stormy weather piglet

stormy weather piglet
Originally uploaded by ravaj.

the thing is - battersea power station is not near battersea bridge at all. for some reason battersea power station is closer to chels*** bridge. battersea power station is one of my favourite buildings in london. here, piglet and i are pondering, as we look out from battersea bridge.

the family curse

having posted the pic of magic hat celebrating, not only have qpr lost 4 out of 5 games in november, but kevin did his hamstring on saturday and is out for a couple of weeks. i'm not quite sure, but i think noam sponsored part of his kit (boots?) this season in memory of ahf. previous sponsorees have been injured, dropped, sold or they retired. perish the thought but perhaps we should start following our rivals instead :-)

another great talent we used to have was that of breaking droughts. all we had to do was to put on a new pair of espadrilles and go out for a walk - rain would begin to fall as soon as we were far enough from shelter to ensure the total ruin of said shoes. my mother made it rain in palm springs. my favourite memory, though, is of a sultry summer night in manhattan. we were walking along 5th avenue in our little sundresses and lovely rope-soled shoes when the drops began to fall. mummy grabbed the baby and a cab, and left us with our father to walk back to the hotel. it rained so hard that it blasted the streets clean. we got that kind of soaked that it doesn't matter any more, and we took off our ruined footwear and danced along the pavement. we did the snoopy dance - utter joy. then daddy wanted to go into the doubleday bookstore, but we had to stand on the mat by the door because they said we were too wet to come in. it was a horsehair mat, and prickled my feet. cannot believe that must be over 30 years ago. ouch.

away at home park

gallen has scored
Originally uploaded by ravaj.

after all the world cup qualifying shenanigans it is finally back to league play and qpr go down to plymouth on saturday. hoping to find similarly joyous pix of magic hat online soon after 5 pm uk time.

uuuuu rrrrr's

ps the thing is - a picture like this really makes me feel happy.

magnificent aunts & aunties

in honour of the fact that i have recently discovered i am to become an aunt next spring, i present to you an arbitrary list of noted exemplars:

auntie beeb aka the bbc
auntie em
t.s.eliot's aunt helen
aunt jemima
aunt julia and the scriptwriter
paddington's aunt lucy (did you know that in peru his name, or possibly his uncle's name was pastuso?)
auntie mame
spiderman's aunt may
creating an edible version of a diabetic banana chocolate parfait - aunt runner

and last but not least my darling auntie dorrit!

yippee - phase two!

14 days gone by and today i am allowed to eat fruit again plus terribly healthy grainy breads and rice and pasta and cereal. the plumbers were here so i never made it to the supermarket to find the banana of my dreams. however, we did have a fascinating conversation about my boxing gloves:

'you box?'
'i have a friend who's going to teach me a bit.'
'know anything about boxing?'
'maybe a bit.'
'my grandfather was a famous boxer.'
'yeah? whatsis name?'
'rocky graziano. on my mother's side'
'yeah. i heard of him.'

like i said - fascinating. but i did have cereal for brunch, and was amazed how clearly i could taste the dried fruit in it.

nu - phase two is to be maintained until target weight is reached. my definition of phase two? learning to be on the diet without talking about it all the time to everyone:

'cannot eat that sorry i am on the south beach diet fish or insulin y'know said my doctor i mean i've been a vegetarian almost all my life but apparently the choice between my health or the health of a fish should be an easy one although i am still working on that issue with my therapist o no of course i don't mind if you eat a cookie right in front of me i am a mature adult i could eat one if i wanted it is just that i choose not to because that is the healthy thing to do no i am not crying at the sight of that cheesecake piece i am on the south beach diet you see so i am not allowed to look at that piece of pie because i am going to be healthy and pick up some celery instead did you know that you lose weight when you eat celery because it takes more calories to digest than are in it to start with so all you have to do is eat only celery of course the problem with that is that it is celery that you have to eat perhaps i could have a sip of that margerita no no i am strong and healthy and diabetic and on the south beach diet' etc ad nauseam

thank goodness qpr are playing again soon ... uuuuu rrrrr's

south beach diet day whatever

did i mention that when i cooked my first fishy food all the smoke alarms in my flat kept going off? a tribute to the miracle perhaps?

i have now lost all desire to eat anything really. however, having paid for a new glucometer and test strips, and having found out that my insurance does not cover them, i am making bloody good use of said instruments. have to keep an eye out for low blood sugar levels, and then not buy peppermint patties for recovery purposes only :-)

not to mention that i forgot to weigh myself at the beginning, mainly because i do not possess a set of scales :-)

meanwhile, all anyone can talk to me about is food. how is the diet going? i have a great recipe for fake mashed potatoes/everything soup/lobster in only 20 minutes! when my friend/cousin/babysitter/ex/fencing team-mate tried the diet s/he lost loads of weight/hated it/grew a second head. have you tried liberian goat beans - i hear they make you less gassy than cauliflower and are much prized by menopausal korean women!

