Mean Green

My sister-in-law and I recently joined an organic farm/weekly local produce club and we should start to get the produce just after spring begins.  I bought a juicer to make sure we use up all the produce my husband and I might not be able to eat before it goes bad.  Coincidentally, just after ordering the juicer, I watched the documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead – not knowing what it was about at first – but turns out it was about two men who went on a juice fast ~ one of them for 60 days having nothing but “mean green juice” and water.  He lost a ton of weight and was able to stop taking steroid medication he had been taking for a chronic autoimmune disorder which caused him to break out into hives.  The second guy also lost a lot of weight and was able to go off his cholesterol medication. 

The documentary also reinforced how crazy awful the American diet has become.  Supersized soda.  Boxed processed meals.  Lunchables.  Chemical ingredients.  It’s touted as quick and convenient, but personally, I think it’s just sheer laziness. Americans are sorely lacking vital nutrients that fend off disease.   But, has the American diet become this way because of the laziness, or is the laziness because of all the quick boxed convenience? 

Knowing full well I would not withstand a 60-day juice fast, I wanted the mini-experience.  Last weekend I attempted a two-day juice fast.  I found a “menu” for a weekend juice plan that included recipes for four drinks a day.  I spent approximately $40 on fruits and vegetables. I enjoy new gastronomic experiences, so I was actually looking forward to this but the thought of no solid food for two days was actually quite daunting.  I made and drank every drink on the plan, but towards the end of both days I was shaky and starving, and had to eat a lean protein and some steamed vegetables.  I felt great after the two days, and did lose two pounds.  Since then, I have been trying to make at least one juice a day – even my husband drinks the “mean green”!

Carrot Pineapple Chili Juice

Orange Berry Smoothie

The makings of Mean Green Juice

Mean Green: chock full of micro-nutrients!

  If life gives you lemons, make some kind of fruity juice. ~ Conan O'Brien

Do-Over

If you had a chance for a do-over....

We often say: I wish I could do it over, knowing what I know now.  No doubt the outcome would be different?   But - what if you didn’t know what you know now?

I recently saw The Vow. Woman in a car accident, brain trauma, couldn’t remember a 5-year block of her life, including meeting, falling in love, and marrying her husband.   Her husband had to court her all over again, to try to make her fall in love with him again, without knowing if the outcome would be the same, if she would or even could ever love him again.  A daunting task.

If you had a chance to do it all over again, would you do it the same way?  It’s one thing to be able to do it over “knowing what you know now”, but, what if you didn’t know?  What if you couldn’t learn from your mistakes, because you couldn’t remember them?   What if you couldn’t rely on good memories to help you through the tough times, because there were no memories, good or bad?    What if doing it over didn’t feel like doing it over?   Would the do-over have the same outcome as the original happenings?

The Vow was based on a true story…but I won’t reveal how it ends.

“If I had it all to do over again, I would do most all things differently. However, how would I know that if, I had not had the opportunity to do them the first time.” ~Janice Markowitz

Hedy Stuff

Award shows.  The glamour.  The glitz.  The dream.  Escape from reality. 

The Academy Awards show is on tonight, and I can’t wait to watch.  I will imbibe in red wine and red carpet satire.  I will be in awe of the gorgeous and gasp at the poorly attired.  My eyes will be blinded by the borrowed bling.

I’ve always loved the idea of Hollywood, especially Old Hollywood.  Hedy Lamarr was once quoted as saying “Any girl can look glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.”   While I believe any girl can look glamorous, it does not come hand in hand with stupidity or flightiness or shallowness. What was Hedy thinking?  Why can’t we be both glamorous and intelligent?

I could use some inspiration to unleash my inner Gaga.  Maybe the golden Oscar will inspire me.  I’ve been feeling dowdy lately, lackluster.  I have a case of the winter blahs.  (I think I have blogged of this before? I must have a recurrent case of the winter blues.)  I need to get out of my comfort zone.  I feel a spring makeover coming on.  A hair appointment is already scheduled…

But for now, tonight, I will just watch.

I think people feel starved of nice, glamorous entertainment. They want to see costumes and gaiety and a singer; old-fashioned entertainment - it won't die easily. ~ Ronnie Corbett

Va Va Voom

I recently went bra shopping with a friend.  Not the most fun thing in the world; it’s quite distressing, actually.  And we both seemed to have some of the same problems in trying to find one that fit, even though we are on complete opposite ends of the bra anatomy scale:  her cup runneth over, while mine is only half full.

