Mystery novels, foam, and loving galore!

 

  

It was a cold and foggy morning...

 No? Is that not how it goes? Okay, let's try again.

It was a warm and foamy morning...

 

Still nay? Okay, maybe I should nix the "write mystery novels with sexy private eyes for a living" idea.

Ah well, at least I have other ideas for my future...

Like personal nut butter Queen.

So, so, so good. Like eating healthy Nutella straight from the... packet?

Seriously. I could advise people on the best nut butters to buy. Stand near the nut butter section of Whole Foods with a little pin on my apron stating "Personal nut butter Queen." Grind their nuts for them... Hand them tubs of 365 Crunchy, Justin's, and DCD? Yes?

Or else I could settle for personal chef to the rich and famous, serving them divine bowls of oats and hand-crafted foamy lattés...

Oats, cinnamon, vanilla, large chopped banana, 365 Crunchy pb. Coffee with almond milk, steamed in my Nespresso... Mmmm. Best way to start a morning.

So as the opening line to my future mystery novel with a sexy private eye would suggest, It was cold and foggy this morning. I decided it was a good matinée to lounge on the couch, savoring a nice warm bowl of oats, drinking a foamy 'latté', and reading a good book.

Oh, and snuggling with this cutie:

By the way, this is what happens when you're trying to read the last sentence of a page:

Give me love, mommy!

How can you deny that face?

Doggy loved, it was time to get onto important matters. AKA, the loving of these two beauties.

Often I go for the volume tricks popularized by Carrie and Katie, but I've found they leave me with a very watery, unsatisfying bowl. I get enough volume with my banana, and it's so much more satisfying and thick.

How can you say no to that?

What is your dream career?
Voluminous oatmeal: yay or nay?

Domestic Goddess

Bonjour, my little chickadees.

I have totally been channeling my inner domestic goddess lately.

Though it may not look it, that tomato is still green.

The dog was bathed.

She didn't like it, but she complied. During the bath, she looked like a shivering drowned rat. Afterward, she looked so much whiter, and smelled more like soap and less like fish.

I cooked up lentils for my loverrly lunch. They were delicieux. So soft and mushy and flavorful. Aaaand they were quick to cook (25 minutes start to finish rather than soaked overnight then cooked for two hours).

The great thing about beans in general? They are a wonderful source of protein and carbs. Half a cup of dry lentils fit the bill for my protein and carb needs for lunch or dinner. So simple, satisfying, and yum!

Chard! Harvested from my garden, chopped, and sautéed in EVOO to perfection. I added some carrot chunks at the last minute.

There were lots of these:

Yes, snails looove my veggie garden. It is a tragedy (more on that later.) At first I cut out all the snail holes, but by the end I couldn't be bothered. This piece got cooked and went into my belly. And guess what? I haven't died yet :)

The final product. Chard, carrots, lentils, hummus. In case you were wondering, lentils and hummus are a match made in heaven.

Don't worry, there really were veggies under those lentils ;)

Déjeuner à l'air.

Speaking of harvesting... This is my veggie garden. She is my baby.

One of my darling tomato plants. Early girls. Of my four plants, this was the single one untouched by the deer who meandered into our garden and began munching away. It was very sad.

My dying spinach. Not looking too hot, eh? I blame it on the pot ;)

The snails say: nom nom.
Lexi says: be gone!

Eight-ball squash. I can't wait to harvest it!

Beautiful pink iris that just popped up behind my Early Girls.

Questions:

Have you been doing anything domestic lately?

Do you enjoy gardening/have a garden?

Do you typically cook up something for lunch (using pots and pans) or do you stick to quick and easy meals?

Mad Monday

Okay, so it's not really mad at all. It's actually been pretty mellow, so far.

I'll just jump right into it. I've been struggling lately.
It all began at Grandma's - she has trouble walking, so basically the whole four days I was there (minus a short run, a jazzercise class, and a ride or two up and down the street on the bike) I basically sat on the couch with her, watching The Food Network. Goodness. I never realized how active I am at home, aside from 'real' exercise (aka intense, purposeful exercise like running, yoga, biking...) I'm constantly running around, painting my room, gardening, baking (standing on your feet in the kitchen for that long is exercise, ;) )

So, as time elapsed and my sedentary lifestyle got to me, I realized I wasn't as hungry as usual, and my carb and protein intake diminished. By my last meal, I was eating a huge fruit salad and maybe a 1/4 cup of kidney and garbanzo beans with haricots verts.

