Friday Night Flake

To preserve my reputation as a serious and upstanding citizen, I probably should be embarrassed by the evenings when I give up any sense of what is “proper” and “healthy.”  For example, a real adult does not take a nap when she gets home from work.  Instead, she does something responsible, like making dinner.  She also doesn’t ride a bike in the street without a bike helmet, or debate endlessly about whether to go to Blue Baker for dinner.  A real adult makes up her mind and gets things done.

Last night I surrendered my sense of responsibility and just did what felt good.  For most of the week, my digestive system has been a little off—don’t worry, I won’t share details—and it’s been making me feel more tired and spacey than usual.  Add the intense August heat to the mix and you’ve got a miserable combination.  When I got home from work last night, I laid down on the couch and it felt so great that I took a nap—a delicious hour of sleeping in my cool, quiet apartment while the sun blazed outside.  Afterward, I drifted in and out of sleep for a bit.  Then I peeled myself off the couch and headed out into the steamy Texas evening to pick up provisions for dinner.

I had tomatoes sitting on the kitchen table, and I wanted to use them up before it was too late.  I was craving a Tomato Bread Salad; since I already had the tomato, I just needed bread and spinach to seal the deal.  This plan gave me the perfect excuse to visit my fountain, which is one of my favorite things to do in College Station.

The fountain was gorgeous, as usual, and so was the Ciabatta bread I found at Blue Baker.  I’ve grown more fond of Blue Baker after realizing that the best place for me to buy bread is at the restaurant with the word “baker” in its name.  I had been buying my bakery-style bread at Albertson’s, but lately they haven’t been carrying the Pugliese bread that I like.  Blue Baker’s Ciabatta is a very good replacement and ideal for a juicy tomato bread salad.

After buying my bread, I almost—almost—stayed for dinner at Blue Baker, mostly because the idea of someone else cooking dinner for me began to feel irresistible.  But I resisted and headed over to Albertson’s, where I found organic spinach, mild peach salsa(!), tasty-looking chips for the salsa, and something to soothe my churning belly.

I was looking for my usual organic lowfat plain yogurt, but it was nowhere to be found and its shelf tag has disappeared!  Instead, I found Lifeway Lowfat Strawberry Kefir, which brags that it contains “seven to ten billion CFU’s [colony-forming units] of its 10 exclusive live and active probiotic cultures per cup.”  Probiotics are the only real solution I’ve found for my belly woes.  I would have preferred something organic, but at least this kefir smoothie is made with milk from cows that aren’t treated with hormones and they use an organic sweetener.  It’s better than nothing!  And their smoothie is delicious—I had a small glass of it for dessert and found it lip-smackingly tasty.

After my lazy evening of shopping, salad-eating, and smoothie-drinking, I retired to my writing studio, where I watched The L Word on Netflix.  I was so excited to find that The L Word is available for immediate viewing on Netflix!  Due to a broken DVD player, I stopped watching it a long time ago during season 2, I think, so finding it this week was like rediscovering a bunch of old friends.  Season 3 is starting to get a little over the top—too many characters and an awful lot of them in unhappy places in their lives—but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.  There’s nothing like fake drama to make you appreciate your relatively drama-free life.

One episode was enough drama for me last night, so I climbed into bed, read my new book until after midnight, and finally turned off the light, grateful to have a fresh new Saturday to enjoy in the morning.