100 Days Culturally 'Pear'ed

Stuck in a weight loss rut, this week started off with another 3-day wheat-free stint!  After my shift at the school I drove to Curves and weighed in at 144.25 lbs.  Honestly, I feared it would be higher than that after my extra large piece of Katie's carrot cake the day before.  Nonetheless I continued with my workout in good grace and vowed to turn things around once more!  As per my usual schedule, I went to pick up my weeks' worth of groceries afterwards.  I bought some new items - a flat-leafed parsley plant to keep my basil company, basmati rice, turmeric, and a variety of pears.  Also on my list was Gorgonzola cheese which I discovered is a form of blue cheese (ewww!), so being that I am the 'Nutritional Gatekeeper' of the house, I made the executive decision to pass on that and alter the recipe omitting the Gorgonzola!  Trust me, my kids, and even my husband will thank me later!!!  The recipe I needed it for was for Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cranberries with Barley - and for the life of me I couldn't find the barley so I'll have to alter the recipe anyways and substitute....quinoa??  Moving back to the pears...I've had this idea for quite a few weeks that I wanted to try.  I was astonished at how many different varieties of pears the store stocked and wanted to perform a pear taste test, so I did it!  I bought one of each of the 12 varieties!  Of course when the kids arrived after school, there were questions about, "Why so many pears?" and probably a few, "Uh oh, here she goes again!  What are we in for now?"'s.  This is when I broke the news that tomorrow after school, we would be taste testing all of the pears and that would be their snack!  Kristen didn't want to wait a whole day and begged to eat one straight away.  Really?  This is kind of fun - my kids begging for fruit?  This power I'm beginning to hold over them elicits such joy in me!  I can't let them see that of course, else they'll begin a coup and what will happen then?

Just last week I mentioned that I needed to quit while I was ahead when testing my blood pressure.  Apparently I needed further reminders of this.  I tested it at the supermarket pharmacy and the first one was 139/81 (high normal range) and the next one was 144/85 (high range).  I stopped at that one!  Reading Colin Firth's biography I read that a woman aged 103 was taken to hospital with high blood pressure and was advised to stop watching episodes of his Pride & Prejudice BBC series!  Can you imagine?  I think it's wonderful that Colin's 'chiselled contours' can have such an effect on someone 103 years old!!!  And here I am using Colin as my muse to decrease mine!!!  That being said, I have yet to begin watching the series myself which I received for Christmas!  Perhaps I should have a medic alert attached to me on the off chance the same happens to me!  LOL?

When I arrived home for lunch, I cooked some brown rice shell pasta and added some of my pesto and the left over roasted tomatoes I had in the fridge!

Later I had to drive Kristen to gymnastics which reminded me of a story I forgot to mention last week.  I was driving her friend Seren to her skating lesson after gymnastics and the girls were discussing what foods they liked best.  Seren, who recently moved here from England started talking about the live lobsters at Longo's.  Well, as you can imagine, with her cute British accent, hearing her say 'lobster' reminded me of Love Actually when Daisy announces to her mother that she has the part of the lobster in the nativity play!  "The lobster?"..."In the nativity play?"  Can you tell that Love Actually is my favourite movie?  I won the screenplay on an eBay auction, and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival!!!

So...moving on - for dinner I decided to make something easy that I've been making for years!  Salsa chicken.  It's as simple as that.  I added some sesame oil to the frying pan and added cut up pieces of chicken breast, ground some fresh pepper on to it and cooked it through.  Then I added some salsa to it and voila - salsa chicken.  Serve it with rice and some fresh baby spinach and you have yourself a well balanced and healthy meal!

Afterwards, John and I were off to the Nelly Furtado concert - another Christmas gift!  I've mentioned before how this journey of mine isn't just about losing weight - rather a meshing of physical, mental and spiritual life changes and that my success was going to be dependent on the symbiosis of the three in order to make a lasting lifestyle change.  Well, after this week, I'd like to add a fourth element to the mix - that being 'cultural'!  Can I just say that Canada has talent!  We are so lucky to live in Burlington and have access to a plethora of cultural arts!  I was pleasantly surprised with the two opening acts - Jessica Tyler and Dylan Murray whom I hadn't heard before.  Both artists were friendly and very approachable.  They were so brilliant in fact, that I was worried that Nelly herself would be a let down in comparison.  She did not disappoint and provided a stellar performance!  John and I were both commenting on how lucky we were and promised to do more of this kind of thing in the future!

The next day, an author was visiting the kids' school.  Michael Wade - another great Canadian talent!  He is the author of the "And Then it Happened" series.  This prison guard turned author, had the kids in stitches with stories he told of his own personal exploits as a child and others he fictionalized for his books!  Jacob is the most difficult kid to get to read - and I knew Mr. Wade got to him as soon as he tricked Mr. Baswick to say 'fart'!  When he was done speaking, Jacob wanted to purchase his whole series!  And how could I not agree to that?  End result - one very happy kid with a stack of books of which he is keen to read!!  He finished Book 1 that night before he went to bed! (I am now currently reading it myself!)

When the kids came home from school that day, I had the pear taste test all set up!  I had washed them all and placed them on the kitchen table with labels.  I also made little sheets up where they could check which ones they liked and those they didn't.  Turned out to be a pretty fun little experiment!  We had Yellow Asian, Brown Asian, Bartlett, Decana Del Comizio, D'Anjou, Bosc, Ya, Abate Fetel, Fragrant, Red, Forelle and Taylor Gold.  I looked up on the Internet how many varieties of pears there were and was surprised to read there are over 5,000!  We all said 'Nah' to the 'Ya', and Kristen and I liked the Red pear best.  Matthew's friend James came over afterwards and we put him to the pear test too!  Then he called his mom and Carla and Amy came over - good thing too, because it was a lot of pear to bear!!!  Now Jacob is requesting we repeat the process with apples!!

