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Category Archives: food

This week in my life

01 Jun

There was a trip to the dentist. Resulting in a bruised jaw and droopy anaesthetised eyelid. Very attractive, me.

Also two trips to the Children’s Hospital, involving four vials of blood and a chest x-ray.

There was a trip to my accountant to do OMGTAX. And, if I manage to squeeze it in, a trip to the local council offices to view and photocopy the plans for our house.

There were traffic lights on Facebook that made it into my blog. And a bad friend who quoted the Traffic Light song and now I have an earworm.

There was a Diagram of Cheese, which did not. Until now. I don’t think it’s very complete.

There was an ill-advised Trip to IKEA (if I count last Sunday as part of this week).

Two gifts were bought for Fraser. He does not know what they are so I cannot tell you, Dear Reader. But they are awesome. And one might be for Sharing. Tragically, though, neither of them is Spy Cufflinks.

There was lots of work, jammed in between driving the Bigster around and hangin’ at the hospital.

And Nigerian Spam, addressed to Dearest One. Which made me feel happy even though it was from the Bad People.

There were no games at all, and only one very mediocre book. (See my slightly ranty review of the latest Pern novel, Todd & Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon’s Time at Goodreads – warning, SPOILERS sweetie!)

But there were TWO purple vegetables. Neither of which is usually purple.

And there was excitement about the upcoming Doctor Who card game by Martin Wallace.

As weeks go, I’d give it a 7.5/10.

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2012 in books, food, games, health, not your earth logic, shopping, tax, to-do

 

The School Lunch Disconnect

16 Apr
Frances sets out her school lunch. This image from http://ironchefdininghall.wordpress.com/

Bread and Jam for Frances is the ultimate School Lunch book.

With the girls headed back to school for Term 2, my thoughts once again are turning to freedom staying in bed all day cleaning their bedrooms school lunches. And all that that entails.

In our family, Fraser makes the school lunches and I criticise provide the constructive support and advice. Or try.

I am, of course, guided by the example of the mother in one of my all-time favourite books, Bread and Jam for Frances. In it, Frances discovers that although bread and jam is her favourite, sometimes it is nice to eat spaghetti and meatballs or a soft-boiled egg or even a string bean.

The next day when the bell rang for lunch, Albert said, “What do you have today?”

“Well,” said Frances, laying a paper doily on her desk and setting a tiny vase of violets in the middle of it, “let me see.” She arranged her lunch on the doily.

“I have a thermos bottle with cream of tomato soup,” she said.

“And a lobster-salad sandwich on thin slices of white bread.

I have celery, carrot sticks, and black olives, and a little cardboard shaker of salt for the celery.

And two plums and a tiny basket of cherries.

And vanilla pudding with chocolate sprinkles and a spoon to eat it with.”

“That’s a good lunch,” said Albert. “I think it’s nice that there are all different kinds of lunches and breakfasts and dinners and snacks. I think eating is nice.”

Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on April 16, 2012 in children, food

 

BGGcon wrap-up

22 Nov

Well my week and a bit as a lone parent is nearly up. As Fraser and his assorted hats and very full suitcases wing their way home, let’s take a quick look back.

The most challenging part was dealing with Otto, who is not the most self-motivated of children and who needs to be nagged to do anything. Case in point: I don’t think she has showered more than once in the last 10 days. Now I am not a “you must shower every day” person (well, I am, but not where my 8 year old is concerned), but that it stretching it a bit far even for me. I did hit unexpected success with a bribe on Sunday, though.

The best bits were the fun stuff like sneaking off to Cold Rock ice cream (Baileys and Honeycomb ice cream with cookie dough and a strawberry Freddo crushed through it = amazing) and taking the girls out to dinner tonight.

The naughtiest bits were letting the cats cruise around the house overnight. Which was not always a success, as Snowflake gets VERY chatty at around 4:30am. One more night, kitten, then Fraser will put you in your place. Which is shut up the back of the house (living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom – it’s not like they are really deprived).

The most unexpected-but-nice thing was having a friend drop in on Friday afternoon. Even though I was clearing stuff up while we chatted, it was good to have someone to talk to (and keep me working!).

The ickiest bits were having to clean out the kitty litter Every Day. Ugh. And having to detangle Otto’s hair after the aforementioned 10 shower-free days. She is not a calm child when her hair is being deknotted. Oh – and changing my nephew’s nappy when I babysat him and my niece on Saturday night.

