Tag Archives: plum

It’s All About Your Perception

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This morning there was an issue with the alarms – Adam actually slept through his first class! – so the big breakfast I had planned couldn’t happen.  We were in such a rush leaving the house it was not until I sat down in the car that I realized I hadn’t washed my face, brushed my teeth, or put on make-up!!!  Thank goodness I managed to grab this PB Cookie Lara Bar for breakfast.

When I got to Anatomy Lab it seemed like bad-news-bombs were just dropping all over the place –

  • we have a homework assignment, and my group’s is due even though the apparatus we were given was broken
  • I only scored a 75% on last week’s quiz
  • we now have a quiz next week (that brings my quiz/exam total for next week up to 5!)

But you know what?  My morning was better than their’s –

It’s all about perception; when things seem bad you’ve got to put them into perspective before you get upset.  By the way – yes, we did a frog lab; yes, it was awful.  I wasn’t bothered by the cats at all but Mr. Hops made me pretty sad.

In my break between labs I did some Orgo reading and ate lunch.  Plums (why did I buy so many of these?!),

and another turkey/Laughing Cow/Sandwich Thin.

Today’s Food Lab experiment was fat cookery.  My group had to prepare deep-fried Pakoda (Indian-style veggie tempura), pan-fried catfish, and fried bread (to experiment with the effects of the quality of the cooking oil).  The small room got pretty crazy with five groups frying, the smell was out of control!  I had to take three (small) bites of fried bread so I could write up my lab report and it was pretty nauseating.  I just took a tiny plate of food at the end.

Next week we are doing fruit, and I am much more excited to sample then!

I actually felt pretty sick just from that small amount of fried food, but I knew that the gym would make me feel better.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I kept my workout short because I was feeling awkward about just how bad I smelled!  My hair and skin are like smell sponges; when I worked at Cold Stone in high school the smell of waffle cones would waft off of me for days!

I took a shower as soon as I walked home (and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed!).  Then Adam and I took a quick fountain diet soda walk and got started on dinner.  I was actually so hungry after our walk that I ate this mini bag of kettle korn while we cooked.

Dinner was three simple steps.  Prepare some quinoa.

Pan-steam eggplant and spinach.

Make a quick curry sauce out of 0% Plain Stonyfield, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and brown sugar.

Serve and consume.

Adam thought this was going to be gross and he ended up pleasantly surprised, and I thought it would be wonderful and ended up underwhelmed.  It’s all about perception!

Have you ever been so tired (or rushed!) that you forgot to brush your teeth?

He’s Just Like Garfield

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I did not get enough work done today!  I got behind from my “free” weekend last week and I’m still making work up, and I have 4 exams next week so things are feeling a little crazy.  But I did something so that feels good.  Progress, people!

This morning we sent the in-laws off with a hearty breakfast from Panos.

I ordered “The Fix,” which was Two eggs, scrambled with Feta, in a grilled Pita, served with homefries.  I made some adjustments – mozzarella subbed in for feta, plus broccoli and spinach.

I forgot to ask for no butter on my pita so I ended up taking a few sandwich bites and then eating the insides out.  I left a lot of my huge pile of hash browns as well.

I think we sent them off full!  I wrote my blog address down for my m-i-l so she might start stopping by (hi Barb!).

I spent the morning studying – and internet time killing 😦 – at home.  The last of the 7-layer bar was calling me.

I cut it up into little pieces for ease in eating without crumming on my Orgo book.

Around 3 the husband came home from the lab and we drove over to my campus so I could go to the gym.  My knees have been feeling off so I decided to do a nice low-impact treadmill run.

  • 5minute walking warm up
  • 20minutes jogging
  • 5minute walking cool down

I covered 2.53miles.  I finished with a super quick stretch, the gym was closing as I left!

Adam and I studied in the library for a couple of hours – although, again, I got distracted by the internet; gleesh!  I packed some plums and a Babybel Light to snack on.

I also opened this Turtle candy bar my in-laws brought me.

I ate 1.5 and gave the rest to the husband.

I should not have wasted any more time, but when we got home and Adam asked if I wanted to go for a walk my answer was “of course!”  We didn’t have any destination in mind so we ended up visiting the store kitties.

The “store kitties” are two cats that live in a clothing shop on Elmwood, the husband is obsessed with them.  They are ginormous; one has huge paws and is just a big cat, and the other is a total fatty. 

Sidenote 1 – Adam and I have been talking for weeks about baking a lasagna just so we can take a picture of it with the fat cat.  Sidenote 2 – when we lived in Park Slope there was a store puppy, a french bulldog that visited a shop 13 blocks from our apartment.  We walked those 13 blocks at least 3 times a week so we could go in and be total dog creepers.

