7th day of hcg diet

Seven point 8 pounds lost after 6 days on the diet. That's 7.8. How can that be? Yay me. Still not hungry nor craving anything. Still love the food. Crazy.

Busy days...I'm blocking out Monday to have some R&R. Really, I have to learn to veg out sometimes. When I moved into my apartment I was 100% expecting to have days where I would do nothing but read. And that I would break out the cobwebby projects. None have happened. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just kind of a surprise. And something I want to do something about.

The apartment is finally reaching it's max capacity for 'stuff.' It seemed like a bottomless pit when it was empty, but it did finally fill up. Now I'm getting a tad depressed that I still don't have room, wherever I live, for my beloved piano. I miss that thing so much. The keyboard I got is a nice enough substitute but is just not not not the same thing. The other things I miss: the hope chest and chow bench that my Mom got before I was even born. They're beautiful. I keep wracking my brain trying to imagine where I could squeeze them in here. Am almost out of options. But, color me optimistic, desire will prevail.

P.S. I just got up and played the keyboard. It was great. Not nearly as dismal as I made it sound above.

QUESTION FOR READERS:
Am curious, if there is anyone out there reading this post, what you think of family obligations? And family feuds. When is it OK to stop speaking to a family member? Or snub them?

My own thumbnail philosophy, finally adopted after many years of not being conscious of the value of family, is that there is no stronger group one can belong to. In the absence of violence, abuse, and neglect, I believe that this is the group we need to be the most forgiving of and loyal to. Please tell me what you think.

Crunch Day

I think this is Mark's last day of baking for the Mother's Day orders so I tried to fill in as much as possible. You know, chief gopher. I went to the post office a couple of times to help him mail Mother's Day packages, shopped for chicken dinner, went out again to buy a pound of butter, made said chicken dinner, played with the girls which goes without saying, and kinda cleaned up wherever the opportunity presented itself.

Here are a bunch of pictures. It's too hard to cut any more. The doll is in there because she's using my airplane pillow...I just want you all to know how much these girls have taken over my life. Same with Mia and the cat, Toby, on my bed. Ooooh, and there are those pretty little black pepper rose jam thumbprint cookies, under shrink wrap. The motley group of cookies and biscotti are the seconds that don't get sold......it's hard to resist so much goodness.

And check out little Claudine's striped tights....so sweet looking on her. Had to put in another goofy Mia shot; she is still hamming it up at every chance. I've taken to calling her Diva.

Mark is having quiet time with the two of them...a rare thing since I've gotten here but his spare time will increase somewhat from now on. I hope.

Christos Voskres

This is how the Sopchaks say happy Easter...the translation is "Christ is risen." The traditional greeting response is "Voistinu Voskres," "indeed he has." The Russian Orthodox church, from what my former father-in-law told me, considers Easter the most important observance; moreso than Christmas even.

I loved Easter with them. Learning about dying Easter eggs led to a lifelong love of Easter egg art. I used to do a lot of psanky but have forgotten about it over the last few years. Go this link if you'd like to see some amazing egg designs!

Above is a picture of some of my pysanky tools. The dyes are very different from the Paas pastel tablets. I buy these in little envelopes and have a bowl for each dye, left on the table for a few weeks before Easter, doing an egg or 2 a day. The colors are so amazing: gold, black, red, brick red, scarlet, purple, and many more.

I took this practice with me to Yemen and eagerly set up the bowls on our big kitchen table when Easter was finally near. We had hardly gotten started when one day I came home from work and, to my horror, the kitchen table was empty! "Where are my dyes???" Our housecleaner/cook looked at me and said he thought they were dirty dishes and emptied all of them and washed the bowls. I was bereft! Those dyes are hard to find to start with, much more so in Yemen.

