The Zen Of The Garden

The garden is where I go to find comfort, quiet and a sort of Zen.  It is counter productive to try and find order there.  I try to plan straight lines.  I try for weed free.  I try for even numbers.  But the garden decides.  

My herb garden has been allowed to grow in the most haphazard ways.  Right now two very tall mallow plants are blooming.  I didn't plant them.  The garden did.  But I appreciate the lavender pink flowers against a background of fennel fronds, dill seed heads and the blue borage flowers. the parsley this year is lovely.  The spearmint is abundant.  The tarragon is enormous.  The sage (started in January in the milk jug experiment) is sturdy and very healthy.  I have transplanted (purchased) sage starter plants into this bed many many times.  They all died.  So, this is quite a pleasant surprise.

I am vacuuming the floors, washing dog towels and bed covers, mopping the floors today.  Riley has been getting into mud holes on the daily walk with G--looking for a drink of water.  G washes him off with the hose before bringing the dog inside--but he still manages to make quite a mess of the floors.

And dogs smell.  And they shed.  And it all makes Joanne a very sneezy, teary eyed girl.

So--another huge, day long clean up and spray everything I can't wash with Febreze.

The Elimination Diet continues to............well, in truth there is no elimination no matter how many Senokote I take before bedtime or how much water I drink (100 ounces).  I am eating fruits and vegetables.  Brown rice in very small amounts.  Everything going in and nothing coming out.  I don't know what to do.  Today is sort of a "time out" as I finish all the soups and smoothies in the fridge. Eat the chicken.  Have a salad.  Drink water.  Eat my watermelon chunks.

What is that saying?  Do everything the same and hope for a different outcome.  Insanity?

Elimination Diet- Day Six

Well, the adventure continues.  Daily smoothies (is this really MY life?).  Daily soup--but not completely pureed.  Vegetables.  Vegetables.  Vegetables.  I am rotating my way through the zucchini, sweet potatoes, broccoli, kale, beets, carrots, cabbage, lettuce.  I just discovered I can have PEAS.

It will be 2 weeks before I test nightshades--my favorite vegetable group (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers) and add things to soup that I actually love eating.  Like my tomato escarole soup. Corn is one of the last things to test--very reactive. It just doesn't seem like summer without it.

My meals have been interesting and tasty.  My rash came back last night but I can't pin point a food as the source (dates?).  It could have been dirt. Dust.  I was reading and tearing out interesting pages from a stack of very old magazines.  And I could (did ) rub my eyes.

My new recipe yesterday was a "truffle" made of well ground sunflower seeds, Medjool dates, some EVOO and a few teaspoons of maple syrup (pure) to bind everything into a sticky mass.  (or mess).  Roll into 24 equal sized balls and roll in fine shredded coconut.  I have them in the fridge.  This was something new I ate yesterday and then the rash.  So, no "truffles" today and we'll see if it stays or goes. When things get added, we get to eat them three days in a row to be sure.  So, I may have to eat those delicious things--in the name of science.

I ordered the new Martha Stewart book from the library and will be picking it up after our meeting at the bank.  Clean Slate with the lovely Shira Bocar as the author of the recipes.  I love her videos on the Martha Stewart site.  She also made a date and coconut "candy" in a video but she added walnuts to hers.  When the walnut/pecan test time arrives I will try her recipe.  Her recipe for the baked sweet potato was on a post (2 back).  That was delicious.  Her recipes dovetail with the Elimination Plan perfectly.

Watered the garden late yesterday afternoon (and will water again this afternoon).  The summer squash plants are getting very big.  That raised bed looks very rambunctious as do the cucumber plants.  The herb bed also looks wonderful and I plan on cutting some herbs to make a Green Goddess salad dressing.  My first homegrown zucchini is about 4 inches right now.  Can't wait for the cucumbers.  I have a grape vine now and can add grape leaves to my pickles like my grandmother and my mother did with theirs.  So excited.

Today, I watered the front porch plants  and got myself dirty repotting the small fig "bush" (it doesn't look like a tree) which is going crazy and needed a bigger pot.  I had to water it twice or three times  a day.  When you have to water a lot to keep the plant from wilting--it needs a larger pot and more soil.  The plants in containers are also getting a little "something" added to their water every three or four days.  Blue stuff.  Microbe stuff. Fish fertilizer.  They seem to enjoy the blue stuff as much as they enjoy the fish emulsion.

I can't find rhubarb on any of the approved food lists.  It would be nice to have some for snack.

Elimination Diet- Day Two

I forgot we needed black peppercorns for the pepper grinder.  But I did remember to buy a roasted chicken.  And, even before putting it in a suitable container for storage, I ate the two legs and two wings.  Standing at the counter like a cave woman. Oh, how I have changed.

I went to the grocery with my friend Patty..  She drove by while I was walking along the road, on the way home from my walk.   But before going to the grocery we went to lunch.

My lunch wasn't holding.  I had a huge plate of lettuce and grated carrots in my "chef's salad" but no dressing (none were legal), no tomato, no cheese, no peppers.  I did have some turkey on top.  My lunch partner gave me her homemade dill pickle which was in reality--- just a cucumber that had been sitting in vinegar for one day.

I also purchased a roasted turkey breast which G and I will share for dinner.  I will have turkey, baked sweet potato (no butter) and steamed or roasted green beans.  G will have gravy and Stove Top stuffing with his.  I will try not to be unhappy about the gravy.  Or the lack of cranberry sauce.

The chicken is for tomorrow and I also purchased a package of frozen wild salmon which is supposedly the only kind I can have.  I'll have that on top of a salad or wilted greens on Wednesday. My grocery fish counter had only farm raised salmon.  Which I am not supposed to eat.

I also purchased short grain brown rice because the gal, Shira Bocar, on the Martha Stewart videos "eat clean" used it in three recipes so I guess it's good stuff.

That's all I have to say.  My friend wasn't sure it was me walking on the side of the road today.  She said I looked different---- thinner.

Detox Diet Done

Now I move into the two weeks of eating the Elimination Diet.  The author says this part is the most restrictive.  It seems like a "holiday" to me as I get some food to CHEW.

Lunch will be as pictured above.  A roasted (baked) sweet potato, stuffed with greens sautéed with onion and topped with slices of avocado (from Martha Stewart- Clean Eating).  Breakfast was the Green Pineapple smoothie with the addition of a frozen banana to give it a bit of thickener.  I added too much water when I made it.  I was thinking "blender" instead of "Vitamix".  The Vitamix needs far less liquid to do the job.  I found out I appreciate a very thick smoothie.  I am planning to make the red cabbage one again with blackberries this time.

The "elimination" part of my problems has worked it's way "out" with the application of Senokot.  G had a bottle from his heart surgery so I thought it would be safe.  It's gentle and works overnight.

I purchased a giant bag of young, thin, fresh green beans to eat.  To CHEW.  For my snack later in the day or I might just enjoy a bowl of watermelon chunks.

Discovered a nice Thai recipe (on Martha Stewart) to make with coconut milk, chicken, ginger, garlic and some of the pineapple left over from the smoothie making. I can't add the hot chili pepper but the ginger can be quite spicy on it's own.  I get to eat this with some brown rice.

Day Three is turning out pretty swell.  It rained overnight.  The garden is nice and wet.  I am going out to pick beet greens when I finish here (risking mosquitos) and then I think I will settle on the couch and read. But before I do that, I think I will go and watch more Clean Eating videos.

Elimination Diet Detox

I am giving another diet a trial.  The one authored by Malterie.

The two day, initial detox, is entirely pureed.  Smoothie, juice or soup.

Now, I am not a fan of the smoothie, but I had the ingredients here in the house (from the other diet) so I held my nose (so to speak) and started tossing things into the Vitamix. ¼ head of red cabbage, small avocado, blueberries, frozen raspberries, a small handful of  plump dry cranberries ( I didn't have frozen or fresh but I think they would add a "sparkle" of sour to the smoothie) and water.  It was a very pretty rosy red color.

Pretty didn't sell it.  But--it did taste good.  I drank it all.  Amazing.

Lunch was a pureed soup of leeks, carrot, cauliflower, chicken stock, thyme, sea salt and pepper and after the Vitamix--some chopped fresh parsley from my very own herb garden.  Hated the chicken broth.  Should have used plain water. While the soup contained things I really like--the sum wasn't equal to the parts and the chicken broth was disgusting. Now, I am sure if I made the chicken broth in the book it would have been better, I used what I had.

Dinner was Creamy Green Detox Soup.  Broccoli, zucchini, leeks, water, sea salt, small bunch of kale (I don't like spinach), fresh parsley and fresh basil.  Pureed in Vitamix till very smooth.  It was okay hot but when I poured the soup into a half gallon Mason jar for the fridge, I had about ½ cup leftover and ate that at room temp--very excellent.

