omg, i'M FURST! & SO excited I forgot how to spell...Laurie, I love your blog to pieces. I almost always get a giggle, too bad I'm at work or I'd LOL.

ROAR!
I have been cranking the Mamma Mia CD, and driving through the parking garage at work singing along to "Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man after Midnight..." has gotten me some lovely stares.

I think they might have asked you out after hearing track 2. *snickers*

I think more than one or two of us will understand what you mean about dieting. I have been trying to eat healthy foods since my seperation and sometimes at night I will start calculating calories and fat grams etc and I have to remind myself to STOP and RELAX. It's all about the healthy this year and not running myself off a cliff of divorce despair.

Krista -- boy do I get that.
Someone posted a nice comment a few days ago about how it's fine to have a cheeseburger now and then and I think, yes, ideally that is true but for some of us we don't live in a world of natural moderation because we've been conditioned since childhood to count and measure and berate ourselves about any misstep. I heard myself asking Drew about the nutritional value of a roasted BRUSSELS SPROUT and that is when it dawned on me I am sometimes insane. There mere fact that I ate a Brussels sprout of my own volition is cause to celebrate. But there I was messing with my own mind.

I guess for some people moderation is just logical and natural but for others of us it's something we work at. I don't know.

Amen, sister. I've only just recently begun to realize that the reason my dieting/exercising has been so unsuccessful is because if I couldn't do it perfectly, there was no point in doing it. Thank you, again, for your insight and compassion

I could probably sing verbatim every single song from Hair! It was my parents' favorite "album" when I was in 2nd grade and we listened to it over and over again, thus why I STILL remember every single word! Great musical, even the nude scene.

I asked the abbot at the Zen monastery about the food pyramid. She said, "Too much thinking. Don't worry about what the scientists say. Listen to your body and feed it just enough." Chozan Bays. She wrote a book called Mindful Eating.

Oh yes. I totally get you. I've found myself (on many occasions) dizzy with hunger and unable to buy anything for lunch because nothing is QUITE good enough for me to be worth eating (calories, you know).

Pasta? Eek, carbs! Eeek, calories! Salad? Mostly lettuce, which isn't nutritious enough to bother with, and dressing is just empty calories. Sushi? Eek, rice carbs! Sandwich? Bread carbs! Etc., etc.

So yeah, I'm with you 100%. Diet brainwashing is so shitty.

Any time anyone mentions Manchester I can't HELP but break into that song. Hubby thinks I'm a nut so I'm relieved to see I'm not alone.

Going to have to try the Eating Manual...because I soooooo get what you are saying!

Thanks for being you!

Loved both of those sharings! Thank you. Diet insanity...I know it well. I do the same thing with exercise insanity. "Well, 10 minutes won't accomplish such and such so I won't bother." And it may have been the only 10 minutes in the whole day where I was doing something besides sitting in a cubicle!

Hair was one of my parents' albums when I was a little kid so I listened to it over and over and I can sing right along with you word for word. It must have looked pretty funny for an 8 year old girl to sing Black Boys. The only thing funnier is the visual you gave us. Thanks for the chuckle!

I too have learned the hard way to turn down the volume or better yet, turn off the stereo before exiting the vehicle for any reason.

Nothing like giving your boss a ride, starting the car, and getting blasted with track 2.

Ugh.

Yup, just sang both of them. And if it had been track 2, they'd have been pretty startled, wouldn't they? On the other hand, it is LA, where I have seen a fur car (Seriously, in Pasadena) and a gorilla in a Santa suit driving a convertible and smoking a cigar. Gotta love the place!

Oh hurray Drew will be at the craft show!!! I wish you were there too.

I understand - I am so lacking the moderation gene. So it's better for me not to eat the stuff I know I can't control portion wise. I do fit it in some though. Otherwise my deprivation sensory gene (which is very strong) would kick in high and I would end up face down on a plate of pasta. I am focusing on clean eating, which is mostly not eating processed foods and eating more vegetables and organic and whole foods. It does make me feel better, so I try to focus on that aspect and not on what I'm not eating.

Oh, do I hear you on the diet rut / can't get anything right mindset. Between that and the "I ate a cheeseburger, I might as well get some ice cream too" mindset, I am a hot mess sometimes!

