Dreams of Self-Subsistency

I have a dream. (One of many!)

To be able to grow my own veggies.

And the following is my attempt at what will hopefully be a functioning, producing kitchen garden. I'll be honest here, I had help making the beds. The first plants (14 young eggplants) are donated. I have sown some seeds according to this plan:


What I have sown so far. Some shoots are already visible!



The plot so far..


No carrot shoots are visible yet. But so far there are already a few kangkongs, tomatoes, possible some lettuce and LOADS of kailan.


Tomato shoots! Wahoooey!


The person who donated these plants also gave me some of his freshly plucked eggplants. Yum.


Little kailan shoots. Even more showed up this morning :-)


Curry leaves plants, also kindly donated. :-)

There are other plants nearer to my kitchen, I'll snap some pics and continue in another post. Insha Allah.

Reading List

Crazy stuff I really want to read and remember and keep organised. Links are just lumped together in no particular order. A lot of it is posted by the knowledgeable folks from Highbrow Paleo.

Possible causes of Anemia

Tea Tree Oil Toxicity (a reminder to myself while doing OCM and treating my cats' superficial wounds at home)

Treating Sinusitis: Quick Fixes & Long-Term Solutions (why oh why do I still get this??)

Problems with Overprescribing Antibiotics (another excellent article from Mark's Daily Apple)

When Biology Refuses to Listen to Logic (sometimes what seems obvious may not be real)

Why Young Children Protest Bedtime (aka an evolutionary argument for attachment parenting?)

NaNoWriMo: Pep Talk by Brandon Sanderson (do the Nike)

Swapping POVs (a guide)

Orthodontic Problems caused by a Too-Soft Diet? (gnaw gnaw gnaw on your bones?)

Growing Seedlings in Eggshells (this is so simple and yet so awesome! solves my labeling problems too! :-))

Roasted Chicken

Cover image taken from novoink.com.

This recipe is adapted from one in Wolfgang Puck's "Makes It Easy" cookbook. As usual, some 'halalifying' was necessary: I substituted the alcohol with a squirt of lime juice and some pomegranate juice in my fridge.

Mama Pongkey's Whole Roasted Garlic Chicken in Herb Sauce

Ingredients for roast:

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped flat leafed parsley/celery shoots
2 tablespoons extra light olive oil (I ran out of extra virgin)
1 whole frying chicken, about 4 pounds

Ingredients for sauce:

1/2 cup pomegranate juice diluted with 1/4 cup water and squirt of lemon juice (I basically had 1/4 cup water, then added about 3 tbs pomegranate juice, squirted in some lemon and topped up to 1/2 cup with water. This is to avoid too much sugars from the fruit juice.)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons salted butter (I ran out of unsalted)
1 tablespoon dried'tarragon' (at least it looked like tarragon. The Iranian guy at the shop didn't know what it was called in English. I bought it anyway. Ha.)
Lime wedges for garnish

Directions:

I preheated the oven to 230 degrees Celcius. I then tossed together the parsley/celery and garlic slices, then eased this mixture in between the skin and meat of the chicken. Then I gave the old bird a good massage with olive oil and a salt & pepper body rub.



I placed the chicken in a pan in the oven lying on its breast, and set the timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes are up, I turned the temperature down to 170 degrees Celcius (I forgot this part, and only turned down the temperature only after 10 minutes!!! Eeek one side will be more tanned than the other. LOL), flipped the bird to its side and turned the timer on for 15 minutes. And repeat for the other side for another 15 minutes. For the last I flipped the bird on its back, and cooked till golden brown, which takes about 30-40 minutes. You'll know the bird is cooked when the juices run clear when the chicken thigh is pierced with a knife, or a thermometer inserted into the thigh reads about 74 degrees Celcius.

Then I transferred the chicken onto a serving platter, taking care to conserve the chicken juices in the pan in another bowl. I heated the pan over high heat, added the pomegranate/lemon juice, and stir and scrape to remove the glazed deposits at the bottom of the pan. Then I add the lime juice and boil to reduce the liquid by half.I added the butter while it is still chilled, cube by cube. Finally I stir in the dried herbs. At this point you are supposed to blend the sauce but honestly I couldn't be bothered. Besides, I like chunky bits in my sauce.

