Still I dwell in the house of reputed ill. My appetite remained a bit low today, but I tried to eat real food anyway. Still, I couldn’t quite stomach the vegetables yet. Though I am sick, my husband is much sicker, so I spent a fair amount of energy running around acquiring provisions for him, interspersed with my workday, which is why my eating times are a bit odd.
The day began with my favorite Tazo Zen green tea. Why so late? Had to walk the dog and run to the store first. Cost: 25 cents.
The good news is, because my ailing husband was camped out on the living room couch and couldn’t stand the smell of food, I had to do my photo shoots in the bedroom on our dresser, and some of the images came out rather lovely. I think I’ve found a new mini home studio for my lame amateur food photography.
Breakfast included my very first cup of coffee (with skim milk) in 12 days. How was it? Oof — it was strong. I guess I make it like rocket fuel. Gotta work on that next time. Is it coincidental that I was headachy today and lost my temper for the first time this year? Perhaps. I also had an egg on a slice of whole-wheat toast.
Cost: about 75 cents.
Three hours later, I was craving pineapple but figured I’d try to make it into a meal. So here it is with 2 percent cottage cheese, blackberries, and blueberries. How beautiful is that?
Cost: about $2
Still fruit-thirsty in the afternoon, I had a cup of orange juice. Cost: 50 cents.
This didn’t quite cover it, so I made a convalescent peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich on whole-wheat bread with a cup of skim milk. Obviously I was craving comfort as well as protein and sweetness. Cost: about $1.68.
My appetite was done for the day, though I knew I hadn’t eaten any vegetables. But I just couldn’t do it. I actually entered the preceding foods into MyPyramid’s analysis tool to see what I was missing. I needed protein and vegetables, of course. A bowl of leftover lentils was the best I could muster — it has a fair amount of vegetables (carrots, celery, onion, garlic) in it. Nope, not a pretty picture. Cost: about $1 per serving.
Not bad for a sick day. It is a vast improvement on my usual sick fare. Normally all I want is ginger ale, followed by Saltines, then Pop-Tarts. So look at all the good foods I managed to get down my pie hole! Total cost: about $6.18.
Sadly, my husband isn’t feeling well enough to get on a plane to Texas at 6 a.m. tomorrow, so we are home for the weekend. This will give us time to recuperate and me time to plan next week — for a change!
Have a good long weekend, all.
