It’s hard to believe this weekend kicks off college football…I cut the most delicious cantaloupe and strawberries last night. What’s not to love about this time of year…the weather and produce of summer, and the comfort and fun of fall. Ahhhh..
But this weekend, fall will be in full gear with football and week 1 of the ! I can hardly wait!
Zucchini Ricotta Flatbread Pizza from &
4 pieces of flatbread or flour tortillas
1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
2 cloves of garlic, minced 1/2 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 1 large zucchinis
1 cup grated2% mozzarella cheese, shredded
Red pepper flakes to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450° F.
In a bowl, combine the ricotta, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Grate the zucchini and dry with a couple of paper towels, removing most of the released moisture.
Put the grated zucchini in a bowl and add the grated mozzarella. Combine well will a little salt and pepper.
Place flatbread on a wire rack or baking sheet. On your flatbread, spread a layer of the ricotta cheese, divided among the 4 flatbread.
Top with a layer of the zucchini, about 3/4 of an inch thick (or again, just separate between pizzas evenly)
Sprinkle zucchini with red pepper flakes.
Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes, or until the edges of your flatbread are crisp and the cheese has begun to golden. Serves 4.
Nutrition Information (per serving): 301 calories; 9.5 g. fat; 35 mg. cholesterol; 829 mg. sodium; 37.5 g. carbohydrate; 1.5 g. fiber; 21.8 g. protein
Result: Delicious! And so simple! These whip together in 5 minutes and only cook for 12-15 — love it! Mr. Prevention and our friend loved them…I will be making again!
It’s my long day today…but I am meeting with 2 local dietitians tonight (over martinis ) to discuss a marketing and business plan to offer nutrition consultation to local endocrinology and nephrology offices! I’m very excited! Here goes nothing!
Question: What’s your dream job? If you were to go to school for something TODAY, what would it be?
I’ve been toying with the idea of going back to school for nursing. There’s online options and I think it’d be great…but I’m just not sure. I don’t want to be an RN in the traditional sense, but I do want to get into management at some point in my career, preferably in diabetes. I think with being an RD -and- an RN…it would be hard not to succeed! Decisions, decisions!
But first things first…squeezing in a run before work after last night’s workout turned into arm curls with a few wings and beer at Buffalo Wild Wings. The things we do for love…*eye roll* Like I said on Facebook last night…our new proximity to Buffalo Wild Wings is nothing short of dangerous!!
Age UK on Monday brought out a report on in hospitals, and not being fed properly when they are there. The actual press release however talked about nurses thinking that a relative of their own who was malnourished could enter hospital and without this being picked up. This is a different issue of screening on admission rather than not eating properly as an in-patient. Both are important and highlight the need for greater accountability from nurses themselves and weight to be an outcome indicator, rather that simply ticking the box of having a ‘system’ as referenced by the .
is in the headlines today, with alcohol related deaths and admissions rising by 40% (in 10 years to 2009) and 65% (in 5 years) respectively. We don’t think anything is going to improve until prevention and repercussions are taken more seriously. This would include shortening licensing hours, increasing taxes on alcohol, fining repeat offenders notified by either the police or A&E or their parents if they are under 16.
And last week highlighted in the Telegraph that there is an urgent need to sort out the issue of co-payments because even if you have paid for a drug privately, you can only receive it in separately from NHS care, which is often impossible. We’d like to come up with a workable solution, let us know if you’d like to be involved.
Franky Italy is a young, brilliant, talented rising star who brings brighter lights to the city of Las Vegas. Franky adds a new color and flavor to hip hop music through striking lyrics and a unforgettable flow and rhythm. He has an old school way of doing new things with a style that’s fresh, hip and new, yet elegant, nostalgic and classy.
Franky is a very dedicated artist who has created a style all his own. Capturing the essence of the past with a classic style and bringing it up to date with a sound that’s sure to hit the charts.
Franky’s dedication to his music and his work as a filmmaker, speaks for itself in his finished projects. Not only does Franky write and produce his own music and lyrics but he also writes, produces, directs and edits his own music videos and films. Below there is a link to Franky’s debut music video entitled “Lonely”. Cinematic, captivating and sharp are only a few words to describe Franky’s style of filmmaking. Franky Italy is quickly and stylishly making his way to the top!
