The awesome sandwich from IHOP has smoked ham, sautéed peppers and onions in a classic omelette, then topped with sliced ham and melted cheese on grilled artisan sourdough bread.

Yes, I was a little greedy and ordered onion rings and fries with my sandwich!

Don’t judge me!

Until recently, Philadelphia’s food truck scene paled in comparison to other culinary counterparts like Portland, Austin, or New York.  Now, however, the city that has made so many strides to put itself alongside those cities with brick-and-mortar establishments is also beefing up its mobile repertoire.  There will be no better way to enjoy the best the city has to offer than hitting up the third annual Vendy Awards on June 8 at Penn Treaty Park from 2p.m. to 6p.m.

This year, the coveted Vendy Cup is guaranteed to trade hands as the well-loved winner of last year’s cup, Smoke Truck, has unfortunately moved on from Philly.  Other categories truck owners can win are Best Dessert, Peoples’ Choice (as voted by the attendees of the event) and the newly instituted Messy Yet Tasty award in conjunction with sponsor Tide Stain Eraser.  Nominees for this new award can be made online here.

Judging these prestigious awards this year will be chef and co-owner of Johnny Brenda’s and co-owner of Standard Tap Paul Kimock, third generation owner of Philadelphia’s iconic DiBruno Bros. Emilio Magnucci, editor-in-chief of Every Day with Rachel Ray Lauren Purcell, and Philly native and Brooklyn Brewery executive chef Andrew Gerson.

In addition to helping with the voting and rubbing elbows with food celebrities, attendees will be able to sample near-unlimited fare from the participating food trucks, as well as beer from Brooklyn Brewery.  For the price of $55 for adults and $35 for children 8-12, the amount of food is enormous and well-worth the ticket.  With every guest satisfied last year, and the local food truck convoy growing exponentially, there is sure to be more than enough food and something for everyone at this year’s event.

After attending last year, I can safely say I will be in attendance once again this year, and greatly looking forward to it.  If you want to sample the best of the best of the city’s mobile eateries, be sure to get your tickets here (they’ll sell out fast) and get to Penn Treaty Park for the Third Annual Vendy Awards.  Hopefully we’ll see you there.

I still a little more work to go though on achieving a healthier me, as I’ve mentioned before it wouldn’t hurt to take up some form of exercise!

I guessed its useful, if I’m doing this blog, that people can understand the journey I’m going through.

I will get a better ‘now’ photo up later ( not got many ‘new’ me photos yet!), but i hope you can see the difference!

INGREDIENTS

• FOR THE CRUST

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for handling dough
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

• FOR THE FILLING

  • 1 bar (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved
  • 1/4 cup seedless red currant jelly

DIRECTIONS

Hoping next week is more on the positive side, and for any of you having a tough week, month, year….Big Hugs! Life is sucks sometimes!!

S

Enjoy! Xo

1. I am making this recipe for Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins tonight! Can’t wait to see how they turn out to possibly add to my clean eating recipe stash!

2. This poppy and cream ensemble for the bedroom is just beautiful! 

3. Struggle to think of gifts for the man in your life? Why not make him some awesome beer coasters for his man cave?

4. This slip with added lace on the bottom is a genius idea for under skirts and dresses that may be a little too short! Love!

My initial intention was that Food Rand Friday would be a one time thing, apparently I have just too much to say about it.

I’ve been seeing a lot of info this week about the nationwide march against Monsanto and wonder to myself what this is really going to accomplish.  A group of basically like-minded people will get together and rant about what Monsanto is doing to our collective good health.  Marching against anything these days doesn’t seem to have the impact it once had.  Our legislators are not going to change their ways of voting on the farm bill or anything else because thousands of citizens got together to voice their disapproval of big ag’s farming practices.  Most will vote with whoever is funding their bids for reelection, plain and simple.  The sooner the population realizes this the sooner we can deal with it in a more constructive way.

Michael Pollan is my hero if for no other reason than to tell people to read labels and if there is more than five ingredients on it or there are ingredients that you don’t understand don’t eat it.  That’s pretty simple.  It doesn’t take much to read the label on that bag of Cheetos to know that they probably aren’t that good for you and that you are supporting big ag by buying and consuming them.  There are so many other reasons not to eat processed food but honestly I’ve said enough about that.