Yesterday, after finishing my shift in the school library, I went to Curves and weighed in at 143.25 lbs.  I had to pick up a few groceries I forgot on Monday so I tested my blood pressure again and the results were 138/83, 138/85 and 130/83!!!  Driving home I saw a man crossing the street smoking a pipe.  I haven't seen someone smoking a pipe in years, maybe even a couple of decades.  It made me nostalgic, reminiscing about my Grandpa smoking his pipe and telling jokes!  The scene before me was perplexing.  Stereotypically, one would envisage a pipe smoker sitting in a well worn chair situated in the corner of a den, wearing a collared shirt covered with a warm cardigan, reading the newspaper, perhaps with some moldy oldy tunes playing in the background.   It struck me as funny to see a man outside, walking steadily across the intersection, pipe in mouth!  

For dinner I made a honey-lime tilapia from a recipe I found on Pinterest.com which I had to alter somewhat to make it wheat-free.  I coupled the tilapia with Coconut Rice taken from "The Cleaner Plate Club".  The coconut rice consisted of basmati rice, coconut milk, water, sugar and turmeric - which gave it the yellow colour.  Surprisingly the kids weren't turned off by the different colour and John thought it was rather tasty.  Another successful dish!

Today marked my 100th work-out at Curves!!! Remember earlier this month I was complaining that they took down the 'tree' from the wall?  I was disappointed because I was so close to moving up from a 'maple key' to a green 'maple leaf' and they took it all down.  Well, all was not lost since they ended up putting a smaller 'tree' on the bulletin board and are adding the 'leaves' for a month after people reach their next level!

  So I got my leaf after all!  And in the bottom you'll see my silver leaf for being the biggest loser for the month of December.  ...And that's not all!!!!  Today I weighed in at 142.25 lbs!!!  That's my lowest yet!!  I definitely see some Colin in the near future!!!!  Surely I can make that happen by Valentine's Day!!!  Also, I have a new goal - to reach my 200th work-out by the end of this calendar year!  Tonight after the kids are in bed I think I'll treat myself and begin watching Pride & Prejudice to check out those 'chiselled contours' myself!

Presto....Pesto!!!

I heard for the first time on Monday that the third Monday in January is known as the most depressing day of the year.  Makes sense in some aspects - the euphoric high of Christmas festivities followed by the exaltation's of ringing (or imbibing oneself) in the New Year have come to an abrupt end; those credit card bills with exorbitant charges have inevitably arrived in your mailbox by this point; and for those of us living in the Great White North of Canada, the temperature has dropped significantly bringing on frostbite and seclusion.  (Colin can resonate well with this, having lived so close to the Arctic Circle when he lived in Canada some years ago!)  Well, my credit card bill arrived earlier in the month and has already been paid, and although the thermometer keeps dipping further south of the freezing point, the sun has been shining and I plan to embrace the cold weather with the Three 'S' 's - sledding, skiing, and skating!

Following a trip to Curves on Monday, I went grocery shopping.  I ran into Amanda and we talked recipes, food labels and trying out the local ski slopes.  Dinner that evening was going to be Squaghetti - a recipe from "The Cleaner Plate Club".  The recipe is a spaghetti dish with zucchini, pesto and roasted tomatoes.  In essence I was making three different recipes - the spaghetti/zucchini, the basil pesto, and roasted tomatoes - all three from the book.  Before making my shopping list, I checked what I had on hand already.  I had a jar of basil pesto in the fridge but the ingredients listed hydrogenated soybean oil.  HYDROGENATED = TRANS FAT, so where I thought I could save time using up what I already had, I tossed that and made homemade basil pesto.  Amanda happened to have a jar of pesto in her cart so we checked the label and hers was good - no hydrogenated anything.  She uses pesto on salmon!  What a great idea!  So instead of my usual salmon topped with a dollop of marmalade and toasted sesame seeds, I planned to use what was left of my basil pesto to flavour my salmon this week!  It couldn't get more perfect!  Thanks for the idea Amanda!

So I had to purchase some new items again this week.  I couldn't find a bunch of fresh basil, so I ended up purchasing a whole plant...

...which is fine, because now I'll always have it on hand - and the fresher the better!  Right?  I think so!  I also needed to buy fresh marjoram and purchase fennel and shallots for another recipe.  I had trouble figuring out what fennel was to begin with, and upon initial inspection nearly picked up a bunch of arugula because the thing beside it looked so strange I wouldn't know what to do with it, or which part you are supposed to eat.  I have dried fennel in a glass spice jar that didn't resemble either of these offerings so I was flummoxed as to what to do here.  In the end, by process of elimination (and remembering that arugula is in the 'mixed green' salads I've purchased before) I picked up the funny looking thing, which indeed was fennel!  The shallots were much easier to distinguish!

You see, it does look pretty funny, doesn't it?  I picked the one with the most foliage sprouting from it, thinking that was the part I was supposed to use (it looked more like the dried stuff I had).  Google is a most wonderful tool, I must say!!  I left the fennel on the kitchen table as a conversation piece more than anything else!  The kids came home from school and their curiosity was certainly piqued!  We tried sticking the shallots into the celery-like tubes poking out and tried to figure out what to do with it.
Back to the squaghetti that I made for dinner on Monday night.  As I said, this was really a three recipe dish.  I had limited time to prepare everything so I started by making the roasted cherry tomatoes...

I just love the vibrant colours of fresh produce!  We've been missing out all these years buying packaged dinners!  And the smell radiating from the oven while these baked was heavenly!  As soon as Kristen walked in the door after school, she got super excited thinking she smelled garlic bread.  Two minutes later the same response was elicited from Matthew.  I had a very short lived moment of remorse for getting their hopes up, but how was I to know?  While the tomatoes were roasting I set to work on making the homemade pesto.  I never would have thought there were pine nuts in pesto, but alas, there is.   Since I don't own a food processor I had to make do with my handy dandy blender.  I picked the basil fresh from my new plant, added garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts... and presto!!  Fresh basil pesto!!

