170: The Mark of El Swervo

It has been, for some reason, a day of ruminations. Aside from realizing that Ruby has only three days left at her current school, the end of the summer, I realize that my friend Gary has indeed given me the Mark of El Swervo. Sad, but so apparent now. In the meanwhile, I try to soldier on. I will miss him, much as I have found myself missing the summer trifecta—corn, watermelon and ice cream for dessert. In fact just this morning I was preparing a nice warm toasted bagel for Ruby slathered in peanut butter. I allowed myself to float dreamily along the cloud of desire and then I treated myself to an omelet.

Breakfast
Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Omelet
Tea

Snack
7 apricots
1/4 mixed a & c
braeburn apple

Lunch
Uninspired Greek Salad with Chicken

Dinner
Flounder (Stir-Fry a la Em)
Snap Peas and Leeks
1/4 of Ruby's Eggs

I'm not sure why it's so hard to make salad. My co-worker asked me today "what makes a salad good?" It's a great question. I think the answer is the same for ALL food preparation, "the ingredients." But to be more specific, it's the kind of lettuce—is it weak iceberg, wilted romaine, or is it fresh and crisp greens? What is the chicken? Cooked yesterday or today? Is the feta creamy or hard? Are there STINKIN GREEN PEPPERS?? If it's a Greek salad are there olives and pepperocini? I mean, people who 'claim' to make a Greek salad by just adding feta are just as bad as Greeks who claim to make "Pizza" when it's really Greek Pizza, which is totally different. But don't get me started on that. The Domania Gang went for a brisk walk today, and again I felt some quasi-chest pains. I think it's from too much caffeine. I had a Fresca for lunch instead of a Coke Zero.

TO MY SURPRISE, the soda is now made with—and I kid you not—"Glycerin ester of wood rosin." (You can check out more about this surprising substance at http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v06je45.htm) The study contains the less-than-comforting revelation that "...at the 5% feeding level ALL animals died." Look, I know I have to eat some crap to get my weight down, and I know there a lot of chemicals in stuff like diet soda, but I have to draw the line at EATING POISONOUS WOOD BY-PRODUCTS. I'm just not going to do it, no matter what the "Fresca King" says. (To visit the nearly-unbelievable Web site of the Fresca King, do a Google search on Fresca it's the second one, I didn't want to link to it for obvious reasons). I'm sorry, I got carried away. Maybe Emily is right about the diet making me cranky. But maybe it's the wood rosin.