Cali Sweden's Diary

[CaliSweden]

Today I decided to make myself some homemade Japanese teas. They're called sobacha (buckwheat tea) and mugicha (barley tea). In Japan you usually get sobacha when you're at a soba restaurant. Mugicha is something we usually drink cold during summer. Though at Korean restaurants they serve it hot during winter.

It's been a long time since I drank these teas, and I actually miss them. I just roasted some barley for the mugicha, and roasted some buckwheat for the sobacha. I think tomorrow or the next day I'll try out the sobacha.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with blackberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Lunch: Grilled ham, cheese, tomato, and mushroom sandwich; made from 2 rye slices.

Snack: clementine, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade mugichi (barley tea).

Dinner: 2 slices of rye bread, one with peanut butter and jam, and the other with reindeer cheese. Also a clementine.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 30 minutes of yoga.

[Plumfoodie]

Mm those teas sound quite interesting! Do they have a very robust flavour?

[CaliSweden]

Recipe for Japanese Grain Teas; Sobacha (buckwheat tea) and Mugicha (Barley tea)

They're really good and caffeine free. Depending to how dark you roast them will have an effect on how robust they are You can toast them on a pan for about 5-15 minutes on medium heat until the grains are a nice dark brown. Don't forget to move the grains around, or else they'll be burnt on oneside.

Depending on how strong you want your tea, you can use about a ½ tablespoon - 1 tablespoon of soba(buckwheat) or mugi (barley) for each 1 cup of water. That should make it strong. You boil the water, then let the mugi or soba simmer for about 20 minutes on low heat. Then turn heat off and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Use a strainer to take the grains out of the tea.

You can drink them cold or hot. I usually make a big huge pan full of tea. I then put the rest in the fridge in a pitcher or mugs. It can last for days this way, and if you want to drink it cold you can or pour it into a mug and microwave for hot tea

I also toasted a good amount, so I don't have to keep toasting them every time I want to drink the tea. I'm storing them each in their own plastic bag in the fridge.

I know mugicha can be an acquired taste. When I was a kid I didn't like it so much, but as I got older it grew on me. Sobacha was easier for me since it tastes similar to soba noodles, but in a nutty tea way. Both teas have a nutty smooth flavor. If you have something spicy to eat or a sore throat, they really help to sooth the throat.

[CaliSweden]

I have a new non-scale victory today! I did 50 guy pushups! Yippie!!! Though I think I'm going to be a bit sore tomorrow>_< I'm so happy that I can do 50 guy pushups now, I've been dreaming of getting this far. Unfortunately, my arms aren't cut and muscled out as I would want them to be. Too much fat on my body still .

I'm actually surprised that I can do that many guy pushups as I'm still quite heavy, and that's a lot of junk in the trunk to pushup. Tomorrow is weigh in day, I'm hoping it will go well. I've been behaving myself all week, but it's always a surprise when weigh in day comes. I still don't really trust my scale, hopefully I will be able to get that scale I want sometime in the near future.


Breakfast: Grilled ham, cheese, tomato, and mushroom sandwich; made from 2 rye slices.

Lunch: 1 slice of rye bread one with peanut butter and jam.

Snack: clementine, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade mugichi (barley tea).

Dinner: Grilled ham and cheese on two rye slices, with tomato and mushroom salad.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 30 minutes of yoga.

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks for the recipe Cali, that looks really intriguing. Next time I have those grains I'm going to try this!

Good luck for your weigh-in and well done on all the pushups. I hope you are able to get your new scale soon - I think here in the UK I take for granted that it's easy to buy off the internet if a local shop doesn't have things!

[CaliSweden]

I can buy a scale online, but it's not the one I want and for the price I want it for I'm being cheap and picky >_< We don't have too many options here, and not too many inexpensive options either

[CaliSweden]

This week I've been trying really hard to be a good girl. The scale moved down all week, but stopped moving the other day. Sort of a bummer because I was really hoping for a nice loss this week of at least one pound. I can't be too picky since a loss is still a loss, and I'd much rather take a loss than a plus. So it's a happy sad victory for me this week.