Now, for arguments sake I set about comparing this lovely vibrantly green and freshly made pesto to that 'blech' version residing in the refrigerator.  Have a look...

Do you remember those anti-drug commercials on TV where they show an egg and a voice said, "This is your brain", then crack the egg into a frying pan and state, "This is your brain on drugs"?  Well this is my version.  On the left you have basil pesto (the egg, if you will) and on the right you will find basil pesto on trans fat, essentially pesto on drugs!  Which one would you rather ingest?  I hope you chose the one of the left!!!

At this point I had to take a break to take Kristen and her friend Seren to gymnastics class.  I had to hurry back to finish making the dinner in time to get to BCSS to facilitate my support group for Friends & Family of Cancer Patients.  First order of business was to take the lemon zester to the zucchini which makes it look like spaghetti noodles!  Which needed to be blanched for a couple of minutes before adding the 'real' spaghetti noodles to the pot.

When the noodles were ready,  I mixed them with the pesto, zucchini and roasted tomatoes, then topped it all off with some grated Parmesan cheese.   Mmmm is all I can say!  Matthew enjoyed it.  Kristen ate it all but seemed indifferent and Jacob had to be coerced a little to finish it.  John's favourite part was the roasted tomatoes.  To be honest, I'm not sure this dish would have appealed to me 3-4 months ago, which just shows how far I've come.  This is one of my favourites!!!



On Tuesday evening I took the night off of cooking and went to dinner and a movie with Michelle.  We were hoping to go to an Italian restaurant but got caught in a bit of a snowstorm and driving conditions were terrible and we ran out of time.  We ended up eating at Williams Coffee Pub because it was close to the theatre.  I ordered a grilled chicken pesto sandwich with a berry pomegranate smoothie (my staple there)John made French toast for the kids for dinner which is fine, it's homemade and we only use pure maple syrup now.

Wednesday nights are typically fish nights at my house.  I had bought both salmon and tilapia this week but since I had left over homemade pesto I opted to go with the salmon and try out the tip I got from Amanda.  I also tried a new veggie dish - Red, Gold and Orange Salad - again from The Cleaner Plate Club.  Enter the fennel and shallots!  This dish has red beets, golden beets, fresh fennel bulb, shallots, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.  You are also meant to add mandarin or clementine orange sections, feta cheese and fresh mint - which I inadvertently forgot to add - oops!  Still tasted great though!!

Those thick white slices that kinda look like onions are the fennel which has a slight black licorice taste.  They shrunk a bit while in the oven.  No one else wanted pesto on their salmon so I only put it on mine and I can tell you that my taste buds were very happy campers that night!  Amanda, thank you for telling me about this wonderful combination!

Even better - there was enough of both to have left-overs for lunch the next day.  It was then that I realized I had eaten pesto 4 days in a row!  But, I'm certainly not complaining!

Oh!!!!  I forgot to mention that my Colin Firth 2013 desk calendar arrived this week!  A little extra motivation never hurt anyone right!!!  Now I have a constant reminder of my muse as I track my progress. 

I checked my blood pressure last Monday at Fortino's.  The results were 148/84, 129/85, 137/86 and 134/92.  I need to learn to quit while I'm ahead - the 129/85 was acceptable enough.  My last weight check was 143.5 lbs.  It was back up to 144 at the beginning of the week which I accrue to indulging in Carla's birthday cake and appetizers at her party.  I'm hoping that the reason I'm not losing as much now is because I'm developing more muscle mass - as I'm told that muscle weighs more than fat.  The important thing is that the weight is continuing to come down overall.

This weekend we went to Kingston to attend my niece's baptism.  Katie made a scrumptious carrot cake with the requisite cream cheese frosting which called to my weaknesses and I gave in.  So, to make up for it I plan to go wheat-free again for a few days this week.

Colin, I must leave you now to plan this weeks meals.  With  St. Valentine's Day less than 3 weeks away I will endeavour to shed more of me so that I can earn St. Trinian's as my next reward!  Perhaps John and I can plan on a romantic evening watching it together!

Then She Found Me...

Turns out I have seen "Then She Found Me".  Chances are that I borrowed from the library last time too - how could I forget?  Colin plays his traditional good guy who gets the girl in the end!  When Helen Hunt tells Colin, "I don't want to say goodnight", I was reminded of my first date with John.  I was planning on heading to the mall on a Friday afternoon to shop for something to wear to the wine & cheese taking place at his Fraternity house the following weekend - and he asked if he could come with me.  What guy does that?  Most guys would avoid shopping at all costs - but not John!  Maybe that's why I've kept him around all these years!! LOL.  Anyways, after I bought an outfit he drove back to my apartment building, then said, "I don't want to take you home yet!" - so we went out for dinner and the rest is history!

On Thursday morning I went out for coffee with Amanda and Gordana.  We had a lovely time and I'm looking forward to more of these get togethers in future.  Afterwards I headed off to Curves.  I was anxious to check my weight progress after my latest 3 day wheat-free stint.  Yeah!!  I am down to 143 lbs!  Three more pounds to go and St. Trinian's is mine!!  I've had the sequel forever it seems and I've been holding off to watch the first.  Off to my second bout of Booty Barre later that night and awoke next morning to stiff shoulders and neck as a result of upper body conditioning - ouch!!.  That being said, I am really enjoying this class.  As I faced myself in the mirror in front of the barre, I noticed my results for the first time since I began the Colin Firth Diet Club!  Based on fact, I knew I had lost about 12 lbs, but aside from my pants beginning to sag off my waist a little bit, I never registered that my actual body shape had been transforming.  Granted, I've still a ways to go, but this did much for my self confidence - to recognize that I am liking the new me, and most especially, the shrinking belly!  It's one thing to acknowledge the numbers on the scale, and yet another to appreciate yourself both inside and out.  This in itself is progress for me.  I am guilty of catching glimpses of my profile in the reflections of glass as I walk by buildings or shops at the mall, more often than not, dismayed by what I see - feeling rather negative about myself, leading to delving my woes into a doughnut or some such sinful indulgence.  But facing that full length mirror at Booty Barre was an epiphany of sorts that evening.  I'm beginning to like me again!

