food stuffs

In keeping with my ongoing efforts to be more conscious of what I eat, I decided to substitute kefir for my usual yogurt purchase at the grocery store yesterday.  I was expecting it to taste kind of like yogurt; that was a mistake.  If you’re expecting a substance to taste like yogurt when, in fact, it tastes like yogurt gone terribly, terribly bad, the outcome is rarely good.  

But I exaggerate, it doesn’t taste that bad.  It’s not something I would consume by itself for the pure pleasure of the drink, but mixed with a delicious assortment of berries it’s actually quite palatable.

 

The nutritional greatness of kefir is twofold. First, it has but two ingredients:  organic partly skimmed milk and bacterial cultures.  Compare this to the Activia, source of fiber, fat free strawberry, kiwi and cereals probiotic yogurt:

1. skim milk, concentrated skim milk, fructose, sugar, strawberries, inulin, kiwi puree, corn starch, milk protein concentrate, cream, modified corn starch, rolled oat, white wheat flakes, gelatin, natural and artificial flavours, active bacterial cultures, pectin, malic acid, natural colour, potassium sorbate, calcium lactate, sodium citrate, vitamin A and D. 

Dosly, that delectable je ne sais quoie sour milk taste is a function of a longer fermentation time and the additional fermentation power of yeast.  This means more sugar is consumed during fermentation, and more bacteria are present in the end product.  And apparently the type of bacteria used to make kefir stay in your intestine for extended periods of time (compared to yogurt) and do all sorts of good things for you.

The nutrition facts on the two containers are not in entirely comparable units, but going on the estimate that kefir has approximately the same density as water, here’s what’s what:

	KEFIR	YOGURT
calories	90	140
fat	3.5 g	0.525 g
saturated fat	2g	0.35 g
carbohydrates	8 g	28 g
sugars	6 g	22.75 g
protein	6 g	7 g

what treasures

On Easter Sunday we had dinner at big A's mother's house. While there, A was charged with the task of rummaging through boxes of old belongings to see what he wanted to keep and what could be thrown away. Among the assorted treasures were a collection of old photos. Many of these were of such a nature that sharing them with the blogospheres would likely result in my prompt dismissal from girlfriend status and the finding of my belongings out on the curb, but some of them are just too cute to keep to myself.

To our left we see an early version of li'l big A. Note the conservative gray shirt combo, the fiery red hair and the cute button nose. Evidently this picture was taken long before he instated his "Dress shirts must be plaid or some kind of checkered-like pattern" rule.

Now if you look to the right, you'll see li'l gap-toothed big A all jazzed up in a dashing red ensemble he no doubt picked out himself for this special occasion. We can see that he has really come into his own in the freckle department at this point, and he seems really happy about something; I'm guessing it's the amazing faux forest backdrop he gets for his school picture. Also observe the shorter hair at this age; could this become a trend?

This one's pretty good too, li'l hockey-A decked out in his equipment. Who knew this little guy would grow up to abandon traditional projectile-based sports to become an Ironman-doing, Boston marathon-running, leg-shaving, gel-eating Labatt employee? Not me. Mostly because I wasn't born at the time this picture was taken.

In addition to the pictures there were a few memorable keepsakes. This beloved toy mouse was pretty adorable, and everyone loves a good E.T. keychain.

Enjoy this post while it exists; I'm guessing it has a high likelihood of deletion due to censorship.

***EDIT: I've been informed that the snazzy red shirt combo that childhood-big A has on is velour, and possibly a one-piece.  I thought this should be known.  Also, the mouse is apparently a Womble, Orinoco the Womble to be precise.  He was a little distraught that I failed to acknowledge this. 

birthday times

1. Waking up to birthday presents. My great boyfriend got me this great aero helmet, along with some delicious treats. It's a super present, moreso because it's something I probably wouldn't have bought for myself. And who doesn't love crazy lightning-bolt patterns?
2. Pancakes for breakfast. I'm continually astounded by how delicious pancakes continue to be for me. Yep, astounded. I'll go through periods where I have them just about every other day, and yet I cease to grow tired of them in the least.
   
