JessAkino

Today was Pinto beans day.....

I awoke this morning with a headache that served as evidence of last night's scandals with Kelly Jenkins, and a crazed appetite for food. Last night's galavants for Bonfire night had been fun, my resistance to freshly baked cookies (shaped like bats) at Dane and Amir's was outstanding ,and my dinner of rice that id packed in a lunch box for dinner had been......well,  bland as expected. But it was a great night finished off inevitably with Heebees.

Currently besides my bed lies the bowl from last nights green beans... which supposedly served as a substitute take-out in the early hours of the morn (ridiculously rubbish for any sobering/ anti-hangover remedy by the way). Yes, you may undoubtedly laugh at this now, but last night in my blurry state of greed, with the aroma of chips wafting from every crevice of liverpool city centre, this triumph was probably my proudest moment in the whole challenge!

So this morning, i confidently arose from my hangover bed, ready to take the beans by the horns and pretend they were some sort of greasy bacon sandwhich. I opened my cupboard to find The Pinto Beans, the last can beholding a realm of mystery and intrigue, as not once had this variey passed my lips before this morning. So, with a grumbling stomach, i started to cook them, the smell making me feel pretty nauseous from the start. And then i had my first spoonful and realised that i had just eaten the most evil beans in the world. On a scale of 1 to a disgusting, they were off the radar....i forced a couple of big spoonfuls down and could eat no more, and knowing that i didnt have time to cook rice (was a day of many missions, had to trace the steps of the night before to find my phone and kellys make-up bag....) i did without and had a very hungry day.

Have just had my dinner, and since i forgot to buy more beans from asda, and was too hungry to wait for rice to cook, i bought some plain rice from the chinese take-away. Admittedly, i put a splashing of soysauce on it,  and although it's not ideal, my hungover, hungry state needed a little drizzle of happiness. I will repent later.

As the week draws closer to the end, i have found the challenge has not been getting any easier. I never anticipated before i emarked on this crazed week of beans, what a massive part of my life food was! And as someone who enjoys food, but isnt susceptible to binging out or even having a great interest in things like chocolate and crisps (give or take the odd episode), i realise the choice of having these now seemingly luxurious items is what is really important. It has been a particularly challenging thing, the fact that food is everywhere i go, and is so obtainable where we live, that avoiding it is the thing that requires the most will power! When this is over, i will be so greatful of all the tasty things that i get to eat, and every bean i don't....

Sorry about the lack of posting yesterday....don't panic i have not died a bean death.

Had the most hectic day ever yesterday, and due to the involvement of an essay amidst the hecticness, it has unfortunetly carried on this morning! Was really tired yesterday, and although i didn't feel that hungry, i felt really drained. Walked to uni in the morning after my first dose of beans (feels like a horrible medicene i have to take in the morning now, definetly tastes like it, except seemingly makes me feel more ill...) as had a meeting with my dissertation tutor, and felt as if i was sleep walking into uni like some kind of weird beaned out zombie. So, walked back, put on some rice, and embarked on an afternoon of essay writing (except it was really an afternoon of uninspired tea brewing, screen staring and facebook procrastination). Felt pretty ill all day, and not ready or patient enough to face the battle of me vs the can opener vs the can, nibbled on green beans to keep my energy topped up.

And after a day of being ridiculously bone idle, i had to scuttle back into uni for my shift at the Guild at 7pm, which was 5 hours in which my stomach growled, begging for the (just about) out of date sanwhiches which are normally up for grabs at the end of a shift. But alas, while my co-worker picked up his free and easy cheese and tomato sandwhich (what i had been dreaming of only yesterday), i gritted my teeth and sipped on my tea.

And after, frankly, a day of all round grump, the bus back from work was seething with temptation, as my stomch growled, and the chip shops passed, i felt a couple of pounds in my pocket and thought of the heaven that would be a sneaky pack of chips....the worst temptress being 'Friends' the kebab shop (which, in my opinion, is probably the best in the universe) that lies just at the top of my road. The smell of chips was alluring, and a mixture or hunger, rain and tiredness definetly provided the perfect conditions for me to be tempted, however, i mustered the will power of a monk and hurried past, realising 'Friends' was not a friend, and in fact an enemy.

Once home, I was greeted instead to the remanants of a pack of green beans in my fridge.

So, just thought id post this quickly up, will post some more perhaps later after ive turned into super woman and ive read my Tolkien for the day, get together some notes for todays class, attended my 2 hour tutorial, walked my 4 miles to and back from uni, plan next week's meeting for Oxfam society, restock my beans.........

Ciao for now.

Above: Pic taken by housemate Liz showing off my beans for the night...pack of mangetout beans and the rest of a can of mixed beans from breakfast/lunch.

Think the lack of nutrients and food has finally started to kick in as im feeling grumpy, tired and hungry today. So be prepared for a bean bitching session.

Woke up mega hungry this morn and trundlled downstairs for the first bowl of beans of the day. My primary task, which is repeatedly becoming an abrasive one at meal times, is to open the can with my begruding can opener, which was abandoned for the knife in a sudden moment of bean agression.

