Getting Better at Dancing

I went to my third contra dance gathering today. I am still pretty crap at it, but am getting slightly better. I don't bump into people as much. I am counting contradancing as two of the week's quotas for exercise. I danced from 7:45-11:00 and sat out only one dance. It was fantastic. I danced with some new partners and a few partners I danced with before. They are all so nice. And some of them are such beautiful dancers - it is a delight to watch them.

Today is also the first time since Tuesday that I ate all meals at home - it feels really good to do so. I am not cooking much this weekend. I want to finish up all the food in the fridge before heading out to the conference in Seattle on Wednesday.

Breakfast
Idlis and Sambhar

Lunch
Whole Wheat Flatbread w. Hummus and Spinach; Orange

Rice Cake w. Apricot Preserves, Cottage Cheese, Honey

Movie Snack
I watched Unstoppable and snacked on Kettle Corn and Green Tea

Dinner
Whole Wheat Flatbread w. Strawberry Preserves

After contradancing, I came back to: an orange
Then I ate: 3 Veg Gyoza, Rice Cake w. Hummus, Rice Cake w. Honey

End to a Hectic Week

I am glad that the week is over. It has been a busy week - too busy to be entirely enjoyable. Everything after the Tuesday night folk dance class is a blur. Wed and Thursday were long days for me - 8am to 9:30pm. It threw off my eating completely. I was eating at all hours and eating out often. I also went on my first mini-binge since the first week of the year. Not too bad a setback. Still... I have not been able to exercise after Tue either. Thankfully, I am going to do my 3-hr contra-dance this weekend. That will make up for everything else.

I am a bit more worried about next week. I am going to a conference from Wed-Friday. I won't be eating at home, and I will be socializing a lot with my coworkers and other conference attendees. I must remember that tidbit that I talked about a few posts ago - when I socialize, I must focus on the people I am with, and not the food. I wish I would feel comfortable enough to take pictures of everything I eat, but that probably would be weird in a professional setting. We'll see how it goes. I signed up for a Monday night Square Dance class, so at the very least I'll have two nights of dance before I head out on Wed morning. I also need to not cook much and just finish out what I have in my fridge between now and Tuesday night.

Breakfast
Sprouted Grain Bread, SF Strawberry Preserves, Bosc Pear

Lunch
I went to an Indian buffet with a friend.
First Plate: Upma, Carrot Pickle, Spinach Pakodas, Mint Chutney, Curried Broccoli, Biriyani, Mushroom Mutter Curry, Coconut & Tomato Chutneys.
Second Plate: I got some Upma, Spinach Pakodas and Mint Chutney.
I skipped dessert - I am not a big fan of rice pudding anyway

Dinner
Two Rice Cakes w. Homemade Spicy Hummus, Kettle Corn

Hot Chocolate

I also picked up the teapot I painted on my ladies' night out:



Here are pictures of the various stages:



And here it is in action for an afternoon break:



And good news! I called to see if the parking ticket could be reduced, and the lady I talked with cut it in half. So I only have to pay $15 now. Yay!

Eating Out and Eating Out of Control

It has been a busy three days. I forgot my camera at work on Tuesday. And on yesterday and today I was judging a competition at the university. I got home only around 10pm both days and am wiped out. I am going in a bit late tomorrow.

Lots of eating out and eating out of control happened over the past few days. I don't have pics of everything, but here is what happened:

TUESDAY

Breakfast
More Indian Breakfast: Idli (steamed rice and lentil cakes) w. Sambhar (curried lentil gravy)

Snack
Half a Raspberry Chocolate Cookie. I ate the other half as an afternoon snack.

Lunch
Tomato-Garlic Quinoa, Lentil Soup, Sprouted Grain Bread, Banana Bread

Tea
(no more pics today since I forgot the camera at work)
Hot Chocolate, Multigrain Chips w. White Chocolate, Ginger Snaps

Dinner
Vegetable Gyoza w. Peanut Vinaigrette
Multigrain Chips w. White Chocolate x 2
Banana Bread

Exercise
Folk Dance Class


WEDNESDAY

Breakfast
Same bkfst as yesterday - Idli and Sambhar. I used yesterday's pic.

Lunch
Another gourmet sandwich - Curried Tofu. This was delicious!

Rice crispy w. Fruit Loops x2

Dinner
I usually eat dinner around 7pm. I went to judge this competition, and they gave me dinner, but at 5:30. I was not too hungry and are very little. I did not want to take a pic of my plate there.
A bit of green salad w. Raspberry Dressing
A tiny piece of buttered bread
Med. piece veggie lasagna
Diet Coke.

When I got home, I was famished. I ate a piece of Banana Bread and went to bed a bit hungry.

THURSDAY

Breakfast
Plain Oats w. Sea Salt

Hot Chocolate

Snack
Lemon-Poppyseed Cake, Grapes x2
Chai Spice (Licorice) Tea - I ended up not drinking most of this

Lunch
Flatbread. Mixed-Veg-Tofu Mongolian Bowl from the dorms. I ate half.