When I came home, I thought to myself "oh, you know, I could just have salad for lunch." And so... I did. A big salad of leafy greens, some chopped fruit, tomato, dried cranberries, and a 'lite' dressing. With dessert, of course ;) I can never forgo my favorite part of any meal. Then, I read Gena's philosophy on breakfast. She reiterated something I'd read in Skinny Bitch that sounded logical to me. Basically, when you wake up, your body is emerging from 'hibernation' and still processing last night's dinner. Thus, you shouldn't shock, or load it up with a bunch of heavy food. Rather, you should eat really light foods that your body can easily digest, like fruits, smoothies, etc.

So, of course, being the impressionable and slightly eating disordered person that I am, I grip onto her words and vow to eat only smoothies for breakfast as a sort of 'cleanse.' Bad idea. Not sure if it's the xanthan gum, or the amount of veggies I've been consuming, but my digestive system has not been happy. That, and I've been feeling super fat and bloated.

Obviously, this is not a good way for me to proceed, especially as I am still in recovery from anorexia. Sooooo, I've decided to try to get back on track by doing what I did in treatment. Basically, every weekday, I'll do a post that deals with the same topics covered in the groups at my treatment center on that day.
So, it'll look a little like this:

Monday: Goal Setting or interpersonal relations
Tuesday: Art Therapy
Wednesday: Body Image
Thursday: Experiential or Nutrition
Friday: Process

So, today is Goal setting. Basically, I write up a maximum of four goals for the week.

1) Exercise more regularly
My injuries have been rather discouraging, and have forced me to get out of the habit of exercising regularly. I think the lack of exercise (endorphins, baby, endorphins!) has made me feel pretty sluggish and depressed lately, and I have had little to no desire to exercise.

I think I'm over my tendonitis, but now my calf muscles are as tight as cables right now, so running hurts. However, I went for a short run this morning, and it was glorious. It felt great to get out there and feel completely free, unfettered by earthly bonds like a purse, my dog straining on her leash, etc.
So I want to take really good care of my legs, like so:



My legs were covered in goose bumps by the time I took off the cold packs. My mom made them individual little sleeves to cover them. Isn't she sweet?


and continue doing exercise like walking, yoga, pilates, biking, and a tiny bit of running.


2) Get together with a friend
Pretty self-explanatory. My parents are at our house in France, and I'm by myself at our home in California. I think part of the reason I've been feeling depressed is the isolation.

3) Finish reading my book

How To Read And Why by Harold Bloom (professor at Yale.) My mom got it for me for X-mas, and I just finished Dear John, so I needed new reading material. This book is pretty good, from what I've read so far.



Mhmmm. Kombucha and Literature. Symbols of my two loves in life: Nutrition and English. Please disregard the huge thing of charmin' toilet paper in the background ;). Oh, and check out Bella in the background, lounging around and living a dog's life :P

Side note: does anyone else listen to Yale's open courses from iTunes? They're amazing. Really really good. Basically they're recorded lectures that Yalies actually take on various subjects. I've listened to Steven B. Smith's Introduction to Political Philosophy more than once, and find it so fascinating and informative. I really recommend you check them out on iTunes. Just type in Yale university, and a bunch will pop up. Best part? It's completely FREE.


So... yeah. Those are my goals for the week.

Cuestiónes:

Do you have any goals for this week?

Can anyone else relate to the calf tightness thing? If so, do you have any recommendations for how to heal it?

Update and Food and Books!

Well. It's been a while. I kind of want to change the direction of this blog. Many things have happened to me since I last posted - taking the semester off, being in treatment to recover from my anorexia, getting healthier, being happier, reading, painting, doing activities again - and I think my blog should reflect that (not to mention I should update more often *cough cough*.)

Sooo, I'm thinking of making this a food blog, since I love food, cooking and baking it, and those are the kinds of blogs I love reading. I'm kind of worried about the whole taking photos of my food thing, because firstly, I'm not the world's greatest photographer, and secondly, I might forget to take photos, not to mention it would be rather awkward to whip out my iPhone every time I have a meal and take photos of it.

