I love weekends. Even on vacation, weekends feel special. I started my weekend out right with delicious Cajun Grain and some sauteed rainbow chard, coconut oil stirred in.

And the rest of the day has slipped on by at its leisure.

Eating my veggies still. This morning, it's taking two space heaters and an oven set to 250 and cracked open to make my apartment register 63 degrees. Although it seems my sinus infection is getting better, I'm starting a wicked sore throat. I'm hoping the anti-biotics knock that away too.

Anyway, not much to report. This morning's breakfast is another huge bowl of rainbow chard (my current favorite) with a bit of local Smith's Creamery butter and, of course, a couple dollops coconut oil and some kosher salt. I'll follow this with a bowl of lentil soup with coconut milk once my coconut reconstitutes itself. And, if I'm still hungry, I'll have a slice of my homemade gluten-free bread, toasted with butter and my mom's homemade raspberry jam.

I'll keep sipping my gyrokuro, hoping that the tea will wash down the blossoming sore throat.

The weather in Baton Rouge has been atrocious. Sharply cold and now raining and wintry mixy. It's very unusual. I also spent the majority of the day yesterday in bed or on the couch with an eye-closing, stomach-heaving migraine.

So, it was important that I start this morning with some bright cheerful rainbow chard dressed in butter, coconut oil, and a pinch of sea salt, after the obligatory cup of miso. I followed these courses with a nice cup of itoen's organic temple chai with honey and coconut milk and then gobbled up some pan-fried homemade polenta with garlic, onions, and cheddar, courtesy of Penelope. All in all, it was a tasty start to a grey day.

Morning's here, and I'm eating my vegetables in the form of leftover avgolemono soup. (See first entry). It's not overly photogenic today, and my shiny new pear-green Kitchen Aid is demanding the camera's attention, so the shots will go out to it today.

This morning got off to a slow start. I'm going to blame yesterday's early wake up with the antibiotics and Mucinex I'm not plus the fact that my space heater told me it was 43 at around 4:30am, when I finally decided to turn it on. I didn't sleep well, and I had a series of uncomfortable dreams, waking with a pounding headache that I may just have to medicate into silence.

I am, however, planning on baking a nice fat loaf of gluten-free bread today. Since bread's a rare treat for me, I'm looking forward to the next few days when I can slap lots of butter and homemade raspberry jam on thick toasted slices. I'll leave you with a few more glamour shots.

Today is one of those mornings, rare in Baton Rouge, where I set my alarm a full half hour before I wanted to get up to turn on my space heaters. Racing across the chilled floor (it was below 50 in my apartment) in bare feet, I aimed for the heating pad warmed flannel sheets, down comforter, and 2 quilts that kept me warm if not hot all night. My first action upon actually rising was to crank my apartment-sized gas oven to 300 and crack the door a bit. These old apartments are cold and drafty.

The chill in the air doesn't quite provide enough motivation for me to crawl out of my warm nest. But, since I have places to be this morning, I had prepared for this last night, when I laid out the fixings for a nice hot bowl of matcha (powdered green tea leaves. Shown here: Kama Matcha from matchasource). The steaming slightly sweet, slightly bitter green tea was just the elixir I needed to fry my way through an egg plus an extra yolk, toast up some leftover millet, and simmer last night's carrot ginger soup with coconut milk and - you guessed it - a dollop of coconut oil.

I hope this is enough nourishment to get me through my morning, which begins with a test for a part-time library job I think I want for some extra income. (I'm feeling a bit of guilt for Christmas gifting myself a shiny new Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which is due to arrive today).

Hello!

With minimal planning, I managed a nice, vegetable filled breakfast again. I again started my morning with a cup of hot miso broth. (Maybe I should call this blog Miso for breafast...)

As I sipped the rich, hot nourishment, I sauteed some frozen spinach and fresh flash boiled kale left over from last night's dinner in butter. Meanwhile, I heated up leftover lentil soup with coconut milk from dinner. (That soup is amazing. I should post the recipe). At any rate, I ladled the soup into my trusty green bowl, piled the spinach/kale combo on topped, and topped the whole thing with a dollop of coconut oil. Then I sat down, sipped my miso, ate my soup, and felt grateful and nourished.

A good start to today: I began my (late), lazy Sunday morning with a cup of steaming Sweet White Miso, followed by a bowl of fried Cajun Grain rice and another bowl of steamed rainbow chard with some coconut oil.

I'll make some tea (and possibly some breakfast dessert -- should I finish the caramel bar, the gluten-free brownies, or just have some chocolate?) later. I think this morning calls for some genmaicha.