First things first: How pretty is this Ball glass chandelier?
It’s hanging in the middle of Fern (the newest Charlotte vegetarian restaurant – we went last night), and is just a perfect balance between classy and rustic. I want to make one!
Secondly, we spent the afternoon doing inventory at the clinic. We keep a lot of supplements in-stock and had to count up and tally everything for end-of-year tax purposes. We’d both been dreading this task for weeks but it wasn’t so bad with two people. Teamwork, yo.
After inventory, I went on a 3.0 mile walk today that left me feeling absolutely pooped. Maybe it was the weather? It is bitterly cold in Charlotte right now.
Dinner was a winner!
I made an Indian-inspired dish with this yummy sauce. I am actually not a huge fan of bell peppers and thought I wouldn’t like this sauce, but it was great. Very, very flavorful.
And dinner itself was super easy. I defrosted from frozen brown rice, steamed some mixed greens (here’s how), fried some mushrooms, and cracked open a can of chickpeas. I combined everything in a wok on the stovetop and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Dinner in 15 minutes – can’t beat that.
And for dessert:
So, in my quest for a better night’s sleep, my doctor (and many other people) recommended that I drink a glass of milk before bed (hence, the ice cream – I can justify that, right? Kidding…). I decided to do a little investigating because I wanted to know if soy milk would have the same impact.
Fun facts:
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People think that warm milk helps you sleep because of tryptophan, the same thing in turkey that apparently makes you sleepy. (Source)
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However, to actually have an impact, tryptophan must cross the blood-brain barrier, which it cannot do effectively in the presence of amino acids in protein-rich foods (like milk or turkey). Furthermore, the amount of tryptophan in milk (and turkey) is very small. (Source)
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Therefore, researchers theorize that people get sleepy after drinking water milk simply because it subconsciously reminds them of infancy. (Source)
Off to drink warm… something!
My parents were committed warm milk drinkers and I remember that it was my job to pour the milk into the pot or cups for the microwave after I said goodnight. I loved that it was one small thing I could do for my parents who worked so, so hard. I actually took up milk drinking during my second trimester to help with my sleep as well. I have a mix of 1/2 almond and 1/2 regular organic dairy milk, and though I don’t normally really “do” dairy, this warm drink really agrees with me! Sometimes I add a small drizzle of really good honey…it’s heavenly. I’m sure, though, that anything warm will do 🙂 I don’t know that it’s necessarily the drink, but having a denouement kind of routine certainly helps. While I drink my treat in bed, the husband reads out loud to the babe. It’s lovely.