Food Diary: January 26th - 29th
Thursday, January 26 To start: I’m not a picky eater, but I’m no foodie. I will eat anything that you put it front of my face, be it the finest caviar in the world served with the finest crème fraîche, or an airplane meal that expired in 1987. I hate cooking and I hate the dreaded “what do you want for dinner?” question even more. I’d marry a Gummy Bear. Warning: I’m disgusting.
For breakfast: coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee. It’s the first thing I do every day. It’s the only thing that gets me out of bed. While I love a good brew, I’m not a coffee snob. Usually I just use, like, a regular coffee pot brewer kind of thing, and a lil’ Cafe Bustelo I dipped two Pepperidge Farm Chess Men cookies into my coffee. That’s breakfast.
This is a rare day of me playing hooky, which means my meals are less square than when I am at work. Lunch was a mediocre Cuban sandwich from a random spot a few doors down from Staples. On my way home, I ate Fritos and drank a Coke.
For dinner, I ordered delivery from Huong Lan — shrimp-noodle soup. For some reason, it was amazing. It was pretty standard pho, but for some reason, it just did me right. I remember thinking it was much better than I thought it would be for basic Thai delivery. (No offense, Huong Lan!)
Friday, January 27 For “breakfast” I drank coffee and dipped Oreos into it. Fun fact: I only like cookies in the morning. It’s something I’ve been doing all my life, but it started becoming a regular thing in the past few years. I don’t have a big appetite in the morning, but if I don’t eat anything, I’m fucked. It seems like a filling, satisfying treat to give myself when I get up in the morning for work, which is hard enough to do every day.
At the office, I had oatmeal that I microwaved in a paper cup. I added some milk and raspberries. Perfection.
I ordered a Croque Monsieur for lunch that came with mashed potatoes. (I didn’t realize how much I liked ham. Two days in a row?) I loved the mashed potatoes because they had the skins mixed in, which is rare yet awesome. I drank a Pellegrino Lemon soda, too. Fun fact: It’s weirdly hard for me to finish an entire can of soda. I’m not a big drinker, and while we’re on the subject, I’m not crazy about water, either.
I ate the second half of the Croque Monsieur for dinner and drank a Coke. A few hours later, I fucked with some Fruity Pebbles.
Saturday, January 28 On Saturdays, I’m in ju-jitsu class from 11 to 2:30 p.m., so I need to hydrate and eat, but I can’t eat too much. This is where water really gets to shine, because when I’m in class, I drink so much water! I threw a few Clementines and an Uncrustable (frozen peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich intended for children) into my gym bag, and ate those things throughout the afternoon.
Uncrustables are a writers’ staple, and they made their way into my own freezer. I don’t care what people say: It’s much harder to eat in Nanaimo than it is in Vancouver. On the mainland, you walk into any bodega at any hour and get something. On the Island, you don’t have that, and you’re in the car predominantly. I can’t eat cereal in the car! It’s not a convenient city. And it’s certainly not convenient for people that don’t cook.
After ju-jitsu, my sister Alyssa and I went to Neckpoint with the dog. I drank an iced coffee. Famished, I ordered food from Riso, my favorite Italian food in town. I got the filet of sole with lemon and capers, potato wedges, and Capellini Aglio e Olio, which I just Googled. It means angel hair with olive oil and garlic. I was full and happy. Late night, I had a few Oreos washed down with white grapefruit juice (my favorite juice).
Sunday, January 29 Breakfast was a combination of Fruity Pebbles and Cheerios, chased with a coffee. No lunch.
Dinner was at my friend Amy’s, who decided to throw a Chinese New Year Celebration at her house. It was a few friends, a relatively intimate affair. I just wanted to hang out, and Amy wanted a reason to go to Party City. She bought a ton of Cantonese stuff and made a variety of heavenly pork and chive filled dumplings and a delicious salad that was mostly bok-choy, daikon, pickled radish, and toasted sesame seeds. The dressing was most likely a combination of soy, rice wine, and sesame oil? She also had a platter of miniature bahn-mi sandwiches, off which I ate two.
For dessert, there were a lot of pasties, as well as French macarons brought over by my friend Esther. Lemon is my favorite macaron flavor, just FYI. Amy made me a little to-go box of food to bring home to Alyssa.
