muesli n Yog
EVENING
GLASSES OFF
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Ice Cream
EVENING
GLASSES ON

Friday, June 19, 2009

I Like To Orbit Orbit

Mondays at Orbit are open skate, not organized practice; and after a while, going around in circles can feel like, you know, going around in circles. So Noto asked me for an individual program that she could run on her own, and alla can say is this is how I do:

...oh and, I have a fairly serious sportwatch that has eight different functions and just one function for me, and that is it counts DOWN whereas most stopwatches count up. Which is fine if you're timing a race. For drills I want to not be thinking about or looking at the time, I just want to beep when my time's up. I stick the watch into my bra, and my bra beeps at intervals. If you were wondering what that sound was. In hindsight, I could have just gotten an egg timer. Though the watch is waterproof.

Five-minute warmup.
Just skate around, talk to people. A little rule of thumb: if you're working hard, talking should be difficult. And you want to work hard, don't you? So talk now!

Twenty-minute endurance skate.
Skate for twenty minutes without stopping. I focus on form over speed, particularly on proper stroking on both sides: pushing down into the floor, and following through at about 5:00 on the right and 7:00 on the left.

Five-minute cooldown.
Skate around, shake it out. Don't come to a dead stop, cool down...

BREAK
But then, stop and drink some water.

Ten-minute skating low intervals
Two minutes low, two minutes up, two minutes low, two minutes up, two minutes low.
I take it easy on skating low during the twenty; so for this I push myself to get ridiculously low, and still with proper stroking.

Ten-minute sprinting intervals
Two minutes sprint, two minutes skate it out, two minutes sprint, two minutes skate it out, two minutes sprint.

Ten-minute falling intervals
Two minutes one-knee falls, two minutes skate it out, two minutes one-knee falls, two minutes skate it out, two minutes one-knee falls.

BREAK
Drink some water, don't forget!

That's about as much as I have organized now, but other things that I might work on:

  • swizzles and swizzle pushes around the turn
  • look-back slaloms
  • fast slaloms (moguls)
  • one-foot slaloms
  • long crossovers
  • quick crossovers

...five minutes each, say. That leaves a half-hour to do tricks, I'm not allowed to do tricks until nine-thirty: shoot-the-ducks, mohawks, spreadeagles, backwards. Weee.

Orbit Skate Center, 615 S Consumers Avenue, Palatine IL. Open derby skates Monday 8-10 PM for the rest of the summer. $6 admission, skates are available for rental. Skates and gear are also available for purchase in the pro shop.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Vaguely Southern Hoppin John

1 lb collard greens, trimmed and sliced
3 smoked turkey necks or ham hocks

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
3 ribs celery
1 poblano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 lb black-eyed peas
6 cups water
1 cup brown rice

Put greens and one neck or hock in a small saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low and let simmer on the back of the stove.

Gently heat oil in a saute pan as you chop the onions, celery, and peppers; you can add the vegetables to the pan as they're chopped. Saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add peas, water, and the other two necks or hocks, and bring to a strong simmer. Cover and cook over medium heat until peas are tender but still whole, about 30 minutes. Add rice, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes more. Remove necks or hocks.

Drain greens and stir into peas and rice. Simmer for 15 minutes longer.

Per 1/6 recipe, 549 calories

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

How Not To Meditate

"I have this fantasy," I say to pit crew, "of sitting down like in a coffee shop—"

"A coffee shop or a cafe?

"What do you think is which?

"Like Alexi's is a coffee shop."

"I meant like Mercury Cafe."

"Mercury is a coffee house."

"Who says this?"

"Me. You have this fantasy."

"Of sitting down and writing in my notebook. Which I think I'm working toward. I'm getting stuff done that has to get done. I ordered my bearing shields, and my books. Last night I had a stack of bills to pay, and I paid them; that had to be done. I had to have my eye appointment tonight. Though that didn't really cut into my writing time, it's only seven-thirty. I could start writing now."

