Lose the Buddha: Odds and ends

« Bad day | Main | Reprieve! »

Monday, February 19, 2007

Odds and ends

It's not a far-off exaggeration to say that I've been wiped out completely by this weather. I don't know what it is about the cold and heaps of the fluffy white stuff that just exhausts me. You couple that with my period and I'm not good to anyone.

So it was a slow week, one where I just worked and cuddled up inside with my dog and The Boy and television and my friends. Amazingly enough, I managed not to use either as an excuse to scarf up food, though I probably - OK, in all likelihood, did - overdid it on the Hershey kisses with cherry creme cordial filling on Wednesday, as my nutritional intake could have used a boost from a healthier treat. The Boy and I did celebrate Valentine's Day with a trip to the White Castle.

Alas, it was not meant to be the healthiest of healthy days, and as I'm seriously trying to focus on the bigger picture, it's not anything I'm obsessing about. After all - what's the point? It's done.

With this week comes sunnier skies and warmer temperatures, which translates into ease going to and from the gym, burlesque class, more walking and running with the dog, and hopefully the disappearance of some of this god-awful snow. I'm over it already. Let's get cracking on Spring.

I still haven't made it down to a kickboxing class but hope springs eternal.

I had a nice weekend. My friends and I went out for sushi on Friday, and I made grilled tuna steaks and roasted Brussel sprouts for dinner on Saturday before we went downtown to the Cadillac Theatre for a blues show. Yesterday found us in the south suburbs with The Boy's family, including my first-ever Episcopalian church service, which included, I believe, Hawaiian bread for communion.

Seriously, I can so get behind that, though The Boy says that's pretty uncommon. Still. Hawaiian bread rules.

This week promises to be quiet, which means I can focus on training and sleeping and, most likely, cooking. I plan on figuring out every way in which I can prepare all of the ahi tuna steaks I picked up in the frozen food section of Costco last week, though I imagine I'm going to prefer how I did it on Saturday, which was to marinate it for a couple of hours in olive oil, dark seasame oil, rum and lime juice and grill it on a cast iron pan before throwing it into the oven to cook through.

Still, I need to branch out.

Lastly, I tried the Honey Mustard snack wrap - with grilled chicken - from McDonald's this weekend and holy Moses. That was seriously good. I'm always skeptical of such things, but I was hungry and running errands. Plus, my stomach just can't take big portions of anything anymore so I was willing to take a shot.

It's a little higher in fat and sodium than I'd like, but it's still a pretty viable alternative to grabbing a cheeseburger. Plus it didn't feel so horribly heavy on my stomach.

I think I will try to recreate this on my own at home. The key to keeping it a little lower in calories is to find a tortilla alternative but I'm not sure that would be hard. Anyone have any flour tortilla ideas? I'm really more of a corn tortilla girl so I don't exactly know from what ...

Posted by Erin at 10:40 AM | filed under: Random

comments

You could wrap it in lettuce instead of a tortilla, though I've never quite mastered that without pieces falling onot the counter as I try to chomp. I usually just use whole-wheat tortillas.

posted by: PastaQueen at February 19, 2007 02:33 PM

Good plan, PQ! I really enjoyed the taste of the flour tortilla, and I know it's not exactly horrible for you, I'd rather just find an alternative.

Also? I, too, have never mastered the lettuce wrap. It always sounds so good in theory.

posted by: Erin at February 19, 2007 02:44 PM

Have you tried Flat Out wraps?? I found them at Costco but think I've started seeing them at my local grocery stores. They were touted on Oprah when Bob Greene introduced his latest diet plan. (http://www.flatoutbread.com/movie.html) I brought home carry-out fajitas from my favorite local Mexican joint last Friday in our latest blizzard and instead of using the flour tortillas they included, I cut a Whole Wheat Flatout in half (they're HUGE ovals) and made two servings out of the one piece of bread.

posted by: Dellface at February 19, 2007 02:44 PM

May I recommend low-carb tortillas? They are seriously awesome. They have 50 calories and 8 grams of fiber which means they are essentially.... I don't know what but they are GOOD. I like the Carb Balance or La Tortilla Factory from Trader Joe's. I eat them every day and they are best warmed up a little in the over. I tear them in little triangles to make them good little transporters of hummus and cow cheese.

posted by: Kate at February 19, 2007 07:15 PM

Did you get a definitive answer on what was causing your reaction to certain foods?

Louise: I didn't get one. Mainly because I haven't really needed one. Mainly I've cut out refined sugars, and when I do have any, I have them in really small portions. Anytime my stomach gets really upset, it's because I've had too much of the "bad" stuff or too big of portions. I'm experimenting with having about 5-6 small meals a day to avoid that problem!

What's also helped is that I've also cut out Diet Coke, any soda, actually. I have about two cups of coffee a day, and drink water the rest of the time. I might have one Diet Coke a week, mainly because I just love it and don't want to go completely without it!

posted by: Louise at February 20, 2007 04:50 AM

August 2008