Sweet Success
What's this, you ask? (Other than a TERRIBLE photo... SORRY.)
It's a gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar-free cupcake.
Yes, CUPCAKE.
And it's freaking delicious. Like angels-singing-in-my-mouth delicious.
I may or may not have cried when I tasted it. And then I may or may not have done a little dance around the house.
Labels: Food is Yummy, Psychoallergenic
And Counting
We're at Day 17 of my psychoallergenic diet and counting here - emphasis on the 'and counting' because I think it's going really well.
I'm finding lots of recipes - and DELICIOUS recipes - and while it's a lot of work, there is huge payoff there. I'm actually slamming together a blog of the recipes we've tried and enjoyed so far, both to help me stay organized and to maybe help someone else out there who's trying to eat this way. Stay tuned.
I am NOT one to blog about my weight, but I have to say that it's looking like a little bit of weight loss might be the icing on the cake (pardon the pun) in this situation. I've been eating more than usual - bigger portion sizes, more snacks, less attention to calories (ahem NO attention to calories) - just sticking with my list of foods I can eat and food I can't eat. And I've lost 4.5 pounds in 17 days. And I've been too flared up to exercise other than Briony's weekly toddler dance class and one fifteen-minute yoga session last week. If I've confided in you about my weight loss challenges post-baby before, you'll know that this is HUGE.
My energy level has been in the toilet since I started this, but I've been feeling tiny glimmers of hope over the last handful of days... I think that energy kick I've been expecting is coming soon. I CAN'T WAIT.
Day 17 is also EXACTLY the halfway mark between starting this on my own and beginning the accompanying acupuncture treatments that are supposed to go alongside my freaky eating.
In any case, I'm here and I'm carrying on...
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Food is Yummy, Loser, Psychoallergenic
Not Quite Dead Yet
Just checking in to let y'all know that I have not, in fact, starved to death.
This was kind of a tough week. I flared up, which is always a treat. The new diet's going well, but the second day in particular FLATTENED me - ridiculous detox headache + no energy at all. Today was better, but it will be a little while before I'm feeling more Lindsay-like. I'm spending every free moment I have in the kitchen trying to get things in my freezer and start getting some of the basics under control so the rest of this psychoallergenic eating adventure just gets easier and easier. This week, I was making salad dressings, soups, muffins, and all kinds of goodness (in addition to making meals). I also saw my rheumatologist again yesterday, which is another whole post that's coming soon. Briony's dance class started again this week. I'm beginning work on our MOMs Group website and newsletter for the new session starting in two weeks. We made some unexpected potty training progress (we're not officially underway yet, but she's progressing nonetheless - CLEVER MINX). I'm about to begin a tiny home makeover Chez Wright. And we booked flights for our next BC trip. Among other things.
So there's lots going on, and lots to talk about. And I will talk about it. But for tonight, I have a date with my couch and a GIANT bowl of popcorn :)
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Food is Yummy, Going Coastal, House Stuff, My Life, Psychoallergenic, Travel
The Whole Nine Yards
I'll be honest. I hesitated over the idea of doing something as horrifically touristy (can you hear me spit that word out?) as a tour bus. But there was SO MUCH I wanted to see in NYC and SO MUCH that we just couldn't fit in any other way. So this morning, Geoff + I jumped a subway to Times Square, grabbed a couple of lattes, and jumped on a bus.
BUT. Between that bus tour and some walking around today, we managed to see so much of lower Manhattan. Seriously. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS LIST?? We saw the the Conde Nast Building (OH MY STARS), the Empire State Building, Macy's (all done up for the holidays), Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, Wall Street, the World Trade Center site, Battery Park, the Statue of Liberty, the UN, the New York Times building, Rockefeller Centre (including the tree and the skating rink), Radio City Music Hall... Um, and that is nowhere near a complete list. I can't actually believe we saw so much so fast. I'll still be processing all of this long after we get back to Winnipeg. And we're going back to a bunch of these places, so I'll skip crappy photos for now and take (and share) better ones later this week.
In between, we stopped for lunch at
ABC Kitchen - one of the places on our list we were most excited to try because of its status as the best new restaurant in the city last year, and it did NOT disappoint. AT ALL. In fact, it's easily my new favourite restaurant. Anywhere. Ever. We had the most incredible bread and roasted cauliflower soup, arctic char and vegetables in some completely ridiculous carrot basil sauce, and then a salted caramel sundae for dessert. Oh, and it was all organic / local. Oh, and I ate it all with a perfect view of Amanda Peet sitting at the next table over Geoff's shoulder. Craziness. (For the record, she is absolutely stunning in person, even totally dressed down... The universe is SO UNFAIR. Except that I'm pretty sure she's substantially shorter than me. Hey, I'll take what I can get!) We heard murmurings that Mary Kate Olson was also there, but we never saw her.
