I’m looking for a theme with a bit more width in the main column so I can post larger pictures. I may be able to live with this theme if I can  muck with the colours and widget placement a bit.

Tomorrow. Gottagodrinkbeernowkbye.

Edit to add: Well, I found a better theme, but it has so! many! options! (Good-bye green italics, etc.) But, as luck would have it…gottagodrinkbeernowbye.

But maybe you’re looking for a recipe. OK then:

• Sprinkle some Mrs. Dash on a whole chicken (I used the one in with the teal coloured lid, I think it was garlic & herb? I have a few)
• Cut the squash in half
• Scoop out guts
• Throw butter in gut-hole
• Place in 350 degree oven
• Go fart around on the internet
• Have a bath
• Read
• Take it out in about an hour and 20 minutes.
• Eat

Not rocket science, right? Which is kind of the point of this post. It is not THAT HARD to eat well.

Oooh look at me on my second day of this diet, I’ve MASTERED THE EATING UNIVERSE ET CETERA!

Actually, I said it before – in general, we eat quite healthily. This dinner is nothing out of the norm for us. It’s what we consider healthy, affordable and it fits our schedules. We like to eat like this.

But dude(s), honestly, I like crap too. My favourite food groups are burgers, French fries, pizza and ice cream. I know I can’t eat that stuff every day and expect to feel good or look good or be healthy. But I am SO an “everything in moderation” girl. SO MUCH. I am eliminating these things from my world for a while, until I lose some weight, but will I eat them again? OH HELL YES. Life is too short not to.

That’s my philosophy (our philosophy, really. Andrew and I feel very similarly on this). Like I said earlier, we’ve fallen into some bad habits lately. Our dinners are usually fairly healthy but we do (oh boy do we) splurge occasionally. For the next few months, we need to splurge less and I need to concentrate on making my lunches and breakfasts as healthy as our dinners are. A little preparation on my part has made this seem almost effortless.

But back to my point. Our dinner could not have been easier. It was no harder to sprinkle some herbs on a chicken and throw it in the oven than it would have been to to wrestle a pizza out of the shrink wrap and throw it in the oven. And it was probably cheaper too. We found chicken on sale for $12 for a package of two*. The squash was about a buck. Factoring in butter and the herbs, our dinner cost less than $10 and there was enough chicken left over for Andrew to have for lunch today.

Easy. Not expensive.

We do have a food budget. We may spend more on food than others do, but that’s OK with us. We enjoy good food and it’s a priority to us. Sometimes it IS cheaper to eat crap and sometimes people don’t have a choice – that really bothers me. I’m not judging anyone who makes their food decisions based on economics, but this dinner wasn’t expensive, I hope by most people’s standards.

I also know I have a bit more time on my hands than a lot of people. I have no kids, a one bedroom apartment to take care of and I live five minutes from my office. But I also know there are some days when I would rather claw my own eyes out than figure out what to make, shop and then cook when I get home. The freezer section may call out in these situations, but I need to remind myself that the meal I prepared last night was no more difficult to make than throwing pre-made food into the oven is.

Anyway. I’m not writing this because I think I’ve solved the world’s eating and meal planning issues. Time, money and scheduling all play parts in it, I know. I’m not saying I’m right or anyone else is wrong. I ate a fucking chicken for dinner last night. It was good. It was easy. It was inexpensive. I liked it. I think you might too.

* Obviously not organic. More on that later. That shit is expensive, yo.

What was a shift for me was looking up recipes with no consideration given at all to the fat and calories. I started with this recipe for Coconut Shrimp and quite honestly I have never, in my life, cooked with coconut. FATT-E-NING amirite?  The primal eating style not only allows cooking with coconut, but recommends it. Yowza.

I would absolutely try this recipe as written (with shrimp, der) but we had a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the fridge that had to be eaten, so I tried it with chicken and it was great. Here are the non-meat ingredients, taken from the page linked above:

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 – 1 cup organic virgin coconut oil for frying

(Coconut flakes AND coconut OIL OMG).

A couple of things:

• For two breasts (which I pounded out to flatten), I ended up with a little too much of the coconut/almond flour mixture.
• One egg would have been enough.
• I couldn’t find almond flour so I bought crushed (REALLY crushed) almonds. I’m not sure if there’s even a difference, but it worked just fine.
• I didn’t add the salt. I actually just forgot.
• There is no way, NO WAY, I used anywhere near a cup of the coconut oil. I purchased the oil for the first time yesterday and it came in a tub I found in the refrigerated section, so it was solid in the tub. I threw it in the pan about a teaspoon at a time and figure I used about three teaspoons.

