tofeta (pronounced toe-feh-tah)

Today was just full of bizarre encounters.  If you'll recall, I mentioned last night (right before my etiquette PSA) that it took me 45 minutes to find parking when I got home from work.  You can probably imagine that by that time, I was going to park anywhere that would not involve my car being towed, so I ended up in a metered spot.  By the time I parked there, the timeframe was no longer applicable, but I would need to move my car by 10 am this morning or risk getting a ticket.

If I wanted to pay to park my car, I'd use a lot and not circle my neighborhood for 45 minutes.

So, I got up with Mister today and moved my car when he left for work.  Since I was up and showered and dressed, I decided to be as productive as possible before I had to go teach in the afternoon.  I browsed through a few bookstores but came out empty-handed.  I did not leave The House of Tea empty-handed, though!

I have now come into possession of my very own ounce of matcha!  It was very exciting.  What will be even more exciting will be the horrendous "trial and error" method I will use to learn how to make my own cups of matcha.  I hope it won't matter that I didn't invest in the cute little bamboo whisk.  I already have four, so unless there is some kind of awful chemical reaction that results from using a metal whisk, there is no reason to buy another whisk right now.

After I had secured my matcha (the tea store is only open three days a week), I wandered down to one last bookstore and then thought I would check out the Craft Fair on Headhouse Square.  There is a lot of beautiful jewelry.  It's a shame Mister works on Saturdays.  After a short bit of "window" shopping, I headed over to Whole Foods and picked up some fruit.  I don't actually need to go grocery shopping until Wednesday, but I've been going through 3-5 pieces of fruit a day for the past week or so, and I ate my last pear and 2 kiwis for breakfast this morning, so tomorrow's breakfast would have been sad/nonexistent.

Actually, let me interrupt my generally pointless rambling for a moment to bring you a True Story About Breakfast.

You heard me.  Breakfast.

We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, although we've also probably each heard a few different reasons why that is so.  In Skinny Bitch, Rory and Kim assert that what you eat for breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day.  This makes sense to my brain and I've read that before.  If you eat crap, you'll crave crap - Lucky Charms for breakfast = Big Mac for lunch, so to speak.  On the other hand, if you start your day with something pure, clean, and completely natural, well...you can probably follow the thread.  They explain that their Perfect Breakfast consists of three pieces (or servings) of fruit, consumed slowly, and one at a time - not like a fruit salad.  They explain that this is the perfect "skinny bitch" breakfast because fruit, when consumed alone, moves quickly through the digestive process, leaving your body free to work off stored fat once you've finished digesting your breakfast.  My thoughts?

Give me a break!  You must be kidding me!  I thought they were mad for even suggesting something like that - why would I want a breakfast that digests quickly?  Doesn't it have to carry me through, energy-wise and hunger-prevention-wise until lunchtime?  They even admit that not everyone can get into an exclusively fruit breakfast, and in their 4-week "diet" menu they do include a protein source and/or a bread/grain with breakfast each day.  I'll tell you what, though - my curiosity got the better of me, so one day last weekend (when I would be home to shove more food in my face if I became as overwhelmingly hungry as I anticipated I would become), I tried it.  First, I had a nectarine.  Then, I had a kiwi, and a second kiwi after that.  I felt sated, clean, and most importantly, energized.  I felt pure!  So, I kept doing it, and every day I am still surprised when I'm not starving within an hour of breakfast.

Speaking of kiwi, I have recently discovered that I really like that bizarre little fruit.  Fortunately for me, SuperFresh is selling them for $.50 apiece right now.  When I stopped in to get some kiwi, I also picked up three nectarines.  As I was placing the third in my bag, some random woman who had snuck up beside me said with disbelief, "Now, you don't really think you're going to eat all of those, do you?"  I started to explain that I ate a lot of fruit and that these were in addition to a big bag full of apples, pears, bananas already at home, but she had already launched into her tale of woe.  Apparently, she thought she was being a good mom/wife and bought a bunch of fruit for her family, but most of it went rotten because her children didn't eat it, "what a waste.  Where is the broccoli?"  I pointed it out to her and then picked out my kiwis while wondering why she hadn't eaten the fruit before it went to waste.

When I got home from teaching and had a much easier time finding parking (under one minute), I started dinner.  Yes, it was a little early, but that was because my tofu needed to marinate for at least an hour, but I wanted to give it more time.  Tonight's dinner was Gourmet Greek Salad from How It All Vegan, complete with Faux Feta.

Look how pretty and multicolored it is!  Also, it is my opinion that the average person would not know that is tofu if I hadn't already revealed my secret.  The taste was very close - it needed to be a little saltier, but also, part of the texture of the feta Mister is used to is that it is a drier cheese.  Texturally, there was no way this would pass for feta.  Taste-wise, he didn't appear to mind, since he ate it all up!  Victory for the ToFeta!