The stupidest part of all of this is that we had accomplished ALL of this by 3 pm, when we showed up at The Daily Show to line up (we had tickets, but they WAY overbook so seats are not guaranteed if you don't suck it up and work for your spot). This was not a good part of my day. Unlike The Colbert Report - more on that tomorrow! - The Daily Show was not very willing to accommodate a sick chick, so I needed to wait in line like everyone else. We were supposed to be waiting for 90 minutes. It was FREAKING cold, but I figured I could do it. Unfortunately, the taping was delayed and we didn't get inside until 60 minutes AFTER the 90 minutes were up. You can do the math. The saving grace in this situation was being in line beside some pretty funny people who we ended up talking to for most of the afternoon - a couple from New Mexico and a woman from Kentucky who were my parents' age but as excited to be there as we were.
By the time we got in, I was in a boatload of pain and questioning my decision a little bit. But we warmed up quickly, and then I GOT TO SEE JON STEWART. In the words of my precious Briony, "Oh my GOOD-mess!" (She's having a FABULOUS time at home with Grammy, by the way. YAY. I guess it's a vacation for all of us.)
It was awesome. It was glorious. It was everything I hoped it would be, and something I've been looking forward to for a ridiculously long time. Jon's Q+A with the audience was hilarious, the segments were funny, and the interview was fascinating - and went into serious overtime, which kind of made the extra wait seem worth it. We didn't get to see any correspondents, which was a tiny itsy bitsy little bit disappointing, but no worries. I GOT TO SEE JON STEWART :)
After the show, we went to a ridiculous sushi buffet for dinner. I know, I know... I can't believe I went to a sushi buffet either. It quite overtly breaks one of Lindsay's Rules of Life, but the friend who recommended it is half Japanese - and so were most of the patrons inside, which I like to think is a good sign. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had, but it was good and we left FULL.
We ended the night with a visit to the Empire State Building. I knew it would be interesting, but it was awe-inspiring. This city is SO BIG and it was just gorgeous at night.
We walked back to our hotel, full and happy and COLD and talking about everything we saw and did today. It was awesome. And I can't believe we have three and a half more days of this to look forward to before we fly away home...
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A couple of randoms from our bus tour (in no particular order...)
Apparently, my name is 'Lizzy' in New York...
Empire State Building
Labels: Food is Yummy, New York New York, Photos, The Boy, Travel
The Amazing Race (Part 2)
We landed at La Guardia without incident - I should probably say without FURTHER incident, hehe - and made it to our hotel despite heavy traffic, closed streets, and a seriously impatient cab driver. I wasn't expecting it at all, but we actually got to see Central Park, the Guggenheim, the MET, the Waldorf Astoria, Grand Central Station, and a handful of other landmarks along the way. Awesomeness.
Our hotel -
The Carlton - is incredible. We are SO happy with our choice. We knew it would be pretty, but I *way* underestimated how much prettier it would be all done up for Christmas. WOW.
Oh, and the advertising nerd in me is positively GIDDY over the fact that we are staying on Madison Avenue. I may never get a chance to work here (sniff sniff) but visiting is seriously cool.
Once we were settled in and unpacked, we set off to find the subway and got ourselves into Brooklyn. While waiting at a transfer, we ventured back to ground level to see the courthouses where so many Law + Order scenes are filmed. And Sex and the City's Hollywood Kiss, of course. I was super nerdy-excited :)
So back to the whole 'subway to Brooklyn' thing. I did not think that all the way through. We were sitting in the subway when I dawned on me that WE NEEDED TO CROSS A RIVER TO GET THERE. Then I started worrying about whether we were going UNDER the river or OVER the river at bridge-level. And then I realized that those were two different yet equally horrific options and I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I PREFERRED. But we made it there in one piece (bridge-level, way up above the water, if you really must know) and easily made our way over to
Peter Luger Steakhouse.
Peter Luger made it onto our advance reservation list because of the many, MANY websites that have named it the best steak - in New York City, and sometimes in the entire US. We decided that we had to try it... We had the porterhouse steak for two with their 'special potatoes' and broccoli and a particularly good glass of wine.
Apparently, Gordon Ramsey was eating there on Friday night. Sorry we missed witnessing that, but it's still kind of cool.
Now, I'm no EXPERT on steak. And I certainly haven't tried every steak joint in the world. But that was really, really good steak. Geoff + I just kept making dorky faces at each other across the table, like OH MY GOD this is amazing. Easily the best steak I've ever eaten. And not just by a little bit. It was so worth the effort to get ourselves across the river, but we were SO tired by the time we got back to the hotel.
Tired. And full. And happy. And IN NEW YORK CITY :)
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Enjoying dinner at Peter Luger...
Around our hotel...
Labels: Food is Yummy, New York New York, The Boy, Travel
Day At A Glance
Stopped at our friendly neighbourhood Starbucks today, and our 'regular' barista came around the counter to shake my hand and introduce himself. 'I want to know your name. Right now, to me, you're Double Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte Girl - and you're married to Scooter Guy.' It made me smile. And the smile turned into a full-fledged grin when he gave me my Double Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte for free. My usual. I have always wanted to have a usual somewhere. Given how I'm *so* much a creature of habit, I suppose it was just a matter of time before someone caught on :)
Took Geoff for his follow-up appointment with the surgeon today. He got his staples out and the surgeon is super happy with how it's all looking. Geoff got permission to increase the angle of his leg brace. It will be sloooow and steady process, but today was a step forward.
