Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August Review

So, what, I get two good months and then I get a bad month. Fine. I was doing pretty heroically for a couple weeks with the refrigerator fading in and out, that actually started the last week of July. Then I pretty much lost the plot for a couple weeks, like the coke and chex mix level of losing the plot. Eight hours of prolonged sitting losing the plot. Yuck. Then get back on track, then get kicked off track. Going to see the doctor tomorrow for a little help sleeping. I can help myself if I can sleep!

I have a new client! It actually takes a lot to onboard a new client. Obviously a new client is a good thing, but I think I just had too much on my plate—good, bad, ugly—between that and the refrigerator, and dropped my plate. I'd like to get better at 1) counting things that are being added to my plate, 2) taking other things off my plate to keep my plate total at a manageable level, 3) putting the plate down, 4) giving my brain a little extra quiet time to process it all.

I started a bunch of new pothos plants at work, too:

movin on up! aramis, bazin, and madame de chevruse have moved in together #pothos party

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

I moved the Aramis family to a spot in the hallway that I hope nobody minds, gave away two pots to people with offices (i.e., windows, though pothos don't really need much light), and have three new babies on my desk.

Whaaat, Porthos needed a haircut bad. Propagating plants, though, that's a thing. And it's been straight busy at work, I'm in the middle of a huge project that hopefully finishes mid-October.

It has been a lot.

August picks:

HOME: Make a better place

1. Learn more about the Chicago Progressive Caucus.

Right, remember I added this to my plate too. Done, I guess, in the sense that I know more than I did, which was nothing. I read through their whole website and signed up for their mailing list. I haven't solved Black Lives Matter or anything like that. I don't think I'm going to make myself into a social justice warrior (not in the pejorative sense), I think I'm going to make myself into a better informed voter who still has to clean her own house.

Four blocks earmarked for this were used to 1) put away laundry, 2) :'( 3) pay bills, and 4) Fury boat trip.

What an amazing day on the lake for The Fury Boat Party!!! #tffy #tffl #teamfury #windycityrollers #lakemichigan

A photo posted by Lisa Adreani (@vigilannie76) on

SYSTEMS: Sharpen the saw

2. Order new glasses.

Not done, sigh. Now that I'm looking at this, in addition to the new client thing, I had a lot of social things this month. And sometimes a social thing comes with an extra thing, like making food ahead of a potluck. These four blocks were used to 1) make lemonade for Problem's Olympics opening ceremony party, 2) brunch and lipstick date with Biggie:

aloha!

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

This is before the lipstick, obviously.

And then 3a) draft a workout for my new client and 3b) a new workout for an old client, and 4) pay bills to finish.

PLAY: Study movement and muscles

3. Keep watching Functional Patterns videos.

Done, not as much as I wanted.

Five blocks for this were used to 1) draft an About sheet to send to my new client, 2) draft an email to send that About sheet to my new client, 3) catch up on appointments and grocery list that weren't done because of plate dropping the previous weekend, 4) actually watch videoes and 5) breakfast with TS.

PASTIME: Write alla Poppy

4. Keep editing and publishing recipes.

Done, not as much as I wanted.

Five blocks for this were used to 1) draft Boiled Eggs and Goatskal, 2) draft August Eats, 3) :| 4) draft August Review, 5) draft Chocolate Chia Pudding.

State of the Blog

Sigh, idk how this is going to go. I have just about enough time and energy to keep up with two posts per month, a short eats post and a long review post. If I can get through a month without a breakdown, I get two, three more blocks to write other stuff. Am I ever going to get through this goodeats collection? Do I want to write other stuff besides goodeats? Or just the two posts per month.

I don't knowwwww.

Going out

So there was the Olympics opening ceremony party and brunch with Biggie, and also Box's jiu-jitsu meet followed by more lemonade and Olympics:

And the winner is......GUNS AND BUTTER!!!! So proud of you! YAY GWEN! #ibjjf #evilstrength

A photo posted by Corrin Cafferty (@corrinfiltrate) on

Also Sarge's bridal shower:

And Fury boat trip, and breakfast with TS. So busy.

