Apologies for not posting in nearly a week. It’s been a relatively rough time for the past few days, with the baby not getting enough sleep due to a cold, domestic responsibilities taking priority, and my feeling genrally lousy due to the diet taking hold.
I’m glad to report that this last go around, as reported, would be the successful attempt after a gauntlet of false starts and excuses. I’m currently on day 7 but the build-up to get here was truly a chore. I’ll discuss the mechanics of it more in its own dedicated section below, but wanted to re-iterate in this instance that I’m feeling a bit better now and so will try to get some posts up more regularly so as to remain true to the title of this section: “dailies”.
In what spare time I have had here an there I’ve also been thinking of some updates to the projects and technical writing sections, so you can expect to see what fun stuff I’ve got in store for the near future, as well.
Anyway, I want to pick up where I left off last time. If you remember, I had taken to baking / cooking to work out some stress that comes up in normal, daily life. To recap, I’d prepared two delicious recipes under the sub-title “Henning Bites” Which may become its own dedicated section eventually, as soon as I figure out the proper code I need to insert in the CSS and HTML to re-render the site with dropdowns. . I discussed the ultimate, personal goal of claiming the mantle of best chef from Granny, and I posted something of an open letter challenging her to a a culinary title fight.
How did that go? Well, upon notifying her I got a range of responses. Early on, she told me “Well I’ll just have to try this food and see for myself”, despite the last vestiges of leftovers clinging to life poured over some rice in the fridge. That wasn’t going to fly for a fair comparison to me, and after pointing the unfairness out to my wife, decided to throw the remnant two or three chicken pieces in the rubbish bin. The gall! Later, Granny told me “Oh I’m busy and don’t have time to read anything online,” choosing to take the Lanister position of “The Lion doesn’t care for the opinions of sheep.” So, in defiance I read it aloud to her at her next visit when I knew she couldn’t escape. Was she playing with my daughter? Yes. Could she race from the room? No. Does that mean I used a baby to pursue an ego trip? Yes.
Now for the espionage. I didn’t know how she would take the news. I expected her own defiance or some brief ignoring of the obvious. But no, she’s shrewder than that. I planned to celebrate my victory with a Mississippi Pecan pie. Of course, I wouldn’t eat it myself being on the diet, but it would seal the truth in a tasty dessert for all to enjoy. Thing is this particular recipe takes two days to complete – one for the custard filling and one for the pie crust. On day one, I rolled out the handmade crust, crimped the sides, and set it in the refridgerator to set over night. I remember it vividly, having placed it tenderly on the top shelf. The next day Granny and Grandpa came to visit, and as I was making dinner for everyone I opened the fridge to check how the crust had done. I noticed it moved, that is someone moved it and placed it far and away in a different location in the back of the fridge. Strange, I thought, but oh well.
I prepared the pecan and custard filling. By the way, try finding enough quality pecans in Scotland to make a pie – the best I could do was to buy out all of Sainsbury’s little 2 pound packets. The pie came out beautiful, as you can see below.
As per the recipe, though, you can’t eat it right away. No, instead you need to let it cool to room temperature, then preferably refridgerate it for a little while longer. I was religious in my following. And after another overnight settling in the fridge the day had come to slice and pass around a champion’s pastry. When I cut into it, however, the worst happened. The center was runny – gooey actually. How could this happen? I did everything right, then I remembered the pie crust. It had been tampered with. Who else was invested in my winner’s dessert coming out perfect? Further, who else had anything to lose by my screwing up a native recipe from my homeland? Granny…
Now, I’m not one to lean on conspiracy thinking. In fact, I suggest we let the evidence bear out the claim. But this is suspicious. I have since made a second pie using some of the dough that I hid away in the freezer, which came out perfect, so I’ll let you decide. Did I undercook it the first one? Then why did the second one cooked at the same temperature and length of time turn out correct? Something to think about.
Health Update
I’ve not really felt myself over the past week. For the first few days, I was a bit lethargic and out of energy. To make sure the diet took hold this time and I remained true to my commitment, I started it off with a 24-hour fast. By the time I ate my first steak, I was absolutely ravenous. The thing about doing a carnivor or zero-carb diet is that the first two or three days is the toughest. You aren’t really starting a diet as much as you are trying to break a sugar addiction, and your body reminds you of that.
But after three days or so, the ketones The things your body burns in lieu of sugar or carbs. kicks in. I started feeling better around the four day mark, and I started to enjoy the benefit of my diet, through mental clarity and a mild euphoria in the background. Now I’m at the place of not really feeling hungry. The length of time between eatings has definitely lengthened and I’m shedding pounds by the day. It’s a bit weird, as the sensation of hunger has changed, and I don’t feel the need to eat as much as I normally would – just to satiety. So far, I’ve lost about 10 pounds, and that’s about a week in. So far, so good. And I’ll keep you updated.