« Strawberry Rhubarb Vinegarette | Main | CR Vegan Has A Cookbook! »
June 21, 2007
It's the Salad Lady!
That's what the chef at the hotel where we stay in Scranton said when he saw me eating a salad yesterday at lunch. He offered to go in the back and get me some kale, since a few weeks ago I had asked to have some of the fresh kale that they usually use for garnish. Unfortunately the produce truck hadn't come in yesterday so I didn't get any kale, but the lunch buffet has an excellent salad bar, including chicken strips cooked just in white wine that they sizzle up for you right there. So I had a quite decent lunch.
I've been on the road for three days now and am discovering that cottage cheese is a great road food. Since I have a fridge in my hotel room, I took two cartons of cottage cheese, and I can add it to any salad to punch up the protein and calcium. I've done fairly well on my own road food, though there are always the usual challenges. At least I've managed to work out every day... it's so much more convenient to work out when it just means going down six floors to the hotel fitness center vs. driving to the gym.
Not much time to write and still feeling like I need a few more days of a break, but just wanted to check in and tell you I'm alive.
A few random facts (I like the random facts game):
1. I tried Krispy Kreme Koffee (not a donut, just the coffee. I don't even like donuts, but I love coffee.) for the first time today. Not great, but better than Dunkin Donuts I think. My father was born in the home of Krispy Kreme, Winston-Salem, NC, and took tours of the factory on school trips as a child. At the end of the tour every child would get a doughnut and a cup of Pepsi. Don't you feel sorry for those teachers dealing with thirty kids on a sugar high in a school bus on the way back from the trip? My respect for teachers, which is always very high as I totally worship teachers, goes up even further.
2. Eggwhite omlettes that you order out aren't usually very big. Probably half the size of what I make at home. Today I specifically asked for a whole cup of eggwhites in my omlette. They very graciously made me a giant eggwhite omlette. Then the waitress brought ketchup on the side because one of my co-workers eats the eggwhite omlette with ketchup. I tried a bite and it was quite good, but tried not to eat too much of it as ketchup is almost pure sugar. Gave thought again to making my own sugar-free ketchup. Still need to make the wing sauce. So many cooking projects, so little time.
3. Scranton is beautiful, especially the hillsides with the row houses extending up the hill into the distance.
4. It pays to carry a spoon. You never know when you'll need a spoon, and I find I need a spoon rather frequently. Didn't we learn that lesson from the "Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts" song? I keep finding that I want to eat my cottage cheese but have only a stirring stick, which is not helpful at all. Luckily the hotel will provide me with a spoon upon request, but if I just carried my own spoon this wouldn't be a problem. I'm sure MR carries a spoon. He's not the type to be caught spoonless.
5. Speaking of stirring sticks, I hear from my British friends that in England they don't have stirring sticks. Apparently the British find the stirring stick absurd. When we asked Aubrey de Grey what they use instead of stirring sticks, he said "Spoons!" Well, that makes a certain amount of since. Stirring with a spoon. It seems that the stick does not stir as efficiently or completely as the spoon. Another reason why I take my coffee black, no sugar, no nothing. I can't get involved in the stirring stick vs. spoon debate.
Enough silliness for now... when I have to be a very serious person 16 hours a day for work, I just don't have the energy to write extremely serious blog entries. I'm sure there will be some nasty comments written by people who have a partisan attachment to either the stirring stick or the spoon, but so be it. I wish you all the best, no matter how you stir.
Posted by april at June 21, 2007 6:06 AM
Comments
Ah! We do have stirring sticks but... what is the point? They are (generally) made of wood, they make things taste of wood and... Well, I repeat, the point being? Okay, yes, they are absurd. :-)
Do you mean you tried a Krispy Kreme donut?! Urgh! The shame! :-)
Glad you are still alive though. Despite the Krispy Kreme.
Posted by: Sara at June 21, 2007 7:25 AM
Sara,
No, I didn't try a donut, I tried the coffee.
I don't even like donuts... if I wanted a high calorie splurge from a donut shopit would be a Dunkin Donuts everything or seseme bagel with veggie cream cheese.
Coffee, black, no sugar, no stirring required.
a
Posted by: april at June 21, 2007 7:29 AM
We share our taste in coffee. So far it's the one thing I've managed to emerge from Whole Foods with that isn't sinful. :-)
Posted by: Sara at June 21, 2007 7:52 AM
I'm a Dunkin' Donuts coffee gal. We don't have one within a few hundred miles of us, so we have to order it online and have it shipped to us. That is commitment!
Have you tried jump roping for exercise? I used to be on the road about 75% of the time for my job and I LOVED jump roping. It took a couple times to get used to it and find a good rythm and pattern, but a jump rope goes anywhere, and it's actually kind of fun!
Glad you are well and still with us!
Posted by: Rebecca at June 21, 2007 9:06 AM
Spoons rule. No stirring sticks in Japan either. But lots of people use chopsticks to stir up soup (which you drink from the bowl, no spoons) or little sauce dishes like you get with sushi (mix the soy sauce and wasabi together).
Hope your road adventures don't wipe you out.
Emi
Posted by: Emi at June 21, 2007 1:30 PM
Oops I forgot my spoon, dummy me!
Posted by: steph at June 23, 2007 9:14 AM
Lovely British spoons: I love the tiny stirring spoons in Great Britain and most other places in the world. Stirring is a great passion for me, so I too would never be without one. Marti, Mother of April
Posted by: Marti at June 23, 2007 10:39 AM
Should you ever find yourself in Narragansett, Rhode Island, try the homemade ketchup at Crazyburger.
http://riroads.com/archive/crazyburger.htm
Glad to hear you are hanging in and holding up as well as can be expected.
Posted by: Gina at June 24, 2007 10:32 AM