A new house and a new kitchen - keep your fingers crossed

Just a quick update today.  I have had a great day.  I spent the morning cooking and tried out a new recipe for dinner. We just finished and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the happy, contented look on my guy’s face after dinner.  In a little while, we are going to collapse on the couch and enjoy a slice of lemon meringue pie!  Yumm.  But most exciting, we spent the afternoon house hunting and I think we finally found it!  We are going to go back to see it with our agent on Tuesday night and if everything goes well, make an offer!! I am so excited.  We have waited a long time to find one we love and to move from the condo.  I love the condo but we really do need more room and it will be our first home, chosen and purchased together.  Of course at dinner, we scribbled ideas on how to renovate the kitchen, my first order of priority!  I am trying not to get my hopes up too high in case it falls through and we don’t get it but it is so great to dream.  Keep your fingers crossed, I may have a new kitchen and a new cookbook all at the same time.  How great would that be?

Getting my vitamins in a big bowl of homemade soup

I woke up this morning to an incredible snow storm!  Beautiful snow falling, blowing, sometimes a white out where you can’t see across the street.  I love days like this, days that make you want to just spend the day inside, make a big pot of soup, slice some hearty bread and cheese, and snuggle up with a  good book. So that’s exactly what I did already this morning.  I got out the cutting board, piled the counter with fresh vegetables and basil and made a big pot of homemade minestrone soup!  It smells so good right now, simmering on the stove.  I know exactly what lunch will be today, can you guess?  As I was making it, I remembered an article I had read earlier in the month about the effects of fresh fruits and vegetables on us and I really saw exactly how healthy a big bowl of minestrone soup is for us!  So while I am filling my face, at least I know it is good for my guy and me as well.  I thought I would break every copyright law and share some of the interesting parts of the article with you; hope it gets you thinking as it did me! 

The following 25 incredibly healthy foods have the potential to slow biological aging by acting in a number of ways. They provide unique antioxidants and nutrients that bolster our immune system, they defend against free radicals, they maintain a healthy blood-glucose and insulin level and they help to keep inflammation at bay.

Almonds: Rich in vitamin E (an antioxidant) and a good source of monounsaturated fat (an anti-inflammatory).

Avocados: High in monounsaturated fat and an excellent source of folate (which helps to repair DNA in cells).

Beets: Contain anthocyanins (antioxidants) and betaine, a compound that protects cells from aging.

Berries: Packed with many phytochemicals that act as potent antioxidants.

Black beans: Deliver low-glycemic carbohydrate, plenty of plant protein and their antioxidant content outranks other beans with anti-cancer properties.

Cabbage: Rich source of glucosinolates, phytochemicals that mop up free radicals and help rid the body of carcinogens

Broccoli: Contain sulforaphane, a phytoc of glucosinolates, phytochemicals that mop up free radicals and help to rid the body of carcinogens

Dark chocolate: Good source of flavonoids, compounds that have antioxidant, ant-inflammatory and anti-blood-clotting properties (all it takes is one small square!).

Flaxseed: Excellent source of alpha linolenic acid or ALA (an omega-3 fat) and lignans, phytochemicals thought to guard against breast and prostate cancer.

Garlic: Loaded with natural sulphur compounds that help to boost your immune system and may keep your heart healthy.

Green tea: Rich source of flavonoids, powerful antioxidants that may help to prevent heart disease and certain cancers.

Kale: Good source of vitamins A, C and K, folate, calcium and potassium and is plentiful in phytochemicals that help preserve eyesight.

Lentils: Great source of soluble fibre (the type that keeps LDL cholesterol in check) along with slow-burning, low-glycemic carbohydrate and folate.

Oats: Deliver cholesterol-lowering fibre and unique antioxidants called avenanthramides that protect LDL cholesterol particles from free radicals.

Olive oil (extra-virgin): Excellent source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat along with vitamin E and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals

Oranges: Packed with vitamin C, a nutrient that keeps your immune system healthy as you age, as well as limonoids, phytochemicals linked with disease protection.

Pomegranates: Seeds deliver polyphenols, antioxidants thought to reduce the risk of heart disease and possibly prostate and lung cancer.

Red bell peppers: Good source of vitamin C and beta carotene, two antioxidants linked with protection from heart disease and certain cancers.

Red grapes: Contain resveratrol, a phytochemical with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.

Salmon: One of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, anti-inflammatories shown to combat aging in cells by preventing special sequences of DNA (called telomeres) from shortening; telomere shortening is linked with the aging process and poorer health.

Soybeans: Nutrient-rich and an excellent source of isoflavones, phytochemicals that may help to reduce the risk of breast and prostate cancer.

Spinach – packed with lutein for eye health and a good source of anti-cancer compounds including vitamins A and C, beta-carotene and flavonoids.

Sweet potatoes: Rich in beta carotene, a phytochemical that not only protects from free-radical damage, but is also thought to guard against cancer by stimulating communication between cells.

Tomatoes: Contain lycopene, a phytochemical shown to help lower prostate-cancer risk when consumed from heat-processed tomatoes (e.g. tomato sauce).

Walnuts: Important source of monounsaturated fat and alpha linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid that helps to reduce inflammation.

