Playing with adjustments

Today is gone so fast! And I didn't even begin to pack for my trip to Paris; I'm kinda sick of the packing-unpacking routine, but I can't wait to be there tomorrow night!

I ate

• Breakfast (still in San Valentine spirit!)
• Lunch

Grilled Eggplant on grilled Bread

with Hummus

Green and Carrots salad

with mixed seeds and honey

Apple Pie filling

with vanilla Kefir

and Pomegranate seeds

• As snack I had some a lot of greek yogurt, along with two Cookies and Pomegranate seeds (again)

I played a little with the exposure/saturation and other random adjustments; not sure of the result... Do you like it?

• Dinner was meh... I made a kind of pasta salad that turned out more flavorless than I expected since I put a lot of chili pepper in it.

Whole wheat Pasta

with Brussels sprouts,

Broccoli,

1/2 potato

Chickpeas

Tomato salsa

***

I ran

3 miles as planned. I urgently need to change my playlist since it's becoming boring! I also did some yoga while studying.

After this really interesting post (AH!), I'm off to packing a little, at least!

Mmm I've just noticed that I never register my glass of milk before going to bed (I drink it since I was a child), so I was wondering:

Do you also eat/drink something before going to bed

just because it's an habit and somehow it feels so good?

Today's summary

I'll be brief since I have two new cooking magazines on which I need to droll, a serious session of blog reading and a "the biggest loser" episode to watch. Matter of life of death!

Daily food

• Breakfast (totally random)
• Lunch. I munched on some cauliflower before lunch while trying to figure out what to do with them, I thought that maybe with the taste I would have discovered a brilliant and revolutionary recipe, this obviously didn't happen and I ended up cooking them in the oven with chickpeas and black olives, tossed with oil, white and chili pepper.

This was actually the side dish. The main dish was this

Veggie Burger

with mustard and cherry tomato

on whole wheat grilles Bread

plus an Orange

and a Caffèlatte (with soy milk)

• As snack, I had a almost burned grilled (I'm going a little grill-crazy here =) banana with vanilla Kefir (yum yum) and Pomegranate seeds
• Dinner was as easy as fabulous!

grilled spelt Flat bread

with cottage cheese

grilled (ah!) eggplants

mixed Greens

with Pomegranate seeds

oil and honey as dressing

along with a Pear

Daily Workout

I walked on the inclined treadmill for about one hour (3.5 km) while reading some school stuff, then I stretched a little bit. Nothing special, but I was too much concentrated on my reading for really caring about what was going on with my legs!

***

Just a question to finish:

Do you read cooking magazines?

I read them for the fab food, but mostly for the gorgeous photos. I would soo much being able to produce such beauties!

Tuesdays are boring

Am I the only one or do you also think that Tuesdays are worse than Mondays?

The fresh start feeling of Monday is gone and the weekend is so far away. Definitely the worst day of the week, in my opinion.

So, to just confirm what above said, today was totally meh

The eating

• Breakfast
• Lunch started following a recipe until I realize mid-way through that I didn't have almost half of the ingredients (this is what happens when you choose only looking at pictures and not reading the ingredients!). I ended up having a very nice meal, my cooking skills are finally improving!

Quinoa and Spinach Casserole

made with cooked quinoa,

frozen spinach,

sautes with oil, garlic, chili pepper and pepper

a spoonful of cottage cheese

1 egg white

and more oil for grease the ramekin

Brussels sprouts as side dish

and an Apple

• I had a super-early mid-afternoon snack before heading to the gym of coffee with almond milk and some too much mixed cereals
• Dinner

Dipping your hand in a sack of grains

Minestrone del Contadino

with Spinach, extra-virgin olive oil,

whole wheat Bread

and a Pear

***

The working-out

I ran 3 miles as planned, but it was much tougher than I thought, I totally blame my new shoes since after my huge snack I had all the necessary energy! Maybe I just need to get used to them.

***

Now I'm off to watch Gossip Girl.

Have a nice evening. Or day? Or whatever!

Starting with basics

Tonight I made a yummy and basic thing, but I'll reserve it an entire post tomorrow... surprise surprise!

I went to the gym and ran 4 miles; I was bored most of the time, switching from outside to inside running it wasn't a brilliant idea!

I complied my resolutions (even the big one!), except flossing and since now I'm already in bed there is no way I can make it (my dentist will be disappointed, I know..).

I ate usual things, between which this

Veggie-Soja burger on whole wheat bread

plus tomatoes and yellow mustard

with a side of boiled broccoli and Brussels sprouts

(I found them here, yes!!)

Dinner was Soba noodles with veggies, I'll post the recipe later that week since I have to take an early train tomorrow to go to my University city to run some errands and to see my friends there! =)

Travel back in time

I'm slowly returning back to normal, unpacking all my stuff (that I'll need to pack again in one month ah!) and so on. I'm also so happy for being able to use a real (and clean) kitchen!

Food Chapter

• Breakfast
• Lunch was home-made really garlicky hummus, leftover toasted Baguette aux céréales and carrots. I home-made the hummus since here there isn't in grocery stores (I know, cavemen). Actually, this evening I found one in a kind of bio-store; I'll give it a try, but I think I'll stick with my own, it takes like five minutes if you use pre-cooked chickpeas and you can adjust the flavor as you like (less garlic the next time!). I also ate an apple and drank an espresso with milk.