The most difficult bit was carrying Otto to the car, after that babysitting session. I had to get my brother to help – fortunately she was awake when we got home so I didn’t have to break my back.

The most exhausting part was juggling my work. I am available to work 23 hours per week. Last week, I worked nearly 40. This week, by 9am Tuesday, I had already worked 15 hours. And was feeling like I was already behind.

The funniest part was the Bigster having friends over to film a brief movie for her English project. Otto had a friend round too, and the two little girls sat at the back door and watched the big kids. “It’s like we’re watching a movie be filmed!”

And the scariest part was finding that the handle is almost off the back door.

Doorknob

The doorknob is almost off

Now for most people, this would probably not be a problem. I really don’t think that someone has tried to break in, however suddenly this seems to have happened. But I am an absolute coward when it comes to being home alone (in fairness, this came after being a victim of a rather persistent peeping tom in my teens and a burglary while I was home alone not long after), and the combination of that and waaaaayyyyyyy too much diet coke while working late meant that very little sleep was got on Sunday. Even though I locked the doors, I kept hearing Noises. Not-Cat noises. Ugh.

And the most procrastinatey part was writing a blog post when OMG I HAVE WORK TO FINISH TONIGHT.

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2011 in family, food, not your earth logic, work

 

Week 2 weigh-in

30 Apr

Week 2: Exactly the same as week 1.

First I put on weight when I started eating again (and keeping it down); then I lost a bit; then I did some baking for a school event and gained a little; then I lost some more. Next week will be a loss. And 5.1 kilos in 2 weeks is a good strong start. Last week, I borrowed this week’s drop :)

Food is still OK, a bit harder to juggle when I am working each day. Fortunately most days have a lunchtime salad so if I didn’t make it at home the night before I can just get it from the deli across the road. I’ve found one dud dinner that was almost completely inedible but that’s not bad for 14 dinners tried. Some of the lunches are really nice; most of the dinners are mediocre but that’s why you supplement with your own veggies. I’m definitely glad I didn’t choose a frozen-veggies-included option.

This week I try MOMO which is not a famous children’s book by the author of the Neverending Story but is “Meals on my own” – that’s because I have my nephew’s christening to look forward to on Sunday. I’m pretty confident that MOMO will be fine, but I’m not sure about the “baking and decorating 90 cupcakes for the party” part – suspect there might be some sampling that will tell its own tale. Resist, Melissa, resist!

 
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Posted by on April 30, 2010 in food, weight

 

1 week in

23 Apr

5.1 kilos lost in week1

Sadly, most of that would be the Vomit Virus. I am back to not keeping food down. Makes it hard to tell what is real weight loss and what is just temporary.

Saw my Dr today & he confirmed that all we can do is wait it out. And offered me a certificate for work, which would be good if I were an employee and didn’t actually have Stuff To Do. As it is, it’s frustrating and I need to start feeling better so I can actually DO some of it.

I’m meant to increase my activity levels this week, which is easy compared to a baseline of “bed to bathroom and back”. Not sure that is quite what they mean, though.

 
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Posted by on April 23, 2010 in food, health, weight

 

Diet diet diet

22 Apr

So, last week I wrote about starting this new diet. And how it would jinx it to talk about it. So now I am going to talk about it, at length, despite that.

I really, really need to lose a lot of weight. Not in a hurry – but I have been trying to shift it for 15 years or so, with varying degrees of success, each time eventually recidivising (is that a verb? Is it even a word?). I am the yo-yo dieter in action. Except for the action part; I guess maybe I am the yo-yo that someone curled up and left mouldering on a desk somewhere. Except that, I imagine, yo-yos don’t usually get fat when they moulder. Anyway. Again and again: lose 10 kilos, start to fail, stop. I have tried OMG SO MANY diet plans and lifestyle modification programs and … and … and nothing. Well, 10 kilos down and a year later they’re back, and they usually invite their friends along too.

Here’s what I am good at:

  • Being successful (as long as I am successful, my motivation is high).
  • Willpower; Sticking to plans.
  • Cooking fairly healthy and really rather delicious meals.
  • Losing the first 5-10 kilos.
  • Being accountable (to someone or something – I have to weigh myself pretty well every day or I start to lose focus; I’m good at writing down OMG EVERYTHING that I eat – for a while/while someone is interested).