WARNING: EXPLICIT LYRICS!
Music video by Franky Italy performing Lonely. (C) 2010 Franky Italy, LLC
For more updates and current news on Franky Italy check out:
frankyitaly.com
myspace.com/frankyitaly
facebook.com/frankyitaly
twitter.com/frankyitaly
Am I the only person who has felt like giving up when life gets really tough and you go through these tremendously horrible patches that seem endless…these patches that are so painful and full of suffering, confusion, and frustration that it just makes you doubt everything you have been taught as a child: that God is love; that His love will never leave or forsake us; that His eye is on us every second of every day; does He even know I exist? I know I am not – I know that there are many many of you who will read this and agree that you have experienced the same sadness, sorrow, and loneliness that I am talking about, and yet you have gotten through it and hopefully come out on the other side a more complete, caring, understanding, and believing person that God really IS all those things I mentioned above…that life really does have a way of teaching us lessons, even when they are painful and seemingly take forever to get through.
So the answer is NOT to give up. The great basketball coach Jim Valvano said it best as he struggled with the cancer that consumed his body and eventually took him: “Never give up! Never EVER give up!” Life I suppose is really too short to lay down and say ‘I’m done’ and God certainly doesn’t want us to do that. I still believe that God has a will and a way for every life on this planet - that He has a plan mapped out for each of us, including me, and that we just have to be patient to hold on long enough to wait for Him to show it to us. I’ve been going through one of those times over the last several years and the struggles continue every day for me as I open my eyes and say to myself, ‘Oh no, another day’ when I SHOULD be saying ‘Thank you God for another day to wait upon your promise for me.’ It’s not easy and I’m not alone in this struggle I’m certain.
I wrote last about Nichole Nordeman’s struggle with her own failing marriage and the time she had to take to rebuild it back to where it needed to be. Another of her songs speaks of where I find myself these days. In her comments on this song she says, “I’ve walked into some dark places with some very dear people, and then back into the sunlight. And they, with me. This has been a real honor…Anyway, God really took this time – these big fields of space to show me through all these stories of pain and promise that His love is not at all passive. It is so relentless in its pursuit of our terrified hearts. The love of God will hunt you down until you finally spin around in exasperation and admit how cherished you are. It gives us confidence when comfort is MIA. It gives our stories context and hope when somebody else recklessly rips out a chapter. It fills in the blanks. The love of God hoists us up on the shoulders of Jesus and hollers out the promise of St. Paul, ‘I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength!’ It scoops us up and makes us brave.” This song is for each of you who also find yourself where I am and have been for some time now. May it encourage, strengthen, and remind you and I that God is ever-present and His love WILL find you, no matter what your circumstances.
HOLD ON
It will find you at the bottom of a bottle,
It will find you at the needle’s end;
It will find you when you beg and steal and borrow,
It will follow you into a strangers bed.
It will find you when they serve you with the papers,
It will find you when the locks have changed again;
It will find you when you’ve called in all your favors,
It will meet you at the bridge’s highest ledge.
So baby don’t look down, it’s a long way,
The sun will come around to a new day.
So hold on, Love will find you,
Hold on, He’s right behind you now,
Just turn around and love will find you.
It will find you when the doctor’s head is shaking,
It will find you in a boardroom, mostly dead;
It will crawl into the foxhole where you’re praying,
It will curl up in your halfway empty bed.
So baby don’t believe that it’s over,
Maybe you can’t see ’round the corner (chorus).
To hang between two thieves in the darkness,
Love must believe you are worth it.You’re worth It!
May your days be filled with the presence of the Lord in all that you do…His love will find you wherever you find yourself in this life. He’s truly right behind you…right there beside you! Believe! blessings, j
Another delicious and prosperous onam has passed by. This onam seemed special to me, not because of the fact that kerala had put a new record in drinking rum and brandy. This onam gave me a flavour of traditionality compared to the past five onams. If I am to say about onam, I must go back to “attham” and then 10 days up to thiruvonam. Just want to write about the remarkable achievements that made this onam traditional to me.