Today I have two articles to share the first is about the possible effects of Roundup on our guts and potentially our very lives (like we didn’t really already know that).  Gut Punch: Monsanto Could Be Destroying Your Microbiome was an article I read this morning that I thought was interesting but just one more reason not to eat food produced by large agriculture.  This article led me to Michael Pollan’s piece in the NYT - Some of My Best Friends are Germs.  This is a lengthy piece which is typical for Pollan only because when he makes a case for something he gives you as much information as he can.  Read it, it’s fascinating and more than a little scary.

Our food, in my humble opinion, has become one of the biggest political issues of our time.  I feel like there are so few people who are even aware of it that the idea of changing what is happening to the everyday American is all but impossible.  We are bombarded everyday with news of terrorism and tragedy that the danger of the food you buy in your grocery store takes a very back seat to the tragedy du jour.  Let’s put armed guards in every elementary school in the country to keep our children safe, let’s make sure there’s a safe room in each school as well to ensure in case of a tornado they’ll have somewhere safe to go.  Okay, I get it, but how about increasing the food budgets and finding access to organic fresh foods in every cafeteria across the country.  How about putting home economics back into the school curriculum to give our children the knowledge they need to cook a meal from scratch or help them to read the ingredient labels on their food.  How about teaching them where their food comes from?

Honestly, kids need to know more about farm animals than the cow says moo and the chicken says cluck.  They need to know the cow means milk and burgers and the chicken is eggs and McNuggets (maybe).  I worked at Old Sturbridge Village as an interpreter for a few years, fortunately for the kids I was in textiles.  Early on though I worked as a gardener. One year we were harvesting carrots and I had a little girl help pull some up – she was amazed, she didn’t know they came out of the ground!  I also had an experience of stopping kids from harassing one of the roosters in the barnyard.  He thought it was just a stupid bird, I told him that if he continued to corner and harass that bird it would attack him and then we’d have to kill him and eat him.  The kid looked at me like I was nuts and I told him that that was where his chicken nuggets came from – then he really thought I was crazy.  These kids were typically in the fourth grade.  I’m beginning to think that we’ve crossed the Rubicon with food education because the vast majority of parents don’t know where their food comes from either.  Talk about the dumbing down of America.

I will continue to use the poster at the beginning of every food rant because I am convinced the only way we are going to get ourselves out of our collective health problems is to grow our own food or source it, know where it comes from and what is in it.  If it makes you feel better go march against Monsanto on Saturday, while you’re there talk about what you are growing this year or what farmer’s market is near the person you’re talking to.   I’m hoping that in addition to being a protest it can be an education and an avenue for people to know where they can get good, healthy food for themselves and their families.

Have I got your attention?

Calling All Burger Lovers!

Time to start planning your upcoming holiday weekend menu – for SLIDERS!

I love holidays! Cooking burgers is one reason, grilling sliders is another. Look at how good this is, a perfectly composed slider getting a big assist from my best friend, BACON:

Here are some of my favorite slider recipes – all with an international flair!

A Worldwide Slider Celebration!

The key to an international slider is what flavors the basic hamburger patty. Your basic hamburger uses good quality ground beef with at least 15% fat content, to ensure lots of juicy flavor. I mix in raw minced onion and minced garlic, with salt, pepper as well.

That’s it for me – upon this temple of meat flavor, I add unique ingredients that give my sliders an international flavor…here are some of my favorite recipes!

Spanish Sliders – Hamburguesa!

Let’s get started with Spain, since I just got back from Barcelona…this is a great example of taking a regular burger and giving it an international feel…using some of the special spanish flavors to give the burger a catalonian flavor!

Begin by cooking the burger first with Manchego cheese (a sheep’s milk cheese from the La Mancha region in Spain) and Jamón Iberico, (Iberico ham – prosciutto-like ham that comes from Spanish black pigs). Then, top the burger with olive tapenade…you can find recipes for making it, or you can buy it in a jar, but it includes black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Take a bite and you will wake up in Barcelona…

Or, if you are just in the mood for a burger that will drive you NUTS…or perhaps you don’t want a burger at all, well here’s the answer!

The Nut Burger!

The Nut Burger was made famous at Matt’s Place Drive-In in Butte, Montana. Matt’s Place Drive-In was established in 1930.

And, in honor of vegetarians who have chosen to read this post, there is a great “no meat” burger waiting for you!

“No Meat” Nut Burgers!

1 medium onion
1 cup walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews or other nuts, preferably raw
1 cup (raw) rolled oats or cooked short-grain white or brown rice
2 tablespoons ketchup, miso, tomato paste, nut butter or tahini
1 teaspoon chili powder or any spice mix you like
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg

2 tablespoons peanut oil, extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn.

