The Apocalypse, Santa Clause and Sweet Victory!

Monday - "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" - a food apocalypse is occurring in the McKenzie household in our stance on the Fat War.  Just this morning Officer Jacob came to Health's defence when his sister Kristen was whinging about the lack of snacks to pack in her lunch today.  She apparently failed to read the memo from the Mess Hall that that Mom has done a kitchen intelligence recon!  "There's nothing to eat anymore!"  Well, Corporal Kristen, our intelligence operatives have been forced to redefine the parameters of what a snack entails.  From henceforth we will be annihilating the enemy known as Trans Fat.  Officer Jacob stated, "We are on a diet!  Trans fats can kill you!".  Officer Jacob was henceforth awarded Mom's Heart for his bravery during battle.

I went to Curves after helping out in Kristen's class - determined to reach my next Colin Firth Diet Club goal, "The Importance of Being Earnest" for losing 10 lbs!  Come hell or high water, that DVD would be mine by the end of the week!  Carla picked me up from Curves and we joined Steve at that wonderful restaurant in Oakville called Stoney's (remember Melissa took me there for lunch on my birthday!).  I ordered the same thing I did before - the scrumptious butternut squash and pear soup, and the spinach salad adorned with pear, apricot, candied pecans, berries and more!  Of course, since I started another 3 days of wheat-free eating I passed off the bread that came with it to Steve.  Afterwards, Carla delivered me back to my car and I headed to the grocery store.  I was making a new recipe for dinner from the DASH Diet book I read recently, Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry.  Discovering new recipes that turn out well are like receiving a gift!  The bright colours of the veggies are beautiful!  Everyone enjoyed it.  I didn't even make rice or pasta to go with it.

While at the grocery store I came upon something I had never seen nor heard of before, and in keeping with the holiday spirit this season, I decided to purchase a Santa Claus melon!  Santa Claus melon?   Yes, apparently there is such a thing, imported from Brazil!

The kids were enthralled with it, and we were all guessing at what it would look like inside.  Some thought it would be red, others green.  After dinner, Jake had soccer practice and I decided to get a start on some Christmas shopping - promising that we would cut into the melon upon our return for dessert.  The anticipation was almost overwhelming as all three kids bent over the counter to discover the mystery inside the melon!

Turns out we were all wrong about the colour - it was whitish - and the seeded centre kind of resembles that of a uterus don't you think?  Very tasty indeed though, and rather sweet.  I prefer it to cantaloupe and honey dew melon.  I also caught Kristen sneaking back several times to cut herself more pieces of it!
On Wednesday afternoon I went to my Book Club at Jen's house and she commented on the fact that my clothes were falling off!  Normally one would be embarrassed if their pants fell down, but for me it's justification for a happy dance!  OK, so my pants didn't literally fall down, but they certainly are sagging to the point where I've begun thinking of investing in a good belt!  That, or become acquainted with a good seamstress!  Later that evening I dropped Kristen off at her Irish dance class and went to another grocery store to look for ingredients for Roasted Pork Loin with Prune and Apple.

This recipe was taken from "Low-Salt DASH Dinners" by Sandra Nowlan - a book I borrowed from the local library.  I've never bought a pork loin (deboned & tied) before and I wasn't sure I was getting the right thing.  The store was very busy and the queue for checkout was proceeding slowly.  I was behind a man who was shopping with his two young daughters.  He was purchasing a persimmon.  The cashier didn't know what it was so she had to yell behind her to the customer service desk for assistance.  Turns out the man didn't really know what a persimmon was either (nor did I for that matter), but he and his daughters were eager to give it a try.   Good for them!  I was so proud of them for trying something new, a new food item, and I don't even know them!  So I'm smiling away as the cashier begins scanning my items when she points to my three Granny Smith apples and asks me, "These are apples right?" - are you kidding me?  You don't recognize an APPLE staring you in the face?   Maybe it's just me, but if you live in Canada and have to question an apple, perhaps this is not the job for you.  Just sayin'.   So I then headed home to make some cashew crusted tilapia and salad for dinner and to relay this story to the rest of the family.

Thursday morning I traipsed back to Curves for the 4th time this week, and I'm proud to announce, that after a week of yo-yoing between 145 and 146 lbs, I have earned my next movie with a record weight of 144.75 lbs!!  You'll remember that I hit the 145 mark last Wednesday, but I had to get there twice 'just incases' of fluctuation.  That second 5 lbs was definitely harder to lose than the first.  But, I continue to persevere!  Last night I had a Christmas party to attend at Breast Cancer Support Services.  I forgot that a large variety of food is served at this event.  Once the kids got home from school I got to work on my pizza dough and had mine before I left - which worked wonders when I arrived at the party because I didn't eat a single morsel there!  OK, so I made candy cane cupcakes to take with me and indulged in 3 mini cupcakes (about the equivalent of one regular cupcake) before I left, but I had to make sure they were up to par!  So this also marks another breakthrough for me - making healthy food and eating it before attending an event where less healthy options prevail.  I simply enjoyed sipping my punch and chatting with Blair and everyone else.  When John got home from volleyball we decided to watch "The Importance of Being Earnest" together, but it was getting late, and I'm sorry Colin, but I wasn't able to keep my eyes open to finish the movie.  Rest assured, you were on my mind as I drifted off to the land of Nod.  Perhaps, it was just awkward having John present for our little rendezvous in front of the telly.  I quite enjoy it when it's just you and I in the room!  We'll take up where we left off...maybe tomorrow....goodnight Earnest, or should I say Jack?