Tomorrow I am making the Detox Pineapple Green Smoothie.  Pineapple, avocado, small bunch of kale, handful of mint (in the herb garden).

I didn't write any of the juice recipes down.  Yet.  But if the quality of the juices is equal to the taste of the soups and smoothies-- well, I might like juice.

I am supposed to note how I feel following each "meal".  So far, I feel bloated.  Like those commercials with the people with IBS and the blocks bunched up in their gut.  This is how bad things have gotten in my interior parts.  A complete roadblock.

Things can't get worse.  So, I am hoping by Sunday I will be feeling rejuvenated.

This detox is so much more delicious using the exact same ingredients from the other diet MINUS the flax granola.  Which I think is what is blocking my intestines.

Day Twenty- The Last Day I Do This

I drank all the pints of water yesterday.  Followed the diet.  And was rewarded this morning by a TWO POUND WEIGHT GAIN.  Today is  day 20.  And I am done with this even though I think I know what caused the weight gain and the return of the eyebrow rash.  Fresh mozzarella cheese. I've eaten it before without any trouble.  But, yesterday, I got trouble.  Today--well, it'll be plain eating again.  All safe foods (well, the cheese was safe--but now it's not)

So, the premise of this elimination diet isn't really REAL.  You test reactive to something and then don't eat it.  Good enough.  But you test safe for something and then a few days later a reaction. Which leaves you wondering--is safe food really safe?  What exactly does a reaction mean? Can a food make you lose weight one day and then gain weight another day plus get your rash back???? What if I am suddenly reactive to the beets I had with the cheese and not the cheese?

Above is a picture of something I may make today for lunch.  Zucchini noodles with red cabbage, carrot, onion and kale.  There is an Asian dressing to pour over which does not contain soy.  Look in my sidebar for Simply Recipes.  It looks pretty and will be fun to "twirl" a fork into something for a change.  Unless I am "suddenly" now reactive to zucchini.

I have two books waiting for me at the library on elimination diets and the authors are actually doctors.  The Plan author is not.

Yesterday was not a good day for me.  Tired.  My skin around my eyes burning.  Trouble breathing. Short attention span.  Mosquitos.  Too hot outside.

I did notice, because I have one on right now --the Bean linen camp shirt has a pocket.  From now on I will just look for short sleeved linen Bean shirts with a pocket at Goodwill.  The pink shirt washed up nicely and the picked back dart lines vanished.  The shirt body itself looks good but the shoulders are cut narrow (you can see it clearly when the shirt is laid out flat) and the short sleeves are really skimpy.  You hardly see this shirt in the store or catalogs anymore (I would buy it).  I think, they redesigned it into oblivion.  You do see the elbow length sleeve--with bust darts and back darts.  I still buy those.  And remove the back darts.  And never button the sleeve buttons.  Cut too tight.  Pulls when you move your arms.

I do have one of the three quarter sleeve shirts in a 3X.  Super comfy.  I wear it all summer.  Loose, lightweight.  In the washer, in the dryer, no ironing and back in business as my go to summer shirt.
I've been wearing it nearly every day--two summers now--and it shows no signs of wear.  Would be a great beach cover up as well.  I don't wear a 3X usually but buying this shirt was a great deal for me.  All my other shirts are just plain XL.  And they fit loose.  BUT, the XL three quarter sleeve pulls from the shoulder to the elbow-- every single one of them.

Next post--whenever that is--will be business as usual.  No Plan.   Now, I am off to the library before the heat builds up.  Then the garden.  And then the shower and back to reading my book.  Thank you for your patience with this diet stuff.  Sigh.  It bored me to death as well.

Day Nineteen- Repeat Your Favorite Day

Now, the author of that phrase is referring to diet menu days.  But----- what if Fate asked you to repeat your favorite day in your life.  Wow.  Now that would take some thought.

On the diet--my favorite day was the day I had toast.  Remember I wrote that I very nearly swooned with delight over the toasted bread loaded with melted butter.

But that's not the day I chose to repeat.  I chose to repeat a day when I lost 1.5 pounds.

Weight has returned to it's lowest point in the 19 days and remained steady for two days now.  Even "restaurant day" which was an odd buffet of finger foods.  A plate of cold, beautifully arranged, broccoli florets, slant cut carrots (blanched I think), cucumber.  Like they knew I was coming.  There was a "slider" buffet with pulled pork, pulled chicken or portobello mushrooms.  There was a fruit plate with beautifully cut and fanned pineapple, melons etc with a few perfect strawberries.  Also a cheese platter.  I stuck with the vegetables and pulled pork--scooping up pork with my carrots.  One strawberry.  Three scallops wrapped in bacon.  I drank water even though it was an open bar.  After I had a small Whoopee Pie cone at the wonderful inTown ice cream shack.  Then Evita.

This morning no weight gain and no weight loss so I think--it's okay.

Today I had bran flakes, coffee and water.  I made a little chart for my water consumption.  I finally got the Plan Cookbook from library loan and--well, things have changed quite a bit since the original book.  The Kale with Vegetables is much more that it was.  The coco sauce makes a VAT of sauce--more than anyone would ever need.  There is pizza.  There is pasta sauce.  So many things.  And there are changes to the "cleanse".  No liver detox capsules.  It's a totally different diet.  And there was an easy to use "drinking your water chart" which would have saved me much anguish.

Simply a pint jar.  At 7, 9, 12, 2, 5, 7.  Just fill the jar with water, chug it down, walk away.  I like making a mark next to each hour's water.  And the jar stays put next to the chart.  No wondering where I set my water glass or when and how much water I drank.  When I weigh less--less water.

Big deal yesterday--I wore one of my rings.  It fit on my finger.  I also wore a very pretty pin tucked white linen blouse that I have not worn in a very long time.  Because it didn't fit.  Last night it fit. I had to wear pants that were too large but-they were all I have. And because it was a special "occasion" I put product into my hair.  I am all about wash and wear hair. So product is a big deal.  I didn't bother with make-up--my tan is so dark (greenhouse) it wouldn't make any difference.

This morning the skin around my eyes is itching.  Allergies, I think.  I took my Zyrtec and am hoping it kicks in soon.  I don't think it's food related--that reaction happens pretty dark fast.

I'm going to try and manage the vegetable crisper drawers better.  I had more produce that I am comfortable tossing due to "forgetting" it was there--- then buying more.  It spoiled and is now in the compost pile.  I have quite a lot of kale, broccoli and watermelon.  More than enough zucchini. Five roasted beets.  Two pieces of chicken.  I need to test a new vegetable this week.  I am considering red cabbage.  For my salads.   But I could test it cooked in a stir fry as well.  the Plan prefers vegetables to be cooked not raw.  Now that sounds good.  Onion, cabbage, carrots, red pepper and broccoli stir fry.

Day Twenty is tomorrow.  The last diet post.

Day Eighteen- My Favorite Number

I love it when things work out in a serendipitous way.  Like today in the Plan is "eat out at a restaurant" day.  And G and I were, a month ago, invited to a bank event and tickets to see Evita at the local, in Town, music theater.  I think they are serving us snacks at the Daniel Stone Inn.  And here it is theater day and eat out day. Like I was "planning" or something.

I also saw this zucchini noodle dish on Simply Recipes website.  I love making and eating zucchini noodles.  It's so playful.   On thePlan website the Plan author spends a great deal of time writing about her method with zucchini noodles.  She basically cuts them and then sets them somewhere to air dry.  Couple of hours or more.  Makes them dense, drier and more chewy.

The Simple Recipe (dot com) bowl up top, combines the noodles with 4 ounces of sautéed chicken and basil pesto.  The only addition that I probably can't have is the tomatoes.  I need to test tomatoes.  This might be a good time to do as the recipe only calls for a handful of cherry tomatoes for two servings.

Yesterday I watered my vegetable garden.  My broccoli had gone to seed.  Sadly.  But I cut the little broccoli heads with flowers an popped them in the FP with my greens for meatballs.  After watering and planting a few more things I mixed up and gave everyone a nice drink of fish emulsion fertilizer.  Then I need a good soapy shower to stop smelling like fish fertilizer myself.

I read some chapters in my new book (not sure I like it) ate my dinner of leftover brown rice and leftover vegetables.  Watched tv and then went to bed.  Allergies to pollen and mold are making me quite dim witted and sleepy.

The bran flakes and (now) daily cup of coffee are taking care of any constipation I may be suffering. I lost one pound overnight even though I had yogurt with blueberries and bran flakes.  Two items NOT on the Plan.  So, I am feeling a bit more successful today.