1. Grind onion in food processor. Add nuts and oats, and pulse to chop, but not too finely. Add remaining ingredients except oil. Process briefly; don’t grind too finely. Add a little liquid — water, stock, soy sauce, wine, whatever — if necessary; mixture should be moist but not loose.

2. Let mixture rest a few minutes, then shape it into 4 burgers. (Burger mixture or shaped burgers can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to a day. Bring back to room temperature before cooking.) Put oil in nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron skillet and turn to medium. When oil is hot, add burgers to skillet. Cook about 5 minutes, undisturbed, until browned, then turn with spatula. Lower heat a bit and cook 3 or 4 minutes more, until firm.

This is good enough to satisfy meat eaters, too!

Korean Kimchi Barbecue Sliders

When I was in Seoul, we ate every night at a korean BBQ, where you grill your own meat and seafood on the round grill embedded in your table, then wrap the grilled food around lettuce or thinly sliced pickled vegetables. Taking that as an inspiration, Korean sliders are best when you add pickled cucumbers, a splash of rice vinegar and kimchi.

As you can see, it’s all about how you season your burger patty – and there’s a world of great flavor to enjoy!

Japanese Wasabi-Avocado Slider!

I read about this over the holidays and I made one…it was delicious! It is very simple: a slider patty topped with sliced avocado, and a heavy dose of wasabi mayonaise. Trader Joe’s sells it, or buy some great mayo and wasabi and mix it together to the strength you can handle…this is delicious with a Sapporo! One last look….trust me, MAKE THIS ONE!

The Sriracha Burger!

Wasabi not powerful enough for you? Well, THIS will do the trick:

This is a GREAT idea…the recipe is from the terrific “Serious Eats” website!

3 pounds ground beef (preferably chuck, 80/20)
1/4 cup soy sauce
10 tablespoons Sriracha
4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon
2 large sweet onions
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
8 sesame seed buns
8 thick slices Swiss cheese
1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced
Arugula or romaine lettuce

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 5 tablespoons of the Sriracha, and the pepper.

Cook the bacon. While the bacon is cooking, peel and quarter the onions. Once the bacon is cooked through and slightly crispy, remove the slices from the pan, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook the sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.

Grill the burgers. While the burgers are cooking, in a small bowl, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 5 tablespoons Sriracha. Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time.

To assemble, spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, Swiss cheese slice, bacon, caramelized onions, tomato slice, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun.

Bam!

Australian Sliders!

I uncovered these two years ago in Melbourne. They add a slice of beetroot underneath the burger. It adds a great, slightly nutty flavor to the slider. Look at how beautiful that big chunk looks on the burger above…Everything else is the same – add cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce if you like – and if you want to go totally Aussie, add a fried egg on top….the best!

Now, if you REALLY want to get creative, throw the concept of a slider out the window altogether!

THE CHEESEBURGER SUB!

From The White House Sub shop in Atlantic City, I got this delicious cheeseburger sub – it’s a cheeseburger on a sub sandwich roll…easy to do and a fun change of pace!

The All-American Bacon-Cheeseburger Slider!

What can you say? After a trip around the world, it’s nice to come home and have an all-american slider…made vertically like so:

Top Bun
Cheese – melted and dripping
Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!
Slider Patty
Tomato
Pickle
Mayonaise, mayonaise, mayonaise!
Bottom Bun

See that? DO NOT DEVIATE – this is perfection.

WHAT THE – ???!!???

What do you think of THIS? My daughter Jessica poses in front of the ad for the “Green Peas Pachislo Burger” in Tokyo…we don’t know what it was, and didn’t bother to find out, but we loved the ad!

Jessica sent me a list of sliders being made by an innovative food truck in Seattle. Look at some of these variations on a slider!

Curb Jumper Classic Cheese Slider

Certified Angus Beef, Melted Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Roma Tomato, Red Onion,
Spring Mix with Roasted Garlic Aioli.

Shrooom Slider

Certified Angus Beef, Melted Provolone Cheese, Sauted Crimini Mushrooms,
Caramelized Sweet Onions, Spring Mix, Roma Tomato and Spicy Mustard Aioli

Southwest Turkey Slider

Handmade and spiced Turkey Patties, Melted Pepper Jack Cheese, Roasted Anaheim Peppers,
Cumin- Cilantro Slaw, Frizzled Onions with a Chipotle Aioli.

