Recipe time. I mentioned these the other day and so here, let me share my vices with you.

Chocolate hazelnut little freezer square candy thingies

( Melts in your mouth. And in your hand. Hence the freezer. )

It seems I've joined the juicing brigade. Both of my sisters swear to the health benefits of daily fresh juice drinking, and Macy's had a zillion juice-making machines on display--presumably because it's this year's big holiday gift idea. So today I took the plunge.

( It's big )

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel so good that it's almost like being in love?

I'm having one of them right now. I wish I could pinpoint exactly what's making everything feel so wonderful. What combination of perfect weather, adequate rest, good food, pleasant company, just-so exercise, new ideas, and fortuitous timing makes my brain full of dopamine and oxytocin and serotonin (or, alternatively, connects my consciousness to the universal field of goodness, or whatever)?

There was coffee, and more bike riding than usual. The forecast called for heat, but the weather stopped at perfect breezy warmth. I had a nice leisurely start to my day after about nine hours' sleep. A good visit with my mom at the farmers' market. There was the emergency consumption of a pint of very-ripe raspberries in the form of a bright magenta smoothie on the porch. A zillion fun emails with links to SDCC pictures and videos. Lots of reading and commenting on LJ and DW. Dishes to wash and groceries to put away and good food to prepare. A little bit of bacon. A good audiobook* and a good book-book**.

It's not like anything has really changed much from yesterday. I eat raspberries every chance I get. The weather's been gorgeous for weeks. I get plenty of sleep most weekends...I mean, there is no extraordinary cause that I can identify. And yet, I'm in an extraordinary state. Even Graydie the not-that-stray-anymore cat is feeling it. Normally aloof and outdoors, she's been by several times for hugs and scritches.

Today, the world is beautiful, and I'm at home in it, and life is good. I want to store up this apparently causeless bliss. It might come in handy on a rainy day.



*Science Set Free by Rupert Sheldrake
**Vicious Circle by Mike Carey

I seem to be on a one-food kick. It happens sometimes. I've been making oatcakes for dinner, like, every day.

( Oatcakes )

On an unrelated topic, this new DW slug-URL thing is pretty cool.

Here's something you don't see every day: a drunk post from darkemeralds.

Okay, not, like, super drunk. After the stupidly annoying Saturday I had to spend at work today (two hours that turned into seven), I rode home in the 90 degrees (dear Phoenix and Las Vegas: I'm not complaining! Really!), then had to put every garment I had on into the laundry basket, take a cold shower, and re-do myself in order to go meet my sis for dinner.

I ordered a drink when I got there. "Gin 'n' Juice" was the homey name of the delectable cocktail that tasted of lime, grapefruit, rosemary and...um...something else yummy. Then I ordered another one.

I'm a cheap date. Two drinks and I'm ridiculous. My sister, a long-recovering alcoholic with a keen eye for "problems" was probably beginning to have doubts about my being the immune family member.

But you know what? It was fun. I talked more readily about more things than I usually do, and it probably doesn't hurt me to over-share a bit with my own sister. Right?

I slowly pedaled the ten or so blocks home on traffic-free back streets. Which, okay, Riding Under the Influence. Inadvisable but not the end of the world. And I did combine the gin with positively prodigious amounts of delicious dinner.

Note to self: balance, locomotion and control are pretty much autonomic: the problem is judgment at intersections.

Home without incident. Now for an evening of dumb TV and knitting. And hydration.

I've lost more than 60 pounds and kept it off for a couple of years, but I'm still overweight and I don't want to be. These last 30 pounds have obstinately resisted all my tricks.

The problem comes down to cravings. Starch cravings, to be specific. I'll be in fine shape all day and then bam! I get home from work and turn into a ravening pancake beast. No power in the 'verse can stop me. By the time I come to, I've added several hundred excess calories to my day. ¹

Why do I keep falling into this trap?

( Carbs, cravings, and the pancake monster. )

Yesterday I noticed a bad bitter taste when I ate some yogurt. The container was newly opened, its expiration date way off in the future, and the yogurt smelled perfectly fine. Things like "Oh no! While I was out, someone slipped poison into my yogurt" and "Can we really trust US food safety and labeling standards anymore?" crossed my mind while I waited for stomach pains or seizures.

Nothing happened.

I ate some beef--also fresh and properly handled--and noticed the same nasty taste, somewhere north of grapefruit seeds on the bitterness scale, right at the back of my tongue.

Today I had a honeycrisp apple. Same thing. I started googling, thinking perhaps I've got some neurological disorder. Phantom tastes can be symptoms of diabetes and a couple of other conditions, none of which I have.

Turns out I've got Pine mouth! It comes from eating certain Asian pine nuts, though nobody has figured out exactly how it happens. You eat them, the bitterness develops two days later, and it lasts for up to two weeks.

While I'm grateful not to have a terrible neurological disorder or a bad case of Sneaky Paranoid Poisoning, I'm a little annoyed that all my food is going to taste like the bitterest bitterness that ever biled for the next two weeks.

And I guess I'll be making my pesto with walnuts in the future.

I've discovered a new pleasure: riding a bike for for four or five miles in the sunshine with a pannier full of fresh basil. I dunno about anyone else, but fresh basil to me is like the most wonderful drug.

Here's the salad I've been living on for days:

2 big handfuls of mixed baby greens
about 6 big fresh basil leaves, cut up
1 ounce roasted and salted Marcona almonds
3 large ripe strawberries, sliced
half a cup of raspberries
2 tablespoons balsamic-mustard-blue-cheese vinaigrette*

The salty-sweet-pungent-sour-astringent flavor combination, the soft-crispy-crunchy textures, and the beautiful red-green-brown-purple-white colors make this a complete winner. If I do say so myself as invented it.

*1 part balsamic vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, a spoonful or two of Dijon mustard, dill weed, salt, pepper, and crumbled Danish blue cheese, shaken up together.

I never quite realize how much stress I'm under until I get a break from it (or until I start getting overdraft notices, take your pick). I took Friday off to make the three-day holiday weekend into four, and oh, the sense of healing!

( Rich days )

¹I'm enjoying it. It's the kind of slow-unfolding story with slow-building suspense that I particularly admire.
²This one in this wool.
³Ironically, we were discussing writer's block.
⁴I don't even get to work at 8:30
⁵It was fabulous, pan-fried in a bit of butter and balsamic vinegar with dill and salt.