Tales of Slow Brave Athena

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February 6, 2008

tracking information is vital to measuring performance and improvement

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm keeping track of where I'm at step-wise, and weight-wise, every day. Or close to everyday, as I do sometimes forget. Still, the fact that I'm paying attention seems to be paying off.

I'm not consistently hitting 10,000 steps a day, but I'm getting closer. And while I manage to forget my weight about a half-hour after I get off the scale, I'm still left with the sense that either I'm losing, I'm maintaining, or I'm gaining.

For the most part, it's been losing. I'm trying to keep to the Michael Pollan plan (eat food... not too much... mostly plants). In spite of several evening events this week, in spite of a beer and some cassoulet, in spite of a day where I barely ate any plants at all, I am very slowly losing. I mean, slowly. And that's exactly how I want it.
....
Not surprisingly, I've had some interesting walks. One day, I walked to the MAX (about 20 minutes), got off at the grocery store, loaded up my bags, and then repeated the process home. I learned that I'm not crazy about carrying groceries for any distance.

Another day, I planned to walk to my favorite cafe in town, about 4.5 miles. But once I got outside, it was raining, and then it was snowing, and then this didn't seem to be such a great idea. So again, I walked to the MAX and took it part of the way there, and then walked through the neighborhood. It still took me a while, and by the time I got to the MAX, my socks were already socked. Thank g-d they were wool, so they were still warm. Not long after I got off MAX, my pants and shoes were soaked too. But it was still a good walk, and a fairly long one, the sort that made me very blissfully tired.
.....
The other night I went to a fantastic potluck with Julia Child as the theme. We had all read Child's My Life in France, and our hostess made the most fabulous cassoulet. I struggled for days trying to think of something vegan to make that would appeal to the other guests, and also something that would not require an entire day of cooking.

It was quite a relief to come across the Salade Composee from The French Chef Cookbook, which is just marinated veggies & beans on top of salad greens. In spite of that, it was quite elegant.

Salade Composee

for the vinaigrette

1-2 Tablespoons wine vinegar or lemon juice
a smidge of salt
fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon dijon or dry mustard
6-8 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

for the salad

a can of borlotti beans, rinsed & drained (you can use any kind)
raw zucchini sliced
raw mushrooms sliced
salad greens
cherry tomatoes
nicoise olives
fingerling or banana potatoes, chopped into bitesized pieces
parsley

1. cook the fingerling potatoes in salted water for about 10 minutes, or until tender
2. create the vinaigrette by placing all the ingredients in a bowl, and whisking until combined
3. marinate beans, zucchini, mushrooms and potatoes in vinaigrette for 20-30 minutes
4. dress the greens lightly and arrange on a planter. Mound the food items in their own pyramids. Sprinkle a little more vinaigrette and chopped parsley on top

Obviously, the idea is to make a nice salad with what you have on hand. I think marinating asparagus and green beans, and then grilling would be an excellent addition. If I were still eating fish, I'd add a good European tuna packed in olive oil. Easter egg radishes would be pretty, and grilled zucchini or carrot slices would be nice, too.

But most of the time, I come home from work, and we impromptu decide what we're going to eat. This isn't the best of all possible worlds as we're invariably both hungry, which leads us to eating canned soup and fake meat sandwiches.

So I actually did some research on what we could make in that sort of instance, and came up with Jacque Pepin's Cold Black Bean Soup. It being winter, I warmed it up a little.

Black Bean Soup

a large can of black beans
olive oil
hot sauce
several cloves of garlic
salt
veggie broth
cilantro
lime
avocado

1. puree part or all of the black beans with some olive oil
2. add hot sauce, garlic and salt to taste
3. add enough broth to make it creamy
4. heat and serve, garnished with chopped cilantro & chunked avocado. A squirt of lime really brings it to life.

adding salsa is another variant that is very good.

....
And, I've been knitting like a fiend. I'm working on a baby blanket for a cow-orker and it really is turning out gorgeously, I gotta say. Of course I don't have a picture, are you kidding?

My local yarn shop has gotten slipper bottoms in, so I can begin making slippers for everyone I know once I finish said baby blanket.

And the embers armwarmers are excruciatingly close to done. I just need to spend a little bit more time on them.

I'm planning to start going through my stash and dunging it out. Stuff with labels I may try to sell, stuff without I'll probably donate. I'm ridiculously excited about this... It's part of my decluttering effort, which is moving glacially slowly. But, it's moving.

Posted at February 6, 2008

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Posted by: Meepa at February 7, 2008 4:42 AM

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