3. Podiatrist appointment. As my handful of visits to the physiotherapist and prescribed stretches have done little my running injuries, I've decided to seek out other options. The podiatrist seemed competent, seemed to know what might be wrong, and was none too eager to plaster up my feet for a pair of orthotics. It's pretty much all covered by my insurance, so I had no objections.
4. Trip to the market. Perhaps not quite as enjoyable as ingesting food, I do love to shop for it as well. I was in the neighbourhood so I stopped by at sunripe markets. A little on the pricey side, but they have lots of interesting and delicious food items.
5. Research. As much as I would have liked to totally blow off school work for the day, I thought it was best to do get a modicum of work done. I do really like my research at the moment, so this in no way interfered with my birthday enjoyments.
6. Bike ride with Peaker. Got to enjoy the glorious spring sunshine while it lasted. A bit windy in parts, but thoroughly great, as biking usually is.
7. Run with the group. The great part about starting running again is that even short runs are very satisfying. The nice weather continued into the evening, and it was good to be out in shorts and t-shirt.
8. Dinner at alibi's. Had chicken fingers for the first time in approximately forever. They were tasty.
   
9. Tea, cookies, and watching survivor on the couch. A nice, relaxing end to the day with aforementioned great boyfriend.
   

Roatan

accommodations	The resort we stayed at was very un-resortlike. I’ve never been to a resort of any kind before, but I was expecting some kind of giant hotel-like complex. Instead, everyone had their own little rustic hut. No tv, no phone, no air conditioning, just two small beds, a shower, a bathroom, some shelves, and a couple of night tables. Our hut was right over the shore, and you could see the water between the floorboards. No glass on the windows, just screens with giant wooden blinds. It was perrrfect. The dining room was up the hill a bit, with a spectacular view of the islands. We ate fish pretty much every day, and we made good use of the unlimited supply of hot chocolate between dives. It was great.
dolphins	Anthony’s Key was home to the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences, featuring a pen full of 15 or so dolphins. We kayaked by it on the first day and the dolphins all came around to check us out. Subsequently we signed up for a “dolphin encounter” and “dolphin swim”, which we narrowly fit in between dives #2 and #3 one day. During the encounter the trainer showed off one of the dolphins to us. We got to rub his belly, touch his teeth etc., and he demonstrated his swimming/jumping/flipping skills. The swim was even better. We donned fins, mask and snorkel and got to swim freely with all of the dolphins. At one point I found a desiccated palm frond in the water and was playing fetch with one of them. Then I started to swim with the frond right in front of his nose, and the dolphin played along, swimming just fast enough to stay behind it. He quickly grew tired of this, however, and snatched the thing out of my hand, swimming alongside me with the stick just out of my grasp. He dove down to the bottom, maybe 15 ft, dropped it there and swam away. I’d figured he grew weary of playing with me, so I went down to retrieve it. Just as I was about to grab it the dolphin swoops back in and steals it back. It was really cool. So clever and sneaky.
diving	I got my open water certification down there, so it was my first time diving with the fishies, and it was spectacular. The water was clear and mostly warm, even at depth. There was a huge variety of coral and fish, along with a handful of sea turtles, some eels, lobster and crab, and other assorted creatures. The guy at the bottom was my favourite kind of fish: they’re wedge-shaped and a bit dopey-looking when they swim. Even though with my preliminary certification I wasn’t supposed to go below 60 ft, the dive master was pretty lax about it, and my deepest dive was 108ft. He also had no compunction about letting me swim through caves and tunnels, and do a night dive – other forbidden things for beginners.
coming home	With big A having left for Vegas the week before my trip, it was a big 2 weeks apart for us. I think this was the first instance ever where I was actually eager to return to London. At any other point in my life I would have taken the opportunity to stay in Toronto for the weekend with my brother and sister-in-law. But instead, I anxiously hopped on the first bus back to London, counting down the minutes the whole way. It’s amazing how one person can make a place feel so much more like home. And, being the sweet, loving, awesome boyfriend that he is, he had flowers and delicious fancy cheese waiting for me when I got back. What more could I ask for?