Dinner #1
Judged the 2nd round of the competition. Ate again at 5:30. Ate only a bit.
Tiny Tortilla w. beans, tomato, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce
7 Tortilla chips
Drank a lot of fluids: Diet Squirt, Diet Coke

Dinner #2
I was famished when I got home again and went on a mini-binge. I feel stuffed now.
The rest of the Mongolian Bowl w. Quinoa and Peanut Vinaigrette

Bread w. Chillies and Olive Oil x2
A tiny bit of dry Raisin Flax Cereal (no pic)

Datapoint Two

I went to my WW meeting today feeling apprehensive because once again, I did not count points this week relying instead on attempting to eat in moderation and make my splurges small ones. And once again it paid off - 2 lbs lost this week. This is so much more fun than counting points. Essentially, the WW message is the same - eat in moderation and exercise. However, they demonize culinary delights as "BAD" foods. There are no BAD foods - just foods that are meant to not be consumed in large quantities. In fact, the foods that are labeled "bad" are the ones that I have the best time eating.

Here is an example. In this week's WW Weekly, a woman received a "bravo" for skipping the bread-sticks using this method: she ate her salad and let the bread-sticks get cold. She did not find the cold bread-sticks appetizing, and so ate only a third of one. Honestly! I wish WW would not affirm this kind of thing. If she had said she ate a bread-stick and enjoyed it and then decided that one was enough - that would be deserving of a bravo in my opinion. But you get all kinds of tips like this in the weekly and at the meetings. It's not all bad though. Another bit in the weekly recommended that you focus on what the point is while eating out. If it is to socialize, then enjoy that and pick lighter fare. If it is to enjoy the cuisine, then don't hold back too much. It seems so simple, but I had never thought of it that way. I'll have to remember that next time I go out.

Today was a sort of "snacky" day - breakfast was my only real meal today.

Breakfast

I like holidays because I get to make a more elaborate Indian breakfast. I made puttu today. It's steamed cakes made from packed roasted rice flour using this:

Puttu w. leftover frozen Black Chickpea Curry

Tea w. LF Milk

Day-long Snacking

I went to watch a movie and took mix-in Green Tea and Ginger Snaps with me.

Unphotographed Pepperjack cheese while at the Grocery Store (was starving)

Then I came back and watched a movie at home while eating popcorn.

Don't shop while starving or you'll end up with this for dinner -
Jalapeno Poppers (I ate 12 - and added on about a pound)

Orange - my only fruit of the day!

A Productive Sunday

My Sundays are usually spent wallowing in sadness that the weekend is coming to an end. Not so the case today since it's a 3-day weekend. I went to bed late last night - somewhat under the influence of the wine (I only need a teensy quantity of alcohol to make me tipsy). I thought I might wake up late and waste the entire day. However, I woke up early-ish (9am), and decided that I was going to make today be a productive day. I made a list of things to do - I have about 40 different things I need to do over the next week. I marked the ones I needed to do today and did most of them. I still need to finish a couple of big projects - but I can stay up late and do them. I finally finally took my Christmas tree down. I also flipped my mattress, cleaned my entire home, and did a bunch of other smallish things that will improve the quality of my life for the coming week. I also managed to eat while being productive:

Breakfast
French Toast w. Toasted Pecans and Honey, Tea

I ate breakfast while reading this:
I rarely read "real" newspapers these days. :-)

Lunch
Vegetable Potsickers w. Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette, Edamame

Orange, Banana-Pecan Bread

Tea
Tea, Triple Ginger Snaps

Dinner
Quinoa Salad w. Pear, Pecans, Chickpeas, Spinach, Raspberry Vinaigrette.
This was the best salad I have had in a long while.

Midnight Snacking
Microwaved Whole Wheat Flatbread and Gouda Cheese

An Extremely Expensive Piece of Pottery

I have just come back from a ladies' evening out with friends. We went to a paint-your-pottery place for an evening of snacking, creativity and conversation. This is what I started with:


And this is what I ended up with:


They will glaze it and fire it, and I will get it back on Wednesday. I'll post pictures of the final product when I get it back next week.

But when I got back out of the studio, I found this on my windshield:


I had assumed that the parking lot was affiliated with the pottery studio. It turns out that was not the case, and I now have to pay a $30 parking ticket. I feel sad and angry with myself.

Breakfast
Whole Wheat Flatbread w. Hummus, Tea

Lunch
Spicy Tomato-Garlic Quinoa, Yogurt, Orange

I meant to eat this with breakfast, but was full and left it till after lunch
Half a Pear, Prunes

Snacks
Edamame - I ate two portions of this.

Triple Ginger Snaps

Dinner
Strawberry Cake, Lemon Cupcake, Brown Rice Chips, Red Pepper Dip

Paneer Stuffed Crescents - I ate two

I am drowning my sadness over the stupid parking ticket in wine.
I have not bought wine glasses since I moved here a few months ago.

Exercise
After I post this, I am off to play with these blue babies:

Adding this, I have exercised only 2x this week. Must remember my resolution.

Addeddum: I had a piece of Banana-Pecan Bread to satisfy midnight cravings: