Quinoa Is Tasty

I gave quinoa a try in a salad this past Friday and it’s delicious. It’s easy to cook too. Very similar to rice or couscous in terms of how you make it. It has a kind of fresh but nutty flavor and a texture similar to couscous, but with slightly more bite to it. I mixed some lemon juice, tomato, mint and parsley through it and served it with grilled lamb, but it would go well with chicken too. Anyway, it’s nice to have a new grain to have with meals. Read more

Vanilla Soufflé

I really love the texture of a well made soufflé, and I really love vanilla, but until today I had not been able to come up with a recipe for a vanilla soufflé that really allowed the lusciousness of the vanilla to shine through the egg. It’s been over a year since I made my first soufflé, a chocolate affair made with some really delicious 70% cocoa solids callebaut chocolate, which to me has a slightly spicy note to the flavor that I just adore (I’ll post that recipe another day), but I’ve played repeatedly with different variations on the classic vanilla soufflé and had never come close to the sublime vanilla flavor that haunted my imagination, until today. I made the recipe as individual soufflés, but I’ve included a version for a 2 quart / 2 liter soufflé as well. Read more

Back to Losing

I lost 2 kilos this week, what a relief . I also noticed when taking my measurements today that I’ve lost nearly six inches from around my waist and four off my hips since August 25. I’m really pleased with that; no wonder my blood pressure has gone down. I’m trying right now to work up menus of foods that will be easy for me to prepare and take to work with me, and I found a really nice one the other day which was a cucumber salad with salmon or ocean or ocean trout mixed through and a dill vinaigrette. Read more

One journey ends, another begins

I’m in a state today. As I get more and more mobile, I can’t help but think of how immobile I’ve been over the last five to eight years or so. I’ve really been enjoying my neighborhood walks; seeing how people keep their yards; what fancy little touches they add to their homes; what kind of animals they have; what kind of yard furniture they have; what they’ve planted and whether the plants are doing well. All sorts of little things I haven’t been able to enjoy in so long and which simultaneously heralds the end of my journey with cancer, and the beginning of my journey to lose weight. Read more

Sarah Palin Superwoman?

Since Sarah Palin’s nomination was announced I’ve had SERIOUS doubts as to whether she actually gave birth to her son Trig, or if instead, he is actually her daughter Bristol’s child. Below is some information I was able to gather.

Sarah Palin announced her pregnancy on March 6th, claiming she was 7-months pregnant. Her aides and co-workers were shocked as she certainly didn’t appear pregnant. On April 18th, newspaper reports said Trig Palin was born a month premature yet weighed over 6 pounds. Coincidentally, it was during this time that Palin’s daughter Bristol, 17, was taken out of high school for 5-8 months citing mononucleosis. Read more

Swamped

Phew, this has been one busy week. I had a little minor surgery on Tuesday, primarily to remove my port-a-cath, and the anesthetic they gave me wiped me out for most of Tuesday and Wednesday too. I tried to take a bit of a walk on Wednesday and Bernie had to come pick me up because I was so weak and dizzy, not to mention nauseated. I thought I’d had the same anesthetic for my port insertion & for my apheresis catheter insertion, but I didn’t react like for either of those procedures. Maybe they upped my dose or something, I have no idea, but I was wrecked. Read more

Hypertension & Chemo

I don’t know how, and from what I could ascertain neither did my doctor, but apparently, one of the mysteries of chemo-therapy is that sometimes it can actually help to lower your blood pressure. This is usually a temporary little miracle that ends shortly after you finish treatment, but in my case, I seem to have managed to lose enough weight post chemo-therapy to alleviate the mild hypertension I had prior to treatment. I have to say I’m really glad because I REALLY hated taking hypertension medication. Read more

Tri-Nations: Wallabies v All Blacks Bledisloe Cup Preview

How long has it been for the Wallabies? Not since the outstanding run from the late 90’s where the team won everything does Australia enter a “grand final” with such a strong chance of winning. Not to discount the 2003 World Cup, but England deserved to win. For Australia to defeat them in that final would have been an injustice to an England squad which was so adept it was able to defeat the All Blacks on New Zealand soil prior to winning the tournament. This is the first time in a long time the Wallabies enter a decider with such a good chance of winning. Read more

CT Results Back

Yippee! My CT scan is in, and there’s no evidence of my tumor or any lymphatic involvement, so he’s ok’d the removal of my port-a-cath. I’m so glad I’ll be rid of it soon . He did say he wants me to lose weight, and I told him I am, but he said if I don’t show significant loss in three months he wants me to consider lap band surgery. I’m not too hip that though. I feel that I’m doing well with exercise and watching what I eat, so I hope it won’t come to my needing the surgery. I’ll have to pour some more time into exercise to make sure it doesn’t because I don’t want my tummy stapled up.

Sheep’s Milk

I don’t know why, but I have a really strong desire to try sheep’s milk. I’ve read a lot of great stuff about it being more easily digestible and higher in calcium and other trace minerals than cow’s milk, and if it’s organic it’s also higher in anti-oxidants. More than that, I really love cheese made with sheep’s milk (like Roquefort, peccorino, haloumi) so I figure maybe the milk would be worth a try, funny thing is, in spite of Australia being such a sheepy country (a primary producers of wool and all), I can’t find anyone near me that sells sheep’s milk. Read more

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