Day 85 - The Brownie Bite

Back in October I received a coupon for a free brownie at the Guildford Moxie's connected to the Sandman Suites (Surrey swank).  For every coupon redeemed Moxie's donates $1 to the Breakfast for Learning program.  This is a pretty sweet deal for all parties.  However, I had been reluctant to redeem this coupon as the implication is that a patron would likely order other items with the free brownie.  The coupon expires today... 

While I didn't necessarily need to eat this brownie (I have more than enough to last me the next 5 days), I couldn't ignore this feeling that I was avoiding the coupon because I would feel like a total deadbeat redeeming it.  I feared that the waitstaff would think I was cheap, that I would be looked at as someone who was somehow less than.  To live this experiment to the fullest, I had to go.

I didn't know anyone who worked there, yet I felt as if I had been transported back to high school.  To clarify, high school wasn't great for me.  To quote 'Dazed and Confused', "I keep getting older, and they stay the same [age]."  If this were some kind of short story, this would be cathartic epiphany of sorts instead of mildly angst-ridden.  But how about that brownie?

it's a 'blond' brownie. exotic!

I sat in the lounge and wrote some thoughts as I enjoyed my brownie and hot water with lemon.  I wondered how much of a tip to leave.  This was a very tortured series of minutes.  Do I leave a tip?  If I don't does this prove that I have truly transcended caring what people think of me?  If I realise this thought does that then negate it because I am trying to prove that point?  It was aggravating.  I finally decided that I would leave a $2 tip (60% of what the brownie would have cost) because I'm sure the waitress who brought me the brownie could use it for cab fare from the Mirage later on.  I wish this post could be tied up with a neat bow; instead it's a little loose in the middle and one end is much shorter than the other.

Day 82 - Fresh Slice Day

The new Fraser Heights Fresh Slice is attached to a gas station, which means it is more of a kiosk than a restaurant.  It was super-busy and the numerous staff members seemed really bewildered and unhappy to be there.  When I arrived around 1:30pm there were 2 choices of cold pizza slices: pepperoni or cheese.  Having said that, I was grateful to have food.  However, I would not likely pay $1.56 for a slice from here.

The coupon was good for 1 free XL slice of pizza.  Turns out, there is only one size.

free pizza!

Day 80 - Tmrw is Fresh Slice Day

Tomorrow I will go to the new Fresh Slice opening in Fraser Heights to redeem a coupon for one free XL slice.  The catch is that it must be redeemed between 1 and 3pm.  Looking forward to it.  I could eat pizza for 3 months. 

Today marks 10 days to the end of this little experiment.  What's interesting is that I've saved some of my best items to this point - can of lentil soup, half a box of couscous, a potato, a quarter bag of brown rice spaghetti noodles.

Day 78 - Another Gift!

Started feeling the cobwebs cloud my inner-landscape.  Hormones?  Attachment to form? SAD?  Don't know.  I decided to shake it off with a walk to find yarn.  It's that time of the year where I pick up my knitting needles and re-learn how to knit, purl, knit, purl, purl, purl, knit?...oops...unravel that row.  As I walked along 104th avenue, I happened to see a bag of bananas in an empty lot amidst paint cans, coffee cups, and wet sweatshirts.  There were about 12 in the bag and they were bruised and rather moist, as if they had breathed the humidity lining the bag.

I took this gift to my parents' house and made an assortment of breads and muffins for my family to enjoy (with 4 left over for waffles).

The last few days have been rather mysterious.  These gifts are love notes left anonymously on my doorstep, offerings of a sort, that reveal only the existence of my intangible beloved: no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.

Day 76 - Winds of Fortune

Last night the strong winter winds redistributed leaves...and goods, it would appear!  I was leaving to enjoy a wintery walk to redeem a coupon for a McDonald's deluxe hot chocolate, when I found this on my doorstep:

apple cider, anyone?

I cut off the bitten part because you can never be too sure about rabies or hand-and-foot-and-mouth disease and juiced the rest into a lovely warming elixir:

It is funny how the universe answers your calls - sometimes in the most obvious ways.

