Pizza, Pie and Polenta!

Good evening!

I have much amazing food to report! But first, I realize I have been negligent of my exercise reporting. B-May and I have gotten back into the swing of running. I think that she has run just under 15 miles this week and while I only have six miles under my belt week to date, I enjoy feeling the tightness in my calves and cadence of running again. Don't know how we got away from it but it's nice to be back.

Okay, so at the end of my last post I was eagerly anticipating dinner and dessert. It was worth it! B-May whipped up a fresh pizza dough from scratch! The whole wheat dough was soft and crunchy on the crust. We absolutely covered the pie with vegetables - eggplant, peppers, zucchini, spinach and tomatoes. Covered it! A liberal soaking of tomato sauce and and many handfuls of mozzarella cheese later we had a delicious vegetable pizza.

AND while it was cooking we mixed some sugar and cinnamon and other pie ingredients with some freshly skinned apples from earlier that day and made an ENORMOUS apple pie. (Notice the fork and how high the pie piles up in comparison!)

It was an evening of insanity but I have no regrets. As soon as the pizza finished cooking we put in the pie and when we finished the pizza the pie was done! Everything was delicious.

So yesterday morning I finished the remainder of the french toast and tried a little Kashi with half of a banana all tossed in some yogurt! I continue to enjoy eating the newest healthy food for me. Then I headed back to Massachusetts for some dental work but first tricked my mother into buying me lunch at one of my favorite sandwich shops in town, The Ultimate Perk. I enjoyed a spicy Thai chicken wrap while my mom had "the best veggie wrap ever." As the feeling returned to my mouth from the local anaesthetic, B-May and shot some hoops at the park. It

was pretty cool and I look forward to more nights like that!

Okay, so for dinner last night, we made tostadas! We used tortilla wraps broiled first which served as the base for a turkey and veggie mixture. Sprinkled some more cheese on top and baked the whole lot for four tostadas. Excellent!

Last night was reading night so after dinner, we sat and read for two hours. Awesome! I finished the book I wanted to - Devil in the White City - which was quite good and read the newspaper and a couple magazine articles I wanted to finish. At the end of our two-hour block we had a piece of pie each - mine twice the size of B-May's - and I enjoyed a couple scoops of ice cream as well.

This morning I kind of rushed out the door. As such I didn't finish my oatmeal nor my corn muffin. Bummer! Good breakfast though.

At work, I was treated to a cup of coffee by a co-worker and snacked on raisins with water. Good snack, huh? During my break I enjoyed the remainder of the tostadas and two congo bars with a seltzer water for lunch. After work, I stopped at Flatbread for a couple beers - one organic - before settling in for the night with a plate full of freshly made ratatouille and polenta! I have never had anything like it and it was quite good. I tip my hat to B-May and the various cookbooks she employs to keep me well, well, well-fed.

Now I'm all updated. I just had another slice of pie, a small (seriously!) scoop of ice cream and got rid of the Reese's Peanut Butter cups residing at the top of the cupboard by eating them. I'm still hungry so I might eat something else. Not sure. It's a mystery!

Today was a Day for the History Books!

But not yesterday. Yesterday was a slew of chains: Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (egg and cheese on a plain bagel with a black coffee), Panera Bread for tea (earl grey), and Friendly's for lunch with friends (TurkeyClub SuperMelt with very little fries and a giant chocolate Fribble, a.k.a., frappe). For dinner B-May and I whipped up a quick stir-fry of rice and veggies. I had seconds! And drank a PBR. Which was awesome.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of any of those things. Friendly's and the stir-fry of course, I regret failing to do so. I have an unconditional love for the sandwich I ordered at Friendly's, a New England staple and so have to have it every time I go. This time, was in the face of everything I learned from Food Inc. and every thing I promised to do in my last entry. Which brings me to my next point: I bought Odwalla Organic super-berry mixture (of sorts) and a Stonyfield yogurt, black cherry. The Odwalla I have not consumed, though I tasted it and loved it. It's only a matter of time. As for the yogurt, well...not only is it organic but is amazing!

I officially love yogurt! This was a wonderful afternoon snack that has filled me up and satisfied my sugar craving for that part of the day. It's not correct that one gets one sugar craving a day. Rather, they come in frequent waves. (At least for me.)