Dinner was a cinch when we got home because my m-i-l brought us all sorts of home cooked goodness.

Rosemary chicken (just to note, I only ate one of those two pieces, I don’t think I’m a fan of chicken thighs),

with roasted potatoes.

All we had to do was pan-steam some Red Russian Kale, finished off with a bit of sesame oil.

I dipped every component in ketchup 🙂

This meal felt very hardy.

Now I’m already late for my goal bedtime and I’ve still got to shower; I’m off!

Do you have any “store animals” in your neighborhood?

Study Emergen-C

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After two days in a row with less than enough sleep (certainly not because I got up at 6:30 to watch the “Covert Affairs” finale today!) I knew today was the perfect time to try the parfait recipe that came in the latest Emergen-C newsletter.

I didn’t layer, I don’t like to conform.

I also switched up the recipe a bit.  My version had Stoneyfild Low Fat French Vanilla Yogurt, an Acai Berry Emergen-C packet, cinnamon, some chopped plum, and a 1/2cup of gingerbread granola.

Honestly, this wasn’t very good 😦  The taste was way too fizzy, not something I’m looking for in my yogurt.

I’m heading to campus now and my anatomy quiz is at 9.  Once that blood bath is wrapped up – literally, because I think after the failing we are going back to our cats – I have a short break for lunch, Food Prep Lab, a club meeting, and then I finally get to go to the gym.

May your day be filled with love.

Any tricks up your sleeve that keep you from getting sick?

The Frontal Bone’s Connected to the Parietal Bone’s Connected to the Occipital Bone…

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Oh my goodness, I’ve my first Anatomy quiz in 9hours and I am not ready!  A migraine hit last night and stopped my study session cold.  I’ve got to hurry to bed so I can keep learning in the morning.

Breakfast.

Three local prune plums from the farmers’ market,

and a WW Sandwich Thin with 2T Wegman’s chunky pb and Crofter’s strawberry.

I had an advisement meeting at 11 and then I stayed on campus until I got out of lab at 8; yikes!  All of my not-in-class time got used up running back and forth to department heads and I’ve still barely broken the tip of the iceberg on my transfer credit issues!

Lunch was eaten via snackage.  A single serving of Caramel Cashew trail mix from Target.

The last of the dried apricots.

I got a small coffee (with skim milk) before lab,

and I also got my fall on with a small sample of pumpkin loaf.

We have a new TA which means we have a lot more work – we can’t work in partners any more, we spend more time reviewing procedure – but he seems really excited about Chemistry and I can tell I’m going to learn a lot.  We did recrystallizations in Orgo Lab today and there was an issue so I had to do mine twice, which practically put me in tears.  It was nice to have the walk home to clear my head.

I grabbed a Yoplait Light Thick and Creamy Cinnamon Bun yogurt as soon as I walked in the door.

And dinner was Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni from Lean Cuisine.

The husband was my knight in shining armor helping me review Anatomy (for the first time!) for a couple of hours this evening.  While we worked I ate a mini Java Chip Frap. Starbucks ice cream.

And now I’ve got to take the world’s quickest shower and get into bed.  I am so excited to be able to go to the gym after my quiz tomorrow!

If you took Anatomy in school, did you find it interesting or boring?  I think osteopathy is fascinating; I’d love to work as a forensic anthropologist!

Just Call Me Mrs. McDreamy

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Tuesday, every other week, is my crazy day.  I have class from 8am – 7:40pm and I stay on campus the entire day!  During my late night yesterday I found time to pack my lunch (and write this post!).  I packed a turkey sandwich

(3 slices of honey roasted turkey, blue cheese Laughing Cow, whole wheat Sandwich Thin),

and a nice purple plum.

Golly, what an innovative sandwich!  I bet you guys were shocked to see that combo!  Thankfully I have a little something not so boring to make up for my predictawich.  Remember when Adam and I helped some friends out by acting in an orientation video for the medical school first years?  Yeah, it’s hilarious!

Our scene starts at 2:52, but the whole thing is pretty funny.

I Might Just Move to Iowa

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Yeeeeesh today has seemed long!  I felt tired when I left my Anatomy lecture at 3, let alone when I walked into Chem Lab at 6pm.  Today I am thankful that –

  1. My group managed to finish up our melting point lab early and get out of there at 8pm.
  2. We cooked tonight’s dinner last night!

I am not thankful that it’s nearing the end of the month and my hunger monster attacked late this afternoon.  I packed myself a sliced plum as a snack.

