Leftovers, Desert and All

So last night I had dinner out with my mother's club co-directors.  We had to do some mid-term planning.  In an effort to bring a higher focus on my children and family I have a new goal to spend only one evening a week out of the house.  That, coupled with my outdoor plans for Sunday (whatever they may be) are my "me" time, if you will.  So, this week's me time was spent going over mother's club business and enjoying a restaurant meal.  As far as what I ate, they were sold out of the horseradish crusted salmon (dammit!) so I had the brick pan-seared chicken.  It was served with french fries and spinach but I saw they had a side order of roasted vegetables so I asked if I could have those in place of the fries.  Oh, and I had a beet salad with balsamic vinaigrette for an appetizer.

Beet Salad

I forgot to take a picture of my salad until it was half gone. My entree was huge, a 1/2 chicken and a gigantic pile of roasted veggies.  I wanted desert and I was feeling full so I only ate half my meal.  I forgot to take a picture of my dinner.  I know, bad blogger!

Desert was a very difficult choice.  So many things sounded good - bread pudding, molten chocolate cake, pumpkin creme brulee...but I am a sucker for any desert with banana so I got the banana cream pie.

There's a banana cream pie under all that whipped cream.

It was sooo good.  But I was somewhat full when it arrived and I was very full by the time I'd eaten half of it so, you guessed it, packaged it up to take home.  It's amazing how I couldn't enjoy it as much, and that I noticed that, when I was feeling full.  There was a time when how full I felt would not have factored in at all as to how much I ate.  Now a full tummy sends an alarm signal to my brain - stop eating!  Once that happens my enjoyment of the food goes down.  Amazing, eh?

I came home and was in bed by 11pm but had a hard time sleeping.  I felt like I tossed and turned half the night.  Maybe I should have gone outside for a midnight run.  I'm not that crazy (yet).

Hi-Tech Burrito, yellow curry shrimp (tastes better than it looks, trust me)

Today started out normal, cereal and coffee.  But before my workday was well underway I got a call from the preschool that Marek was sick.  I had to cancel all my appointments and go to pick him up.  He asked for a hot dog for lunch and I stopped by Hi-Tech Burrito to get lunch for myself, a Yellow Curry Shrimp Burrito from their Healthy Grill menu.

I've been eating this burrito for a few years now - 429 calories of brown rice, vegetables, and shrimp in a mildly spicy yellow curry sauce.  So tasty with a comfort food feel to it.  When I first started eating them I'd order a white tortilla but after a while I transitioned over to the whole wheat tortilla and now I'm used to that.  Sometimes these "healthy" food tastes have to be developed.

As I was finishing the first half of the burrito I started to feel satisfied, not hungry anymore.  I paused for a few moments to try and determine if I wanted more.  To be honest, I couldn't really tell.  I definitely wasn't hungry anymore but I didn't have anything like a full feeling.  I just felt sort of neutral.  I thought maybe I should finish it so I'll have enough energy for the gym later, but  I knew if I ate the second half I'd be really full.  So I decided to wrap up the second half and eat it when I got hungry again.  I thought, "maybe that will be in 30 minutes, maybe 2 hours", but either way, I avoided that uncomfortably full feeling.

Then I sat around for an hour or so while Marek was resting and fiddled with my iTunes.  There's a 16 year old somewhere that wants her playlist back (or more like a 70 year old with some of the songs I was listening to).  You know, it's fine to consider what could be better, what could be that something added that tips the scales toward a life well lived, as long as I'll be able to recognize it when I find it and don't get too lost along the way.  Anyway, don't listen to me, I can't even figure out if I've eaten enough for lunch, let alone analyze my life satisfaction quotient.  As far as the food situation goes my timing was bad.  Right about the time I got hungry again Miguel arrived to relieve me of sick-child duty so I could go to the gym.  So I had an AccelGel to keep me going.  This is all a learning experience.  I probably should have eaten the whole burrito, or at least most of it.

At the gym I started with 25 minutes on the upright bike (I wish it had a "real" seat instead of the cushy one, then my butt wouldn't get so sore when I do get on the real thing).  The bike was a challenge, as it has been lately, but then I realized I'm running more miles than normal so why shouldn't my legs be challenged.  Followed up the bike with legs/shoulders/core.  I had plenty of time, which is usually not the case, and I really enjoyed my workout.  I felt my mood climbing the longer I was there.  Exercise is the best drug ever.

I came home and made the kids raviolis for dinner.  I ate leftovers from last night with a little polenta.  Don't those roasted veggies look good?  I was so inspired that I popped some carrots in the oven to roast for tomorrow.  And, of course, I ate the leftover banana cream pie!  It's nice to enjoy something that indulgent twice.  Leftover desert, genius. 

Tomorrow will be another gym day.  An easy 3 mile run followed by chest/triceps/core.  And then on Sunday I start my taper week with a 10 mile run (though I'm considering 9 miles depending on how I feel).  Just a little over a week to the Kaiser Half-marathon!  Oh, and carbo-loading.  I think I see some homemade chocolate chip cookies in my future.