So today B-May and I made pumpkin french toast, which came out excellent and was delicious. I was surpised how full I got from this breakfast. I can usually put down six or seven slices but I think the combination of whole wheat bread and pumpkin puree set my intake limit slightly lower. Milk for a drink!

During the course of the morning, B-May and I headed down to Applecrest Farms for a pumpkin to be a jack-o-lantern and a peck of apples.

We got both despite nearly all the apples had been picked from the orchards. For lunch we returned to the apartment and I smushed a tuna sandwich to make a tuna melt and enjoyed some almonds before as a snack. I also had some chips and salsa with my tuna and two congo bars for dessert.

This brings me to the yogurt experience which was magical and to dinner which I will post either later tonight or tomorrow. Hooray for yogurt being in my life!

Portsmouth Film Festival Continues and Ends

When I last posted, I eagerly anticipated breakfast. Unfortunately it was far from a grand affair: I fried one egg white and put it on two toasted slices of bread with some oatmeal.

Water was my beverage as we ran out of milk. These things never happened when my folks bought me food but alas, I am an adult now and have to reconcile that I occasionally fall a little short and forget to buy a steady supply of milk.

In the morning, I walked down to the Moffatt-Ladd warehouse and saw a short documentary on Ethiopian women who suffer from childbirth injuries and their proximity to care. It was disturbing, yes, but fascinating and truly eye-opening. Google "fistula" for a topic not to be covered here but one that should not be ignored.

After the film, I was invited up to a swanky club of the rich and famous as an extension of B-May's work and we dined on fresh salmon, pasta with veggies and a sip or two of fine cider. It sounds so unfair to the food to simply qualify it as "pasta with veggies" but I will never eat there again so it's not worth considering any further. I did not carry my camera with me for this event. Another point about food bloggers: it must be easier (if not, less conspicuous) to be a female blogger, owing to the purse or handbag in which to conceal and carry a camera....I digress.

While I managed an eventful morning, I still had to go to work. Before though, I slurped down a Hannaford chicken noodle soup which lacked any semblance of flavor. Never again. I rode my bike despite the cold again (woot!) and snacked on raisins and two Nalgenes worth of water. When I took my break I had (yet another) serving of the veggie mac and cheese and few bars of the granola with apricots B-May made I think before I started this blog.

For dessert, I wolfed down a granola bar - Chocolate Chunk, etc. etc. - and gave in to a Clif Bar. This last treat I nibbled on for the last hour of work before B-May picked me up. That was nice of her!

We bought a bottle of wine and half gallon of ice cream. It was a perfect Saturday grocery purchase. At home, we uncorked the wine - something red - and I had two glasses before deciding that a bowl of ice cream was absolutely necessary. (It rarely is.)

Now to today! For breakfast, I enjoyed a warming cup of Breaking New Grounds coffee and an onion bagel with cream cheese.

This lasted me until just before noon when I went to Weathervane with my grandmother, her sister and my aunt. For a greasy seafood restaurant I managed a (somewhat) healthy avenue of fried haddock sandwich with veggies instead of fries. One could argue it was all in vain as I downed an entire fountain soda, negating any benefit from the veggies.

When I got home, I poured a tall glass of milk and snacked on three cookies, trying to get rid of the temptation, bit by bit.

Okay, so now I'm at the exciting part!

Tonight we saw Food Inc. This is a mind-blowing movie. Its delivery is original and the topic is particularly gripping: where food comes from. The film manages to cover all the angles - grocers, farmers, businesses, and organics - in less than two hours. Part of it was hard to watch (reaffirming my abstinence from meat) but the rest was so educational I'll have to watch it three more times to retain the parts needed to win an argument for organic. A special treat was a Q and A session immediately afterward with the Stonybrook CEO. My takeaway: "There are thousands of reasons to eat organic, but only one not to: price." The man knows his stuff is expensive but his infiltrating Wal-Mart helps reduce the prices of his signature yogurts and make the healthy stuff more accessible to all Americans. It was not my intention when I started this blog and recording what I eat to actively pursue eating organic, but with the influence of this movie and B-May's resilience for the products, I will start.

With this new information kicking out our heads, we scoured the cupboards of our apartment for foods with ingredients we could not pronounce. Still we ate a fine turkey chili with corn muffins and chips and salsa for dinner. We also sipped some more wine. It was lovely!

I must report, I felt another instance of necessary ice cream and did just that.

Regrettably, I finished the whole bowl. So now I'm craving, truly craving, a cold glass of water. I'll go get one.