Because I am in traveling stress again, today only an easy dessert recipe:
Only because we are eating healthily, we do not have to eat drab, boring, impalatable things. On the contrary!
Here is my recipe for a quick dessert. I tried it with quince compote and fresh papaya; my gut feeling is you can use it with any fresh or cooked fruit. If you make it with papaya, it takes no time at all:
Ingredients:
Half a papaya per person
Coconut milk, shaken, cooled in the fridge
Chocolate nibs
Half the papaya, scrape out the seeds. Pour over a bit of coconut milk that you have shaken before in a lidded plastic container. It comes out as creamy as whipped cream – but it is healthier. Different brands come out differently well; I like the red Thai can – don’t use the “light” version as it is more adulterated. Sprinkle a tablespoon full of chocolate nibs over everything. The “nibs” are cut cacao beans, not processed at all – no sugar, no dairy. Delighted our guests.
With quince: You cook the quince in whole, after washing, with raisins and slivered almonds (or any nuts/seeds) until soft. Cut the flesh of the core, pour raisins and nuts over it. Cool in the fridge. For serving, add coconut milk and chocolate nibs.
The coconut milk lasts at least a week in the fridge – if it lasts that long … And this dessert is not fattening; it satisfies your appetite for real food. Empty (=simple)carbohydrates (cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.) are fattening! Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
The Thermometer Arrived – Finally!
November 9, 2011
My mail order thermometer arrived today. Now I can put numbers on my Californian shivering: The outside temperature today was 21C (70F), and the water temperature 16 (61F). When I take a cold shower, the water comes out of the faucet at 20C (68F) - much warmer than the pool. My guess had been that the pool temperature was at 60F – not too far off. Reportedly, the ocean temperature in La Jolla is just like my pool’s: 61F. I wish I had the ocean in front of my door …
It is getting harder and harder to go into the cold pool. Not so much because of the cold water but because the house is unheated, and taking a cold shower, toweling off, rubbing myself with coconut oil and then getting dressed takes up nearly half an hour - and all the time I am standing in the cold, shivering. Today I lit a candle in the small bathroom - not sure it raised the temperature, but it gave me the IMPRESSION of being a tad warmer.
Unfortunately, I will leave for nearly two weeks – traveling again. I wonder if I will be able to resume my good habit. Might be very hard – unless I buy a portable heater.
By the way! You hear me talking here mainly about healthy things like swimming, eating right, and so on, and I sound like a real bore, I know. But I do spend my days with far more interesting things than pursuing perfect health. In fact, I try to do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE because, I too, find exercising boring – and stupid. But, there is no life unless you have a functioning body.
Today I made music with a friend all morning, she at the piano, I at the cello – that was heaven. I am re-editing my Sebastian Kneipp novel. I talked with my husband, family and friends. I read up on history. Also, I am reading Henry James’ “The Wings of the Dove”. And I am still making my way through the Chinese novel word by word (it will take a long time to finish that!), to improve my language skills. I cooked, shopped for fresh produce and did the usual house work.
I did my twenty-one laps in the pool, and twenty-one knee bends, twenty-one back exercises and twenty-one arm exercises. And then I sat down to brag about those little things on my blog. But those little things are not my life – they only make my life possible! Read More
To The Other Coast
October 2, 2011
We relocated to the other coast, yesterday – for a few months. We will be in San Diego for a sabbatical. Swapping places makes it possible.
Otto, the cat, turned out the best travel cat ever. He also turned out to be too heavy (which the vet had just told me, while I had bristled – after all, Otto had been even fatter when I got him. Besides, what does a castrated tomcat have to live for but food??). I schlepped him through three airports.
My friends all envy me – going to California, into eternal sun, to the fun state. Me, on the other hand, I am not really a California girl – can’t take much sun, and what I like for fun – I will have to see ... This morning, I took a cold sitzbath – but the water was not really cold. One makes up for sitting longer – no fun, really.
But because it is Sunday and the real work will begin only tomorrow, we walked along Black Beach barefoot. Lots and lots of people. The wonderfully cold ocean made me at last arrive here with my heart, too.
Now I will pick up a cello that a friend of a friend will lend me for the time here. What is not to love in California? Read More