Have you ever pulled a muscle or accidentally banged your arm
on something hard? If you have, you know that after you admonish yourself
for being so clumsy you promise not to do it again. Then you move on in your mind,
thinking the worst will be over soon. A
simple bruise or an achy muscle can’t last too long, right?
Wrong.
Silly Sarah it’s not going to be that
simple this time around. My arms were in so much pain I couldn’t lift them up
to put an elastic band in my hair or touch my face. So writing a blog was
out of the question.
Dr. McDreamy suggested I give all extracurricular writing
activities a rest this week and use the hot/cold method on my arms.
So I did 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off with an old ice
pack I found hanging around in my freezer.
My stepdad swears by the wonders of Tiger Balm, so I
lathered this stuff all over my arms, neck, and shoulder...morning and night all
week long. Day two of the injury created additional pain in my neck and
shoulder. When you hurt one area of your body, inevitably the other parts
connected start to suffer as well.
The only downside to the Tiger Balm is the smell. It sticks
to your clothes and your bed sheets. It also makes Rupert scrunch his nose at
me. He hates the strong minty smell.
I’m really glad I spent the weekend cooking, because another
bad side effect to hurting your arms is not being able to use a knife to chop
up food. The week of leftovers started
with lunch I put together for Monday. I added vegenaise to my mum’s potato
salad and a little paprika for that extra flavor boost. I had leftover pear
salad and balsamic vinaigrette from Sunday’s festivities with my friend so I packed
it all up for lunch.
By the time I got home from 8 hours of forced typing on the
computer, my arms felt numb and throbbed in pain. I was so thankful that I had
Veggie Pot Pie leftovers ready to go. I took them out of the aluminum foil they
were wrapped in and put them on a baking sheet. I preheated
the oven to 350 degrees and put them in to reheat.
I slowly moved around my apartment trying my best to
wash the dirt from the day off my face, get changed into comfy clothes, and
feed the cats with two tired arms. As soon as the buzzer went off on the oven
timer, I pulled out the pot pies and after tasting them realized that I had found another meal
that was still yummy a day later. I sat on my couch that evening “vegging” out and
icing my arms one at a time, a heavy blanket on my legs warming the rest of my body. A cup of tea later on warmed up my insides everywhere
except my arms. The ice pack gave them a “cold” redness. I was determined to
get my arms back up and running again so I became relentless with that ice
pack, 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off all evening long.
Towards the end of the week I used the rest of my veggie
stock as a base for soup. I had leftover celery sticks from lunch, herbs from
the past weekend’s festivities, and pasta in my pantry. I boiled the pasta to
al dente, cut up the herbs to release their flavor, and chopped up the celery a
little finer. At this point in the week Dr. McDreamy’s prescription for healing was
working well enough that I could chop up veggies again. I blanched the celery
in boiling water and then reheated the veggie stock in another pot.
Then I mixed all the ingredients together and let it steep
for a few minutes to let the flavors develop a little. The stock had been sitting
in my fridge all week so the flavors had started to dull. When a dish is fresh
the flavors are very potent and powerful and as time moves on in the fridge or
freezer it starts to fade.
I added some extra seasonings and salt. I grabbed a tasting
spoon and sampled every time I added a little more seasoning.
Mmm It was ready to eat!
The soup was hearty and filling. It was just what I needed
after another long day at work. The arm pain did not motivate me enough to walk
much this week. And the two days of rain did not help much either. What a
difference a day makes, right?
 |
| Taken from my car on Monday (Labor Day) |
 |
| Taken in my car on Tuesday |
By Thursday I was eager to set my sneakers to pavement
again. I was in my mum’s neighborhood after work, so we went for a quick walk. We
didn’t walk for very long due to cramping in my feet, but I was still proud of
myself for making the trek on a busy week.
This is the last weekend Katie will be in China. Saturday
afternoon I visited my Vava (Portuguese for grandmother) and my Dad for a few
hours. We played rummy, which I lost, and had a little barbecue lunch. Afterwards
I did the usual grocery shopping at Whole Foods. My mum met up with me at my
apartment and I set to work on our dinner. I made an oldie but goodie recipe,
Wild Tuscan Rice with Asparagus. Remember I said I was spoiled for life by my
veggie stock?
Well I am. Dinner was not ready until 8:30pm because I had to
make a fresh veggie stock to use in this dish. The results were amazing
though. My new cookbook taught me to soak the brown basmati rice for up to 30
minutes before cooking. So I soaked and added the homemade veggie stock to this
oldie but goodie recipe, which made it one of the best rice dishes I have ever
had. It was creamy, hearty, and flavorful. Soaking basmati rice lengthened it
and I found it had more texture.
It was musical movie night because it was the last Saturday before
Katie comes home. She hates musicals. My mum and I put in Mamma Mia and sang at the top of
our lungs. Then mid-way through the movie we skyped Katie and
had long overdue girl chat. In true European fashion, my mum and I ended the
night with tea and chocolate biscuits from Whole Foods.
On Sunday morning we had coffee and enjoyed another Greek
movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. After my mum left to get on with the rest of
her day, I decided I needed to take today to be lazy. I haven’t had a lazy day
in a long time. I drank a cup of coffee for a few hours on the couch, blogged,
read my new running book, planned my workouts for this week, and basically
relaxed on the couch most of the day.
 | |
| Rupert's sleeping with his little lion friend |
My new running book outlines a plan for beginner runners to
go from walking to running 30 minutes in 8 weeks. In preparation
for this 8 week transition my body has be acclimated to working out
consistently. Since I’ve walked 3 times a week in the last couple weeks, I
decided to give myself 2 more weeks of walking prep until I start the 8 week
program.
The week of September 23rd will be the first week
of the Walk to Run program and my goal is to be running 30 minutes consistently
by Thanksgiving. I need to follow the walk/run program 3 to 5 times a week and
build up slowly to running 30 minutes. The next two weeks will be the walk prep
to motivate my mind and body for the 8 week walk/run transition. More to come
this week as I start the prep.
Off to scrounge up some dinner. Hope your Sunday was
restful!
Sarah Jenkins
(one more week City Slicker!)
No comments:
Post a Comment