The Weekly Ramble 1/27/24
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Thankful for rain, but also thankful for beautiful sunrises.
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Having grown up in seasons of California drought, I understand the need for rain. We got a lot of it this week in San Diego county!
It’s put a damper on my sunrise mornings, but I was particularly happy for the rain clouds to dissipate enough on Wednesday morning to give me this spectacular view. No filters!
Bryan and I have been picking up the mail for the owners of our old house. We’re the only people they know in town, and it seems the USPS hasn’t done a great job forwarding things anyway.
Heading back to the old house once a week has really shown us the difference in neighborhoods. The old house is in a bowl with little view of the sky whereas the new house very much feels on top of the world!
This is a great way to start the day.
Thanks to my friend Andrea, I’ve been also starting the day with extra veg. The goal is to get 800g of fruits and veggies every day in order to upgrade one’s nutritional intake. If you’ve got that much produce in ya, you’ve got a good amount.
My kids are all on board with this, so we’re going through a lot of fruits and veg. Not a bad problem to have!
Another yummy thing I’m currently obsessed with is Portuguese tarts. I first heard about them from the New Zealand/Australia TV show, My Life is Murder. The main character is a retired detective turned sourdough baker turned police consultant.
One episode features Portuguese tarts. When we first watched the episode, we researched this dessert, but they sounded like a lot of work.
Finding them in the freezer section of Costco was a boon. Also not a lot of work.
They are amazingly delicious and probably too easy to prepare: pop them in the air fryer and be patient enough to let them cool before you eat them!
I joined Planet Fitness last weekend, not because I’m eating so many tarts, but because I was feeling back pain again.
Summer/Fall 2022 into Spring 23, I had non stop back pain. I joined the YMCA and started lifting weights and the pain went away. I quit the Y due to cost and the back pain came back.
Ergo, even if I don’t lose a pound, I need to lift weights to enjoy my life. I’ve been four times already and feel good. The vibe at the Y was calmer and more peaceful, but almost 4x as much money. (I did treat myself to the deluxe PF membership. lol)
I don’t love the experience of going, but I do like feeling better.
I don’t like skipping the glass of wine on pizza night, but I know I sleep awful after drinking.
I don’t love skipping caffeine, but I like not feeling as anxious.
I guess that’s what defining my 50s: doing good things because they actually have results.
Portuguese custard tarts! My son made them for a middle school class project several years ago and now my husband requests them for his birthday treat. We buy frozen puff pastry and make the custard with milk, sugar, cornstarch, a real vanilla bean and egg yolks (then we eat scrambled egg whites). We serve with some fresh berries. I have never purchased them anywhere.
I started reading your blogs many years ago, and learned a lot about cooking from scratch from you. In recent years I would visit your site (I don’t subscribe) and it looked like the content wasn’t changing bc the posts on the main page are seasonal. And then somehow in the past few days when I was searching for the pretzel berry dessert recipe, I found your Weekly Rambles and have read back through several months of them. I am in a similar place of healthier eating choices and more exercise. I’m enjoying “catching up”.
So glad you went digging! lol Most of the recipes are now on Good Cheap Eats to make it easier for folks to find.
And, I’m posting new content here on Life as Mom on a regular basis. I’ve added a “recent posts” button to the home page so that they’re easier to find.