Waist Management

I suppose I was lucky to maintain roughly the same weight for almost 40 years. I was never slim - and have never been athletic - but there’s something to be said for consistency. So when I complained to my doctor (kinda chubby, so he made me feel thinner) that I’d been taking a 36 waist in pants since high school and recently had to go up an inch, he retorted “I don’t want to hear about it.” “Do you have a particular weakness?” I asked him. “Yeah,” he replied, “food.” That pretty much sums it up.

Things definitely got out of hand a year ago. First I was laid up with a broken ankle all summer, which effectively kept me from exercising for almost 3 months. Then last Christmas we got the bright idea to make cookies to send to people – and of course made a couple batches for ourselves. And then a couple more. 
 
I’ve never really recovered from that double punch, and even the 37s that Bean and Lands End thoughtfully provide (why do most stores skip odd sizes after 36?) have begun to feel tight – bad news with the holidays kicking off - and so I’ve hauled the Nordic Track out of storage. We’ve had that contraption for 20 years – Beth affectionately calls it “the torture machine” – and it keeps on trackin’.

My purpose here, however, is not to lament my condition but rather celebrate its cause.

Anyone who cooks (it being my role in this house) knows that the true value of the Internet lies in providing access to recipes. There have to be a gazillion of ’em up there, and they render printed cookbooks practically obsolete. Don't know where to begin? Just to go Cookthink, plug in what you’ve got sitting in the fridge, and it’ll give you recipes.

When I first started blog-surfing and came upon food blogs, it was like accessing a whole library of digital cookbooks. I landed on Sapid & Sweet shortly after it started and found a recipe for chick-pea fries, now firmly entrenched in my repertoire. The list of that poster’s favorite blogs led me to Smitten Kitchen and a foolproof recipe for jalapeño-cheddar scones. Stumbling on “what megan’s making...” provided a recipe for baked pasta with sausage that I found to be a step beyond Mark Bittman’s one for baked ziti that I had almost committed to, and it was so good that we didn’t mind having leftovers twice. But Megan was also making chocolate-chip pumpkin bread, and although I had managed to ignore most dessert items I came across (I’m more of a cook than a baker), that proved to be my achilles heel.

Let me tell you, this treat was so incredibly good – and using Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips undoubtedly contributed to making it healthy. The two loaves that the recipe produced were huge and dense, so anticipatory guilt compelled me to take one over to Beth’s sister’s for Thanksgiving dinner rather than freeze it for our own consumption later. Never mind the fact that Barb’s dessert buffet also featured pumpkin pie freshly baked by our niece Emily and two more pies (rhubarb and blueberry) that Dave’s dad had brought up from Rock Springs Café – pie heaven if ever there was one. I felt lucky he didn’t bring coconut cream or I would’ve waved the white flag then and there.

The other shoe waiting to drop is that I had a birthday a couple weeks ago and Beth gave me a gift certificate to Shannon’s Gourmet Cheesecakes here in town. I love New York style cheesecake (forget those silly refrigerator versions) almost as much as I do Beth - after all, it’s nature’s perfect food - and I sincerely believe it loves me right back. Unfortunately – or not – this recent recipe from Smitten Kitchen will probably remain beyond my grasp.

It just doesn’t end – and it’s not only the sweet stuff I’m talkin’ about: it’s hard to resist those artisan breads on a trip to Costco (as I avert my eyes from the tiramisu) or the ease of making pasta dishes for dinner, but I know that I don’t need the carbs either. At least that’s what the torture machine tells me.

So we’ll forego the cookies this year, and with any luck I won’t have to move beyond those 37s. Besides, I have a new doctor – and he’s fit as a fiddle.

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Update to Black Friday: I usually go to the Reuters site for their brief headline summary of what “Investors” are up to that day. Yesterday morning’s was “Stocks gain as retail sales counter Dubai.” Things slipped a bit after the opening bell but ended up, so it's interesting to note that Mr. Market was more attuned to shoppers than sheiks.