^ today’s lunch.

what's beneath the eggs?

@rumtscho Mixed red & green salads. On top eggs, hit-smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes. Some chilantro. The dressing is a basic vinaigrette pimped within orange juice and mango mustard.

nice

although, right now I am hungry, so my first reaction was "what? only that?" even though there have been quite a few days when such a salad would be a sufficient lunch for me

but today I took the day off for learning, and I just made crepes for a late breakfast, so everything is (going to be) well here too

@rumtscho well, there’s a slice of whole-wheat bread to go with the salad and a semolina pudding for dessert...

Not fair:

Found ^this in the office kitchen when I was getting my salad out of the fridge. >.<

if you can let go of your expectations of what a brownie should be like, the crispy ones on the edge are perfectly good eating!

I can’t let go of my expectation what my waist should look like!

Then see it as a reason to fit in an extra Zumba session

._.

My granma was complaining I was a bit tubby...

then kept trying to feed me junk food ;p

That's standard grandma behavior, just ignore.

Seriously, most grandmas I've known are programmed like:

1. I am responsible for my grandchild being perfect.

2. As soon as I tell my grandchild how it deviates from perfect, the grandchild is obligated to correct that imperfection.

Note that there is no consideration of "how" in rule 2.

but but, kept trying to feed me ;p

3. I am obligated to show my love to my grandchild by feeding it, parading it around my village, and a few other such activities. For all of those, the principle "more is better" appiles.

ah maybe ;p

4. When I say something, the grandchild is obliged to agree and see me as a source of all wisdom.

If somebody would program a simple bot with these four, it will pass the grandma-turing test for me.

I've been told that there are other kinds of grandmothers (like Stephie's mother) but I don't think I have observed them in the wild.

Except for one pretty cool grandfather I met once. A retired military helicopter pilot. Ironically, he was the farthest thing from a helicopter (grand)parent I have ever seen.

@rumtscho she’s probably fulfilling all criteria except the criticism bit...

@Stephie Torture haha. I have zero trouble avoiding junk food at home, but as soon as I'm outside of a controlled environment it's like some hurculean task to hold it together. It's just so easy to mindlesslt chomp down on (especially, free) food.

That said, what kind of animals actually PREFER to avoid the edge and corner pieces. Geez.

@rumtscho It's so much easier to control weight through diet than it is through exercise. Especially considering exercise makes you hungry. Haha.

Of course that's simplifying and there are benefits of being active beyond weight loss. But man... it's a lot easier to just not eat the brownie.

@PrestonFitzgerald I‘m a social muncher, too. Put food (in a wide sense) in front of me in a social setting, and I will eat...

But today, I was strong: I knew that if I kept my hands off during lunch, then my fellow coworkers would remove the temptation by circa 2pm. And so they did.

Go Stephie!

In my experience, there are two groups of employees that will eat absolutely everything: Government employees and engineers. The latter are faster, possibly because the coffee maker is in the kitchen and they refuel more frequently.

@Catija lol! And I went to the Zumba session!

@rumtscho ^ see? Doubly good!

I’m mentally compiling a shopping list: Hubby is flying to Silicon Valley in March.

Silicon?

Silicone is what they put in fake boobs...

^ Autocorrect was thinking dirty thoughts, it seems.

And tired me just hit enter.

@Catija >.<

HAHA

sure... ;)

How’s our favorite baby boy these days, @Catija?

Climbing everything that stays still long enough.

He also loves chasing balls and hiding them... usually in shoes.

LOL

So perfectly normal, methinks.

I have a feeling he's really going to love Easter egg hunts.

@Stephie Yeah, he's great.

Just clarify that he’s supposed to collect the eggs, not find better places for them!

Well, what I figure is that he can hide them and then go and find them later. Saves us the work.

He would only put the yellow balls in shoes, though... it was interesting.

@Catija and put the bunny out of business?

Eh... we're not going to do "Santa"... not sure about the Easter Bunny. I think kids should know where the stuff they get actually comes from so that they can be appropriately grateful. I think it's unfair to parents to not get credit for the gifts given to their kids.

... that was a lot more serious than the topic warranted.

It's not so much that I want him to appreciate us so much as I don't like the idea of him only feeling accountable to Santa.

Same here. I mean, kids craft at daycare and stores advertise presents... The Santa (or Christmas Child, here) story doesn’t add up. We went with “the people but our make the presents, but the Christmas Child adds the special blessing” - thus incorporating the religious background. And in the last few seasons, this was a good starting point for discussions about charity and generosity.

@Catija so you are firmly against Elf-on-the- shelf? Good for you, one doesn’t earn what should be given freely and with an open heart.

@Stephie That thing makes me sick... even before I had a kid. Ugh.

Glad we agree ;-)

I need to bow out for today: the alarm is set to 5:30 (ouch) and it’s going to be a long day. Good night & until soon, I hope! Take care!

@Catija "Hey I got a great idea. Let's convince children that the only reason they should act properly is so they don't get caught and have their toys taken away." I think the whole thing is gross

I'm sure it could be a fun tradition if explained correctly and stuff, but as it... out of the box. It seems dangerous

I've heard of kids melting down because they accidentally touched it. That supposedly means Christmas is ruined or something. Makes them terrified of the thing.

I have a family heirloom ornament we share in my family and hide in fun places. Just as a little Christmas visitor without all of the surveillance and ultimatums

@PrestonFitzgerald Wait... they can't touch the elf on the shelf?

Pretty sure that's one of the rules, yeah

Because it ruins his magic or something

Yeah, it's in the book

@Catija "There's only one rule that you have to follow, so I will come back and be here tomorrow: Please do not touch me. My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know."

I mean, I'm sure people remix the rules to be more healthy, but man.. the whole thing is just weird

Eep. Milk boiling brb

@PrestonFitzgerald Um... and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know. That sounds like proof enough to touch him, particularly if you've been naughty... if touching makes him unable to report to Santa and the kid does something bad, then the logical response is to touch it... :/

Haha yes. Commit violence on the elf. Shut him up!

I'm making béchamel. I'm surprised every time by how good spiced milk smells. There's something about bay and clove + milk that just smells like "cooking"