MEGA-QUICK POST-A-RAMA

I have to get this post done quick, as in, like yesterday. I have to finish eating dinner, change my clothes, change the cat litters (all four!) and make a final grocery list for Whole Foods before Sean picks me up so we can head to--you guessed it--Whole Foods...but also to the Vivian Girls concert in Toronto. Yay, I'm excited! The Vivian Girls and Whole Foods in one evening!!!! I am currently catching up on my fave food blogs and the most recent episode of Gossip Girl while I eat dinner and blog. I know, I know, horrible habits for dining, but I have no choice tonight.

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Food from yesterday includes two soft-boiled eggs and two slices of whole wheat toast (one with natural, organic PB) for first breakfast.Second breakfast was the following minus one of the granola bars because I forgot my instant oatmeal at home. The game plan was to consume as much food as possible in 30 minutes so that I wouldn't want to eat my arm or eat a sample within the four hours before my lunch break. Mission was only 50% accomplished because while I didn't eat any samples, I really did want to eat my arm by the time lunch rolled around. I tried to eat the following as "properly" as I could.Organic chicken drumstick that I coated in dijon mustard and then coated with breadcrumbs that I seasoned with parmesan cheese, garlic powder and thyme. Delicious! Oh and cucumber sticks and mini carrots. And I also ate a salad:Spring mix with some spinach as well as cucumber slices, radish slices, strawberries and goat cheese. No dressing, which was a bit of a shame because there was not enough goat cheese or strawberries to hold everything together. I'm trying to cut down on my goat cheese intake simply because it causes too much lactose intolerance-related pain.

Dinner yesterday was probably downright sad because I just can't remember it! Oh wells.

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10th...Today! (Wednesday)
Happy Hump Day! I figure that I should probably say that on at least one Wednesday on my blog. Last night I had been lamenting to Sean about how much McDonalds I have consumed since the beginning of the year. It's not usually my thing to eat McDonalds. I'd much rather have a homemade burger from Famous Sam's but sometimes McDonalds French fries are the way to go--even though they can be hit or miss.

Aaaanyway, having been out late the night before and having to get up in the morning to shower, make the second part of my lunch for today, I wasn't really in the mood or did I have the time to make myself first breakfast so I asked my dad if we could stop by Tim Hortons to grab a breakfasts sandwich and also to partake in their free hashbrown promo. Unfortunately, by the time we booked it, it was a little too late to head in the direction of Tims and we had to stop by McD's instead. Oops! So I ended up having a bacon and egg McMuffin with a hashbrown. But for reals, I need to stop eating McDonalds!!

Here I am finishing off my breakfast while yes, reading In Defense of Food. Oh dear...irony! Please don't be mad Michael Pollan. I normally do eat food. Mostly plants. First breakfast was followed up by a mug of oatmeal, with the usual, chia seed and ground flax. Sadly no awesome additions like fruit, fresh or otherwise.

Lunch was awesome, due to some masterful in-advance cooking.
Does this chicken drumstick look familiar? No, it's not the same one as the day before...I just happened to cook three on Monday night for subsequent lunches. So yeah, there's one more photo to be seen. Along with the chicken and mini carrots, I had the following ricotta and spinach ravioli with 365 Everyday (Whole Foods brand) tomato sauce...10 of them to be exact. Pretty tasty. The sauce is good. It's not too salty or spicy. It was a good mix with what I think is usually bland ravioli. No time for veggie add-ins this time around. This pear was on the menu but I ran out of time to eat it.This is what I am currently eating for dinner--though I probably should not be. Half of tonight's dinner are IBS-triggers but I don't dare step out of the house without eating something because Sean and I would probably end up in the drive-thru at McDonald's.So instead I'm having basmati rice with brussel sprouts, beef and onions and cabbage. Oi. The greens are the IBS-triggers. I already know that tomorrow will not be pleasant.

Have a great night everyone--I know I will!

MULTI-TASKING TO THE MAX!

What am I currently doing?
a) blogging
b) watching House
c) eating apple pie from McDonalds
d) all of the above

Well from the title you should have picked d) all of the above. My goal for March, which I have yet to post on a forum I frequent, was to post on my blog more frequently seeing as how my number of posts from January to February went quite downhill. I'm also watching House because I don't want to fall behind or end up watching it past midnight when I should be in bed and I'm eating this apple pie because it was left over from Saturday and no one else seems to want to eat it.

