A Tribute

Allow me to paint a picture in your head. It is 1988. The weather is typical for a May afternoon in Northwest Florida - hot, humid, very sunny. There are two folding lawn chairs - you know, the kind with woven fabric for the back and seat, metal frames - setup in the middle of a small front yard. A small plastic table sits between the two chairs and on its surface sit the following items: a half-empty bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil, two tall plastic glasses filled with ice and sweet tea, a pack of Marlboro Reds and a pink Bic lighter, and a well-worn deck of cards. To the rear of the chairs, there is a small rental house that is empty from June through December, but filled with laughter and silliness and Yankee-charm from January through May.

Two women make their way to the chairs. Both are on the shorter side and speak with New Hampshire accents that sound so strange to the Southern ear. One is very tan and thin, the other only slightly tan with shocking short, black hair. These two women are closer than sisters, although they are actually cousins. And these two women, my Grammie and her cousin Leone, taught me some of life's greatest lessons while they sunned themselves and smoked cigarettes and played cards.

When I was little, Leone was who I wanted to be when I grew up. She was funny, with such a quick wit. And even though she called me her "little Valerie," she didn't talk to me like I was child. Leone was the first person to let me drink coffee. She and I had gone to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's in the mall - I think I was around 8 or 9 at the time. Before the waiter came to take our order, I asked Leone "Do you think I could maybe have a cup of coffee with lunch?" Her response was, "Well, I don't see why not. Just don't tell your mother. Lord knows what she would do to me if she found out." We both got a cup of that addictive, delicious nectar and I mimicked her in preparing to drink it - 2 half-and-halfs and a packet of Sweet N Low. I sipped it slowly, savoring the drink, but also savoring the secret that Leone and I now shared.

I think about that lunch once in a while, usually while I'm sipping my second (or fourth) cup of coffee for the day.

Leone, and her husband Jerry, used to winter in Panama City, but for many years have gone to Wildwood, to a small home they purchased in a small community full of other winter guests. Mom and I took a road trip a few years ago to see them and had such an amazing time. They took us all over Wildwood and showed us the sights - we stopped by the Russell Stover's factory and store; we drove through a hoity-toity neighborhood/development that Leone and Jerry were fascinated by, mostly because of its audacity; and, the highlight of the trip for me, we went to a drive through convenience store. I had never seen such a thing, but the idea of being able to get milk, gum, and beer without having to get out of my car is so appealing to me. I was delighted, which tickled Jerry and Leone immensely. Jerry may have even said "You're a cheap date!"

On the last day of our trip, as we ate a breakfast of creamy scrambled eggs and toast, cooked expertly by Leone, I told the story of my first cup of coffee. Leone didn't seem to remember the lunch as vividly as I did, but she said it definitely sounded like the kind of thing the two of us would have done back then.

Earlier this week, Mom got a phone call saying that Leone had passed away. I still haven't fully processed the news yet. It doesn't seem possible for that lovely woman, the source of so much life and happiness, isn't around anymore. In the past 5 years or so, life has been hard for her. All of those days spent basking in the Florida sunshine did a number on her skin. She suffered through multiple surgeries to remove cancerous cells and skin chunks. The last time Mom talked to her, Leone said she was done - she was tired of people cutting on her and she was ready to move on to whatever happened next.

In my mind, the scene in Heaven on Wednesday looked something like the scene I described at the beginning of this post. Grammie was already sitting in one of the lawn chairs, glass of tea in hand, waving for Leone to join her for some gossip and girl time. I can hear the ice clinking in the background as Leone said "Well, hey Dot, thanks for saving me a space."

My Kingdom for a Food Processor

We have made it through Week 3 and...well...I just don't have much to say about it. I have been eating a lot of avocados and chicken, with salad and salmon added to the mix. I didn't cook much last Sunday because I had a choir concert and didn't really have time.

This week, though, I went grocery shopping and did some cooking. And the more recipes I try out, the more I realize: I have got to save up for a nice food processor.

I made Cilantro Cauli-Rice tonight. And it is GOOD. Like, "that's all I want to eat for dinner" good. But it was a lot of work, shredding the cauliflower using a box grater. What I wouldn't give for the food processor attachment for my Cuisinart mixer.

Aside from the Paleo cooking, I am also experimenting with variations of apple clafouti. Last week, I made a version using diced apples:

This week, I tried a version with sliced apples. My brain was totally not in it while I was making ith, though...forgot to add the melted butter to the batter until I had already put the plate in the oven. So I pulled it back out and swirled the butter in. Here is the result:

The consistency is completely different from the last one - not nearly as firm. I'm not sure if that is because of the butter mishap or the apples being sliced or if it is the recipe I used this week. No matter the cause, the flavor is good, more like a bread pudding that clafouti. We will see how my castmates react tomorrow.

The clafouti experiments are courtesy of my role in an upcoming production of God of Carnage at Kaleidoscope Theatre. This is SO not on any of the eating plans in Practical Paleo so I am trying to refrain from taste-testing too much.

Paleo Fudgy Babies

Yes, you are getting two posts in one day. Amazing! I just had to share this recipe. I found the original link on Pinterest, which came from Chocolate Covered Katie's blog. She used walnuts and dates, but all I had in the house was pecans and raisins. In my head, that's a substitution that works. And seriously - you need to make these. I don't care if you are eating Paleo or not.

