Welcome to `Eating Like its 999'
This blog kept track of my, Chuck Ehlschlaeger, 2010 New Year's Resolution to "eat like an Anglo-Saxon layman living near York a little before 1000 AD." I'm doing this again for 2015. See 2015betterThan2011 for details.
My goals were:
Maintain "the spirit" of fast and abstinence days. With the exception of the first couple of Fridays, fast and abstinence days were done "to the letter." I was accounting for modern American festivals: in order to keep nice with relatives. For example, Thanksgiving was a festival day as well as any other fast days visiting relatives. Even when visiting relatives, I attempted to maintain a fasting diet except for group meals. Fast and abstinence days to observe:
- Fridays except for feast days
- Lent: 2/17/2010-4/4/2010 excluding Sundays
- Ember Days: Wed, Fri, & Sat following
- Beginning of March
- 10th day after Ascension Thursday
- 9/14
- 12/13
- Rogation Day: 4/25 and three days preceding Ascension Day (Ascension Day is 40 days after Easter).
- Vigil Days: The day before the following feast days: 8/15, 11/1, 12/8, & 12/25.
- Advent: Fasting starting 11/12-12/21 excluding Sundays
On fast days, I only had one meal in the day, after sunset. For the rest of the day, a "half loaf" of bread is allowed along with liquids. One source I've read indicates that a slave would get a daily ration of 3.5 cups of flour turned into bread. I'm assuming that "half a loaf" would be half that based on the notion a loaf would be baked for each person. On abstinence days, ate no animal meat (fish and other animals living underwater OK), dairy, oil, and wine. For a specific month, use menus and recipes that best fits the diet of a layman of the period. I did eat a multi-vitamin and a calcium supplement everyday. Also, exceptions were made for traveling. (Even within Catholic countries, rules and exceptions were the domain of the bishops. Ergo, different places might have different rules.) When I was on the road or at a business function, ate the closest thing I can find to a York 999 A.D. meal.
Resources
This page contains links to all period recipes and menus I've used for my 2011 eating as an Anglo-Saxon. I've quit modifying the recipes on this website and have started several books.
2011 Reverse Calendar of my eating
- Sunday December 28: Holy Innocents martyrs Feast Day?
- Monday December 27: St John the Apostle and evangelist Feast Day?
- Sunday December 26: St Stephen the first martyr Feast Day?
- Saturday December 25: feast day
- Friday December 24: fast day.
- Wednesday December 22: Survived Advent: weighted 154.0, losing 4.8 pounds. To be honest, ate a few Christmas cookies when I should have been eating bread instead. But, they were eaten after dark so they could have been considered part of dinner. Time to slaughter all the livestock we don't have enough grain to feed over the winter. We'll be eating well for the next couple of weeks.
- Sunday December 19: Since I made 12/18 a feast day, today was a fast day. However, lunch was at my Aunt Joan's house and she served pizza. Evil dairy cheese and pork... Had to eat to be polite... Excuse: travel exception.
- Saturday December 18: Celebrating Christmas with my family up in Chicago. Ergo, feast day: Traditional homemade sausage, yeast dumplings, sour kraut, and all the trimmings.
- Tuesday November 30: St Andrew the Apostle Feast Day?
- Monday November 29: fast day due to 11/30 feast day?
- Friday Novemeber 12: fast day due to Friday: weighted 158.8 so gained 8.3 pounds since Lent ended. Much of that in the late summer and fall as I was bulking up for armored SCA combat.
- Thursday November 11: Last normal day for a long time, ate everything in sight.
- Thursday October 28: Saints Simon and Jude apostles Feast Day?
- Wednesday October 27: fast day due to 10/28 feast day?
- Monday October 18: St Luke the Evangelist Feast Day?
- Sunday October 17: fast day due to 10/18 feast day?
- Wednesday September 29: Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels Feast Day?
- Tuesday September 28: fast day due to 9/29 feast day?
- Tuesday September 21: St Matthew the Evangelist, Apostle, Evangelist Feast Day?
- Monday September 20: fast day due to 9/21 feast day?
- Tuesday September 14: Triumph of the Holy Cross Feast Day?
- Monday September 13: Fast day due to 9/14 feast day?
- Wednesday September 8: Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast Day?
- Tuesday September 7: Fast day due to 9/8 feast day?
