Mango Mania

I am loving mangos this summer. Did you know that they have been called the "fruit of the gods"?  Most of the mangos in the world are grown and eaten in India.  They also pack a powerful punch in the area of nutrition.    They have the largest amount of vitamin A of any fruit.  They are also good sources for vitamins C, B1, B2, and B6 and Potassium.  [my reference is The Fruit and Vegetable Stand:  The Complete Guide to the Selection, Preparation and Nutrition of Fresh Produce, by Barry Ballister--a book I go to quite a bit.  Don't forget I'm a librarian!]  Mangos are increasingly available in supermarkets here.  I never had one until about five years ago.  Now, I buy one or two every week.  I like the ones that get a nice reddish bloom with a bit of yellow and green.   Choose a mango that feels heavy for its size, that give slightly to a gentle pressure, and that has a tropical fruit scent. Don't store it below 45 degrees for more than a day or two.


The biggest issue about mangos is how to get at the fruit.  The mangos have a large flat oval seed that parallels the shape of the fruit.  If you don't know what you're doing, you're likely to get mangled fruit with too much left on the seed and rather ragged pieces.   I recently read someone's blog (Diane's?) where she asked about the best kitchen gadgets.  A few people commented that it was their mango seed gadget.  I bought one last week and used it for the first time tonight. I'm in love. It did a great job and I got so much more usable fruit for my salsa. The Oxo splitter to the left was the one I bought. There may be other brands that are similar, but I like how sturdy Oxo kitchen gadgets are and I'm getting quite a collection of them. I was curious about what would happen if the seed was bigger than the metal cutter part. My seed tonight was slightly bigger. It just cut down over it and there was a tiny bit of seed still attached to the fruit. I cut the fruit in long wedges and had no problem trimming off the little part of the seed that was still attached. This gadget is really a time saver and does something that is almost impossible to do as well by hand.

I used my mango in a mango, avocado, and tomato salsa.  I don't really use a recipe, just add 1 chopped mango, 1 diced avocado, some chopped cherry tomatoes, a bit of diced red onion, a generous bunch of chopped cilantro and lots of fresh lime juice.  I served this alongside my night-before-WI baked cod fish, whole wheat rotini pasta, and some leftover carrots and peas.  Very eye-appealing, very quick, and quite tasty.  


Tuesday is always a gym night and I had a good workout.  DH and I go together and each has a set routine.  It usually takes us about 50 minutes.  I do my routine while listening to a book on my ipod.  It really makes the time go faster.  Before I had the ipod, I often ended up counting the ceiling tiles!  Hearing a good book is much better. Right now I'm in the middle of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.


Tomorrow is my WI.  As usual, I can't predict what will happen.  I have done well on my eating and on exercising this week and don't expect to gain, but the scale today was nearly the same as last week. We'll see what tomorrow brings.  


Tell me about your favorite kitchen gadget!  I love finding out about new, useful tools.

Wishin', and Hopin', and Thinkin', and Prayin', Planning and Dreamin'

That 60s song by Dusty Springfield came through my headphones today while I was running. The final part of the thought is that none of those things will "get you into his heart" or help you "find love." It occurs to me that I've always taken that approach to my weight/lifestyle goals. And it has never worked. I've lost 34 pounds and I still have several outfits in my closet with price tags attached that I bought with a "wish and a prayer" as much as 6 years ago. I think about losing all the time. I want to be that slim person I envision. I chart my weight and plan and project how soon I'll reach goal if I continue to lose at a rate of 1.5 pounds/week, or 0.5 pounds/week. I daydream about having a fit, slim body that I can be proud of.

None of this works--at least, not for me. I've tried it for years and years. What's been working, and what I have to pound in my brain actually, really does work, is DOING it. I'd hate to confess here, in public, how many times I've read through a diet book while munching on a bagfull of lime tortilla chips [supply your own salty or sweet vice]. I probably spend way too much time, even now, sitting in front of this computer reading about other people's journeys and successes when I should be getting out and running, or bagging up my fat clothes for Goodwill, or making a grocery list for the new OP recipes I want to try. BTW Roni's butternut fries are near the top of that list!

