I remember last year we had some of the worst weather for summer. I remember lying on the couch under a blanket in July – !!! I’m not super crazy about hot humid weather, but I do like for the weather to be seasonal. Like when it gets warm in the winter, I find it disturbing because it’s not supposed to be warm, even if the warm weather is “nice.” Warm weather is nice in spring and fall, not winter. This is New England and we’re supposed to have four seasons. So anyway, now it’s summer and the weather is acting like summer. The cicadas start singing early in the morning, and you just know you’re in for another hot summer day.
On Friday, I had a real scare when I looked at my bank account online. I was just checking to see if a payment I’d made had gone through, and I saw an overdraft charge and a couple days previous a charge for $499.99 that I had not made. What???!!! I googled the name of the company and found a website with very little info. No “about” page, no “contact us” link. There was also an “888″ number (on my bank statement, not the website) that I called once I got to work and the number just rang and rang so I hung up. I tried it again a few minutes later and finally after about a gazilion rings I got someone’s voice mail. I gave my name and told them that there was an unauthorized charge and corresponding overdraft fee on my bank account and that it was “unacceptable” and that they needed to call me back. They never did.
At first, I was afraid that I had made a mistake and inadvertently signed up for something without reading the fine print, but I’m pretty convinced that this was not my mistake. I just googled the company again, and nothing comes up. Fortunately, I called my bank and they refunded the charge and the overdraft fee and are starting a fraud investigation. The charge was made at 6 PM on July 7th and I happen to remember that at that time I was getting a pedicure. I sincerely hope it wasn’t anyone at the spa who fraudulently used my card, but it does make me wonder. At least my toes look nice.
And now it’s time for our random meal of the day picture. I had some sliced mushrooms, shredded carrots and an onion hanging around, and I decided they would work well stir-fried with greens and served over soba noodles. I just needed something green. There is a lot of local produce becoming available right now, and I found some nice small cabbages that fit the bill. Unfortunately, once they’re cooked, they don’t really look that green, but the meal still tasted good. Sweetie and I seasoned our plates with nutritional yeast, sesame oil, sesame seeds and tamari.
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Saturday I got up and had my usual coffee with So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer.
Then I had a toasted hemp bagel with Earth Balance, and I took my supplements.
I debated about whether to photograph the AZO, but then I decided that yeast infections are something many women suffer from, and they’re nothing to be ashamed of. If you’re someone who suffers from chronic recurring yeast infections and haven’t found anything that works to prevent them, I suggest you try the AZO Yeast, Natural Symptom Prevention and Relief. I take one tablet a day, and it really seems to be preventing the infections. (And I’m not being paid to say this.) I take two calcium-magnesium with vitamin D supplements in the morning and two in the evening for a total of 1,000 milligrams a day. My doctor was really pushing me to take calcium for the last couple of years, and I couldn’t really argue with her, especially since my mother has osteoporosis. It took me a while to get going on taking them regularly, but earlier this year I made a concerted effort to get in the habit. A few weeks ago I decided to try taking spirulina to increase my energy. (I take three spirulina tablets in the morning and three at night.) I don’t know if spirulina is a waste of money, but I do seem to be feeling pretty good so for now I’ll continue.
As I had my coffee and my bagel and my supplements, I thought about running, feeling as if I needed to do it, since I hadn’t run since Wednesday. One reason I’m afraid of running is because I’m afraid I’ll be uncomfortable. I usually am uncomfortable when I run. There’s no such thing as an easy run for me at this time. Of course the only way to get comfortable is to do it more. So I went and ran at the park yesterday on my own, without the aid of a running partner or the treadmill, and I was uncomfortable, and I was slow, but I managed two and a half miles. Not bad, huh?
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And now it’s time for my new blog feature: The Random Meal of the Day
Let’s go back in time and look at a dinner I made in January (!): pan-fried seitan, baked sweet potato and curried cauliflower with peas. I bake the sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes, and cook the seitan thusly: heat safflower oil in non-stick pan, slice the seitan and place it in the pan, and cook until browned, about 5 or so minutes on each side. For the cauliflower, heat oil in a large skillet with a cover, add curry powder, and then the cauliflower pieces. Once the cauliflower is somewhat coated, I add water to the skillet, dump in some frozen peas and cover and steam the mixture until it’s done. You’ll have to excuse the lack of instructions as far as exact measurements and times. For a number of years, I cooked using recipes in cookbooks, and I believe this practice got me comfortable in the kitchen so that now I just cook intuitively, usually knowing what “enough” of an ingredient is and how long to cook something till it’s “done.”
Happy eating and running!
Tags:
bagels,
cauliflower,
coffee,
meal of the day,
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sweet potatoes,
vegan butter,
vegan dairy
I am working 4 10-hour days this week, and then I’ll have Friday off. My department likes to have a couple people to answer phone calls after 5 so that’s what I’m doing. I still want to work out though so I got the crazy idea to work out before work on Monday and see how it went. I’m generally not a morning exerciser, but it just seemed to make more sense to work out then instead of going to work then working out in the afternoon: changing clothes and showering in the middle of the day and then going back to work. In case you’re wondering why I wouldn’t just work out after work, it’s because working this schedule I’m done at 7 so even if I felt inclined to work out at the hour (which I highly doubt), the gym closes at 7. The way I did it I came to work in my work-out clothes, stopped at my desk, put my things away, put my food in the fridge and then went down to the gym with with my work clothes in my gym bag. Then I ran intervals on the treadmill – 3 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking for 25 minutes. Then I cooled down and stretched, took a quick shower, got dressed and was up at my desk by 9. It went so well I did it again today. And I think I will do it again tomorrow.
You know there are so many opportunities to make yourself feel bad, sometimes without even looking for them. For instance, I read a number of fitness and running blogs and people will say things about having trouble keeping up their 8-minute mile pace or one that said her friends said Runner’s World magazine is not for “real” runners – huh? So there I was on the treadmill struggling through 3 minutes at a time at a 12-minute mile pace with Runner’s World magazine propped up in front of me. Since I was running and walking I couldn’t really read it, but it gave me something to look at other than the machine. And I felt good. I have to remember that this is about me and what I’m doing and that I may be slow and that I may like to look at Runner’s World, and if some people who I don’t even know are critical of those things, then that’s about them, not me.
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In other news, I’ve been taking pictures of my food throughout the past 5 or so months, but not nearly enough of them have made it to this blog, and I think I need to change that. Therefore, I’m thinking of doing a “meal of the day” or “what vegans eat” feature here so I can start posting the pics of the ummy food I eat.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of the latest banana bread that I made. This time I had 4 bananas so I was closer to the right (2 cup) amount of banana pulp the recipe calls for, and the bread came out great, if I do say so myself. The thing is you have to bake it for a long time when you use that high an amount of banana pulp. The original recipe says 50 minutes, but I find you need to bake it for at least an hour so it’s fully baked in the middle.
It was delicious with some Earth Balance on it, but Blue proved it can even be enjoyed plain. While it was cooling on the table and I was out of the room, Blue managed to hop up and bite the corner off of it – ! I told him he was a bad dog, but he just wagged his tail at me. Guess I have to keep a closer eye on delicious smelling foods cooling in the kitchen.
Tags:
banana bread,
blogging,
Blue,
meal of the day,
running
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