- Saturday August 28: SCA Feast of Saint Joseph of Arimathea: With the help of good friends, especially Dianne, our local SCA group allowed me to design and present a 10th Century Anglo-Saxon Feast. Menu here.
- Tuesday August 24: St Bartholomew the Apostle Feast Day?
- Monday August 23: Fast Day due to 8/24 feast day?
- Tuesday August 10: St Lawrence deacon & martyr Feast Day?
- Monday August 9: Fast Day due to 8/10 feast day?
- Friday August 6: Transfiguration of the Lord Feast Day?
- Thursday August 5: Fast Day due to 8/6 feast day?
- Sunday July 25: St James the Apostle Feast Day?
- Saturday July 24: Fast Day due to 7/25 feast day?
- Saturday July 3: St Thomas the Apostle Feast Day? Whoo hoo, free feast day (Friday is day before so fast would occur anyway.)
- Monday May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast Day?
- Sunday May 30: Fast Day due to 5/31 feast day
- Saturday May 22: First Saturday after Ascension Thursday, Ember Days Fast Day.
- Friday May 21: First Friday after Ascension Thursday, Ember Days Fast Day.
- Wednesday May 19: First Wednesday after Ascension Thursday, Ember Days Fast Day.
- Friday May 14: St Matthias the Apostle Feast Day: Didn't know of feast day so treated day as fast day.
- Thursday May 13: Ascension Thursday Fast Day due to 5/14 feast day.
- Wednesday May 12: Rogation Day Fast Day.
- Tuesday May 11: Rogation Day Fast Day.
- Monday May 3: St Philip and James, Apostles Feast Day.
- Sunday May 2: Fast Day due to 4/3 feast day: moved to later in the week due to family plans.
- Sunday April 25: St Mark the Evangelist Feast Day
- Saturday April 24: Fast Day due to 4/25 Feast Day.
- Fridays April 9, 16, 23: Fast and Abstinence Days: Since Lent and my strictly eating A-S for a month, I've given Dianne a break from worrying whether my food is period or not. I've still been fasting on Fridays.
- Monday April 5: Back to A-S eating. Breakfast was oatmeal with apples and cinnamon with water. Lunch was oatmeal with apples and cinnamon with apple juice. (I wanted milk but the #@%$ vending machine at work wouldn't work properly.) Dinner was ham leftovers with ham bone and vegie soup. (Some of the vegies are not A-S but Dianne likes that recipe and it is becoming a traditional Easter leftovers soup.) My next goal with this diet is to master pastry dough 'cause many of the recipes in `Libellus De Arte Coquinaria' require a pastry dough. My plan is come up with a wheat dough with a smidge of rye, flax, and barley flour in order the replicate what wheat flour would have been like accounting for the contamination common in the period.
- Sunday April 4: Easter Feast Day. LENT IS OVER!!!!!! Bacon, bread with butter or apple jelly, and water. Weighted in at 150.1 pounds, losing eight pounds throughout Lent (and 15.5 pounds for the entire year). Lunch/dinner will be ham with a pineapple sauce, salad, rye bread, champagne, and pineapple upside-down cake. Since the Easter bunny got me chocolate, I won't be eating much like an A-S today.
- Tuesday March 23: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was almond milk. Had a business lunch provided by the conference with no choice of food: that was my one meal of the day. Drank beer in the evening.
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Monday March 22: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was almond milk. Apple juice throughout the day with two rolls at lunchtime.
- Sunday March 21: Feast Day. I drove from Montgomery AL to Charleston SC today. Breakfast was biscuits and gravy with milk. Lunch was grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, on a roll at Wendy's. Dinner was beer, almonds, and salad with honey mustard dressing.
- Saturday March 20: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day.Apple juice throughout the day. Several whole wheat rolls in the day. Dinner was three McD's fish sandwiches w/out cheese. Drank beer in the evening.
- Friday March 19: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Apple juice throughout the day. Several whole wheat rolls in the day. Dinner was a crab cake, and fried fish at Captain D’s. Drank beer in the evening.
- Thursday March 18: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Apple juice throughout the day. Several whole wheat rolls in the day. Dinner was oatmeal with apple chunks and cinnamon. Drank beer in the evening.