And here’s where I come unstuck:

  • Not being successful. Actually, failure is NOT your friend.
  • Actually making the plans – and as soon as I skip making plans, I get a bit lost and fall back on Oh Crap There’s Nothing In The House Let’s Get Pizza (TM).
  • Skipping meals. Which, counter-intuitively, is bad when you are trying to lose weight.
  • Eating enough veggies – where “enough” means “about 5 cupfuls a day”.
  • Taking my lunch to work. I can get it ready, pack it, put it on the kitchen bench … and find it there when I get home at the end of the day. Sigh.
  • Snacking. I can be COMPLETELY motivated and about 150% on the ball … but I still automatically buy a chockie when I buy my tram ticket. And then, as I think about how I need to start walking again, I just kind of stick it in my mouth and eat it. And I am meant to be only eating 3 meals a day, but even so …

Since we got back from Germany, I’ve been trying to sort this out and do something about my weight again. Thinking a lot about what works for me, and how I can harness that. Apparently the technical term is “pre-contemplative stage” but I like to call it “anally retentively obsessing about every little detail” or possibly “avoidance”.

Late last week, I finally cracked the proverbials and rang, of all places, Jenny Craig. I confess to being a JC sceptic, but I think it might just have what I need right now. It’s kind of daggy, though.

For those not in the know, the program – sorry, The Program – offers:

  • Weekly personal weigh-in with a consultant. Every week, they put you on the scales and once a month they measure you and hopefully you have lost weight AND centimetres and then you both feel good.
  • Meal plans. Weekly meal plans, everything laid out. 6 cups of broccoli, 3 cups of mushrooms, 3 serves of tuna. Fortunately, you’re allowed to swap this stuff out. I think it was the 27 kiwifruit in the first week that did for me.
  • Yes, maybe I am exaggerating. But really not about the broccoli.
  • Pre-prepared meals. As in, you don’t need to cook their food, it is already cooked for you. And weighed, and measured. Except for the many many serves of fruit and veggies that you eat every day, which you have to buy separately. And milk.

Now, I was (am) a sceptic about this. Because I am the main cook for the family and I really didn’t want to be preparing about a squillion different meals every night for the family. Or eating apart from them, or isolating myself. Or, um, eating crappy food while my family eat the nice food I cook for them with love and affection. Or spending a fortune on it, either. So I went in there with Doubts. Also, Jenny Craig is well-known for recidivism (I know that IS a word) – people have trouble maintaining their loss once they have started.

The consultant I saw didn’t really help – she was quite big on the sales pitch. But going in there let me think things through a bit more. And here’s my thoughts on all those negatives.

  • Try before you buy: the full, 7-year program cost is $499. Plus food, obviously – the $499 is just for the privilege of being allowed to buy Jenny Craig’s food. But I can try it for free for 3 months, through my health fund (oddly, I did not have to prove this in any way). If I sign up for the full program within a month, I am eligible for their OMG SUPER AMAZING DEAL where they give you half the program costs back if you remain at goal for a year … but who am I kidding? I’d rather forfeit the $249-in-about-3-years’-time-if-I-am-lucky and go for the two extra months of being able to pull out if I want to. Ha, suckers, lost your leverage there!
  • Possibly this diet business is not actually a battle between me and the company? Nah.
  • I do still prepare family dinners, but I have to prepare veggies anyway. And maybe my family will start eating more veggies, if they are there on the table?
  • The veggie prep is not too bad. And I made a huuuuuuuge pot of veggie soup on Saturday, that I froze into serving-sized containers. So if I don’t feel like cutting veggies for 20 minutes, omg seriously, I can just take a cup of that. And I am trying to get the Bigster (and Fraser) doing more of this stuff oh damn just blew that cover too. Hope he didn’t read this far!
  • The food is OK. Not great, but certainly not bad. The only other company that I know of that does ready-packed meals provides all the veggies, too – and they’re all frozen. And soggy. Don’t like that.
  • I do miss eating the nice food when I cook it for my family, so I am going to only cook crappy food for them too, as a punishment.
  • It’s not cheap, but it’s not desperately expensive, especially when you consider that I was buying lunch at work Every Single Day Ever. And often snacks, too. Week 1 was $140 which is probably about double what my share of the grocery bill would normally be – plus $40 for lunches means about $30 a week more expensive. That’s unlikely to require clandestine organ donations for funding purposes, although I will keep my options open.
  • I’m 99% sure that the tummy bug I have had this week is a *real* tummy bug and not an OMG I AM EATING DIET FOOD! Tummy bug. Mainly because my sister-in-law thinks she has the same thing, and now it looks like the Bigster has caught it too. “No, darling, I am not precisely glad that you have got sick … but it does rather prove my point.”
  • OK, I lied about the cooking. I still cook the nice stuff. Really.

