German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan frosting
"You are really great at your job, Adam. You think things through and try to make the wisest decisions. I totally admire that in you. :) Do what ever you think is best. I am behind you 100%."
So, I rejoice over my weight loss, dropping to 239.8 pounds.
Now I lament the smidgen of points I've lossed for my daily counts.
I've seen friends go through this, I can deal, too.
Old daily count: 28-33
New daily count: 26-31
It's two frickin points lost per day. Shouldn't be that difficult, right? Know who I feel like? Read the Title did you??
ONE pointy-wointy! Bwa Ha Ha Ha!
TWO point-wointies! Bwa HA HA ha ha ha!
Ah, Count. Count my points for me would you?
Cake Update. *sigh*
German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan frosting for Duane's 41st.
It's a 4-layer cake (2 cake pans cooled and sliced horizontally to make 4 layers.) But this cake batter didn't rise very far. If at all. It cooked thoroughly. Beautifully in fact. The layers just couldn't get it up, as it were. I have a metric buttload of coconut-pecan frosting, and about 1/2 the cake I need. I double checked the recipe, and I know I didn't goof... There's absolutely no hortizontal slicing option here... And I bought that swank new bread knife just for the occasion, too. Grr.
Quick Solution? I baked another layer. 1/2'd the recipe. I'll have 3 layers of semi-densely chocolately goodness and *thick* layers of coconut-pecan frosting.
I'm a fan of ridiculously rich cakes (though not huge on dense ones), so I say I'm about 75/25 on the satisfaction scale for this cake so far. A very cool thing about it all is I'm using the original Regal Ware cake pan with handled-cover in which my Mom presented every kid's birthday cake in our family for near 2 decades. I sort of feel like I grew up and am now making cakes for others with the "magic cover effect". You store the cake in there for a while, and when it's time to serve, you whip that cover off and stick it over your face and take a deep, long breath. Sugary, cakey nirvana... Or contact sugar high, your choice.
At home on a Friday, putting together a schedule to get this stuff done today.
What stuff? The stuff birthdays are made of, baby!
1. Scour kitchen (it really needs it, and I hate baking in cluttered mess.)
2. Pick up final ingredients for cake.
3. Put cocoa/espresso powder concoction on for it's boil, and cooling.
4. Put laundry in.
5. Mix cake batter, bake, get to cooling to room temperature.
6. Get frosting going, get to cooling to room temperature.
7. Get to Barnes & Noble for heavy weight wrapping paper.
8. Put laundry in drier.
9. Wrap LARGE present...not sayin yet in case Mr. Bryant is peeking here...
10. Assemble/frost a 4-layer cake....keep frosting...finish frosting.
11. Have a drink. Shower.
12. Show off cake to Duane.
13. Watch Duane upwrap present - grin mightily.
14. Head to Webb ranch for great pumpkin hunt with Duane.
15. Head to SJ to party with Mr. Jameson.
Bask.
Since my last entry we've jumped from Indian Summer to wet Fall, I've been plotting Duane's birthday cake and gifts, had a nice brunch wtih Mom at Alice's Restaurant, but nothing too out of the ordinary beyond that.
Had my monthly weigh in this morning and I'm gonna go over myy goal list from 9/19/04:
9/19 weight: ~250
10/20 weight: 239.8
appox loss: ~10 pounds
Ultimate objective: 210. Again, worry about that when you're 220.
Nutrional Objectives:
--Stay on Plan (Done - only faltering twice, both occurences were choices.)
--Try 1-3 new recipees each week (Bad here, I've been sticking to healthy routines but not trying new things. Need to focus more on this to avoid food boredom which has led to binge eating in the past.)
--Take lunch to work more often (Bad here as there's been no new recipee leftovers to take to work.)
Exercise Objectives:
Due to foot issues, I've been on one week, off the next as the foot repairs.
The weather has turned cold/wet, so bike rides are a thing of the past for now.
Started going to the gym approximately 3x week - weights/cardio. Haven't been for the last week due to foot fun. Next podiatrist trip is next Wednesday, so I'll visit the gym 2-3 times before that.
Spiritual Objectives:
--Listen more often.
--Rediscover the candle flame. Foster the new energy in the house.