I've been reading Pollan since Omnivore's Dilemma came out. His ideas make a lot of sense, and it's kind of how I've been trying to shape my eating habits as well. More work, to be sure, but much healthier. You should see the looks I get in the grocery store when people overhear me telling my daughter "no, we won't buy that, it's not food."

And oh, your music story just made me laugh and laugh and laugh. I don't think I would ever have gone back to that mechanic.

Hahaha! You guys would break into song every time there was a weather report here!

I had been planning on making the Roasted Cauliflower since you first mentioned it. But I'm lazy and hate dishes (which needed to be done before making any more) and hate grocery stores (cookies are SO much easier to eat than cooking anything!!). But I made it to the store on Tuesday and I roasted up some cauliflower last night and holy crap was it the best thing ever!

I decided that I must try to find other veggies that I can prepare in the exact same way to spare myself any confusion. Like you I've been programmed, and so your Thing #1 is perfect. I'm eating a good serving of veggies! Who cares about the rest! And it wasn't deep fried!

Thank you for the recipe!

Love Hair. To this day, when I hear the Gettysburg Address I think that it's dedicated to the one I love.

Lee-- I have been on a roasting warpath, so far I have done cauliflower (like you said, DELICIOUS), broccoli which was not bad at all, for broccoli, and brussels sprouts which were OK but better the next day when I added balsamic vinegar thanks to tips from readers here. Oh, and the asparagus. And potatoes. And beets!

This weekend I'm going to check out the stock at my grocery store and see what new and unusual thing I can roast. I'm eating more vegetables roasted than I ever ate cooked any other way! I'm thinking whole green beans might be good next, and sweet potatoes and parsnips.

Usually I only get this excited about a vegetable if it has been battered and deep fried!

My 12 yr old daughter and her friends saw the show on B'way and are INSANE about it. There's something hilarious about hearing them singing along to the iPod, cranked up high, "Black boys are delicious, chocolate flavored love -- licorice lips like candy, keep my cocoa handy!" at the top of their lungs! (she also got a kiss on the forehead from the actor who played Berger as he went up and down the aisle so she was in heaven). P.S. A little bit of balsamic vinegar on roasted brussels or cauliflower is quite tasty.

I'm so tired of watching what I eat and not just eating what I want. Unfortunately what I want is burgers and pizza and donuts. I also would like my size to be a single number again sometime. Maybe I'll look into tapeworms....

You said a mouthfull about the diet stuff!!! Years and years of yo-yo dieting caused my eating disorder. I'm in recovery, but still strugling. It will take a long time to undo the damage caused by dieting. Now with therapy, and Intuitive Eating, I'm learning to eat like a normal person. I've come a long way, but still a long way to go. Go on with your bad self and those veggies!!! hoorah!

oh and hey Weight Watchers....here's a clue, YOU'RE STILL A DIET!!!

Laurie, that is TOO funny! And it sounds like something that would happen to me! :-)

"Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair . . . "

Michael Pollan has a new book?! I'm walking to Borders and buying it as soon as I get off work. I think my favorite part about In Defense of Food (which I'm constantly recommending to people) is how vindicating it is! I've never been on an actual diet but I've always felt like I'm failing at food somehow. The government's nutritional guidelines are impossible to follow on a daily basis and we're told that this is the only way to be healthy. Meanwhile, other cultures don't have this problem. I'd love to emulate the French more in how they eat: quality over quantity! In the US it's like the only we know how to enjoy our food is to pile more on. How else do you explain the weird pizza-taco-sandwich type concoctions at family dining places?

I remember signing track two with great feeling as a kid before I had any idea what the words meant. I still cringe at the memory.

Leah -- amen on your assessment of the French. I feel they do quality over quantity better than most, not just in food but also in clothing and furniture. And wine!

I thought that kind of thing only happened to me (the embarrassing part, not the epiphany - I never have helpful epiphanies).

Hair is one my favorite musicals. I always loved "LBJ took the IRT down to 4th Street, USA. When he got there, what did he see? The youth of American on LSD!"

I was lucky enough to see Hair on Broadway in 1968, (?) I think. It seems a bit dated now, but not really. I still can't get used to short haired folks.

Now I have GOT to go home and find my Hair soundtrack CD (successor to earlier LP, 8-track, and cassette)! I was lucky enough to see it live on stage in Las Vegas. I was all of 18, and they invited the audience onstage to dance out the ending, and you'd better believe I was one of the ones who went. Man, haven't thought of that in forever, but it's making me smile. What a helluva time to be a teenager in America.