One thing that has piqued my curiosity lately is that I discovered trans fats are in many dairy products - namely cheese, and, as I discovered on Friday - chocolate milk.   My daughter has gotten into a bad habit of not drinking her (chocolate) milk at school and we find it in the fridge after she returns home from school.  I don't chastise her much about this, because, hey, if she's not going to drink it - I will!  So upon making my grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, I grabbed the small carton hidden behind something in the fridge - and because it's become second nature to me, I read the label.  It contained .1g of trans fats.  So this prompted me to check the label on the 1% milk bag which had zero trans fats.  Why is there trans fats in chocolate milk but not regular?  One of the differences in ingredients was carageenan so I googled it -seems to be ok, it's extracted from red seaweed or "Irish moss" (all good things come from Ireland!  ...or Colin Firth!).  I then typed 'why are there trans fats in chocolate milk?' - the results were found on www.dairygoodness.ca .  Apparently there are two kinds of trans fats - the kind that are produced industrially (these are the ones we need to avoid, like margarine) and the naturally occurring kind.  The naturally occurring kind comes from animals such as cow, sheep and goat and are not associated with heart disease.  Research indicates that a common natural trans fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) may even offer protection against cancers, namely breast cancer.  I also read that our own bodies produce CLA from vaccenic acid - so I guess the answer to the question posed two entries ago about whether or not people have trans fats is "Oh yes, they fucking do!"  (Sorry for the language - can't resist an attempt to quote Colin in a flick, in this case Bridget Jones' Diary!!)  And best of all, I no longer need to feel guilty about eating cheese!  Thank heavens for small miracles!!

This afternoon I finished reading "The Cleaner Plate Club".  I became rather overwhelmed when reading the section on meats.  There was so much information and things to be wary of when purchasing meat that I felt the only way to be sure I was eating meat that was safe was to revert back to the 'hunter/gatherer' mentality and forage for myself - but then what would I do with the carcass if I hazarded the resolve to do such a thing in the first place?  Beats me, and I reckon we're all better off without me going that route.  Of course I could become a vegetarian, or more radically a vegan - but that's not the answer either.

What I can take from this is to ...continue to read labels, and make wiser choices.  Overall, the best beef, chicken and eggs you can purchase and later consume come from the animals that are "pastured".  This means animals that have had access to pasture allowing them a more diverse diet and more room to roam and be active.  Animals that are able to 'chew the cud' and dine on grasses growing in a pasture provide more nutritive benefits for us in the meat, milk, and eggs.  The diet of chickens are meant to include grasses and even bugs (which provide protein), so when we are led to believe that poultry that was 'grain-fed' is good for us, it's not necessarily so.  I don't know where I'll find these elusive "pastured" meats, but I will keep my eyes open for them!

The most disturbing thing I read regarding meats referred to the use of carbon monoxide in meats.  The food industry really angers me, especially when I'm made to feel a pawn in their game.  And anyways, who are 'they'?  Who is the person who allowed our diets to become what they are with additives and chemicals of which we don't even know what they are, what they do, and most cases can't even pronounce the names of?  Did you know that the lovely red meat we see at the supermarket is not likely as fresh as we are made to believe, but has been blasted with carbon monoxide to retain colour, suppress bad odors - essentially disguise meat that may in fact have spoiled.  Mad cow?  Hmmph!  And food manufacturers, in order to save a buck, continue to feed bovines corn only.  In school we are taught about the 4 main food groups and that we need to eat a variety of foods from each of these food groups for optimal health.   The cows are being cheated, and thereby so are we!  Last time I was in the grocery store, I read labels on dog food.  I was curious to see if there were trans fats in dog food.  Apparently the same laws that govern labels on food for us humans don't cover those of animals.  In fact there were even more ingredients listed that I didn't know of - mostly chemical based.

Being diagnosed as prediabetic, I was urged to use artificial sweetener (Splenda) in lieu of regular sugar.    Bader & Benjamin write, "Not only are most artificial sweeteners made from chemicals by people wearing safety goggles and long white lab coats, they also don't seem to offer any kind of long-term benefit."  Now, sometimes I do try to justify my decisions by reasoning that I am not full blown diabetic - just prediabetic, so I continue to bake with regular sugar.  However, for years now (since I was border-line gestational diabetic when pregnant with my third child), I do use Splenda in my morning coffee.  After reading what I just quoted from the book, I'll think twice as I open the little yellow sachet!  Once I've finished with what I have on hand, I think I'll try switching to other natural sweeteners like honey, agave nectar or stevia.

Tonight, after my soccer game I made fajitas for the first time!  Last week I made the Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry and the (very lovely lean, red & apparently carbon monoxide doused) piece of sirloin beef I bought was more than I needed.  So instead of just adding it all to the stir fry, I measured out the 1 lb I needed for the recipe and cut up the rest and put it in the freezer thinking I'd use it to make fajitas later.  I bought some whole wheat tortillas, a red pepper, a yellow pepper and got to work!  Everyone ate them and I even have enough left over to have one for lunch tomorrow!

First I cut up half of an onion and added it to the frying pan with about 1-2 tsp of canola oil.  One trick I picked up from www.pinterest.com was to cut up green onion and put the rest that you don't need in a container and freeze it.  This way, you don't waste innumerable amounts of green onion because of spoilage and you're sure to have it on hand when needed!  So I sprinkled some in with the white onion!