Day 73 - Freebasing Chocolate

I have my period and incidentally a huge craving for chocolate...I know, I know.  What to do?  Well, when you have 2 unsweetened squares of Baker's chocolate, you make macaroons (sans le coconut).

les ingredients

You might notice that suddenly I have this huge tub of vegetable oil shortening - where did that come from?  Turns out, I have a reserve of fats that I use to make soap.  This is about a year old, but it doesn't smell rancid.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil shortening (vintage 1 year)
• 2 Baker's unsweetened chocolate squares
• about 2-3 tbsp of icing sugar
• about 1/2 cup of oats

Method:

• Heat vegetable oil shortening in a pan on the stove-top (medium heat).  When the shortening has liquefied add the chocolate squares, stirring.
• When everything is liquid stir in the icing sugar and oats.  You may need to add more oats to create a stiffer mixture.
• Remove from heat.  Spoon mixture (in spoonfuls) onto a baking pan and set aside to solidify at room temperature.  I imagine you could refrigerate for faster results, but I prefer food at room temperature these days and also since I am conserving heat, my apartment is about fridge temperature.
• For extra fun, I poured hot water into the pan after spooning out the macaroons.  Then I poured the remaining chocolate residue into a cup - hot chocolate!

they sparkle!

Day 71 - Overindulgences

This winter weather has me in a hoarding state of mind.  Whenever I come across food, I completely over-eat like a bear preparing for winter hibernation!  It's as if my body convinces my mind that it might not eat again and so we must overindulge NOW.

On that note, I received a coupon booklet which includes a free small McDonald's specialty beverage!  I cashed it in this afternoon for a small hot chocolate!  It was soooo good!  So good that I went rummaging through the garbage near my apartment and found four more!

I used to worry a lot about what I ate - whether I was choosing healthy items, whether I would get fat from what I was eating.  Living this way the past 2 months, I have let that go to a large degree.  I am starting to believe that maybe it's enough to wake up everyday, do what you want, and then go to bed.

Day 69 - Banana Bread Surprise

I realise I have been 'saving' food the way that you don't use good china or silverware unless you have company.  As such, my fridge reeks of liquefied bananas. Aligning with the idea of abundance, there is always enough.  On the other hand, what about being pragmatic?  Too much thinking.  Better off making a beautiful pan of banana bread!

(I inadvertently deleted a lot of my recipes from the 'Recipes' page.  I was going to make the blackberry banana muffins from the first month.  Instead I will share this new recipe here to avoid that particular type of accident.)

I took multiple pictures and every single one was blurry

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp clove powder (maybe less because it cancels out other flavours)
• 1 tsp cinammon
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 3 near-liquid bananas (very ripe)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• handful of goji berries
• handful of crushed walnuts

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Oil the baking pan.
• Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Grind the flax seeds and add to the dry ingredients.
• Add the goji berries and walnuts.  Mix well.
• Puree bananas and add to the dry ingredients.
• Add oil.  Mix well.
• Pour batter into the oiled pan and set the timer for 35 minutes.
• About 5 plays of Stairway to Heaven later, let set and enjoy the surprise!

Day 65 - Goji Surprise

This afternoon I decided to snack on nuts and goji berries.  What I found was an unexpected protein source in the form of moth larvae.  There was some cotton web-type of film sticking around some of the berries and that's when I spotted my little worm-friend wending its way around my bowl of nuts and berries.  It must have hatched recently because I had eaten them earlier in the week and didn't see any signs of creatures.  I checked because of the backpack taste.

I threw out that particular bowl but not the bag.  I feel like I could cook them into my waffles in the morning and avoid moving and visible evidence.  My other concern is that other items might get spoiled from introducing these critters into my kitchen.  For now, I will keep the goji berry bag out of the cupboard and on the counter.

Day 63 -1 banana, 2 banana, 3 banana, BUNCH!

My sister who works at Starbucks encountered a massive find - a bag of 'spoiled' bananas in the garbage (near the top and in a bag)!  She brought them home and made banana bread and muffins and then offered me the rest.  I love that she is now cool with taking stuff from the garbage :-)

I consider myself more spoiled than these bananas

I have in mind a themed breakfast, like banana pancakes with Jack Johnson.