And here is the final result:



It tasted.. good. Mild flavours from the garlic and celery. The tarragon tasted quite smokey in the sauce. Parts of the skin turned out a bit crispy. I think if I roasted the whole chicken at 230 degrees Celcius I could probably achieve crispy roasted chicken. Maybe. Anyway we polished the whole thing off. Would I make this again? I would, but make it even spicier :-) Alhamdulillah.

My So-Called "Beauty/Skincare Regime"

Taken from agelocsite.com.

This is really dedicated to my youngest sister.

Every time we meet, she will comment on my "clear skin". I usually go like 'huh?' In February this year when she asked me about my skin, I replied I haven't washed it for 3 weeks. Yes, I am that bad. But when your dad is in the hospital with a broken back, things like skincare tend to fall by the wayside. Basically I didn't have a clue on skincare. Yes, by that time I had figured out that my skin hates all those weird-sounding chemicals in drugstore skincare brands, so I had graduated to using a relatively cheap organic skincare range. I had noticeably less breakouts then.

A couple of months ago after going Primal she asked again. I replied it was all the saturated fat I was enjoying. I relished the fat from (Aussie/New Zealand) lamb steaks and (organic) chicken skin. I was cooking in butter everyday. I ate organic eggs. I love ghee. I took virgin coconut oil regularly. I also took Chlorella supplement to help detox from all the toxins being released by my fat stores (or so the theory goes). And probiotic capsules regularly, or homemade yoghurt/kimchee.

This week she called me up and asked again, commenting how nice my skin looked when I saw her last week. I said it can't really be my skincare regime as I don't remember when I last washed my face. I 'fessed up and said Primal/Paleo. I told her to eat lots of bone broths, veggies, no wheat, and lots of good fat. I said to ditch the seed oils. And yeah lately when I do pay attention to my skin, I lightly slather virgin coconut oil on my face, paying extra care to some reddish/inflamed areas. I directed her to Mark's Daily Apple and told her to read up. She asked whether I have a copy of the Primal Blueprint. I do, but since we live far apart it might take some time for her to borrow mine.

I am not sure if she will decide to use the recipes, or change her way of eating. But she is investigating, and taking charge of her and her family's health, which is the way it should be.

Diet (4HB?) Update

Emm.. this was baked salmon, with fishcake soup (yeah slightly naughty I know!) and slaw. Iftar in Ramadan.

Along the way, we found our diet morphing into a low-carb version of Primal/Paleo. How did we do this? Basically we started eliminating suspected causes of hubby's joint pains, namely the dozens of conventionally-sourced eggs, and Carotino oil (blend of the healthy red palm oil and bad Omega 6 rich canola oil). Processed foods are to an absolute minimum, that we only eat them when socially we have no choice. We don't really go for cheat meals anymore.

On hubby's side, his stats have improved tremendously. Blood pressure has normalised, from 150/120 to 110/70. HbA1c was 9.7 in Aug, went down to 6.9 by Sept. In June his random blood sugar was between 8.0-14.5mmol/L (145-260mg/dL), nowadays it is 5.8mmol/L (105mg/dL). He started at 132kgs (291 lbs) in June, now he's at 112 kgs (246lbs). Weight loss has slowed down somewhat due to lack of rest (working overtime) & my not being able to cook for about 3 weeks (loooong story). He has been on glucophage and blood pressure meds for a few years already without much improvement before Slow-Carb/Primal/Paleo. His energy levels have went up, and he is down several sizes. I can't remember how many inches lost at the waist, but it should be around 10-12 inches. :-)

I have attained my goal weight, in fact I am now at 53 kgs (116 lbs), my original goal was 55 kgs. Total weight loss, 7 kgs (15 lbs). I have added back small portions of rice once a day, and the occasional fruit. Some days I go on a mini binge of rice, but as long as I don't do that more than 2-3 days in a row I think I am fine. My skin has worsened a bit when I added carbs back, so perhaps I need to titrate down to a lower amount. I have started to exercise a bit more, keeping cardio to once a week, and lifting weights and other forms of body weight exercises plus generally moving more. I feel good eating this way, although from time to time I get cravings. But lately I am not too worried about them, because I know once in a while I can be naughty. Usually this happens when I am with friends who aren't into this way of eating. Hmm, I think in real life I DON'T have any friends who are Primal/Paleo.

