Food And Me

Eating habits, eh? I would describe my current eating habits as overall healthier than they have been in previous years. I feel that I am generally able to make healthy decisions regarding my food for a couple of reasons. First, I have come to enjoy eating and cooking with vegetables. Although I am not a vegetarian, I recognize the environmental and health benefits of cutting down on my meat consumption. Secondly, Berkeley doesn’t have many options when it comes to fast food, and because I prefer frugality, I would rather make my own food as opposed to eating out. Whereas most people gain weight upon moving out of their parents’ house, such choices, in addition to being forced to ride my bike everyday, have resulted in me actually losing weight while live on my own.

Overall, I would describe myself as an eater that is health conscious, yet open minded to pretty much any food. While some people are very picky as to what they eat, I’m willing to try any food at least once, and even then, if its edible I’ll probably enjoy it- I’m pretty easily pleased.

Also, in living on my own and being forced to cook for myself I’ve found myself more excited to try new things than I have been previously. Sharing meals with my roommates has exposed me to a host of new foods, cooking techniques, and tastes, and in turn I have also felt compelled to experiment with new and different recipes. Basically, in seeing how much time and effort goes into my roommates’ meals, they’ve influenced me to take my cooking to new levels.

One food that has come to personify the eating habits described above, and which has become my “signature” food in the process is the always-reliable burrito. While my earlier burritos contained a few basic ingredients, such as beans, rice and cheese, the burritos that I have been making for lunch have become increasingly unorthodox. One Facebook status update from last month indicates this point exactly, it reads “[Erick Uribe] has been making increasingly experimental burritos. it's burrito madness everyday!” I went on to describe the burrito in question “tofu, italian sausage, sweet asian sausage (thanks to harrison), quinoa, spinach, egg, cheddar cheese, rice, onions, and various types of beans, so far. asparagus next?”

As you can see I have used the burrito to wrap up a wide range of different foods into one meal. While this particular burrito did have meat, many have also been vegetarian. And, in case you’re wondering, I have since incorporated asparagus into my burritos with amazing results, highly recommended.

As mentioned above, my roommates have significantly influenced my eating habits. However, while I was initially unsure if I could influence their habits at all, I am proud to report that all three of my roommates have since hopped on the burrito bandwagon. All three have recently started buying tortillas and coming up with their own creative burrito configurations. I’m just happy to be able to give small tips on layering, heating, and wrapping the burrito. Overall, it’s been a mutual exchange of eating habits in which each roommate both influences and is influenced by the others.

A Typical Day

You may be asking yourself, “What does a typical day consist of for this newly independent young man?” Well, first off let me say that I am by no means “independent”, as my folks support me financially in various ways, e.g. paying for my cell phone, making payments on my credit card bill, etc. Additionally, the great state of California and the federal government supplement my non-existent income with about $14,000 in financial “gift aid” each school year. Scholarships, grants, and, rather unfortunately, loans, plus a bit of frugality, allow me to remain unemployed. I haven’t had a job for about eighteen months, which is partly due to a desire to concentrate solely on my studies, and also because working could possibly infringe on the level of fun that I might have in these precious college years. Basically, I choose to be unemployed, it has nothing to do with our current "economic downturn".

Okay, back to my description of a typical day. I usually wake up around sometime between 10:00am and 12:00 noon, which is actually quite pleasant. I don’t usually set an alarm, unless I really need to wake up early, because I prefer to get a full eight hours, as opposed to forcing myself to wake up early and walking around miserable all day. However, I will say that our apartment’s thin walls mean that I am often awoken prematurely by the conversations of Harrison and Simothy, two of my roommates that happen to be “morning people”, as they say.

After waking up I usually spend about thirty minutes laying in bed, listening to my roommates’ conversations, checking emails, wasting time on Facebook, and pleasuring myself in general. If I’m able to get all that stuff done with time to spare I usually do some reading for school. Usually that gets boring really quickly so I roll out of bed in search of breakfast.

I have a few typical breakfasts that I rely on quite often. If I have the time to do so, which I usually do since most of my classes start around 2:00pm, I prepare a hearty breakfast of two eggs (cooked over-easy), some type of breakfast sausage, grilled mushrooms and/or hash browns, a bagel with cream cheese, and possibly a glass of orange juice or coffee. I usually enjoy such a meal as I rub the sleep crumbs out of my eyes and browse Reddit.com. Oh, and if I'm rushed for time I'll scarf down a bowl of cereal and a banana.

After breakfast I jump into a hot shower and then quickly get ready for class. Upon doing so I hop on my bike and enjoy the ten-minute bike ride to campus sufficiently full and scrubbed.

School is usually my least favorite part of the day. I take notes and try my best not to zone out too much during lectures. On a good day I’ll be out of class around 4:00pm, at which point I bike home and try to find something edible in the refrigerator. Usually, I end up making a sandwich or a burrito for a late lunch and then I try to do homework until dinner, trying my best and usually failing to not get distracted along the way.

Depending on the day of the week I’ll either have to make dinner for my roommates, or I get to enjoy their delicious cooking for dinner, which usually takes places between 7:30 and 8:00pm. No matter who’s cooking, dinner is usually my favorite part of the day, as I’m able to hang out with three super cool roommates, while enjoying good food, music, and a break from homework.
Upon completing dinner and washing some dishes I return to my studies for a couple of hours, usually taking a tea break at some point between readings. After I’ve had enough of all that boring academic stuff I usually inquire with my roommates to see what their plans are for the rest of the night. Depending on the day of the week we might go out and look for something to do, we might have people over for drinks, or we might just stay in and waste time together.

I normally get tired around 2:00am, and if I’m able to, I try to be sleeping soon thereafter.

That pretty much sums up a typical weekday. Weekends are much the same, except that I’m forced to waste more time since there’s no class on those days.

Lastly, my roommates and I have devised a system by which we each cook for the house once a week. My assigned day is Wednesday, and I’ll elaborate more about what such a day consists in later posts. That is all for now. Don’t forget to follow on the right hand side, thanks for reading.