Bamalama Rice

Blarg. HVS is ranting about a month-long snickle-challenge, involving three cups of veg a day (no big deal, I was doing that already this past week), exercise for 20 minutes at least twice a week (I wish this was easier, as I'm locked down with an Edie too young to be attached to a bike and crappy cold weather, but I think I may break out my weights out of the clost), weigh in at the beginning and end of the month (233.4 this morning, bleah, that's my fatso weight), and permission to take a day off from the challenge once a week.

HVS, it's winter in the North East, so much good stuff is not in season and the imported stuff doesn't taste as good! Waaaah! I guess I'll muddle through.

I fell asleep around 7 this evening -- I was up until 3 in the morning the night before on a babka-high. Which is all fine and good, except when you have a baby and it leaves your partner responsible for the child all night. I'm sorry, B!

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
This smoothie was incredibly thick, almost too thick, and oddly unsweet. After having a near perfect smoothie only a few days ago to go to this begs the question: what was different. I'm fairly certain the key to a top notch smoothie is a half-black, over-ripe mushy banana. That's what went in then, while today I used a stiff, partially green banana that definitely added an ice-cream like thickness to the proceedings, but flavor-wise was totally flat.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 fish sticks, chard with caramelized onion, white rice, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Very satisfying American-style lunch. The fish sticks from WF were all-organic, made with whole fillet of cod. The amazing thing is the fish actually tasted fishy, something you usually don't get in a product like that, and not greasy at all. I made some white sushi rice in the rice cooker, crumbled up some dried morrels, used chicken stock, a little salt, a little olive oil and a shot of rice wine vinegar that made all the difference -- the vinegar made the rice just jump up and shout, "BAMALAMA!" Though next time I go shopping, gonna get brown sushi rice.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma-style salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hunks of carrot, cucumber, red pepper and red onion, lightly salted and dipped in homemade babaganoush. About 2 cups of vegetable matter.

DINNER: 6pm, Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I bought my usual 'deluxe' (pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, peppers) but also picked up a "grilled vegetable" version for B (zucchini, onion, peppers). I noticed that the later had about 1/3 less fat, and took 5 minutes longer to cook. B only ate one, so I ate one of each, and the difference was startling. The meat toppings gave a certain spiciness, sure, but the fat made ALL the difference. The deluxe crust was crispy/tender and pretty much makes this product amazing, while the grilled vegetable crust was dry, a little saw-dusty and crumbled when you bit into it.