Got some catching up to do!

Before I get into the food accounting, I have to say this: Buy/borrow/steal and then READ Born to Run. This book has changed my life as an athlete, runner and a human being. Christopher McDougall is a phenomenal writer with a gift for making complicated subjects accessible to his reader. Throughout the text, he delves into the history of mankind and its parallel (and he later shows, necessary) relationship to running. He introduces the (willingly) lost tribe of the Tarahumara, deep in the recesses of Mexico's Copper Canyon, a hellhole ridden with drug cartels, deadly animals and a "masochistic spirit of the canyon" that breaks down the will and logic of its visitors, often with fatal results. Yet through this landscape of violence and desolation exist the world's best runners. The book tells of their culture, and their discovery by anxious Americans looking to capitalize on their wisdom and skill. In conjunction with the narrative lie of the most enlightening pages ever to be penned on the subject of running. We as humans, he writes, were literally born to run. Google "persistence hunt" to understand how homo sapiens triumphed (read: survived) over our much stronger and bulkier cousins, the neanderthals. It's fascinating.

Right, enough book review. More on that later. So on a scale of one to ten of my approval of what I ate throughout the last four days, I would give myself a six. There's no need to laboriously include every morsel from the missing days, especially because in my amateur efforts at blogging, I have forgotten to photograph almost everything. Granted this comes with some arrogant assumption that the reader is heavily invested in appearance and presentation of what I am eating. Arrogant indeed. So I will give you the 5 Best and 5 Worst:

5 Best: (in no particular order)

1. Veggie burger w/sweet potato fries while out my brother and his friends.
2. Ziti with tukery meat, veggies and light cream sauce.
3. Discovery of seltzer water as a substitute for soda that even my dentist would be proud of.
4. York Peppermint Patties instead of chocolate en masse. (see note below)
5. General abstinence from Eggo's.

and now, the 5 Wost: (also in no particular order)

1. 7 (or was it 8?) beers with several Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies.
2. 3 popovers with specially fattened maple butter the following morning.
3. 1 1/2 Pepsi with aforementioned veggie burger.
4. Pigging out at B-May's family BBQ on too much bruschetta and ice cream.
5. Indulgence of 3 Eggo's yesterday morning due to laziness.

Whew! Got that off my chest. So I had some serious ups and downs. My excuse this time: having just moved into the Portsmouth area and my first apartment I am all too eager to show off the place and its many fine drinking establishments to frequent visitors. Perhaps I should post photos of those adventures as they would be much more interesting than a bowl of oatmeal, no matter how many fruits and sugars inside...

So, on the matter of Yorks (forgive my conversation with myself here), I have theorized this favorite mint candy of my youth to be an excellent means of taming the craving. Like many, I have an inconsolable sweet tooth after a particularly lip-smacking meal. I now turn to Yorks for a combination of dark chocolate and the minty after-taste of just brushing one's teeth. It's a great way to curb further hunger and satisfy that desire for chocolate. Try it out!

Okay, so yesterday was beautiful. B-May had an interview in the city, so I pigged out on three Eggos for breakfast. Weak, I know. But then we took off for a hike/trail run up Mount Agamenticus in Maine! Awesome place, gorgeous summit with the ocean to one side of you, the White Mountains looming in the distance just opposite. We're planning on heading back every season, so when the leaves start to turn, I'll post some foliage photos.

So on the way home, we stopped at a store for When Pigs Fly bread. Amazing. A woman behind the counter was all too eager to let us try every style and flavor that we almost got full. Ended up purchasing a six-grain pumpkin seed loaf:

Wonderfully fresh and flavorful. It formed the basis for my lunch, this excellent sandwich:

I guess it would be better called a panini but in this monster, I've got spinach, mushrooms, two slices of cheese and some turkey meat. Filled me up (with some applesauce, comme toujours) but didn't put me over the edge. Thanks to When Pigs Fly for a great product and no thanks for the headache I got from too many fine choices at the store. I wanted them all.

Enter another bout of amateur blogger excuses for no photo of my dinner but it was a cheeseburger casserole I'm pretty sure I'll be finishing tonight at work. I'll put up the recipe tomorrow - very good and filling for my often-empty stomach. I topped it off with some Yorks and a granola bar later in the evening in an attempt to hold me over till bed.

Failure.

You know much I wanted this knowing full well it was bad for me, and that I not only heated up this amazing and deadly cake but took the time to photograph it as well. I probably should have had milk instead of beer but I am a terrible pushover. B-May helped me eat the cake so it's not entirely my bad.

At last! Today for breakfast, I enjoyed more of the bread from yesterday, making toast, for the first time since college, the centerpiece of my meal.

I didn't particularly dig the shredded wheat like I assured B-May I would. Even with milk, it sort of sucked. Lesson learned. Lastly, so it wouldn't go bad, I had to heat up the last popover and sather it with butter. I get weak for popovers. But you would too.

That's it and that's all for now. Out for a run with Christopher McDougall's revelation ringing clearly in my head. I'm greatly looking forward to it!

Later!