A Loss in the Garden

    I had planned to have the leftover lentil and quinoa soup/stew I bought yesterday, for dinner tonight, but I was invited out to Judy's to babysit and they had ordered in a pizza so I was tempted. I very rarely have pizza but this one, from Regiano's, was particularly good.

   The grandkids were really well-behaved and I had them all in bed before 9:00 p.m. Elliot even got me set up with my favourite Saturday night TV show before he headed for bed - such a good boy! He told me jokes and read some fascinating facts from his magazine to amuse me, instead of my reading him a bedtime story. He's too old for that although the other two still like one.

   It was a lovely day today - quite hot in fact - but I found my climbing rose had suffered badly over the winter and so I had to cut back all the dead wood. That was hot work! There are a few new shoots coming in at the base so I can only hope it recovers.

A Little Blip

   Fell off the food wagon today! I had a coupon for Panera Bread, a new store at The Shops at Don Mills. As I was down that way anyway at tennis, and the coupon expired today, I decided that would be my lunch. I got a broth bowl, lentil and quinoa, which was soupy but tasty and had kale wilted in it, and, the free part, a half salad, quite substantial and VERY tasty. It had a lettuce and tomato base, some bacon bits and blue cheese, a hard-boiled egg and a substantial amount of avocado. I only ate half of each although I did dig through the salad for all the bacon bits, cheese and avocado! I will have the rest with a salmon fillet for dinner tonight, poached and smothered with a mustard sauce.

   It was very cool at tennis and, as I was court monitor, I didn't get to play much so was quite blue around the lips by noon.Thank goodness there was plenty of coffee to warm us up. Let's hope that's the last of the cool weather. It's raining now but I did manage to pot up my hanging baskets in between showers. I have filled them with Dragon Redwing begonias which I used last year with considerable success. Pictures to follow.

  

Keeping On Track

     I did quite well on the food front today. Cereal, and banana for breakfast, a coffee and (small) piece of toast before I left for tennis at 9:00 a.m. Then nothing until I was at the Senior's Centre to play bridge. I took my lunch - half an apple and a croissant with cream cheese and roasted red pepper. This was around 1:00 p.m. - we eat when we are the dummy hand. Then off for a swim so I had a reasonable amount of exercise today.

   I did have 2 squares of chocolate when I got home from the pool, just needed a quick fix.  My 5:00 p.m. aperatives tonight were veggies and dip with a few whole grain crackers. Dinner will be rissoles (left over lamb roast from the freezer, chopped finely then mixed with onion, herbs and an egg, then coated in breadcrumbs and fried) along with the last of the sweet potato mash and some green beans. Frying the rissoles won't be the best way to cook them but I will use olive oil.

   Last night's late snack was yogurt and blackberries so I felt quite virtuous when I headed for bed. I wonder what tonight will bring? I have an early rise tomorrow as I have to be on the road by 7:50. I'm the monitor at the tennis club, so will want to get off to sleep fairly promptly.

Watching My Food Intake

   As I mentioned earlier, I have been over indulging as far as food is concerned recently so have decided to try to reduce my food intake - not really dieting, that's too stringent - just being more careful. My experiment on Sunday worked out fine, except with my late evening apple I had some peanut butter (that's a yummy combination) so kind of defeated the purpose of cutting back!

   However, today I have been more careful and only transgressed once. I started the day with a small bowl of cereal and banana with milk and a glass of orange juice. After my exercise class I had a coffee and a cookie around 10:00 a.m.

   Lunch was at 1:00 p.m. and was fairly substantial. I had a bowl of homemade carrot and lentil soup with a sandwich (two slices of bread) of yogurt based cream cheese, cucumber and tomato, with some fruit to follow. Then came my transgression - 4 cubes of chocolate as I lay in bed reading!

    That was it until 5:00 p.m. when I had 4 crackers, some cheese (applewood smoked cheddar, yummy!) and a few grapes with a glass of White Zinfandel (also yummy!). Finally dinner at 7:00 p.m. was a 4oz. salmon fillet poached in milk then doused in a delicious mustard sauce with green onions. I served it with a few green beans and some sweet potato mash, probably about 1/3 of a sweet potato. I just drank water with my meal. That should hold me until bedtime but I may have a hot drink and small snack before I retire as I find it helps me sleep.

   Wednesday is my day to weigh myself and I was still 150 lbs. I will continue to keep track of my weight but I'm not expecting to lose any - just maintain a healthy weight.