contentment

My camera isn’t very good, but I like this picture I took yesterday afternoon:

Simple pleasures. Hot cuppa afternoon tea, lovely fresh farmer’s market apple, sunshine, LEARNING.

I had the most PRODUCTIVE afternoon catching up on reading (Chinese politics! McCulloch v. Maryland! Epidemiology! Economics! Digestion! I have quite the eclectic courseload this semester, hah) and working on my Teach for America application.

I like to think that this picture sums up Things That Make Ileana Content :D

Earlier, lunch had just seemed like work, so I tried to narrow it down to the simplest possible elements, while incorporating all the healthful things I needed.

Grains: bagel, protein: hummus, dairy: yogurt.

As for the veg, the other night I noticed that the last of my MASSIVE HAUL of farmer’s market carrots were looking less than snappy, so I threw together quick carrot soup by chopping ‘em up (about 7 smallish carrots?), throwing them in a pan with a little butter and minced ginger, covering ‘em with water, boiling til tender, blending with 1/3 cup milk, and seasoning with a bit of rice wine vinegar and more powdered ginger. Not half bad.

And it made two good-sized servings, so I froze the rest for a rainy day (maybe literally a rainy day, soup’s nice for that!)

Here’s what my brain has been doing lately:

“Hmm, that looks good! Let’s go ahead and put some Sriracha on it.”