August 1

• Breakfast: apples and caramel from Wawa
• Lunch: crab cake sandwich on the boardwalk in Ocean City!
• Dinner: roast, salad with avocado, smoked salmon and cheese. Ice cream for dessert!

August 2

• Breakfast: honey bunches of oats
• Lunch: cherries, omelet with sauteed tomato/arugula, smoked salmon and cheese
• Dinner: roast, ice cream =)
• Exercise: 2.5-mile run w/ a break half-way, outside in the nice weather! =D
• Weight: 118 lbs? Maybe my scale is broken, I’ve been eating way too much crap lately

August 3

• Breakfast: honey bunches of oats, tea + milk + sugar
• Lunch: salad with smoked salmon, apple and cheese
• Dinner: falafel sandwich at Local 44 – pretty good =) I think I prefer Maoz, though, particularly since I can get the falafel without the huge side of fries, which I also finished. Ugh. No more empty starches!

August 4

• Breakfast: honey bunches of oats
• Lunch: omelet with sauteed tomato/arugula, crab and cheese
• Snack: large iced chai
• Second snack: small vanilla frappuccino
• Dinner: fancy pizza at Mama Palma – pesto melanzane and santa fe!
• Exercise: weights – 10 pull-ups w/ 20 lbs assist, 36 rows, 20 triceps dips, 20 triceps extensions, 20 back extensions, 25/25 r/l crunches. This took about half an hour. I guess I’m not as motivated to lift if I’m not already sweating from some sort of cardio.

August 5 – Combined Retreat Day

• Breakfast: pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, coffee, orange juice
• Lunch: hello college dining hall. Tomato soup, cheeseburger, lo mein, plain yogurt with raspberry topping, vanilla-chocolate twist soft-serve ice cream on a cone! and 2 sugar cookies.
• Dinner: spring mix salad with crab, apple, cheese, and pecan-cranberry mix. I think I had a bowl of honey bunches of oats, too.

August 6

• Breakfast: honey bunches of oats
• Lunch: roast, spring mix salad, ice cream
• Dinner: the calamari appetizer at Mixto for Philip’s birthday! ‘Twas very filling. Also had the Lulo fruit smoothie – not sure what the fruit is, but the drink was green and tart. Then onto Valanni for drinks and desserts! I had the bread pudding and a little bit of Chris’s mojito. I’ve been to Valanni a few times over the years and the food and drink have always been excellent.

August 7

• Breakfast: French toast. It turned out GREAT.
  • The batter: 3 eggs, 1/3 cup of milk, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/3 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and a dash of ground clove.
  • I sliced up three slices of bread into strips (4 strips per slice) and let them soak really well.
  • Then I fried them in butter over medium-low heat.
  • Add the maple syrup, and done.
• Lunch: roast.
• Dinner: pad thai, made by me! I followed the outline of this recipe, modified for my cheat using pre-made pad thai sauce i had bought. It turned out pretty well for a first-timer. I will definitely keep experimenting.
  • The noodles: these are the toughest part. I used tapioca noodles rather than rice noodles and soaked them in hot tap water for about 30 mins while i prepared the rest.
  • I sauteed garlic in vegetable oil on medium-high heat, and then drained the noodles and tossed those in. As the recipe says, you have to keep stirring or it all sticks together.
  • Once the noodles softened, I added the pre-made sauce – I’d say about 1/4 cup, but obviously adding a small amount and taste-testing is the way to decide whether to add more. I didn’t quite like the taste so I stirred in 1 tbsp of sugar and added the juice of one lime. I also added about 3 tbsp pickled cabbage, which is used as a garnish in some Vietnamese dishes and maybe others as well.
  • Following the guidelines, I pushed the noodles to one side and scrambled in two eggs and then sauteed the shrimp in one side of the pan before stirring them into the noodles as well.
  • Lastly, I added a plum tomato, sliced into wedges. As they cooked, the inner flesh fell apart so I was left with tomato strips instead of wedges.
• Dessert: vanilla ice cream and chai tea =)