Week 2, Day 3

So, back at work! Still a little groggy, but not enough to excuse myself any longer. Plus, it would really be a pity to stay indoors another day with weather as glorious as this. :)

Breakfast:
3 rice crackers with peanut butter
1 glass of spelt milk
(Yay, I managed to eat something! In the morning! Without being late! Success!)

Lunch:
1 chicken kebab
(eaten in the park, basking in the sunshine - the only way to eat really, if I could...)

Afternoon:
1 glass of oat milk

Dinner:
Whole wheat pasta with self-made sauce consisting of tomato sauce, onion, courgette, and yellow bell pepper, smoked mussels for protein, some herbs

See, it's much more fun when I have loads of vegetables at home. No sugar anywhere - and what a difference to the madness of last week.
I think that food and eating it is much more fun when it's quite colourful - so the pasta sauce is red, white, green and yellow.

To vary things a little, I got a glass of cashew butter today, wonder how that'll turn out. And soon, I have to visit the one store I know that has mixed nuts butter, which I know to be extremely tasty. :)

Edit: I must admit, later that night, I had two small spoonfulls of the cashew butter - and, boy, it's one of the tastiest things I've ever tried. Wow. (I also had a cup of herbal tea, but that really pales in comparison.)

Week 2, Day 2

I haven't even mentioned what this week is about. Week 1 was about reducing sugar intake (and I mainly used it to reduce remaining sweets in the house and becoming more aware of where sugar is actually hidden). Week 2 I am supposed to learn how to deal with food cravings by eating more healthy fats, like fish, avocado, nuts and seeds. The theory being that sugar just makes you go on eating, but fat (and protein) fill you up. Of course, the main thing is still eating mainly vegetables and proteins and some healthy carbohydrates - I won't be eating crisps and all that now just stuff myself with any kind of fat.
I think this week is also supposed to teach how to deal with cravings in general. Replacing sweet treats with other treats, like drinking a nice cup of tea.

What did I eat today?

Breakfast:
1 bowl of porridge made with spelt milk, with the last of my frozen berries and a lot of linseed added, also some brown sugar because something went wrong and it tasted awfully watery and I almost couldn't eat it at all :( (S)

Lunch:
2 slices of bread with grilled cheese, plus several radishes (7 or 8 maybe?)

Dinner:
half a chicken breast and three small chicken nuggets (S) (I bought these before I was aware there was any sugar added, now they're gone)
salad made of rocket, radishes and cherry tomatoes, with a dressing made with lemon and poppy seed oil
one cup of Kukicha

Week 2, Day 1

I must admit that yesterday is slightly blurry. I didn't sleep at all during the night, then had a nap from morning to noon. The rest of the day felt rather dream-like and consisted of alternately knitting and reading books for my exam next Monday.

I think I had these things:

Breakfast:
3 rice crackers with peanut butter
1 large cup of Yogi Tea Chocolate

"Lunch":
1 large cup of hot chocolate (using up the last remainders that were still hanging around) (S)
2 eggs
some dried tomato
some corn crackers

Dinner:
Thai Chicken Masamun Curry (S)
I succumbed. I couldn't face cooking or another slice of bread or more eggs, so I ate something ready-made. I love these things, but I think this has been the last time for quite a while.

Feeling slightly better again today. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be fine again.

Week 1, Day 7

Breakfast:
3 rice crackers with peanut butter
2 cups of ginger tea with lemsip (S) and cayenne pepper

Lunch:
5 small falafel
steamed vegetables with some butter
yoghurt dip with herbs, garlic and pepper

Dinner:
Omelett made with 2 eggs, some parmesan and other cheese, (lots of) pepper
1 slice of bread

...and loads of ginger tea throughout the day.  Thankfully, the only thing with added sugar today was the lemon drink. (It's not really lemsip, but some lemon drink to be made with hot water...so I just added it to the tea.)