 I visited Goodwill and got myself another pair of summer (gardening) capri pants in my new, smaller size.  I also found an LLBean short sleeved PINK LINEN blouse.  PINK.  I picked out the two back darts they insist on adding to a classic shirt.  I hate the bust darts they also added (as well as shortening the sleeve length and making the shirt longer) but can't get rid of them without taking the entire shirt apart---which I have done.  I consider that experience as "making a pattern for future shirt making"  and not a mistake.

The original shirt was perfectly flat and square when I ironed it.  No darts no tucks.  Back section the same width and length as the front section (when buttoned).  I think it was called a "camp shirt".  Good length on the sleeves which were straight out from the side seams, not angled.  Classic.

You can still find some of the original camp shirts at Goodwill.  Not often.  But I have never before found anything PINK.  So this new shirt (even though not a camp shirt) is a treasure I will be wearing for the rest of my life.

Day Seventeen- We Are Experiencing Difficulties

The Southern pulled pork was extraordinary I removed the cover of the cast iron pot at 3 ½ hours (maybe 4) and left it at 325 for another 60 minutes or more until the meat was dark and crusty.  Gary was over the moon happy with it and I enjoyed my serving very, very much.  And I drank my water and had watermelon for snack.  Lunch was a repeat of the chopped salad with sunflower seeds. So enough bulk and enough moisture.

All in all, enough bulk to have produced some "elimination" since this is an elimination diet.  NOPE.
So, no weight loss this morning which makes two full days in a row (but no gain).  So, I went to the cupboard and got down the bran flakes.  Had a bowl with rice milk (water) for breakfast.

Now everything is as it should be, I think.  Bran Flakes.  A little breakfast miracle.

Today's menu: Flax granola with fruit.
Chickpea salad and butternut soup for lunch. Rye cracker with raw almond butter for snack. Approved protein on mixed greens with Vegetable Timbale (contains tomato which we have not tested).

 I had Bran Flakes. I won't be having the chickpea salad (hot chickpeas with cumin and wilted spinach) or the rye cracker.  I never bothered to make raw almond butter as the almonds seemed to bother me, not a lot, but some. The thought of making sunflower seed butter--makes me gag.

I will, instead, just have a salad with Romaine and carrots.  And for dinner I will have chicken with vegetables.  I may make the Fried (or baked) Little Green Balls from Food52.

The recipe is Plan friendly.  8ounces packed weight of any greens or stems of vegetable tops you have (beet greens, arugula that has bolted, carrot tops, parsley stems, kale stems) stuff you had planned to tuck into the compost bin.  Run it all thru the food processor until finely chopped (might want to start with stems and then add anything leafy).  It's good to have a mix of leafy and stems.

 Heat the fry pan with some olive oil and sauté a finely chopped yellow onion with some salt and garlic.  Add cumin seeds if you like it.  I don't. Cilantro if you like that.  I don't. Add the greens from the FP to the pan and continue to saute.  Meanwhile, add a slice of bread to the FP and make bread crumbs.  Then crumble up ¼cup of feta or any other cheese you have around by hand.  Dump everything in a bowl, let cool for 5 minutes and then start mixing and smooching with your hands.  Can add one egg to hold the mix into little balls (about 20) or two eggs if needed.  Can fry them or bake them.  The bake is 350 on parchment paper (will stick) for 15 min and then turn for another 10 to 15.  Serve like you would meatballs.  Can squeeze some lemon over the top.  Add pesto.  Whatever.  Instead of the garlic--try adding a few garlic scapes if you have them.

It's pretty much--use anything you would normally cut off and throw away.  IF you garden--then you can be making these little green balls from now until September.

Day Sixteen- Testing Protein for Lunch & Dinner

Since I have only chicken as an approved protein that I can eat more often than once a week, I will not be eating it twice in one day. Once a day is more than enough chicken.  Yesterday I had 2 flax crackers with goat cheese (as a test) for lunch and gained one pound overnight.  So, the goat cheese is now history. I'm only testing a food twice.

I didn't manage to drink all my water yesterday so that could be an additional weigh gainer. But I woke  up this morning feeling VERY energetic (reminding myself of the detox energy) and I scrubbed both of our bathrooms, washed woodwork, vacuumed the entire house plus the very dirty (we garden) sunporch which is our way in and out of the house for garden chores. I also washed the kitchen floor and have the area rugs in the washing machine.

Yesterday the only house work I managed was changing the linens on our bed.

I also have Southern Pulled Pork in the oven.  I am re-testing pork today to see if the reaction was more to do with the marinade (ketchup and soy) and less to do with the pork itself.  The pork has safe ingredients like brown sugar, cayenne pepper and garlic on it.  With apple cider vinegar as the liquid.

I've kept everything else today in the ultra safe category so the test will be a good one.  Breakfast being the awful flax granola (I once found it delicious), one cup of coffee and blueberries.  Lunch was a repeat of the chopped salad with sunflower seeds for protein.  Romaine, zucchini, carrot and avocado.  I could easily have added in 2 ounces of chicken.  But I didn't want to.

My husband asked how long I intended to do this "diet" and I answered quite truthfully.  If I eat safe foods and gain weight overnight--then I am done.  There is no point in continuing.  And, between you and I, it's been a few days since I lost any NEW weight.  I keep gaining and losing the same few pounds.  Up three, down two, down one, up one.  Which means the last time I lost any real weight was back on July 5th.

In the comments section of the only real source of information regarding this diet (Amazon.com book reviews), this seems to be the experience of most who purchased the book and tried the Plan.  Weight loss the first few days (detox) and then up/down while testing.  Never really going down and staying there. A few have lost inches but not weight.  I think I am in that group.  Pants that fit me June 30th are very very loose today.

The diet in the book loses momentum starting tomorrow.  All the days read the same.  Approved breakfast, approved lunch and approved dinner.  No testing of any new foods for days 17 to 20. Mostly we test protein twice a day, double sized portion of some safe food and eating at a restaurant. So what I have is it. And then I sort of have to find my own way. The author says--if you want to eat something--then test it.  But first I have to get to a place where I am not going up and down constantly.  A safe food spot.

I am planning to call my doctor and ask to have two blood tests done.  ALCAT and C-Reactive Protein.  She won't want to order them.  But I am going to force the issue if I have to.  She thinks allergy tests are nonsense.  Her words.  I have also ordered two other elimination diet books that are highly recommended, in the Amazon comments, from my library.

I have started moving my diet and food test info to my desk calendar so I can see, at a glance, where I was, am and where I am going.  I can also see what foods I tested.

The huge rainstorms predicted didn't happen, but weather was pretty chilly.  Now the sun is coming out.  Next four days are going to be brutally HOT---- I don't do well, in brutally hot.  Which is why I am not working at the greenhouse this summer.

Day Fifteen - Another Protein Tested

I gave up on "following the rules" and used common sense instead.  I needed to have another protein other than chicken.  So, while out at the grocery store looking for more large beets to roast, I purchased steak.  One for me and one for G.  He was out doing work for a landscaper and arrived home hungry and tired.  We had steak and baked potato with a side of grilled vegetable kabobs while watching the horrible evening news.

Anyway, I decided to eat a new protein even though I was in the process of testing my new breakfast item--yogurt.  Well, I had steak and a third of a baked potato with lots of butter and this morning I was another pound down (so back to what I weighed Thursday before eating Chinese).  I also had a chopped salad for lunch yesterday.  I followed the recipe exactly.  One chopped carrot, one chopped zucchini, one chopped small head of Romaine, half an avocado, handful of sunflower seeds and oil and vinegar dressing.  It was delicious.  I ate it with a spoon.  I did not have my snack of potato chips.  When I went to see if I was indeed having potato chips for snack--I was on the wrong page in the diet book.

Now I have two proteins to add to the safe/tested list, a new vegetable (potato), and a new salad to make for lunch or dinner.  A "real" chopped salad includes meat and cheese but I won't be doing that anytime soon.  Tomorrow I am retesting pork.  Without the ketchup and soy marinade.  Hopefully on Monday morning I can report having three tested proteins to use in the remaining menus.  Each says the same thing "any approved protein".  Now, steak is just once a week.  Pork doesn't include sausage, bacon or ham.  Those would be separate tests. I am making Southern Pulled Pork in the oven with cider vinegar, garlic and cayenne pepper (a Martha Stewart recipe).  I am adding the brown sugar also as brown sugar was added to one of the recipes in the Plan book.  So it must be okay.  (who knows as there are so many odd things popping up in the recipe section that aren't in the Plan food list)

As you can tell, the longer this goes on and the further from the first three day cleanse we are--the more fragmented the actual Plan gets.

