Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Day 28 The Diabetic Food Stamp Project

8.53

I have 8.53 today. Will I allow myself that much food?

I felt like I went crazy at breakfast boiling 6 dumplings. It has been an hour and I want more....instead I had peanut butter, crackers and coffee.

6 Dumplings 1.20
Peanut Butter .19
Coffee with cream .15
4 Ak Mak .28
Total 1.82
Carbs 43 grams

It is a yukky day out...Snow. I really hate snow.

I am not feeling creative in the least, nor do I feel like going out and shopping.

I need to eat something for lunch, I want something healthy but if I want affordable greens I need to head to either Chinatown or Trader Joe's for salad. The stores in Harlem will blow my budget.

I am going to go see what I can raid from the pantry.

I have frozen empanadas, frozen dumplings, frozen quesadillas, some beans and lentils, an emergency can of tuna, an emergency box of mac and cheese, eggs and fresh cheese a tiny bit of fruit including a mushy apple,  and an eggplant.

Is it any surprise I had 9 boiled dumplings with hot sauce for lunch?

9 dumplings 1.80
Carbs 33 grams

The dumplings do contain cabbage and pork, so I kind of got a vegetable.

My B12 and Iron are great, but most of the vitamins on the chart are lacking. The lack of sun plus snow is depressing me.

A sort of a newspaper asked me for 10 thing for those on a budget to learn. I suggested the one egg omelet as a great little bit of food to stave off hunger.

As I seem to be an endless pit of food today I made one.

Egg .21
Cheese .10
Butter .10
Iced Tea .03
Total .44
Carbs just under 2

It finally quelled the flames in my belly. This snack is going to have to keep me for a while. I am headed to the gym and then directly to the theater. A friend who is a theatre writer has tickets for the Amoralists new show Collission. I am really looking forward to it. I have my grab bag of sunflower seeds should I need them.

...and at 10 p.m. I caved. I got home from the show and felt like I was ready to drop. My blood sugar had dropped, I was losing the ability to think, I could not imagine what food I had in the house (not much) and the thought of cooking anything and waiting for it was exhausting.

At the cheap Chinese take out I caved. I went in and scanned the menu looking for the cheapest items.

Fried rice, fried chicken, chow mein...all around 3 dollars. I spied chicken with broccoli.

How much is the price if I don't get the rice?

无米之炊

它配备了稻谷,大米免费

I know it comes with rice, but how much if I don't get the rice?

Strange look from everyone as they stop and stare at me.

"4 dollar. "

"Okay. "

I order. 

鸡肉西兰花疯狂的人无米之炊

I wait, the phone rings, and there is a lot of shouting.  Masses of food begin to come from the wok stations as I wilt into a puddle of low blood sugar. The  Styrofoam trays and plastic soup containers line the table, the delivery man comes in and starts to take away...

"Where is my food?" I ask with what is left of my voice. 

为什么你他妈的没有男人的

She shouts. 

He responds...

大订单告诉他,他得闲炒饭

"Sorry...we give you free fried rice." 

"No. No rice, remember."

"Oh yea, you want extra chicken?"

"No, how about extra broccoli?"

She looks at me as if I has just requested her first born child.

"西兰花?" 

"Yes."

"Okay, 西兰花?额外" she shouts. 

By their standards I am clearly insane so the cook moves quickly...

It is not 10:22, I wonder if I could have cooked something and would be eating already had I gone home.

I would have saved money and felt better. 

"OK" She shoves a bag into my hands.

I somehow make it home and up to my apartment. Before my coat is off I have a mouth stuffed with broccoli and am chewing. As I finally wash my hands more is stuffed in my mouth and I see myself chewing...not pretty. 

Of course the container contains rice. 

No rice somehow does not translate, or maybe the free rice was a apology for the kitchen losing my order. I carefully ignored most of it, eating only those grains that clung to chicken or broccoli. 

It must have been a double order, or even more. Once I had eaten all of the broccoli and a few slices of the chicken I could eat no more. I refrigerated it. It will be a free meal for tomorrow. 

I sit and read for a bit giving the food time to satiate my every cell. 

At midnight I head to bed. I did not wake up, stir or even have any dreams I can recall. The broccoli had given me bliss. 

Chicken with broccoli 4.00
Carbs 39 grams  (1/4 cup of rice included in that calculation) 

Day Total 8.06

I pretty much killed my extra funds and have .47 to carry into tomorrow, but there is plenty of chicken and rice left so I do have a free meal coming.  

Calories 1,509

 




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who did your translation? Not bad. And very funny.

da bitch in 23 said...

Like always you keeping it real. All of us head to the Chinese take out window some time.

That 3 dollar fried rice fill you up for a long time. Try not to, but

NOT Paula Deen said...

I just discovered this project.

The story about the restaurant had me laughing to hard. I can't read the language but I was just imagining what they were saying.

I am also a broccoli craver sometimes. I also crave bananas.