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shadowkat1. Watched the film Saving Mr. Banks last night. It was better than I expected. A lot of the reviewers that I'd read, disparaged the film for not being an accurate reflection of actual events. That Disney came off better than Travers, and that Travers never was happy with the film [even though it made her an extremely wealthy woman if a somewhat whiny and bitter one.] Ironic, considering one of the films themes was how you can lose a story by being a stickler to fine detail. And how to let things go. Whether you liked the film may have a lot to do with how much you a)liked or respected PL Travers position, b) preferred the Mary Poppins novels over the Disney version, and c) despise Disney for well socio-political reasons. I liked the film, but that's partly because a) I thought Travers was a ninny, b) loved the Disney version of Mary Poppins and found the books grim and unreadable, and c) don't really give a fig what Disney's personal politics were. Know very little about Disney, intend to keep it that way. Now, because of the internet, I know far more about Travers than I'd like to - she was NOT a nice person. Rather self-absorbed and nasty, actually. Apparently she ruined two boys lives, by adopting one part of a set of identical twins, and ignoring the other. People were upset this didn't make it into the film. Where they could have put it, I've no idea.
At any rate, on its merits, Saving Mr. Banks is a good film. Emma Thompson is rather splendid in it. And the battle of wills between Travers and Disney is quite fun. As are supporting performances from Paul Giametti, who plays her chauffeur, and the writing crew, including the guy who played Josh on the West Wing. It made me smile and put a tear in my eye.
2. The Practical Paleo - I'm not crazy about the meal plans or the recipes in this book. She doesn't provide much information for the recipes. We don't get cooking times. Or a lot on preparation. Or how to minimize recipes that are clearly set up for a family of four or five. If you have a tiny kitchen, and no space or money for appliances and various food items - then this book may well give you a headache. Or start coveting a huge kitchen. I'm getting tired of cookbooks written for amateur chefs who appear to have lots of free time on their hands and a lot of space.
The meal plans are heavy on the protein and meat/chicken/fish, not so much on veggies. She basically has it set up so that you are eating three huge meals a day. Meat in the morning. At lunch. And at dinner. This would work fine, if I didn't get up at six and have a small stomach. Proving once again, as if I didn't know it already, that we do not live in a one size fits all universe. You can't devise a generalized meal plan for various ailments that will fit everyone who has them. It's not possible.
That said? I tried three recipes on the list. Two of which are guaranteed to sicken any vegans or vegetarians on my flist. So you might want to ignore the first two?
1. First one was roasted bone marrow (not quite as gross as it sounds), which I won't do again. It's bloody hard to find marrow bones. The meat markets and farmers markets save them for caterers and restaurants. I, however, lucked out this week and snagged some. Bone marrow is allegedly rich in nutrients and minerals and supposed to repair cells in the lower intestines.
I put the bones in a roasting dish. Sprinkled granulated garlic and parsley over them. Salt and pepper to taste. And set it to 450. Set off the smoke alarm. Detached the smoke alarm and put it in my bedroom. I have an insanely sensitive smoke alarm. Waited 30 minutes. Three of the six, had bone marrow I could eat. The rest were stubborn. So I just ate the three with veggies (asperagus and green beans). Result? Gas pain last night. Most likely due to the veggies. And an inability to sleep. So much for that idea. Stupid cook book.
2. Second? Bone Broth, (yes there is such a thing, didn't know it existed either) - basically you fill a 6 quart (I had 4 quart) crockpot with water, add two tablespoons of apple cider vingear (BRAGGS BRAND), two teaspoons of REAL salt (its a brand), garlic if you can tolerate it, and the bones. Then you turn on the crockpot/slow cooker, and let it simmer for 24 hours.
The result? It stunk up my apartment. My apartment smelled like meat broth for 24 hours. I had to go buy glass jars - because didn't have anything to put it in. Only made enough for one jar. I used a metal strainer to strain out the excess debris, fat, etc. Then put the remaining bone marrow broth into a jar. It's actually quite good, if a bit oily (excess fat, most likely) - tried to skim it off the top. Might be easier after been in the fridge a while.
