Identify what is most important )0( Eliminate everything else
The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world. Dr. Paul Farmer
The suffering of others is not alleviated when no one knows about it.
There is no one right way to live. Daniel Quinn Ishmael
The only thing that you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right sort of people.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Kurt Vonnegut

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

oh the humanity

Only if humanity equals eating way more candy than any person should ever admit to having eaten.

I took my own, very bad advice and allowed myself to buy some of those chocolate covered cherries candies.  That would have been fine, except that, even though it was a small box, it paved...slicked-up...the path to accepting just about any other candy that was offered to me.  Lordy.

Anyway, I broke the cycle by buying only great food when I shopped on Monday before the big snow arrived.  Those pre-storm visits to the market are often the excuse for having fun food in the house because I will most likely be stuck inside for a while.  But, when I started shopping I just went on auto pilot and did my usual perimeter shopping.  I made one last trip to the produce department, got a big bag of carrots which I had forgotten the first go-round and looked at the salad bar, decided that the extra stuff was too tempting and as I was walking towards the check-out, a deli person came out with a tray of freshly made sandwiches.  They do a weird thing with the sandwiches and other snacks in that display case.  The stuff is bare bones, in that there is not any mayo or mustard or fancy relish or anything but really good bread and rolls, lean meats, a slice of cheese and lots of greens and tomato slices.  Since I knew they were fresh off the cutting board, I grabbed a roast beef, which is not the usual deli beef, but real roasted beef.

I did succumb to a diet soft drink that I like ever so much, as it was on sale, something that lures me in like magic.

Today I will be making turkey and vegetable curry in the slow cooker.  I do not think that I have any coconut milk in the pantry, but I do have some nice shredded coconut in the freezer, so I can manage a substitute.  A slow cooker full of this yummyness will last for at least a week, with a few zipper bags in the freezer right away.  I may have one or two of those bags before I run out of curry appetite, but freezing it as soon as it cools a bit means that none will be tossed at the end.

Natural peanut butter and celery will be a few lunches and many snacks, as four big old bunches were too nice to pass up.  Green bell peppers, apples and a couple of winter squash, some nice bakery bread and lots of frozen Brussels sprouts.  Wheat biscuit cereal and milk were a splurge, but so nice for a quick dinner.  Wheat biscuit crackers (a theme I guess) and some spreadable cheese is yet another quick lunch or dinner.  Lots of salad greens and a handful of tomatoes.

Tomatoes.  Last shopping trip they were divine, sweet and flavorful and the last one was et on Sunday, and whilst I bought more, less yummy ones I am sure, they are a splurge item as well.  So expensive and often not all that delicious this time of year.

I try to eat relatively local, but I do not have freezer or room to store home-canned stuff, and I am pretty sure that I am not willing to give up chocolate or tea in this life.  And, it is kind of weird-ish that I am thinking so much about food, especially since I recently claimed that I do not worry much about anything.

But, this whole food thing might be different.

I shoveled and struggled (and failed) with the cover I bought for the car to keep the windshields clearer.  And, even though I have that weirdly fractured/whatever vertebrae, I was not tired by the shoveling, falling or several trips up the stairs with all of that heavy soft drinks, food and stuff.

In fact, I did not think about the shoveling until this morning when I felt a bit stiff in the old body and in my right knee which I think took a blow on one of my falls into the snow.  Even all of that is minor and passed quickly.  Truth is, I feel great.  Exercise is difficult for me to embrace, but exercise by default...shoveling, walking, wrangling stuff up the stairs...is easy for me.  I enjoy it.  So, I guess thinking about (oh, not wondering?????) the food I just naturally tossed in my cart and how it is nice that it happened so closely on the heels of the candy orgy, might mean that I do wonder about some things, even if it, as regards to the food shopping, might be more internal that something I try to process. 

And, that I bought food items that cannot be eaten raw...my preference...and need to be prepared and actually cooked, albeit by the lazy slow cooker method, might be a good sign.  Man, or in this case old ladies, seem to need more than vegetables eaten as-is. 

So, perhaps, a total disregard for good health, you know, all that candy, but it was so good, brought some good.  I mean, when I shopped, I did not buy any chips, potato or otherwise, no jam, nothing other than healthy stuff.  It feels kind of good and I am hoping that the feeling stays.  Although, I know that the chips are waiting for me in their beautiful red bag, all wavy and crunchy and salty and, oh, lordy.

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