This guy turns out to be pretty handy. He installed IKEA cabinets in the laundry room for me all on his own. We just need to buy extra shelves and install cabinet doors.
Here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos:
Thanks, Jes! I love it! Now I feel like the space is so much more functional. Ah…the simple pleasures in life.
Jes smoked a whole brisket today and we invited the neighbors over for dinner. They all brought sides and dessert to complete the meal.
Here is the brisket up close. Turned out pretty well but Jes said it could have been better.
While the brisket was smoking, Jes also spent the afternoon mounting the TV to the wall.
In early July, I planted some heirloom tomato seeds (two in the back) in the Aerogarden. This is what they looked like on Day 19.
I later moved them into soil outside (two short darker ones in the middle) and they continued to grow. Here they are on Day 59 (8/30/18). I planted basil plants next to each of them (two lighter taller ones).
The plant grew some flowers on top and a few days later (9/3/18),I found my first baby tomato!!
About a month later (10/11/18), I had a ton of green tomato clusters!!
On 10/14/18, I was able to harvest my first batch of tomatoes! Some were already red and the others were picked to ripen on the vine inside the house.
Love these colors!
KK said they were yummy and Peanut (who hates tomatoes) actually tried a couple.
Here’s what they looked like about a week later (10/20/18). So red!
Whole 30 is done and I celebrated with a walk to the local boba shop during lunch. I think I ended up with a good sugar high in the afternoon and it was so worth it.
Jes enjoyed a cold beer on his ride home on the ferry.
In the evening, we had hot pot and I enjoyed a glass of wine…aaaaahhhh.
Summary:
We are on Day 16 of Whole30 and it’s supposed to be downhill from here. So far, we’ve been surviving but I’m feeling a little bored of the food that I’m allowed to eat. Last week was also a little tough considering there was Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, and the long President’s Day weekend all in one week!
Here are some of the foods we made/ate this week:
Garlic shrimp over zucchini noodles…pretty good.
We’ve been eating a lot of roasted vegetables: brussel sprouts (above), cauliflower, broccoli, romanesco, kale, sweet potato, and regular potato.
I used the spiralizer on a regular potato and ended up with the end looking like a mushroom.
We roasted the potato noodles and they ended up tasting like shoestring fries. It worked well with the pot roast that Jes made for dinner.
One thing that is compliant is Kalua Pork!! It’s a great topping for salads or just over cabbage. It’s pretty satisfying but I do miss the rice and mac salad.
One day, we made bacon, lettuce, tomato, bacon wraps for lunch. With some of my homemade mayo, it was pretty tasty! Oh yeah, the only compliant bacon that we can eat is one made with no nitrates and no sugar. It is extremely hard to find bacon that’s made without sugar. I scoured Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Nob Hill Foods and ended up finding one at Safeway!!
Jesse also made some meatballs using almond flour as a substitute. Of course it had to be eaten over zucchini noodles and it was pretty painful watching the kids eat their spaghetti.
On the eve of Chinese New Year, we met up for dinner with Michelle, Vyl, and kids in the city. In preparation for dinner, Jes and I went to SuperDuper first to fill up on a bun-less burger with avocado and bacon. It was good but I missed the special sauce and ketchup. I also had to watch the kids eat the fries that I wasn’t allowed to eat. At dinner, the only thing I could eat was the steamed chicken. So sad…
Some of my favorite things I have been eating include:
I also found a tasty almond butter at Trader Joe’s that’s made of just almonds and salt. It’s great for dipping apple slices.
So, I made it to the half-way mark and I’m looking forward to finishing these next two weeks. March 6th is gonna be awesome.
I don’t exactly remember the conversation but one night I mentioned the Whole30 to Jes and he looked it up that night and didn’t say anything. The next day, he said he wanted to do it so I said “why not?” If he’s going to do it with me, it’ll be a little easier.
It’s basically a short-term challenge that allows your body to reset and somewhat detox from everyday food allergens and other things that could make you unhealthy without knowing it.
For 30 days, Jes and I will be eating mostly animal protein, lots of vegetables, fruit, and eggs. We are not allowed to have soy, dairy, sugar (except for what’s in fruit), legumes, wheat, rice, corn, or alcohol. We also have to cut out sulfites, MSG, and some other chemicals/ingredients that are found in food. As an Asian, I always thought the Whole30 was impossible for us because we can’t have RICE, WHEAT, or SOY! Well, we decided to do it just to prove we could and to see if it would actually make a difference.
It started on Super Bowl Sunday, which was a somewhat inconvenient day to start. When I think of Super Bowl, I think of bar food and alcohol. Well, alcohol was going to be out and we were going to have to figure out what to eat during the game. After returning home from Tahoe on Sunday afternoon, we unloaded the car, and then headed to Costco to stock up. We bought steaks, fish, lots of fruit and veggies, and eggs. I had to say “see ya later” to the booze aisle and made sure to bypass the snacks section. What’s hard is that the kids will continue eating all the stuff we aren’t allowed to eat. So, we had to buy the pretzels and other snacks that they love.
Anyway, we got home and started planning our dinner. Apparently, Whole30 has a recipe for buffalo wings!!! Frank’s Red Hot Sauce is Whole30 compliant (as are most hot sauces) and we can have butter as long as we take out the milk solids. So, Jes made some clarified butter and made us wings!!! It was so good and I didn’t miss the Ranch dressing as much as I thought I would. I think I missed the wine more.
By the way, we also bought a new TV at Costco. It’s 58 inches, inexpensive, and the technology is so much better than the one we bought 12 years ago.
It’s now Day 5 and it’s been ok. Here are some of the meals we’ve made:
Jes grilled some chicken breast for me the first night. I cut it up and added some roasted brussel sprouts. That was my lunch on Monday and it was pretty satisfying.
On Day 2, I made some of my own mayo using egg, salt, and oil oil.
On Day 3, I made a beef chili for dinner. Jes and I ate it over baked potato and I got a nod of approval from the picky husband. Woot!
On the same night, I used a spiralizer to make some zucchini noodles (aka zoodles). I added it to the top of the leftover chili for my lunch the next day. With couple minutes in the microwave, I had a pretty tasty lunch that was almost as good as spaghetti with meat sauce.
And this is my breakfast on most days. I made some pico de gallo on the first night so that I had some for every morning. We also bought a bag of avocados at Costco and they go a long way!
So now it’s Day 5 and it seems like Day 30 is so far away. I think our biggest challenge will be going out for Chinese New Year dinner with the Bangs and Sokol-Juns. I may have to eat some hard-boiled eggs beforehand and just feed the kids.
I’ll keep you posted on the progress! I found this funny calendar that seems to be pretty accurate so far…
My hope is that I sleep better, have more energy, have nicer skin, and it wouldn’t hurt if my clothes fit better.
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