"Can you cover me with a blanket?

"Yes." I cover him with a blanket. "Do you want me to make room for you on the chaise?"

"I'm comfortable down here."

"I might get up and start writing, though."

Which I do. I mean, I get up. I enter some more bills, for tonight's dinner at Taco & Burrito Express and for the eye appointment. I write a $4 check to the dentist. I endorse the reimbursement check that Blue Cross has finally sent me, damn their eyes. I write a quarter-page in my notebook. I look at Facebook. I want to put up a link to my blog on my profile, and http://allapoppy.blogspot.com doesn't fit in the little space. I mess around with pointing www.allapoppy.com, which I've actually owned all this time, to my blogspot. Somebody who knows as little as I do just shouldn't mess around with pointy thingys. I was perfectly happy with allapoppy.blogspot.com. Oh right, it didn't fit in the little space. This cartoon would be funnier if you could see the title and the picture in one eyeful. I should make the picture smaller, and take the caption off the herding cats cartoon. And change the title.

"My effort to sit down and write is being severely hampered by the fact that I have..." Flickr is taking a long time to load.

"Have?"

"What? Oh. Goldfish brain."

I'm supposed to be writing about meditating, the art of doing one thing at a time—

How Not To Be Happy

I think I'm 0 for 2 with things for making you happy making me not happy.

Ha ha ha!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

How To Meditate

20090600_how-to-meditate

TO BE CONTINUED

[ETA 11/29/15: Yes I know this image is all blown to shit, these older entries were written to a different template and it's not important to me to fix everything.]

Saturday, June 13, 2009

9.2.12

SUN 14 MON 15 TUE 16 WED 17 THU 18 FRI 19 SAT 20
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

no
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

ack
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
  Man-Kzin V Man-Kzin V Man-Kzin VI Man-Kzin VI Man-Kzin VI  
 
...
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
untitled short
Office
Muesli n Yog
Coffee

WORK
sch optometrist
order shields
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee n Bagel

WORK
Office
Muesli n Yog
WORK
Old Navy
Laundry & Cleaning
Hotdog n Chips
PLAY
family baseball
Vaguely Lentils
WORK
get sharpies & pens
Office
Gr Sal w Tuna
WORK
query agencies
Office
Pit Crew Chili
WORK
query agencies
Office
Vaguely Lentils
WORK
query agencies
Office
Pit Crew Chili
WORK
Alla Poppy
Office
PB Sw n OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
M&Ms
PASTIME
swap
Apple
WORK
Office
Nibblers n Nuts
Chex Mix :(

WORK
Office
Apple
WORK
Office
Apple
WORK
Office
 
WORK
Office
Nuts
...
  walking ... optometrist Man-Kzin VI Man-Kzin VI  
I Cream
Choppers

PASTIME
True Blood
Driven To Kill
Gr Sal w Tuna
PLAY
MOD Skate
Pit Crew Chili
HOBBY
Bills & Tasks
order books
poppydoodle
Tac n Bur Exp
Popcorn

HOBBY
Bills
Alla Poppy
PB Sw n OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
Gr Sal w Tuna
Straw n Chips

PASTIME
signing party
UIC
PASTIME
WCR Bout
Hollywood Pie
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Bottom Lounge
EVENING
GLASSES ON

Friday, June 12, 2009

How To Be Happy In Business: Devil's Advocate

Just saying, for stuff you do well & can get paid to do, but don't want to do... why isn't the instruction LEARN TO LIKE IT! Is that not possible? Everything else about this diagram is so positive. For stuff you can't get paid to do, it's LEARN TO MONETIZE! and not CUT YOUR LOSSES, FOOL. For stuff that you don't do well, it's LEARN TO DO BETTER! and not DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB, DEAR.