Day 1 – Attham
There was a long journey from Trivandrum to Thrissur.
Achievement 1:- Atthappookkalam@Home
Managed to collect some flowers from the “muttam” or courtyard and make a small but nice “atthappookkalam” which is a floral design we do starting from this day to “thiruvonam”. Parents were happy enough to let me purchase my “onakkodi” the new dress to wear in onam celebrations, even though they had warned me on previous month not to buy any dress this year as I purchased something very expensive. As I felt guilty of myself for that, I decided to buy a shirt only, but later added a wrist watch to it which in total came up to the same amount that I spent the other day! As I have a bright white Ramraj cotton mundu /dhoti (from Tamil Nadu), with a kasavu (golden) lining. I can use it this time as it hadn’t been used after the previous onam celebration.
Achivement 2:- Traditional Dress
Was able to say no to Jubba or Kurtha which is widely known to be kerala traditional dress, but infact arabic or north indian. Kerala doesn’t have a traditional dress to cover the upper-half of the body for men. But I need to cover my well-built chest and six pack abs to avoid girls going crazy! So spent some bucks on a designer wear. And the watch was a fast track product, a biggie that didn’t suit my skinny wrist, but bought it because of my love for that kind.
Achievement 3: Atthappookkalam@Vadakkumnadhan
I saw a big atthappookkalam infront of the Vadakkumnadhan temple, in thrissur. Also got some snaps of the same and Panchavadyam, one of my favorite traditional temple art. But I’m a bit depressed to know that Kozhikode overtook us at this time with their massive pookkalam. But I love this one as it is infront of the majestic “gopura kavadam” or entrance of the Vadakkumnadhan temple.
The next few days don’t have much significance as I returned back to Trivandrum. So I’m jumping to day 7.
Day 7 – Moolam
This day was special as it was onam celebration in the office, Lot of programs were arranged like vadam vali, pulikkali, pookkalam competition, thiruvathirakkali etc. Had a Trivandrum style sadya with different courses and three types of paayasams(ada pradaman,paal payasam, the next I don’t remember ). The same day after celebrations, I went back to Thrissur as it was holidays until moonnaam onam.
Day 8 – Pooraadam
Nothing traditional this day, as It was a busy one in the process of buying my brand new Yamaha R15, got it and drove it all the day.
Day 9 – Utthraadam
Utthrada paacchil is famous which is the rush for shopping inorder to prepare for thiruvonam, but was different for me, only thing I did was to help the preparations for the onam celebrations infront of Eravu Sree Mahavishnu temple conducted by our club- “Select Team”.
Achievement 4:- Stay with Family
Turned down a suggestion of going for a tour for a whole day to Chimney dam as it was a blunder to stay away from the family on a special day. Also avoided the possibility of taking any kind of alcohol as part of the trip.
Achievement 5 – “No” to alcohol
There was a get together with my collage mates. In the party after the get together, I could control my instincts inorder to restrict myself from taking even a sip of beer, while sitting between all of my friends drinking in a bar! That was a great feeling!
Day 10 – Thiruvonam
Well, this one was a very special thiruvonam.
Achievement 6:- Traditional Meal
This time, I managed to convince my mom to prepare the traditional meal for thiruvonam after buying some groceries required, instead of the fried rice planned. Also suggested the traditional pulissery (or mooru koottaan in Thrissur slang) instead of sambhar. The result was that I enjoyed every bit of it. , (which is said to be equialent to 1000 curries), , acchaaru, pappadam, and finally , All served on a plantain leaf!
Achievement 7:- Vahana pooja
As it is a custom to have the brand new vehicles done pooja, which gives good fortune, I took the same special day for it: Thiruvonam. Visited the temple and took the coupon for it (tipping the “poojari” or priest with some money, oh sorry thats not tip, It is called “dakshina” a sacred giving, is also a custom). So that’s it! I got my R15 decorated with Flowers, sprinkled with “theertham” or the sacred water, and painted with “chandanam” or sandal wood paste.
Achievement 8:- ”No” to TV Channels
This day was also a busy one for the preparations for the meal, also the onam celebrations at the temple etc. So TV channels couldn’t give a lazy affect on me with its onam special programs and movies. Really, really happy about it!