- Wednesday March 17: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day.Breakfast was apple juice. Was in New Orleans throughout the day. Being with friends, I pushed the evening meal to lunchtime and ate at a nice place: I ordered the seafood appetizer. That had fresh oysters on the half shell, cooked mussels, crab legs marinaded in a spicy vinegar liquid, the remaining crab, and boiled crayfish. At the Cafe du Monte, I broke down and ordered their deep fried dough sprinkled with sugar. (A similar recipe exists in The Menagier de Paris and other cookbooks.)
- Tuesday March 16: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day.Drank prune juice and almond milk throughout the day. Had several rolls for lunch. Oatmeal with apples chunks and cinnamon. Drank beer in the evening.
- Monday March 15: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Drank prune juice and almond milk throughout the day. Had several rolls for lunch. Oatmeal with apples chunks and cinnamon. Drank beer and spiced mead in the evening.
- Sunday March 14: Feast Day. Had milk, pork patties, and a cheese omelet for breakfast. Drove down to Gulf Wars throughout the day. Had `chicken selects’ with mustard sauce and milk for lunch. Ate oatmeal with apple chunks and cinnamon for dinner.
- Saturday March 13: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Drank prune juice and water throughout the day. Ate several slices of bread for `lunch’. Dinner was at Co-Fusion in Champaign. Nearly ordered the eel but ended up having XXX and beer.
- Friday March 12: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Don’t remember what I ate this day. Kept to diet.
- Thursday March 11: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Don’t remember what I ate this day. Kept to diet.
- Wednesday March 10: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Based on the morning's weighting, lost 3.5 pounds in 12 days: a good rate. I'm 11 pounds away from a BMI of 22, which I'm told is `optimal.' Prune juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread and apple juice throughout the day. Dinner was lentil soup, wheat beer, and dried cherries in honey spread on bread.
- Tuesday March 9: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Prune juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread and apple juice throughout the day. I was on the road for dinner: Ate fried fish on a bun (MacDonald's fish sandwiches hold the cheese) and water.
- Monday March 8: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Apple juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread and apple juice throughout the day. Roasted almonds, water, oatmeal mixed with dried cherries in honey and almond slivers for dinner.
- Sunday March 7: A feast day! Had bacon and fresh pressed apple juice for breakfast. Had bread, ham, cheese, and apple juice for lunch. Dinner was chicken pasty, carrots, and white wine.
- Wednesday March 3, Friday March 5, and Saturday March 6 Ember Fast Days (in addition to Lent)
- Saturday March 6: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Fresh pressed apple juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread, and apple juice throughout the day. I was up in Chicagoland visiting my brothers. Due to schedule, dinner was before dark. The restaurant's offerings had me eat deep fried fish, shredded cabbage, and bass beer. While visiting my other brother, had apple juice and bread.
- Friday March 5: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Apple juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread, apple juice, and almond milk throughout the day. Dinner was smoked perch, hard apple cider, and lentil soup.
- Thursday March 4: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Almond milk and apple juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread, apple juice, and almond milk throughout the day. Dinner was smoked perch, hard apple cider, and cabbage soup.
- Wednesday March 3: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Almond milk and apple juice for breakfast. Three slices of bread and almond milk throughout the day. Water, and oatmeal with slivered almonds and dried cherries in honey mixed in.
- Tuesday March 2: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Almond milk for breakfast. Three slices of bread and almond milk throughout the day. Beer, dried cherries, and oatmeal for dinner.
- Monday March 1: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Almond milk for breakfast. Three slices of bread and apple juice throughout the day. Beer, dried cherries, and almonds with bread for dinner.
- Sunday February 28: A feast day, YEA! Weighted myself in the morning gaining 0.4 pounds! Hopefully, I can maintain a more healthy weight loss during the Lent fast. Breakfast was pork sausage and eggs over easy. Lunch was smoked salmon pate on bread. Dinner appetizer was jumbo freshwater shrimp and wine. Dinner was pork baked in sourkraut and apple with white wine. Had a couple of cookies that may have period based on synthesizing recipes of the era. (I'm just going to believe that Anglo-Saxons would have been smart enough to put strawberry preserves on pastry crust.)
