Chinese Take Out and The Compost Cake

The Actual Cake!

Not Our cake.  Pictures of our compost cake to come...Stay tuned.

I succumbed to exhaustion last night.  I ordered Chinese Take Out. 

Today, Saturday, is my Number One Son’s birthday.  We have a tradition of making each kid a birthday cake ON their birthday.  It started out when the kids were really small and I had a book of cool birthday cakes to make.  Each kid would pick out a cake and we would make it.  Stars, hearts, alien spaceships, desert Island cakes, Monkey heads (that was for my husband), dinosaurs, etc., have been the subject of a cake.  This year, my son wanted a cake that looked like a compost pile.  He had been planning this for MONTHS.  He designed it and got some more ideas from an internet compost cake (Yes, someone had already done it!)  Last night we realized we had to go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients to make the cake today. 

We hadn’t eaten dinner, and I was exhausted.  I knew that venturing into the grocery store was a dangerous event on an empty stomach.  I fortified myself with some cheese and steeled myself to venture down the aisles I never visit at the grocery store. 

Off we went.  The funny thing is, the kids were AMAZED at how much candy and junk food the grocery store sells because we just skip the two or three long aisles of “crap” when we shop.  We really do shop the perimeter of the grocery store and venture down only the frozen food and dairy aisles, and the paper goods and cleaning items aisles.  We had difficulty finding the stuff we needed because we didn’t know what aisle things would be in. 

We managed to purchase the cake mix, the icing, the pretzel rods, the gummy worms, the oreos (to crush into “dirt”), the vampire and wolfman gummies (it’s an unorthodox compost pile), and some Hersheys “drops” which look like rocks.  The kids then realized THEY were hungry and so we went to the Chinese Take Out in the strip mall to order some food. 

I was not starving.  That was good. 
Previously, in my “Before the Phone Call from My Doctor” Days, when we ordered Chinese, we would order 3 or 4 things and have leftovers for  a few days.  Usually we ordered deep fried stuff, stuff with nuts in it (Kung Pao) etc.

I was able to look at the menu and remember that fried, breaded, coated, and sweet and sour stuff were probably not kosher to eat on my new regime.  My daughter wanted egg drop soup, my son wanted Orange Beef (definitely NOT on the list of good stuff) and so I got the tofu and vegetables Yu Shan.  (brown sauce and spicy). 

Usually the danger is that I will fill my plate and have seconds because it tastes so good.  This time, I used a luncheon plate for myself, measured out (eyeballing it) the rice and only took 2 pieces of orange beef and filled the rest with the vegetables and tofu.  I had 1/2 cup of egg drop soup.  Then I cleaned up.  You see, if the food sits out, then it is really easy to have seconds, and to snack on the crab rangoon or the egg rolls.  Fortunately, fortune cookies are only 25-45 calories apiece! 
My daughter set her alarm to 6:30 this am to help me make the cake.  We’ll wait for my son to wake up in order to decorate the cake because therein lies the fun!

 I feel really bloated from all the salt in the food last night, and I’ll skip the scale and be happy with the 195 I got yesterday.  I am six pounds down from the doctor’s office scale.  Now I’ve got to find a way to exercise.