Walking Away...

I have this cool app on my iPhone and iPad which connects you with webcams all over the world.  This is a live screen shot that I took from a South African national park.  The elephant is walking away from the watering hole and I am walking away from candy.  I haven't had any for four days (other than the odd Fisherman's Friend cough drop).  For me that is a long time.  I woke up today not wanting any which is a relief.  I went for my morning walk and purposely walked away from, rather than towards, the store where I know they have Hot Lips.  Last week I was thinking about cannoli which is an amazing Italian dessert.  I wanted some but couldn't find any.  I even bought myself a set of cannoli forms so I could make my own but I didn't. I am exercising some control.

I made a cake for my wee nephew's 4th birthday.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said he wanted coconut with squiggles - I think he meant corkscrew candles.  So I made a coconut cake: white cake and white coconut icing.  The only chocolate was the middle layer of icing. Everyone said it tasted great but there were plenty of overt complaints from my family about the lack of chocolate. While I love chocolate, I was quite happy with the cake and did not miss the feeling that I had to have a slice of that cake or I would perish. The kid that I made the cake for loved it and that is all that matters.

I went to see my Dr last week.  She gave me a prescription for diet and exercise and I have to go see her in a month a little bit healthier.  I can do that.

Hot Lips

I am defeated by this candy. They are called Hot Lips and made by a Canadian company. They are delicious.  Sweet, chewy and cinnamon-y. They are hard to find but I know which stores have them.  I try to avoid them.  Why can't I feel this way about cottage cheese and carrots?

I had started my post-thanksgiving detox but then had to go to the store for milk.  Unfortunately they also carried these little babies.  I'm going for a long walk today, so maybe it will all balance out.

Thanksgiving!

We had our family Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at my Dad's.  I'm in charge of the turkey and stuffing as my sisters are vegans.  I forgot to buy sausage for the stuffing (we use a recipe from the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook which practically every bride married in the 50's received) so my Dad gave me some from his freezer (aka the ice cave).  When I took it out of the wrapping, it did not smell funny but it looked a bit like it had been frozen and thawed and then frozen again.  Just a bit shrivelled.  So I cooked it with the celery and onion, mixed it with the proper spices and bread and stuffed it into a stuffing bag in the turkey.  I pulled it out when the turkey was cooked and tasted it.  It tasted a bit funny so I got my brother to taste it as well and he said it was off.  We threw it out.  My brother didn't swallow the bit he tasted but I did so I was worried about food poisoning the rest of the day.  I was ok.    I felt really bad about the stuffing as I'm usually smarter when it comes to food handling.  And stuffing is just about the favourite part of the meal in our family.  My brother used to take almost all of it when he was a kid until he was caught and had to give it back!  Now his son tries the same thing!   Anyway, the turkey was fine and we had enough other side dishes to keep us well fed.  

We had 6 pies!  My sister Lisa says there can never be too much pie but I really think there was too much yesterday.  3 pumpkin, one of which was vegan.  2 cherry and 1 apple. We only consumed 1 pumpkin, part of the vegan pumpkin, 1 slice of apple and 1 slice of cherry for 12 people.  So Dad will have lots of leftover pie which will suit him fine.

Lisa wants to have an all pie dinner one Sunday.  We would have a savoury pie and then a sweet pie for dessert.  We occasionally do theme dinners at Dad's to keep it interesting.  Like the all sandwich dinner  with whoopie pies for dessert or the "everything wrapped" dinner where everything had to be wrapped in something like a tortilla, lettuce or crepe.  Lisa also suggested an all "Loaf" dinner which could be very interesting.  

Once again, this was all about food and not necessarily the healthy kind.  6 pies is too much pie.  I told my Dad that I'm cutting down on the sweets I'm bringing to him for awhile.  He knows it's a good idea.  

I'm Walkin' Here!

These are my walking shoes.  I suppose they are actually running shoes but I use them for walking.  I was out of the habit for 2 and a half months but have started back again.  I usually hate it while I'm walking but feel so much better when I've done it.   I love these shoes, they are the most comfortable exercise shoes I've had in years.  On par with some black patent Nikes I had a few years ago and wore until they fell apart.  Alas, I could not find a replacement.  I found these, which are ASIC gel blur 33 (or something like that).  They are so comfortable and supportive (not to mention fun with the hot pink) that I bought two pairs so when these wear out, I have another set at the ready.    So...I went for a walk this morning.  My 3rd in the past 7 days.  It's a hard thing to get back to but I feel hopeful this morning that I can keep it up.  I am a champion procrastinator and I will let the slightest thing deter me from walks (or eating right).  This morning I was waiting for my sister to come over to pick up a cake I made for her (more on that later) before going on my walk.  I waited outside ready to go so I could get going as soon as she left.   It's also good for her to see me ready to walk as it inspires her to do the same.  

