Thursday was a weird day. I’m not good at late nights. No, I take that back. I’m great at late nights, but I’m horrible at sleeping in, even when my body needs it. I seem to wake up at 6am no matter what and immediately my mind starts racing (and my stomach starts rumbling). So because I was up late eating rockin’ Indian food the night before, I didn’t get very much sleep. Thus, Thursday was weird because I spent the day in a kind of hazy fog.

Strangely, it was one of my more productive days in terms of work (I’m a freelance writer / math nerd / web geek – don’t worry, it doesn’t make sense to me, either). I had a meeting in the afternoon and some work I wanted to do beforehand. The work kept me awake, as did a very chilly cycle ride through London. Which is a good thing, because I’m about as bad at napping as I am at sleeping in. Here are a few reasons why:

6 Ways to Fail at Napping

1. Refuse to turn off your brain and give in to relaxation
2. Drink too much tea or coffee right beforehand (though some would argue that this is the key to the perfect power nap)
3. Live right across the street from a tire changing place
4. Live down the road from a taxi company
5. Live across the street from a noisy, drunk lady who’s prone to heated arguments with her daughter
6. Fail to buy earplugs

Diary for Thursday, February 12, 2009

Breakfast

Bircher Muesli with Bananas and Yogurt

Sleep or no sleep, Bircher muesli never fails to please me.

1 cup oats
6 prunes
15g raisins
10g chopped apricots
20g almonds
10g flax seeds
1 apple, graded
1 lemon wedge, juiced

Swim

Our shower’s been acting up lately – no hot water. It’s annoying, and yet, it gives me a good excuse to go to the pool. And after semi-successfully attempting to nap in mid-morning, I needed a little water action to a.) wake up and 2.) wash my sleepy self. The swim was more of a 10-minute side trip on the way to the shower, but it woke me up and cleared my head.

I love how versatile swimming is. If I’m wound up, a slow swim relaxes me. If I’m tired, a brisk few hundred meters of freestyle energises me. The only time I don’t like to swim is when I’m hungover, in which case the water just makes nauseous. Luckily that doesn’t happen too much these days.

Lunch

Super Ultimate Tofu Scramble

For lunch I wanted something hot and nourishing with a good dose of protein. A tofu scramble did the trick. But this was like tofu scramble on steroids – I added diced potato, carrots, peas, cauliflower, tomato, parsley. The WORKS. It was delicious, only – how sad – I didn’t cook the potato long enough. Even so, this was great fuel for the fire, for I had a 45-minute cycle ride ahead of me and a long work meeting to get through in the afternoon. This scramble worked famously.

olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
120g potato, diced
1 carrot, diced
120g firm tofu
turmeric
oregano
a splash of Braggs Liquid Aminos
10 small cauliflower florets
1 tomato
a sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes
1 handful peas
1 handful parsley, chopped
salt
pepper

Cycle

After lunch I was off to Kennington in South London, a 12-mile round trip cycle journey. The ride in was nice and sunny, however, by the time I left, the weather not only turned cold and dark, but it had also begun to snow! So I booked it home, and with barely any red lights along the way, I made it back in record time – about 35 minutes compared to my usual 45-50.

By the end of the ride I was wet but surprisingly warm thanks to the exercise. I was also ravenous and really in the mood for something delicious and comforting. Dinner was on my mind.

Dinner

Black bean taco with salad and guacamole

I brought a bunch of corn tortillas back from California and they are not going to waste. Earlier in the week I cooked up a big ol’ batch of black beans via the soak and boil method. To these I added some sauteed onion, garlic and jalapeno, plus a pinch of cumin and a good dose of salt. I put about half of them through the blender to make a sort of black bean gravy, then finished them off with a squeeze of lime. Man they were good!

I also made some guacamole. Would you believe it’s hard to find white onion in London? There’s only one place I know of which sells them, and I took a special trip the day before. I love me some guacamole. I like to put it on my salad instead of dressing (or sometimes in addition to a light sprinkle of balsamic vinaigrette).

To top off my tacos, I had a little bit of Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile salsa – yet another import from the States. There’s something I love about the combination of avocado with this sweet and spicy corn salsa. A little bit goes a long way.