Salmon Slider

Handmade Salmon Patties, Frizzled Onions, Spring Mix, Roma Tomato with a Lemon Pepper Aioli

Paulie’s Pulled Pork Sliders

Rubbed and Slow Roasted Pork in a Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce topped with a fresh
Cumin- Cilantro Slaw

Don’t Be Intimidated!

And remember, if all else fails:

White Castle To The Rescue!

And when in doubt, grab a dozen White Castle sliders and dress them up with some of the above flavors – talk about happy holidays!

Let me know if you try any of these and how they turn out! Thanks!

Lunch

One thing Vietnam is the dogs bollocks for is its home delivery service. Quite recently Gareth and I were acutely hungover after having a party in our apartment the night before. We were so done in that we made three online orders for delivery; coffees for breakfast, burgers for lunch and a curry for dinner. You may have just done a double take. Yes, we are able to have coffee, bloody good coffee too, delivered straight to our 10th floor apartment. It’s so decedent but isn’t it secretly what everyone wants? Can you now see why we had such a problem with eating western food all the time?

While anything can be delivered, absolutely everything is available for takeaway. Today’s lunch, Pho Bo, was purchased from around the corner and eaten in the comfort of my AC cooled apartment.

Home with my Pho Bo and my AC

There was a time when I was obsessed with Pho Bo, but now I’m aware that I just didn’t know any better. Throughout the western world, but unusually not really in the UK, Pho Bo is seen as the king of Vietnamese cuisine. With its thin translucent white noodles, dark beefy broth and fresh herbs, it is a delight. However, since trying the different noodle soups on offer this past week I can officially declare that it’s no longer my favourite!

I wrote a blog post last July called How to Eat Pho, which was, remarkably, chosen by the online version of the top British travel magazine Wanderlust as Blog of The Week. It’s a short story about eating Pho Bo and how it developed my understanding of the Vietnamese culture. Here’s a little bit of what I wrote then:

Within minutes a steaming bowl of Pho is placed before me. The raw beef and the fresh spring onions are now cooked in the hot broth, the noodles are infused with the chopped up spring onion and the broth is dark and enticing me to add the multitude of flavoursome condiments. I dismiss the ho sin sauce, it makes the Pho too sweet, and add a heaped spoonful of dried chillies, a good squeeze of the chilli sauce, a dash of the salty fish sauce and a clove’s worth of garlic. With the bowl of Pho came a plate of limes, fresh chillies and herbs of basil and mint. Adding practically a whole tree worth of herbs, a squeeze or two of lime and even more chillies is the final part of this preparation ritual. 

Nuoc Mia

Please take a few minutes to read the rest and picture yourself there, in that little eatery surrounded by red, pink and green plastic chairs and metal foldaway tables awaiting your hot steaming Pho Bo.

Along with my Pho I bought a cup of Nuoc Mia, which is Sugarcane Juice. The juice is extracted from a pressed sugarcane and is sweet and slightly citrusy, and so thirst-quenching.

Dinner

Well, if you thought last night’s dinner was creepy then tonight you’re in for a treat. I have proper pushed the boat out because I wanted to try something that absolutely repulses me; eel.

‘Hi! If you’re not busy later, can you help me to cook eel, please?’ I asked my friend, Thuy in a text. ‘Do you know any ways to cook it?’

‘I know many way to cook it,’ she replied, ‘I will help you’.

So that was that. I had set forth a course that would ultimately lead me towards putting eel inside my mouth and reluctantly swallowing it.

We purchased all the ingredients for the eel banquet (detailed below) in the small supermarket in my building and then worked tirelessly for an hour in my kitchen preparing and cooking the meal. We made two dishes; one was fried eel in garlic and lemongrass and the other was boiled eel in a sweet and sour soup.

Eel tastes like a snakey fish. I’ve eaten snake and it tastes a little bit like chicken. I was surprised at how edible it was and I actually, shock horror, liked it. And now, I am going to go all Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on yo ass and tell you to try eel. It is so misunderstood. I mean, just look how adorable it is in this photo:

Everybody Eat Eel!!

If you need me to figuratively hold your hand and help you in making this giant leap of eely goodness then here are tonight’s recipes with some helpful photographs to prove that it’s not as nightmarish as you’d think.

Cleaning me eel

Recipe for eel marinade

Ingredients

A chopped eel

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp five spice powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

Request for the eel to be chopped up by the fishmonger into inch long pieces, because as sure as night follows day, you will not want to do this yourself.

Clean the blood off the eel and remove all innards.

Add the curry powder, five spice powder, salt and sugar and mix. Leave to marinade for 15 minutes.

