Parts

Today, John, Sarah and I were sitting around discussing body parts. I said, if you have a palm, why isn’t there a word for the back of your hand? This discussion, as most discussions here at our house, continued on to why wasn’t there a name for the back of your knee or the inside of your elbow. The inside of your shoulder is your armpit or axilla, why not names for the rest of these neglected body parts. If you know what they are, please let me know.

FROZEN IN PLACE

TODAY’S WORRY

The other day when I was writing about being too dependent, Jon wrote in saying that getting moving was the hardest part of any task. It made me think about tasks that I have a hard time getting started with. Number 1 would be anything that involves making a phone call. Really, doing things online has been a real blessing for me. Number 2 would be anything that has piled up. If I do my bookkeeping and filing as it arises, I have no problem. Or if I need to clean the countertops in the kitchen, that’s fine. But if I have three weeks of filing to do or the whole house to clean, I am frozen in place. The job seems so big that I can’t seem to get started. Really all it is, after all, is a series of small jobs all glommed together. But sometimes you can’t see the trees for the forest.

Slow Food

A week or so ago, I talked about eating more slowly. But that is not what “slow food” is about. Slow food is food that actually makes you eat more slowly and is low in calories as well. Probably the perfect dinner of slow food would be a whole steamed lobster and an artichoke. No butter allowed! Luckily, the first time I had these two yummy food items, they were served without butter so I find the whole butter experience sort of gilding the lily. It takes a long time to crack open and eat a lobster and quite a bit of time to peel off and eat each leaf of an artichoke to get to the heart. Another great food for slow eating is mussels. Try picking foods that make you work a little.

BLANK

TODAY’S WORRY

Here’s something that really freaks me out. Occasionally, I’ll go to retrieve a bit of information from my brain and all that is in the place where the information should be is a big void. It could be a person’s name, a word I am searching for while talking or just the definition of a word. And I know that I know it. It may come to me later but it may not. Sometimes I can access the information by coming at it sideways. For instance, I can’t remember someone’s name but I can remember the spouse’s name. Then by saying it in my brain, Frank and ……… Smith, the association will make the name pop up. But this is scary to me and I wish I could still access all the information I’ve stored up as easily as I did when I was younger.

peculate and amerce

These are two words which I ran across yesterday. I had no idea what peculate meant and, although I had seen amerce before, I couldn’t dredge it up out of my brain. Peculate sounds like something that chickens do and amerce looks like it should be some sort of corporate abbreviation for American Ce… or perhaps the name of a hospital.

peculate – To embezzle (funds) or engage in embezzlement (dictionary.com)

amerce – To punish by a fine imposed arbitrarily at the discretion of the court (dictionary.com)

Who knew?

Low Fat and Low Carb

No, I’m not going to suggest what would be best for you. My sister, Peggy, follows a low-carb diet and I’m more of a Weight Watchers person what with my starchy bent. But, here’s a dinner for both. In my effort to clean out my freezer of meat products, tonight we are eating Smart Meat, a registered trademark product by King’s Deluxe Foods, and available at Costco. Each box contains four 8 ounce vacuum-sealed portions of trimmed steaks. A portion size is 1/2 steak. Since it’s meat, there are no carbs. Since it is low in fat (9 grams per serving), it has only 165 calories. These are quite tasty and can be easily prepared on a grill.

Another part of dinner will be a recipe from The South Beach Diet book, Surprise South Beach Mashed “Potatoes.” For two people, you take 2 cups of cauliflower florets and cook them until they are soft. Puree or mash them. Add some butter spray (like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter) and they recommend a tablespoon of fat free Half and Half. I usually omit the liquid. Add some salt and pepper and, voila, you have a low fat/low carb potato substitute. Add a green salad or green vegetable plus a glass of red wine and you have a delicious healthy dinner.

SUPER BOWL THOUGHTS

TODAY’S WORRY

On Sunday, like so many other Americans, I watched the Super Bowl. It was the first football game I’ve watched this season. Here are some of my thoughts about it.

I don’t understand why people get so rabid over “their” team. It’s a game. It’s really got nothing to do with you or your self-esteem. Are you some how better because you live in New England now that the Patriots won? Probably you’re just cold.

What’s with the stupid dancing in the end zone or after a play? My brother-in-law, Gary, suggests that points be taken away if you blatantly celebrate. Not a fine. Points. That way, your teammates would be mad at you, the coach would be mad at you, and the fans would go berserk. No way anyone would do it twice. In tennis, if a player is unsportsman-like more than once, he loses points. I think it would work. Good idea, Gary.

I have got to say I loved Paul McCartney. Yeah, he didn’t grab his crotch or pull off anyone’s costume. And he can’t hit the high notes like he used to. But still, he was my favorite Beatle and I think he did a good job.

And finally, I heard on Monday that the second ad for GoDaddy.com was pulled because, in this brave new world of morality police, it was considered too racy. They’ve probably garnered more attention by the removal of the ad than they would have otherwise. Does anyone even know what they were selling? FYI, GoDaddy.com is a vendor of Web site names. You have to get attention somehow.

Farther and further

Here’s another pair of words that people avoid. If farther is the comparative of far; is further the comparative of fur?

According to The American Heritage® Book of English Usage as found on bartleby.com, the following is the correct usage.

“Many writers since the Middle English period have used farther and further interchangeably. A relatively recent rule, however, states that farther should be reserved for physical distance and further for nonphysical, metaphorical advancement. Thus 74 percent of the Usage Panel prefers farther in the sentence If you are planning to drive any farther than Ukiah, you’d better carry chains, whereas 64 percent prefers further in the sentence We won’t be able to answer these questions until we are further along in our research. In many cases, however, it is hard to see the difference. If we speak of a statement that is far from the truth, for example, we should also allow the use of farther in a sentence such as Nothing could be farther from the truth. But Nothing could be further from the truth is so common that it has become a fixed expression.”

Clear?

Vegetarian

In our ongoing attempt to get started on a diet, John and I have decided to eat mostly vegetarian. Of course, first we have to finish off all the meat in the freezer. By vegetarian I mean I’ll eat vegetarian almost all the time (except for some shellfish) and John will eat vegetarian when he is with me. This leaves him free to eat what he wants at work. Sarah gave me a great cookbook for Christmas, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. He’s the guy who does the taste test on the America’s Test Kitchen program on PBS. The vegetarian dishes he makes look absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait to get started!

So what has this got to do with dieting? Well, a diet is actually anything you eat. Right now, my diet is on the too much salt, starch and fat side. By eating vegetarian, I’ll be cutting down on at least the fat. That is, as long as I don’t overdo the cheese. I am trying to eat a healthier diet. Hopefully, weight loss will be a side effect.