There are people who managed to get 30 or more days into this but they aren't on the internet helping others navigate.  Most blogging regarding the diet stops at the 8 day mark (I have searched and searched).  And here I am at 15.  Frustrated.  Confused.  Trying to stay on it and wanting to just give up.  BUT.  It's a loss of almost 6 pounds in 2 weeks compared to "maybe" a loss of 1 pound a week on the 1200 to 1600 calorie diet I have been on for 120 days.  And there is the general feeling that my body composition has changed.  From lumpy to elongated?  I'm not any taller but I seem to think I feel taller.  If I just eat safe foods--will I lose weight each day?  Will I stall?

Five days to go before the diet plan is all "any approved" relating to breakfast, lunch and dinner. As Elaine used to say on Seinfeld--"yada yada, yada"

Nothing new today. For me.  It's raining, dark and dismal here in Maine.  Tomorrow--pulled pork.

Day Fourteen- How Did It Get To Be Friday Already?

My days, not working, are whooshing past far too quickly.  It almost seems like I am "wasting" them. I know, I know.  Stop thinking those thoughts.  Relax. Enjoy.  Just "be".

Zucchini is my very favorite vegetable right now.  I love it fried with olive oil and onion until deeply browned.  I love it grilled (like in the picture) while still tender and small.  I do not like waiting for it to grow in the garden.  The plants (which I successfully grew from seeds) are looking perky and healthy.  But they are young.  No fruit yet.  So, I am off to the grocery today.

Today is day 14.  Today I had yogurt for breakfast.  One of the Noosa yogurts I had in the fridge before this diet began.  I choose to "test" the lemon one as I have lemon in my water nearly everyday.

Two of the three pounds I gained overnight on Thursday are gone. It was too much to hope that all three would disappear. I am trying to drink as much water as it is possible for me to drink.  Without gagging.  I wonder if other people gag when they drink water?

Yesterday was overcast and cool so I didn't water the vegetable garden.  Instead, I grabbed a shovel and starting digging professional sized weeds out of the front left bed.  Then I planted three tickseed "Polaris" in the, now, empty bed.  Then G went into the woods and hauled a very small percentage of the wood chips we have from the first trees taken down last summer.  It's been a year (almost) and they are now safe to use as mulch.  I mulched heavily.  We don't water landscaping, only containers. It's too expensive.

All that mulch is like money in the bank for a gardener like me.  I LOVE a heavily mulched perennial bed.  Keeps the weeds down, conserves moisture and just looks so neat and tidy.  The only downside is the re-seeding of biennials such as foxglove, echinacea etc.  They need bare ground contact for the seeds to germinate.  Not that I have either of those in the garden. The only biennial I worry about is Rose Campion with it's tall fuzzy gray stems and lovely magenta flowers balanced on top like tiny saucers.

Today's food (it helps me to visualize) is the TEST yogurt for breakfast and a cup of coffee, a chopped salad for lunch, one ounce of salt free potato chips for snack, chicken (my only protein so far) with steamed vegetables plus any leftover vegetable from yesterday (like that ever happens--though I do have a roasted beet I could term "leftover").

I have checked the coming days and there isn't another "protein test" so I am wondering if I will be stuck with just chicken for the next 11 days????  I could try to test a "new" protein but this seems like a rather substantial error on the diet author's part.  Anyone else reading this blog who have tried this diet?  Please contact me!

Day Thirteen- A Rest Day

Yesterday didn't go as planned.  Hardly any of the days do.  I try hard to follow the list of foods but I don't do a perfect job of it.  I never ate the red bell pepper.

Yesterday I was off Plan most of the time.  And by doing that I can't pinpoint the food that caused a significant episode.  I am thinking it is most likely the soy sauce in a restaurant meal of vegetable mui shi.   This Chinese restaurant is gluten free and doesn't use MSG.  The vegetables in the dish were all safe ones (onion, carrot, mushroom) with the addition of 5 snow peas and some bean sprouts.  No pancakes.  No egg.  I had brown rice and drank four glasses of water.

About 30 minutes to an hour after leaving the restaurant, my eyebrows started to burn and itch. Instead of rubbing them (which makes this much worse and makes my eyes swell shut) I got up and went to wash my face in very hot water (this seems to help).  Riley alerted to something not being right and came with me. I then applied cortisone cream to the area and took a Benadryl.

So. This morning a THREE POUND WEIGHT GAIN.

A reaction to something in the meal.  Soy sauce.  Bean sprouts.  Snow peas.

Each time I have had a reaction it has been in a little clump of three "new" items I chose to eat at the same time.  My same stupid mistake each and every time.  I NEVER learn. Usually it happens because I am not paying attention.  Getting confused by all the menu items.  Some I eat and other I do not care to eat. If it is the soy sauce (and soy in general) then I may not have tested reactive to the pork.  As there was some soy in the marinade on the pork.  I will need to test pork again.  Without marinade.

Not that my breakfast or lunch was according to the printed Plan menu either.  But it was all things that had previously been safe.  And, since the reaction was pretty much immediate--I am going with the Chinese food being the cause.   I was thinking it was an excess of sodium (I haven't been having much salt in my diet) but that wouldn't explain the sudden flare up of eczema.

Today is a rest day.  I may repeat the menu from Day One which was a cleanse menu. Try and get rid of toxins.

Today's menu comes with the warning to "make no changes" in the menu as it is laid out.

Breakfast: Flax Granola with 1 cup blueberries or a Chia fruit Smoothie. (just thinking of eating either is giving me acid reflux)

Lunch: One slice white bread topped with goat cheese, sunflower seeds and mixed greens. I can't eat goat cheese (it tested reactive and the author gave no replacement should that happen--same thing with the almonds and almond butter I can't eat) and I don't like the taste of sunflower seeds. Or a mixed greens salad, kale salad or spinach salad with 15 grams of vegetable protein (like broccoli, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds or goat cheese). I had chickpea hummus yesterday with carrots so can't have chickpeas today.  Which leaves me with broccoli.  On a salad.

Dinner: Chicken (because it is the only protein that has tested safe so far) with 2 cups of tested vegetables (steamed, grilled, roasted or sautéed) plus an approved salad.  (which is where I would have chosen to eat broccoli but now have to consider zucchini).

I am SO NOT a happy camper today.

Day Twelve on the Plan Diet-- A New Vegetable

Well, I had to choose from the diet author's vegetables.  Not mine.  So I had 5 snow peas as a choice, 4 Brussels sprouts, 1 small plum tomato, red bell pepper (no limit on size), or half a small potato. My new test vegetable is--ta da-- the red bell pepper mainly because I happen to have one in the fridge. And I think it will be a real perk having something other than green vegetables to eat in my stir fry.

Yesterday's pound was gone this morning.  It feels sort of magical when that happens.

So, skeptic that I am (naturally) I guess the inflammation thing is real.  Eat something that your body can't process and you gain weight.  Be it fat weight or water weight.  It's still weight.  And the body stores it, and stores it because you keep eating the food that causes the inflammation. Give the body a rest and eat safe foods and the water is released.

In another magical note--my hip bones.  I can feel them.  Which lead me up to the boxes of clothing in the attic before I even had my first 16 ounces of water or breakfast (toast with half an avocado) to see what fits today.  I brought down some more pants and a really cute blouse I love wearing.  I bought it when I had lost nearly 38 pounds in 2007 and had absolutely nothing to wear that fit.  I bought one blouse and two pairs of pants.  I didn't actually believe I could keep the weight off so why buy any more clothing?

Today is stinking hot here in Maine.  I already watered the plants in pots on the back deck.  Gave them plain water and then blue water.  The plants on the front porch will get water later--after I water the vegetable garden (and get very hot and sweaty).  I still haven't planted my bean seeds.  But I am wondering if I should as green beans are 70% reactive and G won't eat them.

Yesterday I had a long postponed mammogram.  It took all of 20 minutes from check-in to check out and wasn't nearly as "crushing" as I remember.  But I am nearly 70 and gravity has had it's way with me.

Day Eleven--Reactive with Flu Symptoms

I was looking forward to a "positive" ending to my Protein Test yesterday but instead woke up feeling ill.  Trouble swallowing my water this morning.  Then off running to the bathroom.  It feels sort of like the first day of the diet.  Like I want to crawl into bed and stay there. I also gained a full pound overnight.  So--a reaction to the pork.  My body is now fighting to process the pork and get rid of it.

So, back to the drawing board as they say.  My guess is that chicken is the only protein I will be eating.  And, I have therefore gone looking for the Vegetarian Plan menu.  But, due to my befuddled state, I can't navigate the internet.  So, I settled for one item I do remember being on the Vegetarian Plan--Lentils.

