Vegan (sort of) - Week 3

Week 3 appears to be our test of wills.

We started off ordering chicken wings and salads from Marco's.

Monday we found ourselves in the Wendy's drive thru.

Today was a bit better - tofurkey italian sausage, grits (unfortunately but deliciously with Kerrygold), toast with olive oil and jelly...but we also had shrimp on top of the grits and eggs.

I have to admit this week I've been much less motivated to cook than the last two weeks.  I'm just tired.  I had the plan to do teriyaki quinoa bowls (this will be tomorrow), we have a fridge full of carrots, celery, miso paste, seitan, watermelon, and I have some potatoes to cook...

But I don't want to prepare anything.  I'm not craving meat - in fact, I was very disappointed with the Wendy's (I'll admit the chicken wings were good but I was done after 6).  I keep thinking maybe we should try some of those prepared meals through a service - there are several around town plus there are a few that are advertising on Facebook.  Considering our food budget it may actually be worth the effort to not think about food and regroup.

Rice - random post

When I was younger I read.  A lot.  I remember reading The Women of Brewster Place, a novel by Gloria Naylor.  In this book there is a scene where a young mother is cooking dinner.  She's just lost a baby (or maybe even aborted it) because she is poor, unmarried, and already taking care of a toddler.  The man she loves is in and out of their lives but isn't really worth anything.

At any rate she is washing rice in the sink.  She keeps rinsing it and rinsing it but, in her mind, the water just won't come clean.  It's probably supposed to be a metaphor for her life - she keeps doing the same thing over and over again but getting the same result, otherwise known as the definition of insanity.

My point is that it took me a very long time, but it finally clicked for me - rice isn't going to come clean.  It's literally starch.  She was rinsing starch...from starch.  That's why the water stayed cloudy!

Rice is such a delicious food.  I have tried all types but my favorite is jasmine, unless it is wrapped around seaweed and served as a type of sushi.  Reg loves rice, too - he actually grew up eating rice, whereas I didn't.  Mom was not too big a fan - I guess because SHE grew up eating it, too.

We've been all over the place with rice - it seems to raise Reggie's blood sugar quite a bit so we've been shying away from it.  Now I may prepare it once or twice a month.  I love wild rice but I'm far too lazy to actually cook it on the stove, and it never cooks right in my cooker, so I stick with white rice and only prepare it when I'm doing something with a lot of protein rich veggies.

Click this site to give free rice!  http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1428

Weekend cliches

I never really "got" what people were meaning when they would sigh "the weekend just isn't long enough".  I guess my jobs before this latest one never generated that level of stress, so I didn't spend so much energy a) not trying to think about work when I was off, & b) coming home every night too tired to do more than swallow a few bites of food before collapsing into bed.

I have mostly been a happy go lucky person.  Naturally curious, I would often try to see all sides of why friends and family could be so exhausted.  I would try to stay upbeat and positive, create comfort zones so they would have refuge to truly rest and decompress when they had time away from work.  When they needed or wanted it, I would try to objectively help figure out ways to alleviate stress and work woes if I could.  Because my jobs didn't require a whole lot of brain power I could "leave at 5pm" or at least I never had to worry about taking work home with me.  I was rarely tethered to my job.  I never made big decisions about work.  I didn't have to attend endless, pointless meetings;  I didn't have to stress about retaining clients and bending over backwards to keep people happy.

This was great because I could work out early in the morning, or stay up late browsing Facebook.  I could travel.  I could go to events in the city on a week night, or be present at events on the weekend.  I knew all kinds of things happening in my friend's lives, and I could be available if they needed me.

As of February I became an associate client manager and my entire life turned upside down.  No matter how early I got to work or how late I stay there isn't enough time in the day.  I have been working 6 and 7 days.  I have constant headaches, my positive outlook is waning; my weight is the highest it has ever been.  I feel chained to my desk.  I can feel my cortisol levels on constant high because of stress.  I never feel like I am "off".  I was never good at sleeping but now I am more tired than ever.