Other traditions of theirs that I enjoyed: Baba would make kulich, a big beautiful loaf of bread. (Actually, I think they had another name for it, but I can't remember it. The picture of kulich I found online looks the same as hers so I guess I'll go with that.) She'd put it in a big sturdy basket along with her specially dyed eggs (she used onion skins for a beige color and beets for red, e.g.) and probably some candy. We'd take the basket to the basement of the church where there were hundreds of other bounteous baskets lined up on at least 50 tables. After the service the priest would come downstairs and bless all the baskets.

The only other tradition I remember is that they would set the table for Easter dinner with a plate and chair for Jesus. And at the Easter dinner, we all had to eat a clove of raw garlic. I loved that meal!

This year Dan and I will go to his brother's house for a family gathering and feast. Ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, salad, garlic bread, strawberry shortcake. I don't know if they'll have any religious overtones....it's more of an excuse for the family to be together I think.

New address

So today I changed my blog address. When I gave it the name aruna's place I was thinking the blog would be an experiment and had no vision of anyone ever reading it. Turns out there's maybe a handful of people who do...and I hear that it's hard to remember my address. Thus the change. Responding to public demand.

So here it is Saturday Jan 3 and I'm having a quiet few days while Dan is dog-sitting for his Mom's little dog, Molly. I love the sound of no football. Oh, and the sound of no barking. I can't emphasize that one enough! Peace and quiet is what I crave most in this world......sighhhh.

Tonight for dinner, to celebrate my temporary single-ness, I had a wonderful little steak, fresh asparagus and risotto. Haven't done that in a long time. Let's have a toast to me eating lots of fresh, well-prepared meals for the rest of the year.

Here are a couple of pictures....Lara and Per Olav brought his best friend, Kalle, for the week of Christmas. We enjoyed the 3 of them so much! Lots of eating, drinking and laughing. I wasn't able to go to Christmas Eve at the Carpenters, but the 3 of them went with Dan and were the hit of the night. They just seem to have fun wherever they go! The other picture is just another of many, many snow scenes we had for a few weeks. This one is snow falling on our already deep-in-snow back yard. (To enlarge the picture just click the cursor when it's somewhere on the picture.)

Thanksgiving memories

It's quiet. I have no cooking schedule to adhere to. In other words, I'm winding down after a quite busy week. I had lots of cooking to do so made an amazing schedule of what to do each day. I must say, it worked miracles at eliminating stress entirely. I absolutely had no stress over cooking at all. It all went at a nice pace with lots of time for Sudoku breaks, et al.

Thursday at Christy's we were 8 people: Christy and Ron, Ted and Vicky, Lara and Per-Olav, and Dan and me. We had a not elaborate meal that was delicious. A tasty moist turkey, fruit salad, artichoke stuffing, Seabreeze drinks, beer, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more. Every single thing was a taste delight. Oh, and my dessert offering was the Fish Market Apple Pie (a short buttery crisped-to-perfection crust, apples mixed with a sour cream sauce and a great crumb topping). I like that it was a small group so that we could have fun conversations. The 4 girls were at a table in one room and the boys in another room. We ended up sharing memories about family members who have gone on & it wasn't morbid at all. It was interesting, funny and bonding. (All the above pictures are from Christy's Thanksgiving...you can see that her new house is right on the water, Budd Inlet, and it's absolutely beautiful.)

Later on the same day we went to John and Jill's. Wow...lots of people, lots of food. I'm not sure I'll remember it all but here goes: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sunchoke dip, salad with mint and oranges, stuffing, Jill's special cranberry sauce, pasta salad, pecan pie, raspberry pie and pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. Lisa and Bob were there, Anne and Michael, Winn, Lara and Per-Olav, Sally and Tom. John and Jill of course, and Dan and me. Seems like there were more, but that's all I can remember right now.

My own mini-Thanksgiving was Friday for just Lara, Per, Dan and me. Roast chicken, stuffing with homemade thyme and olive oil croutons and cornbread, prunes, and cranberries, drippings of the chicken with its delicious mirepoix, Mark's maple roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry pear relish, homemade horseradish, sweet potatoes mashed with ginger, coconut milk, flaked coconut and topped with fresh roasted macadamia nuts.