Achievement 9:-
This is my favorite payasam. On the thiruvonam day, I had a chance to have it as the same was there on my grandfather’s home. It was highly delicious as it normally will be! I had two glasses of it.
Day 11 – Moonnaam onam
Onam was like over this day, I had to return back again to Trivandrum afternoon. Completed about 230 pages of “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga, on train. Could get down at Kazhakkuttom where the train don’t have a stop but slowed down as it was early.
So thats how I celebrated my onam. It was on this onam that I rediscovered the delicacies of the traditional sadya which is somewhat different from the current definitions of a sadya. The only thing I missed was the “thrikkaakkarappan” pooja which is done on five piramid shaped objects which is considered as the lord vamana moorthi (vishnu) residing in thrikkaakkara. But I’m getting a feeling like I did something and made a difference this time, which is giving me an inspiration for making the next one more traditional. Wish everyone have future Onams free from Alchohol and TV Channels (as both are harmful) and celebrate it with the true spirit!
In a follow up on my posting about the banning of alcohol during election voting, I wanted to detail a very odd ban on the sale of alcohol in Thailand.
It is illegal to buy alcohol in shops and supermarkets- meaning for private, personal consumption- from 2:00pm until 5:00pm. Shops cannot sell alcohol from midnight until 11:00am.
Yes, this is odd. I understand the desire for shops and supermarkets to cut off sales from midnight through 11:00am, this is common in many countries, but why the mid-afternoon ban? It is very odd if you happen to be in a 7-11 or supermarket in the middle of the afternoon and want to buy a few beers for the evening- you cannot.
To make things more odd- you can drink in a bar or restaurant all day.
Even more odd? If you are buying 10 liters of alcohol, you can buy make the purchase anytime, as it is a larger quantity, like wholesale. Now this is very strange- it is okay to purchase a large quantity and possibly get very drunk, but if you want to buy a few beers then you are subject to restrictions as to when you can make the purchase.
There is nothing published about the logic of this ban or the reason. I have been told it is to prevent Thai people from drinking all afternoon. This would appear to be the reason- many Thai people cannot afford the “bar” price of beer and spirits. I don’t think this is prevention, but just makes it inconvenient to find a bottle of beer in a store in the middle of the afternoon.
You can beat the ban- generally a local store that is not part of a chain or large grocery store will sell you alcohol, at anytime.
If you cannot buy a few bottles and need a fix, don’t worry. Bars are open close to 24 hours a day. There are bars that open at 9am, most close at 2am during the week and 4am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There are sidewalk bars- literally temporary bars set up on a sidewalk- that will stay open as long as you want to pay.
One lesson of Thailand, where there is a rule, there is generally a way to work around the rule. Just smile and ask, there is a good chance someone will help you.
In the US I don’t trust my body much. Sure, sometimes I call upon it to perform extraordinary feats when I am late for a bus or trying to make a meeting on time. But for the most part, my feeling is that I am relatively physically limited, and I plan my behavior accordingly.
I will only drink at bars that I know well, when I know the way home. That way I can trust my body to figure out the specifics of finding a safe (hopeully home) place to sleep for the night.
China is an exercise in trust of one’s body. Everyday I task it with new challenges: digest this dog flesh, walk to this park with despite dehydration, navigate without sleep, function when drunk. Somehow in China my body rises to the challenge.
I capped off my trip in Suzhou with a hot pot lunch. Izzie, a friend of a friend, invited one of her friends who sells “white wine” (read Chinese high-proof liquor) to the meal. We’d tried to get him to come to the bar the previous night, but to no avail. After he met me, even though we weren’t able to communicate very well, he took a shine to me and expressed his regret at not going drinking with me the night before. He went to his car and brought in some “white wine” for me to try. The hot pot was great and wine was so smooth! I couldn’t believe I was drinking 120 proof liquor like it was a rum and coke. Pretty quickly it stacked up and for the first time I was drunk in China. Izzie’s friend admitted that he wanted me to get buzzed enough so that I would miss my train and we could hang out at the bar that night. As much as that sounded fun, I already had made arrangements to meet a friend in the train station at Hangzhou, but and part of me still wishes I had audibled
my China adventure at that point to hang out for a little longer in Suzhou.
