Tues, Oct 28 - Happy Diwali!

8.34am - cereal w/ almond milk and walnuts, fresh squeezed lemonade w/ agave nectar, at home11.07am - spicy pumpkin seeds, at work

12.56pm - mixed salad from the Hare Krishna buffet, with Nady. They didn't do anything special for Diwali, but this is always good.

12.56pm - daal with some sauteed veggies, incl. bamboo shoots, at the Hare Krishna Temple, with Nady

12.56pm - pasta w/ pesto, rice w/ beans, at the Krishna Temple, with Nady

4.47pm - it's not only Diwali, but also Beatrice's birthday: some pineapple and strawberries from the very cool fruit bouquet that her brother's wife sent her - thanks, Beatrice!

5.34pm - I've been really exhausted lately, and Nady took pity on me and donated one of her favorite acai-flavored EmergenC's, which I enjoyed while watching Michelle Obama campaign in Colorado on CNN. At work. Thanks, Nady!8.01pm - and Ritesh made dinner again! roasted beets, Indian-style spaghetti squash, and a Mexican-style black bean soup that I'd picked up at Whole Foods.

Mon, Oct 27

9.45am - apricot-almond bar, at work2.01pm - salad from Mrs. Winston's, outside work

2.37pm - a lemon bumble bar, at work

6.42pm - pita and tarama, at home

7.51pm - Ritesh's AMAZING cabbage-almond dumplings with brown rice, at home. He labored over these for two hours, but they were so worth it! Thanks, love!

7.52pm - salad with dinner, at home

Sun, Oct 26 - At the Getty

12.41pm - an early Diwali lunch w/ Ritesh's parents, Prashant and Suzie, who were all kind enough to drive up to LA this time, at All India Cafe's Sunday brunch buffet12.44pm - some naan, and my fresh lime-ginger soda

12.58pm - veggie tandoori salad, w/ paneer, mushrooms and eggplant

and off to the Getty we were:5.23pm - an apple in the Getty gardens, after seeing the amazing Bernini exhibit

the same apple in mid-air, tossed by Ritesh

5.37pm - art makes you hungry: a sesame bar w/ fennel and molasses, shared w/ Ritesh

a lone Giacometti in the lobby

7.14pm - fresh kale chips, at home, with Ritesh

7.25pm - fresh persimmons from Ritesh's mom for dessert, at home, with Ritesh

8.29pm - a coconut-mango bar, shared with Ritesh, at the Landmark Theater, just before the start of "Changeling"

Sat, 0ct 25

11.49am - cereal, almond milk, strawberries, peach, walnuts, at home3.28pm - whole wheat pita w/ tarama, spinach-artichoke hummus and cucumbers, at home.

6.47pm - fresh baguette, at Le Petit Cafe, with Ritesh, while waiting for Lissy - who was already sitting in the back and waiting for us!

7.44pm - Bouillabaisse and garlic bread, at Le Petit Cafe, with Ritesh and Lissy, after we found her...

Back on the Wagon!

It seems almost safe to say I'm getting my bearings again. The first week was a bit rough - even when I wasn't actually feeling upset, I'd find myself doing things like avoiding people and phone calls, and getting lost driving to lunch (!), to the extent that I'd have to pull over and get out a map. Also, I think I must have worn the same jeans to work every day for a couple of weeks now. Like I care, at least they're comfy. Plus I'm pretty certain I washed them once, so there.

But overall I have the impression that the acupuncture and the Chinese herbs as well as the ton of other supplements I'm taking and everything else I'm doing are helping, so I've decided to postpone my follow up visit for a few weeks to give it all time to work rather than rushing into surgery. And meanwhile I've gotten to a point where I'm able to see beyond the tip of my nose and enjoy life again. Yay!

We're having a fabulous Indian summer, as hot as they get, with stunning sunsets (and the usual share of wildfires, sadly). It's been blistering out, easily 30 Celsius, but outside the mall across the street from work, they went ahead and put up the Christmas lights around the palm trees. I mean, come one, before Halloween?!? I'll have to take a picture so you believe me...

And the other night, as I was sharing an amazing macrobiotic combo plate with Ritesh on the UCLA campus, I thought, darn, I should have taken a picture of this! I'll have to go get another one to show you, just in case you have doubts about the pairing of "amazing" and "macrobiotic". But I think the blogging bug has gotten me again, so stay tuned for new updates!

By the way, we were picnicking on campus for a reason: Stefan Forbes screened his documentary about Lee Atwater before heading to Boston for the opening night of the theatrical release, and we wanted to make sure we got tickets. So, so worth it! If you are amongst those who sometimes get the feeling that Republicans are an entirely different species from a dark and distant planet and you have a hard time understanding how they ended up as unscrupulous, unethical and crassly aggressive about winning to the extent that they lie, cheat and steal to win an election, this is a good primer on Republican psychology as shaped by Mr. Atwater himself.

Thrown for a loop

I've been remiss in blogging for a bit, so in case you've written me off as a lazy slob, let me try and explain what's going on over here...