So really, these are all habits I should really start to cut out from my daily life. Perhaps today marks the end of the late nights (I'm trying to make an effort to go to bed by midnight now that the Olympics are over) and eating more intuitively instead of when I'm angry or bored.

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6th...Saturday
I kind of misplaced my camera for most of the day so I have no photos from breakfast/lunch and snacks. For dinner I was planning on making cassava fries, something I remember being uber delicious from the Toronto Zoo but also ridiculously expensive. The last time Sean and I split an order, it was almost $1 per "fry." Ridiculous! So of course I wanted to re-create the deliciousness at home. Enter, the cassava:So I didn't know this at the time but baking the cassava fries, which I had coated with olive oil and salt, was THE worst idea ever! After 45-50 minutes at 400F, the cassava was finally soft in the center but totally dried out and crunchy on the outsides. The texture was very reminiscent of corn nuts, in that sort of "break your tooth at any moment" kind of way. Not cool! But I ate quite a few of them anyway because it was late and I was hungry. Sean called me sad. It really was a sad moment.

Finally at 10:45pm I was having a proper dinner:Leftover green curry with udon noodles. I had completely forgotten about the green curry in my mini fridge so when I did remember them, I quickly boiled some udon noodles and then added some spinach and cucumber to the mix. Delicious and spicy!

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7th...Sunday
After church with my family I came home and quickly made myself breakfast:Three small eggs, sunnyside up with two slices of whole wheat bread (with Crofter's Asia and the other with natural/organic PB).

Then I went and got my nails done and spent waaay too much money on groceries. On the way home I was getting a little peckish so I tried a new "flavour" of Sahale Snack mix, Soledad:Almonds with apple, flax seeds, date, balsamic vinegar and red pepper--in case you can't read the fine print :) Here's my tiny handful:
My dad and I stopped off at McDonalds so he could get a free coffee and at that point I was just starving so I ended up eating the following for lunch (oops!):A double cheeseburger with fries and a Coke. Good news is that I didn't finish the fries--but only because they were soggy and too salty.

I followed that up with watermelon and a Kashi bar and decided to stop eating for the rest of the afternoon. For some reason I was feeling REALLY hungry all afternoon. Dinner followed about 4 and a half hours later with the following:Rice with roast duck (why is my family always having roast duck on Sundays?) along with a homemade samosa (it was okay...I probably should have skipped it) and some stir-fried iceberg lettuce, which is ridiculously good.

Dessert for the night was the following:Liberte Greek yogurt with half a banana, strawberries, a couple tablespoons of buckwheat cereal and a couple crushed up coconut chocolate patties. It was good but the yogurt was a little more tart than I'm used to. I didn't want to add any sweetener (usually honey or agave) because the banana was really ripe. After that I decided to close my stomach for the day.

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8th...Monday
First breakfast...two hard-boiled eggs, half a banana and a slice of whole wheat bread:The eggs were supposed to be soft-boiled so when I discovered hard-boiled eggs, I didn't want to dip my bread into that, so instead I had this:
I smeared some natural/organic PB and sliced up my banana. Delicious! But I think all the food made me really sleepy at work. Plus it was really warm in the lab. Warmth and a full belly makes me sleepy. Second breakfast was instant organic oatmeal (cinnamon spice, this time) with ground flax, chia seeds and strawberries.

Lunch was leftover green curry with udon noodles that ended up being quite mushy but still delicious:Look at that mess! Definitely not the same as Saturday night but this is because I added a whole bunch of milk (to cut down on the spicy factor) plus a tad bit of cream and more noodles. Everything kind of congealed together in the fridge and that's how things look when you only have a microwave to heat up your lunch.

Snacks included Mary's Herb crackers, Sahale Soledad and mini carrots:As well as the remaining strawberries from breakfast:
I don't know what was up with today but I was really hungry. A couple of hours after second breakfast I was getting a migraine and ready to eat my arm and I actually snuck into the washroom to eat a granola bar! I'm extremely glad I decided to grab the Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut bar before leaving the house this morning.

This evening I was more into eating than photographing. Dinner included lotus root soup and rice with beef and vegetable stew (thanks dad; he always makes dinner). Plus then the after-dinner snacks started. I had the last chocolate coconut patty and knowing that I had eaten the last one, I wanted more, so I decided to make another batch while preparing lunch for the next two days. I also ate half a raisin bun and am now eating that McDonalds apple pie but I've only managed to get halfway through it:I think I might just call it a night...my eyes are getting tired.

POST-BIRTHDAY POST!