This is supposed to be very high in nutrients and a superfood. (Although not sure how true that is. They come up with a new superfood each month.) And very healing of leaky gut. (Honestly, I'm becoming convinced right now that no one knows much about leaky gut and this is all just speculation and wishful thinking.) And of course lots of legal disclaimers. Becoming bloody tired of the disclaimers. All rather confusing. IF you don't know - say you don't know.
Won't be doing it again. Don't have the kitchen for it or the storage space. I'll be doing it the old fashioned way, buying my broth from the market from hereon out.
3. Third? Pumpkin Pancakes. (hadn't heard of them either, except they sound more appetizing than banana pancakes, unless of course you like bananas) Deceptively easy. Considering I suck at making regular pancakes, not sure why I felt compelled to attempt this experiment.
You mix one can of organic pumpkin (the type you'd use to make a pumpkin pie), with 4 eggs, pumpkin pie spice (cloves, nutmeg, sage), teaspoon of cinnamon, tablespoon of organic vanilla extract, two teaspoons of clarified butter or coconut oil, and two teaspoons of maple syrup (or a mashed banana). I went with a mashed banana, since I'm technically off sugar. Also a teaspoon of baking soda (I think I misread this, since it tasted very baking soday after that, so probably 1/4 or 1/8th.)
You whisk this together. Easier said than done with a banana. Bananas don't whisk. So, I pulled out the mixer and mixed them. Then you put butter or coconut oil in a skillet and plop in the pancakes, makes about 8.
Well, I tried. They don't flip well. You are supposed to flip them when bubbles appear. But it wouldn't flip without falling apart. The first one was a burnt mess. The second? A gooey mess. I removed the smoke detector before it went off. Then tried again. And Again. AND AGAIN.
And Again. At this point, I was nibbling the mixture and the burnt and gooey mistakes. FINALLY...I decided to add some coconut flour. That didn't work for the next two tries. But the third was the charm. I managed to get two serviceable pancakes out of an 8 pancake batter.
And no, it was not worth it. They were okay. Tasted like pumpkin pie with baking soda and bananas. To award myself for my effort, I cheated and put a dribbling of hot maple syrup on top with salted butter. It was okay. I won't be doing it again. Making regular pancakes was hard enough, and I just don't have the stove or kitchen for it. You need the right equipment to make pancakes.
Lots of work, only thing to show for it is about four days worth of bone broth. I'm going back to cooking sans cook book. Much easier and a lot more fun.
On a brighter note, I appear to have jumped down another dress size. So I'm back to a size 12.
Haven't been there since well 2005/2006 and the ATPO-BTVS-NYC meetup. I'm now the same weight I was when my Facebook pic was taken. Now if only my hair color and face looked the same.
At any rate, on its merits, Saving Mr. Banks is a good film. Emma Thompson is rather splendid in it. And the battle of wills between Travers and Disney is quite fun. As are supporting performances from Paul Giametti, who plays her chauffeur, and the writing crew, including the guy who played Josh on the West Wing. It made me smile and put a tear in my eye.
2. The Practical Paleo - I'm not crazy about the meal plans or the recipes in this book. She doesn't provide much information for the recipes. We don't get cooking times. Or a lot on preparation. Or how to minimize recipes that are clearly set up for a family of four or five. If you have a tiny kitchen, and no space or money for appliances and various food items - then this book may well give you a headache. Or start coveting a huge kitchen. I'm getting tired of cookbooks written for amateur chefs who appear to have lots of free time on their hands and a lot of space.
The meal plans are heavy on the protein and meat/chicken/fish, not so much on veggies. She basically has it set up so that you are eating three huge meals a day. Meat in the morning. At lunch. And at dinner. This would work fine, if I didn't get up at six and have a small stomach. Proving once again, as if I didn't know it already, that we do not live in a one size fits all universe. You can't devise a generalized meal plan for various ailments that will fit everyone who has them. It's not possible.
That said? I tried three recipes on the list. Two of which are guaranteed to sicken any vegans or vegetarians on my flist. So you might want to ignore the first two?
1. First one was roasted bone marrow (not quite as gross as it sounds), which I won't do again. It's bloody hard to find marrow bones. The meat markets and farmers markets save them for caterers and restaurants. I, however, lucked out this week and snagged some. Bone marrow is allegedly rich in nutrients and minerals and supposed to repair cells in the lower intestines.
