Day 1. This is going to take longer than I thought

Since this is day 1 after vacation, I am still loaded up with goodies from home. THIS is one of them.. though it doesnt look like much, 2,179 miles (yes I looked it up) has a way of wilting one's style. This is an Egg Dosa, a flat breakfast entree made from rice batter (the process of making the batter is coming up in a future post, with pictures!) that is poured like a pancake on a hot skillet. An egg is then cracked over the top of it, and the whole ensemble is cooked on both sides. The pile next to the dosa is called puudi, a grainy dry condiment that you pile into a heap and poke your finger right in the middle to make a volcano shape. Then you pour whatever edible oil you want (the traditional way is to use sesame oil, which is what I had this morning) in the volcano and mix it all up. The volcano part is really just for fun. But I've seen lots of people do it (older and respectable people too.. not just kids or hooligans) so I wonder if it really is a traditional method of eating puudi. As a side note, sesame oil is delicious. Its not really the sesame oil you find at the grocery store, which has a distinctly oriental smell and flavor.. it is golden yellow and has a hint of sesame flavor that is much more subtle.

Ok so breakfast went well. No brainer. Add to that coffee with no milk (still hadnt made it to the store) and I was good to go. I woke up late, which put me in kind of a sour mood, plus I had to drag myself to work. But at work, my lunch (also courtesy my wonderful mom) was wonderful. It is not fully adherent to the rules of the game, because I am sure the bread has high fructose corn syrup (at my trip to the grocery store, I discovered that the ENTIRE bread aisle is pretty much off limits if you want to be a strict adherent to the rules. So what to do? Make your own!! (coming up on Fridays post). Anyway, this sandwich has cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, mustard (from a little packet, so no idea if its compliant or not with the ideal), romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado slices, bell pepper slices, and cucumber slices. It was piled so high with veggies that I couldnt even finish it!! Delicious. I'd also like to thank Suee's cell phone for providing the oh so wonderful picture:After work, it was time to go shopping. $67 dollars later, I was loaded up with tons of veggies, even some I've never cooked with before (turnips? swiss chard?) organic milk, a small tub of plain yogurt to serve as the culture for homemade yogurt (my mom told me how to make it.. that post is for another day), organic eggs, organic chicken, shrimp, and imitation crab meat (without even thinking I added this to the cart.. I didnt check the package for the level of processing.. but it is my understanding that it is mashed up fish. Oh well, when I use it I'll investigate further). Dinner was fast, shrimp with cocktail sauce from the fridge (at lease the cocktail sauce didnt have HFCS.. but it did have some questionable ingredients) and boiled broccoli and radishes. Not bad for a quick meal.

I also had a glass of red wine, which is supposed to be good in some respect.. but I just enjoyed it. I tried to take it slow with the process of eating, and savor the food.. eating at the table in between sips of wine... It was hard to focus on just the meal. I caught myself getting up a few times to chop veggies for tomorrows meal (vegetarian broth for soup!) which I am particularly excited about.. but I was missing tonights meal in the process! Ahh well.. old habits are hard to break.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I am also taking a multivitamin supplement as well as fish oil and vitamin D supplement. These aren't really part of the book, but my old doc recommended the daily multi.. and the fish oil seems good (mood booster? maybe its a placebo effect but I swear I am just a smidgen happier with fish oil).