So far so good.. insha Allah... :-)

Sugar: the Bitter Truth

Update on Week 5 of 4HB (Slow Carb Diet)

Picture from Anizyn's Blog

Things have slowed down somewhat on the weight loss front. I lost about another kilogram, making total weight loss 4kg. My target is to lose 5kgs, to reach 55kg. So close, yet so far...

But on the other had I am quite pleased with my current weight, which puts my BMI to at about 23.4. If my weight loss stalls, I am happy to stay at 56kg. According to the reading I've done, at one point your body will have reached its ideal weight, and further weight loss will be difficult, and potentially unhealthy. At this point, it would be all right to add back small amounts of carbs during the week. I am going to give it another week before I start adding back carbs. I have lost several inches that I am happy about. I have also started some kettlebell exercises, using a 10kg kettlebell.

I did a lot of fasting last week, replacing the Ramadan days I missed last year, so definitely the fasts helped with the weight loss. Only thing is that I got dehydrated. I have always been bad about drinking water, and hopefully will be able to rectify that. I am making it a rule for me to drink a cup of water each time I set foot in the kitchen. I haven't kept track of how many cups I drink per day, but my chapped lips are definitely thanking me for it. I have also started taking B complex and mineral supplements as well.

My hubby, we have discovered, might be sensitive to arachidonic acid, which is found in eggs and meat. He has some joint pains, which he used to have before, but more frequently lately. So we are cutting down on both eggs and red meat, and he has stopped taking beef bone broth. I am preparing a new batch of chicken bone broth as we speak, using the recipe from Dr. Eades' blog here as a base. I have modified it to include some ginger and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to draw out the nutrients from the bone. Another suspect might be the fact that we switched over to conventional eggs instead of the organic eggs we usually have. It could be either the: increase in egg consumption; or the chemical-laden eggs that is causing the problem. Next week I am switching back to organic eggs and see how it goes.

On the other hand his blood sugar levels have continued to improve, with his random blood sugar now showing him to be pre-diabetic instead of diabetic. He has also started taking aged garlic tablets and green tea flavanol tablets. I tried taking these with ALA, but they proved to be too much for me. I became lightheaded and actually felt the energy being burned really rapidly. So no supplements for me, except for the usual vitamins and minerals.

Ah, yes, the bloodwork results! My hubby's is as usual, not that great, except his blood sugar has improved somewhat. his uric acid is also not too high. Mine is good, just that LDL is a smidgen high. Trigs are low, HDL is high, blood sugar normal, all other parameters normal. Bear in mind this test was taken 1 week into the diet, so I guess not much change can be expected yet. Also the day before we gave blood was Binge Day, LOL. I foresee in the future we might give up Binge Day altogether. Even last week on Binge Day we mostly stayed within the allowed foods, except for 2 small shot glass-sized custard desserts shared between us. We are, insha Allah, going to have another round of tests done 6 months from now.

Today is Binge Day, alhamdulillah, the one day in the week when we are allowed to eat whatever we want. So since we have chicken broth, I am making Mama Pongkey's Chicken Rice. The chicken is browning nicely in the oven, and the rice is simmering in my little claypot on the stove. I also bought 3 small mangosteens to have as dessert. Breakfast today was quite simple, organic hot chocolate with cream and cinnamon. What, no sugar? I guess I am used to it by now. Plus I don't want to spoil the drink with sugar because I'd crave it when I have the same choc drink without sugar during the rest of the week.

Okay my rice is almost done, and after a nice shot of grapefruit juice (ugh! too sour for me!) I am ready to begin my Binge Day proper. :-)