The results are in!

If you have been reading here for the last twelve months or so you may remember the post I wrote in February titled Goodbye to my old friend sugar!  I had had a cholesterol test which showed that my level was much too high and, as one of my friends had been advised by her doctor to give up sugar to reduce hers and that worked really well for her,  I thought I would give it a try for six months or so. 

Well...last week I thought I had better get the test done again in case my pathology form expired after twelve months and the results were that the 'good' cholesterol was really good and the 'bad' cholesterol had gone down but was still very slightly elevated. The doctor said that statins weren't required as there was no history of heart attacks in my family before a certain age, etc. and seeing as I had no intention of taking them anyway I was happy that all was well. While I was at it I asked for some x-rays of certain sore spots which showed degenerative changes cause by an old nursing injury so now I know what I am dealing with and hopefully I won't have to show up in a doctor's surgery for a long time as it is not my favourite activity at all. 

Once home again I couldn't help but look at my sourdough starter AGAIN which is at day 5. I really don't know what I am doing with it but am following along each day on the Down to Earth forums where some of us are feeding our starters each day. I just add what I am told to and hope for the best. I am not an experienced bread maker although I used to bake bread back in the 1980s when the children were little.

Also bubbling away on the other side of the kitchen is my water kefir and by the looks of the grains they need to be divided in the near future so I think I will be taking some along to our first Simple Living Toowoomba workshop on the 20th February. 

 Last year we bought a $30 raised garden from ALDI and in December the CEO made it into a wicking bed which seems to be working well as this photo was taken today just after lunch when it was quite hot and the plants weren't wilting.  When we bought our Watersaver Garden a few years ago we followed the instructions that came with it and bought cypress pine chips to put in the base but with this one the CEO decided to experiment with sand and gravel and it seems to be doing the job. Today was the first day that I had to put water into the water pipe since he made it before Christmas.

 Now.... for any soap makers wanting to experiment with using cheap fragrance from the $2 shop my only advice is...DON'T! I wanted to try my hand at swirling and had some ultramarine liquid soap colour to use up so I made up a small batch just in case it didn't work out. I also wanted to get rid of the fragrance so thought I would finish the bottle off and see what happened.

 

THIS is what happened!!!  Apparently the mixture seized when I added the cheap fragrance and the colour ended up morphing. I had read about seizing before but had never had that happen but morphing was something new to me.  I just did a bit of reading about seizing and it looks like I can rebatch it but I don't think I will be able to do that for a while as it is still oozing oil which is what you can see in the above photo.

This is my first batch of soap that hasn't really turned out so it was quite a good learning experience. You really learn best from your mistakes in life don't you?

I have a couple of friends who I have given chilli plants to in the last few months so if you are reading this your plants are from one or the other of these plants.

I am not sure about the ones in the first photo...maybe Bishop Cap chillies...but the red ones are really hot. When I potted them up I wasn't sure which ones they were as we had plants coming up everywhere after the rain. I saw a recipe the other day for Fermented Hot Chilli Sauce which I am going to make for the CEO as he likes hot chillies. Personally I can't cope with them at all. 

In case you are wondering I am going to keep going with the way I am eating now and not adding sugar to anything apart from my water kefir which feeds on it of course :-) This is not a diet but rather a way of life which I am now used to. I do have the occasional food containing sugar if I go out with friends. I usually order a scone and have a little jam with it but I no longer have a craving for caramel slice or cheesecake etc. Normally I add Rice Malt Syrup, Dextrose or Stevia if I want to sweeten anything if I decide to bake but that happens infrequently. I have lost some weight too unintentionally and I think I am about five or six kilos lighter just from giving up added sugar. The hardest part was going without it in my coffee but I am not used to that and I think if I added any it would be much too sweet for me now. 

I hope to write out the instructions on how to brighten up a hessian/jute Woolies shopping bag in the next week or so if anyone is interested. I am sure it is fairly self explanatory from the photo but I will see if I can add a bit of detail for those who are unsure how to make them.

Thanks for all you comments on my last post. I had a real giggle when I was reading them.  It just shows that you don't really need to say anything to have readers comment. LOL! Jane, I noticed in your comment that you said you had added heart shaped symbols in your comment. Well, just to let you know they are heart shapes on my iPad but question marks on my PC. Some clever techy person will explain why that is I am sure but it is beyond my comprehension. After all....I have brain fog!!!!