My legs are exhausted, but they're not going to get a break until tomorrow. I've managed to follow through on my plan to bike everywhere for a while. Biking to work, to the store when I need to go, to the farmer's market, and even across town to the opera rehearsals with my instrument on my back. (It's about a 20 minute ride, depending on the traffic lights and how many cars try to run me over.) From all the bumps, cracks, and pits in the sidewalks, roads, and bike trails my tires have gone about half flat, making things even more difficult. Shane stole the tire pump and took it up to work when he took his bike up, for recreation and exercise and so that he gets to do stuff like bike on top if the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. How many people get to say they've done that?
To top it all off, I've been trying to break land speed records getting home the past couple of nights to spend as much time as possible with Shane. It hasn't happened...yet.
He's home! Yesterday was my first ride on a non-human-powered vehicle for about a week and a half. With almost no vegetables, and no fruit beyond what I've been preserving, we had to go to the store. We started up the truck and...it was acting just as weird as it had been the last time I drove it. So we took the motorcycle instead. We didn't get much, since aside from fresh fruits and veggies we didn't need all that much, so it easily fit in a backpack.
I haven't told Shane about the horrible malaise that attacked me last time he was gone. (I don't want him to worry, and that would just make it all more difficult for him.) I'm still trying to adjust to this schedule, but it's hard. When I'm home by myself I just don't feel like doing much. I made no-knead bread because it took the least amount of effort. I didn't weed (awful!) so the garden is once again completely overgrown. (I still got twelve large pea pods out of it yesterday, though!) The only thing I actually cooked for myself were grilled cheese sandwiches, which I ate for a whole week. We didn't have any sandwich meat (and I was too lazy/busy to go to HGMarket when it was open) so I didn't even have anything to dress it up with.
Having an actual dinner last night was fantastic. Not that I don't love grilled cheese (obviously) but it just doesn't seem like a complete meal. Shane cooked, and we planned out what we want to have for the rest of the week. Good and yummy things, with lots of vegetables!
The only good thing I can say is that I discovered the joys of bok choy, and my favorite way to eat it. It's great in stir-fry, of course, but it can stand on its own as well and it's very simple to cook up. I simply chop it into bite-sized pieces and finely chop some garlic. Heat up the cast iron skillet and add a little bit of sesame oil. Saute the garlic and bok choy for just a couple of minutes, until the leafy parts look a bit wilted, adding some soy sauce about halfway through. (Just a dash for flavor, you don't want it to dominate the delicate bok choy.) The whole thing takes about five minutes and it won't heat up your kitchen unbearably. I imagine that if you were planning to grill, you could also cook it on a grill in a cast iron skillet. Sliced radishes are also a great addition, if you happen to have some.
I'm trying to figure out things that I want to cook for just myself when Shane's gone, so that I don't fall into a morass of grilled cheese sandwiches again and I've got a few ideas. The biggest problem, really, is finding the motivation and I think that will be better when I have more than two hours at home in which I'm not sleeping.
The plus side to Shane being gone so much is that it's more difficult to take each other for granted. I've been trying to do something special for him every time he gets home. One week it was to make a special dinner and have it waiting for him. One week it was, um, lingerie. :) This time, since I was at rehearsal when he got home, I left him a scavenger hunt. It ended up at the freezer, where I had a pint of Hot Licks ice cream waiting for him. Originally I was just going to leave a note on the door telling him about the ice cream, but I realized that was sort of sad. So I sent him all over the apartment with little notes telling him, "Nope, still not here! Why don't you check...." and a couple of bad puns thrown in for good measure. I'm trying not to repeat myself, at least not for a while, so if anyone has any other ideas about what to do, tell me! The more creative, the better.
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