Sunday, October 22, 2006
I love lamp.
I've started a new blog (yes, another one...) for all of my (and your) vegan cooking needs. Given that I cook every night (pretty much) and bake fairly regularly, and am just kinda obsessed with food, and am doing this whole weird low GI thing, I'm sure ZB's Vegan Recipes will get updated pretty often!!
More later. Must go and take photos of food...
More later. Must go and take photos of food...
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Health and other night time creatures
It's been an odd and busy couple of months...
I've moved in with my boyfriend (*gulp*)...it's scary and daunting and wonderful and different and the same and...yeah. New experience for me, so it's very...new...
I saw Dr David Suzuki give a speech - terrifying, confronting, depressing, but ultimately hopeful. The man is not only inspiring and incredibly funny, but very very charming and sexy (though I've always thought that, so...)
I turned 31, which was fun and only a little frazzled and stressful. I got some great presents:
A ticket to Underland from my half sister - it was the first time I've ever seen a dance piece live, and it was really good. Nick Cave's music was adapted really well for a dance piece - and the use of the Ship Song alleviated my ongoing loathing of that song, at least for the length of the piece.
Blossoming Lotus cookbook from the 'boss...despite the initial shock of being presented with some Live Food recipes (I find the Live Food movement a little confronting, despite it being so closely linked with veganism. I don't know why I find it confronting, I just, you know, do...) I found the cookbook bloody brilliant. I'm looking forward to playing with it - I've already made the mayonnaise recipe, which was disturbingly perfect first time...
The first graphic novel of the Lucifer series from TheAmerican - really good, and now I have to get the rest of them (*curses*)!!
The second season of Coupling - probably my favourite of the four seasons...though they are all brilliant in their own ways.
A gorgeous jewellery box from Mighty Ogbo - lovely complement to my necklace box, which was getting awfully full!!
I also went a little crazy at Amazon recently - thanks to Mighty Ogbo, and the graces of Channel Four, who finally brought the series out on dvd, I got a copy of Nightingales. Yayayayayayayayay!! I cannot recommend this series enough - take a chance and check it out. You won't regret the experience.
I also got a whole lot of Whedonverse related stuff - Fray, Tales of the Slayers, Tales of the Vampires, Astonishing X Men Volume 2 - Dangerous, Serenity - The Official Visual Companion, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Origin, and the Firefly Visual Companion Volume 1.
And, of course, Season Two of Veronica Mars. Season Three starts in a week or so, on the new US network, CW. I am in no way very excited about this...ach, who am I kidding, eh?
On a non consumerismyay! note, I recently got diagnosed as being insulin resistant, which is kind of daunting, but also knowing it is a bit of a relief. If I can reverse this situation over the next few years, I'll avoid developing Type 2 diabetes in my later years.
I have been a bit frustrated over the last few years during my efforts to improve my health by losing weight - I haven't really lost more than 5 kilos in weight at any time - and it turns out that this is part of the insulin resistance. My body is just constantly producing insulin fat cells and sugars into my blood, and without diagnosis and assistance, and no matter how healthy my diet and how much exercise I was doing, I was never going to lose much weight. It's kind of nice to know it wasn't just me being crap and lazy that meant that my weight never really changed.
I'm on a new eating regime of no snacking, three meals a day, with at least a five hour break between meals. This is really psychologically difficult for me, as I've been used to getting hypoglycemic between meals, and essentially being a grazer, rather than a "main meals" kind of gal.
I'm also moving to a low GI diet, which isn't actually a huge change from my current diet. Being vegan, I consume a lot of vegetables, and have been moving away from processed foods and trying to consume more complex carbohydrates anyway. So I have some adjustments to make - like more protein and less sugar - but it shouldn't be too hard. Though the whole avoiding potatoes thing is just a little bit depressing, really...
And finally, I'm on medication, called metformin. I'm fairly sure this stuff ain't vegan, but then neither is the pill. It's all about ethical lines in the sand, people...Which is why I shouldn't judge the Live Food folks, isn't it? *sigh* I'll get there eventually, I'm sure.
Anyhoo, this medication is usually prescribed to diabetics, but it assists in reducing the insulin levels in the body (which I need, given that my insulin is 70, and normal is between 20 and 40). One of the side effects of taking this medication, in combination with diet changes and such, will be weight loss, which is...scary. But good for my health. But scary.
This whole thing is really quite daunting, and confronting. I've never really been seriously sick, so this is a bit of a shock. It's also really positive, as now I know why I've been exhausted and feeling crap and blah all of the time, especially over the last 18 to 24 months. Thankfully, I should only need to be on the new regime for 2 or 3 years, and hopefully by that point my metabolism will have reset itself (there's nothing quite like CTRL ALT DELETE-ing your body, eh?) So it's not a lifetime illness, for which I am incredibly grateful.
I have been planning on starting a recipe blog, as I'm crazy cooking lady at the moment, and I think that it's going to become more important to me as I go through this process to do that. I do, however, still have to buy a digital camera, so I guess it'll still be a while away. Keep an eye out, though, 'kay? In the meantime, check out Vegan Lunchbox - it's a blast! It's not being updated that often at the moment, but the archives are great.