The chicken browned up really quickly, but given that I never fry anything, I forgot that it would brown before it was fully cooked and the spinach was done and I was all “ACK NOW WHAT?” so I threw it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes and it may have been a tad overdone, but it was still really (REALLY) good.

As a side dish, I wanted to make spinach. I LOVE SPINACH a whole lot and I had it in my head to try something gomae’ish, but warm. Believe it or not, I actually had tahini in the cupboard (I think I once had an illusion I would make homemade humous HAHAHA YA RIGHT that happened).

I found this recipe for Spinach with Tahini – doesn’t get much easier than that. And yet I overcooked it when I misjudged the time it would take to fry+bake the chicken. That is your first warning about the picture I’m about to post. The second is that it’s just a shitty picture.

I told Andrew that I wanted to take a picture of our dinner, but he was starving, dinner was late, I am not yet a “quick on my feet” photographer and the lightening in the kitchen is horrible for photography (“photo-graph-ee”) apparently, so long story short, the photo sucks.

But, here it is: Coconut Chicken with Sesame Spinach (pretend the spinach is in focus, please).

I’ve just realized this theme doesn’t work super well with photos – it re-sizes them in a weird way, so I have to make them quite small. Time for a new theme, perhaps…

You know how I always say I’m going to start writing again – posting recipes, writing in general, and then I never do?

Hi, I’m back.

This time I’m here because of food. Again. But with a slightly different focus. Andrew and I have recently decided to give a new way of eating a try and I’m hopeful it’s something we can stick with and see results from.

For months now, Andrew has been suggesting we try a paleo diet. I took one look at it and said “NO SALT? OH HELL NO.” But the fact of the matter is, I need to do SOMETHING and he’s recently talked me into trying a diet way of eating called primal eating instead, which is a little less restrictive than the paleo plan.

The truth is, we already eat quite healthily. We were both raised on healthy, non-processed, non-packaged food but we’ve fallen into sloppier eating habits of late, as many do, and we need to correct that.

(I had a whole ranting ranty rant written in my head against the evils of processed food and how they’re SO! BAD! and why are so many people KILLING! THEMSELVES! with them? Then I realized that if I substituted “processed food” with “meat”, I automatically had to hate myself. I won’t go there, but I think it’s fair to say many processed foods are terribly unhealthy and it wouldn’t hurt anyone to eat less of them. I’ll stop now).

I weigh more than I should. Probably 30lbs more than I should, although if I lost 20 I’d probably be happy. My BMI tells me I’m Overweight and I don’t like that label, oh no, I do not. I know many people take issue with the BMI scale in general and I wholeheartedly agree that for people with large builds and heavily muscled athletes it is pretty unfair. However, c’mon – I am neither large boned nor heavily muscled so it’s pretty fair for me and I’d like to see my BMI back in the Normal range.

Andrew is convinced of the health benefits of primal eating, and being in the health and wellness industry, he does know a thing or two (or a million) about the way the body works. I’ve done some research too and believe that we’re already pretty close to this way of eating – with one caveat: at dinner only.

My downfalls are breakfast and lunch. I’m on the go all day. I don’t bring breakfast or lunch to the office, which of course leads to muffins (Bran or Egg Mc) for breakfast and Subway sandwiches or cafeteria pasta for lunch. This is going to change.

This weekend I prepared a big pot full of soup to take for lunch. It took me very little time to brown some lean ground beef and season it with chili spices (NOT the packaged stuff – have you SEEN the sodium in that? 1/6 of the package is 22% of your daily recommended sodium intake. 1/6!!) and throw it in the crockpot with a bunch of veggies. And it’s totally delicious – better than anything I’d pick up in the caf and I know what’s in it.

I also made some breakfast frittata thingies (in a muffin tray) that were insanely easy and are really tasty.  I’ll try to post the recipe and pictures the next time I make them.

Today, the first day on the diet way of eating went incredibly well. I ate my egg muffin frittata thingy for breakfast and had the soup for lunch. I also had a couple of small snacks and I’m happy to say I’m not hungry at all right now – really. Our dinner will be chicken breasts and spinach, which isn’t really any different than it normally is, other than I’m trying a recipe with coconut, which kind of scares the crap out of my trained by Weight Watchers brain (fat! calories! eeee!)

ANYWAY. I’m going to make an effort to post recipes and pictures of our meals here, which will also give me an opportunity to play around with my new camera (yay).

