Bike for Betty!!

My sister and her family participated in the Bike for Betty fundraiser for cancer research this weekend and were the TOP FUNDRAISERS!!  Now I may be wrong, but I am willing to bet that Lola was the strongest member of that team …

 

 

one year

it’s been one year since a certain puppy entered my life

it’s been one year since someone else left it

it’s been one year since I started my “new” job

it’s been just over one year since my mother had her first tumor removed

it’s been one hell of a year

 

TUMBLING!!

life is pretty craptastic right now – thank GOD for this little angel!

 

TEQUILA!!!

swine flu be damned - I have me some tequila to get to!!

 

the great bagel debate**

I got an email from my sister this morning telling me that it was time for a blog update.  But I don’t have anything to talk about, I replied. But then I remembered – I DO have something to talk about:  BAGELS! and it all started with the Pioneer Woman.

I am going to preface this by saying that I am a fan of  her blog, have serious kitchen envy and that this is in no way a criticism of her.

A few weeks back, Ree wrote about her first experience with bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon:   the Pioneer Woman’s first bagel experience

My reaction to that was twofold: 1. how could an adult have never experienced this before and 2. what she pictured on her website in no way resembled what I hold to be an authentic bagel – they looked more like the impostor “buns with holes” that unfortunately run rampant and claim to be bagels (which they are most decidedly NOT!). 

To compound my befuddlement, a few weeks later (like this past weekend), Ree tweeted and then posted about making bagels at home: the Pioneer Woman did it

This was just something I could not fathom.  How* could one make bagels at home?  And, perhaps more importantly, why??

Again, while it looked like she was successful, and judging by the hundreds of enthusiastic and positive comments on her site I guess that she was, the resulting “bagels” did not look like real bagels.  So I did some investigating (read: I googled it) and it seems that it comes down to that age old debate: New York vs. Montreal.

What’s the difference?  According to Wikapedia: definition

Also, Montreal Bagels are the best in the world!

Naturally I come down firmly on the Montreal side of things, as do most people out there, including that bastion of print journalism, the New York Times:  in the NYT!!

What I was surprised by, however, in my google adventure, was the number of people out there requesting recipes to make these fabled delicacies AT HOME!  for $1.99 you can buy a recipe on-line or you can watch a video.

This still leaves me asking WHY?? I love to cook and bake and I certainly love a challenge, but there are certain things I leave to the professionals – like Chinese food and Phylo pastry.

So if you find yourself in Montreal, and really, you SHOULD find yourself in Monteal because it is an amazing city, be sure to go here: St. Viateur, or here: Fairmont, or here:  Mount Royal Bagel Factory.

And if you find yourself  in Vancouver.

*  unless of course she has a wood oven in her kitch, which is of course likely, hence the serious and aforementioned kitchen envy

** in the spirit of full disclosure, I guess I should admit that I have never actually had a New York bagel — but I stand firm in my resolve that MONTREAL BAGELS ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!!

 

I am PISSED at Valeri Bertinelli

Am I  pissed that she lost all that weight?  absolutely not – I think it’s fabulous.  What I am pissed about is how they are promoting it and the unrealistic image she is portraying while posing in a bikini.  Hey, she looks GREAT! but at what cost?  and to what end? as far as I can tell all it serves to do is propagate the unattainable and unrealistic (not to mention completely unhealthy) body image that Hollywood and the media force upon us.

Like most women I know, and don’t know for that matter, I have struggled with my weight pretty much all my life.  I have been WAY up and WAY down, neither healthy, and right now I am pretty much where I should be but of course am still not completely happy with it.  I lead an active life but think I should be more active.  I eat well 95% of the time, but then go through spurts, like right now coincidentally, where a 250 calorie bag of baked pretzels dipped in almost no calorie Dijon mustard makes a perfectly acceptable meal of the day.  Yeah, I know, SOOOOO healthy, right?

I had a mini melt-down the other day, thankfully in the privacy of my own bedroom, brought on I suspect by watching an interview with the aforementioned Ms. Bertinelli, tuning in to the Biggest Loser (a show I actually enjoy and think for the most part promotes a healthy attitude and approach to weight loss),  and the fast-approaching spring/summer season.  Ms. Bertinelli admitted to dropping her caloric intake to 1,200 for several weeks prior to the bikini shot.  Well of course she did?  If I knew I was going to be photographed in a bikini for millions of people to see you had better believe that I would pretty much stop eating and start working-out 6 hours a day for at LEAST a month. 