I'm pretending it's Summer, so what?

• As undocumented snack I had a banana, a half of eat natural bar and a cup of green tea
• Dinner was pumpkin tortelli (mmm) with a side salad of lamb's lettuce, cranberries, mixed seeds and balsamic vinaigrette. It actually was the fastest dinner ever. I also ate a pear and a plain goat yogurt.

***

Run Chapter

I did a 2 miles run plus some stretching as scheduled. Oh wait! I forgot to tell you that I'm doing this Hal's running plan that I found while reading this useful tips on one of the cutest and amazing blog that I've ever read! I started today with the plan so I think I'll repeat the first week x 2, even if I usually run more than 4 miles, but I want to do the things right! I'm also not sure if I'll sign up for an half marathon since by the end of the program I'll be in the middle of exams and thesis writing, so we'll see! Anyway it's a good way to challenge myself!

***

Resolutions Chapter

Besides the huge monthly resolution (that I haven't broken yet!), I decided to add some more weekly resolutions and try step-by-step to make them habits.

This week the chosen ones are:

1. Drink a cup of green tea per day

2. Daily yoga/stretching

3. Floss (it's gonna be hard!!)

***

Now I'm off to watch the Biggest Loser; yes, one day after since it's not televised here. I know, cavemen.

Boring day, boring workout

Just two days of freedom and now I'm back to the good old all-day-long-studying days.

So that's what exactly I did today, minus the blogs-reading and some really needed time chit-chatting with one of my BFs.

I'll be brief because, guess what? More study-time is waiting for me!

Food intake of the day

• Breakfast
• Lunch at Coup de Soup

Tomato soup

(the waiter messed with my order so I got a big cup instead of a small one, yes!)

Whole wheat bread

plus an undocumented Cappuccino with skim milk,

an half chocolate-covered marshmallow

and a pear

• Snack

Soy vanilla yogurt with grapes, pomegranate seeds and sliced almonds

(and some giant clusters of granola straight from the box, mmm.

To be honest I actually always look for clusters

and I'm truly happy when I find one )

• Dinner

Hummus and roasted Eggplant Sandwich

Tomatoes and Brussels sprouts

and a pear

(I was so close to eat a giant bowl of  cereal for dinner

that I should be proud of me for having cooked a semi-decent amount of food)

***

Today, the workout was a total FAIL: boring and lazy at the same time. I ran a little, then stopped, did some legs exercises, then ran again (really slooowwly), then I was too bored to continue so I went  home for some (boring) ab exercises. I know that it would be a disaster since:

1. I delayed it during the whole day

2. My ipod was dead just a second after I started to run

***

Apparently I'm back to my exam session exciting life. Good to know!

Tomorrow I'll go to Antwerpen IF the weather will be decent for some shopping, maybe not a such great idea since I'm moving in less than a week and I already have tons of stuff to fit in my baggages... mumble mumble

Quality time

I missed sooo much some time by myself, doing things that I really love to do, that today was almost close to my idea of a perfect day! (not a whole perfect day since I missed the only important thing, though).

I started this Sunday in the best way you can (late) start a Sunday: a brunch, of course! Lot of yummy food and staring at people in the street.

Then I walked randomly around Leuven to photograph random things. So happy it wasn't raining!

Obviously bikes because they are everywhere!

And they are also parked in the most creative ways

Then I went to the Jardin Botanique. I know, not such a great idea in the middle of January , but it actually was more alive than what I expected.

And I also found this:

Run, run, run

I ran 7.5 km in 45 minutes. YES! It was also raining= bonus point.

I came back home completely soaked, eh eh but I love sooo much running in the rain.

The plan for the night was dinner+ going out, but I'm too tired for going out and for cooking a decent dinner (= not directly coming out from the freezer). So I had frozen tomato soup (that I actually really love, the frozen version, I mean), hummus, whole wheat bread, and surprise surprise: Brussels sprouts. I've saved you the pictures of this creative and never seen dinner =)

I'm looking forward to going home and to have a REAL oven to bake with!

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with (you) me.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

Winning combo

I'm looking forward to restart to do things (besides studying), so that I can photograph them.

In the meantime here is what I ate today. I'm officially the leftovers Queen.

Breakfast was this and this:

and a caffèlatte

Lunch: Whole wheat bread, tomato with basil, spinach and guess what? feta!

and a pear (apparently)

plus caffèlatte (i'm coffee-addicted, you know)

As snack I had an apple with peanut butter, but I forgot to take pictures, nothing special anyway!

Dinner was the reason why I deserve the crown of leftovers Queen

Pasta with frozen grilled veggies, peas, chickpeas, black olives, Brussels sprouts (no not feta!)

If you don't know what to do with random

I-have-to-use-them-asap ingredients, make a pasta!

and a pear (again)

I also had the revolutionary (at least for me) idea to bring my notes to the gym. Advantages:

• not fail the exam
• not have a look-like-a-flat-frying-pan butt at the end of the exam session
• being able to do more than five minutes on the elliptical without dying of boredom

It's brilliant! I know that tons of people are already doing this, but I've never realized that it was such a brilliant idea. (It's clear that I need some excitement in my life if I'm so happy for being able to study more)

Have you ever had a multi-tasking idea who has solved a lot of problems?