Recipe for Fried Eel in Garlic and Lemon Grass

Fried Eel with Garlic and Lemongrass

Ingredients 

half a marinated eel

5 stalks of chopped lemongrass (if you can’t get your hands on lemongrass then use lemon zest and/or lemon leaf instead)

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp of Knorr fish stock

Instructions

On a medium heat, add a large table spoon of cooking oil and fry the garlic until lightly browned. Add the lemongrass and fry until lightly browned. Add the eel and cover it in the garlic and lemongrass. Add the fish sauce and Knorr fish stock and mix. Leave on a low heat until the eel is cooked – it should easily peel away from the spine.

Recipe for Boiled Eel in a Sweet and Sour Soup

Boiled Eel in a Sweet and Sour Soup

Ingredients

half a marinated eel

3 tomatoes, sliced into quarters

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

two-finger pinch of salt

1 tblsp sugar

1 soup bowl of water

3 big tbsp of thick sweet and sour sauce

Instructions

Using a small pan, on a medium to low heat, fry the chopped garlic in a tbsp of oil. Add the tomatoes. Add the salt and sugar. Simmer and stir for a minute. Add the bowl of water. Add the sweet and sour sauce. Add the eel and bring to the boil. Leave to boil until the eel is cooked. To serve, dress with roughly chopped cilantro or spring onion if desired.

Both dishes are great with boiled rice.

Eel and Rice

The Wonderful Thuy

Eels!

Lots has happened! I’ve been in Cape Town, for work. And I did work, but I also accomplished the following:

• Visited The Vintage Experience market at Truth Coffee off Buitenkant street – wowzers!

I found the most beautiful thick, heavy green suede jacket circa 1970 something. I don’t have it near me now to take a photo to show you, but I shall do so very soon, possibly with my soon-to-arrive Sony Xperia Z smartphone, ooh la la! (Cannot wait to rid myself of the BlackBerry nightmare that has plagued me for the past 2 years – its latest trick is to highlight applications independently of my attempts to direct the track-pad, making opening messages or emails nearly impossible).

• Had delightfully special dinner with friends at The Roundhouse in Camps Bay.

Wonderful wine, wonderful company and wonderfully flavoursome food… And spot-on service too! *mmmmmmmmmm*

• Ate artisanal French bread with organic home-made jam, ripe, piquant cheese and cold charcuterie meats at our amazing guest house/hotel for breakfast every morning. I was surprised at how full I was and for long I was after eating just a small slice with said toppings! Bless you, and thank you, Maxime and Melodie!

• Was introduced to The Biscuit Mill on a bright and sparkly Saturday morning, where I spent a ridiculously lengthy period of time in a shop that had the widest range of neck scarves I think I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, I bought some.

• Had a late-night G’nT at Hipster-attracting bar, The Power and The Glory, *nod*.

• Drank a creamy Chai Latte at Clarke’s, while watching Gav eat macaroni cheese (something I didn’t think I’d ever see him do!).

• And danced a toe-tapping ditty at the TjingTjing Rooftop Bar.

I haven’t spent that much time near loud music and flirting in quite a while. Loved it!

Now I’m back to reality in Jozi.

Yes indeed.

One very good thing that’s happened since being back is I’ve come across a book by Jocelyn K. Glei, called “Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind”.

I downloaded it from Amazon via my Kindle app. I’ve just reached Chapter 2, and I’m nodding and smiling all the way through so far. I think it was written just for me! Check it out and let me know what you think. Useful? Heard it all before? Already doing what it suggests?

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

L

This first cake I made for a lady at the office when she finished chemotherapy for breast cancer.  Figured it was something worth celebrating.  And tinkerbelle is her favorite.

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This was made right around the time that spelling hot with two t’s was still cool.  I has also apparently just gotten new frosting dyes.

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This picture was part of my “this moment really happened” post about Facebook pictures of mine that I found.  So many sprinkles.  And this was after a night of penne alla vodka, one of the last nights my best friends from middle school and I spent with each other before heading to college.

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This is probably one of the best cakes we’ve ever made in our lives (our being mine and Aubrey’s).  Look at those colors!  And black sprinkles.  And peeps.  And who doesn’t love Outkast lyrics on a cake?

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Fun fact: Either the “we’re hott” cake or the “shake it like a polaroid picture” cake (I can’t remember which right now, but I’m sure Aubrey does) was made using waaaay too much flour and the cake actually turned out horrible.  I took one bite of it and didn’t have anymore.  Aubrey actually ate an entire large piece of cake before figuring that out.  Then we had mooses.  If you don’t know what that means, you’ll probably need to go read that Facebook post to figure it out.

