Octopuscarwash's Gourmet Adventures

I live to eat. Yes, I am an Asian Jew. My favorite meal is breakfast (oatmeal in particular). I'm only in high school, so I am a complete amateur. Some of my favorite cuisines are Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Japanese and Korean. I eat so much Chinese food that it's hard to say whether I like it or not... all I know is that I don't like what most of America seems to think of as Chinese food, Panda Express. I'm a pescetarian and love coming up with my own healthy fusion food.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Mozart and Mung Beans

Happy Wednesday! There's a Chinese expression that says "Once Wednesday is over, there's only tomorrow and the day after tomorrow until the weekend!"
Tomorrow I'm actually going to the MIDNIGHT showing of Twilight with Page... shh, don't tell. It seems like all the cool "Indie" seeming kids are actually secretly seeing the movie, but they won't want to say anything.
Breakfast: Oatmeal with 1/2 banana, applesauce, blueberries, raspberries, maple syrup, yogurt, and some grapenuts.


Snack: Peanut butter Z-bar
Lunch: Check out my awesome Chinese lunchbox!
Layer 1:
Layer 2:
Layer 3:
By the way, those are just leftovers of steamed egg and tofu with greens.
Plus an Asian pear to go with the whole Asian theme and some Kashis, dried fruit and nuts (I DIDN'T NEED THIS. I need to stop packing food that I don't need).

As for a workout today, I took advantage of workout center in PE. It was a relatively easy workout, since my legs were KILLING ME TODAY. I didn't think yesterday was hard, but I guess my body wasn't used to it. I did my swim coach's workout: 5 minutes warm up, 1 minute high, fast intensity, 2 minutes easy, for 25 minutes, then 5 minutes cool down (on the elliptical). It was enough to get me really hot and sweaty, so after class I went to the little kids' playground and read Moby-Dick until I got cold. It was nice.
I had to take public transport to music school, which was a way to get some more walking in. I was so tired, I actually fell asleep on the bus! It's rare that I'm tired enough to fall asleep standing up. I was leaning to the side, but when the bus jolted to a halt I gasped pretty loudly and woke up.
I had some time to kill before my quartet (5:30), and I had a private lesson after, so I knew dinner wouldn't be until pretty late. I stopped at Starbucks for some much-needed caffeine and food, since Starbucks has definitely been improving their food!
I got a nonfat gingersnap latte and their "Protein Plate," which had apple slices, grapes, a hard-boiled egg, a mini whole wheat bagel, peanut butter, and cheddar cheese. Squeezing the peanut butter out of the package was really fun! I didn't eat the egg yolk and only had one piece of the cheese, which was rubbery and probably not worth it. But I guess protein really is the key to staying full! I wasn't even that hungry when I got home, but of course I ate way more than I should have.
By the way, quartet was awesome! Teacher couldn't make it this week and the violist wasn't there, so the cellist, violinist and I worked on the Mozart. I love chamber music.
Private lesson also went well, except that my hands are so dry that they were bleeding a little. I need to carry around lotion.
My dad cooked again, since my mom is busy packing. Sadly, he made the dish that I miss most about being a vegetarian, and it's so extremely frustrating since I never even ate the meat anyway! It's a very humble dish: spare rib and cabbage soup. The pork is taken out of the soup and served separately with soy sauce, the soup is purged of all fat and impurities until it's a cloudy broth with leafy cabbage. I miss it so much, and it really is pretty healthy. I was tempted, but I still haven't made my decision. Every time I think I'm going to start eating meat again, I read some terrible article... like today, I read about workers kicking turkeys and shoving broomsticks down their throats.

Anyways, I feasted on vegetables tonight: green peppers and vinegar and MUNG BEAN SPROUTS! Those are the sprouts with the smaller pods at the end, and they're green, unlike soy bean sprouts, which are yellow. The peppers are first grilled until completely burned, then stir-fried with vinegar. They have a very meaty taste.
The mung bean sprouts have lots of scallions, ginger, garlic, a little cornstarch, and sesame oil.


And we finally made real brown rice tonight! I hate the pre-packaged stuff... so dry.
Condiments: homemade chili oil
and this weird fermented tofu stuff.

I really didn't need seconds, but of course I had them. I really need to start listening to my body... maybe I would lose a few pounds. I don't really need to, but I think now I'm eating more than is really necessary. I hate feeling stuffed.
TWILIGHT TOMORROW! OH YES...

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a gingerbread latte too, yesterday! (From Peet's Coffee) Don't you just love all the holiday flavors lately? I really want to give the peppermint flavor a try next time.
I am totally loving your lunch box; that is so cute! And guess what? I had an Asian pear yesterday too! Are we foodie twins or something? :)
Your dad's soup looks so amazing; it must have been so hard to resist! How long have you been vegetarian for? (If you don't mind me being curious)

November 20, 2008 at 10:18 AM  
Blogger Lida said...

Santa Barbara Dreaming--
foodie twins! awesome! I find some of the holiday flavors a little too sweet, though. I would rather have all the spice without the sugar.
And the soup is pretty amazing... I've been a vegetarian for almost 2 years now.

November 20, 2008 at 10:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

First of all, so jealous about Twilight.

Second, FERMENTED FOODS!

I thought you said you blogged about making the cider?

November 20, 2008 at 9:36 PM  

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