I had an experience similar to yours at the auto shop with my CD of "Monty Python Sings". I had played track 1 for some people at work, loud enough for the whole office to hear, and in the merriment, I forgot what track 2 was. Hear it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TDZ36Y/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk2?ie=UTF8&qid=1264114809&sr=8-1 (NSFW!). If you're not familiar with the song, it starts with a brief fanfare and then the title line, sung loudly. I nearly broke my arm getting to the computer to kill the volume.

Whoops, didn't mean to be all Woman of Mystery up there in the comment that includes the link to the Monty Python song. Just clicked Post too soon. Sorry.

I'd just like to say, y'all are funny with your "HAIR." My parents had that too, but I was a total music snob as a child and preferred Gilbert & Sullivan operettas! I can still sing almost all of The Pirates of Penzance.

Re: veggies to roast: might I suggest a visit to your local farmer's market? You will find more wonderful things to throw together in a baking dish than you can actually carry home. I recently did an extremely delicious combination of red & yellow & orange carrots, purple & gold beets, with a little fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt & pepper. YUM.

Plus, scrubbing all those damn roots is good exercise.

I picked up that book last week and LOVE it! All stuff we already know, but not in a condescending way--more like it validates the common sense we all have. I think my favorite tip is "don't eat cereal that changes the color of the milk". Wise words, dude.
Regarding roasted veggies--I could live off carrots cooked w/pot roast and asparagus roasted with just a bit of olive oil, cracked pepper & salt then drizzled with lemon juice after cooking. I especially like serving broiled lamb flank steak with it. I do not like the smelly pee thing that comes after however.

Laurie, have you seen the new Jeep commercial? It's chick-centric and features a red Jeep. Yep, makes me think of you every time it's on. When I first saw it, my reaction was "they made a commercial about CAP!"

I don't know the musical Hair (I know, what rock have I been hiding under), but pretty much listen to nothing but Wicked, Avenue Q and Rent on my iPod. There is much in the latter two that cause people to look at me in concern, but that is their problem not mine.

First time poster, long time lurker. Had to comment on Hair. Wow - so thrilled that so many folks, like me, have worn out their soundtracks and know all the words by heart. Greatest soundtrack/musical ever. I played my album constantly in college. Bought the CD a couple of years ago. I play it loud when I really need a pick me up. Who can be angry, frustrated, or sad after singing along? Saw the road show in Coconut Grove in either the late 60s or early 70s. Wonderful!

You should come to FRA, I have three versions of Hair in my CD collection ;-)

And I hear you about the nutritional value.. I have to remind myself a lot lately that veggies are better than fast food no matter how they are prepared (well, ok. Breaded and deep fried being an exception ;-) ).

Amen! When I slip up foodwise I pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again...I'm wanting to belt out songs from Oklahoma!

Another yummy thing to roast is some butternut squash (with some apples and onions and a pinch of salt and curry powder).

I made your roasted cauliflower last night & we loved it. Thanks!

Letting ones self take part in "imperfect action" is so totally liberating...why do we have to put so much pressure on ourselves to do/be PERFECT... and criticize others for being less than....?... or give up totally on ourselves because we "screwed up" again..
Accomplishments are all about the experiences of the journey there.... they energize and strengthen the faith we have with ourselves...even if it is just one small step at a time( shinin' gleamin' streamin' flaxin waxin!)

I was thinking the same thing about the song from Hair, which one of my friends loved to play and sing loudly in his car. :)

I am glad I am not the only one with a roasting vegetables fixation. It helped me to get over the curse of the eggplant. Now, I can cook nearly anything, but eggplants have always eluded me. After years of trying, I am finally able to cook one and be able to eat it.

Huge thank you for the story in Thing #2. Totally needed a laugh today, and that did it. Of course, laughing with you, not at you. ;^) We've all been there sometime, somehow.

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Voltaire

This is basically my New Year's resolution. So many times I just give up because I can't do everything perfect which means I don't do anything good, because it can't be perfect. Your roasted veggies are good... VERRRRY GOOD!!!!.... Keep it UP!!!

:) Bobbie Lynn

That was a hilarious story about the car radio! (and I'm really glad you don't smoke anymore, though I recall you said you were taking it up again when you have your midlife crisis or turn 60, whichever comes first). At my house the "hi-fi" was cranked with The Fifth Dimension (Age of Aquarius, yes!) and My Fair Lady. I remember how terribly disappointed I was when I found out that Audrey Hepburn didn't really sing all those songs.

