The good part of the downtime was that I managed to work on the 12 by 12 project for reveal on February 12. Had to insert a new needle. Thread the machine with invisible thread. After working on the 12 by 12 I installed the walking foot (it came separate on the machine I purchased long ago) ready to finish up the topstitching on three new placemats. I use the scraps in my wastebasket to make the placemat tops. This is the blue one. I may add the circle or I may keep it for something else. I made a black, blue and red version this time. I might make another if I have enough bits in a nice color way.
Yesterday was also the day I had lunch with my walking buddy/neighbor. We met at 12 noon and G caught us still talking in the driveway at 4 pm. Now that is my kind of lunch date. The wine we had with lunch made it even better. The dog was happy to see both of us walk into the house, finally, and then expected the usual walk. So, I walked the dog. My hands got cold. Today, we'll go walking while the sun is still shining. Warmer and I may get to update my facial suntan a bit.
I made dinner for G out of leftover roast turkey, Stovetop and leftover gravy. I steamed fresh Brussels sprouts and ate most of them myself. G only wanted "a few". His mother never fed the family fresh vegetables. In my previous life (before Atkins) I would enjoy a full plate of vegetables. I loved all the starchy ones like sweet potatoes or roasted butternut squash alongside the steamed kale, beets and Brussels sprouts. I had roasted beets in January even though they are "forbidden". Winter beets are so sweet.
The big news yesterday was that SUGAR is now known to be SWEETER than it was when we were kids (meaning people in their 60's now). SUGAR is being enhanced and made sweeter. I often read (on the Atkins forums) that sugar is hardest for overweight people to give up. I started subbing with Splenda about two months in (I try not to use chemicals in my food so this was a difficult decision to make) and have worked on using less and less of it as the months go by. Sweet is not my favorite food. Salty is. But I still like my coffee sweet and a few ounces of sugar free chocolate makes me very happy.
The talk yesterday was of SUGAR being labeled a toxic food that would need to be limited by Food & Drug. Like you would need a prescription to buy any. Please consider buying stock in the company that makes Splenda. The commercial food sweetened with Splenda taste exactly like regular sugar sweetened food. And, yes, I know Splenda was discovered while they were trying to make an insecticide.
All the biological tinkering the chemists are doing to food is making us all sick. They should just stop. Go back to the original recipes and make everything the old fashioned way. Yes, it will all cost more but then we won't buy as much. Or eat as much. Or weigh as much. Or take as many pills. Or have so many health problems. And the CEO of the companies can be paid only one or 2 million a year instead of 400 million a year. Everyone wins.
I read with interest what you have written about sugar being sweeter than in times past.
ReplyDeleteIn the past couple years I thought that the brown sugar I have used in baking, etc..., had an odd, almost sickening sweetness to it. It was unlike what I remembered. I blamed it on not using it in a while or my aging taste buds. I tried different brands and found that although they all said they 100% sugar, different brands tasted different and at varying levels of sweetness.
I rarely use white sugar so can't comment too much on that.
I'm glad to know I'm not nuts. Other people are noticing this, too.