diane4394's Friends

So, I did the C word again and boy did it turn out great! I roasted a pork loin rubbed first with a little olive oil and then with rosemary and garlic along with a whole mess of baby carrots and thick onion slices (also coated in a little olive oil, garlic, and rosemary!). The trick to getting the super lean meat to turn out juicy was, according to the recipe, tenting it in foil after c**king for 10 minutes. Well, what do you know! It worked!

One of the nicest things about the recipe is that once I put it in the oven to roast, I had all the time in the world to do work on some drawings that have been occupying a larger and larger part of my day. Not destined to be complete suitable for framing drawings. Instead it is my from times of old traditional eclectic collection sketching on a very large sheet of paper that is now becoming covered with all sorts of things, some real, some imagined, some black white and shades of gray, some in gorgeous color, ...every now and then a few of the items want to be merged via a particularly interesting negative space and so, I oblige! I am so glad to be drawing again and so energized by the joy I still receive from it.

Finally, I'm past the tentative marks in the edges of sudoku books or a small drawing diary that will never see the light of day...even though some of the sudoku book ones were good. I even see the tendency to work with everyday people and things and make them Big and Important and somehow More than the normal state of being. It's all small stuff, but it's Big small stuff!

First the White thing. My Alasdair White CD finally came!!!!! It's called An Clar Geal which is Gaelic for The White Album!!!!! I am so happy! I danced bobbed and and sashayed all about the kitchen with the volume cranked way up! What a talented young fiddler (from the Isle of Lewis).

The Green thing is the soup I am making - split pea and ham. It's a traditional sort of recipe that I always thought that had a lot of calories, but the analyzer says it only has 226 calories and gets an A, so I will happily eat two large servings...or have a roll with one serving, hmmmmm, decisions....

Here's the recipe:

http://caloriecount.about.com/jannids-ham-split-pea-soup-rec ipe-r291056 

I think I'm going to go listen to the music again!

Oh dear, I'm not looking forward to weighing tomorrow. A bit too much cooking and feasting. So tomorrow I will start logging again--back to accountability.

Started the day with a yum egg onion spinach scramble and whole wheat muffin. When I do that I am good to go til lunch. I ran out of red peppers though so it wasn't as pretty as usual. Visuals are important for food satisfaction, so I will have to go to the store today and select a colorful palette of foods.

Lunch, hmmm. There's some left over sweet potato. Still hard to believe how low cal that is! Maybe that and a cuke tomato salad. Then I have orange, two greens, and red. That will look so tasty. I love my black stoneware as it always sets off colors like that so fine!

Am considering using the left over turkey in the white chili recipe for dinner. Likely better tasting than just using ground turkey. Again low cal. Can brown up a few rolls if I feel like it.

Dessert tonight will be a glass of port and a few dark chocolate covered almonds. I will log calories pretty regularly over the holidays, so I'd best go put all that in and see what kind of number to expect.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

ok, so yesterday i was 129 & today, 128.  LOL  seriously!  i just don't get it.  i really ate alot, too.  i didn't go way overboard, though.  well, except maybe on the strawberry creme cake.  hey, it had real strawberries on top!  ;)

anyway, yeah, i feel invincible.  it's like there's nothing i can do that'll hurt me.  i know that's a bad way to think, but that's how i feel.  it doesn't matter anyway.  it's not like i'd eat something stupid, just because i can.  i really, really TRY to eat healthy.  :D

i'll keep on eating whole bags of steamfresh veggies, drinking V8 & protein water, eating my fruits & fiber plus bars, etc.  last night, i was super hungry at like 10, so i had a whole bag of steamfresh & later i had a bunch of salad & then a fiber plus bar.  today after work, i came home & had a huge salad again.  it's not to say that all i eat is good.  LOL  we had ribs for dinner, but it's a good mix & a good balance.  yep!  i'm still eating my chocolate, too.  sorry, i couldn't live without that.  ;)

hang in there guys & think healthy!  healthy, healthy, healthy!!!  hey, lay off...  chocolate has fiber in it & protein, too! 

well, hang onto your hats, because it's almost december!  :D  you've got to be stronger now, stronger than ever!  oh man...  there are gonna be soooooo many temptations!!!  you just have to learn to say things like:

no thank you,

nah, i already ate,

do you have any fruit?

don't live to eat, eat to live!  don't hide from them foods, either.  they'll always be there.  just get used to seeing them & smelling them.  learn to enjoy it!

i love what jack lalane always said...  'if it tastes good, spit it out!'  hehe  not like i'd ever do that, but i love it!  :D

did i mention that i feel great today?  super great?! 

