The next MMP

Whoa, wait … did someone try to eat our Taters?

Er, anyway. G’mornin’ and all that. The weekend is almost here again (wheee!) and I could already do with a good catch-up on the sleep thing. I’m not quite operating on a deficit, but I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep last night for reasons unknown. I hate when that happens; the pillows don’t feel as comfortable, you’re too hot or too cold, you’re itchy, and every little sound bothers you. Gah! I did eventually nod off though, probably around 2am, so I got about 4.5 hours in.

You know what’s odd? Besides Drew Carey hosting The Price Is Right, I mean. When you’ve never been on a serious diet before and you try and buckle down and stick to it the first time, you start thinking about eating things you may never have even considered before. Or I do, at least. For example, at the supermarket this morning, where I generally go every morning for a bit of snack food and my morning coffee, I was considering something I could get that was low calorie and still might be nice to eat. You know, something with a flavour that isn’t usually reserved for describing shipping supplies. I thought about what sort of things you usually hear about people eating when they’re trying to lose weight. The first thing I thought of was cottage cheese. (Having dismissed yogurt because I was already aware of that; it wasn’t what I was looking at this point.)

Now, the last time I tried cottage cheese – which, to be fair, was over 20 years ago – I seem to recall that it was rather bland, and had a texture that was almost, but not entirely unlike bits of condensed cream of mushroom soup before you add the water. Yet, in spite of the grossness of the simile, I found myself growing curious. It’s cheese, I thought to myself. It can’t be that low in calories. But I bought out a tub and looked at the nutrition label. Whoa! 88 calories per 100g for the fat-free stuff. That’s, like … low. But I hesitated. I mean, it’s cottage cheese. What do you do with it? Eat it plain? Dip celery in it? Stare at its milky-white lumpiness until you lose your appetite?

Ultimately I bought some lite spinach & feta cream cheese and some celery. The cream cheese is only 2 calories per gram – still really low for a cheese product, and as I’ve discovered it tastes quite good on celery. And celery … well, that’s about as close as you can get to a naturally occurring 0-calorie food. In fact, I am convinced that celery is nature’s cracker. It is of little worth on its own, but it makes a good vehicle for other, better foods.

I am still perversely intrigued by the cottage cheese, though. I just wish they sold containers smaller than 500ml. That’s a lot of cottage cheese.

Mika - It means that she is the source of that heinous sound. She is the one they hired to record it. And that means … no. I shouldn’t say any more. You’ll need some plausible deniability. Speaking of bananas, I love absurdist humour, and was even involved in writing some stories (scroll down to “DragonLord” – yes, that was my alias back then) in that vein. Well, not, strictly speaking, inside a vein, although veins – mine, mostly – were very indirectly involved. That was generally around the early-mid 90s. They’re not very good stories, but there they are anyway. You may choose to read or smoke them as needed depending on symptoms.

[h]Heff** - Wait. LOUNE screws in light bulbs? Surely that must be quite uncomfortable…

Mindy, can you maybe recommend a coupla stories that you like best to read from that link? I don’t know if I just wanna start plowing through it but I’d love to read some. Gimme a few names!

ETA: Mindy, I am stupid - you did mention one. Will read it.

HeffaRoo - I meant that my source for free DownLoadable audio books is Unabridged.com, and they only give memberships to persons belonging to State libraries catering to the legally blind - so unless you are (legally) blind, you’re out of luck.

hsm

Silly, you put Bacon Salt on it.

I usually like it with salt and pepper, maybe a couple slices of fresh tomato. I also like to have something crunchy with it, like crackers or chips but you have to be careful with that if you’re dieting. Sometimes I’ll have pickles with it. But I’ve grown up eating cottage cheese, it was often a side dish at meals, so it’s taste and appearance are not strange to me.

You might try looking for the small single serving tubs that are available now. Some of them have fruit added. Breakstone’s has little tubs with a tiny dish of some sort of fruit attached so you can either mix them all together or take a spoonful of cottage cheese and dip it into the fruit. I usually like my cottage cheese savory but I like to get these tubs every once in a while.

Don’t fear the cottage cheese.

That is my favorite candy. I get a couple of boxes of it every year for Christmas.

Magic Eyes American Gods is a great book. I’ve read all of Gaiman’s stuff, and highly recommend it. Make sure you read its sequel.

Hey, has anyone heard from BooFae lately? I see on the news that there is a lot of flooding in England.

^
| 9 posts above you…

[QUOTE=Sean Factotum

Magic Eyes American Gods is a great book. I’ve read all of Gaiman’s stuff, and highly recommend it. Make sure you read its sequel.

[/QUOTE]

As we speak (or write, or…) Anansi Boys sits on my bedside table, about 2/3 finished.

Mahvelous!

Mindfield I’m dieting too, well, looking at it more as a lifestyle change, going great for the most part. Anyway about cheese. I love cheese and bread. Those are my two weaknesses.

I love cottage cheese. I like to eat it plain, or sometimes I dip the ritz crackers from one of the 100 calorie packs in there. I also like carrots dipped in there. Hubby thinks I’m nuts for that one though, lol. People at work put fruit in their cottage cheese, but that doesn’t appeal to me. At. All.