As far as dieting goes, love the "eat plants" thing. I always say that it only takes four words to lose weight--no matter which method you use or diet you chose: Eat less, move more.

Oh, Laurie..that takes me back to when I was a kid and would play the "Hair" album at full blast in my room, singing along and pretending I was one of the cast members. Never played track 2 very loud, though..my dad would have flipped! Yep, I'm OLD..but thanks for bringing back some great musical memories.

Purl, I am having a thank-you-for-donating knitting giveaway on my blog. Anyone who has donated to Doctors Without Borders can visit my blog, read the giveaway rules, and enter just by leaving a note in the comments. I am giving away a cute knit tote bag, handmade jewelry stitch markers, yarn from Cherry Tree Hill and some of my own handspun, as well as chocolate covered macadamia nuts donated to the cause by Lisa Louie. Go to:

www.mambocats.blogspot.com

If you're going to come to Manchester across the Atlantic, you'll need lots of stuff for rain. I'm not sure you'll like it much, even in the summer it's pretty wet! Hi from England, I love your blog.

Yup, when I was in high school (early 70's) I played my "Hair" record over and over and over. As far as track 2, I knew what one of the words meant (hint: it could be fun!), but I'd never heard of any of the other words (knew they were dirty, tho.) So I had to look them up in the dictionary - and some were even in there!

My problem with roasted veggies is that when you cut up a variety, then you have too much to eat all at once and the next day they're all soggy and yuccky. Anyone have a help for that?

Cheers!

Does chocolate count as a plant?

Tim,

my cure is a 16 year old 6'4 265 lb linebacker that lives at my house. I would ship him to you to help you out... but I am afraid I can't afford the postage :(

I thought of the same song as you were telling that story.

Oh yeah, I can totally relate to the food stuff. About 15 years ago when I was in my mid-20's I lost 135 pounds. It took me 18 months and I have kept it off ever since, but not without a lot of work. I LOVE to eat!! But staying in the size 4 I got down to requires eating pretty clean (at least during the week) and being diligent about working out...which I talk myself into each and every day because personally I would rather curl up with a good book! :) I do mess up sometimes, and on my recent move to Austin 6 months ago I got a little too happy about all the yummy margaritas and awesome mexican food and let myself gain 12 pounds. YIKES! Now I am working my butt off (literally) every day to lose it. Ugh!

BTW, this is my favorite brussel sprout recipe if you want an alternative to roasting: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Carrots-and-Brussels-Sprouts-241514. I love the combination of them with carrots!

My boyfriend thinks it's too sweet, but he prefers to eat them with bacon which is less my style.

thanks for the reminder that veggies (no matter how they are cooked) are better for me than cheese and crackers or whatever other "quick" meals I lazily come up with... by the way, your trip planning reminds me-- the samsonite bag that you like so much for your carryon luggage is no longer available. Do you have a recommendation/suggestion for an alternate bag? I really need something smaller than my current "carry-on bag". Thanks. Always enjoy your blog. Hope to hear more about your fuzzballs soon.

Oh, I tried your roasted cauliflower and it was de-lish! I was so inspired that I picked up an acorn squash and a butternut squash at the farmer's market to try out this week!
and I do the same thing...I frett and worry about the calories in a piece of bread -- when I should be proud and happy that I only ate one piece instead of the usual 5! Or I'll berate myself because I brought carrots for a snack three days this week when really I should be more varied...crazy! I am not overweight because I ate carrots three days in a row! I ought to be happy and proud that I ate carrots instead of chips!
I am sooo right there with you on the diet-brain! totally insane!

Regarding the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables, have you ever read this brilliant rant?

http://kateharding.net/2007/07/23/if-it-tastes-good-eat-it/

I read it and promptly made a vat of ranch dressing at ate carrot, cucumbers and celery for days.

Speaking of inappropriate musicals for children. I was obsessed with A Chorus Line when I was five. I knew all the words and more of the choreography to the movie. And my favorite song was "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three" but it commonly goes by a different title. I'll PG it and say, Boobs and Butt. Imagine a 5-year old singing and dancing that song. I don't know what my parents where thinking.

Comments closed now, have a good weekend everyone!!