*sigh* and d. wonders why i seem to be watching so many comedy dvds at the moment (little britain 2nd series, not the nine o'clock news & catherine tate) ...

piglet at old faithful

piglet at old faithful
Originally uploaded by ravaj.

piglet and i were seated on the front bench waiting for old faithful to blow. i started talking with the little girl next to me, who was from some far-flung american state. "you have an accent!" she said to me. "no i don't," i replied, "you do!" "i do?" she said, and, with great joy, she ran over to her daddy calling out, "i have an accent! i have an accent!"

south beach diet day 3

so here's the deal: after 30 odd years of being a vegetarian, although i only gave up fish about 12 years ago, my doctor says to me that my diabetes meds are maxed out and i should try the south beach diet since many of her diabetic patients have reduced their meds through doing it. but one cannot do it as a vegetarian. i just won't eat meat, but wavered a little about fish. then she gives me the choice: fish, or insulin. you'd think that this would be an easy choice. it is not an easy choice. apart from the fact that after passing for all these years, i might actually have to decide whether or not to be kosher (yes for now); there is also the guilt, the taboo, the principle, the loss of integrity. on the other hand, as my mother said - quatsch! (german for 'bollox!') fish aren't cuddly! in september, when i went home for the stone-setting, she made plaice for me my first night there, and insisted i try it. it tasted very fishy, and full of guilt & taboo. last month, when she came to visit me, i ordered salmon at every restaurant in which we ate, and a tuna melt at the diner. less guilt, but still some indigestion. gosh i do like salmon. i always have. it was one of the major reasons i decided i could be a rabbi, since in those days it was served in one form or another at every lifecycle occasion. meanwhile, i had not yet begun the diet.

this week i ran out of excuses. the fact that every single thing i love most to eat is now totally banned for 2 weeks - not naughty things, but all fruit, even healthy bread, and potatoes :-( - is utterly depressing. nevertheless, i had told so many people i was going to do it that i really had to have a go. so tuesday evening found me trolling through the supermarket, and filling my trolley with new and different things. an awful lot of green stuff, the kind i often buy a small amount of with the best intentions and then have to throw away when it goes brown and starts to become liquid. an awful lot of stuff that has to have something done to it - slicing, peeling, cooking - before it is palatable. an awful lot of ersatz stuff - i can't believe that i had to buy i can't believe it's not butter spray. i could not bear the sight of cottage cheese, but did buy my first pot of skim milk ricotta cheese. and, possibly for the first time in my life, i bought a fillet of salmon.

the next day was wednesday, and my first big test. in the afternoon, there are always piles of fresh, delicious bagels awaiting the students for snack before classes begin. i decided not to arrive until after the bagels were put away. nevertheless, it appeared that each child walking past me had hands filled with leftover halloween candy and a lollipop in each corner of its mouth. i began to practice with a batmitzvah student, and became convinced that someone was frying latkes in the synagogue kitchen. o dear - an olfactory hallucination. after class i ran home and inhaled the latest of several giant bowls of salad liberally drizzled with carb solutions dressing. i then returned for a committee meeting, and someone brought snacks: leftover halloween candy and cheese puffs and a bottle of wine. i am very grumpy.

today, it just seemed easier not to eat at all (except for a glass of skimmed milk in the morning to persuade my body it was being fed so it didn't lock down into starvation mode). and then ... all ye who know and love me please sit down and do not faint ... for dinner tonight i made myself broiled salmon with sauteed spinach and garlic. and there is salmon left for shabbat dinner tomorrow!

the only problem is the amount of washing-up i have to do. later ...

wish i'd said that!

talking to d on the phone she said for her being late was a chronic malady. i pretended to mishear and said, "melody?" she said, "no, that would be a late-motif!" bloody brilliant.