Hello, It is evening here, wet and dark, the cat has come in early.

Shaz my sister is looking forward to doing 5:2, but the time is not right for her either. Are you old enough to know Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant’? There is a bit in that where he is ready to sing the chorus and says “I just have to wait for it to come around on the guitar”.
That may be what it is like for you. I hope it comes around on the guitar soon!

Lori, I bet boot Camp was gruesome! Hope you survived!

Susie, a hard post to read on a fast day! I might make Spanish food tomorrow!
Watch out for that cheeky alcohol!

I’m just about to have my miso soup! Woohoo! Lovely!

Cheers all!

Hi girls,

Wanted to pop in earlier but had internet problems! Thanks to all for your congratulations on my reaching goal! You are all so sweet! 😘 I did bump up a pound this morn but I expected it- just need to keep that from sneaking up further after all that hard work!

I’d like to chat longer but have to get my outside kitties into their enclosure & fed (so the coyotes don’t get them!) and then run to the kids’ back to school night.

Talk to you all more tomorrow!,

Sherry

Salma, sorry you are feeling overwhelmed. It is tough when you are trying to do stuff for the oldies as well as run your own life- I found I needed to drop a day at work to keep up, not just with visiting the nursing home but also doing phone calls etc in a working day, they just can’t be done in work time without a lot of hassle. You have to look after yourself in order to support others, so I am with your friend- you need to factor in prioritising yourself and your health.
Lori, hope you enjoy your w/e trip.
Cinque- smiled at your comment about my food descriptions, guess that is why I need to be here, I love eating. It is a continuous journey to try and pick the healthy options, while secretly wanting to add other bits in too. Last night I was out with friends, picked a salad- good, shared some fries- moderate- better than having my own portion, worse than having none- shame about the drinks.
Faced the scales yesterday, not pretty as expected, but today is another day.

It’s evening again, I’m feeling nicely back on track, with eating at least. I had a late lunch after grocery shopping with my friend, and haven’t felt hungry since.

Sherry you will soon be saying goodbye to that last pound for good I think!

Lori, sorry your milkshake wasn’t completely wonderful, maybe it will be your last (or you will work out how to make it at home so it isn’t too sweet 😉 ). Best wishes for a lovely weekend!

Salma I hope your melt down is over and you can find some space to make your life easier. It is the hard thing about being able to do such a powerful job, it is so full on. We are all agreeing with your friend though! Hooray for her!
I do hope you can work out some things to say NO too. I used to love John Lennon’s song “Yes is the answer”. But once I got sick and had to manage a difficult life, I learned that quite often NO is the answer.
I hope last night was a much better sleep.

Susie I love food too, and I am so glad that cutting out sweet things still leaves me with so much yumminess! Today I didn’t manage Spanish, but I got pretty close, buying things to make Cuban Black Bean Soup. And I will also make beef, spinach and mushroom lasagne using up the lasagne sheets I made that are in the freezer. I will make them tomorrow.
Today I made Poha, a quick and easy Indian dish using flattened rice. I’ve got rolled brown rice, and it works well.

Catz, that heart problem must be exhausting, you wouldn’t be getting very much oxygen through your body while it is happening. (Can you tell I did my first aid training recently!). So glad you are over that lurgy, and I hope your daughter is too. Fingers crossed you get a bit of plain sailing.

Goodnight all, have a lovely day!

Hello hello, It is a lovely crisp morning here. I hope it is beautiful for Lori on her trip away. I am glad your heatwave has ended Sherry!

I’ve only discovered poha lately Sherry. It is like Indian fried rice, made with flattened rice that just has to be hydrated for a minute or two, and then lots of lovely Southern Indian spices and vegetables. Mine was broccoli and carrot with cashews. Here is a picture I found on the web to give an idea: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgYyyvDy1uA/UAYQtxlvBxI/AAAAAAAAH5o/nBzpUyztMUo/s1600/IMG_4611.jpg

Wasn’t it a shock to lose Prince.

I might have to borrow a child and go to see the Jungle Book!

Yay for 120’s!

Salma, what good decisions! I hope your easy day was good (although I have needed nearly two weeks of easy days to recover once I got my home back to myself! 😉 ) We will be cheering you on through the hard month. Best wishes for your parents having a gentle holiday too.

Sunday Fast Day!

Hello!

I’m working on a third fast day today (Saturday). At least a modified one. My husband is backpacking and my daughter is at a party so it works. Fingers crossed for some progress!!!

Salma, wow–I can’t imagine packing all that in! No wonder you feel overwhelmed. I’m glad you took a day to regroup.