oh, and if you can PLEASE spare a second to vote, that would be greatly appreciated.  THANKS!!!  this pic is in 1st place now & it's all gonna be over on monday.

http://www.brickfish.com/GoToPage.aspx?qsi=26050467

after you vote, PLEASE, get up & get moving!!!  come on, you can do it!!!  you may not know you can, but i do!  i know you can...  :D

Had my favorite steel cut oats w/peanut butter and brown sugar this morning. Yum! Like eating a giant oatmeal cookie with a spoon. For lunch, maybe a couple tiny turkey sandwiches made out of layers of a roll and a side of sweet potatoes. Then for dinner a re-do of last night's meal.

I like to do my left overs right away as I have a "thing" about Old Used Food. By the second day it is noticeably Aging. Fortunately, we sent home a large care package with the Son, more with our Friends, and as the SU will eat Very Old Food, none will be wasted.

The most important thing I learned about the bacon basted turkey is....that when you remove the foil to brown the bird you need to remove the bacon. Otherwise you also get a well smoked turkey, but then maybe that's why it tasted so good. 

Today's activities will include cleaning the oven (hmmm gotta check CC's activity list), yoga, and walking somewhere but I don't think I'll go to the mall as I would likely have to knock over far more people than usual. But first, I'm going to make another cup of tea and do some Sudoku and maybe read a bit of a fun book in which Oscar Wilde is the solver of crimes galore.

Have a great day, everyone! 

Edit: change of dinner plans. We are going to stare at goats and have dinner out somewhere TBA...

Edit 2: went to Sweet Tomatoes - it has a different name in California, but it's the same place. High quality salad bar, good soups, pasta, baked sweet potatoes, etc. They had my fave pinto bean vege, and barley soup.

Bonn, I am sorry. I got a kick out of the movie. Jeff Bridges was perfect. Again, my apologies for my lack of taste and sensibility. Sparkly eye thing ROTFL! I do feel like I should not have like it because you found it so foul. I would not have liked it as much if it had been done in a serious tone or with an eye to some accuracy...unless it was a documentary, I don't mind seriousness and total accuracy in documentaries. The visuals in the movie were so fun, little things like the sty in Clooney's eye.

Excellent result from the overnight brine. The meat was juicy and flavorful, and the drippings were not excessively salty, so the gravy was good.

At the last minute, we packed up all the food and took it over to elder's to see their new house. It is gorgeous. I am so happy for them, and so grateful for my life. :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!  Woot!  Woot!  :D  i hope you all enjoyed your dinners and are ready to settle back down now.  yep, back to reality.  you know...  the happy new lifestyles that you've all chosen...  ;)

yes, you CAN have your cake & eat it, too!  but not all the time!  LOL  AND you better make sure that you stay active, too!  come on, you guys...  i know it's still thanksgiving, but you can still get them workouts in.  at least throw in some spurt, if that's all you can do.  remember?!  anything is better than nothing?!

i got my hour & almost 15 minutes in.  i'll be finishing up soon.  don't worry about me.  LOL  you know i'm good for it.  hehe  besides, after all that food, we should all be doing extra today!

i hope you all weren't too bad today.  if you were, don't worry about it.  it's a lifestyle!  you're in it for life!  one day won't hurt...  ;)  i sure hope you all had some fruits, veggies, lots of fiber & stuff, along with all that other stuff you had.

anyway...  yeah, i had to post this again...    Please Vote!!!

my friend is in a photo contest and I am trying to help her. She took a great photo with a blackberry phone and is doing really well... but needs a little more help. If my friends would just click on this and vote for the Lake picture... IT WOULD HELP!!! Thanks Again!!!

The bird is in the oven basting itself with some wonderful fatty bacon. The combo aroma of bacon, turkey, and cornbread/sausage stuffing is already so wonderful.

Got most of the hard stuff done yesterday, and my Thai friend is coming early to peel and chop up potatoes and sweet potatoes for me and be the savior of my poor arthritic hands that are letting me know my do it all on Thanksgiving days are having a grand finale. So funny. She's the one that is a professional chef and owned a restaurant in CA a few years ago, but she will be my sous chef! She is also bringing the bacon wrapped dates....wait, I am a bit late here, but I am seeing a distinct bacon theme...anyway, those dates will be part of my lunch!

Can't wait for my son and his girlfriend to arrive. I haven't been able to give him the "pat, pat, pat, oh, poor babies" yet and need to admire the cast.

Gotta go stir the simmering stock!