Hello from Beantown!
And happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to my American friends! Fun fact: he received his PhD at Boston University, hollaaaa. In honor of such a courageous and exemplary man, here are some of my favorite quotes of his:
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
We must use time creatively.
Thank you, MLK Jr. ♥
Friday
My train commute to Boston was smooth and swift, thanks be to God. Mom even packed me a bag full of pomegranate arils because she is sweeter than the pomegranate itself.
complete with a plastic spoon
Ben was also kind enough to help me take my bags from the train station to my dorm since I’m a chronic over-packer and had about twice the bag/weight limit. I took him out to lunch afterwards at one of our favorite spots— Mei Mei’s!
We both ordered “The Double Awesome” scallion pancake sandwich (Mei Mei’s special), which has local greens pesto, Vermont white cheddar, and two oozy eggs. Sounds like heaven, tastes like heaven. Ben also shared a bite of his fried pork dumplings and sriracha rice with me. Mmmm.
That orange is not cheese. It’s yolky deliciousness that I got on my face, on my sweater, and in my hair. It’s all or nothing with this kind of food. Ben and I were sitting at the window barstools, so the world could see us grappling with our sandwiches and fighting to catch every drop of egg yolk.
Ben wants to try to make this at home, but he said, “I need to perfect the art of the egg. Like, how do you make it watery?”
Me: “You mean…runny?”
Ben: “…yeah.”
Silly dude.
So, uh, college life. I do love it, but I was living off of naked salad and yogurt for the first couple of days when the dining halls were still closed. I went to Whole Foods and picked up a small box of spring mix with herbs and five Fage Greek yogurt cups that were on sale.
Behold, dinner.
I ate the salad with just salt and pepper because I didn’t want to spend money on dressing for just two days. It tasted…green. But honestly, these are some of my favorite foods anyway, so I’m not complaining. Protein, greens, and peanut butter. Got my food groups covered.
Saturday
Moves to start the day: 100 burpee challenge!
Breakfast involved yogurt and oats a la microwave.
How a proper lady would eat this: one bowl at a time.
How I eat this: dip my spoon back and forth between bowls to get some yogurt and some oats in every bite and licking my spoon clean of all the nut butter.
I worked for most of Saturday and ate more of my greens for lunch, plus two Wasa crackers with Laughing Cow cheese, curry powder, and black pepper. You need to try that combination!
I quite enthusiastically ate handfuls of pomegranate arils immediately after work because crackers and leaves aren’t a substantial lunch for me and I was hungryyyy. Then I came back to my dorm and ate yogurt #2 of the day.
Afterwards, I braved the cold and jogged to the gym for an upper body workout. When I jogged back, expecting to eat dinner in the dining hall, I was greeted with disappointment. Dinner was only from 5-7 pm Saturday night instead of the usual 5-9 pm.
To Subway I went!
grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard on wheat
Subway is so good. I followed this up with the rest of my greens, snap pea crisps, and yogurt cup #3.
I was FaceTiming with mom when I was eating dinner, and she remarked at my large mouthfuls of salad. It’s true— I can’t eat salad in a pretty manner. You either eat one leaf at a time or you look like a brontosaurus. I prefer the latter so that I can actually taste the salad.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to take my time when I eat, and I can eat like I’m with the Queen of England if I wanted. But sometimes (most of the time) I just eat with gusto.
Sunday
The dining hall was open all day yesterday, so I definitely hit that up for breakfast!
oatmeal with coconut, honey, peanut butter, and banana + egg white, veg, cheese omelet
Fill.ing.
I went to Mass at the Catholic center and had a hug fest with all my dear friends again. Ugh, so happy. Then a couple of my friends and I made our wallets cry when we went to buy/rent books for classes. At least you get a reusable bag when you spend over $400.
I ate a super late lunch of veggies and chicken, and little later, moves were done with my pal Albert! We did abs and ran two miles on the treadmill.
Dinner was weird because I had a late lunch, but I wanted to eat before the dining halls closed. That being said, it was tasty!
salad + whole wheat corn muffin + pear
I saved the pear for later because I wanted my fruit in another form…
apple crisp a la mode!!!