And the big one:

  • Worrying about recidivism before actually losing any weight is kind of putting the cart before the proverbial. If this program works, then I can worry about that later. When it is working and I have lost and am continuing to lose weight. If it doesn’t work, there’s plenty of time to claw back that moral high-ground: “Oh yes, I tried Jenny Craig, but the program really doesn’t work long-term, you know.”

In short: I’m a sceptic, hoping to become a True Believer. Wondering whether my scepticism will actually hold me back. Ugh. I could stress about this all night.

But meanwhile I still have the Vomit Virus and really need some sleep. Some things are more important than obsessing.

 
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Posted by on April 22, 2010 in food, health, weight

 

New start?

16 Apr

I signed up for a weight loss program today.

Yet another weight loss program, really – I have tried so many, over the years. I’m pretty good at getting to 10 kilos, it’s past that that I lose track.

This one’s a bit different (but still food-based – I don’t want to go the meal supplement route). Don’t want to say too much here as I feel it might jinx me or something.

The real telling point for me was during the interview. Not when the consultant asked me how I would feel when I got to my goal weight, but but when she asked me how I feel now – because once I got past “fat” and “ugly” the big word was “defeated”. And that pissed me off a bit – I don’t like to be defeated. Maybe anger will achieve what defeat has sabotaged in the past.

I get a 3-month “free” trial through my health fund. I like that, because it gives me a chance to see if this is going to work for me. I know I need to do something, it’s just that I need to work out *what* I need to do.

And “eat less and exercise more” just trivialises it.

I’m just not sure if it’s even possible.  I’ll give it a good try, though.

 
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Posted by on April 16, 2010 in food, health

 

When dinner is political

24 Feb

We ate Indian food tonight, in support of Vindaloo against Violence.

At a time when Melbourne seems to be suffering a growth in violence of all kinds, but particularly knife attacks/stabbings and racially motivated attacks, it was a small gesture that I hope said a lot. I understand that there has been criticism that it over-simplifies or even trivialises the issues around violence and racial attacks, but to me, it was like going on a march, only in a more convenient way. And with yummy Indian food.

Good to see some pollies and schools taking it on.

I had no idea how popular it would be, when I rang our local Indian takeaway just after 6. While the event really called for people to eat out, it wasn’t an option for us as we had to have a child out by 7pm. Errm, out as in extra-curricular activities, not as in born or anything. Cos ewww.

They told me the usual 15-20 minutes, so I was there just before 6.30. The shop was completely packed – I counted 15 people in the small area – and more kept arriving. It was 5 minutes before I could tell anyone I had phone ordered, and they were still preparing our food – I finally left at 6.45 with our Indian food of choice (Butter chicken, garlic naan, raita, pappadums, 1/2 tandoori chicken, rice). Yeah, I know – but Butter Chicken Against Bashings doesn’t sound as good as Vindaloo against Violence.

It will be interesting to see what sort of follow-on press this event gets.

One criticism though: the choice of hashtag – #vagainstv – was beyond unfortunate … just move the second a back a few spots and you get a quite different sort of event – every time I see that character string, my mind goes to the Naughty Place.

Meanwhile, I had an encounter with yobbery – arrived at school to collect Otto from after-school care and got inside the school to hear squealing brakes and watch as a small car barrelling down the (suburban side) street beside school squealed its breaks and dropped a 180 degree turn before parking in the centre of the road. I watched the driver’s door open and the driver almost fall out, VB in hand, while another VB can fell out of the car. The driver and his passenger then staggered off into the flats across from school.

Now here’s the question: when something like that happens, what do you do?

A: Ignore it because it’s none of your business?

B: Mention it to the Powers That Be at school, and suggest that maybe there should be a reminder about safe road behaviour in the next newsletter?

C: Take down the number plate and call the police

I suspect I will B, because I still hope to save the world, one day.

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2010 in food, school

 

Lessons Learned from Baking

17 Jul

Before baking biscuits that you cut with cutters?

1. Do not assume that your local supermarket will sell cookie cutters.

2. Cups always make good cutters. It is good for children to learn to improvise.

3. A rolling pin is often useful.

4. In the absence of a rolling pin, an empty bottle or a cylindrical container makes an acceptable substitute.

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2009 in food

 

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The horror that was March 10th

11 Mar

I know that Jon at least hates this type of post, but I can’t think of any other way to express the fairly unutterable horror that was March 10th.

