What I'm reading....

Often people remark to me when they hear that I'm avoiding sugar, whether I've read David Gillespie's book. (David is an Aussie who has gone on a 'crusade' against the high consumption of sugar after losing a lot of weight himself, by giving it up. He has been on Radio and TV shows promoting his books)  And I hadn't read it until a few weeks ago. I checked out the council library catalogue and put a hold on the book. But after reading the first page I realised that I had actually got his second book by mistake... I wondered whether if it would matter if I read the second one first...

It's a very 'easy read' and I didn't stop at the first page, I kept going! It became obvious that the first book provided the 'science' behind the theory that sugar (in the quantities eaten these days) is best avoided, but the writer did provide research studies' results in the second book as well. The first book does offer strategies for lowering sugar intake but the second goes into more detail and also provides recipes developed by Gillespie's wife Liz. I also appreciated the chapter on artificial sweeteners which just strengthened my resolve to avoid all of them.

When I read the chapters on how a person might expect to feel when they have 'given up' sugar, I found myself recognising all the outcomes that had happened to me. I felt quite smug because I had already weaned myself off the stuff (sugar) and the book was aimed at those who were going to try to do that! lol One bit of 'science' that Gillespie described really 'hit home'. The research suggests that eating a lot of sugar causes the appetite control part of the brain to become ineffective and in my personal experience this was exactly what happened. I was always hungry! Not any more:-)

I put a hold at the library for the first book and picked it up yesterday, so will start reading that shortly. Doesn't that donut look real on the cover!!

I'm still losing weight but not the average of 1- 1.5kg per month...more likely to be 400 g but that's ok. When the weather is a bit cooler I'll step up the exercise regimen.  

A week ago I needed a photo of me wearing reading glasses and instead of just taking a new photo, I went through my pictures files. Look at this photo taken in early June 2012, 3 weeks after I started to avoid sugar...

 I'm so glad that I came across this photo...it's a good reminder of what an overindulgence of cakes, chocolates and Mars bars can do 'after a certain age' lol! The photo below is a lot better..

Six months after giving up the treats

Some anti sugar proponents such as Sarah Wilson (another Aussie), forbid the eating of fruit...pfft! I've really got to enjoy and savour my 2 pieces of fruit per day in these last 8 months. Gillespie cites research which says that fruit, although obviously loaded with fructose, is ok because of the fibre if you eat fresh whole fruit. 

When we have guests over for a meal, I always prepare a fruit platter

Look what I saw at our local Coles supermarket last week... a large display and promotion for a breakfast cereal. I thought the name was very appropriate...as the amount of sugar in this cereal is very high.

But it won't be going into our shopping trolley!

An added Extra in the lettuce...

Last week my lettuce seedlings were too small to even pick a few leaves from so we bought a bag of leaves from the supermarket. I tipped out half the contents which were pre-washed on to a cutting board as I planned to chop the leaves a little as we were having homemade chicken fajitas for dinner. I then noticed something dark coloured had fallen out of the bag.

On closer examination, I saw that it was a 3inch (about 8cm) length of stick/wood, complete with borer holes. I decided that we would just have extra chopped avocado on the fajtas to make up for not having lettuce on the tortilla. I figured that it wasn't worth the risk of eating the leaves as who knows where the wood came from?

The next day I took the bag and stick back to Coles and got a replacement. They took my details but as yet I haven't heard anything. A friend of mine who is studying law commented and suggested I google a famous case in the UK, Donoghue v Stevenson , which has been called the 'snail in the bottle case'! And it did indeed make interesting reading. Ironically, this week the lettuce seedlings are ready to pluck a few leaves off each one.

Still on the census...

I’ve mentioned a few times in posts that DH is an Area Supervisor for the Census. He has trained and then supervised 8 collectors and one reserve and this afternoon he did another training session with them on the final phase of the process...Collection.  Tonight is CENSUS NIGHT Australia –wide but many people have already completed their forms online...DH and I have!

