WIAW: Cures for Overimbibing.

Good morning! Once again, we’re at the midpoint of the week.

Which of course, means that it’s WIAW!

So, Saturday morning (the morning after my night out at the banquet) my stomach was not happy with me. I wasn’t hungover, per say…but my stomach was making it clear that going back and forth between wine and gin all night was not the best way to go about it. Ugh.

Usually when you talk to people about hangovers, they will tell you their sworn cures for the nausea and the headaches.

I’ve heard of the greasy diner breakfast – grease and carbs as the way to make you feel better.

In Turkey, apparently the cure for a hangover is Kokorec: a streetcar dish made with lamb intestines.

Italy? Coffee and fruit juice.

Russia? Pickle juice.

just take a swig.

 

So today, I’m going to talk about my own hangover/alcohol-related queasiness cures. Fortunately, I don’t deal with this problem as much as I did 3-4 years ago, but it’s best to have a plan of attack

 

Morning Mix

Right when I woke up, the usual ACV mix.

Of course, your body is going to be dehydrated after you toss back a few too many. This means: lots of liquids and water. I made sure to tote my water bottle around with me all day!

Breakfast

Oats with blueberries, blueberry jam, peanut butter, and a fried egg.

All I want the morning after is carbs, so oatmeal or toast is my immediate go-to. I know a lot of people favour the greasy diner breakfast after a night out, which might not be a bad idea. Apparently, going for eggs is a smart move. When you drink too much, your body produces acetaldehyde – eggs contain a chemical found in your body’s natural defense to acetaldehyde, therefore cleaning up leftover toxins. So the morning after, eggs may be your best bet.

I had to run errands that afternoon. And by errands, I mean I needed a new purse. I’m picky, but I’m cheap, so it resulted in about 1 1/2 hours of walking around the mall.

I am happy with what I picked out though! I find that walking definitely helps when I’ve got alcohol-related queasiness. I cannot handle anything too extreme though – no running or intense workouts.

Lunch

I was starving when I got home from grocery shopping, so I went for carrots and hummus while I put lunch together.

• carrots: for detoxifying vitamins and minerals.
• chickpeas and other beans: fibre, folic acid and protein. All aids in recovery.

A sweet potato with cinnamon, Greek yogurt and almond butter, plus a crumbled turkey sausage and spinach in olive oil.

mmm…more carbs. Apparently, dairy is a good choice before drinking, because it lines the stomach and slows the absorption of alcohol. The proteins in nuts make them a good choice to nibble one during the night – apparently, there’s a reason for the barrels of peanuts you see at some bars.

spinach – for help detoxifying the liver and reducing symptoms.

I also sipped at a ginger kombucha throughout the afternoon. Too much drinking tends to make my digestive system pretty unhappy with me, so I picked up a kombucha to try to get it sorted out as quickly as possible. And ginger flavoured, because we all know that ginger helps with nausea.

Dinner

So, my personal hangover cure is sushi.

I discovered it one evening last year, after a particularly harrowing night (it involved a certain ‘bomb’ that was on sale that night…not recommended). I basically laid on the couch and nibbled at crackers all day, feeling like crap. Then, my boyfriend’s mother offered to take Eric and myself out for sushi. I can never turn down sushi, so I picked myself up and went.

Afterwards, I felt 100% better. It sounds counterintuitive (raw fish when you’re feeling nauseous? Sodium when you’re dehydrated?) , but it makes sense, promise

So, Eric and I went to our usual place (Sushi 8) for dinner.

Seaweed salad and green tea to start, of course.

Salmon and mackerel sashimi for me, and salmon sushi for Eric. Something about foods with high fat content (like salmon) just make my stomach feel a lot more settled.

Mmm, sushi.

The far two rolls are Eric’s – a black dragon and a tempura salmon. The other two are mine: Eel special roll (spicy crab roll topped with eel, avocado and tobiko) and yoyogi roll (black peppered tuna and avocado with spicy tuna on top).

I know a lot of fried foods will make me feel awful, but getting a little bit of crunch (in the eel roll) definitely helps. And apparently, wasabi is a fantastic hangover food. It stimulates blood circulation, which in turns helps remove headache-inducing toxins from the body.

Just to fill in the cracks:

A chicken teriyaki roll that we split. Chicken in sushi is a little weird, but I still like it.

Sugar usually has no appeal when my stomach is feeling off, but I can always go for a fortune cookie.

Good way to end the night

And of course, I felt fine by the end of the night. Gotta stick with what you know!

Have a good day!

<— Do you have an ‘I-imbibed-too-much’ cure?

<— Could you drink pickle juice? I like pickles…but no. Could not do it.

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info sources: 1, 2, 3

Ringing In 23.