It went a bit like this:

1am: Bed. Oops. I can’t even claim that I was working – I was chatting with friends. Haven’t done that for ages – at least, not till that late.

7am: Wake up. Groan. Pretend to go back to sleep

8am: Finally give in and get up. Get kids ready for school, etc etc etc. Otto mucks around so we are late for school and arrive at …

9:04am: tell kids to just sneak in to whole-school Assembly as Rolls are marked afterwards and not before. Biggie disappears into the Year 5-6 building to put her bag down while I head for Assembly with Otto, who really does not want to be there. Oops – mea culpa. Important to get them there on time.

9:20am: Wonder where Biggie is. School psychologist person pops up at my elbow and asks if I have a minute. She has Biggie in her office, very unhappy. She went to sign herself in because it’s a Rule. Looooong discussion where Biggie asserts that she thinks I love Otto more than I love her. And so does dad. And so does Otto. Terribly terribly sad but why do I get the feeling she is pushing buttons? Note that she didn’t actually say she thought that, school psychologist asked her whether she thought that and she agreed. This seems to me to be a Subtle Yet Relevant Difference. Agree to meet with school psychologist in a couple of weeks. What a mess – if the Bigster really does think that, there is major damage repair to be done. If she doesn’t, grrrr.

9:55am: call the salon to cancel 10am appointment. My eyebrows will have a life of their own by the end of the week.

11:10am finally leave school psychologist’s office. Realise I still have Otto’s bag. Realise lunchtime has started. Bolt for Year 1 classroom to find Otto and teacher, puzzled. Phew.

11:25am do the quickest makeup ever, grab bag for work. Realise I will have to drive in to make 12 noon meeting. Realise client has rung this morning. Hope it was to cancel 12 noon meeting. 

11:26am Realise I am out of luck. She was confirming the meeting. Decide to drive.

11:47am Outside client’s work. See guy get into car ready to drive off. See guy talk on mobile phone. Decide to wait.

11:50am Still waiting

11:52am Decide to move round to the other side of the road so guy can see me, waiting for his parking space.

11:52:30am While I am moving, guy drives off and Other Driver takes spot. Gaaaaah.

11:57am See someone get into car parked outside client’s office. Do u-turn across tram bumps to get to spot.

12:00noon Walk into office.

blah blah meetings blah blah move car to nearer my office blah blah feed meter, leave.

15:10 arrive at school for 15:30 finish. Decide to go buy Otto a Doll.

15:24 in shop, listen to owner screaming at husband to get off the damn phone so she can process my credit card transaction for doll and dolls’ clothes. Fair Trade Organic Cotton dolls’ clothes, no less. Yikes!

15:28 back to school. Yay!

Then the girls and I bought donuts (for them and Fraser, not for me) and I went to the dentist for stage 3 of my root canal that began in Hungary. This time, I have ended up with a metal band that looks like Alfoil around my tooth (Jack Sparrow, eat your heart out). My dentist kindly cleans up my “panda eyes” after there was weeping. Stupid dental anaesthetic. Stupid pathetic mouth pain threshold.

Hmm, what next. Fraser took Otto to swimming and dropped the Bigster at home for some quiet time (at her request). Then they came back to collect me after my Exciting Tooth Experience.

Home and Biggie cooked dinner (put pre-made by me meatballs on a tray in the oven). Then the girls and I made the first batch of yummy cupcakes to take to school tomorrow for Otto’s 6th birthday. Yum!

I had a late doctor’s appointment – which was not great. I don’t have weird side-effects from the tablets I am on, I have gastroenteritis.

Home again to throw out the cupcakes I had made with Otto. Doctor’s orders.

And this brings me to the point of this post.

Because Fraser, who has never done this, EVER, for any of the girls’ birthdays, rose wonderfully to the occasion. He is now the proud baker of 35 perfectly pink vanilla cupcakes, with pink icing and pink and purple sprinkles. I may have been supplanted.

And I? Did work work work, chatted with Biggie’s friend’s mother, wrapped presents, tidied and generally supervised.

And now, it is 1am once again and I have a little girl who will be completely and utterly 6 in around 20 hours. And a little bit 6 before that, even.

Her gifts are all lined up on her new daisy beanbag.

I just wonder which of us will be last out of bed.

 
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Posted by on March 11, 2009 in children, family, food, health, to-do

 
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