It was my birthday--yay! But wow, was I ever in a birthday funk. The 25th wasn't actually so bad. My co-workers wished me a happy birthday and my best friend since grade nine, sent flowers to my workplace! (One of my co-workers chided me for having flowers brought to a lab work environment but I didn't know they weren't allowed--a spores issue--and my supervisor never said anything. In fact, my supervisor was happy but also a little bit jealous since none of his friends have ever sent him flowers on his birthday, hee hee. The flowers are gorgeous. They're little lillies in the most amazing colours. Ah, colours. I'm a whore for colours. I haven't been able to get any good photos in the evening so I'll have to get myself up early in the morning when the sun's out to get some sunny shots of the flowers and post them here.

I totally forgot to photograph today's food so far. I was eating on the go, having lunch in the car and eating an a Royal Gala apple while doing some shopping in Walmart (no joke). At one point I was running through the aisles with a bucket in one hand and the half-eaten apple in the other. Quite a sight to behold if you were one of the many other shoppers in the store.

Right now I'm drinking this:I'm going to drink half of it and then have my roast parsnip fries for dinner along with a slice of cake. It's better a rather off day for food. I just haven't really been in the mood to eat. Let's just recap previous days' food instead, shall we?

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23rd...Tuesday
Breakfast was a piece of French baguette with cream cheese on one side and Crofter's Asia spread on the other:I miss real bread. Of course it doesn't keep me very full for long but knowing that I was going to be having second breakfast in less than 90 minutes, this was a great way to start the day.

Lunch was the following:A free-range chicken drumstick that I coated with honey dijon mustard and seasoned breadcrumbs (thyme, salt and pepper). Along with the chicken, I've got a bunch of roast veggies (potatoes, mushrooms, red and orange peppers).

Snack of the day was grapes and dates:Dinner was unmemorable and unphotographed! The end for the 23rd!

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24th...Wednesday
Sadly I woke up on Wednesday and my tongue was swollen like crazy. My throat was also hurting--despite being on antibiotics. I was not in the mood to go to work but the doctor is not in on Wednesday and I was also not in the mood to wait at the walk-in clinic so I went to work anyway. I also couldn't afford to take another day off work.

First breakfast for Wednesday was a ripe banana with organic, all-natural PB and Crofter's Asia spread:
Second breakfast was oatmeal with the following mix-ins but my fat tongue was still giving me a hard time. Eating was just not on the list of things to be done for today so I only ate 1/4-1/3 of my oatmeal. My oatmeal toppings/mix-ins included sweetened shredded coconut, roast almonds and dried cherries:Note to self: almonds are a stupid idea for an oatmeal topping when your throat is hurting. Never again.

I also spent my very last day being 25, not only with a fat tongue and super sore throat, but by having the exact same lunch as the day before. I'll spare you from another photo but it was the same free-range chicken drumstick with roast veggies. I ate my lunch slowly but quickly as I only have 30 minutes to eat and managed to finish most of it. I ate all the protein and left a few veggies pieces behind. Fat Tongue wasn't allowing me to chew and swallow my food properly.

I got home after work feeling pretty miserable. I just wanted some soup. My dad ended up going out and picking up some beef bones for me to make some beef broth with rice noodles but Sean called in the meanwhile and asked if I wanted to hang out. I said I'd only hang out with him if I could make soup at his house and he agreed! So he picked me up and we headed back to his place and I made soup while we watched the Olympics with his parents. I can't remember what we were watching but afterwards Sean and I watched an episode of Lost (the second-last episode of season four).

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25th...Thursday (MY BIRTHDAY!)
The food wasn't that interesting. My tongue was still swollen so I decided to make an appointment with the doctor during my break at work (usually second breakfast). First breakfast was the following:
I was determined to eat that Royal Gala apple and two scrambled eggs. Sorry for the crappy pic...it's from my iPhone. Second breakfast was a no-go because of my doctor's appointment so of course, by the time lunch rolled around four hours later, I was positively starving but the leftover rice noodle soup that I had made at Sean's just didn't cut it. It wasn't flavourful enough and honestly, the Chinese veggies that I had added in at the last minute had disintegrated because Sean and I were too busy watching womens' bobsleigh. Hey, at least we won a gold and silver!

Dinner was at my family's usual Chinese restaurant, King of Kings in Markham. We go there so often that the waitresses pretty much know what we want and how we like our food (no MSG and less salt). Awesome. We didn't order as much food this time and I also ate less than usual because I was saving myself for the awesome chocolate banana cake from Dufflet that was awaiting me at home.