Weekend of cooking ahead

Yippee, the weekend is here and I am feeling motivated.  It’s going to be a big weekend of testing, cooking and transcribing recipes.  Back home now.  Isn’t it amazing how just a few hours with your guy and the world feels right again?  I came home from the airport, after flight delays and traffic jams, to our home, lit softly, dinner ordered and my guy surprising me by being home from work early!  A fantastic homecoming.  This weekend is relatively free; we have the birthday party of my niece turning three, but other than that, I can devote my weekend to cooking and working on the cookbook.  I am so looking forward to it.  A friend’s sister was so kind to send me a number of links for tutorials for InDesign so I have promised myself that I will watch at least two this weekend and start learning.  I am so grateful to so many people for their unrestrained kindnesses toward me as I work on my cookbook.  It is truly amazing and comforting to me how good people really are to each other, despite the tragedies and misfortunes in the world.  I know for certain it isn’t just me alone writing this cookbook!

The hard work is paying off

I have had the perfect ending to my trip away for work. Last night, I went to dinner at the home of great friends.  I get to work with them both often but have never had the chance to visit their new home they built and meet their new son, their first.  We stopped on the way home and shopped for artisan cheeses at a wonderful little cheese monger.  I could have spent a tonne of money in there but resisted!  We did enjoy them later in the evening, everything from a blue to creamy, runny soft unripened cheeses, and some dense yellow-brown solid, aged cheeses, absolutely delicious on fresh baguette.  We had a great dinner, marvelous conversation and best of all, their baby son is just adorable.  A perfect way to end the week away for work.

And this morning I got another fantastic surprise.  The pictures for the cover are available.  Lesley loaded them to her client site and I took a quick peek at them.  Some of them are amazing!  I cannot believe how the food looks, so scrumptious and professionally photographed and staged.  Honestly looks like something from Gourmet magazine.  And the shots are really fun, the models look great but also very natural and everything about the photos, the models, the colours, the lighting, the setting, everything is just how I had envisioned it.  It is really happening and suddenly I can see what the finished product might look like.  The problem now is choosing, so many of them are great it may be hard to choose.  But the ones I love that aren’t the cover I know I will use for the website or advertising so they certainly won’t go to waste.  I can’t wait to share the “winning” picture for the cover with you.  This is back to being so much fun.  I can’t wait to hear what the models think of their pictures.  Hopefully when they look at them, the best reaction is that they will feel hungry!!!  Best outcome for a cookbook cover!

Dig right in and enjoy

Today I am feeling optimistic and settled.  This morning, over breakfast, I was thinking about the need to balance my work, my love life, home life and the development of my cookbook.  All are important to me and all deserve my attention, patience and devotion.  I have to admit to feelings of pressure, anxiety and guilt about my cookbook, the times when I have not been working hard enough or fast enough, have not achieved as much as I would like in a week, worries about whether I will be able to learn the programs for layout or whether the book will even eventually sell any copies.  But this morning I have had a few moments of reflection and clarity.  This project is a project rooted in passion, filled with joy for me.  I have realized that I have to be careful not to cheapen this experience, not to rush, or put undue pressure but to savour each moment of this journey, to let it unfold as it will.  It is a great pleasure for me to try a new recipe, modify spices in a dish, feed my guy, share the experience and the food with friends and family.  Really this is my life and I have realized that I have been treating it like another job, or a task I have to complete, or something I need to hurry.  But hurry for what?  Of course I want to finish it but I also want to enjoy every moment of it.  I will never get these moments back, these moments of discovery, of excitement, even of panic.  I want to taste them, chew on the experience, suck the marrow from the bones of this adventure, so I can always remember it.  I am doing this for me, first and foremost, and I want to cherish each moment of it.  I am not letting myself off the hook for getting the rest of my recipes transcribed or for having to learn a tonne of new things.  But I am also not going to cheapen this time or treat it as something other than a sacred gift I have been given.  I truly believe these moments or adventures do not come often in our lives and I want to enjoy it all.  After all, it is why I am doing it, I truly enjoy cooking, feeding my guy and of course eating!  How can I not just tie a napkin around my neck, lift my knife and fork, and dig right into this excellent adventure.

Trying desperately to stay focused

Well I have to admit a pretty ordinary day and not a lot to report.  I have been stymied in working on my cookbook.  Work has been really busy and then evenings are filled with dinner with work colleagues (always delicious, don’t let me kid you) and I have tried to ride the bike in the exercise room in a futile attempt to convince myself that I didn’t just over indulge at dinner and that all those extraneous calories are not going to immediately pack themselves on my slender, or used to be slender frame.  I do have to lose a few pounds.  We are going to take a week’s vacation to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic Feb 12 so I have to try to look good on the beach, or at least make some room so I can sample the many buffets on offer!  I am going to try now to go and transcribe some recipes in a gesture to keep my promise to myself!  Hope it works and I don’t just succumb to the comforts of the big fluffy bed, ample pillows and endless channels on the television!  

Back to reality

It’s Monday morning and I have a sobering case of normal life.  I am travelling for work this week and won’t be home until Thursday evening.  But not to despair, I have packed recipes cards that I can transcribe for the cookbook in my hotel room in the evening, after exercising, of course.  Well, maybe, I will transcribe them over a delicious room service meal sitting on my comfy big bed watching television.  To be honest, travelling for work has long since lost its luster but you have to make the best of it I suppose.  Yesterday was a great day, full of a feeling of satisfaction at making progress.  It was hard leaving this morning.  This trip will be the longest period of time that my guy and I have been apart since we got married but between phone, text, email and the continuing distraction of my cookbook, I think the week will pass quickly. I could only pack so many recipe cards in my luggage so my goal is to have them all transcribed by the time I get home and perhaps to start writing some of the text that I will need when I finally get the website up and running.  I am sitting in the airport lounge right now as I write this, still dark outside the windows, with no WiFi.  I will have to post it once I get to the office so these will be thoughts interruptus!   I will be thinking of my guy, my cookbook and my work, likely in that order.  Hope you have a great week