Next, I added the red and yellow peppers and a sprinkled a little cilantro in there as well.  Love the colours!  I let it cook for a minute or two and then transferred it all to a bowl.

Then I added another 1-2 tsp of oil and braised the beef.  I also added a couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce and a dash of garlic powder and cooked until they were no longer pink.

When finished, I re added the peppers and onions and cooked for another minute or so to blend the flavours together.  Then placed it on the tortilla shells, added a dollop of sour cream, wrapped it up and indulged in my own creation!  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I love to cook!!!

And now I bid you adieu, placing myself in Helen Hunt's shoes as she relays to Frank (Colin!!), "I can only tell you how I feel, and how I feel is that I want to be near you - all the time!".  And that goes for you as well John!! <3



Weekend of Hijinks and Rejuvenated Youth

Brace yourselves, you are about to impart on a garrulous, perhaps arduous journey amongst this entry!

As you know from past entries, I highly value honesty.  Well, for the past week or so I think I have mastered the art of knavery, or fabricating a new fiction to throw someone off the scent of truth if you will.  That person was my dear friend Carla, who....drum roll please....turned 40 yesterday!  You see, she knows about her party taking place this weekend, and she knew that she and Steve were going to the Deerhurst Resort this past weekend to celebrate the big 4-0.  What she didn't know was that John & I, Melissa, Glen, Derek & Brenda were going to surprise her there!  It's not easy to pull one over on Carla, let me tell you!  Steve swore me to secrecy about the new puppy he was giving her for Christmas, but she managed to figure it out somehow!  We were worried she would do the same about the trip. 

Living across the street from each other, nothing much gets past us, and there's nary a day that goes by where we don't cross paths.  So when Carla asked me what I was doing this particular weekend, I told her about Jake's last soccer game on Saturday and the meeting at the church about our upcoming cruise.  I fabricated a hot tub party later that night at Kevin & Sandra's and added my soccer game on Sunday.  In order to leave undetected from Carla's line of vision I sent a text to Steve to announce that we were making our getaway and to keep the subject distracted.  John parked his car in the garage the night before so we could load our luggage safely.  I then exited out the back door and went into the garage from the back.  Once in the vehicle, I crouched down backwards in the passenger seat so that if she happened to be looking out the window she wouldn't notice my silhouette.  And we were off on a wild adventure!!!  Glen and Melissa met us at a little restaurant in Huntsville for lunch.  I took this opportunity to enhance my acting career (sadly not Oscar material, like our Colin, but nonetheless...effective!).  Figuring that Carla and Steve were well on their way by then, I sent Carla a text "OMG, that class wiped me out!  I went back to bed after John left for work and just woke up now!  Now I feel like crap for sleeping so long!  Was hoping to see you off.  Have a great weekend!!  Miss you already!!"  He he he!!!  All six of us arrived earlier to our condo and hid in her bedroom where we stifled giggling & laughter as she saw the bottle of wine and subsequently commented on how rude that the staff (Brenda!) had placed "40" decorations on the table!.  John was crouched in the corner behind a lamppost ready to capture her surprise on camera when we jumped out with our "Surprise"!  Thus began a most wonderful weekend that was just as hilarious and boisterous as "This is 40", if not more so! 

Once Carla recovered from the shock we proceeded to the lobby bar and were entertained by John's retelling of a recent dream where our kids had turned into zombies only to be rescued by Rocket, our dear and faithful Shih Poo!  Carla's brother Derek, in perfect Scooby-Doo fashion had us in hysterics the whole weekend quoting Rocket, the Zombie Slayer - "No problem John, I've got this!!" as he barked the zombies right out of the kids and saved us all.   This is my little Zombie Slayer/Superhero!

After dinner we went back to Derek and Brenda's condo (which was much larger in comparison to ours!!).  On the way back to our condo, all 8 of us piled into Steve's van.  Since the back seats were down to make room for skis, John, Glen and Derek had to position themselves awkwardly with the hatch up.  As we left, Steve happened to take out the left mirror of a Deerhurst Staff vehicle which resulted in Derek shouting "Go, Steve, Go - Hard right" as we engaged in our 'high speed chase' and evaded capture.  A U-turn and closing the hatch did the trick!  The fear returned when we heard the doorbell hours later, thinking we were found out, but luckily it was another patron looking for someone!  As I was getting ready for bed, Carla came into my room to thank us for coming and said she was looking forward to reading my next blog entry.  I can't even begin to relay what a meaningful weekend this was for all of us!

Saturday we took to the hills - to ski!!!  It has been 19 years since I last went downhill skiing, 23 for John, and the first time ever for Brenda!  It was pure exhilaration!  I was in high school when I first went downhill skiing, taught by a succession of boyfriends who were avid downhill skiers.  John and I had never skied  together before so "That's a real first" (Emma Thompson, Love Actually).  Brenda signed up for a lesson and did amazing - until Derek took her up a tough hill and she ended up skiing into the forest and skidding down the rest of the hill on her buttocks!  She's got some nasty bruises - but what a trooper!!  Sing it with me.."Super Trouper..."  Yes, I've been listening to my Mamma Mia soundtrack A LOT!!  When Carla told me that I had good form, better than John's, I couldn't help but relay this back to him!!!  I even went on the Black Diamond runs - and I never fell, not once the whole day!!  Going up the lift with Carla, I told her that I felt like I was back in high school again.  Getting back on skis was invigoration and brought back our youthfulness (well, I didn't have as far to go back as the others, being the youngest in the group - just sayin'!!!).  I was reminded of being on the cross-country ski team in high school.  The late nights spent in the shop with our skis in a vice, irons in one hand, wax in the other.  The early morning bus rides in total darkness headed north for a race.  Ahhhh!



