What I Ate in a Day #4

It's been quite a while since I did one of these! This was Day 1 of a vacation, if it counts as a vacation when you don't really go anywhere. I'm not calling this a staycation, though, because I am making a point of being outside. In any case, I took more than just a day or so off work, to recuperate, and find some joy.

Breakfast was a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie. Because I was on vacation, I added some almond whipped cream and some mini dark chocolate chips.

I used this to fuel a restorative walk through an area near my home that it is hard to believe exists; I live near a major highway and can always hear the sounds of cars, but just a short walk down the road and over a bridge and the world changes. I can't walk very far, which means I tend to walk slowly and drink it all in. It's rained a lot recently so the creek was high.

Spring is so green here. It's lovely. Meanwhile, can someone tell me what kind of tree this is?

There are lots of flowering trees this time of year and they're very flashy, so I don't know how much attention conifers get. But this one was so pretty.

Flowers all over, though. There was a vine with these tiny blooms in clusters I found really captivating. I don't know what it is, either; please tell me if you know.

After my walk, I made lunch.

Dumpling soup! I had some fresh dumplings in my last grocery delivery, so this was pretty easy and quick. Aside from these veggie tofu dumplings, I put in ginger, garlic, scallions, carrots, mushrooms, and spinach. The broth was pretty basic--chicken-style veggie bouillon and a bit of soy sauce--but it worked well. Some black sesame seeds for a garnish finished it off.

This was light, and I was still hungry. A friend had sent me some fancy vegan non-dairy milk chocolates, so I had some of those for dessert.

In another life, I want to make fancy chocolates for people. I think that might be fun. These consisted of "Rocky Road" (marshmallow and pecans), coconut caramel, and a salted peanut cluster. Delicious.

(Not pictured, I also took a multivitamin and a DHA supplement, which I do every day.)

For dinner, I stuck with an Asian theme.

I had some asparagus that needed cooking, so I made an Asian-style asparagus and mushrooms dish loosely based on something I found on the Food Network website. I had that with some rice topped with shiso furikake and some Gardein orange morsels. I topped the morsels with scallions and sesame seeds. This was really good.

Being on vacation meant I could clear enough space in my head for this level of cooking, though this is still reliant on convenience food, of course. And these are still not very large portions, and I should probably be eating a bit more. But I'm cooking! It counts! Plus I have leftovers for a few days--a major win.

I'm grateful for a job with paid vacation time. I didn't always have that luxury and it's so nice to just set it all aside for a bit and hide from my troubles. Here's hoping I'll find some recovery in it.