Still Struggling With Weight Watchers

I have been attending Weight Watchers meetings for something like three years now, mostly because I have two dedicated friends and we meet there every week and catch up afterwards over coffee. I'm sure without that grouping we all would have fallen away a long time ago. We certainly haven't heard anything new in a long time, and we all know what we need to do to "eat healthy".

I guess my big beef with WW is that they do not address those of us who really know how to cook. They kind of dumb it down so that it will appeal to the most number of people--it's a business, and like any business, they have to maintain a paying clientelle. I do my best to cut the calories, but it is so hard when I can go out into my kitchen and put together something delicious with whatever is on hand. Take tonight. 5 pm, no dinner planned, watching the news. Actually, 6 pm, since it is Saturday, and the news comes on late. Also, I want to catch the episode of Sherlock Holmes that will be on PBS at 7 pm.

Hit the freezer, defrost a pound package of tuna medallions. (What a lovely find these have been. They wait for me frozen until I want to fix them, either pan seared, or grilled outside with marinade--on sale for only $3.99!) Do a couple of steamed potatoes in the microwave, blanch fresh string beans, HB two eggs, slice up farm lettuce, a few black olives and Voila! Salade Nicoise! Perfect for a 90* day when who wants to eat anything hot.




Last night we had America's Test Kitchen recipe for Chicken Paprikash with couscous--and
yes, there was a salad on the side.

At Easter the WW leader told us to skip the cheese and crackers--they aren't delicious...Do you think she has ever tasted triple cream Havarti or St Andre's? At least I have managed to get over dessert. I pretty much just don't make it any more unless we are having company. But, I am a good baker. I used to make 10 loaves of bread at a time for the fam...

I confess I will continue to fight the good fight--I suppose half due to vanity, and half due to the fact that I enjoy my life too much to give it up to obesity. But, WW needs to start a gourmet class...

Flashback To A Lonely Beach

Last year we took a trip to Hawaii. We landed in Kona, and stayed at a beautiful resort condo on the lava side of the island. It was so unusual there, since one whole side of the island is a giant lava field--everything is black and spiky--like being in outer space, but with lovely air and water. They have taken to building big resorts on that side of the island, out by the beach, but along the main (only) road there is nothing but black lava. We drove up to the north end where things were entirely different. You kind of turn a corner at the point of the island, and there is the most amazing giant vegetation covering everything. Trees are towering, with winding vines growing up that have huge leaves and bright flowers in reds and yellows. We pulled off the road at a marina, just to look at the ocean, and were rewarded with spinner dolphins hunting in a pack--close enough to follow what they were doing, circling, and feeding. Then, a pod of pilot whales came past--at least eight spouting, plus a baby who kept jumping.

We went further on, and were directed by signs to a small park/beach. We were the only people there, and the waves were crashing in on the rocks. The water was such a gorgeous blue green, and the foam was bright white, and it was all so striking, but a little creepy because it seemed so deserted. And--just to the left of the picture were big tsunami warning signs, and a tower with four horns attached to the top. Made me not want to linger.

This morning when we got up, the river flooding in New Jersey was bumped off the news by the tsunami warnings for Hawaii and the west coast. It took me right back to that beach. Now, I live on an island, but I could not live on THAT island. It has the volcano at your back, and the ocean at your front, and no place that you could get to for miles and miles. Maybe I think too much...it was pretty...

The Robins Lie

Those robins are such liars. Yesterday there were four robins hanging out at the bottom of the bird feeder. Today, we have this. I confess, those robins looked like they were fleeing the territory--they seem to be solitary whenever I see them pecking in the lawn in the spring and summer, only grouping together when they have travelling plans. Sometimes in the fall there will be twenty of them all feasting in our driveway before heading south (north? Who knows where they go?) One year we followed them home from Florida and there were multitudes of them along the grassy edges of the parkways when we got home. Then we had more snow.

Maybe the trick is to look for the singleton who has staked out your yard for the season. If they are in a flock, don't let them suck you in to thoughts of spring. It's all a scam. The bonus for today is that there are four pairs of cardinals all desperate for seeds out at the feeder. The white snow magnifies their color, and they are so pretty going back and forth from the feeder to the lilac trees. What I'm hoping is that their desperation is not signalling more stinky weather...

Tulip Time

It's tulip time again! That's the time of year when we are so desperate for some sign of spring that we will pay anything they ask for a little bunch of tulips to put on our table and pretend that spring is on the way.

This winter has been particularly stinky for those of us in the Northeast. We have had at least one snow storm a week, and on some lucky weeks, two. Even though things warmed up a bit last week, melting off most of the nasty icy patches, mounds of snow are still piled up high at the edges of the curbs, and big hills in parking lots threaten to persist for weeks to come. The tv weathermen are promising a warm up, but they caught me this morning and tricked me into wearing stockings and a skirt to church, and I paid for it with freezing legs.