But then what? What happens when you go back to real life? What happens when you HAVE  a real life, with a real job and real responsibilities?  Most of us don’t have 6 hours a day to dedicate to working out.  Most of us don’t have a weight-loss company PAYING us to promote them thus enabling us to have those 6 hours a day to work out.

Which brings me to my next “issue” – the whole weight-loss company thing.  Jennifer Lancaster made this point over and over in her book “Such a Pretty Fat” (which I LOVED, by the way – READ IT!).  Sure, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers work great IF YOU EAT THEIR PRE-PACKAGED FOOD.  But then what?  Are you stuck eating that crap forever??  Because, yuck. And so not healthy – it’s all processed and full of stuff you can’t pronounce and so contrary to that other dietary trend we are being inundated by – the 100 mile thing (but that’s a whole other topic for a whole other entry). And they don’t emphasize (or even mention in some cases) that exercise is the key.

This is a point that The Biggest Loser makes over and over again – change your life, change the way you eat, change the way you move.  Sure the contestants on the show have the luxury of being on a ranch with some fabulous trainers and the ability to work out 24/7 should they so choose.  But it’s not a permanent situation and they, for the most part, leave the ranch with a new approach to how they live their lives.  They are shown healthy alternatives to their favourite snacks.  They are encouraged to MOVE.  Their lives and lifestyles change – they are not dependant on a series of pre-packaged “meals”.

But this isn’t about extolling the virtues if a reality television show.  It’s about why I am pissed at Valeri Bertinelli.  You look great, I’ve already said that, and you do.  Really, you do.  But how will you look in 6 months?  Probably still great, but likely not “posing in a bikini on the cover of a national magazine” great because how could you? unless, of course, you continue on your 1,200 calorie a day regime which is setting such a great example for all the real women and impressionable young girls out there.  Does being thin and bikini ready make you a better person? Because that’s the message that’s being sent.  thin=better, happier, worthier

Here’s the thing – I love food.  I love reading about it, watching about it (bad grammar, I know), talking about it, preparing it, and eating it.  Life would be pretty damn boring if I was restricted to 1,200 calories a day for life.  (also, I would be ridiculously thin and that’s just not such a great look on anyone over 35 – hello, a little fat does wonders for the wrinkles) Food for me is a social activity and one that I am not willing to give up.  The moving thing?  I do that – sometimes more than others but on average I am way more active than apparently 90% of the general population.  I have 2 dogs that require lots of exercise and that translates into 2 45-minute walks a day during the week (including HILLS – I live in the mountains) and a 2 to 3 hour hike on Saturdays and Sundays.  Plus other stuff.  So yeah, I am active.

I also know that I feel better a little “lighter” and I am in a better mood when I am eating healthier and when my favourite clothes fit. But I really don’t need the, admittedly mostly self-inflicted, pressure of having to be bikini-ready or risk being shunned or marginalised.

So Ms. Bertinelli and those of your ilk, I am pissed at you (but you do look great!).

 

 

Exactly!

 

some LOLA! to brighten your day

things are a little grim around these parts, so I offer you some LOLA! and dare you not to fall in love with her

bath time!! (yes, that's a rubber-maid - all the cool kids bathe in rubber-maid!

reading Papa's Uncle Wiggly book - LOTS of adventures in her future!!

using chopsticks - SO advanced!

keeping an eye on things

putting away her toys

helping with the ironing

she's a maniac, maniac on the floor ...

such style!

so that daddy doesn't wear my pants

Sports Illustrated here I come!!!

first swimming lesson

you want to know what I'm thinking, don't you

 

a walk in the woods

I am making an effort to find something POSITIVE in this weird and wacky March we are having in Vancouver – at least it LOOKS pretty!!  These were taken by a friend on a walk after work with the mutts last week.

Happy Friday!

what?

good GOD but I’m pretty!

 

the bitter divorced guys club

I wish you were with me last night — went for tea with a friend  and the weekly meeting of the bitter divorced guys was going on at the table next to us (I say weekly meeting because I have seen the same group there at least 2 other times)

So funny, not to mention completely delusional — last night’s topic of discussion was dating and they are all convinced that they are God’s gift or some such – unless their wallets are disproportionate to their hairlines, they had better start re-evaluating their options! 

according to them all women over 35 are desperate bitches and not worth their time and the young and nubile 20-somethings are BEGGING FOR IT

seriously, better than television!

that said, if this is my dating pool??  GOD help me!