Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Product Plug: Yves Veggie Dogs


The first time I was a vegetarian was when I was 13. For about six months, I stayed away from chicken, beef and pork. For two months after that, I ate some chicken. Then, at camp, I crumbled into a million pieces after smelling the bacon everyone else was eating for breakfast. Ka boom.

Anyway. One of the things that my mom picked up for me was some tofu-ground meat stuff and some tofu dogs. Holy hell, were they ever gross. Texture, taste...yuck. Just...yuck. The ground tofu stuff was put in a casserole in an attempt to disguise it. EPIC FAIL. The tofu dogs were even worse. I think I ate part of one, and chucked the rest.

Understandably, I've been leery of the various meat replacement products I've seen in my local produce department. There's also so much choice! Cajun, cheese flavour, tofu, veggie, help! Last week I picked up some tofu to play with (and figured out that bits of fried tofu, plain or on salad, and strips of fried, garlic salted tofu dipped in tzatziki are darned tasty) but hadn't quite gotten up the nerve to try the meat replacement products. Today, I did.

I tried Yves veggie dogs. They smelled like real hot dogs coming out of the package...a good sign. I zapped them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, still smelled good. I tried them, and they were AWESOME. They weren't as salty as beef hot dogs and had a slightly different texture (a teeny bit spongy) and squeaked a bit in my teeth (which I found rather charming). All in all, an excellent purchase.

Incidentally...mental note to self: when walking to the grocery store to purchase a bit of stuff (fruit, wild rice, veggies, yogurt, oatmeal) DON'T WIND UP BUYING 35 POUNDS OF STUFF. Half a mile isn't that far, but now your fingers are tingling with pre-blisters and your back hurts like a bitch. SAVE THE QUANTITY PURCHASES FOR WHEN YOU'VE DRIVEN OR GONE WITH SOMEONE. Thank you...your disgruntled body.

On a totally related note, I'm off to take a hot, HOT bath.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Annoyed


I have decided I need to write a cookbook. It will be entitled "Vegetarian Cooking: Beyond the Onion". Seriously. It's nearly impossible to find a vegetarian recipe (except for desserts) that doesn't include onions. I don't really mind cooked onions, but I can't stand prepping them (my eyes burn like hell if I walk into a room where they're being cut), and I don't really care for the taste or texture that much. That being said, I will eat them...but they seem unnecessary to me. Raw onions? Yeah...no. No way. They're WAAAAAAAAY too strong for me. If they're on my burger in itty bitty pieces, all mixed with the ketchup to the point where they're an integral part of the whole thing I will eat them, but then I'll taste them for the next forty-eight hours.

I guess the big problem for me is that I don't know enough about cooking and how things will cook up and taste if I eliminate the onion and add something like garlic instead (loves me some garlic...mmmmmm). I could experiment, but I already had a majorly bad experiment gone wrong this week (bean/cornmeal patties...apparently the cornmeal needs to be "cooked" so it's "digestible". Who knew??).

Hints, tips, tricks all welcome.

(PS. three days in a row of steadily falling weight, each day being the lowest in three months. Down to 172.8 lbs today!)

Friday, April 25, 2008

Bleh


It's been a really long week, yet it flew by so quickly. So tired. Love my kids, but wow. TIRED. They're not even high maintenance.

So, I've decided I'm going to take a first aid course. There's a story behind it...ask me in person.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Random Mishmash


My hands are insanely dry. I'm slathering on the lotion and it still feels like I've poured SuperGlue all over them. (FYI, I did not pour SuperGlue all over them)

I think I saw Ashley panhandling near my apartment. :( I can't stop thinking about her.

I'm more sore from kids karate than from my own karate, I think. This is due to the massive amount of push ups and sit ups I did. Ow. Three months off = sore shoulders and abs. (FYI, it wasn't really that many [maybe 50 sit ups and 20 push ups {and my form was really shite for most of the pushups...}], but hey...three months off.)

I really like tofu when it's fried in a little olive oil until it's crispy. It was supposed to go in my stir fry, but a lot of it wound up as a snack while I waited for the rice to finish cooking.

While I was teaching discus yesterday, a kid's throw smashed into the ground where a group of the class had been standing mere seconds before. I sounded like this: "Everyone behind the line! I shouldn't have to tell...LOOK OUT!!!" *thwack* Gave me six consecutive heart attacks, I tell ya.

Only a month until final term report cards. Holy crap. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the previous report cards!!!!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Take THAT Odds!!


Awwww, yeah. I went to karate tonight. I enjoyed it way more than I had been just before I took my break. I really needed to think about it and DECIDE...yes, this is something I want to do, rather than feeling like I needed to be doing it. I'm very happy.

