Some Days Are Better Than Others

Good morning, girls and boys! I hope you’ve all had lovely weekends and Father’s Days, and are starting your Mondays feeling refreshed and ready to begin the week.  Yesterday (Sunday) was, frankly, a really bad day.  Work was just awful. I don’t want to dwell on it, and I hate “bringing my work home with me,” so suffice it to say that I cannot wait for the day when I don’t have to wait tables to support myself. What a dream.  Saturday, however, was perfect, so let’s start there instead.

Saturday’s breakfast was strange: sweet, sour & nutty oats.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup waters
• 1 banana
• 1 plum
• 1 scoop PB
• cinnamon

Somehow, the sweetness of the banana and the tart, fleshiness of the plum worked really well.  I didn’t even remember that I hadn’t put any brown sugar or honey in to sweeten it!

After I ate breakfast and Ari had lunch (I’ve been getting up a lot earlier than he has and had breakfast so I can keep myself on a remotely normal schedule), we headed into the city to see The Hangover.  It was a lot funnier than I expected it to be,  but very foul, so if you get offended by college potty humor, I’d think twice before seeing it.

At the theater, we split a bag of Haribo gummies that I brought back from the Duty Free Shop at the airport in Berlin for precisely this reason.  Yeah, that’s a lot of gummies.  I also had a sip of Ari’s Coke Zero, but mostly stuck to slamming gummies

We had a late lunch at a make-your-own salad place nearby. Unfortunately, despite the many promising ingredients, it was one of the worst salads I’ve ever had.

In the bowl, went:

• mixed greens
• grilled shrimp (about 20)
• blue cheese (“a little” ended up looking more like 1/2 cup)
• walnuts (another 1/2 cup)
• roasted red peppers
• corn
• fat free honey mustard dressing

I ended up picking out a lot of the nuts and cheese, and a couple shrimp.  I was so upset I didn’t ask for the dressing on the side, because there was an inch-deep pool of it at the bottom and everything was dripping. Yuck!

But, Tasty D Lite (sorry, The Lite Choice) made it all better.

I got a small cup of hazelnut fudge topped with chocolate chips.  (I knocked a lot of the chips into the trash… there were so many that I couldn’t taste the ice cream!)

After satisfying our sweet teeth, we went home to make a nice dinner for my mom. While shopping for groceries, we saw some copy cats:

I was really excited about this dinner.  Ever since I saw Jenna‘s take on grouper, I knew I had to try it!  The seafood department at my grocery store didn’t have grouper, so I got some halibut (“This is a fancy fish,” my mom said) instead.

I followed Jenna‘s instructions and marinated four filets in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and fresh rosemary and oregano.

Instead of traditional basil pesto, I went with Cibo Naturals‘ Cilantro Lime Pesto.  I’ve used this brand before… they have a lot of interesting pestos and spreads. I smeared a dollop of this onto each filet:

Then I topped each piece with chopped sundried tomatoes, mixed olives, and a smidgen of feta.  (For Ari, who doesn’t like things that are “white and creamy,” I used mozzarella, as per his request.  His filet is the white monster second from the top.)

I baked the fish at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until a knife can be easily inserted into the center. What a pretty fish!

I also sautéed some mushrooms up for Ari (cooking spray, salt & pepper) and made a simple romaine/tomato salad with a dressing of white garlic basil vinegar, lemon-infused olive oil, grey poupon mustard, Newman’s Own limeade, and a pinch of ginger powder.

A nice dinner is not complete without nice bread; I had a hunk of toasted baguette and dipped it in a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

To drink, we had some Kauri Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc that my friend Howard gave me.  It was very light and fresh, but a little spicy at the same time. It complemented the meal perfectly!

My mom picked up a delicious chocolate cake from Citarella’s for dessert.

We almost didn’t cut it in time…

It was made with three kinds of chocolate. Nomnomnom.

After dinner, I fell asleep while we all watched O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The concert that emerged from this movie was one of the first ones I ever saw!  We stayed the night with my mommy, too, which was very nice.

And then Sunday started. I woke up 45 minutes late, fifteen minutes before I was supposed to leave to work the brunch shift at work.  I still managed to make myself look halfway- decent, and whip up a good breakfast before racing out the door.

I’d made some rhubarb the night before, which I’d planned to use as a side dish but decided at the last minute to use it for breakfast instead.  I used a 12-oz bag of frozen ‘barb and cooked it in 2/3 cup water, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 garlic clove, and 1 tsp of sugar.   The garlic was quite a kick at 8:30 in the morning!

Into the breakfast bowl went:

• 1 container Fage 0%
• blueberries
• rhubarb
• pecans
• honey

At work, I had one of my snack baggies I prepared, thanks to your suggestions. Each has a handful of Puffins, diced dried apricots, prunes and figs, raisins and almonds.

I also had a small slice of of French toast made with baguette (not pictured), and an egg white omelet with veggies.  I had a couple potatoes, but ended up having to stay an hour later than normal so the rest of them got cold.

As I said, work was not so great… it happens.  I’m just lucky the restaurant is only a couple blocks away from my gym, because I really, really needed to burn off steam, and if it had been any further away I would have just gone home and stewed instead.

My workout was great, and was just what the doctor ordered.  I warmed up with 20 minutes on the stairs, then did some arm work, 35 minutes on the bike, and one ab machine afterwards.

Total time: 1 hour 13 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 185

Average heart rate: 149

Calories burned: 647

My body was still really sore from “HPF” on Friday, and this pushed me over the edge. But, I get to be very demanding in terms of getting back massages!

When I went home, I made the most comforting meal I know: Gliding Calm tofu, a sweet potato with honey and cinnamon, and brown rice.  For some reason, the tofu was a little dryer than usual, so I dipped it in Annie’s Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette. Perfect! (And if you’re wondering what’s on that little cracker, you’ll have to read on…)

I also snacked on a red bell pepper while getting dinner ready…

…and making some of Gena‘s favorite guacamole!

Lunch is going to be pretty damn fine!

Last night ended up making up for a not-so-great day.  Ari and I had some wine and watched The Wrestler, which we both liked a lot.

I’m a big believer that starting the morning right will help shape your day into a great one.  Last night, I stuck this guy into the fridge in hopes of besting yesterday’s ickiness.

Jim was made up of:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 banana
• 2 T skim milk
• 1.5 t peanut butter
• cinnamon
• apricot eyes, pecan nose, blueberry smile

The forecast looks good: today is going to be a good day.  I have to do some reading for my internship, but I like doing that.

Have a great day!