The crust was buttery, sugary perfection. Oh, what BU dining hall desserts do to me.
We have today off for MLK Jr. day so this is my last day before we dive into the real work. If you also have a day off today, have a great one! If you don’t, still have a great one!
So tell me:
Are you an enthusiastic eater?
I can buy three things from the grocery store to eat for the weekend. I buy___, ____, and ____.
Oh my… I am a NERVOUS eater, I hate eating in front of people especially messy things!… its miserable! I need to work on just eating with gusto! Haha! If I had to get three things from the grocery store it’d be: Sweet Potatoes, broccoli, and greek yogurt! Omg Fage was on sale at my grocery store too! I LOVEEEEEEE fage but rarely get it because it is expensive lol. Also, I tried Gina’s cookie dough cereal per your recommendation! I am ADDICTED! 🙂 Have a good day off! Youre lucky- I have class 😥
I get really nervous eating things like salad and messy noodles in front of other people too! But I guess I just eat with gusto when I’m alone 😉
Ah yes! Welcome to the dark side (with cookie dough cereal). Aw I hope you have a great day anyway, Mikey!
Hahaha I’m an enthusiastic eater, too 😉 My husband actually pointed this out last night and I was chomping into my ice cream cone 😉 hehe
Gotta eat ice cream quickly before it melts, right?? 😉
When I was little I used to pretend I was in those yogurt/pudding commercials and Oo and aa over my food pretending I was doing a commercial. Like really enthusiastically eat with “mmmms” and make it look like I was eating something totally delicious. Don’t ask. #totalweirdo 🙈
And I was get greek yogurt, greens, and bananas…and nut butter…and yea I don’t think I can answer this 😉
Have a great day off alison!
HAHA love that you used to do that! 🙂 I probably did that at least once in my life too.
Hope you have a great day, Katie!
I am totally an enthusiastic eater. I love food! haha.
That’s nice of your brother to help you out with your bags. I’ll have to try Mei Mei’s when I go visit the East Coast. The food looks and sounds delicious! Mei mei means little sister in Chinese. =D
Yep! Fitting for big bro and little sis to go together. right? 🙂
Haha I love the idea of saying “I eat with gusto” instead of just admitting my table manners aren’t always super ladylike 😉 I thought salad was supposed to be a lady-like food…but I can’t eat it neatly at all!
The original title of the post was “I Am Not a Lady-Like Eater” 😉
Hi Alison! First of all, yay for college and having a dining hall, I miss that! Second of all, I’m a one-hundred percent enthusiastic eater. And I also mix really weird bites of food together. Third of all, I haven’t ever seen anyone eat Wasa crackers other than me!! 🙂 Just stopping by to say hi. Hope you have a great day! 🙂
Hello, Ashley! I’m glad to know that you also mix bites of food together. Gotta get all the textures and flavors, ya know? 🙂
The Wasa crackers are from my boss’ house, but they are great vehicles for anything. I need to find them myself!
Hope you have a great day as well!
I’ve never heard of asian American fusion food like that double awesome, interesting! Pesto sounds delish on green onion pancakes with an egg cracked on top, must try to recreate at home !
It really is delicious! It could be a wonderful thing to be able to make it at home!
You totally took your brother there because it’s called ‘MeiMei’s ha. #Asianpride.
Dude, whenever I go out to eat, I legit shovel everything in my mouth- I’m finished before my friends started. It’s embarrassing. In fact, I’m going to make it a point to eat slower.
It’s a bonus that I’m his little sister 🙂
Good for you, Arman! But don’t be too hard on yourself. I also feel like it’s an Asian culture thing to not eat so prettily…at least in my family.
Your eats honestly make my stomach grumble – and I just ate lunch! I wish I could handle yogurt in my diet, but it ends up giving me stomach issues. Darn lactose intolerance (thanks momma…)! My three to try and survive the weekend: sweet potatoes, chicken sausages and applesauce. Weird – but simple!