While the wishing, hoping, thinking, praying, planning, and dreaming are all nice, and are things that are arguably part of making those wishes come true, Nike got it right. Just Do It! Get out and exercise. Go to the gym. Sign up for that 5K. Make new OP recipes. Try new things you've never thought you could do. Turn the corner on old, bad habits. Go to your WW meetings, or whatever support group you prefer. Get rid of your fat clothes as soon as you buy smaller ones.

This is the new me. The new way I live my life. I want to live that life, not just dream and wish and hope. I'm happy.  I am Doing It!  [But is it okay to say I'm hopin' and wishin' and yes, prayin' that my WI on Wednesday will show a weight loss from all the "doing" that has been happening??]



Are YOU doing it?

Re a few questions about the popcorn popper review, it's a Presto PowerPop Microwave Multi-Popper endorsed by Orviile Redenbacher.  It's under $15 at amazon.com  which is where I bought mine.  I think I read, when I bought it almost two years ago, that you could find it other places too (maybe Walmart??)  I don't know if that is still true.  You need to also have "concentrator" papers.  It comes with the first batch which last a while.  I've bought maybe 3 sets of these since we've had it and have 1 1/2 sets left.  Each one is good for 12 batches or so.  Totally worth it because the popcorn is so good and doesn't have any more additives than you choose.

Are we there yet?

I remember going on trips when I was a child.  My dad would have to use his leave time and we always drove.  We lived several hours away from my mom's parents and about 15 hours away from my dad's parents.  There were six of us in the car (no vans or even seat belts back then).  It was usually summer.  No air conditioning in the car either.  It was hot.  It was crowded.  And I often got car sick  (nice euphemism, no?).  One or the other of us kids asked (with what I realize from my adult perspective must have been annoying frequency), "Are we there yet?"  or  "How much longer until we're there?"


I'm feeling a little like that in my weight loss journey.  No, I'm not almost there.  I know I've got almost 20 more pounds to lose to reach my WW goal.  I'd like to lose 10 or 15 pounds beyond that, so I'm really more like half way there.  But it's hot, it's crowded, and my tummy's feeling rocky.  Well, not really.  But I still feel so much like I'm on the road trip part of the vacation.  I want to be at the destination part of my vacation--going to the beach, or canoeing on the river, or eating watermelon with my dozens of Nashville cousins.


What brought all this on?   Today started out fine.   I pushed snooze and put off my early morning run until afternoon.  The weather is still cool, so that was fine.  After church  I decided I would have a tomato sandwich for lunch.  I had a few gorgeous tomatoes left from my trip to the farmer's market last week and decided to forego my usual cottage cheese for a special treat.  The sandwich was awesome.  After that I decided to do a little gardening before my run.  The weather was perfect for gardening.  It had rained a little in the morning, so it was a good time to pull weeds.  I pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, sawed some limbs on our trees,  and deadheaded zillions of spent blossoms.  After two hours I was a mess--muddy, sweaty, hot and tired.  I took a long shower.  When I came back downstairs, DH reported that our ceiling leak was back.   Aaarrghh,  I called the plumber guy back and he came about 90 minutes later.  We don't have the final answer yet.  We're hoping that it's a simple fix (some caulking).  But maybe it's the pan under the shower floor, or maybe it's the drain inside the walls.  The plumber is coming back tomorrow to do some testing.  Meanwhile, we're not using that shower and I have a large plastic sheet on the floor of the office.  And I feel a little unsettled about ditching my regular lunch for a sandwich.  I've been avoiding bread, even the whole grain bread I used.  And I didn't get in my run.  I probably could have, but  I was tired from gardening and it was my brother's last day and I wanted to put some time into making a nice dinner. Dinner was delish.  Lamb loin chops, and sauteed spinach with whole wheat orzo and flash roasted cherry tomatoes. 