Good morning blog loves! I missed you guys yesterday…it’s been a while since I missed a day of blogging. But I woke up yesterday feeling a bit under the weather (hung over, ahem) so I took the day off. But rest assured, I am back (because I know you were worried )

So, Friday night around here was a busy one. Why?

I was celebrating my birthday! (I turned 23 last Wednesday). It was one of those nights where you’re pretty sure you had a fabulous time.

The best friend and three of my other London friends drove up in the afternoon to spend some time with me beforehand, and we headed over to the mall so I could pick up something new to wear that night, as well as some pretty new school clothes. I had a new accessory taken care of, thanks to an incredibly thoughtful gift from Laura:

A Coach clutch!

I’ve never owned anything even remotely designer label in my life, so this made me extremely happy. And I love anything silver (it’s my second favourite colour, next to purple) so I know I can match it to most of my outfits.

So pretty! (less pretty is my now-haphazard manicure. I should get on that).

After shopping, we picked up some Subway (no picture, but I had my usual) and then we headed back to my place to watch a scary movie – the weekend before Halloween it’s a must, right?

We put on a movie called Grave Encounters – I hadn’t heard of it, but apparently the sequel just came out?

Oh goodness. If you’re a horror fan, you will love this movie. It’s like Paranormal Activity, but it takes place in an abandoned mental institution. Terrifying.

(Fun fact: when I was about 16 I actually explored an abandoned asylum with some friends in a town nearby. It was one of the scariest experiences in my life, but how many people can say they actually did this? And yes, I did not believe for a second we were alone in there).

After the movie, it was party time!

Wearing my new shirt!

And I have no idea why I’m not smiling. I assure you, I’m enjoying myself.

Pretty ladies!

I’m not going to lie, I have no idea why there’s so much pointing going on.

The further we got into the night, the sillier things seemed to get.

Anyone remember Party Boy? ‘Cause Laura got Party Boy’d.

I kind of think I need to start wearing one of those hats – It looked surprisingly cute!

Best facial expression? You decide.

I actually have nothing to say for that one.

Super maturity right here. :-p

Around 9, we headed over to the Brantford Casino for a while. I went in with $50 and came out with about $70. Better than nothing, right? I don’t have pictures from the casino (apparently, you can’t take pictures in casinos) but I can assure you it was a great time. I met a few of my friends from school down there so we had a nicely sized group. Only a few people had good luck, but that’s a casino for you!

We headed to another bar for a while before heading home, meeting up with my brother and his girlfriend back at my place.

Awesome night! It must have been, considering that I didn’t make it to bed until about 4:30 in the morning. I couldn’t have gone earlier! We ended up with 8 people sleeping in my tiny-ass apartment (thank god for air mattresses) so I couldn’t really go to bed until everyone else was ready. It made for a long (but fun!) night.

So in bed at 4:30, awake at 9:30? Yea, I was not feeling my best yesterday morning.

Nothing a good hole-in-the-wall greasy diner breakfast can’t fix.

We walked down to Lonnie’s, which is an open 24/7, breakfast all day diner downtown that serves everything from burritos to salads to ice cream sundaes. And breakfast – definitely much needed!

I ordered the peameal and eggs – 2 poach eggs, peameal bacon, brown toast and hash browns. I left about half the hash browns and cleared the rest of my plate – I was starving! And my stomach definitely felt settled afterwards.

The rest of the day involved a lot of resting, schoolwork and marking – I’m going to be insanely busy the next couple weeks! I’ve got papers to mark, a 10 page paper to write and a 90 minute presentation to prepare for. Intense.

And I finished the night off with a cupcake – deliciousness.

Plans for today involve grocery shopping, hitting the gym and more schoolwork (of course).

Have a great Sunday!

<— When was the last time you had a diner breakfast/brunch? What did you order?

<— What did you do for your last birthday?

<— Do you like scary movies?

It Was a Two Desserts Sort of Night.

Another bar night, another 5 hours of sleep.

I may be picking up one of these today.

Yesterday

Laura could not have picked (/been born on) a more perfect day for the beach.

How freakin’ gorgeous is that?!

I’d never been to Ipperwash before – it’s a small, secluded beach on lake Huron.

Laura picked me up in the morning, then I took over the driving duties (everyone needs a chauffeur on their birthday) for the hour or so drive to the beach. I could not get over how pretty it is – while I like my beach towns (aka: Grand Bend) it’s nice to be able to sit and relax without too many people around (and not having to pay for parking was pretty awesome too).

Hummus, carrots and crackers lunch.

And unpictured cherries and Babybell cheese. We had an early, big dinner coming up so we kept lunch light.

There were a bunch of little kids playing around on the beach near us, and I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation/game.