- Saturday February 27: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Weighted in at 155.2 pounds. Breakfast was a cup of almond milk and a cup of apple juice. Had lunch at Monical's Pizza with the kids. They had pizza, I had bread sticks and water. Ate plenty of bread throughout day to reduce weight loss. Also had several glasses of apple juice as well as a glass of almond milk. Dinner was oatmeal with raisins, lentil soup, bread with grape jam, and beer.
- Friday February 26: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Weighted in at 155.6 pounds. I've lost 10.2 pounds since the beginning of this experiment. Overall, losing a pound every six days on average is about half the maximum safe weight loss. However, I've lost a lot of that during the fast at a rate that is on the unhealthy side of optimal. On days before the fast, I lost 0.13 pounds per day on average. Since the fast began, I've been losing 0.55 pounds per day. That's nearly twice the safe loss. I plan to drink much more almond milk to increase fat intake. By the time dinner comes around, my stomach gets full to quickly to make up all the lost calories. I probably should eat more nuts at dinnertime to increase the fat content. Breakfast was a cup of almond milk and a cup of apple juice. Throughout the day, ate four pieces of bread, apple juice, and water. Dinner was at the Wurm Wald Cook's Guild with a Lent theme. I drank a beer and ate smoked salmon, mushroom pastry, baked beets, and sauteed apple onion mix. That evening, make salmon pate with the leftover smoked salmon. Since my recipe calls for apple cider, I drank the 12 oz of cider minus the tbsp put into the pate.
- Thursday February 25: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was a cup of almond milk and a cup of apple juice. Throughout the day, ate three slices of bread and apple juice. While at an important business meeting lasting three hours, one of the participants offered everyone salted roasted almonds. I had a few to be polite using the argument that I should break the fast for work related purposes. Dinner was smoked salmon and lentil soup.
- Wednesday February 24: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Starting my second attempt to eat an entire month like an Anglo-Saxon. Breakfast was 8 oz of apple juice. Lots of water, lots of apple juice, and three slices of bread kept me sane throughout the day. Dinner was cabbage and veggie soup and smoked salmon. Why didn't I discover stove top smoking earlier? The salmon was only $7/pound fresh from the butcher shop, much cheaper than the store bought smoked salmon.
- Tuesday February 23: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was 4 oz of almond milk and 5 oz of apple juice. Had three slices of bread throughout day. Dinner was bread and squash soup (leftovers from the freezer). Too bad squash is new world. I'm having to reset the clock for `strictly eating for a straight month like an A-S'.
- Monday February 22: Chair of Saint Peter Feast Day. FINALLY! After five straight fast days, I can eat normally for a day. Of course, after next week, I'll have to fast six straight days at a time, but two five day sets will `warm me up.' I was worried I'd lose too much weight, but only lost two pounds since this five day fast started. I'm sure I'll gain most of that back by the time I finish eating today. Breakfast was pork sausage and kaliis with raisins and cinnamon added. I was also liberal with the milk and added the egg whites to this kaliis so it was more like an omelet and less like scrambled toast. Lunch was bread and apple juice. Dinner was oatmeal with raisins.
- Sunday February 21: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day due to 2/22 feast day (I think but am not sure). Breakfast was 4 oz of almond milk and 6 oz of apple juice. Ate `half a loaf' of Anglo-Saxon rye bread, a beer, water, and apple juice throughout day. Dinner was Lentil Soup, water, and Anglo-Saxon rye bread. The two soups Dianne made the past couple of days both contained food combinations written in leechdoms to have healing properties. Considering how hungry I've been feeling the past seven days, foods with healing properties would have been on my mind. We now have 12 servings of both soups in the freezer for quick and dirty fast dinners!
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Saturday February 20: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was 4 oz of almond milk and 6 oz of apple juice. When to Baile na Scolairi's A&S event drinking unfiltered homemade apple juice, water and half a loaf of Anglo-Saxon rye bread. Dinner was oatmeal with apple chucks and cinnamon.
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Friday February 19: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Breakfast was 4 oz of almond milk and 6 oz of apple juice. Had four slices of bread throughout day. Dinner was wheat beer, crab dipped in vinegar-ginger sauce, and cabbage soup. I'm beginning to worry about low calorie intake: Will begin eating more bread each day. Baked Anglo-Saxon rye bread and had a nibble of it in the evening along with some grape jam.
