Darienne

Thank you for the wishes. Lovely muffins and you deserve a nap!!

Thanks all for the answers. I guess I am curious because Ed, DH, and I had breakfast together for years after he retired. And he mostly made it. And it could be a bit of a production. And he could get quite ratty over the short order part of it. And then sometimes he was annoyed because it ate up (good one, just tumbled out! ) part of the morning. And increasingly we didn't eat the same things. So about three weeks ago, we called an end to this familiar pattern and life is much better. (We did have bacon and eggs together today and he made it. No way on this earth that I am cooking him a fried egg. Scrambled? That's my job.) Now he eats about an hour before I do while I work on the computer catching up. He eats hard-boiled eggs (yecch) or granola (which I make but don't eat right now on my weight loss regime). I have a low carb smoothie or lox (he hates:I love) and something or nutola (low carb sub for granola), etc. Sorry, no photos. BTW, Friday, March 5th is our 50th anniversary, so something must be going right!! I don't know about breakfast that day, but supper will be 'dessert as supper' night.

We Canucks don't have Target...as far as I know...well, not in our fair small city...and I'll look in Wal-Mart.

The key to the freezer problem is accessibility and there is so little answer to that one. Something is either behind something in an upright or under something in a chest. And the best laid plans are followed for only sooo long and then chaos reigns once more. If my DH had his way, his entire life would be one item deep in any given direction: fridge, cupboards, freezer, basement, drive shed, closets, you name it. I have reorganized that chest freezer so many times, labeled stuff...no such thing as a label that will not fall off...magic marked...it comes off, rubs off, becomes illegible. And just one thing hastily tossed into the mix ends up the start of the ensuing chaos. Got some free squared off pails from the grocery store yesterday, complete with handles. Maybe....

Have to ask someone. Anyone. Where do you all find the time and energy to make such incredible breakfasts? And how often do you do it? And how early do you have to be at work? And do you really feel like going to that much trouble in the morning? And do you really care what you eat in the morning? Thanks. ps. Not to mention photographing your breakfast too!

DH and I know nothing about Vita Mixes. He just picked one up at the local Transfer Station (aka the Dump) on the shelves which are free. It's been there for a couple of weeks at least. It even has a book with it. The blades work perfectly and no parts are missing. Yes. People really do leave incredible things there. We have done it ourselves. One day there were two full size working electric organs, the kind you find in a smaller church. Oh, it's an older one, the 3600. I guess I'll have to buckle down, read this topic, try the machine, see if it actually works or not. Amazing.

Because of the make-up snowstorms we have been having lately in our corner of the woods, our candy date got canceled, so I am going to have to go it alone with Chinese Milk candy this weekend. Maybe I can get DH to help pull it. Anita Chu (Pastry Girl). Field Guide to Candy.

And then there are those wonderful folks, who will eat something and enjoy it, until you tell them there is: yogurt, tofu, goat's milk, etc, in it, and then they'll literally spit it out and refuse to eat any more. How did we find such friends? (I am still hugging to myself the fact that once this particular man ate and loved my lemon cheese pie, and he still doesn't know that there was tofu and goat's milk in it. I'm saving it for just the 'right' moment. Yep, I do have a mean side. )

Ditto for a Canadian store, XS-Cargo.

This topic is very close to my heart. Gosh, I didn't even intend a pun. I have had high cholesterol and triglycerides my whole testing life. I've been put on Lopid and I can't remember two of the others and Lipitor with no good effect. I had the strange abdominal pains on Lipitor which are very 'dangerous' and went off it. Then when I got well again, the heart specialist said...well, let's try it again. No thank you. I live with high numbers (Canadian numbers don't match US). However, I had, when last tested, normal homo-cysteine (whatever it is). Some think it's a more useful test for heart disease. And my carotid doppler was satisfactory last time too. My Father was the first in his family to live past 60. I am just pushing 69. Ten years ago one day, I was talking to my favorite ever prof in the world, planning to meet for lunch. His cholesterol was perfect and he was making fun of me. He was also dead the very next day. Half of all the people who die from heart attacks have perfectly normal cholesterol levels. I don't make anything of any of it. I sleep with aspirin beside the bed. My diet is mostly vegetarian. So far, so good.

Never tried strawberries with pepper, but popcorn without pepper is now unthinkable. In the last few years it seems that many more foods/dishes feature pepper than I can remember from before. Pepper in potato chips...very nice. Orange-Szechwan Pepper ice cream from DL's The Perfect Scoop...exquisite. My new absolute favorite: oranges and pepper.