Feeling a little better, but still down with a temperature. :(

Week 1, Day 6

This evening will be another sugar fest, the last one though. We're visiting some friends, who today celebrate a tradition from Vorarlberg. There, carnival only properly ends at the Sunday after Shrove Tuesday, with a huge bonfire and large amounts of special donuts eaten with apple sauce. I see this as another experiment, observing what effects this will have. But, I must admit, I'll probably also enjoy eating the stuff. ;)

Morning snack:
1 small cup of hot chocolate made with rice milk (S)
3 rice crackers with peanut butter (made with just peanuts, no additives)

Lunch:
Wild salmon steak with some macadamia oil
Roast vegetables with garlic
Some sweets still remaining from Christmas (S)

Evening:
1 bowl of apple sauce (S)
approx. 10-15 of the donuts (they're quite small) with sugar (S)
3 cups of ginger tea with added lemsip (S) and cayenne pepper [Turns out I fell ill... :( ]

Week 1, Day 5

Breakfast:
1 cup of Earl Grey
2 slices of bread with dark chocolate spread (now also used up) (S)

Lunch:
2 different types of bread, one with tiny pieces of bacon added, one with oats and raisins (S)
some cheese
1 egg
(no veggies...all I have at home right now are tomatoes, and I can't face those right now)
2 small pieces of chocolate (now also gone, none left lying around) (S)

Evening (not really "dinner"):
Small bit of gingerbread my great-aunt made (S)
2 small bottles of beer
2 glasses of white wine
Some puffed millet balls (a snack which is just slightly salted)

We visited friends and played Descent, which might explain the beer...

So, no veggies at all - bad. :( And the list of things I did eat sounds...very strange. I need to change that.
But I'm becoming more aware of sugar content, checking everything I buy, reflecting on how things with some sugar make me feel.
Also, the curry things I ate at the restaurant apparently weren't all that good for me. I slept badly and woke up feeling odd. So, I suppose, no more curry at restaurants for the time being.

Week 1, Day 4

Day 4! I'm going out for dinner this evening, so I wonder how that'll turn out.

Breakfast:
2 slices of bread, one with tuna spread (S) and one with cheese
1 cup of Chococino (it's finished now. Gone. Yay!) plus some added chocolate*, with some rice milk as well

Lunch:
3 small potatoes, roasted with olive oil, plus some cheese and roast tomatoes

Dinner:
Coconut Curry soup
Fish curry with I think it was either pumpkin or sweet potatoes (and kale or chard?), some rice
1 glass of (white) spritzer
1 tall glass of Kardamom Mint (a drink that a chef in Graz has developed and which has since popped up at several locations, it's some mint syrup plus kardamom plus mineral water and some lemon/orange) (S)

I can't say for sure whether there was any added sugar in the soup and curry, but if so then there can't have been all that much. Plus - more veggies today, as promised. 

I think one of the reasons why reducing sugar isn't that much of a problem is that I never really had any regular sugar intake (like some people have, eg. always some honey in their tea and a biscuit after lunch or something like that, a habit). I eat sugar if someone places it in front of me (chocolate biscuits, anyone?) and I am concentrating on something else and just start to munch, OR I'm having a lousy time and buy some chocolate and have a small binge (oxymoron? maybe, but still true). Recently, with currently being able to make use of a nearby sauna, lousy times haven't been that much of a problem (I go there instead of stuffing myself with sweets), and I think if I take care I can avoid eating cookies just because they're available.
Other things (like Innocent smoothies etc) I normally get because I think of them as healthy and a small treat. Since I can't drink them right now (because I want to figure out whether they're actually good and healthy for me), I'll just get myself delicious tea as a treat, and that'll be that. :)

*I made some of these (with a different recipe, less cream) for Christmas presents, ended up with too many, kept some for myself, now using them up.

