This morning I awoke to tragedy.

I put my brand new Esperanza whole beans from Ritual into my coffee grinder, pressed the button, and the machine officially died. (The grinding blades were ripped off of the attachment.

My special coffee was ruined, the machine is dead, and I became very grumpy.

Fortunately I had some pre-ground coffee, but I was still pretty bummed.

I drank away my sorrows, and headed to work.

For breakfast I had a creamy coffee Brown Cow yogurt, an apple, and some flax seeds and granola mixed in.

I like the chia for the added nuttiness it gives to the yogurt. The stuff is quite filling, even though it doesn’t look like much.

Fortunately, the breakfast was relatively filling, because it tided me over while I was busy un-packing boxes all day long. This is the stack about 1/2 way through unpacking. And they just kept coming!

When I finally got to crack open my lunch, it was 3:30, and I was getting a rumbly in my tummy.

Lunch Bento: A crunchy Barney Butter sandwich on Alvarado Street Bread, carrots from today’s farm box, and a little square of dark chocolate. Washed down with lots of green tea.

This was pretty delicious. I rarely ever make myself sandwiches for lunch, and this one was particularly satisfying.

I’m going to spend the next hour finishing the boxes, and then perhaps walking – I was going to try to take myself out to Frances, the spectacular new restaurant in the Castro, but I fear that the weather might be taking a turn for the worse. Sigh. You can’t have it all.

I used to dread Monday. Well, most people dread Monday.

We are supposed to hate Monday, right? Society dictates that Monday is a horrible, tragic, no good day – when you are a kid it’s the day you have to go back to school and slave away. As an adult, the day that the good life ends and you re-enter some sort of hellish zone that is the “work week”.

Ah, but Evil Monday no more! I’ve been making a concerted effort to make Monday one of the best days of my week. If you start with a great Monday, it tends to spill over to at least Wednesday.

So I woke up yesterday to a bowl of cream of wheat. Pre-Candlelight-Yoga-Cream-of-Wheat. This class is my new secret happy. 40 people in a room together, with peaceful candles, chanting, and body contortion. A yoga instructor who makes us giggle and tells silly jokes. The remedy to a dreary Monday.

Before I get there, I make an early stop at Ritual Roasters for my morning coffee. I’ve been sitting down and reading there for a half hour or so before yoga. (The other reason I go to coffee is that I get a ride over there if I leave early enough.) Sometimes, not having to walk to your exercise is a good thing.

Yesterday I had a cup of their Esperanza. I’m always re-reading parts of the 4-hour work week for inspiration, so I sat there flipping through it (ok, technically it’s on my ipod)  as I drank my coffee, spied on other patrons, and got into a happy place.

And then there was Yoga. I don’t always love yoga as I’m doing it. Sometimes it makes me feel horrible. Not that I’m doing things wrong, but I’m sweaty, hair is in my eyes, and my body doesn’t always like holding poses. But the high I get for the next few days is GREAT.

Yesterday was a hard yoga practice for me. I wasn’t quite in it, I was a sweaty mess, and we were supposed to be working on equanimity – focusing on the moment and awareness without breaking the moment by paying attention to distractions – ie: sweat dripping off our nose or our hair in our eyes.

Nevertheless, I finished, slightly unsure of things.

And then I went off to work, and already the magic was working – even though the practice itself had been off. I was cheerful and motivated. For lunch I ate leftover mystery stew. (Pasta, chicken sausage, yams, parsnip, tomato sauce, baked beans, and various seasonings.) It was actually better the second day, which didn’t surprise me.

The weather during the day was WEIRD. It was sun, rain, hail, sun, rain, over and over again. Apocalypse? I wasn’t worried, I was still on my yoga high. I tried to capture the torrential downpour – while the sun was out – you can see the rain in front of the trees.

When I got home in the afternoon, I made a quick snack. Tortilla, cheddar, a few slices of sopressata, and an egg. And a spoonful of milk jam. I didn’t need to add the sugar hit, but I did anyway.

I went out with Devon for a few errands, and then headed over to the store to pick up some dinner foods.

I was craving leafy greens, so I made myself a plate of sautéed kale and chorizo. Devon, not liking kale so much got some pasta primavera with his chorizo link. I put a lone kale piece on his plate which he ate, so all was not lost.

We both had a big bowl of leafy salad with peppers and chickpeas alongside.