We women are miraculous creatures.  We multitask like no man is able.  We give birth to new life.  Our bodies are interesting and complex.  We have the same anatomy, but no two bodies are ever quite the same. Trying to find a bra that fits that anatomy comfortably and does the job it’s supposed to do (while still being a cute undergarment) is quite an impossible task.  I dare say it’s even harder than finding the perfect pair of jeans.

Damn the bra, and the inventor of such. It shapes.  It molds.  It lifts.  It pinches.  It binds.  There are soft cup, minimizers, push-up, padded, underwire, bandeau, convertible, demi cup, and shelf bras, just to name a few.  You not only have to deal with the band size, there is also the cup size.  What’s a woman to do?  Next time I’m out there shopping for an over-the-shoulder-boulder holder, I think I will return to the boutique where my friend finally found her true size.  The sales women wear measuring tapes around their neck and they seemed to know their bras inside and out.

The bra as a garment has quite a bit of history (check it out on Wikipedia) and its evolution had significant social impacts, including oppression, sexism, and feminism.  And we owe it all to Herminie Cadolle, the inventor of the modern day bra in 1889.  Her boutique still exists in Paris, The Cadolle Company, and it is still family-owned.  The store claims today that Herminie ‘freed women by inventing the first bra.’  Most women these days would deny that a bra was "freeing", but compared to a corset, I can see the truth in it. 

"You know it's a bad day when you put your bra on backwards and it fits better."  -author unknown

Shoe Envy

Dear Shoe Gods: Please help me find a pretty pair of platform sandals that has heels less than 6-inches high. I just want a kicky pair of casual summer high-heeled shoes that give me enough height to make me feel important and visible and just a little bit better than everyone else, but that won’t make me topple over head-first when walking down an incline or sprain my ankle as I turn my head to smile at the construction guys who whistle when I walk by.

Right - who am I kidding? I am 41-going-on-42 for God’s sake. And I haven’t been whistled at since who knows when, six-inch heels or not. But have you seen the shoes these days? They are fierce, with your choice of wedge, spike, or platform heels that range from four and a half to 12 inches high! Seriously. I read an article that in this time of recession, extreme high heels are a form of escapism for women. And some men, too, I suppose. But honestly, how can you get through an entire day walking in them? Three catwalk models dropped out of a fashion show because they were required to wear 12-inch heels. No lie.

But I did find a delectable pair of shoes online that had only four-and-a-half-inch heels with a one-inch platform and the reviews on Zappos were impeccable. I received them last night and as soon as I opened the box I laughed and knew I must have been quite delusional when I ordered them. Crazy girl. Whose Kool-Aid were you drinking? You are not Lindsay Lohan clubbing it up at Chateau Marmont every night. You are not a 31-year-old fashionista with a reputation to uphold. You are a woman who works 9 to 5 each day and then some. You are a woman with an ache in her left hip and a pain in her right foot. You are a woman who aspires to vacuum the house more than once a week but knows it will never happen.

But damn, did those shoes look good on my feet! And for a minute they did give me enough height to make me feel important and visible and just a little bit better than everyone else. Ah, escapism!

But sadly, I must now send those precocious shoes packing, back from whence they came. And the search continues…

These shoes are much more dangerous than they appear to the human eye.

Funny that a pair of really nice shoes make us feel good in our heads - at the extreme opposite end of our bodies. ~Levende Waters

Tapastry

Here are a few shots from our delicious Spanish appetizer feast the other day!

Cherry tomatoes stuffed with crab salad and olive tapenade

Fresh tuna salad with capers

The hit of the night was sliced baguette topped with melted manchego cheese and carmelized onions.

Tips for a great white sangria:  2 bottles pinot grigio, quarter cup brandy, quarter cup orange or apple liquor, tons of fresh fruit, half cup simple syrup, and refrigerate overnight.

Our next event:  French appetizers

Foodie

Getting together this weekend with some friends to have a tapas party. Food. All kinds of little foods. Lots of little tiny foods with big flavors. So, I get to eat a lot of little food.

A lot of food. The chorizo. The olives. The shrimp. The scallops. Grilled asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham. And did I mention the sangria?

I wonder sometimes why food excites me so much? I am heading out to Wegman’s on my lunch hour to shop for the tapas dishes I will be preparing and I am excited beyond belief. The produce aisle. The seafood. The bread.

So tomorrow afternoon, the girls will be preparing all sorts of foodstuff while the guys will be downstairs, practicing for their first surf music gig in a year.  I wonder how that will go….cooking Spanish-inspired food while listening to Dick Dale-inspired music?

Food…I even wrote a poem about it a while ago. Here is the abbreviated version:

Comfort Food

What does it mean when
Coffee is more comforting
than an embrace,
And wine more than words?

On a cold winter’s night
Mashed potatoes
Osso buco
That’s all I need.

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire