Thoughts for the day:
1. Diet cola and paprika flavoured Pringles are probably not the best food to help one get over a rapidly brewing cold. I wonder if Friday's leftover pizza will help?
2. I know I shouldn't laugh, but sometimes the mistakes my foreign-language students make in their essays are funny (repeatedly confusing speculators with spectaculars, for eg.)
3. They are predicting snow on Thursday. I am not sure I'm emotionally (or satorially) prepared for the complete onslaught of winter in all its icy glory. I do, though, have a massive stock-pile of dried pulses, so should a wintery apocalypse arrive, we'll live. We may not be best pleased about it come day 4 or 5, but we'd live.
4. I need a new fridge rather desperately. My FRACKING P.O.S fridge keeps freezing things and it is driving me completely mad. It has frozen an entire pumpkin for god's sake (which would be impressive if it weren't so damn annoying). But the damn thing is so fickle about what it's freezing so there's no real way of knowing its next target. The jug of filtered water (which surely has a pretty high water count) remains liquid yet the container of pre-cooked and previously frozen chicken which I'd defrosted has been refrozen (meaning I've had to throw it out or risk killing us both with salmonella). Cheese appears to be unfreezable (though I know cheese does actually freeze rather well since I always have some in my freezer for unexpected cheese-related emergencies), yet creme fraiche and yoghurt are susceptible. My vege have to be kept stuffed together on the top shelf as this is a lower risk area, and the condiments are on the bottom shelf (mayo also appears disinclined to freeze) - it's total madness and something Must Be Done.
5. I am trying desperately to eat healthily (in a manner that will actually result in weight loss - try to avoid mocking point no. 1 when you read this!) and am aware that my cooking repetoire is not really low-fat, low-sugar, low-carb. It is actually fairly high-fat, high-sugar and all about the carbs. I thus find myself rather torn...is there any way one can eat high fat, sugary, carb-loaded foods and still lose weight? Apparently excessive exercise results in bupkiss in the way of weight loss without food adjustments too. DAMNIT. I don't want to relinquish my Pringles or creme fraiche...DON'T MAKE ME DO IT.......
6. I really rather fancy a curry as soon as I start talking about cutting back. Mmm, garlic naan and dahl and bhajis. How ridiculous to have so little control over your own mind and body.
7. One of the things I've taught this semester has been 'constructions of the body', and in particular Shilling's theory of the body as a project/process. Thus, in addition to feeling frustrated about my own lack of control over my mind/body, I'm also filled with faint scholarly disgust and awareness of my own preoccupation with controlling and constructing my body at the moment. Oh the irony. And oh to be ignorant and uncaring.
8. In addition to the above, I find myself fixated with the story of the NZ miners and despite my wishes for a positive outcome (especially since two good family friends have loved ones trapped in the mine) I can't help but be filled with dread that this is not going to be a happily resolved story that Hollywood will want to tell.
Thus endeth today's odd collection of rambling thoughts.
So sorry to hear about the personal connection to the miners. It is just terrible, and I suspect the tragedy is exacerbated by the happy ending of the Chilean miners' story, which has probably enhanced people's expectations of what is possible.
ReplyDeleteWorking back up from the bottom here, why the hell are you - YOU - trying to lose weight?? You're tiny! What limbs are you thinking about giving up? As I've probably made clear, I am extremely suspicious about "healthy" diets. Taking the fat out of foods is like sucking the fun out of Christmas. Foods can be healthy in more ways than one - good for the soul/mind/mood as well as the body - and I don't think we should discount that. Of course, I'm not advocating fried chicken and apple pie for breakfast here, but this blog makes clear you understand the concept of balance. So give it up already!!
Am interested to learn more about this Shilling fellow. Man, your course sounds interesting!
Speaking of curry, I could really go one now, now that you've mentioned it... Gotta a good (veg) curry recipe you could share?
Ah well, I feel blah at the moment, and also because I'm such a short-ass, I really can't carry any extra weight or I look pudgy so I'm trying to depudge at the moment. Exercise has gone some way to helping, but I don't think it's enough. I'd be happy to shed a thigh or two...!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately though, I'm at odds with myself since, much like you, I see no point whatsoever in not enjoying food. And I cannot for the life of me understand how one could ever enjoy low fat foods - or indeed a 'diet' of any kind. I've got this low-gi book and one of its 'Fabulous and Easy Lunches' is...(wait for it), taking a 250g tub of cottage cheese, mixing in some dried fruit and nuts and going for gold. SHUDDER. That 'recipe' (a wildly over generous term in this case!) singly repluses me and for that reason I think it's safe to say, I'm unlikely to get all diety and food-phobic anytime soon!
Shilling's theory is interesting - that we use our bodies as a means of projecting our individual identities, and since we live in a somatic society (body image obsessed), how we control, preserve and remodel our bodies is a really important part of social processes. I can send you a chapter if you'd like? :-P
Mmm curry. I could also go a curry right now (although it's only 8am, so potentially I should wait a few hours!). I have several vege curries that I like, but they're all fairly basic. One is listed with the 'aubergine' tag - I've made it with eggplant and chickpeas and it's lovely. Actually though, the last few times I've been to our local curry shop, I've really been enjoying their turkha (sp?) dahl - yum! I don't have any good recipes for it though. Do you?
Sorry - I meant the eggplant tag, not the auberine one. It's the mushroom and eggplant curry. Pretty classic but v moreish.
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