Following some apres ski beverages, we headed back to the condos to rest our worn out legs.  The plan for dinner was to go to Three Guys and a Stove in town.  John and I have eaten here before and I didn't care for it.  In fact I had visions of sushi at Sakai all over again.  Instead of Steve pushing the sushi, he was now pushing the stew.  According to the 'enabler' Steve, this joint has the best stew ever!  Whatever...I had a salad!  John and I were the only ones who didn't order a stew - must have had some foresight that we would come home to a homemade stew prepared by my mother-in-law which we enjoyed when I got home from my soccer game!  Nothing like coming home from a weekend away where we didn't have to cook and being surprised with... not having to cook!
And, now, back to the program - the Colin Firth Diet Club!!!!  Last entry I mentioned that the scales tipped a bit in the wrong direction.  I weighed myself yesterday at Curves and was back to 144.5 lbs.  Since I'm doing another 3 day wheat-free stint, I am fully expecting to be back to 144 or even lower!  But guess what?  I am the Top Loser for the month of December!!  Here's the proof!

This was based on my monthly weigh-in that took place on December 2nd.  I am continuing to use the Curves Smart program and pushing myself harder.  Last Thursday night, Carla and I started a Booty Barre class!  (That's the class I was referring to in my text)  OMG - it's tough but well worth it!  Just when you think you can't hack it anymore, she moves onto something else and you feel a temporary reprieve till you can't hack that move anymore, and so the cycle continues.  Of course it did help to boost my energy each time a U2 song came on!!!  So now, if you happen to walk by my bay window on any given afternoon, you may catch me shakin' my booty to a whole new level as I dance to Colin Firth singing "Our Last Summer"! 

Speaking of Colin Firth, I am enjoying his biography.  I'm only reading it when no one else is home so I can savour every detail.  Did you know that Colin scored 3% on a chemistry test at the age of 13?  I remember getting a similar grade on a first grade math test about regrouping!  Colin has a penchant for reading and was quoted as saying, "I took refuge in books with the hope of getting laid by name-checking Dostoevsky".  I don't know how successful he was in that regard, as I was only introduced  to Dostoevsky in university - perhaps it's a Britishism?

"The Cleaner Plate Club" has proven a most useful tool, a wealth of information to carry forward.  This is a book I wish I had purchased!  It would have saved precious time copying out recipes and whatnot.  Before I discovered my new go-to homemade Honey Mustard salad dressing, I would opt for the fat-free versions at the supermarket.  You shouldn't use the fat-free dressings because essential vitamins  (A, D, E and K) are fat soluble, therefore, these vitamins will not be absorbed without accompanying fats.  So, some fats are important!  Either make your own from scratch or use regular salad dressings!  You should also store potatoes away from onions (I'll have to separate mine - reminds me of breaking up a sibling rivalry!  Which of my kids is the onion, and which the potato?)  Did you know that green peas aren't considered a vegetable?  Corn too for that matter!  Heat turns corn's sugar into starch so you should purchase corn that has been refrigerated or stored in a shady area.  Another dilemma we may face as we purchase fruits and veggies is whether to buy fresh or frozen.  One would think that the 'fresh' fruits and veggies displayed in the produce section are indeed fresh.  But consider their origin and the distance required to transport these foods.  Not as fresh as you would think, is it?  In those cases, it may be better to buy frozen as the foods are picked when ripe and fairly rapidly frozen in order to maintain nutrients.  Nutrients may be lost from harvest to transport to consumption while in most cases ripening along the way.  Chapter Three touches on "Organic vs. Conventional" and lists foods that are considered 'dirty' such as celery (buy organic) and 'clean' (onions are top of the list).  It also talks about different fats and the differences between saturated and unsaturated fats.  Remember this:  Saturated fats = bad fats, and the two fats you should avoid using altogether are margarine and palm kernel oil.  So much for the bulk margarine I bought for baking after my diagnoses thinking it was better than butter!  My kids will grimace further when we now scan labels looking for palm kernel oil in the ingredients list too!  More to come...

Last Wednesday I went in to Shoppers Drug Mart to test my blood pressure.  I pulled a slip out of the machine the last person had left there and the reading was 126/79.  Admittedly, for a brief moment, I considered claiming it as my own - but as you know, I have a thing about honesty which that did not befit.  Damn!!!  Damn!! Damn!  Why can't my blood pressure be that??  Huh?  So feeling defeated, I rolled up my sleeve, stuck my arm in the cylinder and pressed the button to await my fate - 5 times.  My results were as follows: 149/97 (yikes!), 148/93 (nooo!), 132/96 (...better, but...), 127/86 (I'll take it!!!!) and 138/91 (should have quite while I was ahead!).  I think I'll save the slip from the 127/86 to take in to the diabetic nurse next month!  For now I will stick it somewhere close by!  Oh, last week I ordered a 2013 Colin Firth desk calendar off eBay thinking it would keep me motivated further.  When it arrives I'll place the slip beside it!!!

On Monday while grocery shopping I purchased 3 new food items - quinoa, asparagus (I've eaten before but never bought it myself) and a couple golden kiwi (I've had the regular ones but wanted to try these!).   In the February issue of Chatelaine, there was a recipe for Maple-Cider Chicken and Nutty Quinoa that became dinner on Monday night!  Yum, yum, yum!  My kids had something else to say about it, but apparently after another 14 tries, they should come around- right?!  John and I thought the quinoa was particularly tasty!  I had the left overs for lunch yesterday since it's wheat-free.  For dessert I ate one of the golden kiwis!

