Yesterday I got to meet one of my favorite bloggers, Jenna (Eat, Live, Run):

I need a haircut, ick. Jenna’s in the last stages of interviewing for A Really Goode Job for Murphy-Good Winery.  Good luck Jenna!  Bobby and I both went to her wine tasting and we walked away with a delicious bottle of white (which I normally don’t like) – The Fume (Sauvignon Blanc).  Here’s what they say about it: “The 2008 vintage boasts flavors and aromas of citrus and tropical fruits expressed over a bright, yet rich mouthfeel.”  It sure tasted good to me

We tried a whole bunch of different wines, and while our favorite was actually a red (Terra a Lago – Cabernet Sauvignon), we couldn’t justify spending $45 on a bottle of wine.  The Fume was only $12.50, and really awesome. Bobby was tipsy by the end, so I got to drive home.

Oh, boy.  There was traffic on the highway and we got rear-ended (just a few scratches, but there were actually 2 other cars involved so we all had to pull over and exchange information, and it took a while).  We were the front car so insurance should cover it and it was NOT my fault in the least.  The guy in front of me slammed on his brakes, so I braked too and stopped, and the person behind me stopped in time, but the person behind HIM hit him and shoved him into me.  Blah.

And then I got pulled over for speeding. And Bobby doesn’t have his registration in the car.  But I was very sweet and flustered and told the officer about getting rear ended and he just let us go with a warning. California cops are much nicer than any others I’ve met – when I lived in New Jersey and New York I had several speeding tickets and was never let off with a warning.

Before the eventful day started, we had breakfast.  My breakfast for the last few days (since Saturday) has been tons and tons of fruit (watermelon and cantaloupe).  Unlimited fruit for breakfast is really great.  I also wanted to share Bobby’s well-combined meal:

A whole wheat bagel (starch) with mustard (neutral) and avocado (combines with starch!)… and sesame seeds (this does not combine well, but he wouldn’t leave them off).  I love how you don’t have to go crazy with the raw stuff – you can do something as simple as properly combining a bagel with avocado and it works.  It’s so easy to incorporate food combining.

Speaking of amazingly combined meals, I had the same thing for dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights…

A humongous salad from chipotle.  This is:

• extra lettuce
• black beans
• extra fajita veggies
• extra red salsa
• extra corn salsa
• a ton of guac, which I finished both times!!

The ladies making my salad all commented on how huge it was.  I just smiled   After dinner I have been eating Ezekiel bread with honey (and dark chocolate).

On Saturday I got a package from the lovely Justine (I won her contest) – oat bran and peanut butter. I got Artisana raw coconut butter from her the other day as well (what great timing).  Thanks, girl!

Check out Clare’s chayote creation – she tried it after seeing it on my blog the other week.

I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I got a job teaching 2 classes for 4 weeks (2 hours/day for each class) – Alebra 2/Trigonometry and Geometry.  They start today, and I hope it’ll be fun.  My SAT teaching ended on Saturday.

If you got through this monster of a post I applaud you – and I hope you’re having a great Monday.

Finally, my ode to sesame seeds! But first – Tanya (IAteAPie.net, InTheGym.net) and I launched a new blog site!  It’s called Healthy Yum. It’s similar to some communities that are already out there, but ours is dedicated to health. You can submit photos from blogs, comment on them, vote on them, subscribe to a newsletter (with healthy ideas and recipes), and gaze at lovely healthy food photos all day long.

Okay, back to mr. sesame… I my quest to get more healthy fats, I’ve fallen in love with sesame seeds.  I’ve been putting them on everything – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert.  I wake up to sesame seeds in my PBU (peanut butter + chocolate milk blend) oat bran.

I make salads of shredded chayote, dressing, and sesame seeds.

I make salads of broccoli slaw (finally found it! It’s delicious), dressing, and sesame seeds.

The dressing I’ve been using is by Bolthouse Farms – it’s an Olive Oil Vinaigrette – Tropical Mango flavor.  Delicious.

You didn’t think I would forget kabocha, did you?  Of course not – it’s even better with my new favorite seed.

Bobby loves sesame seeds too.  This was our breakfast on Sunday – Bobby’s was umeboshi soba noodles, some meat and onions, and lots of sesame seeds.  Mine was miso soup (+ sesame seeds) and peanut butter oat bran (+ sesame seeds).

I did a little research (thanks, Wikipedia! you’re not good enough for my old college professors, but you’re good enough for me!).  Sesame seeds are rich in manganese, copper, and calcium.  They also have vitamin B1 and vitamin E. They contain lignans (which have anti-cancer and antioxidant qualities).  Awesome!