Happy Friday, everyone, and if you’re in the US have a great Memorial Day weekend.  And maybe eat some cake?

Me at eight months post-partum

As a result some friends messaged me to ask what it is that I’ve been doing. Hence I write this.

This post is divided in two parts: that one you’re probably expecting… and the other one, maybe not so much.

The Miracle Cure

Quick, fast: lose the weight, tighten that ass, firm up those arms. We want it all and we want it fast. As a personal trainer I think my clients invariably hope I’ll come up with the magical remedy that will take away the extra pounds in two days. Obviously there is no such thing.

We have to create new habits. 

It sounds like a long and hard process, but I don’t think it is. We well know that it’s madness to keep doing the same things and expecting different results. If you want a different body you have to choose different things.

Take a moment and define if this adventure of change is really what you desire, or maybe you wish to remain the same. I assure you there is no incorrect answer.

………..

You’re still here? Ok then. Keeping on.

1) Nutrition

Probably the most important determining factor on our success or failure on changing the way our body looks is what we eat. I want to be very clear that when I speak of diet I’m referring to the real meaning of the word, which is Foods and drinks a person consumes for their nourishment. When I speak of “diet” I’m referring to those (in my opinion) silly fabrications of Atkin’s, the cabbage diet, the moon diet and what have you. I have never ever followed a “diet” nor do I recommend them because they are not a sustainable practice. Sooner or later you’ll stop following their rules and gain the weight back. Also, the whole notion of living life full of limitations and thinking “I can’t have that” or “I shouldn’t eat that” is not a healthy practice in any way.

Food is fuel for your body. You wouldn’t pour alcohol down the tank of your new BMW and expect it to run smoothly, that would be stupid. Yet, this is exactly how many people live their lives, filled with sugary or fried stuff, processed things or colas, and then wondering why the pants won’t fit, heartburn is attacking and the headaches won’t go away. We must be honest and see what we have been doing if we wish to change.

What I do- My personal motto has become There ain’t no wrong a veggie can’t fix.   Lacking energy? Eat more veggies. Feeling bloated and slow? Eat more veggies. Constipated? Eat more veggies. Want to shed the extra pounds? Eat more veggies. Illness, health problems, aches? Eat more veggies.

To this day I have not met one single person whose life went downhill for eating more vegetables. On the other hand, I do know many whose health and figure now shine thanks to our humble plant foods.

There is something in vegetables that a burger can’t give you. It’s food that is alive, that vibrates, nurtures and energizes. It is fuel of the best kind for the wonderful machine that is your body, and it deserves the best of the best. You don’t have to go full blown vegetarian (although if you wish to experiment, feel free. Millions around the world live quite happily like this.) The key is to make veggies the bulk of your diet. Give them priority over other foods and you’ll see how slowly they’ll crowd out the less stellar choices.

My normal day includes veggies in every meal. Fruit smoothies with spinach when I wake up, then fried eggs with sauteed veggies for breakfast. Homemade vegetarian pizza for lunch, and for dinner a large, colorful and very varied salad with brown rice pasta and my choice of protein. I eat well and I eat often, but my choices follow suit with what I know my body deserves.

Just like “diets”, in my daily practice I avoid falling into the mental trap of constant negation and prohibition. I’m not interested in falling into an obsession with a clean or perfect diet, so it doesn’t cause me any issues to have ice cream every so often, or a chocolate once in a while. Although, interestingly enough, as my love and respect for my body has increased so has decreased my interest in food that harms.

2) Movement, exercise

Remember when you were a child and you loved to move. When did this enjoyment die out?

I think it’s still within you and just has to be rediscovered.

What I do- Some time ago I decided I wanted to be paid to dance. No, not like that. What I mean is I became a Zumba instructor, and as such I get an exceptional work out four hours a week. Other than that what I love to do is lift weights because it reminds me that I’m strong and it creates wonderful definition in the muscles.

For people (maybe you?) who don’t have much time or drive to exercise, my recommendation is this: if you’re only going to do one thing, make it lift weights. Forget spinning or aquaerobics, lift lift lift! No, woman, you’re not going to get “bulky” or “manly”, those are outdated myths. What you will get is more slender and defined, I can tell you from experience (and science backs me up).

