Revived!

Random Foodcam: Warm root vege salad with bacon

Usually, after having submitted a huge essay, I try to reward myself by taking a short break - say at least half a day off to allow my brain to stop thinking about whatever the subject matter was.

Yesterday, however, really had to just get right on with the next essay, which is due today. It just wasn't happening. Even with more than adequate Omega 3 intake, I was having difficulty getting my mind to absorb the information from yet another pile of research papers. It did not help that these ones are about post-earthquake stress and I found myself frequently staring in to space and reminiscing. Then the bag people (er.. the people we buy the Sana bags from) called to ask the most complicated question in the world... do we want to wait until mid-October for the usual matt silver bags, or would shiny silver be ok?

Matt bags or shiny??? It was more than my brain could deal with. I begged a two day extension from my tutor and called it a half-day off.

At that point things started to go right.

My omelet flipped properly for a start:

And then, as I was having trouble summoning my kitchen mojo (very unusual!), we elected to go out for dinner. It's the 'beef and lamb' festival on at the moment. Hoping to win an award, restaurants add a few special beef and/or lamb dishes featuring local, seasonal ingredients to their range. We went to Elevate. It was bit alarming to spot a chalkboard proclaiming 'bikers night', but I didn't see any Harleys parked outside, so we ventured in. 

Later, the place filled up with cyclists. :D 

I got the lamb salad with some sort of amazing cranberry dressing. This photo, taken on The Programmers phone, maybe does a little too much justice to my 'need a break and a glass of wine' state. I am assured that I looked much better in real life. One can only hope so. 

Needless to say, today I feel revived and ready to kick some study-butt, work out and perhaps down a grassy smoothie. It's important to know when to take a break: life gets overly demanding sometimes and needs to be told to back off, buddy! 


Preferably you should do this before it gets to the point where you get so worn out that it seems like a fine idea to leave the house without makeup on. Why didn't someone stop me?