While I was sitting in the waiting room during Geoff's appointment, someone came out of the clinic area holding his leg brace (he's gone in a few minutes earlier wearing it). He had the biggest smile on his face. He walked right past me, then turned around and came back to tell me that we'd make it - that my husband would be the one walking out of there holding his brace before we know it. Kind of random, but it totally made my day.
Woke up more tired and in pain than usual today. It feels like I've been trudging through quicksand as I've been working through my to-do list. I HATE THAT.
Tomorrow is our last day with Libby here. I drop her off at the airport EARLY on Wednesday morning. It's going to be sad to say goodbye... We've had a great time with her, and she's been such an incredible support for us over the last two weeks.
As I'm sitting here, I can smell beef barley vegetable soup in simmering in the slow cooker and an apple pie baking in the oven. I AM A DOMESTIC GODDESS. Even if the soup is pretty much just last night's leftovers repurposed and the pie was totally just pulled from my freezer ;)
And speaking sarcastically of my Domestic Goddess title, I hit up M+M and Safeway with Geoff today to pick up some prefab meal components to help get us through the next couple of weeks. And another salad kit (turns out they're actually kind of good... and Safeway sells organic ones!). I'm done apologizing. It's not like I'm running through the McDonald's drive-through every night to feed my family. Some chicken breasts that have been pre-stuffed by some factory machine rather than yours truly will probably not kill us.
All my clients collectively decided to wallop my inbox today. It's going to be a crazy week. OF COURSE.
An eNewsletter that I've been working on launching for MONTHS finally went out on Friday and it felt GOOD. Just about ready to wrap up the content for Issue 2 and it's going *so* much more smoothly so far. That makes me happy. New projects are fun, but so is finding your groove.
Briony's been tippy-toeing around the house in her ladybug tutu off and on all day today, waving her wand and twirling around. And wearing my cat ears. I love her.
I was Bitchy Paranoid Mom today and cancelled Girls Night because my friend's daughter (who was going to tag along) was sick yesterday. Crazy? Maybe. Responsible? I like to think so. I was super sad to have to reschedule but I cannot imagine dealing with ANY of us being sick right now on top of everything else I'm attempting to balance this week. Seriously. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!
We totally bought some discount Halloween candy today. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I have a bowl of candy on my dining room table. And a few leftover cupcakes from yesterday. And the aforementioned PIE. I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't be my best-ever eating week.
Brainstorming ideas of things that Libby could take back as a little treat for her family that would be distinctly Winnipeg-ish. Any ideas?
Labels: Being Domestic, Briony, Food is Yummy, Going Rogue, Libby, My Friends, My Life, Random Joy, Starbucks, The Boy
Bento-rrific
MOMs Group was fun (and super practical) this morning... After spending a few minutes catching up with some other moms, having uninterrupted conversations over cups of coffee that were still hot while we were drinking them (ANGELS ARE SINGING), we learned about bento lunch boxes and other ideas for getting sometimes-picky toddlers and preschoolers to eat new and healthy foods. After that, we headed for the kitchen and made lunches to bring home with us.
I ended up with one that looked very cool when I made it, but looked like crap by the time I got it home. It involved a two smiley egg men (a hard boiled egg sliced in half) holding mini waffle balloons on thin carrot strings, standing on cucumber grass. Oh, and the waffle balloons had grape-slice polka dots. CUTE. And surprisingly easy.
For my other lunch, I just put together some cucumber and cherry tomato flowers, some bread and cheese and half-meatball sandwich flowers, and some grape halves on skewers. Briony had this one for lunch and she loved it... Who knew that eating the same old stuff in a fun new way would make it that much more exciting for a toddler.
Actually, when I stopped to think about it, I can remember how excited I was when we'd have pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse (or our initials) when I was little. Who am I kidding... My dad totally did that again when I was visiting earlier this year and it STILL made me smile :)
I'm totally inspired to experiment with some of the ideas that Corinna introduced - likely not anything big and crazy, but if even cutting cucumber slices into flowers with a cookie cutter makes it 'special' then I'll totally start adding some fun little touches to Briony's lunch every once in a while. It took *seconds* longer than doing it the regular way. I just added some fun-coloured silicone baking cups and mini cookie cutter sets to my list.
Here are some links to our bento lunch box inspirations:
20 Easy Bento Lunch BoxesBento Lunch IdeasAnd here's Briony enjoying her lunch today!
I'd call that a look of success. ALL HAIL THE MOTHER OF THE YEAR. Better cheer now, in case this never happens again ;)
Labels: Briony, Food is Yummy, Mommy Stuff, MOMs Group, Photos
Mmm... Girls Night!
Last night after work, I met up with the lovely
Erin and
Nicole to talk, laugh, and fill my body with carbs at
Kawaii Crepe. Awesomeness. I had The Uptown followed later by It's-A-Smore. Sooo good. We will definitely be making a return trip. And we will definitely be planning another Girls Night this summer. I've known Erin almost forever and Nicole for the last couple of years, and the combination was pretty darn ridiculous if you ask me. In the best possible way :)
Labels: Erin, Food is Yummy, My Friends, Nicole, Winnipeg