But don't blame me if you end up with a tummyache from eating all the fudgy babies! (actually, go ahead and blame me - then send me a video of you yelling "VAAAAALLLLL" and shaking your fist at the sky!)

Paleo Fudgy Babies

Yield: Approx. 15 small fudgy bites of goodness

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Pecans
1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp Raisins
1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Put all ingredients in a food processor and, um, process. :-) You want everything to be very well chopped. Form balls of the mixture. Place in mouth, chew, enjoy, repeat.

Made it through another week...

We are heading into week 3. This past week was not as hard as I imagined it would be, but I did have a few moments where all I wanted to do was eat everything that I'm not supposed to.

Take Tuesday, for example. I got up, packed my lunch, and began the drive to work. Halfway there I realized my perfectly packed lunchbag was sitting on the counter. D'oh! Luckily, I had an avocado at work that I had brought in the day before, so that was my mid-morning meal. I went to Zaxby's for lunch and got a grilled salad, no cheese, no fried onions, and no toast. (!!!)

To truly understand the significance of this, I need to explain my obsession with Zaxby's toast. I don't know what they put on it, but holy Toledo, I could probably eat an entire loaf of the stuff for a meal. Plus, being the paragon of healthy eating that I am, I generally dip it in ranch dressing. There have been days where I ordered a salad just to get that toast. Seriously.

So, yes, no toast with my salad, thankyouverymuch! And to be honest, I only kind of missed having it.

I also broke down and had a Five Guys burger on Friday. Do you want to know a secret? If you order a burger from Five Guys, but you don't get cheese, or mayonnaise, or grilled mushrooms, AND you don't eat the bun? It's really just a sad little dried up hamburger patty. All this time, I thought I loved their burgers, but it turns out I was just in it for the toppings.

I am learning so much about myself on this eating plan.

Heading Into Week Two

We have made it through our first full week of Paleo. I don't want to talk about yesterday...

Actually, I do. I'm just going to put this out there now. I am trying to follow this plan as closely as possible. I am using the eating plan outlined in Practical Paleo and I'm sticking to it for the most part. The thing is, I'm not home all that much because of theatre commitments, and work commitments, and choir commitments, and, well, just having a life outside of my house. I did pretty well this week, waking up early enough each day to pack my breakfast, lunch, and sometimes, dinner. I ate out on Friday for lunch, but only because the girls at work took me for my birthday, and I managed to stay practically Paleo throughout the meal. I remembered to bring my coffee and water bottle each morning. It was a good week, at least in my opinion.

Yesterday, though, was a different kind of day. I had a going away party to arrange and attend for a very dear friend, and Murphy had the monthly Cowboy Action Shooting match. Neither one of us came even close to being Paleo yesterday. I ate cake. And Greek yogurt dip. And cheese that was in the two amazing hot dips that were brought to the party. Murphy ate a Philly Cheesesteak and drank a Cheerwine after the match, at the traditional celebration meal. I may have eaten 4 or possibly 10 cherry sours.

But you know what? It didn't upset me. And it didn't get me down. In the past when I have done other diets or eating plans, one day of "bad" or "forbidden" eating turned into me falling completely off of the plan. Well, not this time.

I'm spending this morning figuring out our cooking plan for the next week. Looking over the recipes, it is going to be a very tasty week, but there is a lot of cooking involved. Murphy has been a big help, making sure to cook what is on the list if I'm not home. I am so thankful that he is committed to this, too.

Some of the food I am looking forward to this week: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Thighs, Pesto Shrimp and Squash Fettuccine (with pasta made from zucchini!), Rainbow Red Cabbage Salad, and Orange Braised Beef Shanks.

I'm hoping to start adding some pictures to this blog, since I think the visual is just as important as the description. Need to get my Picasa updated so I can do that.

Bless My Dolmas!

Murphy and I spent some much needed time together tonight. We worked together and got our fancy turkey dolmas assembled and cooked. Yes, yes, I know, turkey? But the thing is, I couldn't find ground lamb at the store when I went on my ginormous shopping trip last weekend. So, we substituted turkey. And you know what? Not half bad.

Grilled Steak. For Breakfast? Coming Up!

This is going to take some getting used to. Breakfast is a hit or miss meal for me. It usually consists of coffee. Sometimes it involves something like a Pop-Tart or a Cheese Danish from Starbucks. When I'm on a health kick, it is a container of Chobani Greek yogurt.

But all of that is changing on this new eating plan. Today, I had Grilled Garlic Steak with Peppers and Onions. I ate this in the car on my way to work - that is not something I recommend, especially if you are not well coordinated. It was strange to be eating something before I got to work and honestly, it was strange to be eating at all before 11:00 am.

Lunch was leftover chicken and my new found love, Kabocha Squash. And dinner was canned salmon (the good kind, not the kind that comes with the bones, no extra charge for that!) and a very ripe, very smooth avocado. My goddess, I could live off of avocados.

Murphy took care of some of the cooking for tomorrow, so breakfast will consist of a Roasted Turkey Leg. I am picturing myself driving down the road, Turkey Leg in hand, looking so very Henry the Eighth.