It's never just one thing. It's always a little of this, a little of that. Is what I'm saying.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Vaguely Middle Eastern Rice, Lentils, and Greens

1-1/2 cup long grain brown rice

1/2 lb lentils
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Swanson's chicken broth
3 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin

Per two servings:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 lb swiss chard

Bring rice and three cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Turn heat to low & let simmer.

Combine lentils, tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, and cumin in a saute pan. Bring to a strong simmer, turn heat to low & let simmer.

Gently heat oil in a skillet over low heat as you finely slice the onion. Add the sliced onions to the pan and saute until well carmelized, about thirty minutes. Meanwhile, trim and wash the swiss chard; cut into palm-sized pieces. When onions are carmelized, add the chard to the onions & saute until well-wilted, about fifteen minutes. When the chard is done, the rice and lentils will be done.

Scoop rice onto plates & top with lentils, then greens. I serve all the greens for dinner for two, and pack the rest of the rice and lentils without greens for lunches.

Per 1/6 recipe with greens, 398 calories. Without greens, 300 calories.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

How To Be Happy In Business

how to be happy in business Stop the presses, how cool is this? Sent to me by my reader, from Bud Cadell's what consumes me: how to be happy in business - venn diagram. He's a strategist for a digital think tank... okay, I am not sure what that is. I'm sure he's the best there is! I think this is advice for businesses, but it also applies to my personal favorite question of what I should do with my life. I could draw a Venn diagram to show how this is the intersection of my love for Venn diagrams and for talking about what I should do with my life, in addition to being right on. Pretend that I did that. Back to this diagram, my favorite part is that it gives you instructions:

* for stuff that you do well & that you can be paid to do, but don't want to do: LEARN TO SAY NO

* for stuff that you can be paid to do & that you want to do, but don't do well: LEARN TO DO BETTER

* for stuff that you want to do & do well, but don't get paid to do: LEARN TO MONETIZE

My reader thought that this could be mapped onto the work/play schematic & I think it can, with the caveat that this is about just the part of a person's life that's about getting paid. Which is a pretty big part of everybody's life, but hopefully not anybody's whole life. Whereas businesses presumably primarily exist to get paid. So this diagram is about the three-fourths of your life that involves work —work that is work, work that is play, play that is work— and leaves alone the one fourth that is play that is play, which I'm protective about. Life is a lot of getting paid and a lot of work —and obviously, there's a relationship between work and getting paid— but there has to be some part of life, however small, that's no work at all.

Work is what again, something that is done as a means to an end & in this case, getting paid is the end; and play is something that is done as an end in itself.

So, LEARN TO SAY NO is for work that is work. I guess I'm also protective about work that is work! Like play that is play, it's probably good for you in small amounts & it's probably best to be able to work when it's called for. You want this to be minimized, but not eliminated.

LEARN TO DO BETTER is for work that is play. Because you're doing it as a means to an end, but not achieving your end. I mean, it's good that you like doing it anyway. But. Is that what you really want? Don't you want to get what you want?

LEARN TO MONETIZE is for play that is work. Because you're doing it as an end in itself, and it's being a means to an end all on its own. Bonus, but be bold and maybe mighty forces will come to your aid!

...where either work that is play or play that is work could move into the hooray spot. I suppose it depends if you think it's more likely that you can figure out how to get better or figure out how to get paid.

20090609_how-to-be-happy I drew up a little diagram for myself, which if I were really ambitious I would have rendered as three interlocking drink rings on a cocktail napkin; pretend I did that, too.

It pretty much breaks down to:

* office administrator, which I do well & that I can get paid for, but don't want to do. As far as office administrator jobs go, I like my job & wouldn't leave for any other office administrator job. Or any other job except the following, if they actually paid at all or enough. Which they don't, and I have to eat.

* screenwriter, which I can be paid for & that I want to do, but don't do well (enough). Which I don't do enough, full stop. I can do better.

* skating instructor, which I want to do & that I do well, but can't get paid (enough) for. And which I could do better. And which honestly, I'd be happy to do for a living and forget about being a big-time writer. It's hard to imagine, though, "monetizing" this to the level I'm making at my job. I have health benefits for the first time in two years, and it's a beautiful thing...