Typing this , I realize that these are not big problems. I have a wonderful life. I'm making good progress on losing weight and learning how to live the way I want to live for the rest of my life. AND, I know, in my head, that this journey (road trip) is what it's all about.  Things are not going to change dramatically when I "get there." I'll still exercise almost every day.  I'll still have to think about my food and make good choices.


One of the things I really like to do now is to go on road trips.  DH and I much prefer driving to flying.  We plan our trips well and take interesting side trips.  We're also very apt to stop to read "historical markers" or to follow the signs to local sights.  We stock a cooler with healthy snacks, and have our favorite CDs or a great book on CD to listen to.  We enjoy the journey. I need to remember that. I need to enjoy the journey. The tomato sandwich was fine (I don't want to be so rigid in my eating that I can't substitute another perfectly healthy alternative). Working hard in the garden for two hours is certainly exercise.  I don't have to run or bike or do my weights routine to exercise.  I can be spontaneous.


I have to remember that I AM there.  No, not at my goal weight, but there in a good place.  I'm doing what I need to do.  What I want to do.   I need to remind myself that I like road trips.  I need to keep myself from getting sucked into rigid routine for this journey.  That won't work now and certainly won't work at my "destination."   Also, from what I've learned from those of you farther along the road, the destination (goal) involves its own challenges (maintenance) and is really just another stage of the same journey. And even at the destination there will be days when I have to deal with ceiling leaks.


Lots to think about.


What do you do when you get tired of the journey?

It's a Good Thing Popcorn is a Whole Grain

Yes, I made a big bowl of popcorn and ate the whole thing.   I used to eat the 94% ff microwave popcorn, but I was leery of all the chemicals in the ingredient list, not to mention all the sodium.  And the smell, if it happened to burn, made you know there was bad stuff in there.  I read a rave review of the PowerPop Microwave popcorn maker and decided to give it a try.  Awesome.  You just add the popcorn and stick it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.  Voila.  You can use it with or without oil (I use 1 tsp of canola oil) and anything else is optional.  The popcorn doesn't have that too dry, styrofoam taste I associate with hot-air poppers.  I add a sprinkle of popcorn salt and, if I want a "kettlecorn" taste, a couple of packets of splenda.  When I first lost weight, two years ago, I had an entire bowl of this popcorn every single day.  I used to make it and take a gallon size baggie of it to school to ward off the snack machine munchies. Now it's an occasional treat and I try to share the batch with DH, but sometimes . . . .   Anyway, popcorn was calling my name today and I stepped right up to answer the call.  [this is an entirely unsolicited and uncompensated review]

One of the reasons I was vulnerable to the siren call of popcorn was that I got back from a Costco run to find a long line of water droplets dripping steadily from the ceiling in our office.  It took me a few phone calls to locate someone who would come investigate today and a few hours of waiting for the person to show up.  I called the company that had installed our new AC (in the attic) because we figured that it was probably a leak in the condensation line.  It turned out to be a plumbing leak from one of the fixtures in the upstairs bathroom, but, fortunately, the AC company also does plumbing.  They finally left around 8:30 tonight.  We now have two biggish holes in the ceiling, and they pulled out lots of soppy insulation.  I need to call my friend the painter tomorrow to see if he can come repair the drywall ceiling and re-paint in that room.  Did I mention that we're having ~30 people at a choir party at our house next weekend?  I don't need this.  Oh well, the popcorn helped, somehow.

Little E could have used her yellow umbrella with pink and green polka dots to good advantage had she been here today!



We took a nice hour-long bike ride tonight after dinner (leaving the plumber working--he assured us he'd be there for a good long time).  We rode by our new house again.  We checked out the very nice community pool and biked by the house several times to get an idea of what we might want to do in the garden and yard before we rent it out.  Our realtor let us know that they (the sellers) had found their dream house and were negotiating on it today, so maybe we'll close a lot sooner than we thought.

