Yesterday and today started out in similar ways--and tomorrow will, as well--I worked from early in the morning until mid-afternoon. This is a challenge I didn't have last year, when my schedule was built of lessons and free periods, and I could bring my food or plan where to get it. When I work, I eat in the hotel cafeteria. I could bring my food, but let's be honest: at 5:45 in the morning, I'm not figuring out what to eat later, or remembering to get something out of the fridge. Just putting one foot in front of the other.
***I keep reminding myself that I've had teaching jobs where I had to get up this early and drive for two hours before teaching all day. I liked the work; I liked my students. Maybe most importantly, I'd set my own schedule, and I felt in control. But wait!--I remind myself again: I had to get up at 4:30 when I worked in that other coffee shop, and I went to sleep a lot later back then. That was a different job, and I was in a different place. Maybe I'm just in a self-pitying place now. There's nothing wrong with that.***
Anyway, breakfast at work is free, but limited to pastries, bagels and boxed cereal. The milk machine only has whole and 2%, not even skim, so I sometimes eat shredded wheat dry. That sounds worse than it is; dry shredded wheat is a pretty typical snack for me. Today I ate some toast with peanut butter, then said to hell with it and ate some Froot Loops. No milk, of course. I haven't eaten Froot Loops in at least two decades. They were just as bland and styrofoamy as I remember.
Lunch is $1.50, and it's difficult to navigate if you have any kind of dietary restriction. It's not great food to begin with--well, maybe when it BEGAN, it was okay, but a lot of our lunchroom food starts out as banquet food for events at the hotel. Then it gets sent down to the cafeteria, where they serve permutations of it until it's gone. There are dishes prepared especially for the employees, like Enchilada Wednesdays, but a lot of times we're looking at over-baked salmon and chicken cutlets...the next day we have over-baked salmon and stir-fried chicken pieces...the next day the salmon may have disappeared, but there will still be shredded chicken tacos. There are occasional surprises: last week they made menudo. Some of the Mexican employees told me the menudo was really good. I elected not to try it.
Even before I started No Dairy, I learned to eat most of my lunch from the salad end of the bar. The salad toppings are disappointing at best--often there are a couple of random veggie options, some tuna or chicken salad (chicken salad the day after chicken tacos), two different kinds of cheese (one of which is slices, in case you want to make a chicken sandwich), croutons, lemon wedges--basically, whatever they could find. I like the days when they have chickpeas. I avoid the meats, usually, but I want to get enough protein so I'm not starving by the end of my shift. Chickpeas on my salad are the best, but those little bastards are impossible to stab with a plastic fork.
You know how I got a free turkey for Thanksgiving? Obviously, there were a bunch of leftover turkeys from employees who didn't want or need them. The hotel donated some, but we also had turkey for lunch EVERY STINKING DAY for weeks and weeks.
The desserts are fantastic. Remember, these are leftover banquet dishes. We get yummy chocolate cakes, carrot cakes, cheesecakes, berry tartlets, petits fours, and big yummy cookies. Sadly, there aren't too many non-dairy options on the dessert line.
So, today's lunch was lettuce with fat-free Italian dressing (there were no chickpeas today, and the veggie choices were, like, onions, black olives and cauliflower), a baked potato with chili, and jello.
Dinner at home: turkey sandwich on sourdough with gravy.
Just like last year, I seem to be easing into this by just avoiding obvious dairy, but not worrying too much about dairy as a minor ingredient. I don't know how strict I'll get by the end of the month. It's hard to tell if there are any immediate changes as a result of cutting the dairy--I'm still getting over this cold, so my sinuses are crapped up, anyway. I gained an indecent amount of weight last year because of stress and, you know, eating. I didn't feel like weighing myself this weekend, but I suppose I should unpack the scale and see where we stand.
I'm a little sad that I can't do Enchilada Wednesday tomorrow. Those things are pretty good, but they're all cheesy. Salad and jello it is.
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