Strength training gives you the best bang for your buck, er, time. This means that you will get the best results in the least amount of time. Increasing your muscle mass automatically burns more calories throughout your day, without you having to do anything else, did you know that? Although I want to feel flattered at people perceiving me as very dedicated and disciplined, the honest truth is that I can’t make myself spend hours working out at the gym. I haven’t stepped in a gym in over a year, nor do I wish to do so because I’d rather be with my baby. What I lift I lift at home, with a set of exchangeable dumbells that belonged to my husband. This process doesn’t have to be your worst sacrifice, trust me.

Up to this point I think my suggestions are pretty normal and possibly what you expected I would say. Now for the good stuff…

There is one more thing that I have left for the end because to me it is the most important thing. If there happens to be a grand mystery, this is it.

3) The secret

The secret to having the perfect body is that… you already have the perfect body.

If right now you’re chuckling with sarcasm, rolling your eyes or making faces because yeah right I ask you to notice this, observe it. How do you feel to have me tell you your body is perfect? Maybe there’s resistance. Maybe you feel frustrated or cynical. Maybe you’re uncomfortable by the turn this is taking. Maybe there’s just denial and absolute rejection.

Whatever it is, you’re not alone. So many of us have felt like this, hurt ourselves for years sunken in self-criticism. Today we change.

Your body is perfect because it is yours and it has carried you through life; proof is that you’re here. Those beautiful legs, that maybe you qualify as flaccid or with cellulite, have held you up through hell or high water. Those legs have taken you in amazing journeys, or they have walked you down the aisle to the love of your life. With those legs you have jumped joyfully at your favorite concerts. Those legs deserve all your love.

That wonderful mid section that you see too big or flabby is the one that expands when creating life and is home to so many of your organs. How fascinating that everything is protected by just those muscles, that maybe you’ve undervalued because they’re not a six-pack. But not anymore, because those muscles have served you faithfully and have protected and kept your life. That abdomen deserves all your love.

Those splendid arms, so strong and yet so affectionate, even if you have seen them with disdain because they’re not quite firm. But if they’re made of fortitude! Let someone even try and rip your child away from your arms and you would see the immesurable power of which they are capable. Of that same magnitude is their tenderness when reaching out to the loved one in need. Those arms deserve all your love.

My physical accomplishments, as modest as they are, leave me satisfied and what I want to tell you today is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that I have been able to reach my goals because I understood that this process — and life itself!– is simpler and more enjoyable with love. In love there is no resistance nor opposition. In love there is only acceptance. In acceptance change tends to flow with ease. Or do you think grand athletes got to be thanks to criticizing and hating how stupid and useless their body is? Of course not. Change your focus and you will change your life.

In love we stop saying I look so fat I have to lose some weight and we say I choose healthy foods because I love myself and this is what I deserve. What a world of difference this makes!

What I do- Just like daily exercise, just like daily healthy eating, self-love is to be practiced every day. Every day I find myself exchanging thoughts of self criticism for thoughts of constructive truths. I switch from I really have to define these legs to I have strong legs that support me to perfection. From I have to shrink that waist to I accept and love myself exactly as I am. 

The process is to be lived with love. You cannot wait for your body to look the way you wish it did to then begin loving it because this is placing conditions, which goes directly against the principle of love. Love is unconditional, so don’t give your body conditions it must first fulfill. To do so is incongruent and it just doesn’t work.

No matter what you see in the mirror, love it. First recognize the existing perfection of your body and so the magic will unleash. Such is the natural consequence.

This is the grand secret that isn’t published in fitness magazines and that experts fail to describe. There is no diet or amount of miles in the treadmill that can do for your body what your love and acceptance can do.

This is my reality and with much honesty I share it with you. The decision to practice it or not is, as always, all yours.

With love.

I said I hopefully wouldn’t post today, if the van had passed its MOT and was safely ensconced in Victoria Park, ready for the weekend. However, the work took longer than anticipated at the garage and so it is only now going through its test. The organisers of Field Day have very kindly said we can set-up in the morning if we don’t make it this evening, and so we are now waiting for the call to say yay or nay. I can’t really think of much more to write about today, as I can’t really think about much else at the moment, except come on Fox, you can do it.

I’m afraid to say that my stance has still not changed, and I am still as indecisive as I was then. If I asked you the same question, though, you’ll probably have your undying favourite.  But let’s be honest here. When you’ve been presented with a plate of biscuits – or even worse, one of those special tins – and you’re staring embarrassed into the face of the host, can you decide straightaway? You’re filled with that horrendous ‘do I/don’t I linger?’ moment before debating whether to choose the most extravagant one of them all (and deprive the others of the choice) or humbly except the self-effacing shortbread. Either way, you struggle to choose as well, don’t you?