- Thursday February 18: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. Weighted in at 160.1 pounds. Breakfast was 6 oz of apple juice. I ate three slices of bread throughout the day drinking water. At 5pm had another 6 oz of apple juice. For dinner, ate abstinence kaliis with half an apple mixed in, half an apple, and drank water. For an evening snack: a bottle of wheat beer. I chose to not include any spices with the abstinence kaliis in order to eat frugally.
- Wednesday February 17: Lent Fast and Abstinence Day. I've started my first attempt to eat an `entire month' like an Anglo-Saxon. (Since I'm fasting for Lent anyway, I thought it would be easier to kill two birds with one stone.) In the morning, I had six ounces of apple juice. Throughout the day, I drank water and ate three slices of wheat bread. For dinner, I ate boiled carrots, a slice of wheat bread, 10 oz. of apple cider (5% alc content), and crab dipped in vinegar-ginger sauce. Wanted to start Lent with a nice dish, but I plan on having a few `oatmeal dinners' before Lent is through. (Dianne had a frozen dinner tonight so you don't have to worry about her suffering on my crazy plan.)
- Tuesday February 16: Fat Tuesday! Probably not called that in 10th Century York. But tomorrow, I begin fasting for Lent. (Now, I break out smiling how a Catholic turned Unitarian could write such a thing. Will I be smiling at the end of Lent?) For the record, one meal each day after sundown except for work purposes. Also, today was the first day my BMI was recorded below 25 in a long time! I weighted in at 158 pounds this morning.
- Sunday February 14: Happy V-Day! I've been on business trip from 2/8 to 2/13. Was sick as well for three of the days. Drank a lot of apple juice but ate with co-workers at places without A-S options. After reading more about A-S eating habits, I will try to bring my eating habits more in line with the daily routine. Thus, I will only have two meals in a day. Between meals, I would nibble on bread. On those few days where I would be physically laboring most of the day, I will also include a breakfast meal. For Lunch, ate `plain' kaliis and the unfiltered fresh juice from two apples. (Bought a juicer in order to get that unfiltered taste. Two apples makes about 5 oz of juice.)
- Friday February 12: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. Due to working lunch (business trip), had my one meal at lunchtime. Drank apple juice throughout day and had a beer in the evening. Was sick so drank tea as well.
- Friday February 5: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. Due to working lunch (business trip), had my one meal at lunchtime. Drank apple juice throughout day.
- Thursday February 4: Oatmeal and organic unfiltered apple juice for breakfast. That organic unfiltered apple juice is great stuff.
- Wednesday February 3: Mostly through with this business trip. Ate at a Denny's, which has a new "griddle cakes" breakfast entree. Basically, they were pancakes with added oatmeal and blueberries. Denny's also covered the top with more blueberries, granola, and a dab of whipped cream. Of course, the blueberries were western hemisphere and I currently don't know if my period counterparts had access to Viccinium myrtillus, or whortle berry. But, if they did, they would have eaten them on griddle cakes! Someone needs to show me evidence that 10-11th Century Anglo-Saxons near York used baking powder as well ;). Since my hotel has frig and microwave, bought unfiltered organic apple juice and instant oatmeal (with apples and cinnamon) for dinner and some future meals. Lunch was `business social' so all rules went out the window.
- Tuesday February 2: Didn't know that 2/2 was the feast day (at least current feast day) for the Presentation of the Lord. Will need some way of checking out whether that feast day was observed in York 10th Century.
- Monday February 1: Didn't know whether 2/1 was a fast and abstinence day due to potential 2/2 feast day.
- Sunday January 31: Had a pork sausage patty and kaliis with cinnamon (no fruit) for breakfast.
- Saturday January 30: Weighed in at 159.4 pounds. BMI at 25.02: nearly `normal.' I purposely wore the same clothes 1/29 and 1/30 to ensure an exact comparison. I'm confident I lost 1.3 pounds on the fast day. Had two griddle cakes and cottage cheese for breakfast.
- Friday January 29: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. Weighed in at 160.7 pounds. Apple juice for breakfast, three small slices of pumpernickel bread and apple juice for lunch. Dinner was baked white fish covered in ginger, soy sauce (not period), and other spices; carrots, jam on bread, and orange tea. At two P.M., I was jonesing for dinner pretty badly. When summer comes around, it will be tough waiting until 8:00 P.M. to eat. Dianne cannot imagine how I'm going to survive Lent. We talked this evening about various strategies for getting more A-S dinners.
