Week-long Unrestricted Eating

It had been raining all week in Albany, casting a very gloomy mood.   It's not even winter yet and I feel I'm having a case of the winter blues:

Long bouts of sadness.

Unexplained fatigue from doing nothing.

Staying under the covers, refusing to get up.

Crying over the littlest of things.

Unusual surge in appetite.

And then I caved in.  Stuffed my face with carbs.  

This week I had:

Pizza.  Burgers.  Milkshake.  Pasta.  Fries.  Cake. Chips.  Bagels. Rice and more rice. 

I had a weeklong carb fest of unrestricted eating and boy did it feel good!!!  I badly needed these food. I had good excuse to do it, too.  My dad, brother and nephew's birthdays are all during the 2nd half of October, so I am celebrating remotely with them.  

And because we weren't counting carbs this week, Ben and I decided to eat out (something that's very hard to do on a low carb diet).  We tried this Afghan restaurant in Central Ave (Afghan Kabob Express) and it was delish!   The gyro over rice was sooo good!  I can't get over how buttery the rice was and I couldn't get enough of that white garlicky yogurt sauce and their green chutney.

Beef Gyro over Basmati Rice

What we liked the most was the appetizer called bolani.  It's a fried flat bread with potato and green onion filling.  What made it good is that it is starch (dough) filled with another starch (potato).  How can you go wrong with that?

Bolani

Food is amazing.  It does wonderful things to lift your spirits.   I am fighting the blues with carbs.  It's working, but I am afraid it is not sustainable solution.  The week is about to end and our unrestricted eating ends tomorrow, Sunday.  We go back to low carb  on Monday.   If come Monday, my melancholic self manifests itself, I will fight it.  Not with carbs but with endorphins.   I might need the elliptical machine and kettle bells again. I will not be depressed!  

The Albany

My 8 year old nephew Migo from the Philippines always refers to Albany as The Albany, never dropping the preposition "The" as if there were other Albanies to distinguish it from.  We never bothered to correct him.  It was too cute and it made Albany sound way cooler than it actually is.

 Migo in "The" Albany, Hudson River in the background

I have mixed feelings about Albany.  When people think New York, they think New York City.  Albany is so unlike New York City.  I always have to explain to friends back home that I am 3 hours away from Manhattan and you know how the landscape can change in between 150 miles.

Many times, I feel Albany is a sleepy town.  It is too quiet and I miss the hustle and bustle of a bigger city like Manila.  But then there are times I am thankful that the atmosphere is not harried nor frenetic. A picturesque Hudson river is nearby to soothe any frayed nerves.  Its skyline is there to remind that it is the state capital after all.  It's a very modest skyline, practically a dwarf by Makati's standards.   But I'm certainly glad traffic is not that bad, nothing compared to Makati's monstrous traffic.

Nephew Jacob fishing in the Hudson River

Albany's skyline I took while inside the car

Downtown Albany and a bad shot of The Egg

West Capitol Park

But Albany somehow makes me feel old.   Albany carries at least 400 years of history.  I guess I see it mostly in the architecture of its houses and buildings.   I did a quick internet search and found that over 45,000 houses here have been built in 1939 or earlier.  I can tell by the way the floor squeaks in our apartment that where Ben and I live is probably a lot older than me.  

Row Houses in Clinton Ave. Albany.  Photo grabbed from Google Maps

Median age in Albany is 38 compared to 23 in the Philippines.  I actually miss the youthful vibrancy of Metro Manila.  Albany's population density is 580 people per square mile, compared to a whopping 110,000 people per sq. mile in Manila.   I miss seeing kids in the streets.  I probably see more dogs that I see kids here.  I miss hearing neighbours talk about their domestic affairs like there was no one but them around.  I mostly just hear birds happily chirping, the occasional blaring siren from the Police Department nearby, and the roaring thunderous train intermittently passing by.  The church where I go to feels empty.   It's a big church and it's sad that less than a quarter of the seats is occupied during sunday mass.  

Light traffic along Central Avenue

Empty streets leading to our apartment

But then I see efficiency and a laid back atmosphere.   I marvel at how road signs are adequate and at how disciplined and less spirited drivers are here.   I see a lot of parks, common areas, rivers, lakes, bike and jogging trails that are so well preserved.    The air is so much cleaner.  I don't get as much allergies here as I do back home.  There is poverty in Albany, but not as dire nor destitute as that in my home country.   On sundays, we pass around streets where I see people sit on their front steps.  It reminds me so much of Sesame Street. I almost want to look for Big Bird or Elmo.

Left: Sesame Street, Right: Grand St. Albany.  Photos grabbed from On the Set of NY and Google Maps

That is how I describe my neck of the woods.  I guess I am just warming up to Albany.  Let's see how I feel about it when I experience its harsh winters.

My New Home

I have decided to go back to blogging.  I wanted to use my old blog (Drunk From Life's Lemonade), but alas, a new drink came out in the market called Life's Lemonade.  I have not tried their drink and do not wish to be associated with them.  I checked their website; it was up in 2010 whereas my blog site was up since 2009, so I predated them.  Nonetheless, I have decided that I will no longer post in my old blog site.   I have moved on.

It makes sense anyway to move on to a new blog.  I have a new home.  Heck, I have a new life.  I have been uprooted from my home (the Philippines) and transplanted here in Albany, NY.  (Voluntarily, that is).

So here's to my musings on what life has to offer a Filipina now based in Albany.  Not too much lemons, I hope.