As someone who’s had her weight fluctuate over the years, one thing I’ve always wished when I got to my happy weight was that I’d taken some Before photos. I have done that this time although I’m not ready to share them until I have the Afters to go with them.

Wish me luck.

I’ve created a Posterous site strictly for sharing recipes, you’ll find it here http://purplelara.posterous.com/

I’ve also un-shared (!) the recipes previously shared in Google Reader, so if you were relying on finding them there, please either subscribe to my Posterous feed (by becoming a Posterous user yourself) or by grabbing the feed http://purplelara.posterous.com/rss.xml for your favorite reader.

And yes, sorry, I’m going to “Share” my own post in Google Reader (how déclassé!), just so anyone who was following my feed via Google Reader or RSS can update their feeds.

I’m excited about the new (again) recipes on my Posterous site, so check it out!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

• Traveled cross-country by myself
• Shared living space with Andrew
• Joined a bootcamp
• Took swimming lessons (I haven’t done this since my mom registered me, so this counts as something I did for myself for the first time)
• Walked to work on a daily basis (this technically started December 22 of last year, but it became part of my life in 2009)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I made the usual exercise more, eat less resolutions and for a time, yes I kept them. I have not maintained them over the last few months, which of course leads me to yes, I will make more for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully. I lost my beloved grandfather in December of last year, but no one in calendar year 2009.

5. What countries did you visit?

Just the good old US of A.  I went to Washington, DC in June and loved it.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A vacation!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I don’t think there are specific dates, but periods:

• Quarter 1, adjusting to the new job (a huge change, as I’d been with my previous employer for over 16 years)
• Quarter 2, adjusting to sharing my living space, traveling to DC
• Quarter 3, a great summer
• Quarter 4, to be honest, feeling a little blue as my fitness goals slid, my travel plans fell apart and my 40th birthday approached

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Again, settling into a new job. Leaving my previous job was a huge step for me, and although that occurred very late in 2008, this year (at work) was all about learning new things, meeting new people and trusting that I did have something to bring to the table. My course in DC strengthened my belief in myself, since I scored 97.5% on the exam (which was pretty tough).

9. What was your biggest failure?

Falling off the exercise bandwagon, see next question for my excuse.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

In January I had a mystery hip owie, which I somewhat corrected through massage and physio. In June I joined a bootcamp, which was tough (and also a big achievement for me, I should add). I don’t think my knock-knee’d body is designed for running, and we did a lot of running at bootcamp and I developed plantar fasciitis, which, fuck – ow. It turns out the hip bone IS connected to the thigh bone, etc and so on. My core muscles are weak, which lead my hip to turn incorrectly, which makes my knees MORE knock-knee’d, which makes my arch fall, which lead to the fasciitis. Bootcamp, OUT!

I started swimming as soon as I quit bootcamp but haven’t kept to a very strict schedule in the last few months, which I regret.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My iPhone. Hands down, no question. I don’t know how I lived without it. It completes me.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Hmmm. Whomever is the opposite of Tiger Woods?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

See above and also this post about him.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Lord, lord. Food and wine, likely.

15. What did you get really excited about?

My trip that never happened. Ugh.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

I’m going to have to go with Single Ladies because I spent all summer drinking and laughing on my patio with the boyfriend and the best friend and every time it came on, the boyfriend busted out his butt-slapping version of the dance and it is truly one of the funniest things you’ll ever see.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier.
– thinner or fatter? Fatter, but not by a lot.
– richer or poorer? Income, higher. Disposable income, lower. Go figure.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Swimming.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Chasing at windmills.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Brunch and stockings and my mom’s place, a quick visit with my dad, and then dinner with Andrew’s family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

WITH MY iPHONE!

22. What was your favorite TV program?

I discovered Mad Men on the plane home from DC and we immediately went on a Mad Men bender. I am in love with everything about that show.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No.

24. What was the best book you read?

Hmmm. I loved Under the Banner of Heaven, although it took me FOREVER to read (not sure why). I am currently reading the Book of Negroes, which is amazing.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Pass.

26. What did you want and get?

Love.

27. What did you want and not get?

A vacation.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Avatar 3D. Absolutely. I don’t say “literally” very often, but I “literally” had my mouth hanging open for most of the show. And I’m going to see it again before I go back to work on Monday. GO NOW.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

40! 40! 40!

My birthday and Andrew’s are within a few days of each others, which resulted in SIX, yes SIX dinners over the space of a week. We went out with friends on Saturday night, had his official birthday dinner on Sunday, my official birthday dinner on Wednesday, dinner at my mom’s on Thursday, dinner at his mom’s on Saturday and dinner at my dad’s on Sunday.