Oh well. Off to the breakfast room to admire my tulips!

Tough Times

The Holidays. Counselors always say that the holidays are hard for a lot of folks. Ours are usually fine, since we get along with family. But for us it is also a tremendous amount of work, since most of the entertaining takes place here, and many times includes overnight guests, which means that the "living spaces" of the house have to be as lovely and clean as the "public areas."

My folks and my son and his wife came and stayed at Thanksgiving and we had a grand time. We were 20+ for dinner, and invited guests in for leftovers in the following days. But, my mom had several scans scheduled for the week she went back home. The scans showed the worst possible thing that they could show--all a very big surprise to everyone, including the doctors.

It became obvious that it was only a matter of time for her, and we all hoped for longer rather than shorter. After New Year's I headed south to my parents home, but there were phone calls saying that Mom was not doing well at all. She was getting the best of care, and was comfortable, but it was obvious that her decline was rapid. Stunningly rapid. She passed in the wee hours, as they say many souls do, only a little more than a month from the date of the first scan.

I was grateful that I got to say goodbye. We didn't get to talk much, but she told us that she loved us. I came home, and we planned her memorial service. Family and friends came back to our house, and we had a pretty good party in her honor. I'm only sorry it wasn't her birthday party, but then, eventually this day would have come anyhow. Sorry, Mom, it was so short. Somehow 87 years doesn't seem like enough.

White Christmas

Well--White-after-Christmas...Thankfully, Christmas Day was lovely and clear.

Today, the 26th is quite the different tale. The blizzard is predicted for Long Island, and we seem to be getting it. Yesterday, everyone was able to get here and be on their way without the agita of weather to add to their travels. One family even escaped to Florida by leaving on a 6am flight. How clever of them! By 9am there were tiny flakes in the air, and by 10, it was a full raging snow storm. Church finished by 11am, and I drove home on the ugly, untouched roads. When I got down to the Village, things had been salted, and the roads were only wet and black. NY State doesn't seem to feel the need to anticipate, and always leaves the salting out on Rt 231 until there is too much snow on the road to make it work without the plowing. The wind is coming in sideways from the north, and so are the flakes. Oddly, for the last number of hours, the wind is still blowing, but the accumulation is less than I would have thought.

But, there have been a couple of ominous flickers of the lights, so here's hoping the power stays on. We have a fire place, but the wood pile is out back, untouched for quite a number of years, since building a wood fire in our house seriously throws off the temperature in the whole rest of the house. We have a fancy candelabra in there now, and that kind of subs for a real fire (when we remember to light the candles.) But, if the power goes off, and we need some serious heat to keep the temperature of the house up high enough to keep the pipes from freezing, we are going to need the fireplace. Here's hoping the tree limbs all stay where they are, and the electricity stays on. This storm is supposed to blow until dinner time tomorrow. Right now, though, things sound pretty quiet outside--don't hear the wind hitting the house the way it was before. I don't understand the way it can cool things off in the house, even though MyTreasure has spent countless hours sealing up everything he can stuff with weather stripping. As soon as the wind comes up, this place feels like an old log cabin, with spaces between the logs.

Merry Christmas, everyone! We had fun yesterday, not so much today.

I Don't Know...

I confess there are times when I wonder if I've gone over the top. Those moments you look at yourself and what you are doing, and say "How on earth did I get here, and how off the charts is this?" I arrived at that point two afternoons ago when I found myself ironing feathers. Does that sound ridiculous? There was a good reason, but for heaven's sake, who would think they would end up ironing feathers. Who even knew feathers could be ironed?

I found this cute little pattern for lavender sachets. The picture showed them trimmed with marabou. Marabou is that fluffy stuff that they use on the edges of fancy lingerie, satin slippers, and of course, your classic feather boa. Ha! I found out that they are nothing more than turkey feathers! But, I digress.

I found a cheapie boa in the dollar store, and thought for a buck, I could experiment. Seems the ends of the feathers are rolled into strands of string, and then wrapped with thread that keeps it all together. I cut it apart, and found that the feathers could be used, but they were all crinkled up from being wrapped. So, like any good crafter, I experiment.

The quill is almost like a natural plastic, and goes nicely back into shape when flattened with an iron. I have one of those tiny triangle irons, and it was perfect. The steam from the big iron actually revived the fluffy part of the feathers. Well--whatever works! I didn't think hot glue would be a good thing, so I attached my little feather pieces with Fabri-tac, which sets up very quickly. I think they came out pretty cute. Now we'll see if anyone at the church fair wants to take them home...