On the biking, when we don't have plumber-guys working in our house, I want to start going out a little earlier and biking a little farther to work up to feeling confident about the 35 mile route we'll do over Labor Day.  The weather today was so nice--not the muggy hot we've had recently, but very nice not-muggy high 70s.  Yay! We're going to take the bikes to the 'bike spa' just before we go to make sure they're all tuned up and ready to go.

Thanks for your comments re blogger posting issues.  They helped.  After yesterday's comment about slow traffic on weekends, I had a nice amount of traffic today, so I'll keep posting on Saturdays for now.  I'm also thinking that posting regularly at night before I go to bed is a good thing as my posts will appear at a more uniform time and also, the 5 hour delay doesn't matter so much.

I'm hoping for another nice weather day tomorrow so I can run comfortably in the afternoon.  Grilled lamb loin chops, sauteed spinach with sultanas and toasted pine nuts, and whole wheat orzo with roasted cherry tomatoes on the menu for dinner tomorrow.

Do you eat a special dinner on Sunday nights or is it the cook's day off?

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Well, my Friday Focus plans to spend a day tuning up and strengthening my exercise and diet met with mixed success.   To quote Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, gang aft agley."  My plans started to "gang agley" [go astray] when Jay woke me up to let me know that he'd missed his bus.  This never happens.  He's awesome about getting himself up, dressed, fed, and ready.  Usually he's ready an hour ahead of time.  Every day but today.  Sigh.  I got up, threw on my running clothes, scarfed down my breakfast and drove him to his work--45 minutes away.  


I didn't get started on my hoped-for long run until 11.  It was a little warmer than I'd hoped for, but I'm proud to say that I ran 7.5 miles AND I also met my goal of cutting out some of the walking bits I've gotten into the habit of taking.  I ran the first 2 miles and the last 2 miles without any walk breaks and allowed myself a one minute walk on each of the middle miles.  Score.


By the time I got home, got my shower, and had my lunch, it was almost time to go visit my Dad.  I always go on Fridays and sometimes go an additional day, but today was the day.  My brother went with me.  We stopped by his former house (where my son and his family now live) to pick some figs.  Daddy loves them and this fig tree was from his mother's house.  He enjoyed the figs and we sat with him in his "activity"--a sing-along featuring songs from the 40s and 50s.  Dad liked it and sang some of the songs.  We sat on either side of him and held hands or patted his back.  It was a good visit.


We left there at 4:30 and I stopped by the Safeway on the way home.  I never got time to do any reading, so I decided to make a Sweet & Sour Shrimp--faintly novel because I haven't made it for a few years.  I enjoy cooking and have enough experience to be able to throw something together.  My version featured lots of tender/crisp veggies (red pepper, snow peas, broccoli, red onion, & shitake mushrooms), pineapple,  a sprinkle of roasted almonds, and some "tiger" shrimp (15-21 count) that was on sale for $11.99/lb.  I used Kikkoman Sweet & Sour sauce (35 cal/2 TBSP) thinned with a bit of chicken broth.  I served it with brown rice.  It was very good. 


I totally failed in my plan to read in a few of my diet/fitness books and to scout out new recipes in recent issues of Eating Well.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.  

To give equal time to my adorable older grandkids, here are J & B, my Laura's two oldest, in their "hungry squirrel pose."  Note the glorious nimbus of shiny curls on J.  Of course she yearns for straight hair, and I'm very envious of any curls that don't have to be (wo)man-handled into my super straight locks by burning or chemicals.  


To add to the catalog of weird word verification words that people have come across, I got PIGOUT the other day on one of the blogs in my blogroll--diet and fitness blogs for the most part.  LOL  Although I tend to take things literally, I'm hoping this was not a subliminal message to me from the blogosphere.


Traffic really slows down on Saturday.  Depending on what today shows, I may just stop posting a Saturday post.  If you read this and comment, please let me know how you handle the slowdown.  

