Left Wanting

Last night was a lot of fun!  Jack and I attended the Foodies' Guild holiday dinner at a local, rentable kitchen in the city.  We arrived at the location on time and were immediately in the minority.  The club had rented the kitchen for four hours and at 5:15ish we started doing some prep work.  There we multiple dishes to be made, all of which either required oven time or stovetop time to some degree.  Unfortunately both the stove and ovens were in VERY close proximity.  This made cooking a bit of a challenge.  I hadn’t eaten since 12 noon because I wasn’t hungry at 4p and didn’t want to eat too close to the presumed dinner time of about 6:30p.  Hence, when 7:30p rolled around and there was still no food to be had, I gave in and snacked on some pretzels and cheese puffs.

Finally at a bit after 8p we all scooped ourselves some food and started chowing down.  I tried a bit of everything.  Going clockwise from the bowl: chana masala, fried noodles (with green beans, mushrooms, and egg), pulav, butternut squash soup (turned out a bit more like a paste), macaroni and cheese (with broccoli), deviled egg, bruschetta, and egg pancake.  Jack and I split some curry puffs (in the right bowl) and some honey soy glazed chicken (in the middle).  We also had some sort of drink with orange juice, grenadine, and a cherry.

A little later while people were grabbing themselves some leftovers, I snagged myself some big bites of flan for a sweet finish.  I’m not a huge fan of flan typically but this particular night I couldn’t get enough of it.  Yum!

On the whole we had a great night hanging out with every one, getting to know them, and trying all the “holiday food with an ethnic flair”.  While I would have done a lot differently, this was a good kick-off event for the club’s first time out.

After a decent night’s sleep, though shorter than I would have wanted, I headed to work at 7:30 this morning but not until after I had made some delicious eats.  I whipped up a pumpkin vanilla protein breakfast cake which I topped with peanut butter, chia, and maple.

Looking back I would say that it really could have used a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice but hey, you can’t win ‘em all.  What it lacked a bit in flavor, the cake certainly made up for in size though (it was as big as my palm!).  This baby rose like a champ.

I love it when things work out like this.  It was moist and scrumptious, a happy way to start the day.  At work, the lab was incredibly packed with people, specifically the hourlies (of which I am one).  We spent the whole morning blasting through the frozen urine sample piles.  Lightening speed I tell you!  Many people also bred cuteness though today as we were singing our way through the hours.  Christmas songs were the favorites.  Nice conversations were also had.  I do love it when there are a lot of people in the lab.  Talk makes the time go by so quickly!

Around noon everyone stopped for lunch.  Some went out for some McDonalds or hospital cafeteria food (believe it or not, it is actually pretty stellar most days) while I stayed in and scarfed down my turkey, cheddar, and garlic mayo sandwich.

Before everyone got back I also snacked on my ambrosia apple while reading Brave New World for the second time.

I have read it before, back in high school for AP English in juxtaposition with 1984.  It was BY FAR my favorite so I figured I would spend some time reading it over again to see if my fancy for it has changed with age.  So far I still like it.  If you’re wondering why I’m reading anything other than the Hunger Games trilogy that is because I finally finished all three books!  I will say that the ending left me a bit dissatisfied but if you were to ask my exactly why, I couldn’t tell you. It’s just an overall feeling of wanting more though I think the series was incredible and I can’t wait for the movie in March!

We all went back to work for the afternoon and I had to pop out of the lab by 2p to catch the bus home.  Shorty after arriving Jack and I headed right back out in order to make it to my appointment with a nutritionist.  I had been recommended this particular woman by my chiropractor so I was very excited to see what this consultation held for me.  It left me kind of sad actually afterwards.  I think I rather wanted more from the session though it was definitely a meeting meant to sell me on her services.  I get that and I know she has to make money too but when she hit me with the price I was beyond overwhelmed.  She wanted $300 per month for roughly 5-6 months (her estimation of how long it would take to teach me all the necessary things/work out or at least start working through my issues with food).  This price tag included two, one-hour long sessions per month, 24/7 support care through text/phone/e-mail, and any other ancillary services she may provide at her will like recipe conversion (healthifying, etc.).  Have I mentioned that I’m a poor college student?  $300 is PROHIBITIVE.

Jack and I hit up Starbucks (caramel light frapp for me and mocha light frapp for him) afterwards to help me decompress.  I’ll admit I was a bit emotional.  Like I said, I just wanted more from the session.  I wanted more answers and less “this is what I can do with you” speeches.  I know it was a a free consultation but it left me really empty.  We’ll see what becomes of my nutritionist quest for now…

When Jack and I got back to the apartment, we went for a quick workout before dinner.  We switched off on the elliptical and the stationary bike for 18 minutes a piece.  Weights were next.  I did a small circuit because my motivation/mood was totally shot from earlier.

• Sumo squats with a 20lb dumbbell
• Tricep dips under own body weight
• Pushups

After we finished and walked back to the apartment (with package in hand because our Xmas gifts from my parents arrived!) we whipped up some cornbread muffins and had them alongside our crockpot thick and hearty turkey chili according to this recipe.

This chili had the perfect amount of kick and was chunky enough to satisfy.  The cornbread was subtly sweet and salty and just the right consistency for dipping, dunking, and butter spreading.  A nice dinner indeed.  The following evening consisted of a download call to mom about my appointment earlier, cutting Jack’s hair, some vegging out to DVRed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and dessert!

Not going to lie, I needed this especially considering that when I left the nutritionist’s house I wanted to curl up by a fireplace, drown myself in blankets, and stuff my face full of chocolate peanut butter cake.  It took a lot not to.  Well then, I hope your day was better than mine.  I have to head to work tomorrow again so sleep should be something on my list.  G’night all!

Questions: Have you ever been to a nutritionist?
Do you take your chili with cornbread or without?