I recently attempted a 3 days fast in order to reset my immune system. Sadly, my stomach protested a bit too loudly and I ended up giving in to it by the end of the day. This process repeated several more times, so I decided to shelve the fast for the moment. The one meal a day schedule I've inadvertently been on felt wonderful though, and saved me a ton of time. I think I'll continue this for now and see where it goes.

Picked up some KFC chicken today because I was hungry, lazy, ran out of food, etc... and now I'm consider dumping the entire bucket. I don't ever remember it tasted this bad. Granted, it has been more than a decade since I last ate anything other than hot wings from there, but still. Bleh! I don't think it's a matter of my palate being used to whole food. Junk food used to taste good after a long stretch of home cooked meals. I don't think a lot of the junk food now a day could even be called food anymore. It certainly doesn't taste like it.

Coffee
Ritz Crackers
Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry w/ Rice
Asparagus & Crab soup
Beef, Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry w/ Rice
Onion Chips
Yogurt



Coffee
Chayote & Shrimp Stir Fry with Rice
Apple & Banana
Tea
Chocolate Truffles
Pickled Veggie with Noodle
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Pork Dumplings



Vegan Burger & Veggie Fried Rice with Turmeric & Curry (ooops)
Coffee
Apple & Ritz Crackers
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Rice Congee with Chicken & Onion Salad
Roasted Seaweed
Luffa Noodle Soup



Coffee
Broccoli & Beef Stir Fry with Rice
Yogurt
Tilapia, Rice, Pickled Long Squash & Shrimp Stir Fry
Chicken & Onion Salad w/ Rice
Luffa Noodle Soup
Fruit Cocktail
Berries Pineapple Smoothie
Rice Congee with Chicken & Onion Salad

Barely in the black this month. Budget busters include food and a last minute transcontinental flight. On the up side, my fridge is fully stock and it will probably take me a year to eat everything in the freezer.

Been reading up on making

Recently bought some coconut oil for hair, skin, general health and stumbled upon the weight loss side of it. I didn't think it would be effective but what do you know, it actually worked.

I took a spoonful of coconut oil along with 2 drumsticks, some kimchi and an apple. That was 6 hours ago and I'm still not hungry. Also feeling too energetic, which is nice since the fatigue that has been plaguing me is gone, but I really need to go to sleep early....

Well, technically I don't have a budget. I spend whatever I want, record them all, and at the end of the month go, holy moly...did I spend that much?...no more on that category. But since I've written down some of the goals I want to accomplish, I'm more conscious of this particular expense.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of walking into a Costco this week. I have a love and hate relationship with 3 places, Whole Food, Trader Joe and Costco. Love their products, hate always walking out with $100 to $200 gone from my wallet.

I intended to pick up some eggs, shrimps and beef and ended up walking out with a $171.51 receipt, without the beef. Still need to go back for the pork loin they have on sale too.

Started my new year by getting my free annual credit reports and applying for the Sallie Mae Reward Card. The bonus is nothing to speak off and the APR is extremely high, but 5% cash back for groceries, gas and book is pretty nice to have. Also found out I made it in the nick of time for the last bit of Discover 5% cash back for online shopping. Sweet! I buy frozen food and household supplies at Costco, so getting this 5% on top of the 2% executive cash back is a pretty good deal.

Speaking of which, I've decided to switch to mostly frozen veggie. Even though I don't buy organic, my veggie still turn out to be non-mutants or maybe just really old mutants. They get spoiled so fast. I keep buying them, thinking I'll eat them, but when it's cold like this, they don't look very appetizing. So after sitting in the fridge for a few weeks, they go in the trash. I read that vegetables frozen at the peak of ripeness retain more nutrients than old non-frozen ones. Here's hoping that's true, because they're incredibly convenient.

This is why the veggie were forgotten.





Also started on some light couponing.

1 - Redeemed $20 cash back from Discover for a $25 Staple gift card.
2 - Bought 4 reams of paper
3 - Received $2.29 back in reward, a rebate check for $23.96 and left with $0.89 on the gift card.
4 - Felt a little bad for taking advantage of this when news broke that Staple is closing some stores.

Too much chicken noodle soup. Must remember to keep the soup and the noodle separate next time.



Beef & Veggie



Bamboo Shoot with Pork and Shrimp



This will keep me fed for the next 4 days.

Last week

Bean Sprout with Shrimp



Green bean, Cabbage and beef