MC, Day 8

Well, I lost another one. My roommate has also quit the cleanse. I'm all alone now! (My roommate is in the kitchen right now, making about eighteen tons of vegan food. I think she's literally making every recipe that appealed to her from four or five cookbooks.)

Yesterday, Day 8, was fine. Normal, shall I say? Weird that this has become normal for me now.

I'm still afraid of the salt water flush (2 teaspoons of uniodized salt in a quart of warmish water, chugged first thing in the morning), so I have not tried it. I know, I'm wimping out. But it's scary, the idea of downing straight-up salt water. Ew.

Very oddly, I find this easier as more days pass. I don't know if that's typical, but I'm going to guess it's not, as everyone I was doing this with has stopped before the 10 days were up. So much for accountability partners!

It's been amazingly wonderful not having to think about what I'm going to eat, or what groceries I need to buy, or trying to remember what I have at home that's fit for human consumption. I come home and I don't have to cook- all I have to do is juice lemons or limes and I can get back to whatever I was doing (usually, working from home).

Oh, yesterday was also the first day that I used limes instead of lemons, because we ran out of lemons. I have to say, it tastes distinctly different. I prefer limes, actually- they are somehow not as astringent, but sweeter and mellower. I wish I had figured that out sooner.

I have begun planning what I need to make for Thanksgiving. Masochistic, I tell you- constantly thinking about food, though not craving it.

Traditionally, my family has all the typical American Thanksgiving food (turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls or cornbread, gravy, stuffing if anyone wants it, salad, two kinds of pie, and whatever else looks good in the store) as well as a variety of Korean food (kimchi (김치), glass noodles (잡채), spicy bean sprouts (콩나물), small tofu pancakes- a must! (두부전) and other types of small pancakes, plus whatever other side dishes (반찬) we decide we must have).

My mother, the stout-hearted, makes most of this giant spread. She's quite a cook, and I will have to one day document the making of all these dishes. She also makes a mean Coke-doused ham for Christmas and Easter... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

My sister always makes the mashed potatoes (with about eight pounds of butter) and gravy and some sort of dessert, which changes yearly. I think she made red velvet cake balls last year- balls of cake doused in a layer of chocolate, really delicious cold, straight from the fridge, with a glass of milk. She mentioned adding macaroni and cheese to her contributions this year, which would be great- more butter AND eight pounds of cheese. Mmm.

I always make green beans, because I am very particular about the way I like them (snappy and not overcooked), and the pies. There are always two types of pies because my sister loves (LOVES) pumpkin pie and hates pecan pie, while my parents really love pecan pie ... and pumpkin pie. I generally also fry up the tofu pancakes (두부전) after my mother mixes up the batter, because I have the patience to sit in front of a giant electric griddle and fry for an hour.

So the reason I have been trolling the internet for recipes is (not just because of my cleanse-induced self-torment but also) because of my newly ambitious goal of making my own pie crust this year. I have been a lazy baker and used refrigerated pie dough until now, but I am feeling ambitious.

Martha Stewart, don't fail me.

Meanwhile, I think I'll make a practice pie or two. Test out my dough-making prowess. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone to eat the pies.

I'll post about my cleanse progress as well as my potentially disastrous pie dough experiments.