Reporting...

... a loss.  I stepped on the scale this morning, one week after the decision to begin this record of my consciousness diet last Monday.  Pleased to report that I am 2 1/2 pounds lighter than this time last week, despite a somewhat more... permissive day yesterday.  

Sunday started with--guess what?--a cup of tea and the New York Times "Week in Review" in bed.  Sunday is the day Ellie and I go to sit with our meditation group whenever possible: we sit for an hour, starting at 10AM, and spend the following hour, from 11 to noon, in discussion about our practice.  In preparation, I start out with a small bowl of cereal and fruit--to which I added a teaspoon of yoghurt, yesterday, along with a scatter of dried cranberries and a splash of half-and-half (still there!)  

We returned from our sitting group around half past noon, and I chose our customary Sunday brunch: an onion bagel, English scrambled eggs (see earlier entry), four small slices of bacon, AND marmalade! for the first time this whole week.  And a cup of coffee with sweetener, a drop of milk, and a splash of the usual...  It will soon enough be gone, but for the moment it seems like a bottomless small carton.

At Ellie's urging, and against the dictates of my own habitual pleasure, I passed on my Sunday afternoon cigar out on the balcony, and watched the Giants beat the Packers on their way to the Super Bowl instead, to compensate for the sacrifice.  We worked on a new dinner recipe together as the game progressed: two Cornish game hens--we shared just one--roasted with two different kinds of olive, paper-thin Meyer lemon slices slipped beneath the skin, garlic, and thinly sliced fennel.  Served, around 7PM, with couscous laced with tiny currants and five (count 'em!) Brussels sprouts.  A delicious dish, helped down with a pre-dinner glass of Chateau St. Jean chardonnay AND a during dinner glass of the same.  FOLLOWED, after dinner, by a (large-ish) scoop of Trader Joe's Very Cherry Chip soy cream.  Ouch!