Happy New Year

Well, this year has already started out oddly, but I figure I'll just have to let that go. I'm not a New Year person anyway; I spent last night home alone working on a short story before submitting it to an online magazine, and then I watched the last two episodes of True Blood's first season while downing a large pot of Earl Grey, which brought me into 2011. Yes, I am just that cool.

Still, today I got up really early and I made an effort to have something a little different for breakfast. Usually I have plain yoghurt and plain crackers. Yes, boring; it doesn't have to be that way, but I'm not adventurous with my diet meals. Too scared to be, really; I found the formula that worked weeks back and I've stuck to it pretty much since. But my Edmond's cookbook yielded an interesting recipe while I was looking at pastry-making tips: a puffy omelette. I've never liked the idea of omelettes before now, but as this recipe just involved eggs and water and pepper, I thought "What the hell!" and gave it a shot. One of my allowable breakfast options is one egg plus a serve of vegetables, so I decided on cooked mushrooms, tomato for my crackers, and the omelette. So, early this morning, with some trepidation I gave it all a whirl.

Overall? Success! It was deliciously light and fluffy, and tasted absolutely fine. I was a bit nervous about putting a pan in the oven under the grill, but after lusting after a stainless steel pan at Briscoes I discovered I had one in my bedroom closet anyway (a freebie from Stevens I got months ago and never used because...I never cooked, really). So, I will be able to experiment further! I don't think it's something I will do during the week -- hard enough to get out of bed at a decent hour as it is -- but as a weekend thing...I have to work out if I can do it with one egg, because as I used two for this one (as it was a first attempt, I followed the recipe exactly) I ate only half of it. The other half is in the fridge; I will either eat it tomorrow if it looks all right, or I will try to make it with one egg. It may not give enough volume for this result, though. Hmm. But I'd like to try to make it with mushroom inside, or spinach, or just flavour it with nutmeg and cinnamon and cassia. Maybe I could put paprika in with the mushrooms? And parsley. Hmm. Curry? Courgette? Man, there are options, I need to make use of them.

I didn't have the heart to attempt the variation I thought of on a lemon chicken recipe I found the other day, though. I had tuna for lunch -- with a little lemon juice and pepper, as usually I eat it plain; was delicious with the seasoning! -- in preparation, as usually I have chicken for my lunches, but...yeah. It's been an odd day, so I just made my comfort food, which is my taco substitute (basically minced beef seasoned with curry flakes and powder, parsley, chives, cumin and paprika, served on lettuce leaf cups with diced tomato and crackers). It was delicious. Tomorrow shall be the chicken attempt! ...along with an experiment in making shortcrust pastry, for the pecan pie I am planning to make one of these days. When I have someone to serve it to, anyway.

But yes, the baking experiments continue. I decided the other night the next time my niece and nephew stay, there will be BAKED ALASKA. I am insane. The weirder something sounds, the more I want to make it. Which is a huge difference in my attitude, as the frying pan story above? Probably tells you that before, I never cooked a damn thing if I could avoid it. And while I've always liked baking, I hated baking for other people. Always felt my baking was crap and unworthy of them. Now, though...I am baking for the express purpose of giving it to other people. And I am being reasonably successful with it. I will have to post some pictures, but I have some writing I need to attend to tonight, so...well. But yeah.

The confidence is a weird thing. I've noticed that other people have noticed it, too -- or maybe it's more that they are noticing me. Guys talk to me more. Not necessarily in a date-way, they just have an awareness of me as a woman I've never felt before. I get it a lot from older men, considering I work in a pharmacy, but even the young guys have started doing it. And a random girl about my age called across the dispensary to compliment me on my dress yesterday. Not to mention my workmates kept mentioning the size of my waist with the belt I wore with said dress. I also bought over-the-knee socks today, which I have wanted to wear for years with no success. They're a mite too tight around the thighs, but I can still wear them. And I also bought my favourite Mexico 3/4 and zip-off trousers at the 50% off Kathmandu sale today. My original pairs, bought for Mexico in July, were size 18. These are size 10. They don't quite fit, but I can get them on. By the time I go to Australia on holiday in early February, they should fit -- along with the size 10 dress and trousers from Max, and the size 10 Curve Embracer jeans. And maybe my size 12 Lara Croft shorts from Glassons. My mother also decided I was going to buy new togs in Perth or Bunbury, so...yes.

This is good, though -- because it's going to keep me on track. I'm a bit ambivalent about the diet right now, which is partly because of the baking thing, but also because it's been three months and I'm only halfway there. Another three months of this seems way too long. But...how much do I want it? I need to suck it up and just get on with it. It's working, and I am becoming more interested in and aware of food, so...it's definitely something I have needed to do for a long, long time. And tomorrow is a bit of a scary prospect, as it's the first official weigh-in since Christmas. I actually did weigh myself after Christmas, and had crept up to 69.1kg. Scary shit. But I figured it was mostly retained water, and so tomorrow I am hoping to be down to 67kg again. We'll see what happens. Either way, I can't go back to being a fatty. I need to live my life, and this diet certainly seems to be the guiding light for that this year. And anyway, another three months...it's only a quarter of the year. And then, I will have the rest of my life to work out what delicious foods I can make and eat and enjoy without being a fatty all over again.