I enjoy eating lentils and was lucky enough to have some in the pantry.  So, I cooked up one cup of lentils with as little seasoning as possible.  Quarter of chopped onion, a bit of sea salt and a grind or two of pepper.  I could have added a chopped carrot--but I couldn't manage standing and cutting up the onion.  I'll be eating the lentils with the remainder of the steamed brown rice or steamed broccoli.

Just as with the other reaction to Eggs--I have acid reflux.  Eyes are itching.  Rash is back.

Onward as they say.  I have a mammogram later today.  A garden to water.

Day Ten: The Plan Diet Moves Along

Carrots.  It's a good thing I like to eat them, grow them and make fabric art with them as the subject. I am eating pounds of carrots.  I eat them raw, I eat them cooked into a soup with onion and ginger root, I eat them rolled in olive oil and grilled on the grill.  I eat them sliced into planks to scoop up chickpea hummus which I make myself minus the tahini (not tested).

Day Ten dawns with me having started this elimination diet at 203 pounds and weighing in this morning  at 196.5.  That's one part of the story.  The other is the fact that my body shape is changing. The water and fat leaving is from long stored deposits.  Deep pockets of inflammation.  I wake each morning and notice bones in my knees I have't seen in years.  Feel hip bones. Some morning my ankles may even look thinner.  Why not hope for the impossible?

The other part of the story is the disappearance of the rash around my eyes.  And the rash on the back of my neck.  I occasionally (still) have some acidic water dripping out of my eyes (which makes my skin burn) but I now believe it's from pollen.  Tree pollen is high right now in Maine.  Zyrtec usually takes care of that.

New foods are coffee in the morning, avocado in my salads or on the newly tested white bread toast. Salt free potato chips (not very exciting) and today's new protein test--pork.  I got loin chops to marinate in a ginger soy (Chinese) marinade and grill.  I am hoping pork tests well.  My last protein-egg--did not. On Wednesday I get to test a new vegetable.  I can't tell you how much thought and consideration (on my part) goes into the choice of a new protein or a new vegetable.  It has to be something that will enhance the things I am already safely eating.  I start days before adding and eliminating choices before the BIG TEST DAY. G thinks it's pretty funny. Friday's test is tough. Yogurt, whole milk or Bran flakes--- any or all may be reactive. Which one to try?

And I have traveled into the attic to pull clothing out of the boxes of too small, just right and too big  looking for something to wear that isn't "too big".  I'm still extra large in shirts because I like shirts loose.  But I am now able to wear all the really cute flowered capri pants I have been buying at Goodwill over the years (in hopes of some day being able to wear them). I even wore shorts to the library and grocery shopping. The sizes don't matter as they are actually pretty useless in determining size.  So, I have to try everything on.  An 18 can either be too large or way too small.  An 18 can be smaller than a 16. I even have a treasured pair of 14 pants that fits no matter what size I am.

And, as I wrote to a Reader, I am an Energizer Bunny of Housecleaning.  So much pent up energy is coming out (with the inflammation) and needs to be used.  The carpets are vacuumed but I am thinking seriously of getting out the carpet washing machine and doing that.  I opened the door to let the dog out and then started cleaning the door and finally washing both sides of the glass in the door.  Then washed the paddles on the ceiling fans. And let the dog back in.

Out in the garden (with G's help), the carrot bed is finally weeded as are the other beds.  I have planted an additional 10 tomato plants (may test reactive),  all the zucchini I grew from seeds and the yellow squashes I grew from seeds.  The eggplant (but I may test reactive for eggplant in future).  I have green beans and potatoes left to plant.  The broccoli plants I started in the Winter milk jugs are now knee high and starting to produce little broccoli heads.  I covered the broccoli in floating row cover to keep the white moths from laying eggs and ruining them.  I also planted cucumbers which look awfully tiny.  I am planning to string some wire around a support so the cukes will have something to hang on to as they grow.  The peppers went in last week and most have peppers on them already.  I haven't tested peppers yet but it'll be a month before any are ready to eat.

I know I am writing too much.  Energy.  Keeps the fingers busy.

Day Eight- Feeling Better

I woke up feeling much better.  The steamed brown rice and broccoli calmed everything down.  I slept well.  Today I am testing: Bread.  Specifically, plain old sliced white bread.  The plain white that I like best (and why not test the bread I like?) is called English Toasting Bread at my grocery.  It's sold in the bakery section.  I had the heel of the half loaf I purchased, toasted and covered in butter. Butter is good.

The weight I gained overnight between day 6 and 7 disappeared this morning along with an additional pound.  So, for the 7 days of the diet (including one weigh gain from reaction) is 5.5 pounds.  Not bad.  What I like the best is that my ankles (cankles) aren't as swollen.  And my fingers don't feel "tight". It's only 5.5 pounds but my clothing fits so differently and I feel so different--light. And added to the 20 pounds I have struggled to lose over the one hundred and 20 days I was eating between 1200 and 1800 calories a day--well, it feels good.

We have Blueberries up top because I caved at the grocery this morning and purchased New Jersey berries which are on sale this week.  These berries are nothing like Maine berries, but, well, shoot me, I love the NJ ones.  Big fat and so juicy and delicious.  I am going back to buy many more cartons of them. It will be a few weeks until my berries are ready--the bushes are full.  So it will be a good harvest.

On the diet plan I am supposed to be eating a cup of blueberries every morning.  I haven't been. Because I didn't think I would like eating them.  I know.  My thinking defies logic.  I must have been thinking about fruits I enjoy eating on my daily (in the past) yogurt.  Never to extremely seldom did I add blueberries to my yogurt bowl.  Peaches, raspberries, cherries, grapefruit, mango, pineapple--yes.  Even rhubarb.  Blueberries--not so much.

I did some internet investigation, and eating as much whole flax seed as I am eating can also cause indigestion.  This morning I found my bowl of flax less "delicious" which is also the way the body lets you know it doesn't like something you are eating.  Which is why I am testing toast today.  Change up the breakfast choices.  I would consider oatmeal but oatmeal is extremely reactive. And I don't even want to know how bad the Bran Flakes might be for me.  Soy milk is in the 90% range.
 I was just eating so many potential food triggers.  No wonder I could never lose any weight.

Day Seven Of the Plan

Acid reflux.  (something I have had only once or twice in my entire lifetime)

I have had trouble with it all day.  Drinking water--not so good.  The soothingly bland carrot and ginger soup from Day One.  Okay for 30 minutes and then I could feel the acid creeping back.  Two Tums worked great until (the greenhouse was super hot) I had to have a few sips of water.

Now that I am home I have had some watermelon cubes (to help hydrate myself) and some leftover steamed brown rice.  Because I am hungry.

There are three possible "reactors".   Goat cheese.  Eggs.  Dark Chocolate.

I cannot move forward until my body calms down.  So I am stuck at Day Six.

Not the best start to my "summer retirement".

Day Six Of The Plan: Zucchini

Thank goodness the brain fog lifted long enough for me to notice that there was a "Spring Menu" section at the very end of the book.  Spring Food or Warm Weather Food.  Not so many menu ideas requiring baking of winter squashes.

I have been eating my way through a few pounds of "on sale" zukes and kale the past 2 days.  Fried with some onions until browned and a bit crispy.  Eaten with my first animal protein: grilled chicken.  The book says I will be eating quite a bit of chicken.  And the snack fruit in the Spring menu is watermelon.  Two full cups.  Sweet.

This morning I finished my flax granola, but had another 2 cups soaking in water in the fridge (overnight) to activate the gluey-ness.  Into the oven on a baking sheet at 275 for an hour to get dry and crispy.   Then I added broken pecan halves, unsweetened coconut shreds, and pumpkin seeds (and back in the oven to let it all get toasty).  Then cooled and packed into a jar.  The pumpkin seeds are a beautiful shade of green.  I had them (pumpkin seeds) in my salad today with an Orange Muscat vinegar I had purchased at Trader Joe's on some visit or other.  So, so delicious.  So many new and interesting tastes in this diet plan.  My Balsamic Vinegar may also be a thing of the past.

Back to the Granola.  I have been reading reviews of the book on Amazon.  The reviews are sometimes lengthy reports of the diet results (one described the brain fog and bill paying mess-up on day three--I laughed out loud--same day as my bill fiasco) and comments on the food.  I already told you some find the diet "too expensive".  Well, the Flax Granola is the one thing you either love or hate.  But what I just described to you is the entire recipe and "work"of making the stuff.  "Too hard", "too much to do", "too expensive", "specialized ingredients" etc.  I found the whole organic flax seeds right below the regular Gold Metal flour.  And my grocery is very small.  Nothing special.  $3.49 and the bag will make enough Flax Granola for the next 2 weeks.