Week 1, Day 3

After breakfast today I decided to give up on my silly plan of eating up all the sweet things remaining...not very helpful. Instead, I'm hiding them away. Out of sight, out of mind, you know.

What have I eaten today?

Breakfast:
(More like sugar fest...)
1 large cup of instant coffee (Chococino...S) with some oat milk
3 slices of bread with butter and this sugary stuff

Lunch:
Potato salad with some field salad added, and 1 egg, mustard (S) and yoghurt (which replaces mayonnaise quite nicely), some herbs and cayenne pepper (and some poppy seed oil again, very little).
Not the healthiest thing I've ever eaten...but also not the unhealthiest...
(Kept me from getting hungry for a long time though.)

Afternoon:
1 cup of Earl Grey

Late Evening
1 avocado, smashed up, lemon pepper and cayenne pepper added
10 or so corn crackers

Writing this down publicly is working, I think. Guilting me into thinking more about what I eat. During breakfast today, I realised I couldn't bear one more day of writing "And I ate all these sugary things for breakfast to start my day".
Also - tomorrow I'll eat proper vegetables again. :P

Week 1, Day 2

Well, today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake (Tues-)Day if you're British. This means that people will eat ridiculous amounts of food and consume even more ridiculous amounts of alcohol today, at least around here.
Me, I'll use it as an excuse to eat up as much of the sugary stuff left in my cupboards as I can, which probably won't be all that much in the end, but let's see.

Breakfast:
1 large cup of Yogi Tea Chocolate
2 slices of bread with butter and this stuff (S)

"Lunch":
1 small latte (regular milk, because I really should talk more loudly I suppose :P)
1 ciabatta with goat cheese, bell pepper, watercress and red pesto (S?)

"Dinner":
3 large beer (...)
1 large hot dog with onions and barbecue sauce (S?)

So, not very sweet after all. Not very healthy either, but I never expected that today, anyway. I assume some sugar in the added condiments with my food, but not sure about that.
Now, tomorrow will be interesting again. More effort in eating healthy stuff. Yay!

Week 1, Day 1

I just decided to write down a food diary for these weeks. I have, on several occasions, tried this with a little book that I always carry with me, but I never manage to keep it up for very long. Maybe doing this every day and openly and for a limited period of time will work better.

So, today I had*:
1 large cup of Earl Grey
1 big bowl of porridge (oat milk+oats), with some berries (S), maple syrup (S) and linseed
2 handfulls of small tomatoes
1 cup of yoghurt with herbs
2 hard eggs
and then dinner which was potato salad with mayonnaise (S) and mustard (S), field salad with some poppy seed oil, and some chicken nuggets (S).
Also, I'm just about to make a huge cup of hot chocolate (S), to use up some leftovers (ie. to get rid of sweet things still in the house).

[Edit: I forgot...also about five corn/maize crackers.]

See where the sugar (S) is hiding? Some of these are quite obvious (berries, maple syrup, hot chocolate), some I suspected (mayonnaise, mustard), but what really annoyed me was that there's sugar in the chicken nuggets. Guess I really need to be careful about these convenience foods...anything breaded etc.
While at the grocery store, I also checked some snacks, and soy milk...roasted nuts with added sugar, sugar in the soy milk...
This is going to be interesting, challenging, enlightening. And fun, I guess. :)

*I don't always eat like this, but I slept in today and only went grocery shopping in the evening, so I had to make do with what was still left over from before my one-week-holiday away.

Lent

Come Wednesday, Lent starts again. Last year, around this time, I fasted for around a week or so, drinking a lot of tea and juice and only eating rice and steamed veggies. It was...interesting (food never smells better than when you're not eating most of it), but I doubt whether it had a lasting effect on the way I eat, or my health. This year, I'd like to try something different - reducing and then ceasing my sugar intake for several weeks.