--Read "Ramtha"
Haven't done much spiritually here. It hasn't been a part of my everyday world, like my energies have been focused on the mundane physical aspects of my life (food/exercise). I do want to "zen" now and then, and reap the benefits of the energy flows, so this is a continued priority for me.
All in all, I'm drop-dead shocked about my weight loss. I weighed myself this AM and then sat down and stared a while. Ever been in shock? When I ripped my hand open once in a high schools sporting accident I was in the ER getting sewn up and the eyes starting watering like a good heavy cry but there was no sobbing or other outward emotional purge. I just starting "leaking" as it were. Same thing here. I was very very happy, but it seemed to be on a more subconscious level. The more the weight loss sinks in, though, the more it's coming into a conscious reality for me. It really is making me happy. I'm doing it. I'm on my way.
"Hey Doc? Wuz it mean when, ya know, when fire shoots out yer dick?"
Pause.
"You mean you're experiencing a burning sensation?"
"No! I mean when I take a pee, I burn my house down!"
Now, I have contracted no communicable diseases, but I've been to the foot doctor. And the question I asked was "Have *you* ever been fire walking?" He laughed for a minute, literally wiped his eyes, and said, "You want pain killers this time?" I opted out as I'm not having trouble sleeping with this foot, and ice helps at the end of a say, as does chasing 1200 mg of Ibuprofen with a glass of wine. Whee!
Christopher Reeve passed away Sunday, October 9th from cardiac arrest. He'd been in a coma since Saturday night due to complications of an infection common to those suffering from paralysis.
Though he spent a great deal of his career trying to "Escape the Cape" and prove to the world he could do more than play Superman, watching Superman The Movie countless times as a child on an old VCR tape helped me pursue my childhood dreaming. Dreaming that continues today. Since his accident he's lobbied for increased patients rights and stem cell research, and continued to win acting awards. I learned only after his passing that he won an Actor's Guild Award for portraying the lead role in a televsion reprisal of one of my favorite films, Rear Window. I will soon watch this film and remember him.
With Love and Light, Christopher...
Adam
I've been on plan for ~3.5 weeks, my first monthly weigh in is this week.
The first 3 weeks were without exercise due to the foot, and I went to the gym 3 times in the last week (2 times lifting weight, 2 times with cardio). Going to the foot doctor again this morning, so exercise of the cardio kind is out for another week, but will be doing some yoga to keep some muscle strenth active.
Feeling really good about the food thing, not so thrilled about being in pain again.
2 parts Vodka
1 part Amaretto
added a little sugar water
jesus, a sweet kick-in-the-ass
where's the floor?
Have you ever stopped and wondered that we take note when we feel bad, but rarely when we feel good? I mean people will always stop and chat about what an awful day at work it is, or how tired they are, or if they feel sick. How often do they stop you, look you in the eye and say, "I feel great!" or "I'm having the best day!" In large part I think it's because feeling good is the baseline state for humans, and as a result feeling good is no big deal - it's the state we all want to stay in. But feeling bad is something that arises from any number of outside stressors that are a part of our daliy lives, and talking about them makes them easier to deal with. Now I'm not saying anything as trite as "rid yourself of stress and feel joy!" as that's something we all know we should/could/can do, but life does go on. I've just seen in myself that I spend more time noticing when I feel badly, rather than stopping and looking around at my world and noticing that I'm doing good. This may be me smelling the roses as for the first time in a month my foot isn't in either exruciating or at least annoying pain, but I also slept really well last night, am on program food wise, and am just enjoying the onset of Fall. Even with the normal stressors in my life, I feel like noticing when they're *not* affecting me, rather than wallowing in their effect when they're in my face.
On plan now for 2 weeks. Feeling good about it! It's been surprisingly easy.
Nutrtional objectives:
--stay the course
--save money, bring food to work
Exercise objectives:
--foot is virtually pain free, it's colder out so it's time for some bundled Fall bike rides
--visit the gym Tues/Thurs this week
Spiritual objectves:
--continue reading A Dweller On Two Planets, Phylos' introduction is next
Is my bane. It's killed the last several begonias I've brought home, and now it has infested my black-stemmed hydrangea. The Sunset bible recommends chemical agents I can't identify, and the option for organic growers is to spray affected leaves with strong jets of water early in the day. The water spraying didn't work with the begonias...
Damnit