Reading and Eating!
Let’s start with books. I finished this one: It was SO GOOD. The main character is a journalist who, for personal reasons, decides to investigate an apparent suicide. The deceased is the daughter of a famous film maker, whose horror films became so disturbing they’re banned in theaters and only shown in underground screenings. This man is a mysterious figure who has become reclusive, holing himself up in a remote mansion where… possibly… strange things are happening. I talked in my last book post about the mixed media aspect, things like magazine articles and police reports interspersed throughout the book. Now I’ll mention that there’s a bit of horror and black magic in this book- two things I’m not usually fond of, but it was inserted into the story in such a way that it made sense. The plot was still grounded in reality, although there was some exploration of that concept (is something real if you believe it’s real?) Overall, I loved this. Now for something completely different… HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE that I’ve never read Gone With the Wind, or seen the movie??? It’s so good! Birchie and I are doing a “buddy read” of this book, which means we’re emailing our thoughts and observations back and forth. Let me know if you want to join us! Okay, let’s talk about food. I’m happy to say that I’ve fully adjusted to my diet. Starbucks even has a green tea option that works for me, so I can still sit in the cafe sipping tea. I mean- it’s not Earl Grey and never will be. But you can get used to anything! I made pancakes! It’s a recipe from Rikki Heller’s book, Living Candida Free. The batter is made from millet (finally, a use for millet!) chickpea flour, coconut flour, and various other ingredients. Against all odds, these actually tasted pretty good! I also made bread. This was an afternoon-long adventure. First you roast spaghetti squash, wait for it to cool, puree the flesh, mix it with the other ingredients (the long list includes almond butter, ground pumpkin seeds, chickpea flour) and THEN you bake it. This bread came out… surprisingly delicious!!! Maybe my tastebuds have gone berserk, but I really liked it. After all the work it took to make it, I carefully and lovingly cut it into pieces, and put some of the precious slices in the freezer for next week, and the rest in the fridge, to be taken out as a treat, one each day. It occurred to me- maybe this is the way bread should be eaten- as opposed to scarfing down half the loaf in one sitting. Hmmm! Anyway, I’m now realizing why I didn’t stick closer to this diet after I did it the first time. It’s not that the food doesn’t taste good- it actually does- but it’s just so inconvenient. If I could buy this in the store that would be one thing. To make it all from scratch is okay for now, but not something I want to do for the rest of my life. Because so much of this diet is complicated and time-consuming, I’ve just been having a big salad for dinner every night. It’s easy, it’s good for me, I like it and it makes me feel good. I’m not cooking anything else! Have you read Gone With the Wind? Do you like big dinner salads? Top photo by Nadine Primeau on Unsplash