I put the bones in a roasting dish. Sprinkled granulated garlic and parsley over them. Salt and pepper to taste. And set it to 450. Set off the smoke alarm. Detached the smoke alarm and put it in my bedroom. I have an insanely sensitive smoke alarm. Waited 30 minutes. Three of the six, had bone marrow I could eat. The rest were stubborn. So I just ate the three with veggies (asperagus and green beans). Result? Gas pain last night. Most likely due to the veggies. And an inability to sleep. So much for that idea. Stupid cook book.
2. Second? Bone Broth, (yes there is such a thing, didn't know it existed either) - basically you fill a 6 quart (I had 4 quart) crockpot with water, add two tablespoons of apple cider vingear (BRAGGS BRAND), two teaspoons of REAL salt (its a brand), garlic if you can tolerate it, and the bones. Then you turn on the crockpot/slow cooker, and let it simmer for 24 hours.
The result? It stunk up my apartment. My apartment smelled like meat broth for 24 hours. I had to go buy glass jars - because didn't have anything to put it in. Only made enough for one jar. I used a metal strainer to strain out the excess debris, fat, etc. Then put the remaining bone marrow broth into a jar. It's actually quite good, if a bit oily (excess fat, most likely) - tried to skim it off the top. Might be easier after been in the fridge a while.
This is supposed to be very high in nutrients and a superfood. (Although not sure how true that is. They come up with a new superfood each month.) And very healing of leaky gut. (Honestly, I'm becoming convinced right now that no one knows much about leaky gut and this is all just speculation and wishful thinking.) And of course lots of legal disclaimers. Becoming bloody tired of the disclaimers. All rather confusing. IF you don't know - say you don't know.
Won't be doing it again. Don't have the kitchen for it or the storage space. I'll be doing it the old fashioned way, buying my broth from the market from hereon out.
3. Third? Pumpkin Pancakes. (hadn't heard of them either, except they sound more appetizing than banana pancakes, unless of course you like bananas) Deceptively easy. Considering I suck at making regular pancakes, not sure why I felt compelled to attempt this experiment.
You mix one can of organic pumpkin (the type you'd use to make a pumpkin pie), with 4 eggs, pumpkin pie spice (cloves, nutmeg, sage), teaspoon of cinnamon, tablespoon of organic vanilla extract, two teaspoons of clarified butter or coconut oil, and two teaspoons of maple syrup (or a mashed banana). I went with a mashed banana, since I'm technically off sugar. Also a teaspoon of baking soda (I think I misread this, since it tasted very baking soday after that, so probably 1/4 or 1/8th.)
You whisk this together. Easier said than done with a banana. Bananas don't whisk. So, I pulled out the mixer and mixed them. Then you put butter or coconut oil in a skillet and plop in the pancakes, makes about 8.
Well, I tried. They don't flip well. You are supposed to flip them when bubbles appear. But it wouldn't flip without falling apart. The first one was a burnt mess. The second? A gooey mess. I removed the smoke detector before it went off. Then tried again. And Again. AND AGAIN.
And Again. At this point, I was nibbling the mixture and the burnt and gooey mistakes. FINALLY...I decided to add some coconut flour. That didn't work for the next two tries. But the third was the charm. I managed to get two serviceable pancakes out of an 8 pancake batter.
And no, it was not worth it. They were okay. Tasted like pumpkin pie with baking soda and bananas. To award myself for my effort, I cheated and put a dribbling of hot maple syrup on top with salted butter. It was okay. I won't be doing it again. Making regular pancakes was hard enough, and I just don't have the stove or kitchen for it. You need the right equipment to make pancakes.
Lots of work, only thing to show for it is about four days worth of bone broth. I'm going back to cooking sans cook book. Much easier and a lot more fun.
On a brighter note, I appear to have jumped down another dress size. So I'm back to a size 12.
Haven't been there since well 2005/2006 and the ATPO-BTVS-NYC meetup. I'm now the same weight I was when my Facebook pic was taken. Now if only my hair color and face looked the same.