Thanks for Family Relationships

family relationships and family parties are like oil and water

Although Thanksgiving is almost two months away, I’m going to blog about last year’s Harvest Hurrah (a wonderful alliteration coined by my eldest daughter, Suzie).  Maybe if I do it now I’ll have the right mindset for the end of November.

I arrived early at Mum’s to help her with the preparations and carried my diet supper to kitchen. Mum, surrounded by piles of paper plates emblazoned with cornucopia and fall vegetables, handed me the turkey salt and pepper shakers to fill and asked: “Honey, do you think I’ve baked enough?”

Every surface was covered with cookies and cakes. All it needed for the magazine cover was a cutline of ‘Decorate Your Home with Carbohydrates this Holiday’. No doubt, the afternoon’s sampling would aggravate her diabetes. She looked at me pleadingly.

“Now, sugar, please. It’s a holiday. I wouldn’t feel appreciated if you didn’t eat my special foods. Food is my love offering.”

Suzie breezed in carrying a huge pumpkin decoupaged with tissue paper and placed on the table. I was given the pot of pathos to take home.

My cousin Cyndi barged in fashionably late, breathless and accompanied by the rattle of an armload of clanking bracelets. Mum beamed as Cyndi hugged her while Cyndi took the opportunity to check her reflection in the china cabinet mirror and push her jet black hair even more severely away from her face. Finally, she tore her gaze away to look at my preteen daughter, Miranda.

“Miranda, you look just like me. I can’t believe how attractive you have grown.”

They disappeared and when they returned I screamed.  Cyndi was wearing Miranda’s clothing.  And Miranda, Miranda was draped in Cyndi’s tatters.

“You’re not wearing that!” I said as Miranda, my darling baby, wobbled into the dining room on platform shoes designed by a bondage foot fetish. My innocent child was tying the laces on Cyndi’s turquoise bustier. Only this morning, she wore a heavy sweatshirt, three sizes too big, to hide her chest.

“But mom, its real pseudo snakeskin,” said Miranda adjusting the buckles of the scarlet shiny pants to further expose her thighs.

I glared at Cyndi. Mum, who reverses words and letters when she gets upset, grabbed my arm and whispered in a staccato voice,“Shame! Shame! How could you treat your poor cousin like that? Water is thicker than blood. You have no right to cast nasturtiums. How many times do I have to tell you? Children don’t listen to their mothers as they become older.”

My mother lowered her voice. “If you swallow a watermelon seed, a watermelon will grow in your stomach. Shame! You harvest what you decant.  Maybe, Cyndi looks prettier than you. I have never told you this but you are just as pretty as Cyndi. You just refuse to make the same effort. Vicki, you’re not listening to me. I’m not just talking to hear myself talk.”

I rearranged my face to look like I was listening. Mum continued, “This hurts me more than it hurts you to say this…you’re not perture picfect either. Remember, pretty is as petty does. Don’t be swamped by your own bootstraps.”

I was still trying to decode her syllable swaps when she turned toward me and said, “Te ipsum crede.”

And that stopped me cold. Because my mother, as usual, was absolutely right. I didn’t know myself. I felt a tiny shift in my fat armour. Not a cataclysmic earthquake, just a tiny shift.

I joined the family dinner table and looked closely at my family. Miranda and my husband Joe were methodically eating corn with neat rows of shucked kernels. Without their front teeth, my grandchildren figured out how to spit the corn across the table. Miranda had changed back into her little girl’s clothing and buried her head in another book. Cyndi was cutting her kernels off the cob with a knife and flicking each niblet to the side with a long pointed fingernail.

This was my family and I loved them. When Joe brought out his camera for a family picture I surprised everyone. For the first time, I wanted to be included in the picture.

Family Relationships Blogging Day!

“Today I’m participating in a mass blogging! WOW! Women On Writing has gathered a group of blogging buddies to write about family relationships. Why family relationships? We’re celebrating the release of Therese Walsh’s debut novel today. The Last Will of Moira Leahy, (Random House, October 13, 2009) is about a mysterious journey that helps a woman learn more about herself and her twin, whom she lost when they were teenagers. Visit The Muffin to read what Therese has to say about family relationships and view the list of all my blogging buddies. And make sure you visit Therese’s website to find out more about the author.”

Eating Out Low Carb

“A diet is when you watch what you eat and wish you could eat what you watch.”
— Hermione Gingold

Do you have to give up low carb when you leave the house?

Not necessarily.  Try these tricks for restaurants and eating at relatives and friends.

