Reading + Eating

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the book I am currently reading (still), combined with my Weight Watchers waist-line reduction program, have resulted in much healthier eating from local sources.



To that end, I had a huge score at the veg man today. For just $20 I got:

A bunch of broccoli as big as my head
5 heads of garlic
A pound of Brussels Sprouts
A pound of Strawberries - all PERFECT (no smooshy ones!)
A half-dozen bananas
A half-dozen apples (gala and local green)
A bunch of celery
A giant sweet potato (think 2 american yams size)
3 baby zucchini
3 large carrots
1 small tray of mushrooms
2 large baladi oranges (local oranges, very sweet)
4 large new potatoes
and a handful of tomatoes.

...and I was overcharged by local standards.

There are some things about eating seasonally in Egypt that are so worth enjoying! I'm pretty sure the apples and bananas were imports (banana season here is about a month away yet), but they were priced well, so it wasn't a big deal on my pocketbook; though carbon foot print wise I'm sure locavores would have my head for buying that bunch of bananas.

The celery and carrots have already gone into my weekly soup (this week: chicken veg), the broccoli and zucchini will go into a seafood pasta dish tomorrow night, and the fruit I don't eat by Monday will go in to a large fruit salad on Tuesday when I'm home for Police Day.

I've lost 17 lbs and have been feeling more energetic since I started the diet, so all is good on that front.

On the reading front: it's hard to get through books at home when I spend my days wending my way through Hamlet and Julius Caesar with 13 and 14 year olds; but I'm going to start a book list in my sidebar and will TRY to finish at least 10 books in 2011 that are not on my curriculum. Insha'allah!!

If you need something to read, I recommend you check out the sweet post "Morality Check" on Mama Doc's blog (blog list to the right). My friend, Mama Doc, has the most gorgeous twins who say the sweetest, most dear things - and this post is rather thought-provoking as well.