Here’s the sentences I heard, literally one after the other:

• “That pit is full of landmines! I just exploded you!”
• “The water is the underworld – you’re trapped in the underworld!”
• “I’m a dragon! RAWR!”

Umm, how do kids get their imaginations and where do I get one?

Sounds like the best game ever. 🙂

Dinner

After relaxing on the beach for a few hours, we headed back to Laura’s parents for dinner.

Laura’s mom prepared quite the dinner feast.

Tacos with all the fixins (lettuce, chopped bell pepper, ground beef, cheese, salsa, sour cream, chipotle sauce, shredded cheese) and buffalo wings.

I went to town with the chipotle – Laura picked it up when we were in Mexico and that stuff’s amazing. My mouth was on fire by the end of the night, but in the best way possible. 🙂

A taco with everything x 3, plus one buffalo wing.

Laura’s dad is also the best bartender I know.

I have no idea what was in it, but I know it was fruity and delicious. 

Dessert time!

Laura’s mom picked up two types of pie: strawberry rhubarb and blueberry-peach-raspberry. There was three kinds of ice cream involved too. Umm, that many desserts? A birthday after my own heart. 🙂

I ate the filling/top crust off of two small pie slices and a small scoop of ice cream – I can’t remember the name, but it involved lots of peanut butter/caramel/salted peanuts. So, pretty damn amazing.

The blueberry-peach-raspberry pie was definitely my favourite. Such a random combination but it was delicious! Apparently, I really like peach pie. I didn’t eat most of the crust off of the pie because I’m not a big fan of pastry. I’m a filling all the way. 🙂

The Rest of the Evening

After dinner/dessert, we headed back to my house to continue to celebrations.

What’s this?

Champagne!! (It was Laura’s 23rd birthday on the 23rd of August – aka Champagne birthday).

Fortunately, the cork went straight into the ceiling as opposed to the tv – something I was slightly concerned about. 🙂

Then, it was time for this beauty:

Laura loves raspberries, so for her birthday I baked her a yellow cake with raspberry filling and a lemon-raspberry buttercream icing.

I think she might have been excited. 🙂

And I think everyone else approved.

(Nice thick line of raspberry filling – so good)!

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and I got a lot of compliments on my baking abilities. It made me proud. 🙂

Cakes are my favourite things in the world to bake. For every birthday in my family I plan something awesome that I think they’ll really love.

For example, my older brother drinks Monster Energy drinks like it’s his job. For his birthday, I managed to find a recipe for a Monster Cake with Monster baked into the cake and mixed in the icing. I have never seen him smile so big at a cake.

Considering that this was dessert number 2 of the evening, I stuck with a small slice.

I’m definitely happy with how this turned out though – the cake was nice and dense (I prefer dense to fluffy cake), the icing was sweet and the filling added a great touch. I love cake success. 🙂

Laura, myself and our friend Cassie – enjoying some birthday champagne.

Around 11:00, we took the party downtown.

Eric and my friend Justin at the outdoor patio at Molly Bloom’s downtown.

This is where the pictures pretty much stop – I was having too much fun and “living in the moment” too much to break out the camera.

It was a great night, I can tell you that much though! I didn’t end up drinking too much because my stomach was not too happy with me. I think it’s the combination of alcohol and too much sugar lately (something I’m going to address in my next post) that did me in.

We made it home around just after 2:00, stayed up and talked for a bit before we all crashed around 3:00 am.

Despite the fact that I hadn’t been drinking much and should have been able to sleep just fine, I was still up at 8. Le sigh.

Workout

Up and at the gym. Of course.

Livefit Day 79 – Back/Abs Circuit

3 rounds of:

• 20 barbell deadlifts (80 lbs)
• 20 bentover barbell rows (30 lbs)
• 20 wide grip lat pulldown (27.5 lbs, up 7.5 lbs)
• 20 seated cable row (35 lbs, up 27.5 lbs)
• 20 back extensions
• 20 knee raises on captains chair
• 20 air bike

• 30-40 minutes cardio of choice, keeping heart rate below maximum

For cardio today, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical alternating between 2 minutes at level 1 resistance, 2 minutes at level 5, 1 minute at level 10. A good workout, but not too much for my sleep-deprived self. 🙂

Breakfast

Felt like a breakfast custard sort of morning.

1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 frozen banana, 1 scoop chocolate peanut butter protein powder, and 1 handful of blueberries tossed in a blender.

It’s not 100% blended, because people were sleeping/hung over and running my blender for a long period of time just seemed mean. Still tasted awesome though! I threw a little bit of granola on top for crunch.

And Eric and I are off this weekend! We’re heading up to a family cottage to spend some time with his cousins. I’ll be back on Sunday night for a post – have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

<— Bakers, what’s your favourite thing to bake?

<– Pie: the filling or the crust?