Weekend Review

I went to get a massage on Saturday, my first one outside of a five minute bench massage that I got from Whole Foods by an advanced Rolf practitioner.

I thought that I deserved a massage after two years and five months of a rather hardcore regimen. Even as I thought that I had earned a massage, I did feel like an hour long massage was just that -- long and I even wondered why people would get a two hour massage. Boy, I was mistaken. That hour was the quickest one of my life and I was so sleepy afterwards.

Later in the day, I went swimming and managed to get in 20 laps. On Sunday, I bicycled on The St. Louis Riverfront Trail. I always think that there are no more pictures to be taken on the trail. Yet, I still take my camera and the trail did not disappoint. I saw wild bouquets and turkeys. The Arch beckoned as usual.






On another note, I saw this article, Woman's Shattered Life Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection, and I'm done with ground beef.

Was It Almond Butter?

I usually go straight to the fitness club or pool after work. Otherwise, I have time to relax and, possibly, forgo exercise.

Today, I decided to workout around an NBA playoff game. I've found that I can stay on a cardio machine for a very long time if a game is in front of me. I watched the first half of the Cavaliers/Hawks game which was pretty good but the Hawks have to play almost perfect to hang with the Cavs and it didn't happen.

I like the Lebron James MVP t-shirt. And did I hear that the Lakers lost the first game of the series to the Rockets? Whattttttttt?

I logged 85 minutes watching the first half of the game and a smidgen of TNT's half-time show. I wanted to stay longer but my thigh is already smarting from my other unofficial 'Dreathon on Saturday.

I finished off my peanut butter that came from Whole Foods. In the meantime, I decided to go back to my Algood p'butter and it didn't taste very well this time around. In fact, it tasted how I imagine Crisco would taste if you ate it straight out of the can. I can't believe that my taste buds changed so fast. I picked up some 365 Organic Peanut Butter and it's not what was in the Whole Foods container; the texture is completely different.

Hmmmm, just what did my benefactor give me? Was it almond butter? The 365 peanut butter was quite satisfying and I absolutely love the hint of sea salt but, now, I need to go on a quest to find out just what I was eating.

Sunday's Menu

Sometimes I think that my grandmother missed her calling as a journalist or meteorologist or, in yesterday's case, a waitress since she was rattling off the menu specials of fried chicken and okra, sweet potatoes, cornbread, greens and blackberry cobbler.

Now, my aunt does the bulk of the cooking and she usually cooks a lot and is fond of saying, "I like to eat so I don't mind cooking." My grandmother usually handles biscuits, cornbread, cobblers and, when she is in the mood, lemon meringue pie. I forgot to ask my grandmother if she found her big spoon that she bought eons ago and uses to measure her ingredients.

Yesterday, the two things that were really calling my name were the cornbread and cobbler. I don't really even care for blackberries but it never stopped me from pushing them to the side and eating the dough and syrupy juice portion of the cobbler.

I was looking through Food Network Favorites' Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs while I was at my grandmother's and the recipes that jumped out at me were Mango Dos Leches, Tennessee Banana-Black Walnut Cake with Caramel Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie. I envy people who don't have a sweet tooth.

Today, I went to the gym and I went to look for a coat afterwards and the one coat that I liked was, ironically, too big. I could have worn that coat about a year and a half ago. Otherwise, my shopping expedition was Goldilocks-like except no coat turned out to be just right.

I was exhausted after looking around and glad that I had cut up an apple for a post-workout snack. And, after I stopped by Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I ate a chocolate crisp Attune bar.

As I was picking up coffee and salsa at Trader Joe's, I almost forget to get my latest addiction, Trader Joe's Soy Mini Chocolate Sandwiches. They really are mini but filling.

What's in the Bag?

I have about seven reusable bags and I am, sometimes, hard-pressed to remember to take the bags with me during my travels.

I went to Whole Foods to pick up a few things because, despite the prices, there are some products that I really like and that I can only find at WF. When I walked into Whole Foods, my eyes fell on pomegranates. Was it a mirage? The $2.99 price tag negated the mirage moment. I decided to treat myself because, apparently, I'm having a hard time letting go of the 'granates.

On Sunday, I was over at my aunt's house and I started to feel something strange in my throat. No, it couldn't be. I haven't had a cold in ages because all pistons in my immune system have been firing. Not anymore. So, one of the first things that I did was crack open the pomegranate. I was going to need those antioxidants. I could feel the acidity in the pomegranate juice as it connected with my tender throat. This cold thing was getting serious and I decided to attack it with Emergen-C, ginger tea and kiwi. This doctor might be right though. He said that you can eat all of the chicken noodle soup that you want but it doesn't lessen the duration (about a week) of a cold.

Despite being sick, I went to the 12th and Park pool today. The water was hot. Not warm but hot, hot, hot. You could see the steam rising above the water. It was hard to do the front crawl because the water was even warmer underneath. As it turns out, the temperature worked well for me since it was like being in a giant steam room and helped with my congestion. Although, I think that I was a bit delirious because I couldn't swim in a straight line today. My apologies to Kate because I ended up in her lane many times.

Attune bars, 365 Organic Honey Graham Crackers, 365 Veggie Chips and Annie's Bunny Grahams were also in my Whole Foods bag. I bought a handful of items and spent about $26 dollars. The Attune bars really put me over the top and I don't even know why I'm so addicted to them. In all honesty, I guess that I'm just addicted to snacking.