Was so hungry, they actually started to smell pretty good while i was heating them up, but alas, this was pretty much realised as a cruel game played by the beans. Had half a can for breakfast, but were real overcooked and mushy, ( my attentions had turned to an over sensitive smoke alarm), to the extent i actually started to gag and had to abandon them for a glass of water! Sounds dramatic but its true... (beans are stodgy evil things when they're over cooked i have found, and should be avoided at all costs). The rest are in my bag which ive been having spoonfuls of throughout the day to keep my energy topped up, just about.

I've also been trying to write a 1500 word essay in the library. My grumbling stomach has been providing a soundtrack to this all day. For the past 2 hours, iv been thinking intemittently about the dream snack i would like before my walk home and i have concluded with a simple cheese sandwhich. My food day dreams are getting ridiculous, and have taken over all other day dream topics this week. And due to lack of brain power, not particularly imaginitive food day dreams either!

Ive also been walking to and from uni this week in skint student mode, which is a couple of miles each way, and this new diet has definetly been making me feel knackered by the time i get in. Goin to have the rest of the beans i didnt finish for lunch tonight with brown rice and some green beans, and im so hungry, ill actually be anticipating that bad boy during my long walk back in the rain! I couldnt imagine doing a hard days work, and coming home to find no food at all...in comparison my beans would probably be a god send to many people in poorer parts of the world. Perhaps that's enough bitching about my beans for now.

God knows what ive talked about on the blog today....sorry guys.. blame my bean brain..

Day 2 has been more difficult than expected.

Hunger and food bordem have already led me to perve on anything that is non bean/rice shaped. The fridge is an object of temptation. The rubbish sandwiches in the library cafe look ridiculously appealing. The smell of my housemates omelette and chips is sending me into a spiral of depression.

Although 7 days doesnt seem a very long time, when every meal you taste doesnt taste of ANYTHING....well it starts to seem a while. After beans for breakfast, and then for lunch, the anticipation of dinner is not too wild. Today infact, i had the reminents of last nights beans and rice that i packed in a geek lunchbox for todays breakfast and lunch, and although the carby combination is filling, i think im rather avoiding eating any more than i need, coz frankly it tastes bloody awful.

 I think i have also developed a strange sixth sense, as an inbuilt 'food-dar' has suddenly materialised from no where. My human capabilities of smell have heightened to inhuman proportions since taking on this bean test, and 'food possability' seems to be everywhere i look. A waft of chips from the Smithdown takeaway mile nearly stops me in my tracks home, and a packet of walkers crisps just has to look at me, and i feel the need to run. My general awareness of food around me is ridiculous i realise, but i think the thought that i can't have it just makes it worse! My lecturerer today was talking about Tolkein, and i was thinking about bacon sandwiches.

So, onwards i go. I have posted a pic of last nights dinner (which also turned into my breakfast and lunch today). The rainbow-like array of beans actualy makes it look pretty appetising. But don't be fooled.

PS.

I am also newly armed with a can-opener donated to me by next-doors, after last nights battle with my old can-opener ended, during a war with a can of Asda's Mexican Bean mix, in it's death. RIP.

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Check out this bizzarre american site, some interesting stats about the effects of climate change on food supplies around the world. Quite shocking that this site exists, there are people in the developed world who are seriously worried about their food supplies right now too. This article is literally telling us that we should be thinking of stocking up on emergenncy food supplies...also advertising copious amounts of products to buy in case of a food emergency!!  -----   .http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/archives/the-coming-world-famine-will-2010-be-the-year-the-world-runs-out-of-food

However far-fetched a world food crisis may seem to those in the developed world while we're surrounded by supermarkets, takeaways and food products available to us at any time, what is perhaps inconcievable to us is that there is serious food shortages happening in the world RIGHT NOW. In Niger, soaring food prices due to poor harvests have led to half the population being left hungry. Here's a link to a channel 4 news report, very scary, very real.----- http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/west-africa-food-crisis2010.html

For a start, i don't like beans.

But this morning, after a night of dodgy halloween cocktails and drunken shennanigans, beans first thing for breakfast are just a bit wrong.I awoke, slightly blurry and grabbed my first can of beans for the week, feeling decidedly nauseous as i tipped the contents into a saucepan and lent against the kitchen worktop. Heinz baked beans with some hot toast, that would have been a different story.....but today i have already had two doses of plain beans, with no adonrments other than my hangover.

The rules of my challenge are pretty straight forward; half a cup of rice per day (a side for one of my meals), no condements allowed (so no salt, pepper, herbs) and no flavoured beans (heinz bakeed beans out of the question...im not getting away that lightly!). So it's just me and the beans this week.

I have just about prepared myself for the week ahead, my cupboards are stocked up with beans of every variety, kidney beans, green beans, pinto beans.... they're going to be my 'suprise' bean for the week as i have no idea what they are. I am sure they will taste the same as every other bean.

My housemate has also been joyously providing dietry information about the realm of beans at every waking moment, meticulously outlining the embarrising consequences of a bean diet, reporting lovingly the horrific effects they are going to be inducing on my body. I have knowlingly walked into this challenge at my own peril.

And so armed with canned supplies, extensive dietry research and determination, the beans have begun! Should be an interesting week.