The way I reached this decision was one of those internet things again. There are a lot of blogs whose feed I receive, a long list in my Google Reader. There are some that I read regularly, but most, I just sometimes check them out. In this case, two weeks ago, late at night, working on a project but needing to take a break, I randomly clicked on one, and found that the author had dramatically reduced her sugar intake around this time last year, and had only good things to say about it.
This clicked with my dislike for any kind of dependency. I don't smoke, I don't drink much, I have problems accepting help because I think I should be able to do everything by myself, that kind of stuff. But I know I have this thing about sugar. And it's been annoying me for years.

So...this week should be week one, where I aim to reduce my intake. Which will probably only properly start on Wednesday, what with the festivities until then, plus the remaining sweet things in the house which need to be gotten rid of. So, two more days with lots of hot chocolate (and some of these, I guess), and then...reducing.

Braving MTBR*

Last year, I didn't read all that much. This may not seem like a big problem, a lot of people don't read all that much. However, I'm not only a student of literary studies, I'm also the owner of many, many, MANY unread books, some of them my own, some of them obtained via Bookcrossing (and therefore longing to be on the road again). Plus, I really like reading. The other two things wouldn't have happened if that wasn't the case.

I know what held me up last year - Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn-tetralogy. I'd been promising my boyfriend that I'd read these books for more than three years, since they are amongst his favourites. However - I am no longer 16, I have read a lot of non-Fantasy since I was 16, AND it was a German translation which was obviously not done very well (you know it's bad when you read the German text and KNOW that something is wrong). I had huge problems getting into the story, and had marvellous rants about how this and that annoyed me about said book every time I finished one. My boyfriend alerted me to the fact that, if I didn't like it, I didn't really need to finish reading them all, but I was determined.
It took me from March until December. 3513 pages (I just checked). It sounds so much, but I know it could have gone much, much faster.
Anyway, most of my year was taken up by this endeavour. Which means I've maybe read about 10 books in 2011. And that IS a big problem, at least to me.

Accordingly, this year, I've got a reading resolution. One book per week, or 52 books by the end of the year. Single mangas don't count if I've read them before (I might count new ones, or at least make a separate list for them). Secondary reading for my PhD doesn't count, non-fiction books read in other contexts (I don't want to write 'for fun' since that would imply my PhD isn't) do.

This is the beginning of week five, and yes, I've read four books so far - the four Tiffany Aching novels by Terry Pratchett. I'd only read The Wee Free Men, back when it came out, and the follow-ups have led a sad and ignored life until now (except for when my boyfriend read them, resulting in him having read more Pratchett than me, which was, frankly, ridiculous). I've read them now, enjoyed them, learned from them. They have been an excellent start into this new year.

I'm currently reading The Heart of Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh (setting me straight about some of my beliefs about what Buddhism teaches), and will, I think, soon start on The English Patient (which I've read before, but will read again for an exam, and because it's good).

My parentheses are also still going strong. Hah. 

*Mount To Be Read. Hey, listen.

Once more unto the breach my friends

I love writing. I love language. I love stories.
I am, in fact, attempting to write more than 200 pages of PhD stuff on the power of storytelling.
Why then do I not keep up with this blog?

Who knows. I'll just try again.
I may write about nothing of great importance. I may write about the banalities of daily life, like "Oooh, look, I bought a sweater with shiny stripes!", accompanied by a picture of said sweater. I might do nothing but complain about how all those big ideas I have are so hard to make into a reality.
Then again, I may write about said big ideas, and successes, and how the banalities of daily life can actually make up said life, and make it a happy one.
Who knows. I'll just try again.

It's time

Tears in my eyes. Might just be the hormones. Anyway.

Linky

Berry clafoutis in 3 easy steps

Step 1: Mix together ingredients until they look really pretty.

Step 2: Bake until your whole flat smells delicious.

Step 3: Devour!