I Love the stuff.  Funny.  Remember I was in agony over replacing my beloved Bran Flakes?  I've got 2.5 boxes left in the cupboard I will probably never eat. Who would have guessed???

I had a regularly scheduled doctor's visit yesterday (to check on my weight as my doctor is obese-phobic).  She was thrilled that I had lost 11 more pounds (in 2 months) and that my blood pressure was 121/74.  She though my new diet was hogwash but appreciates that I was still dieting.  We both believe that a slow weight loss stays off easier than the fast weight loss.  And there were lots of days in the two months when I had Dairy Queen cones.  And Chinese food.  And pasta.  My lipid panels were stable and identical to last year (when they were awesome and I was 22  pounds fatter).

Today:  I got to test a new protein and chose egg.  In reality I chose EggBeaters.  That's what I have in the fridge.  I also got to test cheese yesterday--Goat Cheddar.  I can't test cow's cheese yet.  I also had one ounce of dark chocolate.  yummy.  Tomorrow is Unsalted potato chip day.

This Plan diet has much in common with the Atkins Diet. Brain fog in the beginning. Euphoric highs once the diet chemistry is "working".  Energy.  I vacuumed the entire house and did four loads of laundry, baked granola, made my lunch and then went off to work @ 11:30 am.  I drove to work wondering who I was and where the old me had gone.  And I had the car windows open and the radio cranked up.

Day Four of the Plan (goat cheese)

Yesterday wasn't such a good day.  Too much water?  Not enough protein? Too much sunshine?

I went to work with my container of carrot/ginger soup mixed with the half cup of chickpeas (my test food for the day) and a container (usual size) of romaine and carrots but with a dressing of olive oil and cider vinegar (Balsamic is not okay yet).  

I lost 1.5 pounds the morning after day one.  One half a pound the morning after day two (almonds). And 1.5 pounds after day three (chickpeas).  I finally had some protein (chicken) at dinner after work alongside a large roasted beet topped with the most amazing orange zest olive oil.

Today, day four, I am finding it difficult to FOCUS.  I wrote checks for bills this morning and wrote July 28 instead of June 28.  Nearly closed the car trunk door on G's head.  Forgot to feed the dog his lunch.  And I went out grocery shopping without washing my face, brushing my teeth or combing my hair.

Today's menu includes my (surprise) favorite flax granola.  I am picking out the peanuts and almonds. I know a half pound is an okay reaction to the almonds but I prefer to stay with the 1.5 pound loss until after the weigh-in with my nasty doctor.  I would recommend eating the granola dry (flax gets gluey when wet).  And I am mixing mine with ¼ cup of the Granola #5 from Orangette's blog.  Because I made a huge batch and it's delicious and hasn't caused any reaction. The entire ½ cup of granola (mixed) is too much for me to finish. Really!! And I had a cup of Coffee.

I'm supposed to be having leftover steamed veggies and goat cheese for lunch.  There are no leftover steamed veggies.  And I did, actually, buy some Goat Cheddar to try.  Because, I am willing to experience new things.  (ROFLOL)

I have made three or four things---because I am so very frustrated by the weight---that I would NEVER in a million years eat.  And. I. Have. Liked. Them.  So, I will try Goat Cheese.

My snack later today is carrots with homemade hummus.  I had to really look to find the low sodium chickpeas for this recipe.  I do prefer my own, homemade, hummus to store bought.  We'll see if the recipe in the book is a good one.

Tonight I get to eat my chicken with a mango cucumber salsa.  I also get a salad and some steamed broccoli.  Good thing I love broccoli. And, drum roll, one ounce of dark chocolate (less than 65%).

I found a site with reviews of this book and the diet.  There were so many negative comments (even though the diet had WORKED for these people) who complained the food was too expensive.  We are talking about broccoli, lettuce, carrots, kale, zucchini, onions, garlic, ginger, beets, apples, pears, cucumbers, lemons and oranges.  I don't understand.  Do any of you understand?

I am hoping that I feel more energized in the next few hours.  I have gardening to do.  It's cloudy and overcast--PERFECT weather for transplanting my seedlings into the garden.

I am afraid I will test "reactive" for tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant (already in the garden).  The nightshade family.  My favorite family.

"The Plan" or a new way to find out what I am allergic to.

Today is day three of "the Plan" a book by Lyn-Genet Recitas.  I discovered the book while trolling the internet looking for information on my "sudden weight gain" after the tick bite last summer.

Day one was spent at the grocery looking for the supplements and the food.  Of course, once I got home and was trying the new recipes, I found I had not purchased the right things.  So, the second day was back to the grocery for more kale, more broccoli, more onions and more zucchini.

How is it going?  The morning weigh-in the second day was fantastic.  I lost 1.5 pounds.  I am finding it easier and easier to drink my 100 ounces of water a day.  I managed 72 yesterday and I am already working on 54 ounces at 10:30 am on day three so it looks good.

I have lots of energy (and G reported this morning the the past two nights have been the quietest he can recall as I must be quite a noisy sleeper usually) and am actually enjoying the recipes (which, otherwise, I would NEVER have tried).  The spicy coconut sauce is something I will make frequently and G likes it as well ( OMG--he doesn't like anything healthy).  I had leftover sauce on my sautéed kale and brown rice last night for dinner alongside steamed broccoli with orange oil and grilled carrots and I nearly swooned and I sort of forced myself to finish--which I shouldn't have  done. That's a lesson learned.  I  can save the remainder for the next meal.

Now the book interested me (in the first place) as it is an elimination diet.  The first three days are pretty much just vegetables which are on the lowest scale of reactivity -10%--- inflammation and allergy.  From day four onward--every other day is a "test" day for a new food.  If there is a reaction (usually weight gain) then that food is removed from the diet (to be tested again later) and two rest days follow to allow the body to recover.

There is a list of foods that are reactive for 85 to 90% of the clients who use "the Plan".  Guess what? Well, you already guessed didn't you?  I have been eating most of those two lists pretty much all the time.  In fact, my top 5 foods are on those lists.  Like Greek yogurt.  Like Balsamic vinegar.  Like soy milk.  That's my breakfast and lunch--like every single day for the past year.

I haven't had a test day as yet--so will be interested in seeing which of those foods is the "trigger" food that is causing the inflammation and weight gain.  Today is my first day with a salad and no Balsamic vinegar.  I subbed apple cider vinegar.  But perhaps I will sub again and make it with lemon juice instead.  Better safe than sorry.

The flax seed granola is terrible.  I can never finish the serving even with additions of dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.  But it aids in elimination if you know what I mean and this is an elimination diet.

My eyes itch less, the eczema around my eyebrows is gone, I am sleeping soundly, wake up ready to take my supplements, drink that first 18 ounces of water and get busy with my day.  Day Three is a Good Day all around.  And it's the second to last day for me to go to work.  Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Best Lobster Rolls In Maine

Red's in Wiscasset.

But, any lobster roll is better than no lobster roll.  Last summer G and I didn't have a single one. We don't know how that happened but both of us have sworn to not repeat that sorry experience.

Yes, that's a buttered and grilled New England hot dog bun.  No, there is nothing on the lobster.  No mayo, no lettuce.  The side of melted butter can be added or the sandwich can be dipped.

I am always still hungry after eating one.  Right now lots of restaurants have the "two steamed lobster" specials for $19.99.  Buying the two lobsters for "take out" and then chilling them---I could make a couple lobster rolls for the price of one.  I'll be sure to let you know what I decide to do.

The clouds are piling up outside.  And the AC unit is on.  Sultry.  I should be out in the garden watering and weeding.  (G said it's finally looking like a garden)  The work takes a good bit of time and there isn't a lot to show for it somedays.

I had to go into Town to pick up some repaired shoes for my daughter.  So, I stopped at the Farmer's Market and purchased a large Tarragon plant (French) for a customer's order at work.  We didn't have any. It was fun to look at the stands and see what "real" professional gardeners have managed to grow already.  Lovely heads of lettuces.  Turnips.  Garlic scapes.  And of course the herb plants at the Kennebec Flower Co.  Lovely Tarragon and some very nice Rosemary.  Other stands even had duck eggs.  And Goat cheese.  One of the larger farms had big bundles of kale, baskets of lovely zucchini and tables full of strawberries.  Only one stand had rhubarb.  No one had yogurt.  One stand had dry beans.  I was tempted as I have always wanted to make a pot of beans using fresh dry beans from a farmer.