A number of months ago I stayed around home one Friday when all the boxes of Census materials were being delivered. These boxes took up a fair bit of room in the bedroom that DH is using as his office during this contract. Then after the first training session, the collectors came to our place to pick up their boxes, thus freeing up some room here.

There were 4 stacks of boxes just like this one!

DH ran today’s session from 4-6pm, so 11 (2 people from another area came to the session) people plus DH squeezed into our dining room for the training. The session also moved to the lounge room to watch the training DVD; DH commented that all 11 fitted on our modular suite!  My task for the session was to provide some refreshments. I guess I’m like a catering managerJ.  

During the 2 hours of the training I set myself up in my ‘sewing room’ where I crocheted around some donated squares and finished off the session reading some ‘Gardening Australia’ magazines.

All that was left! Enough for DH and I to share over a glass of red after jobs well done! lol

On my mind...memories of my childhood

In my last 2 posts I've started relating childhood memories as I look back over my 60 years. I link some of my blog posts to my Facebook account so I tend to get more comments there than on the actual blog.
I wrote how my parents grew vegetables and fruit and how my mother made jams, pickles and other preserves...it was just everyday life for them. She also made mine and her clothes and mended everything from underwear to sheets and curtains. One of my 'old' school friends made this comment:-

Sadly after my dad died, his beloved garden became overgrown

Valerie wrote: ‘Great blog Maria – interesting to look at the school photos- overweight kids almost didn’t exist. When I think back on what we ate – never ate out or had takeaway, never had fried food, deep fryers didn’t exist. We never ate pizza – didn’t know what it was. Never ate rice or Asian food or heard of stir frying. Never ate pasta – lasagne or ravaioli. Had never heard of risotto. From memory seemed to live on lamb chops and 3 veg. Life has changed so much in in our 60 years.’

Unlike Val, I did eat pasta; it was one of my favourite meals as a child. Pasta sauce simmmering on the stove would fill the house with amazing aromas. We also had 'peasant' style soups and casseroles filled with lots of homegrown vegetables. Another favourite meal was my dad's version of eggplant parmigiano with plump, purple eggplants, tomatoes and cheese on top of the layers. We also ate Greek style dishes as my father worked for a Greek family. I discovered pizza when it was served as one of the many courses at a cousin's wedding in 1963.

My mother, being Australian, did cook meals that  were 'English' in style but we ate them on Sunday nights if dad was working. He found such food lacking taste as herbs and spices were not used very much, let alone garlic and he wouldn't eat such food!

A family picnic in 1965; my mother made a 'mountain' of sandwiches (Aussie style) and we had the left-overs toasted for a few days after; little was wasted in those days.

Mostly I took Aussie style lunches to school (vegemite, peanut paste, tomato, cheese, egg and lettuce sandwiches) but sometimes I would take leftovers from our Italian style meals much to my school mates disgust! Having friends around to play could be a problem if my dad was home. He'd offer them Italian style food which was very strange to them!  (Some friends would suddenly need to go home when faced with strong cheeses and sundried tomatoes!) It's lovely all these years later to know that such foods are eaten and enjoyed by a large percentage of Australians and I'm no longer considered strange because of what I eat!

On my mind...breakfasts

Today I join fellow bloggers on the Down to Earth blog on the regular Friday feature, 'On my mind...'
Regular readers know that DH and I have been travelling these past 6 weeks. We like our hotels to have free wifi, laundry facilities if possible and DH likes a package where breakfast is included. We've stayed in many hotels on this holiday and the type and quality of breakfast offered has varied greatly. We've contributed to an increase in landfill here by the number of plastic bowls, plates and cutlery we've used in most motels.
Our hotel in New York was undergoing renovations on the lower floor so management provided 'breakfast boxes' that we collected from reception and then took to our rooms to consume. So even though I'm going to be critical, I acknowledge it was all about convenience and providing a service despite difficulties.

