I am a slug

Seriously, I am a slug now that swimming is over. Must find some form of exercise (other than PE, which actually is kind of a workout... we did sprints and wall sits, but still... not enough). I might go running with the cross country team tomorrow, since their workouts are basically whatever you feel like doing.. but will I be okay distance running when I haven't done it in a while? I'm still in good shape from swimming... I guess we'll see.
I can already see my appetite decreasing. Not too much... I think I still have a fast metabolism, but at least I don't feel like I need to engulf what's in front of me all the time.
Breakfast: oatmeal with 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 milk, 1 banana, a handful of cranberries, maple syrup, pecans, Greek yogurt, and peanut butter. Very Thanksgiving! Next time maybe I'll add pumpkin!
Today in bio we started a lab that involves fermenting apple juice by adding yeast and then determining the percent alcohol by the end. Somebody asked about how much yeast to put, and my bio teacher said "I know of at least one person in this class who can cook, and I'm sure she'd be happy to help." (Actually, I don't bake, so I know nothing about yeast)
Then I forget what happened, but somebody said "It's just a Lida thing."
And he said "No, I can just tell the difference between someone who listens to talk about food and someone whose eyes light up." Then he said, "by the way, yesterday was the closest my wife's ever gotten to reading a blog." Actually, I didn't give him the URL... maybe I should.
Snack: Chocolate brownie z-bar
Lunch: lighter than normal now that the season's over-- a really TINY whole wheat bun with a Morningstar veggie burger that I grilled this morning. I added ketchup and mustard at school. The burger was actually pretty decent (I was really desperate for lunch options this morning)-- it tasted like a really crappy beef burger, and yet I liked it... maybe for that nostalgic feeling?
I also had carrots, celery and pepper with hummus and some applesauce. (Now I take photos of my lunch when I make it so as not to appear weird at school.)

I didn't get home until around 5, and I was hungry, but didn't want to spoil my appetite for dinner. I had a juicy pear, a mug of hot chocolate with 1% and this Spanish hot chocolate mix my mom got from Zingerman's in Michigan for my birthday, plus some nuts and a few Kashi crackers.
I felt like it, so I basically made dinner today! I improvised a kind of mock jambalaya, only it turned into more of a risotto fusion dish, since we didn't have long grain rice.
I sauteed onions, vegetables, tomato paste and herbs and spices in olive oil, then added canned tomatoes, Arborio rice and homemade vegetable stock. It took a while for the rice to cook, but then we added shrimp and kidney beans. It was good, but I think I might be coming down with something, since it was supposed to be spicy but I couldn't taste much. It also didn't fill me up! Maybe it was the white rice as opposed to brown, but I had to eat 3 helpings!
On the side we had a beet and endive salad with lemon.
And I felt really stuffed, so no need for even fruit after dinner.
Good night!

1st day of school, a week late

I've decided to do a weekly blog-- a cumulative one, since I spend my free time sleeping when I'm not swimming or working. Here's something I wrote the day before the first day of school, before I decided that writing every day would be too hard. My camera is having problems! I bought that damn expensive battery charger and the camera still won't turn on. I've been using my mom's iPhone, but she's away for the weekend, so I don't know what I'll be doing:

9/07/08

Today was a major reorganizing/ running errands day.

7:00—got up and went running. It was a gorgeous day out—slightly chilling that’s perfect if you’re planning on getting your heart rate up. I ran north and stopped at the orange fences where the bike path is currently under construction… My guess is that it couldn’t have been more than 3.5, 4 miles, but that’s fine for me. I don’t feel the desire to run every day, just every once in a while to get a change of scenery.

Breakfast was a real indulgence today with apple pie oatmeal. I caramelized a chopped up apple with a TINY bit of butter and some brown sugar, and then made my oatmeal with ½ milk and ½ apple cider. To the apple filling I also added cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest. I stirred the filling into the oatmeal, added a DROP of the farmer’s market cream, and topped it with wheat germ, walnuts, and a little bit of Kashi GoLean Crunch… it tasted exactly like an apple crisp with the cereal topping. My hands smelled all delicious and cinnamon-y afterwards.

After breakfast I completely reorganized my room, throwing out a lot of things I felt bad throwing away, selling my used textbooks, on Amazon, etc., without a break until lunch, which consisted of leftovers. My mom had leftover mushrooms from last night, but instead of baking the eggs, she just fried one and ate in on top. I tried a bite and with a bit of liquid they really did taste better. As for me, I topped brown rice with leftover chickpeas, squash, and spinach, then microwaved it and topped it with hummus, yogurt and a little cayenne. It really struck me how I had put way too much sage on the squash, but it still tasted great, and it was one of those extremely healthy meals where you can practically feel the antioxidants working their magic on your body as you chew. We also finished the leftover beet soup.

Then it was errand time… we popped down to Barnes and Noble so I could use the gift card I unearthed while I was cleaning my room (I bought Breaking Dawn… so trashy, but addictive. I can’t wait to read in bed tonight), then to a little glasses store for my mom, where I sat and read happily, then to Best Buy, so my mom could finally get an iPhone and I could get my camera’s battery charger, and finally to Whole Foods, although we didn’t buy much.

When I got home, I finished reorganizing my CLOSET, an impressive feet. Before that, I had a snack, realizing I was starving. In fact, I think I ate too much, since I wasn’t that hungry at dinner—I had graham crackers with peanut butter, PLUS yogurt + cottage cheese with berries and cinnamon, and mint tea. It was satisfying, though, consider dinner certainly wasn’t. We decided to try the salmon burgers at Whole Foods, since we’ve always wanted too, but they were so incredibly dry and tasteless that we basically had to experiment by drowning them in various sauces (ketchup, mustard, yogurt and Indian lime pickle—separately, of course).

The guy working there had recommended the spinach and feta salmon burger, which already seemed strange to me, but feta, already being a relatively dry, low fat cheese, did nothing to the texture. I ate my whole burger, since dipping it in ketchup reminded me of meatloaf, something I miss. We also had some arugula, but I was longing for some more substantial vegetables. Dinner also ended badly, with my mom suggesting that I quit piano. Quit piano? I would never have considered such a thing before, but it’s like now that I’ve gotten so into sports, languages and cooking, I’ve left it behind… it hardly crosses my thoughts now… The thing is, I know it’s something I’m good at (if I practice), and something that lasts longer than sports, but lately I haven’t been enjoying it, or even doing it at all. It’s the first time in my life I really haven’t been practicing—I used to always practice an hour a day, and it was just part of my routine. I don’t know what to do, especially because I also do need extracurriculars. Plus, school starts tomorrow and I am totally unprepared. I didn’t do the summer reading because my mom somehow misplaced it (it was only a little packet on politics, though, and no one cares if you do), and my books won’t be here for a while. Luckily, I GOT INTO AP FRENCH! At least that’s worth looking forward to.

My camera is still charging, so no photos again. Got to go to bed early for SCHOOL! Good night.