Staying in

I'm in a battle with "sleeping TV," trying to beat it back from bedtime and then getting beat right back, but at least "working TV" is still not a thing. What's still a thing is enforced rest TV, when I have to make myself lie on the couch and rest—and hopefully, nap—before I go to the gym to train clients. I watched Marcella and River for that this month, and now Netflix has a bunch more seasons of The Murdoch Mysteries.

Watching TV

For entertainment this month we watched Limitless (the movie), Ex Machina, and Central Intelligence. Haha! I love the Rock.

September picks:

HOME: Make a better place

1. The house needs me again: pick a thing, anything.

SYSTEMS: Sharpen the saw

2. Order new glasses!

PLAY: Study movement and muscles

3. Keep watching Functional Patterns videos.

PASTIME: Write alla Poppy

4. Keep editing and publishing recipes.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Chocolate Chia Pudding

chocolate chia pudding

This has become my post-training snack, I only made it because I had half a can of coconut milk to use up and now it's a regular thing; so I unhalved (or redoubled) the recipe back to a whole can. I'm also just using up my date paste for this and will probably switch to a more convenient sweetener. I think molasses would probably be pretty good.

1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons date paste or sweetener of choice to taste
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup chia seeds

Whisk together cocoa and hot water in a large bowl or pitcher. Whisk in sweetener, then coconut milk. Stir in the chia seeds.

Let the pudding rest for about thirty minutes at room temperature. Stir, then refrigerate for at least four hours until very thick.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Forty Nine

forty nine

Shirt concept by Evil Strength. Shirt design by Aesthetic Response.

Monday, August 15, 2016

August Eats

Womp AGAIN, this month the refrigerator has been on and off the fritz, which is somehow worse than being entirely fritzed. Idk, maybe. It's working at the moment, which means I still have eggs and butter in the house, I like eggs and butter. And also it's bought me a little time to eat down the persishables, the first prong of my two-prong approach to this month's eats; and the second prong is what can I eat that doesn't have to be refrigerated.

Anyway remember last month's womp, no more greek yogurt? That was easy enough to fix: eggs for breakfast, which was how it used to be anyway before that stupid doctor put me on the low-cholesterol diet. I took the opportunity to learn a better technique for boiled eggs and am also taking the opportunity to eat peaches in season. This is my work breakfast:

these #seriouseats #hotstart #eggs do peel nicely #peaches #breakfastbowl #goodeats

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

Home breakfast has been governed by the eating down the perishables initiative, which has yielded some unusual but good results:

Pan-roasted radishes, really good, who knew.

I've been really clever about lunches this month, first I turned some extra pan-roasted chicken into chicken salad that got tossed with thinly sliced fennel and apple:

it's better with the #apple left unpeeled๐Ÿ‘#fennel #avocado #cherrytomatoes #chickensalad #goodeats

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

Then, there was a grocery error in my favor:

I must remember this roasted cherry tomato and zucchini for fall, when it won't be terrible to turn on the oven. It was great cold on salad, and I bet it'll be just as good hot as a side for eggs and as the veg in my dinner bowl.

Boy my dad is doing the opposite of rolling in his grave over this dinner bowl:

This is exactly the kind of lunch that my dad would make us, except the avocado; so, not exactly. But sardines, kimchee, and rice, always. So not American, daaad. Why can't I have Lunchables. Anyway rice survives just fine at room temperature if you keep up the pace, which we certainly do in this house; kimchee and avocados are hardy enough to live in an on again off again refrigerator; and sardines, obvi. I was crisping them up in a pan at first, but now I just pop the can, drain the oil, and dump the sardines right into my bowl. I'm in no mood to be nice, it's fine. I was going to start eating sardines anyway for the calcium that I'm missing from greek yogurt.

I had to cook down a three-pound bag of frozen strawberries into compote, and I made up the rest of my goat milk products into koldskal, and that's my post-training snack:

I ain't mad about it.