Lori, glad you’re having a fun trip!!

Cinque, good luck with the fast day tomorrow!

Susie, you have to get fries once in a while–I’m sure you’ll be able to make up for it!!!

SherryAnn, congrats on the 120s…I find I wobble around a goal for a while before it sticks.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend!

Good Sunday morning all!

It is absolutely beautiful here today! I really enjoyed my morning walk in the sunshine.☀️
Weight is still as Carolina best put it, “wobbling” around a bit as I’m 121.2 this morn. It will eventually stabilize- irritating nonetheless.

So last night around dusk as we were getting ready to settle in at home for a family movie night of the new Star Wars movie on DVD , I glanced out the backyard sliding door and saw a bobcat walking along our fence line! A neighbor a long time ago told us he’s seen bobcats out our way but in the 13 years we’ve lived here, I’ve seen plenty of coyotes , but never a bobcat! It was so awesome!

The sad thing is some rich guy who owns land in a canyon behind our house is trying to build 50 homes ( originally approved for 5 homes and then he got it bumped up to 25 and now 50! He obviously greased someone’s palm). If it happens where will all the wildlife go? We live in an area that was designed to remain rural with 1 acre plus sized lots- how they can change that when we bought into this area expecting that would be the case is beyond me! We’re going to a meeting to try fight it exit month, but from what I hear, this guy’s been trying to develop this for 20 years and it’s basically a “done deal” at this point. Sorry for the rant! I guess I have to vent sometimes too! 😉

Cinque, yummy looking food! I know it’s not the same but it reminds me of a Persian rice my boyfriend in college made called ” tadiq” I think? Not sure of the spelling. He’d let the rice get hard and golden at the bottom of the pan and serve it with kabobs and roasted tomatoes- super yummy!

Lori, congrats to your grandson! And, 🍕 “happens”… Just move on, right?! 😉

Carolina, sounds like a good clear sailing fast day with everyone gone! Hope you get some relaxing in too!

Salma, enjoy your Sunday befor the craziness begins! Hopefully you can plan something fun to do at the end of it so there’s an enjoyable light at the end of the tunnel!

Everyone else out there, have a great Sunday!

Good morning, it is getting cold overnight here, but then glorious warm days. My favourite.

I’ll tell you more about the lovely poha. I had vaguely heard of it, and then I got this book: http://food52.com/blog/14519-the-beginner-s-guide-to-vegetarian-india-by-madhur-jaffrey from the library. MJ has a big rave about it and there are a couple of recipes I copied out to try. Luckily they are both on the internet, so I will link them below.

Poha is not like that wonderful Persian rice with it’s crusty tadiq, although beautifully cooked basmati rice is probably the closest thing to how soft and light poha is.
The rice grains have been flattened, like extreme rolled oats. All they need to soften them is to be rinsed with water and then left for a couple of minutes. The colour comes from turmeric.
The dish is vibrant with spices, and the softness of the riceflakes is balanced by a crunch of nuts, or maybe that Indian style vermicelli broken into it, and by the mustard seeds and little bit of fried dal.

It is a wonderful dish and , a bit like risotto, once you know how to make it, you can make it out of odds and ends in your pantry and garden. It is also like risotto in that there are a few classic combinations, but you can add whatever you like. I am adjusting it to make it just for one.

But it does have a couple of odd ingredients. One is the flattened rice itself. I bought rolled rice in my healthfood store, and then saw proper poha which is beaten much thinner. However my rolled rice is from brown rice, and only needs a couple of minutes soaking to work well, and it is probably a healthier alternative.
The next is urad dal, just a 1/2 tsp that gets fried and crunchy. I don’t like it so much, but I have moong dal in my pantry so I use that instead. It is smaller than urad dal so crunches up more easily.
There are curry leaves, which I luckily have growing in a big pot in my garden.
Finely there is hing, or asafoetida, a smelly resin, usually bought ground, and a little pinch goes a long way. (I think of it like vegetarian fish sauce, or anchovies, in that it smells shockingly pungent, but adds a wonderful deep note to the dishes it is in). It keeps really well, so I have some in my pantry.

One you have all these, plus mustard seeds and cumin seeds and hopefully some coriander leaves (which I don’t have at the moment 🙁 ) it is easy and quick to put together.

I usually do a version of this one: http://www.wnyc.org/story/recipe-madhur-jaffreys-flattened-rice-cauliflower-and-peas/
I have tried this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/flattened_rice_with_poha_64857 but need to fiddle with it to get it really good (I forgot the onion last time, for a start!). And I leave out the sugar of course!

