Monday, October 31, 2016

October Review

October on paper doesn't look like much, but it hasn't felt bad. For one thing, I self-cared the shit out of myself: doctor appointment, therapist appointments, dentist appointment even. Need another crown, oh joy. Also I am now officially on antidepressants. Not that I was on them unofficially before, just being cute about my various anti-drugs that have at least gotten me this far. I'm on Lexapro, it's supposed to take 4–6 weeks to work. It's only been two and you know what: my globus is down to almost nothing. Which dang, I'll take it.

October picks:

HOME: Make a better place

1. Let's keep working on the house, it's so rewarding: pick a thing, anything.

Well, the only thing I got done this month was to deep clean the bathroom; that was deeply satisfying, I really should do that more often. But not so often that it loses contrast, ha. I did the whole salon coil trick and everything. I guess also I potted the spider plant cutting that I got from Brawla:

#spiderplant spiderplant livin in an old tin can

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

Otherwise I did a little feeble tidying, Problem's annual taco ride, Box's little backbends yoga workshop, both awesome, and per usual one cleaning block is reserved for paying bills.

SYSTEMS: Sharpen the saw

2. Ughhh nevermind new glasses, let's try this pick anything strategy.

Like I said this was self care month, I pretty much did everything but get new glasses. Did I mention that I bought a new laptop last month? I did. I've finally more or less migrated to that. I also finally switched over to my allapoppy gmail account, what a project that was; google does get its tentacles into everywhere.

PLAY: Study movement and muscles

3. Keep watching Functional Patterns videos.

But, something had to give: not a lot of videos got watched this month. I did do some client-driven stuff, that's always something.

PASTIME: Write alla Poppy

4. Keep editing and publishing recipes.

I have a plan for this, but you know how the best laid plans go and this plan isn't all that well laid. Stay tuned.

State of the Blog
Right now I'm just keeping up with the two posts per month, an eats post and a review post. I'm fine with that for now. I want to do more, but I have to figure some stuff out. Maybe I'll write about what I figure out.

Going out

Not much again, the aforementioned taco ride and also Box and Brawla's annual fall chili dinner. I had a surprise night off and got to watch Game 2 of the World Series with my coworkers, I almost never get to do that. And Sparty and I had brunch.

Staying in

Not much here either, what MJ and I watched together was Luke Cage, Vice, and Star Trek Beyond. Otherwise there was a lotta lotta laying on the couch and in bed watching superhero TV. We started watching the fifth season of Longmire because Fran at work started watching it and wants to talk about it.

November picks:

Geez, I don't even know. Heading into the holidays and that's usually the worst time for me. My work project is finally winding down, though. Maybe work will get back to normal, then I can figure some stuff out.

HOME: Make a better place

1. Pick anything.

SYSTEMS: Sharpen the saw

2. Pick anything.

PLAY: Study movement and muscles

3. Keep watching Functional Patterns videos.

PASTIME: Write alla Poppy

4. Keep editing and publishing recipes.


Saturday, October 15, 2016

October Eats

Me figuring out what to eat is like an advanced word problem: I want a different protein at every meal, but for breakfast that can only be yogurt or eggs and for snack that can only be yogurt or nuts, I only want starch for one meal, and I think in my present condition that I can't even cook more than one day per week and on that day I can't even cook more than one recipe. Which means I'm looking at you, ready to eat things—but not too processed ready to eat things, mmkay. And which also means I'm looking at der schweetums. Who comes with his own set of word problems, chief among them that he doesn't really love meat. Which I only just learned, I have apparently entertained some highly gendered notions about protein consumption until pretty recently.

So speaking of ready to eat, I have gingerly retested greek yogurt and it seems okay now. I don't know what that was all about, but I'm glad it's over. I liked goat milk yogurt a lot, but greek yogurt is a lot more available. So I'm back to greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast, erryday:

Then back to egg bites for work day lunch:

Obviously this pic was not taken at the office, but I'm in a jam. Trust me, it looks just the same.

Things ended very abruptly and SO HARD between me and noodle jars, by the way. I don't know what happened, it was going so well and then it wasn't.

Staying with chicken and rice bowl for gym day lunch:

Also rice bowl for work day dinner, here der schweetums has taken it upon himself to learn my ground meat recipes, as he can just about deal with ground meat.

#chinesegroundpork #roastedgreenbeans #rice #dinnerbowl #goodeats

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

I would like him to learn my slow meat recipes too, but I don't think he's going to do well with visible muscle fibers. Maybe when we get to that point, we can pivot and he can learn egg bites. Or maybe this therapy and medication will start working and I will again be able to cook more than one thing, who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting. (Which is to say, who knows.)

Have I told you this already: for "dinner" on gym days, I just sling a bottle of tart cherry water into my gym bag; this has been a gamechanger. I eat my starch meal for lunch and pretty much stay fueled for the rest of the day on that, and don't have to think about timing my dinner before going to the gym—that was always awkward, this is much smoother.

nothing to see here, just the bottle of #tartcherrywater that i take with me to the gym

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

I want to always drink a little tart cherry juice (high in melatonin) before bed to help me sleep (though in truth it's the clonazepam doing the yeoman's work there), so I'll end my work days with a little glass and some cashews (high in magnesium, also for sleeping).

#tartcherryjuice #melatonin #cashews #magnesium #goodsleeps

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

On gym days I just finish what's left of my tart cherry water and then I decided I could kobayashi maru my word problem and snack on an egg bite if I'm hungry.

Do you want to see it in table form? Yes, right? Eee hee hee:

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
yogurt yogurt yogurt yogurt yogurt yogurt yogurt
chicken eggs chicken eggs chicken eggs turkey
tc2o turkey tc2o turkey tc2o chicken meat
eggs nuts eggs nuts eggs nuts nuts

Friday, October 14, 2016

Happy Birthday Kevin!!

kevin is two! #domokun #domo

A photo posted by Pauline Pang (@allapoppy) on

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Greek Yogurt with Roasted Apples and Sliced Almonds

greek yogurt with roasted apples and sliced almonds

This is really delish, it just got edged out of my regular rotation by microwaved apples. Which are also delish and don't have to be cooked ahead, and also come with bonus apple sticks. Not that roasting apples is so hard; if you have a little free headspace to pop a couple three apples in the oven, it'll be worth your while.

3–4 Honeycrisp or your favorite baking apples
honey
salt
cinnamon
greek yogurt
sliced almonds

Heat oven to 500 degrees.

Halve and core the apples, and arrange the halves cut side up in a 13 x 9 baking pan.

Thin about a tablespoon of honey with about a tablespoon of hot water in a small bowl. The hot water will melt the honey a bit, then whisk them together with a basting brush. Brush the thinned honey over the cut apple sides, using it all up. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and cinnamon.

Roast apples for twenty five minutes, turning the pan around in the oven halfway through if you think of it.

Let cool a bit, then plate two still warm halves right away with some greek yogurt and sliced almonds. The rest you can put away in the fridge to eat cold.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Greek Yogurt with Microwaved Apples and Sliced Almonds

greek yogurt with microwaved apples and sliced almonds

Ahhh so good, thanks to Betty White Lightning with the assist on these!

an apple
Greek yogurt
sliced almonds

Quarter and core the apple, then halve and peel the quarters. Save the peels for apple sticks! Chop the eighths crosswise into small chunks.

Microwave the apple chunks in a covered bowl, how long depends on your microwave. I put mine in for two minutes, stir them up a bit, and put them in for another two minutes.

Spoon a few spoonfuls of yogurt into a bowl, then top with apples and sliced almonds.