I spent the rest of the evening watching the new episode of "The Next Great Baker" followed by 2 episodes of "Pete Rose Hits and Mrs." reality show under duress from Matthew (my little baseball fanatic!) while I cut out 40 daisies from paper and painted their centres yellow.  Daisies are Carla's favourite flower.  "It's an art gallery, full of dark corners, for doing... dark deeds".  That was a quote from Mia in Love Actually but this is meant in a totally different context - not the naughty objective Mia was scheming!  When I say "dark deeds", I mean the deed took place outside in the dark, and my "art gallery" was Carla's front lawn.  Yes, I lurked in the darkness in the wee hours of the morning 'planting' 40 daisies (one for each year) all over Carla's front lawn to surprise her when she woke up in the morning.  I carefully pinned and placed all the daisies with care, while worrying that they would all blow away while everyone slept.  There is something very peaceful about being outside in the dark on a cold January night by oneself.  The sky was beautiful and I could point out Orion and other constellations normally not so easily seen.  She called me in the morning and said that was the best birthday surprise ever!  God forbid anything ever happened to her, I would probably get a daisy tattooed on me arse!

Last night I made the Beef & Vegetable Stir-Fry, with the help of my 7 year old daughter Kristen.  I don't know who abducted my sweet little girl weeks ago and replaced her with some devil child look-a-like, but thank you for returning her to me!!  She was so keen to help me prepare dinner.  She washed the vegetables, cut off the ends of the snow peas, set the table, got the drinks for everyone and has asked to help out again tonight!  I wish her brothers were so eager to help out!!

As for those resolutions I made, well, let's just say I'm having better luck keeping up with the laundry than getting to bed at a decent time.  Obviously lurking in darkness, planting fake flowers does nothing for that cause but the end result of making my friend smile on her birthday was well worth it.  Which reminds me of something I read at the Nissan dealership in the August issue of Oprah's "O" magazine:

Interesting!  I am going to try even harder to improve here.  Last night I fell asleep reading on the couch in the living room while we had 'quiet reading time' as a family.  I woke up around 5 am this morning and slept another 2 hours in bed so I think I had a good run last night!

The menu for dinner tonight consisted of salmon, potatoes and asparagus!  Sometimes you have to let kids play with their food first to encourage them to eat it.

Apparently, the same can be said of husbands!!



Well, I apologize for the lengthy entry - trust me that I've edited a fair amount out already.  I am now looking forward to getting the kids to bed so I can watch "Then She Found Me" - one of the Colin Firth films I haven't yet seen.  And Colin, if you are reading - I would not be opposed to you finding me!  Cheerio!

"This is 40" ...are you kiddin' me?

On New Years Day, John, Carla, Steve and I went to see the new movie "This is 40" - a much anticipated viewing as Carla and I are delving into our 40's this year.  The movie was an absolute riot and we each saw parts of ourselves (and our spouses!) in the two main characters!  John thought the scenes where the wife tries to make lifestyle changes in what they eat, and limit use of electronics was a little too close to home!  That being said, John admitted to me earlier that he's thankful for said changes - of course it helped that he's gone down a belt loop and yes, he gives me full credit for that!  Who would have thought it would be me inspiring him to make improvements?  I have been to Curves three times a week since I started the Colin Firth Diet Club and over the holidays it inspired John to make more of an effort to visit his own gym where he holds a membership.  Kudos to you John!  He also asked me when I'll next be making my chicken Parmesan burgers, a new favourite of his.  He was wandering around at lunch and saw one somewhere, but didn't want to buy one because it was deep fried!  I have to admit, it gives me a high knowing that I have some form of power over him and his thought processes now!  He he he!!

Anyways, a new year, a new beginning right?  Last week, as I sat in the waiting room of the Nissan dealership waiting for service on my little red Juke, I was reading, "The Cleaner Plate Club" by Beth Bader and Ali Benjamin.  Thus far, this book seems a good follow-up to "Wheat Belly".  I think it's important to continue reading about good nutrition so the facts remain fresh in my mind when shopping for life-sustaining food!  That being said, nearly 4 hours into my Nissan homage, I begged my neighbour to fetch me a Harvey's hamburger to prevent me from eating someone - I was that hungry!  Back in June when we purchased my car, I was impressed that the dealership had a cafe inside it, and a television showing Euro Cup matches!  I thought this was my kind of car place!  Absolutely I'll bring my new car here for service - add a BLT to the tab please!  When John asked what time to make the appointment for the car I told him to book it near lunch time so I can have a BLT while I wait.  This was the first time my car was going in for service, and I was actually looking forward to it!  This was a job I always left for John to do in the past.  I received a notice in the mail about a recall on the car months ago and brought the notice with me.  The clerk told me that the service would take approximately 2 hours.  I said, "No problem, I've got my book with me and I'll hang out at the cafe and order lunch".  Well, as luck, rather no luck, would have it, the person who runs the cafe disappeared a couple of days prior so - cafe closed!!  No worries, I had a late breakfast so I could stick it out for 2 hours.  Four hours later, I was talking to Carla on my cell and she said Steve was going to pick up Harvey's for lunch.  At this point I was nearly fainting with hunger so I asked if he could get me one.   Finally around 4:30 pm I was told that my car was nearly ready and I could wait outside for the guy to bring the car round to me.   My mind wandered as I stood on the concrete, a light, fluffy snow falling around me.  Is it really true that no two snowflakes are alike?  Is there any protein in snowflakes - other than the yellow kind?  Are there trans fats in people?  Stupid questions I know, but when you are hungry and fed up with waiting in a car dealership of all places - that's the kind of things going through my head!  Now, if that wait was to meet my muse, Colin Firth - that would be a whole different story!  Bring on the hunger baby!!  Ironically, once I got my Juke back, wouldn't you know that the first song playing on the radio was Pink's 'Blow Me' relaying the lyrics - "I've had a shit day...".

OK, back to the "The Cleaner Plate Club"!  For those of you who think you can't make healthy diet changes befitting the whole family, this book states, "It is possible to feed your family well, to encourage your kids to enjoy kale, or tomatoes, or squash, or beans, and to instill in them lifelong healthy habits.  It is possible to teach them that chickens don't have fingers and that the very best foods don't come emblazoned with cartoon characters...It's even possible to do all this without a fight."  - to this I say "Tell me more!!!!" 