I don't trust my scale, and am a little worried that when I finally do get that wonderful new scale (when it's back in stock), that the new scale's readings will be a huge shocker. Of course it'll be nice if it gives me a minus. But it will be horrible to find out that my old scale now has been lying to me this whole time.



Here's the 32nd weekly weight update:



-0.8 lbs (-.36kg)



Total amount since started: -19.2 lbs (-8.73kg)

[CaliSweden]

Pretty weird to think another week has gone by. At least this time the weightloss was closer to a pound

Breakfast: Oat porridge with strawberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Lunch: 1 slice of rye bread one with reindeer cheese, and grapes.

Snack: clementine, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade sobacha (buckwheat tea).

Dinner: Grilled ham and cheese on two rye slices, with tomato and basil salad.

[Plumfoodie]

Good job on the loss this week Cali!

[CaliSweden]

Tonight's food was a stirfry made from things I had in the fridge. It came out really yummy.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with raspberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Snack: (Ate them throughout the day) 1 slice of rye bread one with reindeer cheese, clementine, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade sobacha (buckwheat tea).

Dinner: Spicy chicken, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, leeks, onion, and garlic stirfry. With barley/oat/buckwheat/rice mix.

Exercise: Pushups, crunches, and 30 minutes of yoga.

[CaliSweden]

It was a leftovers kind of day

Breakfast: Oat porridge with strawberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Lunch: Spicy chicken, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, leeks, onion, and garlic stirfry. With barley/oat/buckwheat/rice mix.

Snack: clementine, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade sobacha (buckwheat tea).

Dinner: Spicy chicken, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, leeks, onion, and garlic stirfry. With barley/oat/buckwheat/rice mix.

Exercise: Shoveling snow for 30 minutes, counts for something.

[CaliSweden]

Last night the weather report said it would be -6 celsius this morning. But when I woke up and went to the car it was -13. I wasn't able to open the garage door to get the car out. I struggled with it trying to lift it open for almost 5 minutes. It was completely frozen shut. I was finally able to get it open, but boy oh boy does my back ache today. Needless to say I wasn't really in the mood to cook tonight.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with strawberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Lunch: Japanese curry with barley/oat/buckwheat/rice mix.

Snack: Cottage cheese with pumpkin seeds, 1 piece of dark chocolate, with homemade sobacha (buckwheat tea).

Dinner: 2 slices of rye bread, one with reindeer cheese and the other with peanut butter and jam.

[Plumfoodie]

Mmm your lunch sounds delicious, Cali, you'll have to share your Japanese curry recipe.

I know what you mean about not feeling like cooking, after doing a bit too much yesterday today I totally cheated and made my lunchtime half-sandwich (to go with my soup) with lowfat cheese singles rather than using my nice lowfat cheddar as slicing the 'real' cheese just seemed like too much trouble! (don't ask why I have cheese singles in the house, hehe)

[CaliSweden]

I tend to cheat with cheese, I usually use normal fat cheese >_< But I don't usually eat a lot of cheese.

I cheated with my Japanese curry, my mom sent me a package of Japanese curry cubes. I think one of these I'll have to make Japanese curry without any cubes

[CaliSweden]

I was hoping to doing yoga this afternoon, but I had a surprise visit from my mom-inlaw. It was really nice that she stopped by, we chit chatted and had some tea together I don't feel too bad that I didn't do yoga today, as I shoveled snow again today.

Breakfast: Oat porridge with strawberries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, agave syrup and milk.

Lunch: Beef, mushroom, and bell pepper with spelt pasta.

Snack: 1 piece of dark chocolate, with Japanese green tea.

Dinner: 2 slices of rye bread with peanut butter and jam, and a clementine.

Exercise: 37 minutes of shoveling snow.