But it's only June.  I have weeks and weeks to visit and see what's growing.

But now---I must water and weed.  And if there is time, plant my eggplants in a nice row.  And stand and think and decide where the cucumbers, zucchini and potatoes are going.

Last year, at this time, I was still taking meds for my tick bite.  And the house was being painted.  The garden was the furthest thing from my mind. The potatoes never got planted and the zucchini went in late. Oh, and last year, we were one week away from the fridge dying.  And all the frozen berries being turned into compost.  Knock wood we don't have to live thru that a third year in a row.
For most of the past year, I have written "fridge still working" on the calendar-- each week.

Working In The Garden

Taking time off from WORK to work in the garden.  The major crop here at Chez Joanne is the weeds.  I covered one raised bed (5 by 8 feet) with black landscape fabric and cut little squares and planted 20 pepper plants.  Ace and New Ace.  They are your basic green peppers that mature into a nice red pepper.  Like the ones in the center segment of today's picture. I initially bought New Ace but later saw the regular Ace seedlings and got them.  That's why there are 20. I think I like regular old Ace.

I add about a Tablespoon of sulfur, some Epsom salts, some quick to dissolve lime, and Osmocote 6 month granules to each plant.  I also go back and water the transplants with Plant Starter which helps new transplants settle in and make new roots.  I like to transplant at about 4 pm so the new plants don't have to deal with the hot sun until the next day.  Saves them from serious wilting which can be fatal. Plant Starter smells like B vitamins.

My seedlings (I started them myself from seeds) are growing nicely.  Outside under a row cover on nice days and under lights in the house on dark, wet or cold days.  Since we are starved for rain here in Maine--it's usually cold days.

G and I dug around in the garage and found some nice large pieces of black landscape cloth.  I'll be using those pieces when I plant my squashes and cucumber seedlings.  I also want to plant potatoes and green beans.  Then I will be nearly finished.  Still have to replant carrots. I also got about 15 leek seedlings planted in the onion and garlic bed and it looks like a few scallion seedlings are coming up.  My arugula has gone to seed but that's okay with me as I like it sautéed with onion in a frittata-- so old and really strong tasting is okay.

I made a batch of Orangette's Granola #5 this morning.  Do use the entire cup of maple syrup called for in the recipe.  I had a few spoonfuls before heading out to the garden.  It's very good.  I also baked a Rhubarb Custard Pie.  Old fashioned and tart.  But delicious.  I now have three large bags of frozen rhubarb in the freezer and we saw the roadside table set up---I have my cash money and I'll be buying Maine strawberries in the next few days---- to make jam.  Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.  I also need to buy the gigantic bag of sugar for all the jam making in the next month or 2.  Blueberries.  And if there are "too many" blackberries--I'll make jam out of them as well.  But I love blackberries with my yogurt. Too many blackberries is impossible to imagine.

I have only two boxes of TJ's Bran Flakes left.  Which means by the end of June I need to have another breakfast cereal to eat.  Or, since it's summer I could go over to the dark side and have Smoothies.  Easy enough to do since I won't be working in July and August.  Not working at the greenhouse job.  Trial Retirement.  Seeing if I can stay at home and be happy.  Wish me luck.  I think I'm going to like it.........

Chairs & Escarole Soup

I collect pictures (images) of chairs all the time.  I have a journal, made a few years ago, with delicious line drawings of chairs from Architectural Digest advertisements.  A  chair seems to embody all the characteristics of a person.  Legs, arms, back, seat etc. And they are easy enough to freehand in pencil or pencil.  I should make more.

I like the looks of this particular chair but think it would be uncomfortable to sit in.  Good looks and poor function.  Like the chairs in waiting rooms.  Don't get too comfy.

Yesterday was another of the unending "cold, cloudy, windy" days we are having here in Maine.  A summer salad was out of the question so I went shopping and got a head of escarole and a bag of on sale yellow onions.  White Bean & Escarole Soup was on the stovetop in minutes.  Beans and Greens.

IT olive oil in the big cast iron casserole pan along with 1 yellow onion, 2 carrots and a clove of garlic.  All in a rough or fine chop as suits the chef.  Seven minutes.  Then add the washed head of escarole cut into slices and then chunks.  3 minutes to wilt and soften.  Then 4 cups broth (I use vegetable cubes), 2 rinsed 14 ounce cans of white cannelloni beans, one 14 ounce can diced tomato.  Simmer 20 minutes.  Eat.  As listed: the calories for the entire pot of soup is 1021.  For me--it's three portions.  Ah, I forgot the salt and pepper.  You can also shake in a few flakes of red pepper for some heat.

I think anyone writing about gardening should also write about cooking.  Of the ingredients listed above: I have tried and failed at carrots and escarole (growing them) but do a very good job with yellow onions, garlic and tomatoes (most years).

As soon as the kale is big enough I will be making my Sausage, Onion, Kale Frittata.  Heavy on the kale.  Life is good when there is kale.  I seem to be able to grow that.

The weather here in Maine is perfect for growing grass.  G is out mowing.  I have lettuce to plant, amaryllis bulbs (with leaves) to set out in the garden to increase the size of the bulb for next Winter, and I have to check on the strawberry plants--to see if the chipmunk I see running in the garden has eaten them all.  I have serious weeding to do and I need to settle my pepper plants into the raised beds.  The fennel plants that overwintered and then started growing again this Spring--are now chest height.  Good eating for caterpillars.  I try to do my part.  I was hoping to see bulb growth but I will be buying fennel bulbs at the grocery again this year.  The garlic looks good and my radishes might be ready to pull soon.  Oh, and I have potatoes to plant.

A busy time of year in the garden.  Later it's just weed, water and wait.

Oh, I purchased a Concord Grape vine at work.  Supposedly seedless.  It's very nice looking and already has baby grapes on the vines.  One more source of "fruit" for the household.  I've named it "jelly" (laughing).

Almost Summer (But Still Spring, Technically)

Here in Maine --the COLD spot on the US weather maps-- we are cloudy and cool today.  Not a good day for the vegetable garden.  I have floating row covers on the tender stuff.

We, here in Maine, are the only state with a Brown Tail Moth infestation.  The moth lays eggs which overwinter in little bundles of folded leaves.  In the spring (now) the eggs hatch into caterpillars that eat all the leaves off trees.  They especially enjoy crab apples, Japanese maples, and this year, oaks because this year there are 300,000 times more caterpillars. The caterpillars fling off "hairs" as they move through the trees, shrubs and travel on the ground.  The hairs fly thru the air and land on skin, clothing, pets.  The hairs create a blister that itches like the dickens and weeps, spreads etc.  Everyone I see has red blisters on their arms, legs and especially around the neck.

The local hospital will mix up 100ml of anti brown tail moth itch spray for $43 a bottle.  A co-worker says its simply a mixture of benadryl cream, cortisone cream and Witch hazel to make a sprayable liquid.  So, being the girl I am, we went to the store and bought the three items and I mixed up a batch.  Seems to be working.

I finished a book this week.  Blood Lure by Nevada Barr.  I have a second Nevada Barr book to start reading, but it's out of order and I really don't like to do that.

My picture up top is representative of summer eating here.  Some sort of grilled vegetable or meat with salad greens.  Today, my day off, I breaded and fried the eggplant I sliced and salted on Tuesday or Wednesday. I only seem capable of cooking or prepping things on my days off.  Such is the depth of my fatigue from working with customers who are on the low simmer of resentment regarding available plants and the cost of said plants.  This year more than the 8 previous years.

I feel their pain.  The prices are higher and the size and quality seem to be lesser.  We have too much of the things they don't want and none of the things they do want (a new grower seems to be having difficulty seeding successive crops).  Our new tomato seedlings are an inch tall and the cucumber seedlings are microscopic.  There isn't enough summer here in Maine for them to produce tomatoes but possibly pickles.  But I have no control over that.  It's not my problem.

I am counting down the days until July 1st when I go on my two month summer furlough.  My preview of retirement.  When I can spend long hours in the garden pulling weeds where I wanted to be growing carrots and beets.  The lettuce didn't germinate either.  I have rhubarb stockpiled in the freezer for when the Maine strawberries arrive on the roadside stand.  Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. Another rhubarb pie.  And, wonder to behold, all G's weeding, pruning and lawnmower riding over the blackberry patch has finally paid off.  Branches and branches of flowers and buds for the big juicy blackberries not the weedy nasty berries.  Summer yogurt with blackberries.  A Blackberry pie. I will gladly have thorns rip my skin raw for the glory that is a plump sun warmed blackberry.