 

  

PS: I used this recipe (which is in German). I added some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) to the egg mix. It was okay, but will not become a new favourite. If only I could find the recipe I used last year...the one that was seriously amazing and got me into this whole clafoutis thing in the first place...*dreamy sigh*

Tea: Drinking the Loot Part I

During Monday's tea party/tasting, I not only consumed many a tasty cup, but also squirreled away some of the many interesting varieties I did not have time to try into my bag. The loot:



As I needed some cheering up today, I tried two of them: London Tea's 'The Eminent Earl Grey' and English Tea Shop's Savory Blend, one of their special Christmas flavors.

I have in the past not been a big drinker of black tea, mainly being stuck on Yogi Tea's yummy spice blends and the odd cup of green tea in between. Lately, this has shifted a little, and I've drunk my share of black tea over the past few months, mostly with milk and honey to warm me up in spring. Some time this spring, I also had my very first cup of Earl Grey - astoundingly late in my tea drinking life, I know.
Anyway, this version of Earl Grey was quite nice. It smelled heavenly when I took it out of it's packaging, and it made for a lovely drink as well. I'm thinking that if my tongue weren't still slightly burnt from being too hasty (and possibly greedy) on Monday I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The fact that it was still quite nice (and didn't taste like vanilla at all *tiny obscure reference to Monday*) makes me think it must in fact be really REALLY good. It's also fairtrade, with a bag made from corn starch, so it's biodegradable. There's still the issue of the plastic wrapping etc, if you're looking into the green issue, but at least it's somewhat going into the right direction.

As for the savory blend, it smells like toffee in a cup. It tastes like toffee in a cup. Since it's a Christmas blend, there's also some hints of orange and other spices. Lovely.
Sadly, these are, afaik, not fairtrade, and again, there's that plastic wrapper. I know that's supposed to keep the flavours intact, but...I wonder whether that's really necessary.

The London Tea teas can be got in loose form as well...which fixes the wrapper issue. :)

And a final note, I drank both of these in the evening, and maybe I shouldn't have...I'm sort of sensitive to caffeine/theine, so drinking two huge cups of essentially black tea later in the day...makes for some lying awake. But then again, that's not exactly a special feature of these two blends,  so if you're sensitive as well, you're probably being more careful than me anyway. ;)

Monday

So, that's how I felt today, until a few minutes to 4pm.
- I went to be too late.
- I slept badly and dreamt even worse.
- When I looked at my phone in the morning, it said something about it being 2°C outside.
- When I switched on my computer to sign up for an exam, I found that the exam date doesn't exist. I get nasty visions of the exam having taken place last week, with me being completely unaware.
- Because of that stupid shock, I ran out of time to eat breakfast.
- Before I dared go outside, I donned a wollen scarf, hat and mittens. A week ago, some girls were still running around in those really short shorts.
- My morning lecture, which I rushed to like a mad thing on a blue blur, started with the lecturer taking 15 minutes to get his power point stuff to work. Should have eaten breakfast instead of rushing there...
- When I went outside to go to work, it had started raining as well.
- At work, lots of emails of disgruntled coworkes not happy with how things are currently run. I agree, but then, I'm pretty sure my contract won't be prolonged *again*this winter, so my general attitude towards the whole thing is a bit philosophical anyway.
- I down two cups of coffee (something that I usually never do. Never ever.) and it doesn't help at all.
- Work ends, and I miserably phone my boyfriend, and complain, and it doesn't help either.
- I drive back to uni and tell my friend who works there that the best thing, or rather the only good thing, about the day certainly is my blue scarf, and nothing else.

So, I feel all sad and miserable and mistreated by fate and the weather.
And suddenly, things got better.
A colleague walked past the two of us commiserating, and invited us to a tea party.
I went to my afternoon lecture, and it turns out we'll be spending the semester analysing films. Yay!
I get out of my lecture, and I learn that it's not just a tea party, but a tea tasting. With scones and sandwiches and cake. And - as one glance into the meeting room reveals - lots and lots and LOTS of teas to try.
The rest of the evening turns into a happy blur of hot beverages and scones with jam and exchanged stories.
And then I come home and there's a hot shower and cuddles waiting for me, too.
What more can I say?
Karmic rebalancing at its best.