‘Biscuit’ comes from the French (ironically) and means ‘twice-cooked’, referring to the sorts of biscuits they used to eat which were more like crackers or babies’ rusks than the things we eat today. It’s safe to say biscuits have come a long way since: each person eats on average just under 12kg of biscuits a year! It doesn’t sound an awful amount (to me, anyway, but I’m useless at estimations), but it’s the highest in Europe, and in malted milk terms that’s around 1700 of them – which is quite a bit of biscuit.  And I don’t know anybody that will just take one biscuit, but rather two. Or three. Or four if you’ve had a hard day. And maybe that’s it – if we were just after a sugar rush, we could get that through spooning caster sugar into our mouths, but we don’t. Perhaps it’s not just the sweetness of a biscuit that we’re after, but something else. Perhaps it’s because of the way they make us feel that we love them so much.

My grandmother is an unofficially-titled biscuit junkie and I can still remember her allowing me a biscuit from the biscuit jar in the evenings when we would stay. I remember the scent of biscuit-dunked-in-tea even today. It’s a good smell, unquestionably, and still transports me back to those childhood evenings. But enough of nostalgia, because I think my point is fairly clear. For me, biscuits can be a portal to a brief moment of happiness as well as tasting good. I’m sure you’ve got your own attachment to biscuits, for whatever reason, and I don’t know whether it’s a conscious or subconscious thing when we reach for a bourbon cream, but I think it’s definitely more than just sugar.

Other than ‘football’ or ‘weather’ (and other things, admittedly), I don’t think there are many other two-syllable words that can get Brits talking so passionately. Ask yourself: what would a cup of tea be without a biscuit? You’re right in thinking it would just be a cup of tea, because it would, but in fact, a cup of tea without a biscuit can be likened to a bath without bubbles or a present without a bow and ribbon or – and I will go there – chips without the salt and vinegar. You don’t need the biscuit but it just makes it a bit more special. Without it, it is just a cup of tea. It’s just a bath. It’s just a present (which I’m still grateful for without the decorations, by the way).  Biscuits are actually things to behold, and in a world of stress and struggle, if we can glean just a little bit of self-indulgence from a matchbox-sized rectangle of 44 calories, then I think we’re doing all right.

Anyone know this business on Lark Street, Albany, NY?

“Where did we move to?!”

The Junction Triangle, as it’s known now, was not even named when we moved in. It wasn’t the vibrant, thriving, growing community it is today, just three years later.

This neighborhood wasn’t even a blip on the radar when we first turned the key to our new-old home. But now, it’s the most in-demand area in Toronto’s West End.

So there you go. Basically, hire me as your real estate investment predictor.

Cafe Neon was one of the first new businesses that gave me hope for this area. Up until it opened, all I had were the two within-walking-distance Portuguese bakeries to get my lattes from. Which was fine, I guess, although the average Portuguese bakery isn’t really catering to the writerly types like me – the types who live off of coffee and free wi-fi like a teenage boy lives off Internet porn and Cheetos. Intense.

When Cafe Neon opened in one of the loft spaces on Wallace Ave., I turned to my husband and said, “Here we go! Before you know it, restaurants will be opening all over this area.” And, sure enough, they did.

Moral of the story: Toronto’s real estate market is booming as the world turns to shit; Sandy might be psychic; and Cafe Neon (although I didn’t take one photo of the food!) is a great coffee shop/snack/free-wi-fi-all-day-and-nobody-bugs-you kinda place. You know, for the mooching, writerly types.

-sandy.

Basil and Julio get acquainted.

Generally we have found the Greek infrastructure quite fine, with many opportunities for recycling and proper disposal. But just occasionally they manage to baffle us. Confronted with a sign like this, what can yachties do when there are no bins?

Currently we are sitting in a magically beautiful bay called Ormos Dhimitriaki on the eastern side of the Sinthonia Peninsula, waiting out a blow before heading east again, and we have much time to contemplate life. At our going away party Paul’s old friend Mike Champion gave him a book; Travels with Epicurus – A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of an Authentic Old Age by Daniel Klein. Paul has absorbed this philosophical treatise and I see him mostly smiling and nodding, occasionally shaking his head. The important thing is he has found it a thought provoking and absorbing work and has expressed his appreciation of Mike’s thoughtfulness.

It is not the young man who should be considered fortunate but the old man who has lived well, because the young man in his prime wanders around much by chance, vacillating in his beliefs, while the old man has docked in the harbour having safeguarded his true happiness.

Epicurus