And I'm gonna be one sore puppy tomorrow. Ow.

Haha...also, I get to start helping to teach kids karate again. I'm totally going to be the "K" teacher at my school. Karate, knitting club...yeah. Hee.

(thanks to Sensei for the kick in the butt/dare disguised as a comment on a previous entry)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Bah.


My kids are driving me bat shit today. They're not actually being that bad...what the hell? THEY'RE SO AGGRAVATING!!!

Oh. Right. PMS. Stupid month.

(ETA, you'd think I'd learn...every 28 days for the last...what? 12+ years or so? Sheesh. You'd think that running out of pills for the month would give me a frickin' clue.)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Out in the Aether


While I was in the produce section today, I noticed a woman kneeling/crouching beside a display, her shoulders shaking. I picked up a mango, then looked back. No one was helping her...they were sort of staring and then avoiding her. Normally, I'd do the same thing; I think most people would. It's hard to get involved with someone who is in the middle of whatever private hell they've got going on. For some reason, I didn't.

Her name is Ashley. Snuggled into the hood of her puffy jacket, she told me that she had lost her shopping list, which also contained the directions for how to get to the apartment of her friend, from which she had just come. She couldn't remember if she was in Safeway or Save-On, or which direction to go after she left the store. I helped her get her groceries and pay for them, while another shopper, a man, trailed us at a discreet distance, obviously concerned for my safety. He and I exchanged glances a couple of times, him worried about me, me worried about her. She kept thanking me, obviously embarassed, teary, scared. While we got her items, she told me that she had had a brain haemorrage.

After I got her through the checkout, I finished my shopping and left the store. It had been at least 15 minutes since Ashley had gone out, and she was out by a bench in front of the store. This is a shout out to everyone...if you could think safe thoughts at her, and hope she made it to where she was going to make her French toast.

Spring!!


Spring is probably my favourite or second favourite season. Summer can be a bit of a bitch if it gets insanely hot, and spring can be annoyingly unpredictable...but it's amazing how awesome the sun feels after the rain (and SNOW...WTF???) we'd been getting the last few months.

To me, one of the best parts of spring/summer is all the fresh fruit and vegetables that are cheap and taste SO much better than during the winter. Everything tastes so much more alive than when it's cold out. I love my carrots, potatoes and yams (boy do I love them), but it's so refreshing to get away from the starchy roots and get some juicy veggies and fruit that isn't just apples. I've been rejoicing in grapes the last few days, eating them plain, with fruit salad, on green salad with raspberry vinegarette dressing...awwwww yeahhh... I made a fruit salad yesterday with a mango, an orange, a banana and the aforementioned grapes...it was like being in Mexico. I'd planned on eating it over a couple days, but wound up devouring it in two sittings. Heh.

I'm trying to cut back on the meat I eat as well. I don't necessarily want to become a vegetarian, but I'm doing some research, and I think that it's healthier, more economical and more ecological to eat less meat. I'm also trying to make healthier choices about meat: chicken or fish instead of beef or pork (easy, since I don't like pork much).

I still like meat (a lot) and knowing that I can't have something makes me crave it like crazy. (I should tell myself I'm forbidden to eat healthy food...) It's weird. Since I've started tracking my food, I'm more aware of how much I eat and I'm less likely to crave sugar and fatty food. I'll notice that I haven't eaten much, so I'll say I can have a treat of a cookie or whatever...but I don't want any! It's like giving myself permission takes away the forbidden-ness and thus the craving. It's totally bizarre.

We bought some awesome whole grain bread at Save On called "Granary" or something. It's really good. I've been eating tomato, cucumber and tzatziki sandwiches for lunch today and yesterday. Yesterday, I had a bit of chicken on it as well, but couldn't taste it, so didn't bother today.

I'm really happy today. We looked at bikes yesterday (but we're not getting one yet...HOW DOES ONE KEEP A BIKE IN AN APARTMENT!!! SOMEONE HELP!!), the sun is shining, I got a crapload of marking done (OMG, giant pile...I marked some stuff today that the kids gave me on FEBRUARY 12th!!!), I'm more in love with Dave than ever, I'm eating all this wholesome food which gives me energy (woke up early [for me] today and yesterday...unheard of on a weekend!!) and I'm exercising, which probably is helping with all of that.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

"At Least You're Adorable"


Apparently my night time routine is more ingrained than I thought, or else I'm more tired than I thought. Normally, I clean my ears out with a Q-tip (yes, bad, I know...nothing smaller than your elbow should go in there) while getting out the other stuff to get ready for bed. Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, makeup remover (if applicable that day), pills, whatever.