And finally...I'm disturbingly obsessed with the movie version of Chicago. As in, bought the soundtrack and have been listening to it constantly. HELP! (But not really, cos I'm having way too much fun listening to it!)
Back soon, and with many more tales of wackiness and spine chilling custard...
...what?
I've moved in with my boyfriend (*gulp*)...it's scary and daunting and wonderful and different and the same and...yeah. New experience for me, so it's very...new...
I saw Dr David Suzuki give a speech - terrifying, confronting, depressing, but ultimately hopeful. The man is not only inspiring and incredibly funny, but very very charming and sexy (though I've always thought that, so...)
I turned 31, which was fun and only a little frazzled and stressful. I got some great presents:
A ticket to Underland from my half sister - it was the first time I've ever seen a dance piece live, and it was really good. Nick Cave's music was adapted really well for a dance piece - and the use of the Ship Song alleviated my ongoing loathing of that song, at least for the length of the piece.
Blossoming Lotus cookbook from the 'boss...despite the initial shock of being presented with some Live Food recipes (I find the Live Food movement a little confronting, despite it being so closely linked with veganism. I don't know why I find it confronting, I just, you know, do...) I found the cookbook bloody brilliant. I'm looking forward to playing with it - I've already made the mayonnaise recipe, which was disturbingly perfect first time...
The first graphic novel of the Lucifer series from TheAmerican - really good, and now I have to get the rest of them (*curses*)!!
The second season of Coupling - probably my favourite of the four seasons...though they are all brilliant in their own ways.
A gorgeous jewellery box from Mighty Ogbo - lovely complement to my necklace box, which was getting awfully full!!
I also went a little crazy at Amazon recently - thanks to Mighty Ogbo, and the graces of Channel Four, who finally brought the series out on dvd, I got a copy of Nightingales. Yayayayayayayayay!! I cannot recommend this series enough - take a chance and check it out. You won't regret the experience.
I also got a whole lot of Whedonverse related stuff - Fray, Tales of the Slayers, Tales of the Vampires, Astonishing X Men Volume 2 - Dangerous, Serenity - The Official Visual Companion, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Origin, and the Firefly Visual Companion Volume 1.
And, of course, Season Two of Veronica Mars. Season Three starts in a week or so, on the new US network, CW. I am in no way very excited about this...ach, who am I kidding, eh?
On a non consumerismyay! note, I recently got diagnosed as being insulin resistant, which is kind of daunting, but also knowing it is a bit of a relief. If I can reverse this situation over the next few years, I'll avoid developing Type 2 diabetes in my later years.
I have been a bit frustrated over the last few years during my efforts to improve my health by losing weight - I haven't really lost more than 5 kilos in weight at any time - and it turns out that this is part of the insulin resistance. My body is just constantly producing insulin fat cells and sugars into my blood, and without diagnosis and assistance, and no matter how healthy my diet and how much exercise I was doing, I was never going to lose much weight. It's kind of nice to know it wasn't just me being crap and lazy that meant that my weight never really changed.
I'm on a new eating regime of no snacking, three meals a day, with at least a five hour break between meals. This is really psychologically difficult for me, as I've been used to getting hypoglycemic between meals, and essentially being a grazer, rather than a "main meals" kind of gal.
I'm also moving to a low GI diet, which isn't actually a huge change from my current diet. Being vegan, I consume a lot of vegetables, and have been moving away from processed foods and trying to consume more complex carbohydrates anyway. So I have some adjustments to make - like more protein and less sugar - but it shouldn't be too hard. Though the whole avoiding potatoes thing is just a little bit depressing, really...
And finally, I'm on medication, called metformin. I'm fairly sure this stuff ain't vegan, but then neither is the pill. It's all about ethical lines in the sand, people...Which is why I shouldn't judge the Live Food folks, isn't it? *sigh* I'll get there eventually, I'm sure.
Anyhoo, this medication is usually prescribed to diabetics, but it assists in reducing the insulin levels in the body (which I need, given that my insulin is 70, and normal is between 20 and 40). One of the side effects of taking this medication, in combination with diet changes and such, will be weight loss, which is...scary. But good for my health. But scary.
This whole thing is really quite daunting, and confronting. I've never really been seriously sick, so this is a bit of a shock. It's also really positive, as now I know why I've been exhausted and feeling crap and blah all of the time, especially over the last 18 to 24 months. Thankfully, I should only need to be on the new regime for 2 or 3 years, and hopefully by that point my metabolism will have reset itself (there's nothing quite like CTRL ALT DELETE-ing your body, eh?) So it's not a lifetime illness, for which I am incredibly grateful.
I have been planning on starting a recipe blog, as I'm crazy cooking lady at the moment, and I think that it's going to become more important to me as I go through this process to do that. I do, however, still have to buy a digital camera, so I guess it'll still be a while away. Keep an eye out, though, 'kay? In the meantime, check out Vegan Lunchbox - it's a blast! It's not being updated that often at the moment, but the archives are great.
And finally...I'm disturbingly obsessed with the movie version of Chicago. As in, bought the soundtrack and have been listening to it constantly. HELP! (But not really, cos I'm having way too much fun listening to it!)
Back soon, and with many more tales of wackiness and spine chilling custard...
...what?