I'm thinking on these things.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Potato Vinaigrette Salad

This is my normal potato salad, also good on green salad. More reasonable in the calorie department, but to me the point of eating salad is not having to cook. I'd make this for a picnic or a party, and eat up any leftovers on a green salad.

2 lbs red or yukon gold potatoes
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
a spoonful of mustard

Boil the potatoes until you can stick them with a fork; but when you think they have about five minutes left, throw in the green beans. Drain and peel potatoes when still warm. Dice the potatoes, and cut the green beans into small pieces. Whisk together lemon juice, garlic, salt, oil, and mustard & toss potatoes and green beans in vinaigrette until coated.

Per 1/4 recipe, 247 calories

Monday, June 8, 2009

Potato Mayonnaise Salad

This is the potato salad that I made for Walk & Roll, before I went on this diet. I had leftovers, and ate them on a green salad & that was actually good. You've figured out that that's my green salad formula, right? A little salad on a big green salad? Steven who I used to work with at the salon, and probably the most deeply funny person I know, posts Facebook quizzes with deadly accuracy & took the WHICH DINOSAUR/WEAPON COMBO WOULD YOU RIDE INTO BATTLE!!!!!! quiz and his result was Riding a Dinosaur, holding a Smaller Dinosaur. That's how I do salads, but the potato salad on the green salad was just because I had leftover potato salad.

2 lbs red or yukon gold potatoes
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp cider vinegar

Boil the potatoes until you can stick them with a fork. Drain and peel when still warm, and dice them up. Whisk together lemon juice, oil, and salt & toss potatoes until coated. Add celery and eggs. Whisk together mayonnaise and vinegar & gently mix into the salad.

Per 1/4 recipe, 576 calories

Sunday, June 7, 2009

9.2.11

SUN 7 MON 8 TUE 9 WED 10 THU 11 FRI 12 SAT 13
MORNING
GLASSES ON

oops
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

dang
MORNING
GLASSES OFF

OJ2O n Vitamins
MORNING
GLASSES ON

OJ2O n Vitamins
  Man-Kzin V Man-Kzin V
dentist
... Man-Kzin V Man-Kzin  
Hollywood Grill
HOBBY
Review & Plan
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee

WORK
Office
Yog n Fru
Coffee & Bagel

WORK
Office
Muesli n Yog
Work
Laundry & Cleaning
O2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
Vaguely Chickpeas
WORK
Office
Vaguely Chickpeas
WORK
Office
Gr Sal w Potato
WORK
Office
Gr Sal W Potato
WORK
Office
Vaguely Lentils
WORK
Office
PB Sw n OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
 
WORK
arrange furniture
Grocery
Apple
WORK
Office
Apple
WORK
Office
Apple
WORK
Office
Chex Mix :]
WORK
Office
 
WORK
Office
 
HOBBY
Review & Plan
  walking walking walking Man-Kzin V walking  
Choppers
PASTIME
The Tick
True Blood
Gr Sal w Potato
Choc & Tea

HOBBY
Alla Poppy
Introvert
Chiles Rellenos
Choc & Tea

HOBBY
Alla Poppy
Vaguely Lentils
PASTIME
Myopic
True Blood
PB Sw n OJ2O
PLAY
Derby Lite
Snoball n Cupcake
PASTIME
VFW
Pizza n Kale Chips
PASTIME
Rollerball
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Popcorn
EVENING
GLASSES ON
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Pizza
EVENING
GLASSES ON
Dessert
EVENING
 

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Vaguely Spanish Chickpeas and Spinach

This is really vaguely Spanish, I meant to use saffron and sweet paprika but didn't have time to go to the store; so I just used half-sharp Hungarian paprika, and it was good.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp sweet paprika and a pinch of saffron
   or 1 Tbsp half-sharp paprika
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Swanson's chicken broth
1 lb spinach

Gently heat oil over low heat as you finely slice the onion. Add the sliced onions to the pan and saute until slightly carmelized; meanwhile, mince the garlic. Turn up the heat to medium high and add garlic and spices & saute until fragrant. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, and chickpeas & bring to a strong simmer. Stem and wash the spinach, and add to the pan. Simmer until spinach is as done as you like, just a few minutes for wilted or up to twenty minutes for stewed.