I decided to skip the ears, put toothpaste on my toothbrush and only the fact that I was looking in the mirror at the time stopped me from sticking it into my ear. I was about 3 inches away.

Friday, April 11, 2008

I know it's not about the numbers...


...but yesterday I hit the lowest weight in the three months I've been tracking it with our awesome scale of doom. It is totally FitDay.com which has been doing it. Dude.

Two nights ago, I ran for a whole mile in a row, plus walked for a mile (split between 5 min before the run and 12 min after the run). I'm so freaking proud of myself. Last time I did that was junior high.

Yesterday, I walked to the store to buy brown rice, wild rice and salad dressing. It's just under a mile round trip, and it's a little hilly, but not too bad. I love it.

Knitting club is so cool. I've gotten rid of so much yarn that I'll never, ever use and I've been inspired to start knitting more myself. :D I've got eight year olds now in the club, and some even younger kids want to join. A brother of one of my students wants to join...I'm tempted. He's six, but he already knows how to knit. It'd be a hoot watching him, and he'd probably be able to teach some of the kids.

Feeds


Does anyone know how to send my LiveJournal posts to here or vice versa? Feed or syndication or something? Bonus points if someone tells me a simple way how to do it that even someone who's pretty stupid with computers can do. Thanks in advance!

Monday, April 07, 2008

Mrrrph.


My short whiny post disappeared. I hate Mondays. Tutoring sucks. I'm sick of it. Good bye cruel world...I'm off to ESL-ing. Staff meeting's finished. TIIIIIIRED.

Oh yeah...


So much for putting it out in public in order to shame myself into going. I didn't make it to karate on Saturday...I spent most of it and Sunday sleeping. I think I'm fighting off a cold or something because I'm totally freaking exhausted.

Today MUST be Monday...


I never could get the hang of Mondays*.

I work today from 900-300, then I have a staff meeting that will run from 315-515, then I tutor from 545 to 845.

This morning I was in the elevator with Dave when he noticed that there was milk dripping out of my lunch bag. The milk for the cereal I was going to have for breakfast this morning at work.

I left my marking at home this weekend, so I didn't get any of that done, so I figured I'd do it between work and tutoring.

Oh, right. Staff meeting.

My grapes are mushy.

It's raining.

At least I didn't do what I did on Friday...book knitting club at lunch, while forgetting that I had to do supervision at recess, allowing me 20 whole minutes to eat my lunch and have a break. Woo.

Yeah, it's Monday, all right.

*Apologies to...Douglas Adams? I think? If it wasn't Monday, I'd probably remember...although I think the original quote was about Thursdays.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Hi.


I've been visiting this page basically every day, since all my links are here. I haven't been writing for lots of reasons...mostly busy-ness and stuff like that.

(it's not because I couldn't remember my password. Psssht...as if. Shut up.)

Things have changed a lot, but some stuff is still the same. I'm still living in the awesome condo of awesomeness with my awesome boyfriend of awesomeness. :) I'm learning how to do stuff like cook, and clean up after myself (I can make ROAST BEEF! WHO AM I??).

I got a temporary contract to teach an amazing 4/5 class of students in the district that I grew up in. Full time work is *thumbs up!* I started a knitting club with the grade 3, 4 and 5s, and have about 40 students. It's totally insane. I love it. My mom comes and helps out at lunchtime with them...some of the kids are way better at knitting than I was when I started. They're teaching each other now! It's so cool!!! One of the boys found some knitting videos on YouTube and learned how to cast on (start the knitting) and he's taught a bunch of kids in the club, and me too! (ETA: By this, I mean he taught me a new way to cast on, since I already know one of the ways.)

I took a break from karate for two months because of insane amounts of work. My gi is ready for me to iron and step back up on that horse. Many, many people don't come back from a hiatus, but I'm wanting to totally buck the odds. SO THERE! HA!! I'm excited to go back. I've missed it.

What else? I started going to the gym a bit more often, starting in the new year. (a bit more often...considering I didn't go at all the first two months we were here....yeah....) I ran for nearly a mile at 5 mph a couple weeks ago. I haven't done THAT since junior high! Of course, I haven't done it since, due to back issues and general pain and meh. I've opened up my fitday.com account again and am tracking all my eating and some of my exercise.

Dave and I play Wii a lot...not so much this week, but over spring break we played a lot and before that. I've become addicted to Resident Evil 4 and we each played through the main game twice, and I played through both mini extra games. Dave's been playing a different extra game.

So, yeah! Now that I remember my password have a little more time, maybe I'll post here often enough that I don't have the posts on the front page completely memorised from when I come here to check blogs and webcomics.