The fig trees aren't enjoying the cool June.  Only the smaller one has leaves.  The taller, older one did have leaves but a cold night did them in.  Now there are leaf buds on the bare branches.  I am spraying the branches with a foliar spray--trying to boost the growing power.  But G and I are quite sad as there isn't enough warm summer for the trees to make leaves and then fruit and for the fruit to actually ripen.  I know it's only June 11.  But this is Maine.  Summer is limited to the month of August.  The 4th of July is sometimes (often) quite cold.  We may need to build a greenhouse for the fig trees.

That's about all from here.

June Is Also Peony Time.

Luckily for me, my plants are still in very tight bud.  Because it's raining.  And rain always destroys the flowers on the peonies.  I grow red (which is actually magenta), white and pink full bud peonies and an open faced white with yellow center and another open face with pink center (Bowl of Beauty).

I like the big pink ones best of all.

Work has been wearing me out.  And I have to choose a new breakfast cereal since Trader Joe's has changed my bran flakes.  Instead of staying crisp to the bottom of the bowl--they now get soggy. I am thinking about a muesli (homemade with Bob's thick oats) or a return to my "roots" with original shredded wheat biscuits.  Change is never a good thing with me.

I have my summer clothing sorted out.  Bean knit pants (black) capri length for daytime and ankle for evening.  Bean linen shirts (white) in every sleeve length except sleeveless as I follow the fashion advice (no woman over 60 needs to wear anything sleeveless).  Shirts I haven't worn (Eddie Bauer) in a long time are now back into the white linen shirt rotation as well since I can now button them all the way past my hips.  EB shirts are heavier in weight and longer.  Good for rainy days.  Bean linen is thin--almost see-thru these days.  And I absolutely detest the new style with "darts".  Good thing Goodwill always has some of the older ones--no darts and longer sleeves.  I also have cloth espadrilles to wear on my feet.  Black.  The black and white clothing looks wonderful with my very dark greenhouse tan, white hair and red eyeglasses.

I am wearing last year's Goodwill work capris to work everyday with the green company tee shirt (I love clothing that can stand up to being washed 3 times a week for the entire summer and then still be wearable another year-or 2). I have another (just a bit smaller) pair of pants that I can (hopefully) wear later this month.  I also have an XXL pair of drip dry, very baggy men's shorts that I wear on super hot days.  They cover my legs to the top of my knee caps but don't touch my body below the waistband.  I have been seen wearing them to the grocery store on hot summer days. I bought them when I noticed a tiny Japanese woman with huge shorts on over black capri length leggings.  I just need to find knee length leggings.  Loose ones.  Loose-Ish.

The diet has stalled at a 15 pound weight loss.  In order to get it going again I have to actually stop eating.  By this I mean I have to stop eating at around 3 or 4 pm and go to bed hungry.  The calorie total for days like this is around 500 to 600.  Deciding when and what to eat on days like this isn't fun.  I just deleted a bunch of diet words.  Who cares???

I am now going to vacuum.  The entire house.  Do two more loads of laundry.  Maybe have a protein shake with frozen strawberries.  Or go to Freeport and have eggs and blueberry pancakes.

I decided on the eggs and pancakes at 2 pm and then nothing until this morning--guess what? The new number is 19.5 pounds lost.  I guess I wasn't stuck on 15.  Or else I just needed to eat something like pancakes, bacon and 2 eggs to get the body working again.

Folding Towels

I have Kondo-ized some of the folding that gets done here at Chez Joanne.  The "tea" towels get folded into thirds, longwise, then folded in half and then again.  Then stored folded edge up.  God love her but it does save room and it just plain looks "tidy". Love, love, love opening the drawer to get a fresh towel. My flour sack towels need an extra fold to fit in the drawer (so the drawer will close). At work we have a blue strip dish towel for sale for $6 and I gaze at it longingly but just can't justify buying a new towel when I have so many.

Tomorrow off.  It's been a tiring week for this brand new asthmatic.  It's now pollen season here in Maine. The Pine Tree State.  Pine pollen on every surface (including me if I stand still too long). I had to use my rescue inhaler yesterday.  First time since being diagnosed.  But, I have felt very tired. I think just plain ordinary breathing takes more effort.  Or I could just be old.

I drove into Town early on Thursday to get my unruly (letting it grow long enough to cover my ears which get too much sun) hair cut.  There I was and my appointment is NEXT week. So, it's been like that around here.

We grilled pizza dough on the grill this week.  Topped the browned and crusty dough with sliced tomato, arugula and Balsamic glaze. Plus a bit of cheese.  Good.  Now, today, I get my son's issue of Cook's Country and see I should have gotten the dough all oiled up before placing it on the grill.  It did stick.  So, we'll have to try it again.  Darn (smile).

My Georgia Peaches from the grocery specials aisle sat under the microwave plastic splatter shield to ripen and soften for a few days.  I thought they were okay but this morning I cut up hard unsweet peaches with my yogurt.  I lived in Atlanta for 6 years. I like my Georgia Peaches soft and juicy. I don't like crunchy peaches. We lived just 15 minutes from the Georgia Farmers Market and had the ability to buy produce (still warm from the Earth) by the bushel or peck.

In sad news (I very nearly started crying)--my BMW needs $1800 worth of fluids, battery etc. etc. etc, in order to be road worthy. And the saddest news is that the car is practically worthless.  Too many of them for sale.  Not enough people interested.  The guy who is working on my car said "drive it, have fun".  Easy enough for him to say.  Still have FOUR vehicles.  I wanted TWO, total.

My automotive restructuring plan is not working.  We have a two car garage.  And four cars.  In Maine.  Where uncovered cars freeze solid in snow banks. I could rent a storage unit and park the car in it.  Then abandon it.  Just kidding.  Or maybe not. I have been watching too many episodes of Storage Wars.  Could donate it to PBS.  That's a tax deduction isn't it?????  Older cars just have no value these days.  We should have tried selling it when it was 3 years old.

It's June in Maine--Lupine

Through the years I have had a rather uneven history with the lupine plants in my garden.  Some years they bloom and other years they forget to show up at all.  This year--surprise--I have a plant that is about four feet tall and wide and covered in tall blue flowers.  Gorgeous.  Awesome. And so unexpected. I am left wondering if the plants I planted are gone and these plants were seeded by birds.  Birds poop out seeds all the time.

A few days or weeks ago--nothing.  And that plant isn't the only one.  There are two or three more, in the wings, waiting to put on their show.  It would be nice if they are all a gorgeous blue.

I often tell customers to plant lupine where you don't want it.  Then it will grow and flower.  Plant it where you want it--and nothing happens.  I am hoping the aphids that love to chew the plant up--well, I'm hoping they are busy eating somewhere else this week.

I had a friend (so many years ago) who regularly stopped along roadsides and cut lupine to fill vases at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland.  Visitors to Maine love being surprised by roadside flowers---lots and lots of them along highways. People who live here like seeing them, too.

Well, I'm happy right now.

(There are little Spring bulbs called Muscari that you can plant that have the same triangular shaped blue flower, look for them in October with the daffodil bulbs on sale at greenhouses)

Dog Tired

I wish people could sleep like dogs do.  Riley looks so damned comfortable.  And he snores.  And the snores are even cute. And, yes, he is that shiny and black.  That's his toy, Spot, next to him on the bed.

I fell down at work.  Again.  This time in the annual house (annual flats of flowers and veggies) while walking a customer over to a plant he asked about.  The floor is slick, there was water and .....slip sliding, I went down on my butt.  My pants were covered in mud and water.  I was covered in mud. I am thankful the customer wasn't the one who fell down.

I walked directly to my boss and said "I asked you to cover that slick floor with gravel--you didn't, and I fell down"  He asked if I was hurt.  I said no.  I kept walking the rest of the day--did I mention this happened an hour into my day?  I, thankfully, had on quick drying pants.  I kept walking to keep my muscles flexible.  Now that I am home, cleaned up with a hot shower, dirty clothing in the washing machine--well, things are tightening up.  Aleve makes my eyes red and itchy.  Sigh.

There is more grass and weeds growing in the garden than beets or carrots.  I do have kale seedlings and arugula.  The fennel continues it's amazing growth.  Gigantic Fennel Destroys Earth.

My Tomatoes and Peppers are in the yellow wagon, rolling in and out of the shade from the big oak tree.  They even roll into the garage if it's too cold at night.  I also have been giving them drinks of kelp water and Starter solution.  Tomorrow I may give them some fish emulsion water.

Tomorrow I am buying 4 bales of straw to mulch my garden.  And taking the time to read a book.
I might even make supper.  Then more work all day Sunday and Monday.  No holidays for garden center workers.  None.  Ted did fill the freezer at work with ice cream cones.  We like Ted.