Food and Ballet Ramble

Or, Watermelon is the Best Fruit Ever and my Feet Hurt

 

I woke up this morning to a giant crack of thunder.  It has been pouring for hours and doesn't look like it will ever stop. I hope it stops before I have to drive in it so I don't get run off the road but idiot drivers.

 

I haven't done anything too exciting recently, but I did go to ballet for 3.5 hours yesterday. I hurt already. I took the ladies basic/intermediate 1 class first where we did everything very slow and it was painful to stretch out all my muscle soreness from Koko on Monday and Saturday's ballet class. The second class was the kids intermediate 1. One of the girls went on one foot on the barre and two feet on the floor in pointe work. She is doing really well and I'm really glad she is not having knee pains anymore from growing. I never had to deal with growing pains like many people I know did. I did get Charlie horses a lot in my calves, but mostly that was because I was getting dehydrated in the heat and dried out by the air conditioner. Some of the girls at ballet have grown three inches in a month. They have had to buy new clothes and shoes and everything. I just grew all the time. I was always tall and falling down and running into things because my arms and legs were just a little bit longer today than they were yesterday.

 

I wore my pointe shoes for both of the barres yesterday and went up on them about half of the time. My feet are getting stronger and it doesn't feel like they are about to fall off all the time now, just some of the time. I'm going to have to get new shoes at some point soon because these really don't have much life left in them. They are pretty soft and comfortable, which is great for standing in them, but not so great for actually dancing in them. Oh, well. My achy feet mean that I am getting stronger and that is a good thing.

 

Here are some pictures of the foods I've been eating. Since summer is about to hit full force, some of my favorite foods are coming to the stores. WATERMELON! I adore watermelon. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandfather eating watermelon with me on the back porch of our house. I love that it is sweet, juicy, cold, and make the world feel like a better place. All that being said, you will see lots of watermelon in the coming months.

 

Spinach Daahl, Lime Rice, Daiya Mozzarella Shreds, Coconut Milk Yogurt, Watermelon, and a Banana 

I've been really loving this Spinach dish by tasty bite. I've gotten it several times at the store and keep buying it because it is really good. I'm not too big a fan of the coconut yogurt because it is super sweet and I really like plain yogurt, but this is the only kind I could find at the store. Hello, watermelon! You are beautiful.



Millet and Brown Rice Ramen, Tomatoes, Capers, Kalamata Olives, Green Olives stuffed with Pimentos, and Bread!

I really like this ramen. My only complaint is that the servings are ridiculously small. One block is two servings and it isn't even as big as the size of my palm. No one is only going to eat half a block of ramen. Also, you can see here that I love olives. No need to add olive oil when you can just add olives. I've recently been finding that the taste of olive oil has become very off putting to me. It has an almost soapy plastic-y flavor when I've added it to my food in the past few weeks. I've been leaving it out and my food tastes better.




Millet and Brown Rice Ramen with Vegan Pesto, Watermelon, Pineapple, Mango Smoothie (watered down)

I tried a new brand of vegan pesto at the store (I can't remember what kind it was, only that it was more expensive than all the non-vegan kinds, in a smaller jar, and tasted horrible). I'm going to have to go to the other store and stock up on the brand I like because this stuff was bad! It was even organic and free trade. Yeah. Anywho, I water down my mango smoothie into mango juice by only adding the juice to 1/6 or 1/8 of the container and filling the rest with water. It is not as sweet that way and more thirst quenching. Also, enter the watermelon and pineapple spears. Gotta love sweet fruits!

Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich on Oatmeal Bread with Agave Nectar

I don't really like this oatmeal bread. I'm pretty sure it used some fillers because it didn't really taste like bread or oats or anything. It was the only bread left in the house and I really wanted a sandwich for breakfast, so here you go.



Watermelon, Bananas, Lemonade, Water, Blueberry Coconut Milk Yogurt, Kale with Mushrooms and Garlic, Spinach with Garlic and Olive Oil

This is my after ballet feast. I was so thirsty and I didn't want to get up repeatedly to fill up my glass, so I just brought a pitcher of water to the table. You can see my diluted lemonade in the glass in the top right corner. So, watermelon (again) to quench my thirst, leftover greens because I didn't want to cook anything and I wanted something green, and that sickeningly sweet blueberry coconut yogurt. It filled me up for maybe two hours, and then I went on to make my dinner.

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Capers, Kalamata Olives, and Green Olives with Pimentos

Dinner was pasta, leftover tomato sauce and things in jars that were already open. I was too tired to cook something from scratch, so this is what had to happen. It was super yummy. The sauce was a little too salty for my liking (that's what you get for buying canned sauce), but I only used a little bit, so it worked out well.

And lastly, garlic daiya mozzarella bread. It was cheesy, garlicy, bready, and fantastic. I went to bed full and content. That's all for now peeps! I'm going to watch the rain come down for a few hours. I'll catch you later!

Garlic Daiya Mozzarella Bread