I need new pants.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A vacation.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

What fits?

32. What kept you sane?

Andrew. Swiming. Friends.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Fancy? That word seems to go well with a stiff Old Fashioned, so I’m going to go with Jon Hamm.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I suppose same-sex marriage (mostly in the States, since we’re all good with that here). Honestly, CHRIST, who cares what other people do and why, oh WHY, can’t you see that YOUR values aren’t more important than someone else’s values? Live and let live. Also, shut up.

35. Who did you miss?

I missed my friends at my old job. While I know, 100%, that making the move was the right thing to do, I miss the daily interactions with them.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I met so many new people this year, online and off, that I couldn’t possibly say.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

People who stomp their feet the loudest aren’t necessarily the most correct, but sometimes it’s better to let them think they are. By better, I mean easier on your own mental health.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I’m with Linda, I’ll use a quote instead:

A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. – Muhammad Ali

At 40, I’ve learned a lot. But I still have a lot to learn. A lot to learn about myself. A lot to learn about other people. Hopefully I’ll continue to do so in 2010.

Oh lord, I think I smell the “dead rat rotting on top of my built in dishwasher” smell. Again.

Which, in retrospect, was kind of stupid, because all of a sudden had @ replies and DM’s saying “WTF” and “EW WHAT?” and I can’t tell the story in under 140 characters, so…blog post!

Last winter we started suspecting we may have a moose loose in the hoose, so to speak. We heard little noises in the night and eventually started finding poop droppings in cupboards and so forth. Now, before you picture my ghetto kitchen, I have to say I HAVE AN AWESOME KITCHEN.

it’s not actually crooked, I’m simply a crap photographer

And now before you say “BRAG MUCH?” here is the kitchen from the same angle, taken shortly after I bought this place:

I know. You can’t see it, right? Because we knocked down a motherfucking WALL. Here is it from another angle:

So I am kind of proud and defensive of my formerly ghetto kitchen.

Where was I?

Oh right poop droppings.

We set traps but the little bastard(s) eluded us. We’d hear the traps SNAP in the night and in the morning we’d cautiously peer into cabinets preparing to see dismembered mice, yet we’d find only empty mousetraps and more poop droppings.

We left the traps set and plugged up holes in the radiators. The poop disappeared and we went about our lives, as you do.

Some weeks later, I started noticing The Smell. I couldn’t identify The Smell other than something smelled *off*. I drove myself nuts, seeking out the source of The Smell – opening cabinets, pulling out the fridge and sniff, sniff, sniffing. Oddly, The Smell seemed strongest when we ran the dishwasher.

(You may see where this is going, I did not).

My best guess, at the time, was that The Smell was due to a leak in the dishwasher hose or pipe or whatever the hell is back there, rotting out the drywall and possibly my floors. I was concerned if the wall was damaged, I could be on the hook for a repair bill for the strata property.

The Smell was getting worse. Much worse.

One day, immediately after Andrew left for work (naturally), I decided to pull out the dishwasher and see if dampness, wall or floor rot lurked in the space behind it.

I pulled out the screws holding the dishwasher to the underside of the counter and slowly pulled the it out of place. I had it about six inches out when I saw it.

IT. WAS. FURRY.

IT.WAS. BLOODY.

IT. WAS. DEAD.

IT. WAS. A. RAT.

I did what any calm, rational, adult woman would do in the situation. I screamed and ran behind the counter and texted Andrew:

DEAD FUCKING RAT DEAD FUCKING RAT OMG DEAD FUCKING RAT

To which he replied something like “Ew. What are you going to do?”

(Freak the fuck out, is what I’m going to do! The hell?)

My next move was to send the same text to my fearless best friend, who immediately said she was on her way. She arrived, pulled the dishwasher all the way out, gagged, wrapped the dead body up in dishwasher insulation and tossed it in the dumpster. I remained on the other side of the apartment, trying not to heave.

The Smell, you see, was the body of the dead rat, rotting, inches below my countertop. Rotting more quickly every time we ran the nice hot dishwasher and nice hot dry cycle.

The Smell was Dead Rotting Rat, Slow Cooker Style.

As it happens, I think my Twitter panic earlier tonight was premature. Sometimes simply the smell of the dishwasher triggers my PTSD, as you may well imagine.

Serene cows

I’m a (devoutly religious Indian) Barbie Girl

Tea in the colonial gahhhhden (quite possibly the shortest, yet funniest, India post)

Ghandi Ghat, Snake Charmers and Kingfishers

Gordon House Rules

Delhi Drools

I like Big Ones