Basically, I had some bad health news last week. Not terrible, really, but still unexpected enough to pull the rug out from under my feet for a few days. Turns out I have a stage 3 endometrial cyst and need surgery to remove it. I'll spare you the details of the cyst's location, suffice it to say it's in a part that's mostly considered private. The surgery involves general anesthesia, not something I have a fun time imagining, and the insertion of a camera through a hole near the belly button, which doesn't sound like a picnic either, but apparently using a camera is a good thing and better than the alternative.

So life's a little ho hum right now. Not that I don't have plenty of reasons to be grateful - at least it's very unlikely that it's cancer, as I was assured. Also, like a good Californian, I went pretty much straight from the doctor's office to my acupuncturist/Chinese herbalist and am now on an intense alternative regimen to hopefully shrink that cyst a little bit (as well as all the other smaller ones that were not visible on the ultrasound but are very likely to be there, according to the doctor). Of course, my Chinese practitioner had diagnosed "blood stagnation" months ago, and put me on a dairy free diet, as you may remember - well, I should have stuck with it then as she was certainly right in her diagnosis. So now I'm off dairy again, as well as off meat, wheat, sugar, alcohol, processed foods, fried foods, fun foods, and pretty much everything else I've been splurging on over the last few months. So if nothing else, I'll be super healthy by the time the surgery rolls around.

On top of Chinese herbs and acupuncture, part of my alternative regimen is also exercise and yoga, which I've been neglecting due in part to the hours that I spend blogging every week (I'm not exaggerating, ask Ritesh). Sitting at a desk for 8-9 hours a day at work, and then going home to sit at the computer some more is apparently not the best thing for one's health. So I'll have to figure out what to do... I'll keep blogging one way or another, but need to find some balance, and get that blood moving again...

I do have one pretty food picture for you, though! This is a roasted red bell pepper and peanut soup with some sautéed bok choy tossed in (I didn't have space for an extra bowl on my buffet tray) at the Hare Krishna temple some time last week:


Ritesh has also been cooking up a storm - Thank God for Indian food - don't know what else I'd eat on this diet...:-) Thanks, love!

Monday, Oct 13 - The Day After

10.31am - some badly needed coffee at Patrick's Roadhouse, at the post-nuptial breakfast with Greg, Phinney, best man Sam, Ritesh and Alexi. Yes, you guessed it, I was too exhausted and hungover to go to work. I did genuinely have a sore throat and a bit of an earache, so I don't feel so bad...Patrick's Roadhouse - very un-LA in the best of all ways...

10.54am - the Surf Burger, with avocado, grilled mushroom and bacon, plus fries. Rarely has a burger tasted this good!

11.17am - we brought some leftover cupcakes for dessert - this is one of the berry ones that have whipped cream on top instead of that heavy cream cheese frosting, love them!

4.19pm - some more cupcakes at home, shared with Ritesh, after a long nap

5.42pm - Ritesh and I both bemoaned the absence of Korean food at the wedding yesterday, what with Phinney (and half the wedding party) being Korean. So we decided we just had to have some Korean food for dinner, in honor of Phinney and her family, so that the wedding would feel complete for us. So here we are at Tofu Ya, with a bunch of Korean appetizers and a Soon Tofu (Korean tofu soup). We also had some delicious pork bulgogie, but alas, I enjoyed it so much I forgot to take a picture :(

Oct 12, 2008 - Greg and Phinney's Wedding!

9.35am - oatmeal w/ walnuts and black sesame seeds, at home12.42pm - turkey sandwich from Subway, at home, with Ritesh

12.57pm - peanut butter cookie from Subway, at home

and now things get interesting - finally, the long awaited day is here:

GREG AND PHINNEY'S WEDDING!!!
(and coincidentally, our anniversary)

For pictures of the wedding, of Ritesh officiating, of Phinney's stunning dress and her Mom's traditional Korean outfit and of the magical location, click on the picture below:

5.24pm - some lemonade, while staffing the welcome table, at the LA River Center

6.33pm - a whole lot of basil for the strawberry basil martinis, at the bar after the ceremony

6.37pm - and here's the final strawberry-basil martini, fabulous little cocktail

6.42pm - some swordfish on a stick6.56pm - a mojito, the other signature cocktail of this event

7.05pm - this is the same mojito, I swear!

7.10pm - a chicken curry puff

7.16pm - some coconut shrimp

7.49pm - and finally, dinner! crab cakes, corn salad, lettuce, asparagus, and some fabulous shrimp that was everyone's favorite (I preferred the crab cakes, though)

9.01pm - a toast to the newlyweds!

9.09pm - cupcakes! the result of a year's worth of cupcake tasting sprees....

9.09pm - cinnamon, chocolate, cane sugar to put in your coffee

9.11pm - my coffee with everything in it...9.18pm - our lot of delicious cupcakes, one each of chocolate, carrot cake, berry, and coconut! Shared with Ritesh, obviously...

9.25pm - chocolate covered strawberries! Great end to a fabulous day!

1.11am - Ah, one more... back at home, a croissant sandwich that was leftover from the afternoon's preparations, and which Greg's parents handed out around midnight so we would have enough stamina to convince Avi that he was too drunk to drive - man, that guy is stubborn when he's drunk! This was mozzarella and basil, from what I remember... we were just exhausted!