Have I really not written anything here in ten months? Wow.
And that coming (or NOT coming) from me, who loves writing so much. Language. Texts. Words.
The one who always thinks about wanting to write, and then doesn't. Hah.

A friend, some months ago, quote Goethe at me. He said (and I take the liberty to translate):
Success has three letters: ACT. [Erfolg hat drei Buchstaben: TUN]
So, maybe now I will write again. After all, November is approaching. I should really be getting into gear.

I like to make separate posts for separate topics, so I guess I'll make a few of those now. But here's a picture, just for fun.

Taken at the beginning of June during a very rainy weekend holiday, in Villach, Carynthia. I call her the Ghostly Tentacle Woman. Not very imaginative, I guess. She might also be Tentacular Priestess Cor'Shazarr. Who knows. Anyway, I thought it was a rather scary image to be found on a church wall...

Good things list X

A little late, but here it is:

*Being positive about not winning Nano - and managing to achieve the goal I set myself, even though I only set it on the evening of the 29th, when I had 16k, and it was to reach 20k. A big hooray for far-off cheerleaders, ones never met in person.
*Fresh snow - it feels like this will be a proper winter once again, after all those half-hearted ones we had for the last few years. I had to stop going by bike a day earlier than I had planned, which is quite amazing.
*The celebration of tea
*Beautiful afternoon sunlight
*The snow lasting so much longer than it usually does - beautiful!
*My teeny-tiny scar healing up lovely and well.
*Dressing up as the Tyrant of Sogo (from Barbarella), and only being asked what kind of costume I had on after about 4 hours - guess I wore it like I walked around like this every day. Truth: 0, Goth: 1
*Finishing "Iron Council", and thinking about it, and turning my initial slight disappointment with how it ended into some kind of sad happiness.
*More reading
*Loads of Big Bang Theory - even though we're watching it all for the second or third time (in some cases), I still love it completely. I do talk along to some of the scenes, because I know them so well, but not too many to make it annoying. ;)
*Lots of chocolate and gingerbread etc for 4th and 6th of December, and not all of it has been eaten yet (success!)
*Our last roleplaying evening was hilarious. I've never experienced the like. We were in hysterics at the end. Haven't laughed this hard for months.
*Being a team with my boyfriend against the strange rumours that seemed (or seem?) to be flying around
*Going out twice in a row; much fun was had by all.
*Knitting with beads, so pretty. :D
*The beautiful concert we attended on Tuesday - a guitar orchestra that a friend of mine plays in. They have an annual Christmas concert, always with some special guests in the second half. The first half is usually classical music, the second more funky (tango and the like). Last year they had this kind of surreal Christmas special at the very end, but I suppose everyone was far too baffled by it for it to be repeated (which was a little sad, but well). Anyway, we both loved it.
*RED: I can't even remember what the last movie with live actors was that I saw at the cinema - I was jokingly saying "Avatar" yesterday. ;) Anyway, not quite what we expected it to be like, but fun and charming nevertheless. Machine gun-toting Helen Mirren FTW. ;)
*Partaking in a game where I had to guess my identity (which was stuck to my head - sounds strange, but yes, it works) - and my first secret identity was "Barbamama". I'm sure there's someone reading who will find this just as hilarious as I do.

A good mix of excellent times and annoying times in the last 10 days, but hey, let's concentrate on the good things. That's what this is all about, after all. :)

5 years ago...

...I won my first Nano.
And apparently, I was much more hilarious than I am now.
I was just reading around my first blog, Live from London, a little, and even though I know it was me who wrote that, a younger, very different me, I had to grin at myself quite a few times. How wonderfully witty I was!
Please take a look if you want some funny observations on London, studying abroad, or myself.