Now remember those 'cop shows' on TV where the officers eat doughnuts for breakfast??? It does happen!!! lol The contents of each of these boxes were;- 1 croissant, 1 cinnamon bun/donut, 1 prepackaged blueberry cake/muffin, 1 Special K bar, 1 packet orange juice. Also on the counter were extra pastries, as well as coffee and apples and bananas. I usually 'jagged' a banana but you had to be quick!!! SUGAR HIGH!!!!!!! I just can't eat that much sweet food any more for breakfast...but I can remember many many years ago my father ' having a fit' when he saw me have a slice of chocolate cake for breakfast! I was 14 but I remember it as though it was yesterday. He was really irate!!! My mother had given up on making me eat traditional breakfast food and let me eat all manner of 'inappropriate foods'. I wonder whether my daughters will read this! lol

On my mind...we bought a knife!

It may be Thursday here in the US but it is Friday back home so, as I usually do on a Friday, I'm joining in the regular Friday feature on Rhonda Jean's blog, http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-my-mind .
On my mind is how buying a knife has changed our lifestyle while holidaying in the USA. When we first arrived, 2 1/2 weeks ago, eating out all the time was the order of the day...but...we soon grew tired of that! I usually put a small paring knife in our luggage but forgot to do that this time and when we travel in Australia, we always prepare our own meals by booking into hotels with suites. Alas, the hotels with suites here have so far only had a microwave and no bowls and other useful equipment. At the end of our first week we bought some bread rolls, cubed cheese and ham and made some rolls for lunch, but we tore the rolls open to fill them. (the cubed cheese wasn't particularly nice either) Then, last week DH decided to buy a sharp knife...and what a knife! It's a beauty!

The knife!

The very useful scabbard in which to store our knife

Now we can cut up fruit and make fruit salad, (healthy huh?), we can slice bread and rolls, we can slice blocks of cheese, we can have tomato slices on our bread. So after a long day of driving we can get some supplies and make quite nice ' feasts' in our room and if breakfast is not included in the tariff (not often this happens but at some places the free breakfast is woeful!) we'll cut up fruit and bread etc and top with ham and cheese etc...Voila!
Depending where we have lunch, sometimes the lunch meal is large enough to count as the main meal, so we have our own prepared supper. It's not really about saving money...more about saving our waistlines!!! lol

Beautiful California and family secrets from long ago...

Now I realised yesterday that because I sent a link via email to some friends and relatives, that there may be some readers who aren’t that familiar with ‘blog-land’. For example, some may be puzzled by the use of the initials, ‘D.H.’. No I haven’t started holidaying with Derryn Hinch or Dustin Hoffmann and no it doesn’t stand for the Aussie derisory term, ‘D*ckhead’!!!! It stands for Darling/Dear Husband!

Bloggers also love to get comments (nice ones preferably) and readers can do this by clicking in the comment box. If readers don’t want to go to the trouble of getting a Google account, you can still leave comments anonymously but blog etiquette requires you to put your name at the end of your comment. Now we have those details out of the way, here is some more of my blog which, at the moment, is mainly all about our travels.

On Tuesday, Bruce’s cousin Adrienne drove up from Huntington Beach to meet us and take us out to see some sights. Adrienne’s mother Thelma, was DH’s mother’s cousin as they shared the same grandparents. Thelma has only recently passed away at nearly 98 years old, and it is since then that a number of family secrets have been revealed to Adrienne. Added to those shocks, Adrienne has discovered a whole lot of Australian relatives she formerly had little or no knowledge of. DH and I met Adrienne for the first time and she took us on a lovely day out.



Our lovely guide, Adrienne



First of all, we went to a secluded and quite exclusive cemetery where many celebrities have been buried. People such as Eddie Albert, Marilyn Monroe, Donna Reed and Eve Arden are just a few celebs buried/resting there. While we were walking around looking at the plaques I saw a little squirrel. He was so cute and the first American squirrel I’ve seen.

The flowers in the holder were fresh flowers albeit slightly dead! The story goes that Joe DiMaggio arranged for fresh flowers to be placed there every day...but we think he's dead now...

A long view of the wall where Marilyn is

A favourite actor of mine...Eve Arden and her husband

A famous family; I remember their brand of baking soda!