We lost track of time at lunch and didn’t really realize it until about 5 minutes to 1. Unfortunately my train was scheduled to depart for Hangzhou at ten after 1. I still needed to get my luggage from my hostel, and we didn’t really have a plan. Earlier in the day Izzie had promised that she’d get me to the train station on time, a very resolute assurance that she didn’t really need to make, but she seemed duty-bound to keep it.
We weren’t sure how we were going to make it.
I had such a wonderful time in Suzhou. The city reminds me a bit of Venice, except it smells much better and the people are nicer. Also, even though you probably wouldn’t want to swim in it, the canals that crisscross the city are from freshwater, which I for whatever reason prefer to the salty brine of Venice.
Izzie, Jing’s friend, was unimaginably sweet and friendly. I had a fantastic time hanging out with her and talking about life, work, and travel. The food I had in Suzhou was also among the most consistently tasty I had while in China. I think in Suzhou I got closest to the native pace of life in mainland China. When visiting friends elsewhere, I was either hanging out with upper middle class people doing middle class things or visiting expat friends. Although in these places I still got to see some awesome stuff, in Suzhou I spent a lot of time just walking around poor neighborhoods, poking around construction sites, and eating at random stands on sparsely populated streets.
On my final day I got to live out one China fantasy and drive a motorized scooter while Izzie rode on the back. It probably made more sense for her to drive and me to ride, but perhaps gender roles do matter in China or Izzie sensed how excited I was to drive her bike. It was pretty exhilirating, even though probably not totally safe as we buzzed along, unhelmeted, crossing ancient bridges and skittering along next to green canals. We were racing down one side street past old homes inhabited by elderly folks who were sitting outside, in the thin thoroughfare, watching us go by, drying laundry, or washing dishes and chamber pots in the river. As we discovered the path we had been zipping down for the past 5 minutes or so was a dead end, the battery in the scooter began to die. I did my best to pedal to keep us going but quickly discovered that it was more efficient to just get off and walk.
It is amazing the depth of perception you miss when you pass through areas at high speed. I remember skimming a piece that got reblogged in my Tumblr feed (I’m thinking Tragos or Mills) about how rapid transit has dramatically altered the way we view space, and I think I got a taste of it.
I suppose my first pass was all the more shallow as I was still figuring out the mechanics of this scooter. I bike a fair deal in Ann Arbor, but at this time we were just coming out of winter and my bike had been abandoned for the season at the covered parking of my office, so it had been some time since I’d had to exercise any agility or balance on a vehicle.
As our pace slowed, a great many more details floated to the fore.
I wanted to (also) call this post ‘what a difference a day makes’ because after being so smug and self-congratulatory on Monday evening, I came crashing down to earth yesterday with a resounding thud!
Because I was up late watching the Emmy Awards on Monday night, I over-indulged a little in alcohol. I have been quite good lately (while on hols), having some wines, but with no real interest in drinking too much. Generally I have been sitting on a few red wines or champagnes and haven’t been in the mood for more. I don’t know what happened Monday night, but I went off to the bath to finish reading a book and came downstairs a couple of times to top up my glass…
As a result, Tuesday dawned and I didn’t! I stayed in bed for almost all of the morning with a dull headache and feeling very tired. It set the tone for the day. When I eventually emerged from the cocoon of my doona I felt compelled to go and buy corn chips and grazed on those all afternoon. I suffered from a general malaise and felt miserable all day. The corn chips offered no comfort at all and I almost wished I had succumbed to chocolate as well.
By evening I decided I needed real food and ate a fairly healthy dinner, but couldn’t shake the guilt and frustration of having wasted some precious holiday time and lost some of the momentum from the day before.
So, Wednesday is now upon us (here in Oz) and I am restarting my diet YET AGAIN, with my post-holiday weigh-in only 3 sleeps away. I cringe to think of the damage I have done…
) to discuss a marketing and business plan to offer nutrition consultation to local endocrinology and nephrology offices! I’m very excited! Here goes nothing! 
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