1) Ask for the simplest method of cooking. Tell everyone that plain grilled food is what the doctor ordered.  Fish is delicious simply grilled.  You may prefer your meats this way too. This eliminates the problems of sauces, coatings and marinades.

2) Plain steamed vegetables and salads with the dressings on the side work well.

3) You may have to ask the restaurant to prepare a special dinner for you. Phoning ahead eliminates any embarrassment.

4) Always check what the price will be when making a special order at a restaurant. Once, I ordered grilled fish and a salad and was overcharged for two full meals.

5) It becomes a little trickier for large catered events from work and life cycle parties from friends and relatives.  Here are some options:

• ask the organizer, or hostess to order food for you
• if this becomes an issue, offer to phone the caterer yourself

6) Follow the habit of Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, who lost 110 pounds after he was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003. Mr. Huckabee packed cooler with foods he could eat and carried it to the fancy luncheons.

7) I usually find that most places and people are co-operative. Sometimes, I meet a brick wall. If offering to bring my own food still does not work, I suggest I join everyone for coffee and eat at home.

Another option is to check the online for friendlier options.  A few years ago, a number of restaurants had special low carb options but the trend now is to emphasize price. If you like fast food, check out about low carb diets for specific information.

9) You may be lucky enough to find a restaurant that tweaks the menu.

• Ruby Tuesday offers a Smart Eating menu, included calories, fat, net carb, and fibre information.
• At Chilis.com you can download nutritional information but most of their foods were way too high in fat, calories and carbs for me.
• Denny’sdid provide a  Carb-Watch menu supplement but now there is only online nutritional information to download.

10) Finally there are internet guides for eating low carb. However, the economy has not been kind to restaurants and it is wise to check first if the descriptions online match what is being served.

Birding is Not Just for the Birds

When Joe suggested that we go to the Finger Lakes Land Trust to see the birds I was not all that enthusiastic. I pleaded that I had way too much school marking of student assignments at this time of year but he insisted and told me.

“Vicki, we live in midst of the Atlantic Flyway and this is a great chance to see the migrations of birds from their wintering grounds in the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central and South America to their breeding grounds in New York State.”

I suggested a couple of weeks later but Joe said that we would not be able to see the birds when the trees were filled with leaves.  So, we packed up some food for the trail, found our binoculars and headed out.

By the end of our guided bird walk we were spotting different types of warblers like everyone else.   We even went for our own hike in the afternoon around the lake and were able to find the quick moving birds in the the forest.  But the most exciting bird to see was the bald eagle flying high above us.  The bird was surprisingly large with a huge wingspan.

Joe has always loved the outdoors and actually came to this area from California for the Finger Lakes Trail.  I’m more of a stroller type of gal.  For awhile, the only strolling I did was from my car to a fast food restaurant.

Then I had to lose weight for my health. And you know what? It was the best thing for our marriage too. Lunette, a teacher at my school, got me moving with some dancing. Well, I just kept moving and losing. Having the energy to join Joe to see the birds for Memorial Day was wonderful. (and things kept moving right along that night, but you don’t want to hear about that!)

Blueberry Muffins

I hope you enjoy the blueberry muffin recipe. It’s very pretty with the blueberries on top and incredibly easy if you bake it in those fabulous silicone muffin pans.

Last summer, Joe and I took our granddaughters and their parents to Finger Lakes Farm and Winery to pick blueberries. It was a wonderful day. Stephanie and Tiffani were thrilled with the miniature donkeys and loved to touch the woolly coats of the sheep.  Their mother, Suzie stocked up on more stuff to decorate her home from the Farm Store and even more kitchen gadgets. Her husband, Jonathon, got tired of carrying all her stuff and joined Joe in the greenhouse.  The men loved the antique tools and the seedling machines. Not surprisingly, our youngest daughter, Miranda, barely lifted her head from her book.

After a wonderful lunch everyone headed out to the blueberry fields.  Of course, Stephanie and Tiffani ate more than they picked but we brought home enough to freeze blueberries for these wonderful muffins.  When I serve the muffins to company they are always surprised at their taste and marvel that they are low carb.

Blueberry Muffins

• 2 cups almond meal (or use a mixture of almond and walnut meal)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut
• 3 egg whites
• Sweetener to taste – about ¼ to ½ teaspoon Stevia Concentrate
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• Frozen wild blueberries (or other fruit)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Makes 12 muffins.

Melt coconut in microwave.

Spray silicone muffin pan. Heart shaped muffins are particularly pretty.

With a food processor (optional) mix dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. The batter should be a little stiff like shortbread.

Spoon dough mixture into muffin pan. Cover dough with blueberries.  Push  the blueberries in a little into the dough.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool before eating.