Nah-uh.  You guys, I can’t even begin to describe how hungry I was; it felt like my stomach was going to implode.  I grabbed a Sabra To-Go pack,

and that barely made a dent.  I had a few hours between classes in which I was supposed to do my anatomy reading, but instead I clutched my stomach. 

Finally I found a cinnamon raisin bagel at the coffee shop (I ate half, toasted, plain) and that seemed to quiet the beast.

Fast forward four hours and it was time for dinner.

Iowa Girl Eat’s Chicken Chili.  Kristen is a genius!  Her recipe has minimal meat with black beans and baked beans(!), the combo is to die for!  I topped mine with shredded sharp cheddar.

I had a BlogHer coupon for Pilsbury Simply French Bread – no trans fat, preservatives, etc – so Adam cooked that up for us.  —A quick aside: we bought an over thermometer because we have been burning everything and now know that our oven is a good 200* off.  Joy.  That’s another thing to deal with tomorrow.—

All together.

I am so ready for bed!

What are you thankful for today?

***Updated to add – the beast returned!  I ate another slice of bread, a mini fudge brownie ice cream, two squares of chocolate, and I’m only stopping because I have to go to sleep.  Damn you hunger!

Locked and Loaded

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It’s been a full day and my to do list’s not even close to empty!  Thank goodness it’s mostly stuff I enjoy.

Tuesday is my 8am class (library) day so an at home breakfast was not going to happen.  Instead I packed some healthy snacks to eat in between classes.  A Blueberry Crisp Cliff Bar,

and a local apple.

We learned about amino acids and proteins in NTR 100 today and it was totally fascinating.  Did you know that only animal protein sources can provide a “complete protein?”  Vegetable sources don’t have the correct ratio of the essential amino acids.  However, through “complementary proteins” vegetarians can get what they need.  For example, beans and rice are a complimentary protein.  I’m obviously not vegetarian, but we do eat a lot of meatless meals so it’s definitely something to think about.

After class I headed over to the gym.  It’s a 30minute walk from my apartment (1hour roundtrip) so gyming it in the morning this year is just not realistic; instead I’m trying to make my workout part of my on-campus time.  This weekend I picked up a pretty pink lock –

and today I brought a bag full of gym essentials – sports bras, socks, shoes, outfits, scrunchies, water bottle – to store on campus.

Today’s workout was 30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.

Adam could even give me a ride home so I didn’t have to walk in the sun, yay!  We had some business to take care of so I replenished with coconut water while I waited for lunch.

Lunch-lunch was a package of Allergaroo Chili Mac.

I ‘beefed it up’ by stirring in 4oz of frozen peas.

Yum.  This packet was still part of my shipment of free samples but I think the chili mac is fantasmic, I’ll definitely buy more with my own $.

I’m still looking for a fruit-dairy component to lunch so I’ll probably have a study snack in a bit, I’ll update the post if I do.

Dinner’s gonna be exciting…..

***Updated to add -I found my dairy-fruit (+ sweet!) snack.
I started with an Oikos free sample, 0% strawberry.
 
I don’t know why I was expecting this to be flavored yogurt, but I was a bit surprised to find plain with jam on the bottom.  In the end I loved it though; it was the perfect amount of sweet!
 
I topped my yogurt with a sliced black plum, a sliced plucot, and part of a crumbled cookie.
I definitely did not need the cookie (this was really sweet), but I had to throw out the last of the burnt granola and I had my heart set on something crumbly!
Do you have a locker at your gym?  Do you bring your stuff for the day or keep a bag stocked at the gym?

A Plumb Post

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Happy Monday, welcome to the week everyone!  I had a free minute and I was feeling the blogging itch so I decided to do a quick stop-by.

We didn’t get much sleep this weekend (hello, new baby in the house!) so I tried to catch up today and happily stayed in bed until 9.  Ever since then it’s been go-go-go, but with some fun in there too.

I made my nutrition cartoon, completing this assignment a whole day early 🙂

I also got started on some ice cream.

I can’t wait until this stuff is finished!  And no, I’m not pregnant, I just have a thing for shapeless shift dresses (at least they’re not shiftless, ahaha).

And I’ve eaten a tasty, pretty breakfast.

0% Plain Oikos topped with 1t maple syrup and 2 chopped plucots.

I adore plums in general, and the plucot just might be my favorite fruit, it is certainly the most stunning!

On the agenda for the rest of the day –

  • going to campus to print off all of my notes
  • lunch?
  • updating our mailing address everywhere (ugh)
  • classwork
  • finishing our ice-cream production
  • a run
  • dinner, with ice-cream for dessert 🙂

Which is your favorite variety of plum?