Mark went off to Chicago, and I made vegan rice pudding<\/a> and watched Downton Abbey and Shameless. I was trying to use up some almond milk, but I didn’t like the results – I think it’s going into the compost.<\/p>\n Monday I had a pretty normal work day, but lugged everything I needed for an overnight, and then left for Chicago on the 4:30 bus. It snowed about an inch in the morning, then rained. Pretty miserable when I was walking to the bus, but once I got on, as I told Rach, I had absolutely nothing to do for four hours except read and eat chocolate. One mistake I made was turning the iPhone camera selfie-style just to see what I looked like – and there was a little old lady.<\/p>\n Tuesday I had to be on a panel at a conference at 10:00, so Mark and I walked up Michigan and had breakfast at Le pain quotidien<\/a>. I had a bowl of steel cut oats that looked a lot like the below, except with Chia seeds thrown on top, somewhat annoyingly, and I had to beg for milk.<\/p>\n Recipe here<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n The panel was just fine, except I got a nosebleed right before I had to speak – that’s kind of a new one for me.<\/p>\n I walked to the train, and picked up a half sandwich at Pret a Manger, and a coffee at Starbucks. I ate the sandwich and drank the coffee in the train station, and bought a cookie and a water for the train, at Corner Bakery. On the train when I had time to look them up, I thought it was kind of amusing that I found calorie counts for all these “fast casual<\/a>” restaurant foods in My NetDiary<\/a> – but it makes sense – and also realized that I had consumed my full day’s calories by about 2:30. Which didn’t stop me from munching some peanut butter and pretzel crackers when I got home – I had online class at 7:00, so felt I needed fortification. And I had a hot cider with some brandy, because Megan was already having a beer, by the time I came down after class, and didn’t want a glass of champagne, to toast her golden birthday. But now I feel really too full.<\/p>\n![\"Recipe](\"https:\/\/debslunch.com\/debslunchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/brunch_steelcutoats-400x266.jpg\")
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