Never in my life did I ever think of myself as a morning person.  But this past year, I’m up around 8a every weekend, just raring to go.  There’s just so much I want to squeeze out of every weekend!

This morning, I slipped out of bed and snuck into my running gear.  The forecast said 43 and rainy, but today was the first Evanston Farmer’s Market of the season, so I knew I had to get there.  As soon as I stepped out of the house, I felt a drop of moisture on my cheek.  Defiantly, I slipped my sunglasses on and took off.  The cold air made for a nice brisk pace.  The market is just over 1.5 miles away, so it’s definitely an easy run.  

When I got there, I knew I’d made the right decision, as the first stand I stopped at had huge bushy bunches of sorrel, one of my very favorite herbs.  As soon as these delicate leaves hit butter, they dissolve.  Add a tiny bit of cream and you have a delicious green sauce that’s wonderful on fish.  One stand down were wooden boxes filled with fresh morels.  I had never seen them this fresh before, and was surprised by their creamy color.  Even though they were $40 a pound, I indulged myself for the experience and picked up two beauties for $16 (ouch).  Rounded out my haul with asparagus, zucchini and a dozen fresh eggs.

Back at home, I scrambled a couple eggs with green onions and sauteed up half a morel in butter.   It was good, earthy with a substantial bite, and a slight, unexpected-but-nice, acidic zing.  As I washed up my dishes, the remaining half of the morel sat on the cutting board.   I looked at it, then looked away.  I wandered out of the kitchen and surfed the net for morel hunter sites, as I was curious how they prepped their haul.  I sipped my coffee and thought, “Saltines?  Really?”

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Well, yesterday was a bummer! After helping Manish and Neha move, we went to Eleven City Diner for dinner. Where I was proud to have ordered the deli scramble, two eggs scrambled with a slice of corned beef and a slice of pastrami and some cheddar. I figured that out to be 8 points. But then we got cheese fries for the table and I probably used up all the banked points I had on at least six creamy bites. What’s silly is that they don’t even taste that good when you think about it, it’s just the creamy texture that really does it for me. So I’ll have to watch out for that going forward. But, as the book says, don’t get absorbed by the momentum of slipping. A lot of times, I tend to say, “Oops, I slipped once, I may as well take the rest of the day off.” When in actuality, I should say, “Oops, I just slipped. I better stop slipping now.”

So okay. The good news is that I picked up a sashimi party platter at the Korean grocery store yesterday. On Wednesdays, they go on sale from $32 to $20. An amazing deal, especially when you split the whole thing with a girlfriend. I dropped Sandra’s half off at work this morning. With the exception of the salmon, any sashimi is 1 point for four pieces. I had four pieces for breakfast and mixed it into a salad again for lunch. Tonight, I will likely make myself some sushi and miso soup. Yum.

Second SSLD…yesterday wasn’t too bad. Stuck to my guns and just had broccoli cheese soup for dinner, but I also had a couple slices of bread with that. Though, I did walk from work to a meeting at school, so that activity will probably even out the bread. I also tried a Revolution Tea, which was really nice. Smelled incredible, just like raspberries, and was light and refreshing. Also good to know that I’m not putting any more high fructose corn syrup into my body than I have to.

Today is the second day I need to stick to low points.

For dinner tonight, I think I’ll add some sashimi tuna to the salad fricasse I picked up at Costco last weekend, and steamed snow crab ($4.99/lb at Jewel!), and a glass of wine. All after a step class, of course. Doing okay on the water intake, have had 1/4 my daily requirement. I feel pretty good, but I felt better when I threw out the victoria’s secret catalog of impossibilities.

My first SSLD (super super low day). According to the CJ plan, this is the first of two days during which I need to bank 10 points per day (including food and activity).

Think I’m on track so far, I made sure to eat something for breakfast before going to the gym. Then after the gym, I had a mid-morning snack…and I’m aiming to drink half my weight in water to flush out the yuckies. So that would be 75 ounces of water per day. Ungh. So far, I’ve had 15 ounces.

Tonight, meeting Dave and the Kellers at Millenium Park to listen to Yo Yo Ma, will probably have soup from Soupbox. Will order Broccoli Cheese to use up the rest of my food points, and the one extra activity point. Yum. Will also stick to water all day.