Soup for a Year: My Defense: The Pineapple Came on to ME!!!: It’s Complicated

Right. So this is my punishment for the incident that happened on Friday. Let me paint you a picture with words.

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. I got out of work at 1:00 PM because my stuff was being moved to a new cubicle. After eating a lunch of shrimp and red pepper soup, I was off to Whole Foods. As I walked in, I was quivering with anticipation at the thought of beholding a bounty of delicious soups. I was distracted, and that was when it happened. A delicious, manly yellow pile of pineapple sample chunks appeared before me in a very aggressive fashion. I was powerless to ignore it, and I was thinking about soup. What kinds would there be? How many would I get? I was drunk with thoughts of soup, so when I approached the pineapple and it was so nice, so understanding, so much the opposite of the last fruit I had many moons ago, I unconsciously gave in to its desire to be eaten. Something about what was happening didn’t feel right. It felt WRONG, but also so good. I chewed the pineapple and proceeded through the produce section to the area where the hot soups were located. I knew the pineapple would be gone soon, and although I was sad, I knew it was for the best. I can’t hold on to something in my mouth that longs to be free, free to be digested by my stomach and intestines. So I gave in. I swallowed. It was over. The pineapple was gone, but I knew what we had experience was special, somehow, in its own way. And that is how the pineapple came on to me.

I would also like to point out that Mike also cheated did not receive anywhere near the verbal chastising I did. I implored my heartless friends to leave me with my guilt, but they demanded that I be punished. “Isn’t eating only soup punishment enough?” I argued. Apparently not. I would again like to disagree, as this was my lunch today:

This crap is delicious! Oh wait, it's actually not. It's crap.

The above bowl is filled with brandied wild mushroom soup, and it is disgusting. Per usual, after the first bite I tried to convince myself that it was actually good. It was not. It mostly tasted like pureed mushrooms with mushroom chunks, mostly. I did not find that taste appealing. As I tried to convince myself to eat it, I made the mistake of wondering what would happen if I moved my spoon back and forth in the soup. What happened was it grossed me out by jiggling like Jell-o. Aaaand I was out. As Mike kindly pointed out, if I am only eating soup, it should at least be GOOD soup!

I do believe that soup, along with the cream of spinach and mushroom, was punishment enough. I spent $14 on those two damn soups, one of which I gave to David, who cockily thinks he will eat it tonight and it will be delicious even though he refused to even try it at lunch today. We’ll just see what he says about that gross soup!

Today’s lunch

I know I’ve posted out of sequence today but truthfully, the only reason I took this picture of my split pea & ham soup was because it looked like a lunch a Packer fan might love–because of the orange juice.

(Sorry for the run-on sentence.)

Avoiding the snacks are HARD!!

(Today’s lunch was clam chowder. And it was very good.)

Not snacking is one of the harder things about this whole S365 business. I look back now on how dismissively easy I thought this might be and internally scoff at myself. How could I think it was easy? How can I restrict myself to only soup and not potato chips, not crackers and cheese, not ice cream, cake, and cookies? Why was I such a fool?

Well, those who know me know that being foolish is something that I excel at. So, why should this be any different? But I really felt foolish (and hungry) when I came home this afternoon with the kids and was immediately assaulted with the smell of something rich and beefy cooking in the crockpot. I knew that Lynda had bought a roast over the weekend, so I assumed that a succulent pot roast was nearing its cook time.

I was simultaneously happy and sad all at once. I was happy that I didn’t have to figure out what to make for dinner–something that always looms large for the person who leaves work early to pick up the kids from school. But with that significant task out of the way, I could play with the kids, straighten up, check email, etc. And then . . . I was sad because I knew that pot roast was not an approved food according to the Soup Council. Soup . . . of course. Chili and stew had been approved (hurray!), but pot roast was definitely not acceptable. Immediately I tried to tell myself that I could just heat up some of my leftover turkey soup or have another serving of the Brunswick Stew that I was previously thawed. But I knew nothing would be as good as that pot roast.

Courage, I told myself! It’s only the fourth day! Don’t be so sad so soon. And I distracted myself by doing other stuff. But soon the kids wanted an afternoon snack and they asked for their enormous bag of Halloween candy. CANDY! I can’t eat candy either. No chocolate, no Reeses cups, no Baby Ruths, no Mr. Goodbars, no Snickers Fun Size. Nothing.

sigh

I’ll have chocolate milk later, I said to myself. It’s okay. I’ll find something else to do while they eat.

Soon, playing with the kids occupied my time and I realized that I’d forgotten about it all. And then Lynda called to tell me to put some rolls in the oven to go along with the beef stew. She was on her way home . . . wait! What?

Beef stew?! That isn’t a roast?

Sure enough, when I opened the lid to the crock pot, I found a beef stew with onions and carrots bubbling away.

Hurray! Lynda saves the day AGAIN! And it was happily eaten by everyone . . . including me . . . and it was so very, very good.

Now, how to stop thinking about all that Halloween candy later tonight?

Today’s suggestion for lunch?

The menu says I’ve got an option of Turkey Chili or Black Bean.

My gut (ha!) reaction is to go with the turkey chili. I think it would be more satisfying and give me a longer amount of energy? And it’s Turkey, so maybe it’s healthier than beef chili.

But the Black Bean is also good. I guess, I could go with a bit of both, like I did yesterday.

I can also, however, see if there is any readership interest in one or the other. (I’m all about the collaborative nature of this venture, you see.)

Weigh in with a comment!

Lunch 11.02.09

Here is my lunch for the day. I decided to eat the French Onion & the Cream of Asparagus.

Meanwhile everyone is arguing over everything. Dean has quit the panel over the inclusion of rolls.

This might get ugly before it’s over.