- Thursday January 28: Kurt Willer sent me an article about period bread and info on sources. As I've gotten my breakfast plans set up, it is now time to deal with lunch and dinner. Bread will be a major part of the planning.
- Wednesday January 27: Made griddle cakes for an evening snack. Still need to adjust proportions of various ingredients. Used white flour but should get a recipe that works well with whole wheat flour. Froze eight cakes for future breakfasts.
- Monday January 25: Didn't know that 1/25 was the feast day (at least current feast day) for the Conversion of Saint Paul. Will need some way of checking out whether that feast day was observed in York 10th Century.
- Sunday January 24: Didn't know whether 1/24 was a fast and abstinence day due to potential 1/25 feast day.
- Sunday-Tuesday January 24-26: Experimented with oatmeal for breakfast.
- Saturday January 23: Had oatmeal with raisins for breakfast.
- Friday January 22: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. Still on business trip. Because of rush to airport, first drink was orange juice on plane. I always knee-jerk OJ on planes, but should have seen whether apple juice was on the cart. Did keep to drinks and half loaf for rest of daylight. Poached salmon with steamed broccoli and wheat beer for dinner.
- Thursday January 21: Still on business trip, ate healthy but too much food. Not A-S though.
- Wednesday January 20: Beginning of business trip, had Kaliis for breakfast and junk rest of day.
- Tuesday January 19: Had oatmeal for breakfast.
- Monday January 18: Had Kaliis for breakfast.
- Monday January 18: Did 10th Century York observe St Peter's Chair at Rome feast day?
- Sunday January 17: Was this a fast day for 1/18 feast day?
- Sunday January 17: Had Kaliis for breakfast.
- Saturday January 16: Had Kaliis for brunch.
- Friday January 15: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. won't be eating animal meat, dairy, oil, and wine. Had apple juice, a multi-vitamin, and calcium pill for breakfast. Will bring more apple juice and two slices of bread to work with me.
- Thursday January 14: Used the last of the "adult cereal" for breakfast. When to opportunity presents itself, I will either have one of three breakfasts: oatmeal, griddle cakes (recipe from `Just for a Hlaf...'), or kaliis (recipe from `Libellus De Arte Coquinaria').
- Saturday January 9: Survived my first real fast day. Lost 2.2 pounds from the fast day, but most was probably water loss.
- Friday January 8: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. won't be eating animal meat, dairy, oil, and wine. (On the way home from work, must remember to buy beer.) Having salmon for dinner, which was available all year long according to "Eating for a Year.pdf". Did I mention that my persona is a lord: if I got enough money for armor and weapons, I'll have enough for fresh fish. Don't know if I'll try eel this year: maybe on a bet. Drank apple juice and water 'till about 5pm, then had two large slices of whole wheat bread. Dinner was poached salmon with green peas.
- Thursday January 7: My A-S diet will not begin in earnest until the adults in my household eat through the non-kid food that we've accumulated. No point wasting good food. If I keep up with the resolution, I will probably continue it into January 2011 so I can claim I did it for an entire year. Ergo, my diet of today was (adult) breakfast cereal w/ milk; whole wheat bread, cheese, & ham for lunch; hamburger on bun for dinner.
- Thursday January 7: A big THANK YOU to Folo who posted a table of the fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, game, fish, fungi, herbs, and nuts that would have been available to an 10-11th Century A-S.
- Monday January 4: Weighed in at 165.8 pounds. (At 5'7", my BMI is in the `overweight' zone.) First time to extensively look over Internet, Wikipedia, to determine which fast days will need to be accounted for: Lent, Advent, Fridays, Vigil Days, and others. Made a spreadsheet to keep track and posted fast days to my family's online calendar. Will avoid meat from animals, dairy, oil, and wine on fast days based on Wikipedia information. Ironically, beer and other fermented drinks OK, but wine bad. Am planning a more extensive literature review based on period sources soon.
- Friday January 1: Friday Fast and Abstinence Day. (Followed "in spirit" but not with proper knowledge.) I was on the road and didn't have any reference books to guide me. A brief search of the Internet didn't provide a definitive fast schedule. My protein was fish and didn't eat meat, but probably drank dairy and definitively ate foods that had dairy products in them. Also, the fish sandwich from McD's was deep fried: making me intake oil as well.