Don’t forget to check out Healthy Yum!

(P.S. Yesterday I did a yoga handstand.  It’s about time.  I’ve been practicing it for a month! I tapped against the wall after about 5 seconds though.)

I have 3 goals in mind for July:

1. Less kabocha!
2. More healthy fats!
3. Be spontaneous

I had a kind of last hurrah with kabocha last night and finished a whole one (and it was big).  I think it’s time for moderation.

As for healthy fats… I do enjoy my nut butters and olive oil, but not enough.  Maria posted about this yesterday, too.  I have nut butter with breakfast and usually a little bit of olive oil with dinner and lunch – but it probably totals about 2 tablespoons altogether.  So I’m going to go for it and start incorporating more fat.

Spontaneity is also something I want to improve on.  This is just eating what I want when I want it, rather than waiting for the normal times that I eat and eating the same things.

Yesterday wasn’t a total bust in terms of goals though – I made a kickbutt Thai papaya salad based on my recipe here.

Ingredients – 1 shredded green papaya (50 cents on sale @ Vietnamese market), 1 shredded organic carrot, 2 chopped plum tomatoes (also on sale), 5-6 cloves of garlic.

Dressing – soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, sugar (sweet simplicity), PB2, chili powder, chili flakes… (I might be forgetting something).

This is Bobby’s and my favorite salad, and we ate the whole thing while we were watching jeopardy and wheel (million dollar winner last night!).  Yes, we are old and we love jeopardy and wheel.  I probably had about 80% of the salad, but I was impressed at how much of it Bobby ate.  He’s not as much of a veggie disposal as I am.  The whole salad cost me about $1 to make because of this great Vietnamese store that has a cheapo rack. I got a green papaya ($0.50), a big bag of 4 chayotes and 4 tomatoes ($1.50), and 6 eggplants ($0.50).  I think that’s all.

In the afternoon I made a lunch sort of thing with shrimp, konnyaku, chayote (on sale), olive oil, stir-fry sauce, and mustard (added later).  I’m almost done with the shrimp. I’m liking chayote – it’s kind of bland, but it’s nice and crunchy and good with other flavors.  I had a few other random snacks, so this wasn’t really a lunch.  Yummy though.  More like a snack to hold me until dinner.

Want to join me with any of the goals?  What are your goals for July?

Before I forget, Justine is having a really cool giveaway, so I’m going to do a confession of the day to get an extra entry – I hate clutter, but I have a terrible time getting rid of things.  I try to make Bobby give away all those ratty t-shirts that he never wears, but I always want to keep mine.  I hate the clutter but I’m scared that as soon as I give something away I’ll need it!

One more thing – my friend just launched this cool recipe search engine, NomFinder.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  I’ll pass on suggestions to him.

I decided to keep it simple with my chayote since I’d never had it before.  I chopped it in quarters and discovered a soft, pit-like thing.  I discarded it.  I probably could have kept it… but I didn’t know? What do you do?

Then I chopped it in pieces.

And I sauteed it with sesame oil, grated organic garlic, and chili powder.  First I heated the oil and added the garlic to let it get crispy, then I added the chayote and chili.  I used a cast-iron skillet (Wagner Ware, really old, from my Grandma) which is my new obsession.

It was good.  It didn’t really taste like much besides garlic and chili powder (which I do love).  I think it tends to take on the flavors of whatever you cook it with.  I would definitely get it again, but it’s nothing terribly special.  It’s cheap too, which is always good.  I think it was about $0.79/pound, but I don’t remember exactly.

While I was cooking I snacked on a few pieces raw, and they were good too – nice and refreshingly crunchy.  I think it would be good on a salad.

I did a litle research on chayotes – they’re members of the gourd family (melons, cucumbers, squash).  It’s native to Mexico.  Apparently the root, leaves, stem, and seeds of the chayote are all edible – but we usually just eat the fruit.  From Wikipedia: “The leaves and fruit have diuretic, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory properties, and a tea made from the leaves has been used in the treatment of arteriosclerosis and hypertension, and to dissolve kidney stones.”

Sounds good to me!  Will you try it? I got mine at the Asian market but they’re also in Whole Foods, Mexican/Latino markets, and sometimes even regular grocery stores.

Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend… I went to the farmers’ market this morning but didn’t get anything.  I also did some yoga and made an interesting bowl of green oat bran, which I’ll post about tomorrow probably.  Enjoy the day