In the first chapter there is a section on Exposure.  "Research shows that it can take as many as 15 tries before a child accepts a new food".  Luckily I didn't have to try 15 times to get my kids to eat brussels sprouts - they almost welcomed them the second time around.  Not too long ago, I was hard pressed to get my kids to eat fish, real fish that wasn't breaded or battered to disguise what was inside.  When I was diagnosed as prediabetic about a year and a half ago, I started making salmon for dinner once a week.  It wasn't well received in the beginning but now it is expected and they eat it - and it may very well have taken 15 weeks to get there, but they did get there.  My friend Kelly's husband was diagnosed with diabetes last year and so they have started having salmon once a week as well.  She told me that the kids don't like it so she makes them fish sticks instead.  I guess she gave up too soon.  Is fifteen tries really the magic number?  I explained to my kids why we were eating the salmon - to make mommy and all of us healthier, and you can't really argue that.  Anyways, as a parent with young children, I know all too well, that you have to choose your battles!   I have become the "Nutritional Gatekeeper" in my house.  I do the shopping (of course I do send John out to pick up the few things I forget once in awhile), the food preparation and cooking.  And according to Bader & Benjamin, the nutritional gatekeeper is the most important influence.  I just wish I had known about this occupation much sooner!

Chapter two focuses on shopping strategies.  Now, some of the information was reiteration from "Wheat Belly" - shop the outer isles, focus on the produce section, be wary of labels and false promises, but it never hurts to be reminded!  Fruits and vegetables speak for themselves.  They don't have labels with false claims.  "Fresh broccoli doesn't brag about its high iron and fiber content, and you'll never find apples boasting about their calcium levels."  The last page of this chapter tells about nutritional dilution.  "Wheat Belly" talked about this epidemic, where scientists are so keen to invent strains of food that can yield larger crops, and increased durability and pest resistance.  The downfall is that, by altering the natural state of the product, it loses overall nutritional value through the dilution and cross breeding.  Really, this continues to anger me each time I read about it!  No wonder we live in a diabetic saturated world with accompanying high blood pressure and cholesterol issues.  Well, granted 'they' aren't solely to blame - there is also the "Super-size Me" phenomenon taking over America which isn't helping matters either.  More to come as I continue reading the book...

On Thursday night I made a new dish - Gluten-Free Lasagna Roll-Ups.  They were made with brown rice lasagna noodles.  Brown rice noodles don't taste all that different than your regular brand.  The only difference really is that the water looks milky while you cook the noodles.  I like this recipe because it seems less messy than traditional lasagna since they are individually wrapped - and it could help with portion control.  Have one roll along with a salad and you are good to go!

John  and I loved it, Matthew liked it but thought there was too much spinach in it, Kristen didn't care for it and Jake fell asleep before dinner so he didn't get to try it.  It tastes great as leftovers too!  So I now have another recipe to add to my Wheat-Free repertoire!

Yesterday after Kristen finished her gymnastics class we did our grocery shopping.  I challenged her to pick out something from the produce section that she's never tried before and we would all test it out.  After much deliberation, she chose a star fruit.   Thank goodness for Google - else how would I know what to do with such a thing!  Aren't the stars pretty?  They have a unique taste, not sure we'll be buying them on a frequent basis but it was fun trying another new food!



Today we had a luncheon at church, so I decided to make that Green Vegetable Bake that my brother-in-law Jay brought for Christmas dinner I loved so much!  Normally, I'd be the one bringing a dessert so I'm proud of myself for progressing in my food movement to bringing a veggie dish!





And now comes the moment of truth.  I had my monthly weigh-in at Curves on Friday and although I'm still down, the results weren't as impressive as the last time.  I've lost a 1/4" each in the bust and waist and a 1/2" in the thighs.  Unfortunately my body fat % went up from 33.4 - 34.2.  I'm hoping this was merely the result of Christmas festivities and the numbers will do me proud next month!  The good news is that most of my pants are so loose on me now that I find myself constantly pulling them up, up, up!  And...I can now fit into a couple of pants that I'd long given up on that I found mysteriously hidden in the back of the closet!

Overall though, since the turn of the calendar year, I'm not really feeling myself - a little down in the dumps to be honest.  Maybe it's the pending big "4-0", the fear of finding yet another gray hair, or dare I say it - fear that I'm not up to my own challenge!  For the last couple of years I dreamt of spending my 40th birthday in Ireland and I've come to realize that the dream is just that - a dream.  I've got lots of things to look forward to this year.  A Mediterranean cruise, Matthew's grade 8 graduation, and we are going to be ringing in 2014 with our best friends Carla & Steve and our families at Disneyworld!  Carla put things in perspective for me this afternoon and helped me find my way and be grateful for what I have in life.  As she is the one turning 40 next week, I must applaud her.  She's ready for it!  I can only hope I'm as brave as she when my time comes!

I've gained back a pound and I'm trying not to get too down on myself about that.  On Friday night, Melissa, Glen, Carla and Steve came over.  Carla made her infamous nacho dip and Melissa brought my fave, Dubliner cheese!  Top with some vino and it was a caloric high!  Add to that the birthday cake that I made for Jake's birthday on Sunday and it's no wonder I've gone up some.    I tested my blood pressure at the grocery store yesterday and it was 140/87 so that's not helping matters either.

But...my kids are back at school after the break so I was able to start reading my Colin Firth biography today!!!!!!  Listen to my Mama Mia soundtrack while making dinner and folding laundry - and on Thursday night I will be accompanying Carla to Booty Barre - not sure what to expect from that exactly, but I need to step up my game plan, start thinking positively again and achieve my Colin Firth Diet Club goals!  I can do this!  I WILL DO THIS!!!

And Colin, although you've been quoted as saying, "My singing voice is somewhere between a drunken apology and a plumbing problem", rest assured that I quite enjoy singing (and dancing!) along with you to "Our Last Summer", and in fact, "I like you very much.  Just as you are".