The weight of the daily grind is getting heavier! Less than three weeks until I leave for India, and the responsibilities keep pilin’ up (or rather, I can’t get seem to get rid of the ones I have)!
However, the week was GORGEOUS! It was hoodie/vest/t-shirt weather most of the week. Amazing. Unfortunately the cold is apparently coming back soon, but I’ll take what I can get.
Earlier in the week I came home, checked the mail and was greeted by this:
From, of course, none other than the BF who is still in Borneo (guh).
But I was thrilled! And I couldn’t stop smiling when I read this:
Ahhh, what a cutie! I especially love the illustrations (particularly the alligator…haha). And yes, he signed off as “Chef James” – a little nickname he has acquired based on his spectacular culinary skills (did I mention he used to try to woo me by leaving little vegan treats on my doorstep? yep.). He’d probably be pretty mortified (well, or feel like the prince that he is) that I posted this all up here, but so far he has given me no indication that he’s been reading my blog [from Indonesia] so perhaps if he is this will incite him to pipe up
Other things! I did a bunch of cooking this week, though not too many pictures to post up. One thing I did make was Christie’s Lentil and Cabbage Soup. I added a few things into the mix (a carrot, some celery, and 100g of lean ground turkey I had in the freezer) and decided to let’er go on the Crock Pot! I love this thing:
The recipe is great – thanks Christie! It is an extremely hearty and satisfying bowl of soup that really warms the soul…
How-ev-er…upon some trial&error with this soup and some hummus, I have determined that for the moment, beans and legumes are just NOT sitting well with me. Almost immediately after eating them (particularly the chickpeas) my stomach becomes an unhappy-in-turmoil place. So for the moment, the rest of the soup is going to chill out (ha-ha) in the freezer until my digestion becomes completely normal. Happy to report that it’s almost there, but I want to focus on keeping my sensitivities out of my diet as much as possible. (sidebar: although peanuts are legumes, my body seems to be ok with them)
Since we’re talking about lentils, may I please remind everyone to pick over your lentils well? Otherwise you might end up with something like this scraping between your teeth:
Oh yes. A rock. Never again will I be the lazy girl who picks through her lentils for 4.6 seconds.
On the thesis front, I’ve taken a step back. My supervisor read my last chapter, liked it, and offered some references for me to check out to enhance it (always a good idea!). However, after checking out the suggested books, I opted to essentially re-write my most recent chapter. I’m leaving my main ideas (they still stick) but have just gone through and bolstered the text with my new references. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s adding up to a lot of work. This is good news because it means I’ll have much more solid text, but it’s bad news because it is putting me a week behind schedule in getting my thesis done before India. If I successfully completely the revisions this weekend, that gives me only 2 weeks to write 2 more chapters before I leave. Oh my god!
So, in the spirit of bucking down, I started my morning with this:
Books, books, books, and a bowl of almost-normal oats! This one had 1/4 oats (soaked overnight), 1/2 T chia seeds, 2 T applesauce, 2T pumpkin, cinnamon, and 1/4 c 1% cottage cheese (with probiotics). Topped with 1 T natural pb and a few frozen berries, nuked and poured overtop. It was so delicious.
Where did the cottage cheese come from? Yesterday I made the executive decision to bring some dairy back into my life since I’ve been feeling a lot better. It’s admittedly a bit early, but I’m the captain of my body, right? It felt like it was going to sit well, and so far, so good. The idea is to introduce one thing at a time without changing the diet, see how you feel over hte next 72 hours (apparently that’s how long food intolerances can take to flare up) so that you can watch your reactions. Depending on the severity of the reaction, you can decide whether to include the food regularly, occasionally, rarely, or obviously never. So there we have it – day 2 of dairy!
Anyway, it was so worth it for this bowl. Yum Yum.
Also, I’m do apologize for not posting the cookie recipe yet! For some reason I have just not been in the mood for eating them lately. But let me give you a preview of the three ingredients: nut butter + carob powder + coconut. That’s it!
Happy weekend – I hope you guys are enjoying it for me, because I’ll be on lockdown mode!
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