Friday Focus

FOCUS

It's Thursday night as I write this and and tomorrow I intend to FOCUS my actions and my thinking on my diet and my exercise.  I won't have the grand babies.  I need to visit my Dad at some point and spend some time with my brother, but I intend to spend a lot of this day on myself.  I want to center my thinking and make sure that I'm doing all I can to make progress toward my goals.  I think I've gotten sort of lax about things and I feel the need to tune up my game to do my best.

The forecast promises mid-70s in the morning and maybe rain.  I'm going running.  I want to challenge myself to see if I can cut out some of the walking breaks I've been taking in all my recent runs.  I also want a good, long run--maybe 7 or 8 miles.  This is one of the few days during the week where I don't have to squeeze my run in before the children come or I have to dash off to WW or to church.  


I also want to take some time and do a little intentional reading in two or three diet/motivation books that I have.  I also have a few months worth of Eating Well magazine that I want to take some time with and find some new recipes to add to my repertoire.  


As a sop to the idea of doing some housecleaning, I want to spend an hour working on my closet.  I've got clothes to give away and clothes to bring back to the front of the closet.  I need to do some serious weeding of my T-Shirt pile.  I grabbed one this morning that was a 2X--I'm sending all my X's to live in Texas (or at least to the Goodwill store)!


Breakfast and lunch will be my usual, but I want to discover some new ideas during my time with the magazines and cook something wonderful and new for dinner.  I'll let you know!


The ants have gone completely away.  I haven't seen even one ant in the past two days.  Hurrah!  Maybe I can hold my head up again when the cleaning ladies come tomorrow!  Someone asked me what the recipe for the Ant Poison was. I got it from a Wiki How article (google  "get rid of ants").  They had several ideas, but the one I used called for 1 cup water, 2 cups sugar, 2 TBSP Borax.


I made reservations today for a beautiful inn on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  We're going Labor Day weekend.  We'll load up our bikes and take advantage of the flat terrain and bike-friendly conditions and do some serious biking.  We regularly do 14 or so miles a couple of times a week, but the farthest I've ever biked is 17 miles.  There's a 35 mile bike trail that includes a 25 minute ferry ride and lots of biking along the water.  It sounds really nice.  I've got to get DH to read some of Lori's posts so that he gets into the idea of interspersing serious biking with bagels and fro-yo and other wholesome treats!

For your viewing pleasure:  Here's a picture of DH and me during a trip to Astoria, Oregon.  In May 09, when this was taken, I weighed about 5 pounds less than I do now.   








PLEASE~~~Can Someone Help Me with a couple of technical Question about Blogger??

1)  Why does my blog typically take 5+ hours to update to the newest post on the blog roll (my own and yours--I've checked)?  This happens almost every time.  

2) Why do I sometimes have huge spaces in my blog even tho the preview and the compose view don't show those spaces and I can't eliminate the spaces without deleting lines of my post??

Happy Anniversary

Jeannine and Norman

August 12, 1940

My parents were married on this day 70 years ago.  It amazing to me how young they look in this picture.  Mom was 19 and had finished her junior year at Stanford and Dad was 23 and one year out of West Point.  They moved to Fort Sam Houston, Texas and made their first of many, many homes.  They were the best parents I could ever imagine.  They taught me about love, and faith, and family, and loyalty, and integrity.  If I ended up  with any good qualities, they are largely responsible. Mom died 17 years ago and my Dad is in a nearby nursing home with severe dementia.  I love them both and miss them terribly, every day.

My parents were my first cheerleaders.  Neither of them (nor any of my 3 siblings) ever had any weight issues.  Yet they were always supportive, helpful and understanding.  As I once again work on conquering this life challenge of discovering and embracing a healthy lifestyle, I know that part of me is wanting to finally succeed and to justify their lifelong confidence in my ability to achieve that success.  

Thanks to you Mom and Dad, I know I can do this.