Week 3: What we ate

So life is back to normal, since I have my camera back.

It was a shock when I had it in my arms for the first time in weeks. I was nervous. Very nervous. A bit like the first time seeing a friend after many years apart. There is the excitement, the joy but the anxiety too – do you look good, will you still have a lot in common, can you have an engaging conversation lasting more than a minute? Many questions and no answers till the very minute you meet again, and eyes connect. A hug, kisses exchanged, a joke cracked and the ice is broken, laughter flowing freely. And all of a sudden, things are back to normal, like they were 5 years ago. You slip into comfortable silence punctuated by bursts of memories and rapids of words and in a way, it’s as though a new relationship is born, building on the old yet fresh and inspiring.

And so when I picked up my camera form the shop, I looked it over very well, unsure that it was mine. It had all the hallmarks of ‘good’ use – illegible serial number, a chip off one corner, scratches here and there, all familiar. It also looked surprisingly new, the black almost glowing at me. I immediately reached to turn it on…and then remembered I’d left the battery and card at home, so back it went into its bubble wrap and off home we went.

The next day, all kitted up, I decided to see if we were still a team. Crouching by some lavender bushes, I snapped away, trying to adjust the colour balance and macro. Wondering if I’d learnt anything new in all the time I hadn’t had practise. It still felt very strange, as though it was the first time I’d played with a camera.

Later that evening, I made a delightful fresh corn salsa and by the time I was done with the photos, I heaved a heavy sigh of relief. My baby was back!

I have to say though, I am glad I was without it for weeks for it let me focus on old posts, on eating without fuss, on doing a good job of cataloging our meals and it saved me many hours hunched behind the computer.

Those days are gone now……….

And the recipe for the fresh corn salsa follows…….

But first, here is what we ate this week: Its been a great one, forget parking tickets, forget me driving over my son’s wooden bike and breaking it to pieces, forget my son pushing my bike down and denting my neighbour’s car, forget all those, it has been a great week!

I’ve exercised with all my heart and enjoyed it, starting my mornings off jumping on the trampoline before breakfast and work, and ending the evenings with bike rides. In between, I’ve snuck in a few walks. However, ladies & gentlemen, I’m not impressed with what I see on the scales. I know, I know, muscle weighs more than fat…and all that…. I know but that does nothing to comfort me. I originally started out saying I wouldn’t let the scales drive me or control me and they don’t. I don’t obsess by weighing myself daily, what I’m more interested and how I will measure my success is if I can fit into my 4 pairs of trousers, 3 dresses, 2 straight skirts and a load of brand new shirts.

I know I am making the right food choices and learning a lot about food. Like, our bodies can only convert carotene (from vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes) to Vitamin A in the presence of bile salts. Because of this, it is important to eat these veggies with butter, cream or egg yolks as these fats stimulate the body to secrete bile and aid the conversion of carotene to vitamin A (Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon).

Anyway, it is unreasonable to expect to lose 3 years weight (especially the bit I’ve put on in this last year of intensive eating and blogging :-)) in 3 weeks.

I’ll be patient….it will come.

This is what we ate this week:

Week 3	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sunday	Bread adapted from Elana’s pantry, Eggs & homemade almond butter with watermelon juice	Salad @ Ikea!	Patiala swordfish with dhal, coriander chutney and fresh corn salsa, adapted from my red delicious 2004
Monday	Fruit	Greek Salad	Garlic mashed sweet potatoes adapted from my Wholefoods cookbook, – Tilapia, Tomato sauce
Tuesday	Cherry Berry crumble, adapted from Elana’s Pantry	Salad of fennel and kumquats	BNS gnocchi with steamed spinach and chicken curry, adapted from Trotski & Ash
Wednesday	Bread, Eggs & homemade almond butter	Green salad	Roast chicken with kumquats, adapted from Elana’s pantry and baked fennel
Thursday	Fruit juice & Mint tea	Chicken sandwich with almond mayo, adapted from Elana’s pantry	Stuffed eggy rolls, adapted from my Wholefoods cookbook
Friday	Fruit	Lentil salad	Homemade lamb burgers, with lettuce for buns, fresh corn salsa and guacamole
Saturday	Boiled yam and stew	We had brunch!	Yam and brown -eyed peas with tomato sauce

And here is the recipe for Fresh Corn salsa.

Simple and stunning. I love the fresh flavours this recipe delivers and the vibrant colours too. Be warned though, don’t attempt it without fresh corn – you will miss the va va voom…….and that’s not what you want. You could always vary the herb combination and add/take away . This has been this weeks, staple, a bit like BNS was a few short weeks ago!

I love the fact that it is easily adaptable , a dish that can be served with grilled fish, burgers and rice – you name it. This recipe was adapted from my ‘red delicious’ mag recipe though their version was made with a lot of oil, chickpeas and a combination of mint and parsley.

Fresh Corn Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 ears of fresh corn on the cob, shucked and ready to go

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 shallots, finely chopped up

1 fresh red chili pepper, finely chopped up

1/2 red paprika, finely chopped up

Finely grated zest and juice of a lime

1 -2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

1 tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped

A handful fresh basil, finely chopped

Optional – green scallions to garnish and basil leaves

How to

Heat up a grill pan on medium . When hot, brush on some oil and place corn on. Let cook lightly and turn around after 30 seconds, till the corn changes colour from yellow to just golden – you know what I mean, about 3 -4 minutes.

Remove from pan and using a sharp knife, strip the cobs of their kernels, cutting as close to the cob as possible, without getting the cob itself!

Heat up remaining oil in another pan (sorry) and gently cook the shallots, chili pepper, paprika, lime zest for a couple of minutes till soft but not coloured.

Add the corn kernels, stir well and take off the heat. Stir in the chili sauce and herbs.

Season to taste, and serve!

I leave you with some photos I took yesterday, wondering round The Hague. A bit of Dutch ‘orange’ in hope of a World Cup Final. We shall see….as the match is on right now! Spain won! The first European country to win the World Cup outside Europe! Congratulations!!!!!!1

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Week 3: What we ate – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]