My legs felt heavy and I felt what I call splodgy.  This is how I feel when I've had too many bad carbs the day before.  Its almost like a hangover.  I had pasta at Dad's for lunch which was not a bad carb.  I followed that with Chinese takeout for dinner with my husband.  That did contain bad carbs and lots and lots of salt.  I drank my kombucha tea and some water pre and after the walk.  The distance today was only 2.2 km.  Better than nothing.  I have a new app for making called "Map my Walk."  It's pretty good as it shows you your route through GPS.  I find this one easier to use the the one I paid for called Walk Tracker.

This is a cake I made for my sister and her colleagues.  They needed a vegan gluten-free cake that they all could enjoy.  This is only my third gluten free experiment so I hope they like it.  I find the texture of gluten-free to be a bit strange, but the taste is ok.  Besides I covered it with my Mom's kick-ass chocolate icing which would pretty much make anything taste amazing.  If they like the cake, I'll be making cupcakes later in the week for the same group.  

Happy Birthday Rocky!

My little brother turned 50 this weekend.  In honour of this, I made him a doll in his likeness (at least in my mind's eye!).  Just so you know, my brother has very little hair so Li'l Rocky is wearing a hat.  Here is the doll sans hat.  

I also made him a cake that is supposed to look like a hockey sweater because he is a bit of a hockey fanatic. I think you can get the general idea.  It is covered in fondant and was my first attempt at using this stuff.   It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be although rolling it out was a workout.  My brother has what he calls a "tradition" of swiping his finger through his birthday cake icing (I call it a "pain in the ass") and eating it.  This cake will have him foxed as the icing is hidden behind a fortress of fondant!  We are also celebrating my nephew Matt's birthday so I had to make a pile of cupcakes.  No doubt my brother will be able to mess up the icing on those.  

This blog is about my diet struggles and you can see why I have trouble when I am the chief cake maker in our family.   Every once in a while we try substituting a healthier dessert for Sunday dinner (we are still reeling from a crust-less pumpkin pie a few years back!) but the baked goods make my Dad happy and he is often looking for them as soon as I'm through the door.  I often bake him a little something to tide him over until dessert occurs!  I think his love of sweets goes back to when he was a boy.  His family did not have extras as they struggled financially. My Dad was one of the main bread winners from the age of 12.  He tells a story of the first time he had pie that is poignant.  He and his Mum were visiting a friend who was better off and he was offered a slice of banana cream pie.  His Mum told her, "He won't like it." (a bit bossy was my Nona!) My Dad said he wanted to try it and did and he was hooked.  Dad says his Mum didn't want him to have it because she knew he would want it again and they couldn't afford pie.  She was right.  

Macaroni!

Yesterday we had pasta for lunch at my Dad's.  I am impressed with how consistently amazing our family sauce is.  It was particularly good today.  Even the vegan version he makes for a 1/3 of the family is really good.  Not bad for an 86 year old!  I always feel like I have been drugged after I eat it as it makes me so calm and content.  I have no trouble with my sleep after eating it.   However, pasta is one of the things that I can't eat with regularity.  

I have basil growing in my garden.  This year I planted it right by my house entrance, so it is easily accessible.  This leads to the making of pesto and the eating of same over pasta.  I lamented last week that I had more pesto but no pasta for it when a friend said I should make it from scratch.  I did and after a lot of hard work, I had some irregularly shaped linguine that in texture and taste was very good.  An excellent delivery system for the pesto.  Dad recalled that my Mum (who is with the angels) had had a pasta maker and we looked for it yesterday.  We found it and he gave it to me, although I forgot to bring it home!  Probably just as well.

I'm trying a protein dominant diet for a few days, with veg, fruit and whole grains thrown in.  And walking.  And no pasta...

My Other Hobby...Writing

I have been writing long stories since I was about 11.  The first ones were rather progressive romances for an 11 year old as they included 2 very cute cowboys along with the heroine!  These were only shared with my best friend who wrote similar stories.  Her writing was always and continues to be much, much better than mine.  

Over the years I have started and abandoned many romance writing projects.  I have at least  5 different projects in various stages of completion.  I know the first time I tried to write a romance (other than my adolescent efforts), I thought it would be easy and quick.  I was wrong.  It is difficult if you are not a natural storyteller and I don't think I am.  I have a great imagination, just no follow-through.

My sister and I took a romance writing course last year.  We both did very well although the instructor had some odd ideas about our efforts.  I tend to write sweeter romances and I think she was pushing her students toward the racy stuff.

I've hauled out one of my favourites which is also the farthest along and I have been working on it.  And again, it is a tough slog.

I admire storytellers.  They are a special breed much like artists.  They have an ability to see the big picture and spin a good yarn.  When I read a good book, I am taken with how effortlessly it flows and how events are intertwined.  I don't know if I can do that but I have some time on my hands so I'm going to try.