Serve with good bread.

Per 1/4 recipe plus one slice of bread, 309 calories

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Dept. of Weights & Measures: Live and Let Diet

Hello, I am on a diet. I realize that I am basically thin, but I pretty much put on six pounds in the three months after I figured out my happy weight. Which is not the biggest tragedy ever, I even get little boobs at that weight & that's fun; but my pants weren't fitting, and I'm invested in black leggings in sort of a big way.

I favor the do-the-math approach to weight loss. A pound is 3500 calories, which neatly (too neatly) divides over a week into 500 calories per day. So if you want to lose a pound in a week, you have to create a 500 calorie deficit per day. Which I break down again between eating and exercising: eat 250 calories less, exercise 250 calories more every day. It's like how B says you can do anything for 15 seconds, I can do anything for 250 calories & that's 250 calories relative to me. [ETA: I mean, do you know what I mean? This means not jumping into some triathlete's training regimen or falling back on the The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Couch Potato Workout for Dummies. It's about changing course two hundred and fifty degrees from where I am right here, right now. Did I ever tell you about the rice cakes? Rice cakes are low in calories; so I started eating them. Only before, I hadn't been eating snacks. Result, I gained weight on rice cakes.]

So what 250 calories can I lose from what I eat? Almost every day I have an apple with peanut butter, two tablespoons of peanut butter is 190 calories... that's more than halfway there. I guess half a cup of silk with my coffee every morning, 50 calories... that's 240 calories gone, and all I've done is cut out 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a 1/2 cup of silk. And I will throw out the bun from my weekly Choppers burger, because I'm not giving up my fries.

(But let's talk about what's really been behind my weight gain these past months: Oreo shakes, almost every week, as recently featured in Eat This, Not That: TWENTY-SIX HUNDRED CALORIES. I think that's pretty much where I left my "happy" weight behind. I was happy with the Oreo shakes, though!)

Now for adding 250 calories of exercise, a quick google of "exercise that burns 250 calories" tells me that's about an hour of any number of activities. I love a rule of thumb. Apart from skating, an additional hour of activity for me most days adds up to ...an hour of activity per day. I settled on walking home from work. It takes about an hour, it's just under three miles. And it takes a half hour to get home on the bus, anyway; so it's just an extra half hour for the hour's worth of exercise.

And that's it! As my JavaScript teacher used to say, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

KALE Blog

Poppy: I meant to make kale chips tonight, and I forgot again!
Poppy: Oh, the kale's gone yellow.
Pit Crew: Does that mean it's ...beyond the kale?

Monday, June 1, 2009

Green Salad with Chicken, Avocado, and Mandarin Orange

a heart of romaine lettuce
a third of a 6 oz bag baby spinach
a rotisserie chicken
   or Perdue Short Cuts carved chicken breast
an avocado
1 can mandarin oranges

Quarter the romaine lengthwise and slice the quartered lettuce crosswise into bite-size pieces. Put romaine pieces and baby spinach into a salad spinner, wash and spin. Divide greens into two or three bowls or takealong containers.

Take apart the chicken with your hands and shred it into bite-size pieces, and freeze the rest for chicken stock. Halve, peel, and slice the avocado into bite-size pieces. I use half an avocado for two salads, and refrigerate the pit half in plastic for later. Also I use about half a can of mandarin oranges for two salads, and empty the rest into a container in the fridge.

Top greens with chicken, avocado, and oranges.

Per serving, 335 calories