That's the second time today to Google. Never heard of a coolata before. We have made a variation of them, both hot and cold, for years. Sorry your daughter has immune-related problems...and that she's a teenage too!! Shall look up the drweil.com website. Oh, one thing you can do vis-a-vis pasta is to use shredded cabbage. You'll be amazed at how it works. DH doesn't like brown rice. Rats. We do eat pretty simply, a lot of home cooked Chinese, and our large meal is at noon which is good. We are both almost 70 and while his metabolism has changed for the good...although we'll never know why...mine hasn't. I ended up carrying more weight than I should have after years of being OK. After the last 9 months of wretched pain and not being able to walk or stand much, I am finally back on my feet...at least for a while. Dx of Spinal Stenosis with impinged L5. I've lost about 15 pounds without 'dieting' and that's to the good. And am at a sort of confused dietary cross-roads after too much food nutrition input. That happens. What to eat? I'll get it worked out again. I had 2 eggs with cheese for breakfast and was once again not feeling all that well and cranky. Can't do that total lack of carbs thing. I didn't mean to...it just happened. Now I'm fine after a lunch of vegetables with a bit of meat. Someone on this topic suggested earlier that I probably had a candida infection and perhaps I do...but I've been like this since I first tried Atkins and that was decades ago. Have to each find our own path. Thanks.

Thanks llc45. Had to look up SCD...never heard of it before. We do use almond meal already and I have made some of the recipes/concoctions on PB (Primal Blueprint), as in Nutola instead of Granola. Probably would choose almond butter over peanut..and I can do without bananas, although DH loves them. I've never been a banana fan...except when fried in butter, preferably with a few raspberries, then a chocolate ganache topped with a soupcon of whipped cream on top. Now that's a banana I like. Thanks again. I look forward to hearing from you with some recipes. ps. Why have you given up the stricter adherence to the regime?

Hi Penny, Thanks for all the good information. Have downloaded the interview and will read it as soon as I can and this afternoon will request the two books on I.L.L. from our local library. Should make fascinating reading. This topic is for me one of the most rewarding in a long time. Life altering, I would say. Thanks, all I do have a question: dinner (we eat it at noon) and supper present no problems. But breakfast...ah, breakfast. Today Ed ate hardboiled eggs (ugh) and I guess I"ll have scrambled, but exactly what do you all eat for breakfast? And please, nothing that is complicated...unless it's a question of eating/reheating something already made. We gave up the more leisurely breakfast a couple of months ago...forever I hope. (Yes, we are both retired but live a full, working life, just not on a preset schedule.)

Now that is brilliant. I am going to steal your idea and use it.

I would definitely like to come to your house for this dinner.

Little beauties

As I recall, Menudo is made from tripe and other less enticing parts of the cow...

Gotcha. I'll be back...

Send for the book on I.L.L. at your local library. My DH wanted the book so we bought it, but I can see no reason to own it...along with most self-help books. Excellent premise starts the self-help/acceptable diet/nutrition/etc book which then carries on for a few hundred pages. Most of them deserve a long article. I guess ya gotta make money. Furthermore, as soon as the author starts a) a website and more tellingly b) selling stuff and then c) a follow-up book...that's usually it for me. Gosh, that all sounds a bit harsh for me! Take the rant out of the above, please. I doubt we could get Barrimundi in Peterborough.

My warmest thanks to SpecialK for starting this thread, and to JohnRosevear for his suggestion for reading materials: Gary Taubes, Good Calories, Bad Calories. And to all the others for their contributions. The Taubes book is excellent. Pulls together lots of information read in other books over the years. Be forewarned that it is not a fast read and at the end of a long day is not as relaxing as a light murder mystery. But very worth the effort. DH, Ed is not reading it...he's in full renovation mode...but I am relaying all the information to him. Ed is an interesting example of someone who was a fat kid in the 1940s (yes we are THAT old), lost weight in his 30s, had his metabolism changed on him...I don't know why...and has NEVER put back any weight. This is an important book to read, not in terms of a so-called 'diet' book, which it covers, but as a blueprint to life. Have also joined the Primal Blueprint for what is of consideration to us. Thanks to the person who suggested that. I would also suggest two books in the same vein: Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival by T.S. Wiley and The Blue Zone: Lesson for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest by Dan Buettner. Any feedback positive or negative is welcomed.

The article jo-mel linked this topic to said: "White Rabbit candy, first produced in 1959 to mark the 10th anniversary of new China, is now a household name in China, and is sold to more than 50 countries and regions." Anita Chu (Pastry Girl) in her new candy book, Field Guide to Candy says: "White Rabbit Cream Candy was invented by Aipixi Candy Factory in 1943." And, thanks for asking, we are still feeling fine.

Thanks ManhattanLawyer. Mine are nothing extraordinary. They come from an old cookbook...my first and that's 50 years now...which lost its cover years ago. 2 cups flour 1 T sugar 1/2 t salt (I use less) 4 t baking powder 4 T cold butter 1/2- 1/3 c milk 1 egg, well beaten Melted butter, sugar Sift dry ingredients and cut in butter. Add milk to egg, then add to flour mixture, adding more milk if necessary. Knead lightly on floured surface. Form as you wish. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on sugar. 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. I never put sugar on them. I usually add orange zest. We often eat them cut open horizontally into two each, with mixed berries and whipped cream. Dessert as supper we call it. It's not dessert after supper...it is supper. Or just plain with soup.

I think a number of dishes taste better the second day. My DH, Ed's Macaroni and Cheese dish always tastes better the second day. I have no informed idea why. Perhaps it dries out slightly and there are more crunchy chewy bits the next day. Cole Slaw is better. Of course, we always make enough to last several meals.