After dinner, we sat and watched tivo’d Anthony Bourdain travel to Ireland, and then another episode about Obsession, including several interviews with food bloggers, which hit close to home I debated dessert, and ultimately settled on holding back, listening to my body, and not my emotional craving for a bowl of oatmeal with chocolate and peanut butter and coconut.

All in all, a very nice Monday.

Let me tell you, a day where you only check email twice is a pleasant day indeed. When I got home, instead of grabbing my computer to mindlessly check my email and surf the net, I consciously kept the laptop closed.

I grabbed a small handful of granola to munch on while doing some homework, cleaning, and actually having a conversation with Devon.

I needed to continue my clean sweep of my fridge, so I took a lot of things, and put them into a pot. Leeks, leftover tomato sauce, some italian chicken sausage, parsnips, japanese yam, a can of baked beans and a lot of spices. I won’t lie, it tasted a little odd, but made for a filling meal.

I continued doing work, and then baked four cookies for us. (The crack like Kodiak Oatmeal Dark Chocolate chip ones). I ate two + 1/2 a ball of cookie dough. Devon agrees – these are just tremendous cookies.

Now back to the quiet!!

‘Night everyone!

I’ve started on a week long media-fast. At least, my version of a media fast, which is more like a “restricted media diet”. I plan on checking my mail twice a day, at noon and 5pm. My RSS feed will remain unchecked until next week. And I’m not going to watch inordinate amounts of television.

Somewhere in the middle of this week I realized I really needed it when

a) I became drastically unproductive,

b) I became lazy and sedentary, and didn’t get in much exercise,

c) I started eating things and not recording them because I was “busy” reading blogs, and surfing the internet.

So here is a re-cap of some of my food over the past few days.

This morning: Iced Coffee a reward for a long walk before work.

Lunch – which I’m currently eating, is from Whole Foods. I know I need to wean myself off getting things from their salad bar, but at home it’s not as easy to make a spinach, quinoa, black bean, hijiki, chickpea, cabbage, red pepper, gigante bean and barbecue chicken salad! (Which I topped with Braggs and Cider Vinegar).

Dinner Two Nights Ago: Chicken Tinga (chicken and onions in an adobo sauce) over mashed potatoes with roasted root vegetables and a spinach salad. This was a partial convenience meal – I got the chicken and mashed potatoes at Bi-Rite market, a locally owned and operated market on the “Gastro” corridor of 18th street.

A few days ago in the mail, I received the most thoughtful gift! A Beater Blade!!! The Beater Blade is an attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer which adequately scrapes the sides of the mixer so that you get much better mixing without having to constantly scrape down the sides.

So naturally I had to make cookies!! I was debating testing out a recipe, but I happened to have a box of Kodiak Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Bear Country Cookies from the Fancy Food Show that I wanted to try. The plan was to make the dough, and freeze half of it in single cookie portions.

What really ended up happening is that they were so delicious that in addition to some of the baked cookies, I ended up eating three balls of frozen cookie dough last night. These cookies are like crack. I’m definitely going to order more boxes of these, but they will require some better discipline on my part.

Another sign that I needed a media fast was that I ended up having a few extra cups of coffee over a few days. Normally my consumption is limited to one mug for pleasure purposes in the mornings, not particularly as a caffeine source.

When I start craving coffee in the afternoons, I know that it is because I haven’t adequately hydrated and exercised.

And yet here I am – coffee for lunch with some sauteed greens, edamame, eggs, and papalote salsa. At least some greens!

And again, coffee as an afternoon snack with a bowl of whole grain cream of wheat (a sample that was sent to me, because I can’t yet find the stuff on this coast).

Dinner yesterday: a bowl of brown rice with a little scoop of vegetable orzo on top.

Which I then decided to top with some yogurt, and add a hardboiled egg. Not pictured was the nori sheet I ate while it was heating up. And then the shaving of cheese I put on top. Another sign that I need some balance in my life – when the food I’m eating become progressively weirder and weirder.

And so hopefully, things will start getting back to normal.

I made sure to write a to do list last night, and go over it this morning.

I’ll still continue blogging – the goal is OUTPUT, not input. Already, I’ve been about four times as productive today. I’ve gone on a walk, written emails, followed up on some loose ends, and even managed time to finish my quick review of Marcia Gagliardi’s new book: Marcia Gagliardi’s ‘The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco’. Here’s to continuing the good streak!

This morning I walked with my cup of coffee over to Omnivore Books to have breakfast at Peter Reinhart’s bread talk. I’ll write more about it on thesecondlunch – but meanwhile, here are a few pictures of my breakfast.

