Life Lately + What I Ate In Durham

Hi there. I have been back in Charlotte for a few days now.

LIFE LATELY

The puppies were VERY happy to have me home and have been extra snuggly.

Look at that Benji boy.

I picked Finn up on Sunday and he’s been a bundle of sweetness and fun. We’ve spent a lot of time playing outside and in the backyard. He doesn’t have preschool on Mondays and decided he wanted to stay in his PJs all day. That was not a battle that I was going to have!

Our big outing for the day was a long stroller walk with the dogs. Finn decided to get out and walk for the last three-quarters of a mile or so. It was the cutest thing, he was jogging alongside me (I was walking) and said, “Mommy, when I run my body feels so much better.”

Once again, it is difficult to be away from my parents but my mom is doing okay. I do not have any major updates. She’s still in the hospital and they will repeat her swallow study again tomorrow. If she does not pass again, they will likely switch her feeding tube to a GJ tube so that she doesn’t have to deal with the discomfort of the NG tube that is going through her nose and down her throat.

They performed another bronchoscopy yesterday and said that overall things are still looking good and there are no major concerns. My mom and dad were meeting with one of the transplant coordinators today about the transition from the hospital back to their temporary housing so I’ll let you know how that went soon, as well as how the swallow study goes tomorrow.

The rest of this post is food-focused with the meals that I ate when I was in Durham over the past few weeks. I stayed in a Marriott Residence Inn in a studio apartment type of room. I had a refrigerator, microwave, cooktop, sink, dishwasher and basic kitchen tools so that made it so much easier for me to eat decent meals when I got back to the hotel at night. I typically stayed with my mom until about 9:30p (visiting hours end at 9) and ate dinner around 10 or 10:30p. There is a Whole Foods between in the hospital and hotel so most of my meals came from there.

I know Durham has a much more interesting food scene than Whole Foods but for the purposes of this trip, it was about all I could manage. Hopefully I can check out some Durham restaurants once we get my mom home from the hospital.

BREAKFAST

Bob’s Red Mill apple cinnamon oatmeal cup topped with peanut butter. When I travel for teacher training or trips like this, I always pack things from home like my sea salt grinder, peanut butter, bars, a set of silverware, to-go coffee cups, chips, crackers, fruit, etc.

Scrambled eggs, half of a cinnamon roll and fresh fruit.

A FAGE strawberry greek yogurt cup, sliced banana, granola and peanut butter.

LUNCH

The first week that I was in Durham, I packed a sandwich every day for lunch. Deli chicken, avocado, cheese and mayo on Dave’s Killer Good Seed Thin Sliced. I always ate my lunch out in the waiting area of the unit she’s in because it doesn’t feel fair to eat in front of her when she can’t eat. I even feel guilty having tea in front of her!

The second week I fell off the packed lunch train and ended up grabbing stuff out to bring to the hospital most days. This salad/grain bowl was so good that I ate it two days in a row. Someone on Instagram recommended Happy + Hale to me for salads, bowls, smoothies. It was also very close to my hotel and on the way to the hospital. This is arugula, quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes, beets, avocado, pumpkin seeds, lime, mint and lemon tahini dressing. Definitely going to be recreating this at home.

Sushi from Whole Foods.

I went out for lunch last Friday when I took my outing to get my dad’s birthday cake. The cafe/bakery I chose ended up being almost 20 minutes away so I decided to sit down for lunch since I was there. I had the most delicious panini with turkey, bacon, tomato, mozzarella and honey mustard. The name of it was Dulce by the way!

DINNER

These prepared meals from Whole Foods ended up being a staple for me. They were in the refrigerated case near the pre-made salads and soups. This was turkey meatloaf with green beans and mashed potatoes.

Thai-style chicken curry over rice. This one doesn’t look super appetizing but it tasted way better than I thought it would!

Chicken enchiladas with a bagged chopped southwest salad. I ate these enchiladas two different nights.

Paleo chicken dinner of grilled chicken, shaved brussel sprouts with bacon and sweet potato wedges.

This wins for least exciting dinner. It was a shelf-stable add water noodle bowl that I got at Whole Foods. I didn’t really have an appetite this night and it got the job done.

Soup was a good thing to heat and eat on the nights I didn’t want a heavier dinner.

I had two different Rao’s soups with hummus and crackers.

DESSERT

My dad kept me stocked with ice cream. He got this one for me as my “fee for walking Sam” and it WAS over the top! Good lord! So tasty but very rich.

By the way, this is Sam and he’ll be 15 this spring. I walked him every day around lunchtime. He’s become the unofficial mascot of the Marriott Residence Inn. Everyone knows him and wants to stop to pat him. The staff at the Residence Inn has been so kind to my parents. They ask me about my mom all the time and the shuttle driver told me, “don’t worry, we’re going to take care of her when she gets back.” He drove her to rehab every day (and my dad would pick her up). The staff even got a card and balloons for my dad’s birthday and left it in his room. It’s not ideal to live in a hotel for months at a time but I’m grateful they are as comfortable as they can be there and getting good support.

I’m signing off to go teach yoga and then I’m catching up with Dorie tonight. I think I taught a total of four yoga classes the entire month of January so I’m looking forward to easing back into it.

I’ll be back with another update on my mom and what I’ve been eating at home! The meals are much more exciting. 🙂