Living ~400lbs

Category: food

  • Sweet Potato Fries

    These are popping up in several eateries in the area.  I went through a long phase of being bored with fries, but these are YUM. Growing up, I only knew sweet potatoes as candied sweet potatoes, which … are not my fave.  Mom enjoyed them throughout the year, usually with butter and maple syrup, which…

  • Freedom to Cook

    Dieting taught me to appreciate machinery-measured and packaged food with detailed nutritional labels.   Why? It made the math easier. I didn’t have to weigh things.  I didn’t have to dig out a ruler or measuring spoons.  Calories, carbs, protein — it’s all there, neatly printed, and totally uniform.  Sure, I had a few recipes…

  • Humorous Musical Interlude

    …because Monday needs more fun!  Have you ever thought about life from your refrigerator’s point of view? Vixy & Tony mostly perform in the Seattle area, but also travel to various Scifi cons. This song’s lyrics are here.

  • Coffee with Cream

    Back when Seattle was In and Happening, Time (or maybe Newsweek, but I remember it as Time) did a “Seattle package” including a cartoon from Lynda Barry.   The cartoon began with a friend, incredulous, asking how Barry could have sold her house in Seattle to move to Chicago.  Barry’s explanation points out that it’s…

  • “Every Little Bit Helps!” Really? Depends on your goal.

    Maybe in increasing overall health, but not in losing weight, it doesn’t.   This reminder was brought to you by this week’s Well column: Numerous scientific studies show that small caloric changes have almost no long-term effect on weight. When we skip a cookie or exercise a little more, the body’s biological and behavioral adaptations…

  • Confession

    I am dependent on food.*  I truly believe that I need food to continue living.** Further, despite weighing 401lbs (yes, I own a scale) I eat every day.  Even multiple times a day.*** Oh: and I think eating food when I’m hungry is a healthy and normal thing.  Bwah!  Clearly I am the destroyer of…

  • Barefoot Contessa

    I came a bit late to the Barefoot Contessa party, but watching The Food Network meant it had to happen sooner or later. Ina Garten was a White House policy analyst before buying a specialty food store and caterer called Barefoot Contessa. Eventually she sold the store and turned to writing cookbooks and magazine columns before…

  • Food and oxygen create fiery energy…

    I don’t believe in horoscopes, but I find FreeWill Astrology often gives me food for thought. This week’s Taurus horoscope is: Have you ever mused on the fact that your body is actually a kind of furnace? And that your whole life depends upon it? Food and oxygen are constantly combusting inside you, generating fiery…

  • On Cooking

    Two trend stories that are pretty different: In the NY Times Magazine, Michael Pollan cites research on how “cooking from scratch” has decreased over the last century, especially since the 60s. In the local paper, grocery chains on recent changes in sales.  In: flour, sugar, store brands, plants, hamburger helper, wines below $15/bottle. Out: cut flowers, pop,…

  • Day in the Life: Café Au Lait Truffles

    I’ve had See’s Café Au Lait truffles on my brain for a couple weeks now.  Not just any chocolate, mind.  Not an assortment.  I wanted the rich, yummy coffee filling.   (It’s funny that coffee isn’t something you find in many candies.  There’s Ritter Sport Cappuccino, which is also delicious, and chocolate-covered espresso beans, which…

  • Friday Fun: Afternoon Snack

    I spent the last hour at my desk, knowing I wanted a snack, but not sure if I how hungry I was.  Then I knew what I wanted but didn’t want to take the time to go to the kitchen and microwave it.   I had a piece of chocolate, some snack crackers….nope.  Finally I…

  • Sweetener Wars

    In the news: the “Sweetener Wars” continue as the blue, pink, and yellow packets are being joined with green Stevia packets.  Also there’s more “combination” sweeteners coming out.  What I find interesting is the mix of preferences.  Those who avoid sugar for medical reasons. Those who find avoiding aspartame, HFCS,  sugar, or sucralose reduces headaches or…

  • Tongue-in-cheek Lenten Poll :)

  • Thankful Thursday

    [A little exercise in gratitude and appreciating my body.] Knee is getting better (I was walking without pain for most of  Wednesday!  I took no ibuprofen today!) in part due to … Walking, leg lifts, “chair squats”, and other exercises from physical therapy, and … Stretching, and …  Having a job and life where I…

  • Mmmmmm….

      Whoever got the muffins and croissants for today’s “all-hands” meeting also got fresh blueberries and sliced mixed fruit (grapes, mango, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple and mushmelon).   Yum….  :)

  • Ash Wednesday

    Today always reminds me of the friend who gave up Catholicism for Lent one year.  :)  I grew up born-again, in a church that was a megachurch before megachurches were cool, in a small, fairly fundie denomination.  I was so “low church” I didn’t know what “low church” was.  I was baptized Episcopalian at St…

  • Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)

    At the urging of the Lord Peter group, I got Connie Willis’ comedic time-travel novel To Say Nothing of the Dog from the library (and liked it enough to buy it).  It starts off confusing (first-person narration by someone who’s time-lagged will do that) but is pretty funny, and full of golden age mystery fiction references.…