This cake is redonkulously good. It's layers of banana and chocolate cake with a whipped chocolate frosting. The best thing about Dufflet is that they use all natural ingredients--yay for me! Here's a photo of my birthday cake:
And here's a photo of my slice:===

26th...Friday
Friday was full of really bad foods. It started off pretty well with first breakfast:A piece of French baguette with cream cheese and two scrambled eggs. I find that the small portion of protein is just what I need to get working in the morning.

Lunch was leftovers from my birthday dinner. No photo as I was more interested in eating than photographing. I had chow mein noodles with mushrooms, Chinese veggies and a piece of fish in fake crab sauce. Mmm...delicious. I then followed that up with a piece of chocolate banana cake--mmm, even more delicious!

Dinner was yet another stunner: a Quarter Pounder meal from McDonalds. And I opted out of the two slices of processed cheese not to save calories, but because two slices of cheese is too much for this pseudo-Asian. Alas, my idea was not a good one because a Quarter Pounder with no cheese is just a glorified hamburger--and that's not a good thing. I didn't finish all my French fries though--they were a little too salty and a tad on the crappy side, if you know what I mean. I thought McDonalds was supposed to be fool-proof?? And of course, I had a slice of chocolate banana cake--all of this in Sean's car, no less. We were on our way to the Fucked Up concert in Toronto, which proved to be highly entertaining for two reasons: Fucked Up and the D'Urbervilles. Yes, leave it to Damon what's-his-face to book an opening I really like when I decide that there's no way in hell I'd like any of the opening bands and leave my money in the trunk and then find out that while there are $10 D'Urberville CDs for sale, I can't get any because there are no "in-outs" for the night. Boo!

But anyway, that was Friday.

OATS FROM START TO FINISH

The plan for the day was to wake up bright and early, apply for some jobs and then watch Sherlock Holmes with Sean later that evening. He didn't know about the plans yet though...I was going to call him at some point in the early evening to see if he was up for it but he beat me to it when my dad woke me up at 9:30 to take a call from Sean.

About 30 minutes later Sean was at my house and we headed downtown to pick up concert tickets to see Vampire Weekend and Japandroids in late-March and early-April, respectively.

I had excellent plans for breakfast. Knowing that I'd have to get ready "on-the-fly," I prepared myself some oatmeal to go (instant organic oats with chia seeds in a mug) but was too tempted when offered breakfast by Sean. So instead of eating this bowl of free fiber and goodness: I ate this a McDonald's bacon egg McMuffin plus not one but TWO hashbrowns and I washed it all down with an apple juice. Sigh. It's the 2 for $5.98 coupon that totally lured me in. Had Sean not had those coupons on him (which expire at the end of the month anyway), I probably would have passed. I really have been indulging in McDonald's way too much this month but Sean and I figure (or I anyway), that once we move in together, my days of fast food will be over--once and for all.

After our trip downtown, in which we grabbed a couple grande white chocolate mochas (which were free because I used a Starbucks gift card), we headed back to our homes and instead of sleeping, I made myself lunch. I had two small bowls of watermelon salad, which was really just watermelon chunks with mint, olive oil and salt:And a medley of mushrooms (shitake, button and king) stir-fried with onion and a 1/4 of a leftover tomato:
I ate half of the mushrooms and intended of saving the rest for dinner. In the afternoon I got a little bit of a sweet tooth so I decided to give this giant Lindt chocolate bar a go (a gift I received for Christmas from my parents)Check out the nutrutional list:I wouldn't consider it too bad. If you can't read it vertically (*shakes fist*) it says that four squares are 160 calories, which for me is perfect because I normally don't crave sweets or chocolate for that matter. So I ate about 3.5 squares because half a square fell into the garbage can by accident.

Dinner was served a couple of hours later but I dug into something completely different because I had leftover free-range chicken to eat. I paired my chicken up with the leftover medley of stir-fried mushrooms and made a quick salad of watercress and cucumbers. And I washed it all down with a small glass of organic 2% milk:
I don't know why but I felt hungry a couple of hours after dinner so I didn't want to let the oatmeal I made in the morning go to waste. I added some boiling water to bring it back to life:
And then added in the usual suspects:
But about an hour after that I was STILL hungry. So I decided to finish off the remaining slice of pizza I had from a couple of days ago. I also decided to cut it half so I could enjoy it longer.
And after that I decided I needed to call it a night of eats.

Money spent: $5.80 (McDs) and $2+ (meter parking)