I ate one of these:

A little on of these:

A little bite of one of these:

And two bites of this:

Technorati Tags: Breakfast

I’ve been finishing up all my loose ends this week, and not quite getting everything done on time. So, I’m a little behind here:

Last Night’s Dinner:

1. The last of some home made granola. I can’t share the recipe, because it’s still in testing (and isn’t mine to share, alas), but I can attest to it being seriously delicious. I just poured the milk right in the container.

2. A lone stuffed poblano pepper with shrimp from Trader Joe’s. I added a little bit of sriracha on top for some heat, and then after realizing I may have added a little too much I added some yogurt. (Not pictured.) And then I put on some leftover tomato sauce, because I was still hungry.

Today I decided to roam away from the roost to get some work done, so I hopped in a car and headed over the bridge with Devon to Hayward (where he works), so I could have a little change of scenery.

My first stop was lunch, as it was late and I had yet to eat anything:

A Panda Bowl from Panda Express – with Beef Broccoli and Mixed Vegetables, and a smidge of rice.

I know you may be thinking… Panda Express? Is this for real? But here is why I like their food:

a.) Fresh vegetables, and never stingy with them

b.) Light on sauce, but quite flavorful

c.) Nutrition Information that is relatively uplifting (ie – several dishes under 250 calories for the entire portion)

After lunch, I headed to Eon Coffee, on Hesparian in Hayward, right across from Chabot community college. It’s an independent coffee shop that everyone seems to like (from both personal recommendations and yelp) so I decided I’d plant down there for a while and see what I thought of it.

I had a mug of organic earl gray tea, topped with a bit of steamed soy. They didn’t charge me for the added soy, which was bonus number one! I sat down on a comfy sofa next to a woman grading exams, and proceeded to be supremely productive, so I have to say it was a success.

My tea was delicious, the company pleasant, and the ambiance nice. They were playing a selection of late nineties/early 2k music, which was distracting at times only because I forget that thousands of song lyrics are stuck wasting space in my head even though I’ve long forgotten about the songs…

In the late afternoon, I picked up Dev, and we headed over to CSUEastBay to take some pictures for a project he is working on.

I snapped this one in the library. I love books!

And those jeans, which were an art project.

We took a nice long walk around campus, and then headed home.

But not before taking a pit stop to pick up burritos at Papalote.

I know that I don’t need to be eating rich food so often, but I couldn’t turn it down.

This time, gluttony won me over: a carne asada super burrito (hold the sour cream, but I ate the rice), half a cheese tortilla, chips and salsa. I’m feeling stuffed.

Technorati Tags: Dinner, Mexican

I’ve been taking the day to get some errands out of the way. In the house, because it was raining for most of the day – why does it always rain on my days that I’m not working in a specific place?

I ate my way through some food leftovers, which leads to some of my odd food habits:

For breakfast, the last of my Goan Black Eyed Pea Curry, from ‘5 Spices, 50 Dishes’  which I added a few squirts of sriracha. I wanted a little bit of fire!! I also had a cup of gingerbread coffee. I know that curry sounds a little wacky for breakfast, but it’s really quite satisfying.

I continued on my clearing out the fridge project with:

The last of my steel cut oats topped with two eggs, and some papalote salsa. This might sound awfully weird, but I assure you it tastes good.

These are just the beginning of my odd food habits. What are some of yours?

Technorati Tags: Breakfast, Oatmeal

I’m starting to understand the office space food dilemma. Having never really worked in a business where people were as food obsessed as I am, it was always easy to turn down less than exciting things that people had brought into share. But now, I’ve entered the doom zone.

After committing to a light morning, my coworker went ahead and brought in some lemon poppyseed muffins. Given that this is the second batch of these she has made this week, and I skipped out on the first ones, I decided that it would be worth my while to have at least one.

Let me tell you a little about Beth’s baking. She’s my vegan baker friend who is consistently bringing in tantalizing treats. Her mocha chip muffins are on my top favorite muffins ever eaten list.

So even when I plan out my day, and have committed myself to healthy eating, sometimes she comes in with warm muffins, and I just can’t turn her down.

After consuming this muffin, I do believe I was on a three hour sugar high, literally buzzing throughout the place. They were outrageously lemony and delicious. Really, I think this has been the week for lemons.

I was satiated until about 3:30 pm when I decided to finally crack into my lunch – an apple from my farm box, and some leftover rice and black-eyed pea curry. There wasn’t as much food in the container as I had remembered, so I was actually happy that I had eaten the muffin earlier.

