Tuesday, May 12, 2009

back home

well, i'm back home! it's nice to be in an environment that is quieter and cleaner. i sure won't miss the traffic, pollution and noise of madrid...i can now look out my window and see trees, grass and flowers...i don't have to walk 40 minutes to see some plants!

i'll do a food update later on...needless to say, i'm still getting used to the time change...but i'm still going strong 811 and loving it.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

home tomorrow!

well, another year in madrid has come to an end and i'm heading home tomorrow! i couldn't be happier about that :) i don't know what the future will bring, only time will tell...

...i could get a typical 9-5 job or i could take a chance on something new and exciting. not really sure yet...but i do know that a tropical environment with an abundance of fresh fruit is calling my name ;)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

update

things have been going really well lately. i've been enjoying my food and eating lots of it! i have more energy now than i could ever have imagined. i'm really enjoying life right now :)

well, thursday there was an end of the year party at school...concert and food. or should i say "food". i had requested that there be some fruit available as it is usually pretty much just ham, cheese and bread products. they assured me there would be fruit...well, i get there and i see tables filled with ham, cheese, mini sandwiches, breadsticks, tortilla espaƱola, seafood salad on mini toast, chips, salted nuts, etc. there was no fruit in sight. so, i went over to the lady in charge of the food and asked if there was any fruit. she said it wasn't ready yet. i'm thinking, "not ready yet?! there isn't much prep work with fruit." but anyway...

on to my beverage...i've stopped drinking all alcohol...i had been drinking red wine occasionally, but i can tell it does me no good. so, i got a bottle of water (after waiting around for them to find one!!) and began to mingle...i received a few comments regarding my beverage of choice. no one really noticed that i wasn't eating--well maybe they did and just didn't say anything ;) ...a bit later, i did see some sliced cherry toms on a couple of tables...but there were no toothpicks with them and there was no way to really pick them up with my fingers. so, i grabbed a toothpick out of a piece of tortilla espaƱola and stabbed a cherry tom. it was then that i realized it had been covered with oil.

unfortunately i hadn't eaten enough before i arrived because i had class directly before the concert and party. i already knew i wouldn't be eating the typical cooked food fare because i've gotten such amazing results eating this way that other food just isn't all that appealing (for what it will do to me). i almost grabbed a couple of potato chips just because my hunger was calling out and my body wanted some fuel, but i stopped myself. so, i did eat quite a few more cherry tom halves, trying to get as much oil off as possible...

around 8.50pm the fruit came out...little bowls and not even enough for every table! the amount of fruit in each bowl wouldn't have even been an appetizer for me! haha anyway, i repositioned myself to get ahold of some fruit and had a few mouthfuls of kiwi, grapes, strawberries and pineapple. it was a good thing it came out because i was starting to get quite uncomfortable with no food and all of the noise around me. my head was aching a bit and i decided i'd had enough. not to mention that friday was a holiday and all of the stores were closed--so i had to get to the grocery store for some food for the weekend.

i sped walked to the corte ingles to find that they had NO greens, NO grapes, NO mangoes and NO melon!!! i could not believe it! and there were tons of people there. i guess they were all stalking up for the long weekend (little did i know that the major stores were also closed on saturday as well). i left and went to a fruit stand where i usually get some items...luckily they were still open at 9.45pm...i managed to pick up some grapes and 1 watermelon. they also told me there that they were going to be open this weekend (both saturday and sunday!).

friday i ate a watermelon for bfast...grapes for lunch and 2 hearts of romaine (luckily i had the greens in the fridge) and i wasn't sure what i'd be having for supper when i decided to check on my papaya and saw that 2 of the large ones were finally ripe! yummy!

saturday morning i went back to the fruit stand and picked up more grapes, a few small papaya, a couple of cukes and 1 small avocado. so for bfast and lunch i had grapes and for supper i ate the cukes and the avocado. the papaya is never ripe at the store, i always have to wait at least a few days.

this morning i ventured out and saw another grocery store open. sometimes for the first sunday of the month certain stores will open for a few hours. i went in and got some celery, papayas and 2 galia melon. then i headed to my fruit stand for loads of grapes, 1 large papaya, some cherry toms, 1 yellow pepper (just for a change!) and a few peaches (first ones i'll be having this season :) ).

now on to today's lunch...i have to say it was amazing! awhile back i bought about 20 unripe ataulfo mangoes...now they are ripening and calling out my name ;) i had 8 mangoes and about 350 grams of celery for lunch! it was delish!


ataulfo mangoes are my new favorite fruit :) i think i could eat them all day...i would love to go on mango island, but it would be far too expensive around here. mangoes are my luxury item actually...i'm hoping that once i get home i'll be able to find some good deals on fruit.
wow...next week at this time i'll be on my way home... :) i'm so looking forward to being back!