"The lobster?...In the nativity play?"

LITTLE DAISY:  we've been given our parts in the Nativity play.  And I'm the lobster.

KAREN:  The lobster?

LITTLE DAISY:  Yes

KAREN:  In the nativity play?

LITTLE DAISY:  Yes,  First Lobster.

KAREN:  There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?

LITTLE DAISY:   Durr....

  As many of you know from last year, "Love Actually" is my favourite part of Christmas!  Each December, I invite my girlfriends over for dinner and the movie.  We order Chinese food which John picks up for us, and we consume copious volumes of wine whilst listening to the "Love Actually" soundtrack to set the mood!  Last year we added another new tradition to the mix, my homemade banoffee pie, for which I pause the movie at the precise moment Keira Knightley greets "Mark" at his door with her proffered, "Banoffee pie?"

I'm going to jump ahead in my alphabet inspired cuisine as the week of "Love Actually" nicely coincided with "L" week!  In fact the next day I made lobster for the first time, severely annoying my kids as I kept repeating, "Lobster?  In the Nativity Play?" ad nauseum with a British accent!  I had never purchased nor cooked a lobster in my life.  In fact I can't even remember the last time I had even eaten lobster.  Perhaps it was when I was young and we went to Peggy's Cove for summer vacation, or I may have gone to a Red Lobster restaurant...anyways, I was determined to buy and cook a lobster that week!  I must admit, as I approached the seafood counter in slow motion on tip-toe, with squinted eye, it was with much hesitation and trepidation.  Would I have to buy a live lobster with his beady black eyes staring at me, begging for immunity?  Did I have it in me to buy one live and watch it's demise, all of my own doing?  Phew!  No life crustacean's swimming in defeat in the tanks!  My choices were precooked claws (which is my favourite part of a lobster) or fresh tails.  I chose the tails and it was like the alphabet cuisine gods were shining on me as lobster happened to be on sale for half price that week and as you may guess, it is not the cheapest fish to buy!  A few years ago I was at an event where I met Massimo Capra and received a personally signed copy of his cookbook, "One Pot Italian Cooking".  I figured it was high time I put this book to use and opted to try his Tagliatelle All'Aragosta - or rather, Tagliatelle with Lobster Sauce!  The perfect recipe to kill two birds with one stone, or two "L"'s with one dish!!  Along with the tagliatelle pasta, this recipe incorporates both lobster and leeks!  The kids weren't as impressed with it as I was though, and I discovered the next day that lobster doesn't taste as good as left-overs.

lobster - the Omega -3 fatty acids found in lobster are beneficial to both your heart and your brain and is also high in minerals such as selenium, phosphorous and zinc.  It is high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol

leeks - are good for preventing cancer with their high concentration of antioxidants.  They are also helpful in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure

Years ago, my friend Michelle P. emailed me her recipe for Red Lentil Soup with Lemon (a NY Times recipe) which has sat in my green file folder of accumulated recipes ever since.  Well this was my opportunity to try it out finally!  It was a nice filling low cal soup!  I didn't puree the soup as suggested in the directions as I liked the texture as it was.  This was a relatively easy recipe to make and one that I will add to my soup repertoire!

 

lentils - high in fibre, therefore good for lowering cholesterol and improving digestive health. The high fibre content will make you feel full faster and therefore can be beneficial for weight loss.

 

lemons & limes - high in vitamin C and good for lowering cholesterol, cancer risk, heart disease. 

I also tried a new recipe incorporating lemon grass!  I altered a recipe for Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, October 2007.  I omitted the curry powder and substituted one jalapeno pepper for 3 chilies.  It was delicious!  Kristen asked for more!!!

Lemongrass - helps to cleanse organs and improves circulation

When I was about three years old we moved to a new house, and I became best friends with Limoy who lived across the street.  Limoy's family is Chinese and years later they opened a Chinese restaurant in town.  It was at this restaurant where I was first introduced to the lychee!  It resembles a white grape when the reddish peel is removed.  Twenty years or so had passed since I ate my last lychee!  I could only find them in a can or a tetra-pak juice box.  Trudging through the alphabet we were now more than half way and the kids are not as willing as I'd like when it comes to trying new things, so I opted for some old school bribery techniques to coerce them into trying lychee fruit.  If they ate 3 of them they could have nachos for a snack, and if they ate 5 they could also have a bit of ice cream for dessert.  Jake is always the most difficult kid to get to eat things but my bribery technique worked and he admitted that the lychees weren't that bad!  After eating his first three, he willingly asked for the other two!

Lychee - high in antioxidants and vitamin C, they are no saturated fats or cholesterol and the high potassium content is beneficial for maintaining good blood pressure

Also in my "L" picture, was a bag of dried lima beans which I haven't used yet.  Lima beans have antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, fibre and potassium which are beneficial for blood pressure and heart health.

I weighed myself at Curves yesterday after my workout and the damage thus far during Christmas festivities has me at 138.5 lbs.  I'm counting on my on board metabolism to kick in once again as we will be going on another cruise at the beginning of the new year.  I defied the odds and actually lost weight during our Mediterranean cruise while most others gained and gained some more!  My blood pressure is pretty good so all seems to be in good form, and I think, "If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion you'll find that love actually is all around...."

Merry Firthmas to all, and to all a good night!!!