Forgive the lack of posts. I have been knitting like a fiend who is convinced that there is no tomorrow. I’m still working on the secret project and was hoping that I would be able to reveal it this Friday the 13th (one of my favorite days!), but as each hour passes, that is looking less likely. The only possible way for that to happen would be for me to knit 24 hours a day for the next couple of days without breaks for the necessities of life, and without any interruptions (read; children and boyfriend are driving me nuts with the little things they keep asking of me when all of them have perfectly good legs of their own that they can use to walk, perfectly good eyes to look around with, and brains that obviously cannot survive without my wisdom of what to eat for meals and snacks). I would list them all on ebay and try to sell them (heck even pay someone to take them!), but I hear that they only allow crochet hooks in jail, not knitting needles. (There are limits as to what I am willing to live without!)

There have been other distractions too. Good distractions in a way. I’ve had mobility problems for years due to arthritis. A few weeks ago I began taking an over the counter product with Glucosamine Chondroitin and after a few weeks nearly all the joint pain, stiffness and limited range of motion has disappeared. Heck, I tried front and side kicks on Spurg and nearly rearranged his face. (You should have seen the look on his face! He’s into martial arts and knows what it takes to kick that high, and that I couldn’t do it to save my life a couple of months ago.) Obviously I am becoming more active and I’m beginning to see a waistline again. (Haven’t seen it in years, thought I had lost it for good) I don’t have a scale, so I can’t say for sure that I am losing weight, but I do know that I am losing inches, almost without trying. (This is a good thing).

Now that I am able to do more, I am cooking more preparation intensive meals. Things that I can’t just throw into a crock pot and let it do it’s thing (although I am thinking I should probably do that so I can have more knitting time). One of my latest food passions is cooking Asian cuisine. I came across a site for Bento style lunches, then across a site that was an on-line Japanese dollar (or so) store and finally across and Asian Grocer site. Yes, there were purchases made as we have a very limited selection of Asian ingredients in our area, and what we do have is grossly over priced.

I purchased a bento box (and some for the kids as well), as I like the idea of having a pre-packaged lunch in a reusable container. I also like the idea that if you pack it correctly, you can use it to limit calories and that I can pretty much take it anywhere. (Yes, I am thinking of getting out into the world more, and even of getting a bike to get more exercise.)

Natural Lunch Bento box, bento box belt, chopsticks and drink container with a cup purchase at Ichiban Kan.

And here is lunch. These are leftovers from dinner the night before, but oh so tasty! In the top section, Tea Marbled Eggs (yes, I overcooked mine a little, sigh. But they are still tasty!) and Onigiri with Umeboshi (a very salty and slightly sour pickled plum used as filling). In the bottom section we have French Green Beans with Carrot and Ginger, Chicken Teriyaki (with a homemade teriyaki marinade) and Carrot Kinpira. All of this is tasty with some nice green tea to wash it down with.. Yum! (Some ingredients purchase at the Online Asian Food Grocer from South San Francisco. And the shipping cost less than 2 gallons of gas. Can’t beat that with a stick!)

Now that I’ve got you drooling.. I’m back off to knit some more!