It makes such a lovely light, tasty meal so it has become a favourite of mine.

Hello! Hope we’re all having a good start to the week!!!!

Don’t know if I’m the only one who watches Game of Thrones, but I was stoked to watch the season opener last night!!!! I even let myself have a bag of chips to celebrate. I figured I deserved it after doing a FD on the weekend.

Salma, good luck with the quick transatlantic trip. I assume you’re going to the East Coast. Hope so anyway!!!!

Cinque, I’m totally impressed with your cooking skills.

SherryAnn, I would LOVE to see a bobcat. They are in our area as well but I’ve never seen one. I’ve seen a bear in our yard, coyote, fox (we had a rabid fox nightmare a few years ago), deer, raccoon, etc etc. But the bobcat have been elusive! There is a lot of development here, too. I don’t understand after the housing bubble that went so badly in 2008 why people are building so aggressively, on spec.

Lori, I must follow your example and do some exercise first thing in the morning. I used to do that and felt so much better but I’m having a little trouble jumpstarting myself these days…..

We are having our deck redone right now and making plans for a huge kitchen remodel. It’s kind of overwhelming but way past due ….

My goal today is no carbs outside of meals. I had breakfast so I’ll skip lunch. Reasonable supper. Plenty of water and get at least 30 minutes of exercise in.

Good luck, everyone!!!

Hi gals,

A busy day of Pilates & various appointments today ahead of me but I just wanted to pop in and say hello!

Carolina, yes , the house building is crazy-i think there’s a lot of pent up demand for new housing out here after years of no one buying. Just wish as Cinque said that they’d leave our beautiful open spaces alone!

Salma, I’m also wondering how your appointments went? Hoping good!

My weight is dead stuck for 10 days now but still lower than earlier this month so that’s what’s important I guess!

Have a lovely day ladies! 😍

Good Morning!

Miss Kitty decided I should get up at 3:15 this morning, so here I sit. I have over an hour until I head for boot camp. I was awake anyway as we’re having a water problem here at the house and I was worrying about it. We have a water holding tank in the basement that has sprung a leak. Luckily, we have a sump pump that was getting rid of the water, but today the plumber will return to replace the tank. Sigh…..it’s always something. There goes another pile of $$$.

The scale continues to go up and down the same few pounds. The recent stress over the household problems will not help. I have decided to just do my best for the next couple weeks and then start doing a better job of tracking when I return from my trip. I’m sure I’ll have a few extra pounds to get rid of at that point!

Sorry this was all about me. I’m sorry I’ve been so bad about responding personally to your posts. I enjoy reading them all. Hope your week is going well.

Salma, which Jaffrey daughter? Meera lives in my town and teaches music at my boys’ K-8 school since 1997. I have two of Madhur’s cookbooks.

A rainy day here but expected to break in time for me to drive 30 min this
afternoon to the chiropractor thank goodness. I need an adjustment so bad! Neck aches & everything just feels out of whack. I get a once monthly tune up! The cold is still lurking so not feeIing my best but I’m still going to tackle pilates this morn. Ugh! I sound like an old lady today 😉!

So now to talk food which we all love or we wouldn’t be here ( I promise it’s healthy though!). So I made a simple recipe for some of the best chicken breasts ever. Even my “I’m-not -so -happy -we’re -eating -chicken-again ” kid proclaimed them the best she’s ever eaten and happily dug in! What you do is slice or pound the breasts thin and then soak them in a warm salt water brine for at least 15 minutes. Then sprinkle them with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, onion & garlic powder & cook high at 450 degrees for about 18 minutes. So simple & so good for leftovers to throw into salads, etc.

Salma, I’d love to take care of the wobbly thighs but as I mentioned, they’re beyond saving at this point they told me! The doc did say his wife had success with her wobbly arms with this skin tightening machine that also melts fat away , “Vanquish” but didn’t promise it would help my thighs- only hinted that it might! And for $400 per area ( each thigh consists of 4 areas apparently 😖), that ain’t gonna happen for me, especially when it’s a “maybe” & needs to be repeated every so often! Plus, like you, I am fine with the size of my thighs and don’t need to lose fat there per se ( any of those devices that suck or melt fat scare the crap out of me!) ~ I just want tightening! So, as I said I’m just going to get a little filler and laser lifting for eyes. The detox sounds like a great reboot for you- similar to what I do with my cleanse which sounds similar in many ways. If I was closer to you, I’d just double up a batch of whatever I’m eating when on it & send it over 😉! I’m excited to hear about the results- I think you’ll be pleased!