Another view of this little 'oasis'; it is surrounded by many highrise condos and apartments now

The little chapel where services were held

The little squirrel

He let me get quite close

Then Adrienne drove us along the Pacific Coast Highway and we admired the beautiful coastline which is similar to many parts of the Australian coastline. We passed a number of exclusive communities, especially some houses on the cliffs fronting the sea. The road view of the houses wasn’t impressive being mainly garages etc but Adrienne assured us that the parts of the houses facing the sea would indeed be impressive.

Malibu

We drove to Malibu which, thanks to the ‘surfie’ movie era, and ‘surfer music’, we were familiar with. Then we had lunch at a seafood restaurant called ‘Gladstones’, overlooking the beach...it was a beautiful venue and the food was wonderful. My Californian salmon salad was so delicious and beautifully presented.

View through the window at Gladstones

The lime tarts DH and I shared for dessert

We had a wonderful day getting to know our American cousin!

A 'Maria Goodwin Original Throw' which we brought over as a gift for Adrienne. (I actually have little labels which say that and which I sew on the back!)

On my mind...

On my mind today is the book 'Nourishing Traditions'. I found out about this book on Rhonda Jean's blog, http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2008/10/nourishing-traditions.html and put a hold on it from the council library. I have found the book really interesting albeit frustrating as many of the recommended foods are not available here easily such as, for example, unpasteurised milk, although I haven't checked out health stores locally. But I think it's against the law to sell such products to the public. But many other ideas in the book are achieveable and I've taken little steps to implement some changes.
Now this book was due back at the library yesterday and obviously someone else has put a hold on it as I cannot extend my loan. For the past month at various times I've surfed the net looking at sites which sell this book. So far the best price I've found is the 'Book Depository' in the UK which has priced the book at $AUD29.34. Postage is also free at the Book Depository. So do I buy this book or just put another 'hold' on it at the library??? Time will tell I guess!

Naturally also on my mind today is the Queensland flood crisis. We were relieved to hear that our elderly relatives at Goondiwindi  are safe and don't expect to be affected by the flooding. Yesterday I was able to 'cash in' my Velocity points and consequently Virgin Airlines have donated $50 to the Flood Appeal on my behalf. Every little bit helps! Thanks Virgin Airlines for organising this scheme.

Our Christmas

We have a family meal at our place on Christmas Eve. This allows family members to then meet up with friends and other family members on Christmas Day. This year was the smallest gathering we've had in ages but that worked out well, as since starting the medication the doctor prescribed, nearly a week ago, I've felt quite unwell. The family were brilliant as each brought a contribution to the meal. An unexpected last minute drop out was my brother's girlfriend. Her older male dog had taken ill and had to be rushed to the vet. My brother came on his own two hours late but it was relief to know that he and Myra were ok as I had started to worry that they had been in a car accident in the heavy rain driving down from Mt Nebo. Still sad news about the dog. I must try to find out the latest but the dog wasn't expected to last long...so sad!!!

 The food is all prepared and DH and I are enjoying a drink on the veranda. We had a hot roast dinner this year as the weather has been quite mild with all this rain. The entree was prawns but these were delayed as they were H's contribution. So we had them as a second course I guess. Some of us managed to have dessert which was a fruit platter, plum pudding/custard/icecream . Truffles and mini Christmas puds were offered but there were very few takers.

My poor frazzled brother enjoying a late dinner.

My daughter Liz brought the spinach dip in the cobloaf...it was very popular!

Liz and Jen

 Meg

 Nikki took lots of photos for me

Present unwrapping; lots of lovely thoughtful gifts were given

The presents under the tree. This year it was my brother's turn to hand out the presents.

On Christmas Day we went to DH's brother and sister in law's place for lunch. The photo above shows some of Mary's decorations. It was a larger gathering of the  family including David's children and their children and Meg and Liz also attended.



Another little great-niece, little 6 week old Ashleigh celebrating her first Christmas.



Someone thought all his Christmases had come at once. Obviously the pantry door was left ajar and the lid on the dry cat food container was easy to get off.

We didn't even hear a noise of the cannister falling but even Eduardo knows when he's had enough; he stopped voluntarily!!! lol