If you are looking for a spreadable cheese, I like the Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese. It’s kinda like a cream cheese and each wedge is only 35 calories. I think they are 1 oz wedges too.

I was going to comment on something else, but don’t remember what…I’m too young for my mind to be going. Ack!

I love Botan rice candy, too. My aunt and uncle used to buy it for me. Now I have to trek to one of the Asian grocery stores and get it for myself. Sob.

rosie, all of you look lovely.
Best Friend just woke me up out of a totally unproductive dream about trying to wrap my feet in plastic and hockey tape so I could walk through a haunted graveyard. It was exactly as frustrating as doing anything like typing or tying parcels is in dreams. Whyinhell plastic keeps out ghosts I have no idea.

I was grateful to be awake.
Today I should do the laundry, pack up more books, and go to work. I want to go maternity pants shopping, because my last loose-enough pair of pants isn’t really fitting anymore. I should just alter some pants, but my sewing desk is packed up. :rolleyes: :slight_smile: Argh.

It’s the Jazz Festival tonight, so there’ll be 75,000 people on my street tonight, swelling to 200,000 by Saturday. Shoot me now.

Tea.

How many consultants does it take to change a light bulb?

I’ll have an estimate for you a week from Monday.

Thank you. I’ll be here all week. Try the chicken it’s to die for. Don’t forget to tip the waitstaff.

BioRosie I didn’t look at the picture til this mornin’ cause I was too tahrd to click on links last night. OOOOOHHHHH… everybody is so purty and shiny! I like those shiny red dresses and sparkly dangly earrings!

Special1 heh. I learn more and more about beer everyday too! You’d think I’d get sick of it but right now as we speak, beerverages are a’chillin’ in my beerator.

doggio have a good vacation! Good luck on the job thingy.

Speaking of job thingys, I got a call a little while ago from a place I had applied to probably five months ago. Anywho, just for the heck of it I set up an interview at nine a.m. August 1st. It’s at a Youth Detention Center. Yeah, I know, I’m employed right now but heck, it’s nice to be asked. I might even like workin’ with those little delinquents. :smiley:

Ok, I need to get dressed. No, I am not sittin’ here nekkid, I’m wearin’ a nightshirt and my drawers (no soda in ‘em though). I’m meetin’ ol’ y’all know who for lunch in a little while. We’re goin’ to the good all you can eat pizza buffet. They have pizza, sallit, lasagna, some other type of pasta and dessert stuff. The price is super reasonable, $4.95 and includes your drink. Not too shabby.

Alright, off to garb myself. Later Y’all!

ETA: LiLi I apologize for bein’ a little out of it, but when’s the big move to the new apartment?

How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but the light bulb has to really want to change!

How many Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, Californians screw in hot tubs, not in light bulbs.

I sense a veritable deluge of lightbulb jokes approaching… :eek:

Morning, all. I ended up being bad and going to bed last night without finishing the Job That Must Be Finished because I felt like total crap. Then I managed to drag myself out this morning earlier than I wanted but later than I intended and got it done, but I still feel somewhat like crap, so am planning to do nothing else today if I can help it.

Mork, I like cottage cheese mixed with chunks of fresh melon. Cantaloupe and watermelon are both delicious with it, and that keeps it from being so bland. When no fresh melons are available, I’ve been known to eat it with canned pear or peaches, but that’s not as good. The cottage cheese itself not only low calorie but surprisingly filling, though, so try mixing it with something and you might be surprised. I absolutely hated it growing up, but have gradually developed a taste for it. But still not by itself.

I’m going to go do something now that requires even less energy than reading the MMP.

You passed the test.
Because, you know, it would kill me to admit I missed her post completely.

How many little old ladies does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just sit here in the dark…”

Great picture, Rosie! I picked you out straightaway. You all look so happy and excited! Those outfits are a bit…red…aren’t they?

I’m going to the Springer Opera House today for a tour with Librarian Friend and her guests. Even though I used to work there in the box office and did many shows there, I haven’t been in there since they did a bunch of renovations. I’m anxious to see it.

I didn’t like cottage cheese growing up, either, but I like it now. I can eat it by itself or with fruit. Mr SCL likes it with olives. Ew. I like olives, but that just doesn’t sound like a taste combination I want to try.

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?
How many can you afford?

I like red. I apporve of large amounts of red.

My bedroom is red.

Well, my bedroom right now is red. Next Wednesday it will mysteriously change to gray without any painting.

swampy, we’re moving on Wednesday. A great deal of the packing has been done. Mostly I’m just shovelling stuff into a few more boxes. The hard part will be packing up the kitchen on Monday and Tuesday. Because I have starvation neuroses or something, and we always have way too much food.

Hah! I am going maternity-pants-shopping instead of to the laundromat! I’ll do the laundry tomorrow, after I get stuck with needles at the doctor’s.

Mika - The prolific ones – especially Milky Puppy (who sadly passed away from cancer in August '04) and The Finn – are always good for a laugh. Corn Syrup was a bit too out there at times for my tastes – but he was pretty out there in person, too, but in a sedate kind of way – still, he submitted his share to the YIP 'zine. Persephone (whom Jeff/Milky married shortly before he passed on) was pretty funny, too.