When I got home from work, I decided that enough was enough, I was going to get in my greenery that I had been missing. I went the slightly drastic route, and chopped up all my swiss chard from the farm box.

And then I stuck it in the blender.

With some lemon juice and red pepper flakes.

I topped it all with a few cups of boiling water and chicken stock.

WHIRRRRRRRRed it up.

AND…..

BIO-SLUDGE!!!!!

I have to admit that I was slightly alarmed at the color and that I hadn’t mixed it to quite the consistency that I would have liked. I think it needed a little bit more pureeing. (What it really needed was a Vitamix.)

But it did the trick! And it was pretty tasty. The lemon and red pepper gave it just the right kick.

I also ransacked my freezer, and took out a little ziplock bag full of unlabeled soup that I had put aside at some point. I usually freeze portions of soup and label them – an easy way to have single meals ready on the nights you absolutely don’t want to cook, or are too busy. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I decided to heat it up anyway – nothing like a liquid-y dinner to get in the nutrients.

I *believe* it ended up being potato-leek soup with some kielbasa. It might have also had some white beans? I must admit that it was slightly entertaining to not quite know what I was eating! Whatever it was, it was good!

Night everyone!

Technorati Tags: Vegan, vegetables

Last night I got 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. In addition to my yoga yesterday session I also managed to get in about 5000 steps – it’s wonderful how good exercise can help you sleep.I probably could have slept for another two hours judging from the way I woke up completely immobilized and zonked.

This morning’s breakfast was Trader Joe’s High Fiber Oh’s, with some Straus milk. I’ve been combating the munchies over the past few days, and decided to start with something fairly sensible. Also, when I get milk, which is fairly rarely, I usually end up having cereal five days in a row.

Last night for some reason I had the munchies. While making my dinner, I snacked on 4 of these vanilla wafer cookies. I actually avoid having snacks like this in the house, because I’m not very good at controlling myself. A little birdy left these instead of taking them to work, and so I made a bad choice. At least I cut myself off at 4.

Dinner was Goan black-eyed pea curry from ‘5 spices, 50 dishes’ (you can read my review of the book here) It’s a really simple dish to make, and has some lovely coconut milk in it. I ate it with some rice and a really large portion of homemade chutney.

After dinner, I still had the munchies. I made myself a bowl of oatmeal, with a spoonful of almond barney butter, a square of dark chocolate, and a square of coconut white chocolate. Not the healthiest decision. I couldn’t figure out why I was craving so much food…

And then a  funny thing happened – sometimes you can’t figure out something until it’s staring you in the face (in this case as I looked over my blog posts). I wasn’t really sure today why I was having these food cravings – and then it occurs to me that maybe they were misplaced, as somehow I neglected to eat *any* vegetables all day long. I’ll have to remedy that today!

Technorati Tags: cereal, curry, Indian, trader joes

Last night during Sunshine cleaning, I munched on some more trader joe’s high fiber oh’s and a tiny square of oh-so-delectable Lindt coconut white chocolate. I try not to snack after dinner, but sometimes it just happens. As soon as I finished, I signed myself online for a yoga class this morning so I couldn’t back out of it.

So : Candlelight Yoga round two this morning!

But not before checking in at Ritual Coffee Roasters. My stomach was just slightly uneasy, so I opted to go to yoga without breakfast (I rarely do this). But I did have a mug of earl grey tea with a tiny side of steamed soy. They got these adorable new tea contraptions at Ritual that I really enjoyed!

Normally I like a cup of their drip coffee that they make in this great copper contraption, but too much coffee before yoga is no good!

Me – post yoga! I felt really, really good! Nothing like an hour and twenty minutes to totally kickstart all of your systems. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how many people are around in the morning for yoga! Maybe one day I’ll do the 40 day practice…

After yoga, I had three hard boiled eggs. Normally this is pretty excessive, but I was starving, and craving eggs, so I went for it. These are farm fresh eggs from real chickens that have more growing space than I’ll ever have. And you can certainly taste it in the egg! They are the best eggs I’ve ever eaten.

Finally, lunch: I actually stole some of Devon’s spaghetti with turkey bolognese that he made in bulk to take to work. It was tasty and filling.

I also had a really delicious lemon bar that the most lovely Kristin made, from the recipe in the Tartine cookbook. (Tartine is one of my favorite bakeries in the city, and the cookbook is pretty spectacular.) These lemon bars burst in your mouth with flavor. I was a very happy camper!

Time for some work, and maybe some dinner planning!

Technorati Tags: Healthy Living, Lunch