I always long for a Thanksgiving like the one in Yemen when we invited all the "strays," people who had no family there. It was such a pleasure to cook a big meal for lots of people I care about, and it wasn't a big deal that took a lot of energy. Those were the days. Childhood Thanksgivings remain a warm and pleasant memory as well, making this my favorite holiday of the year.

Now, what will I cook next year?

Whimsy and Spice Interview

As most of you know, my son and his wife have a terrific business selling his wonderful cookies, marshmallows and (my favorite) biscottis. And their sublime brownie...also my favorite. Oh and the hazelnut cookie sandwich with a zippy chocolate whiskey filling. Can I have that many favorites????

Anyway, back to business. Their business is called Whimsy and Spice. They sell in several places, including etsy. Their web site is whimsyandspice which will direct you to their blog. Go see, you'll get addicted.

Right now, though, the reason I'm bringing them up again is because I want you to read this great interview someone did with Jenna about how they started their business and some ideas of where they might be going next. Go to Gobbl to read it.

It's so fun watching their ideas come to fruition and to watch their business grow by leaps and bounds. Yes, I am a proud Mom. I know.

Carpenter Sib Video

Look what I just found! A short/sweet video of the Carpenter Siblings and Mom in February. Trying to line up for a group shot in front of the Packard. This was the Big Bash at Mark's on Saturday. You all just crack me up.

My cousin Marie

And the best pictures of Hawaii for last: my spunky cousin, Marie. She was the reason I went to Hawaii and stayed so long. We got to know each other so much better than ever before and I learned good lessons from her. She has quite a spirit and doesn't let things like broken legs slow her down. Thank you for everything, Marie. And here are 2 pictures of her...she and Jeanne on the day I arrived. Look at her....does she look like she slows down for anyone? The 2nd picture is her teaching me to play dominoes. I finally stopped playing and said I'd have to practice a long time before I'd take her up on it again. All in fun. Here she is.

Back from New York

Wednesday night, midnight, touch down. Dan picks me up soon after...we talk on the way home and til 3 in the a.m. Woke up 6:30 a.m. Have been on the go ever since. It may start to catch up with me this weekend now that I have given myself 2 days to quietly stay at home. I'm looking for copies of all the Harkas that I collected for Joe and can't find them but, in the process, re-organized and made room for lots of loose things.

Yesterday Lara and Per brought his parents to lunch. They're here from Norway and it's my first time meeting them. They're awesome. Olav is very funny and kept us in stitches. Even Dan couldn't keep from chuckling and that's saying something.

I made one of my favorite meals: sopa majorca and chicken hazelnut feta salad.

SOPA MAJORCA (a very refreshing cold soup)
It is similar to one I had in a Santa Fe restaurant: Three Cities of Spain so I named it after theirs)

1 can tomato bisque soup (NOT plain tomato soup)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 8 ounce can minced clams with the juice
lemon or lime juice to taste

Beat soup and buttermilk together with a whisk. Add remaining ingredients and stir.
Cover and chill several hours or overnight.

COOL CHICKEN PLATTER WITH MUSTARD SAUCE
Layer each serving plate in the following order, with the lettuce starting at the bottom. Amounts are to your own preference.

1 large leaf red leaf lettuce
a handful or 2 of a small pasta like penne or rotelle, cooked. (I sprinkle a little of the Mustard Sauce over it while it's cooling)
thinly sliced poached chicken breast
sliced Roma tomatoes
crumbled feta cheese
kalamata olives
drizzle Mustard Sauce over

MUSTARD SAUCE
1/2 c. white wine vinegar (try not to substitute)
1/4/ c. olive oil
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. dried herb (calls for tarragon but I prefer basil)

I wish I had pictures of the salad....it's quite beautiful.