McUNE - Yeah, the lifestyle change is where I’m aiming with this too, on the grounds that it’s the only reasonable way to both lose weight and keep it off in the long term. Fad/theme diets just don’t work for me because they require radical changes that, for me at least, are non-sustainable in the long term, which really doesn’t do me any good. I mean, you can’t go on Atkins, for example, and then when you’ve reached your target weight, just revert back. Not without even more (if different) changes. Plus, there are too many things I like that have lots of carbs, so Atkins just ain’t happening for me. They have Laughing Cow cheese at my work-local supermarket, but I tend to avoid the processed cheeses (except cream cheese) mainly on account o’ I just don’t much care for them. I like cheese slices in grilled cheese or on burgers, but that’s really about it. Eatin’ cheese (that is, cheese that I’ll eat plain just as soon as on/in something) is much preferred, and cream cheese when the occasion calls for dippin’ or spreadin’. Cottage is a whole new thing for me. I think I’d avoid the crackers though, even though it sounds intriguing, because crackers are typically between 4:1 and 5:1 on the calorie:serving scale, which sort of negates some of the reason you’re eating cottage cheese (or similar low cal foods) to begin with. Ideally, I want to find individual items or combinations of items that are low in calories all around, yet either still taste good on their own or can be made to taste good with the addition of something else low-cal (like spices or fruit or whatever). Cottage cheese is just striking me more and more as a good base for something. I’m not sure what yet. Just something. Or who knows – maybe by itself.

Wile E - Bacon salt! Bacony cottage cheese! The power of bacon and bacon-like products. Actually, that may not sound half bad spread on a bagel with some tomato and lettuce. A BSLTCC. What an awkward acronym. And why is awkward such an awkward word to spell? But I digress. They did have 4-packs of single-serve tubs, but there were only two varieties: One with fruit mixed in, and one was some kind of tomatoey concoction. Until I’ve experimented to find out which way I like it best (if indeed I end up liking it at all) I’m going to avoid those pre-mixed ones. I also notice they seem to come in various levels of milk fat content – fat-free, 1%, 4%, 10%, with respectively higher (though not dramatically) calorie content. Fat-free seems ideal, but I worry that the 10% might be the stuff that tastes good and the fat-free is the one that tastes like seat cushion.

Tigs - Melon. For some reason that sounds odd – though perhaps that’s because I’ve never really pictured melons of any sort as the primary ingredient in anything. I do love melons, though.

Snakes - Ooh, olives! That doesn’t sound half bad. I like olives. Except they’re high in calories. But maybe just two or three, sliced thin…

Damn you people! You’re making me really want some cottage cheese, now.

rosie, those dresses look awesome. Oohh, shiny.

Neil Gaiman! I just finished reading Neverwhere yesterday. And I looooooooove his Sandman series. American Gods was good too.

I ended up crashing at a friend’s place yesterday because the thunderstorm caught me by surprise. Lovely weather today, though. If my student calls in and tells me he’s decided to go see his favorite soccer team (he told me he might) then I’m just going to skip over to the beach.

ETA: I haven’t had cottage cheese in years. Now I’m suddenly curious as to whether I’m remembering the taste correctly.

Rosie dear, I found it! (fire danger post)

Hey, all! It’s taken me a long time to get to the bottom of things here what with work interferring and all. :stuck_out_tongue:

ana, I will refrain from snerking along with the crowd about your Shasta post. But, well, snerk!! Anyhoo, just wondering if Boo is a Rag Doll.

rosie, all the gals look like they are having a wonderful time.

mork, I like cottage cheese with chopped onion and bell pepper. If you use red and green peppers, it makes the cc all festive looking and is quite tastey. Chopped chives are also very good with cc.

mbg, I listened to Anasi’s Boys on tape. It was interesting.

Going off to check bobbio’s link cause I missed it, too.

Tupug

BBBobbio, I am sure there are lots of firemen out there who WISH they had that kind of problem!!!

Noor has the all-clear from the doctor - she will probably continue to have looser, more frequent motions for the next week until her intestines recover properly - apparently, this kind of infection knocks out the viliae (sp?) in the intestines, leaving the intestine walls smooth and unable to properly absorb what they have to, so it will take a little while for the viliae to regenerate and for Noor to get back to normal. Doctor’s advice is to continue lactose-free formula till Sunday, then go back to half-strength regular formula, before gradually (over the course of 3-4 days) increasing to regular full-strength formula. Gah - I am soooo sick of this sh*t! The only light note was this morning, when hubby was feeding Noor, she had a gas-powered bowel movement that shot mushy stuff right up the back of her nappy and out the legs and all over hubby (who was fortunately just wearing his underwear)! :stuck_out_tongue: Hubby said it sounded like a toy machine gun going off! Made me laugh, it did!!! :smiley:

I gotta say that cottage cheese gives me Pritikin flashbacks! But I have found it very useful when making baked cheesecake a la Heston Blumenthal. Only problem is they don’t sell smooth cottage cheese here, so I have to press the darn stuff through a sieve first - grrrrr!