Week 3

Things are going better meal-wise, but something has been upsetting my stomach. I'm not sure if it's just grains in general, or the xyltol (which is known to cause intestinal distress in some people), or maybe even cauliflower.

We invited my Mom and Steph & Pete over for Easter dinner, which involved a tasty baked ham, cauliflower mash (since we can't have potatoes and meat together), asparagus, and salad. Then after playing Yahtzee we made a gluten-free microwave cake http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif (though ours was lemon, not chocolate) and ate it with homemade lemon sorbet. We'd made the recipe before as written and it turned out well, but this time the cakes deflated and had the texture of a dutch baby or popover, but they still tasted good.

I've had a lot more success with baking things lately, I made delicious carrot-zucchini-apple muffins with almonds and coconut, and we even made quite tasty lime bars, but all this is making me eat more carbs & sugar-substitute than I probably should. Oh, and cocoa powder mixed with "sugar" and sprinkled on buttered popcorn is amazing!

SO other than the unexplained stomach weirdness, which I fully intend on sussing out next week, things are going well.

Week 2

I'm backdating this, sorry for any confusion.

Well, week one was pretty blah- it felt like we were eating tasteless baby food, since it was mostly all pureed vegetable soups for the first 5 days or so. It's amazing how much flavor is cut out by not using store-bought stocks and things like cream and wine in soups.

We were definitely having low-blood sugar symptoms (grumpiness, exhaustion), but on the upside, R has been needing a lot less insulin lately (and he has managed to lose 4 pounds too- I don't have a scale so I can't say for myself, but it's not noticeable if I did loose a pound or 2 anyway). I missed knitting over the first weekend because I was feeling icky, though I'm not sure if it was just waking up really low blood-sugar-ey, or having die-off symptoms of the bad bacteria & yeast.

But things are starting to improve now that we're eating meats and the occasional starch (though not together, of course, which is the most frustrating part of meal planning). I actually sat down and wrote out 3 months worth of meals one weekend to make this easier, it has simplified a lot.

I tried my first gluten-and-sugar-free baking experiment this week, which turned out really gross. We just need to go to Coos Head and get xylitol though, then we can have a fake sugar we can actually eat that doesn't taste nasty! Cooking with coconut oil is a challenge though, because it's a solid at room temp here, not a liquid, which makes for interesting side effects. Still figuring things out, but yes Brandy, breakfast veggie scrambles are very tasty weekend breakfast options (and we're smart enough to make leftovers for weekdays too)!

Day 1

Today begins what will surely be a Herculean struggle for us- a very restrictive diet. Basically it cuts out everything tasty, and we are limited to eating vegetables and lean meats in certain combinations. Now don't freak out, we're not trying to lose weight here, it's supposed to help figure out what is wrong with my stomach, and potentially even help make it better. R just got dragged along for the ride. The idea is you clean out the bad bacteria and yeasts and other beasties that have been allowed to flourish due to messing up the good ones with antibiotics, and eating not-so-healthy things (like beer and cookies, yum!).

We've basically eaten up or frozen all the "taboo" foods, but it's still going to be a struggle, particularly getting the balance of the easily-digestible foods right. For example, this morning we had quinoa porridge for breakfast, which is an acceptable grain, but you're supposed to eat mostly vegetables and only a quarter grain, and we certainly didn't do that. Who wants vegetables for breakfast?

Anyway, Stephtacular told me to blog about it, so here it is. I really hope it makes a difference, giving up delicious food!

Oh, and my birthday was pretty good, and the play went really well. I'm excited to get to act with them again in the future.

Really need to post more often, eh?

Happy April, everyone! This winter has flown by, the latter part of it hurried along by a 3 week trip to Costa Rica, and a 5 day trip to visit Victoria in LA. Both trips were wonderful, but very different.

This time in Costa Rica we focused mainly on the northern (touristy) bits of the country, seeing the Arenal Volcano (not currently spewing fiery rocks anymore), Monteverde cloud forest (amazing, I spotted a quetzal!) and the Nicoya peninsula (very laid-back). We also spent a few days in Manuel Antonio, which was monkey-tastic (seriously, close enough to touch), and a very ill-advised night in Palo Verde, the one big failure of my trip planning ($260 + 2 days of traveling + grubby bunk beds + we were lucky not to get heat stroke + K got too sick to do the guided tour-- surely you get the picture). Other than the one bad experience and a few bus mishaps it was a wonderful trip, and my wee bit of Spanish served us well. Also, this is the first time we met up with friends on vacation, and I can definitely say it's a very awesome plan! (Hey A & S- we need to plan a vacation to Kauai- Verne's agreeable!)
I'm trying to put the album up as the bottom-of-blog pictures, but it's being difficult. If you want to see photos, email me.

The knitting has been going well, I finished my Waterloo project: the blanket for my Mom I began in 2008 and quickly gave up, since it was too advanced for my skills (and Sisyphean, being a blanket). I knitted a shawlette/ kerchief while on vacation, and have since finished another one and some hats and cute little toys (like a tiny, tiny piggy and a "Despicable Me" minion.) I am officially on a yarn diet now though, as my yarn stash is getting out of hand. Although it is my birthday in a week, so if you feel the need, I won't chastise you .... ;)

I feel like I haven't worked much this winter, but so far this spring has picked up a bit. I got to work several days this last week, including teaching how to balance chemical equations, which I love! It's one of those rare teaching moments where you get a kid to go from "This sucks, I can't do it, it's too hard!" to "Ohh, now I get it, it's easy!" It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's supremely gratifying. Maybe there's hope for the future after all!

In other news, I'm in a play! A friend informed me of a group of actors who occasionally perform at her church (not having a real theater to use) who needed an extra person for "Our Town." So if anybody wants to go, the performances are the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Come see me on stage! (well, sort of a stage)

That's all for now, I promise to make an effort to post more often though! Off to start knitting myself a birthday crown, later!