But alack, I shall do it. If only for my own gratification.

Hence, let's start with breakfast this morning!

1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup pumpkin purée, loadsa cinnamon, a big dollop o' peanut butter. Cup of soymilk on the side. Matching dishes from Crate & Barrel.

Bliss in a bowl.

Pumpkin oats is my all time favorite breakfast. So so good. It's also a balanced breakfast - one serving of carbs, for energy, one serving of veggies, for vitamins etc, one serving of healthy fat, essential for mental flexibility and soft skin, and one serving of dairy, an amazing source of calcium, protein, and essential for my bones. It's love.


Otherwise, it's a beautiful day, here in Northern California. It's been raining non-stop since last week (not that I'm complaining - I love the rain!) but the sun has come out and the trees waving gently in the wind are dappled with crystals of sunlight. Hopefully this will do my mini vegetable garden good, at least what's left of it now that the slugs have devoured my chard and soy beans.


Anywho, the second thing I wanted to talk about was... Books! Yes, I have rediscovered my love of literature (pleasure literature, that is.) I kind of lost my ability to read a while ago. I had no energy, no ability to concentrate, no interest in reading. It was really quite lamentable. However, one day in treatment, I found myself itching to read some Jane Austen. Her prose is just so relaxing, so calming, so smooth without appearing to try. I decided to go to the library that afternoon with my friend K - but ended up not picking up Austen, I forget why. Maybe they only had ones I'd already read? Emma, Sense and Sensibility and the like. No Mansfield Park or Persuasion, which I was rather hoping for.

So I carted myself over to the "P" section, seeking the much acclaimed Jodi Picoult. I picked up Salem Falls and House Rules. I also picked up Blue Angel by Francine Prose, a teen novel that ended up being extremely shallow and awkward, Runner's World and Writer's Digest - along with a hefty pile of DVDs I never ended up watching. But hey, they were free, why hold back?

So, the point of this rather long post is that I wanted to review Blue Angel by Francine Prose. It's basically the story of a professor/novelist, Ted Swenson, at a University in New England, teaching a Creative Writing seminar. However, he develops a relationship with Angela Argo, his punk, black clothed, metal studded, tattooed students. Swenson falls in love with her novel about another teacher-student relationship, and subsequently, with her. However, it all goes downhill from there as they attempt to sleep together, Angela asks him to show her novel to his editor, and she ultimately presses charges of sexual assault to get revenge on him for failing to convince his editor to read Angela's lewd novel.

So what did I think? Swenson is an awkward, aging professor, not entirely likable, though rather witty and humorous at times during his inner monologues of paranoia, disdain, and boredom. The romantic interest between Swenson and his student is definitely believable, Prose makes it authentic and progressive, which I liked. The Creative Writing seminar is fun to read about, partly because I can relate, being a student at a New England University planning on majoring in English or Literary Arts, partly due to the unimaginative, perverted students and their stories.

I read it quickly - it was definitely a book you can get into. However, there was something about it that was rather disturbing. Maybe it was the atmosphere of guilt and paranoia. Maybe it was the consciousness of eternal failure. Maybe it was the constant self-destruction. Maybe it was the manipulation. I don't know. It put me in a bad mood, over the weekend, perhaps because I could relate to Swenson so much - guilt, failure, self-destructive behaviors, falling in love with inappropriate people... I don't know. It was all too personal, all too dark, for me to feel good about. All this capped off with a terrible ending in which the protagonist, bent on self-destruction, does not even attempt to save himself, but throws himself, head-first, into the abyss, jubilant in his misery.


But, I won't end on that negative note - let's enjoy my wonderful doggie, Bella, shall we?

Bella! The love of my life.

Questions:
Do you go crazy at the Library?
I do. I always checkout a million books, dvds, and magazines. What can I say?

Have you ever fallen in love, or had a crush on a teacher?
For sure. My English teacher in High School was amazing - I looked up to him so much, and wished we could just run away to some alternate world, go on adventures, and read Shakespeare together!


Any Books you liked or disliked lately?
Salem Falls - liked.
Blue Angel - disliked, but respected.