Day 62 - Sea Veggies

My boyfriend's living situation is an un-televised union of MTV's The Real World and Survivor.  He lives in a house with others where they all work together, but often leave abruptly for various reasons.  Tomb raiding their culinary effects is a natural side-effect.  The first pillage has added items such as 1/3 of a bag of red lentils, 1/2 a container of cream cheese, a box of wheat thins, 6 stoned wheat crackers, 2 stroop waffles, 4 babel cheese rounds, nuts and goji berries that taste like they have been in a backpack, and the most interesting: 2 bags of bull kelp and 2 bags of winged kelp.

Gifts from the sea

Beyond the nori that holds the pieces of my sushi in place, I have never eaten kelp.  This kelp is from Dakini Tidal Wilds on Vancouver Island.  Tonight I ate some of the bull kelp dry from the bag and it was pretty salty.  Reconstituting it and squeezing a lemon over it made it a hell of a lot more palatable.  As a non-seafood eater, my mouth eschews the alien taste and texture.  However, given the nutritional benefits, including high iron content, I will give it the proverbial go.  After my last blood test, foods with higher iron were something I had been manifesting for my meals, and look what floated my way...

Day 61 - Yam Fries

From that yam with all the growths, I made yam fries!  They were so awesome.  The yam was pretty dry on account of being so old - cutting it into pieces and slathering those in olive oil and spices hid this fact nicely.  Check out this super-easy yam-my recipe!

This isn't the most appetizing picture, but I assure you: most delicious!

Day 60 - Under the Mistletoe

Justin Bieber's new Christmas album came out November 1st.  My sister bought it but couldn't figure out how to port it to her iPod.  In exchange for my help in this matter, my dad gave me this:

The yam my dad gave me

Day 56 - Sugar Cube(d)

If 'sugar' was a field on blood test results, the reading would indicate that my blood could be kool-aid once you added water to the concentrate.  Being an instructor at Kumon during Hallowe'en week has meant cookies, cupcakes, and treats everyday (if you click the link, you can see the table with all the treats from our Hallowe'en party)!  Parents have brought us seasonal baked goods by the dozen.  It's been awesome.  And it gets better.

McDonald's has free premium arabica coffee until November 6th!  While waiting in line, I noticed that McDonald's has self-serve drink fountains.  I also noticed that most patrons leave their cups sitting on the ground outside or other places that are not the garbage.  It would be so easy to grab a cup and fill, as they have a free re-fill policy.  The thing is, I can't stand soft drinks.  As it is, I get pretty jittery from the coffee.  I really can't bring myself to indulge in the fountain drinks - not enough sustenance to defy this aversion.

Sugary foods are truly the most freely abundant and as we know, dangerous.  When I take sugar and caffeine, I can feel my body chemistry change.  I feel something shift in my brain.  It's like being on drugs.  I notice that when kids at the centre have eaten Hallowe'en candy before/during class, the energy of the room changes.  Yes, they are little bundles of hyperactivity, but there's something else.  It's like they are drunk.  They are less inhibited and their eyes get glassy.

I am the first person to over-indulge in sweet foods, especially when skies are gray and holidays abound.  It's an easy way to feel a little peppier and satiated.  I know that I crave sugar because I often don't eat enough or I don't eat enough complex carbs, proteins, and fat.  This month I am going to make a conscious effort to decrease my sugar intake.  At the same time, if I continue to eat a lot of sugary foods, I'm not going to get all down about it.  This is all part of the experiment and I am approaching it with a curious mind.  My hypothesis is that such an increase in sugar will soon have some visibly negative consequences.

This Sunday my strata is holding a Coffee Time event with treats.  I am manifesting a massive veggie platter with slices of toasted 7 grain baguette.

Day 55 - Blood Test Results (October)

Results look good.  Not too different from last month.  There were improvements in the MCV, MCH, and MCHC count, which was my goal.  My platelet and white blood cell count are lower, though.  Not sure what that means, but they are not drastically lower.  Ferritin is still in the 'probably iron deficiency' range, so I will have to figure something out there. 

October Blood Test Results

I have gained weight, probably because I eat whatever I can.  I don't read labels anymore.  Halloween has been a wonderful time to store fat -- cookies and cupcakes and fun-size chocolate, galore!  Looking forward to what November brings.  'Be curious' is how I intend to proceed.