Lori , I thought you were still doing 5:2 with low carb, it if not, I bet that adding that in will be just what you need to kick things into gear. I have to figure out how to kick my butt into gear again too!

Ok girls, I have to get ready for Pilates even though I lack enthusiasm today 😩.

Enjoy your time in the States Salma & congrats again on he son graduating! You must be so proud & happy! ☺️

Bye!

Me again! more thing- Lori, saw that photo of you on FB with your 500 boot camp classes poster! Looking good girl! Congrats again on meeting that milestone! You’re a tough cookie!

Many people talk about how it helps, but I also heard about another method that has been proven scientifically, has no side effect, it was on the http://bit.ly/1XR7OQR so what do you think about it?

Welcome, Missfire, love that name!

Sherry, for migraines I’ve had botox which also addresses forehead wrinkles. Unfortunately, wrinkles don’t bother me–it’s the sagging and flab, etc. It would be so much nicer if it did something I want cosmetically. The help for migraines is borderline so I’m always debating whether to continue with it.

Salma, I hope you get over the jet lag soon. It really gets me. My husband deals with it well and doesn’t quite understand!

Lorie, I really want to lose at least 15 pounds. I am nine pounds from the healthy weight zone per bmi, but I have a small frame and need at least five more. If I ever make that, I’ll reassess!!

Have to go do pick-up!

Good afternoon ladies!

Just back from a speech meet my son was participating in (top honors- blue ribbon!). It was a half day at school since the speech meet was going on so took the kids out for lunch before and then for frozen yogurt afterward to celebrate. Of course, going against my “no sugar” rule, I snuck a little from the mini taster sample cups ;O Anyhow, not much else going on around these parts!

Lori, ha! I figured it was a “before” pic! Don’t feel bad, I am also a red faced sweaty exerciser! Some of us just are!

Carolina, bummer the botox doesn’t work that well for the migraines! Funny, I was just reading that using lavender helps with migraines? You might want to google that- who knows? Might work! I’m really hoping you finally get back to the pre-Xmas weight! I know you’ve been working on that for a while. I can’t seem to stay in the 120 evenish range since my cleanse…keeps creeping up a teensy bit at a time! 🙁 Who knows, you might be able to still sneak in some good eating/fasts while your son is around…maybe save your main meal for the one you like best that you’re cooking for him?

Cinque, missing hearing from you lately! Hope all is well!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Oh Salma, I was confusing your business trip and the trip to your son’s graduation. So, you’re coming back to the U.S. for his graduation soon? So glad you got the book finally! Maybe you can get a good portion read on the flight home!

Best of luck on the detox starting Monday! 🙂

Good Morning!

Sorry that you’ve been stuck in long meetings Salma. It would have been nice for you to be able to see a bit of Wash DC. Wishing you safe travels home.

I think my scale is stuck. It is getting ridiculous. I thought I was eating too close to bed time, so last night I didn’t eat after 6 o’clock and felt very thin this morning. Stepped on the thing and nope…same freakin’ number, and that number is 3 lbs up from my low. I’m about to lose it here! What do I have to do? Ok…rant over. It is what it is, it is just a number. It would be easier to understand if I had eaten or drank a bunch of high carb stuff, but I have not gone off my low carb plan at all. Deep breath….

I’m so anxious for this trip with my sister. I need the time away to just forget about routine, the scale and whatever. Everyone needs a change of pace once in awhile.

I’ll be bundling up and heading for the golf course in a couple hours. I’m really not looking forward to it that much. It’s just too cold. I’ll go since I promised my friend that I would. Man am I a “Debbie Downer” this morning. Sorry….I think I’m letting that scale dictate my mood. That’s a bad thing.

Hope you all enjoy your Saturday. I’ll try to make my next post more upbeat!

No time to read that right now Salma, but I will later. I do agree that you shouldn’t expect exercise alone to make you lose weight. After all, you can’t out run your fork! I exercise for the muscle toning and overall health benefits.

Off to bundle up for golf…….ugh.

Good Morning!

Yesterday ended up not being too bad on the course. I played pretty well(for me) and I was dressed just right for the conditions. It didn’t feel that cold as there was no wind. My friend and I had a good time and I got some good exercise.

On the food front, I did have a few “off plan” items, but the scale is down 2 lbs this morning. It will probably pop back up a bit, but I was happy to see a lower number this morning.

Today is rainy and dreary, so I’ll be puttering around the house doing laundry etc. I may make a grocery store run…not sure. I sort of love having a day without a plan!

Hope you’re all having a good weekend. Salma…hope you had a good trip home.