Chad and I have been pretty avid soy drinkers mostly from a partially lactose intolerant point of view, and we’ve also introduced it into Ben’s diet, but it’s been somewhat of a bad wrap weekend for soy for us. We read a passage from Suzanne Summer’s book about soy being linked to brain atrophy and another book which pointed out that too much soy can cause an acidic body environment, a typically carcinogenic factor. Upon some googling, there is quite a lot on soy-based infant formula possibly having a type of estrogen hormone.
I decided to find out what the Canadian Paediatric Society had to say and turns out their literature review cannot find any conclusive evidence one way or the other. Phew! Still, food for thought though. I guess all we can do is not eat too much of one thing…
Two of the things I wanted to do during this year off was - improve on my French, and improve my cooking. Well, one out of two isn’t bad I guess. So here is a healthy scone recipe I’ve been working on. So quick and easy to make!
1 cup fresh fruit (we like blueberries or raspberries)
1 vanilla pod
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Beat egg and add milk, butter, vanilla. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking pwder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Form a well in the middle.
Pour liquid mixture into well and mix until well blended. Add fruit.
Divide fough into 12 balls on cookie sheet and brush with olive oil.
Bake 12-15 minutes (or until scones are well browned)
Bread baking tips:
I’ve also really enjoyed baking bread (and making pizza dough) for Chad, Ben and myself. Nothing like fresh healthy bread non-preservative bread whenever you want it! Here are a couple of tips I’ve learnt that have made my bread pretty yummy:
Bake bread (or pizza) on pizza stone on a gas BBQ at ~450 to 500F for wood oven taste
For light bread, use 1 tbl real lemon juice for 4-5 cups of flour (I haven’t actually tried this one yet)
For nice crust, spray bread with water after ~5 minutes of baking (or heat a pan under the bread and fill with water after you place your bread in the oven).
Cutting in ~40% multigrain flour into the white flour is a good ratio to keep things fluffy. Better yet, you could cut the white flour even further with ~20% rice flour.
Saw a really interesting / scary episode of ‘Doc Zone’ a few weeks ago about how chemicals in our every day products affect more than we think. Here is a synopsis from the CBC site:
The Disappearing Male is about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system. The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer.
At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia.
The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world.
Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called “hormone mimicking” or “endocrine disrupting” chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development.
To read more, click here. You’ll also find a link to watch the full 45 minute episode on the home page.
If you happen to be at Gourmet Warehouse, be sure to drop by the Latin Organics Cafe right beside it for a healthy lunch. Mostly a distributor of Columbian coffee and local organic food, they recently opened up a cafe serving what they distribute. It’s probably on par price-wise with your local Artigiano, but I have to say, I’ve never eaten such sweet tomatoes on freshly baked bread before. Really worth giving it a try =)
If you’re interested in local food communities too, be sure to check out Edible Vancouver.
I’ve been a bit wishy-washy about making the eco-friendly cloth diaper switch for 2 common reasons: The cost and the perceived extra messy work. I’ve been using g-diapers on and off, but Ben seems to get a little fussier (in his oh-so-cute way) with them on (I think because they are a little bulkier and awkward in the waist for him). So a few weeks ago, I decided to take the hit and buy a few trial Bum Genius One Size 3.0 diapers. At a cost of CAD$25, each diaper comes with everything you need.
After a week, my verdict is…They’re awesome! Apart from being easy to use and clean, I can’t believe how how dry the diaper touching Ben’s bum bum remains, while the actual microfiber cloth insert holds so much fluid! It comes with a second cloth ‘doubler’ if you want to be extra safe, but I haven’t had to use it yet. It’s even managed to withstand a few major Ben poo-poos.
The tricky part really is being able to tell if the diaper is full or not (which requires actually slipping your finger inside to feel the insert).
Refresh your blog site - life is going to change in the next week, so why not let your online diary reflect the same?
Make batches of plum jam and plum pies (see previous post). Harvest the hazelnuts from your 3 hazelnut trees that you’re always blaming the squirrels for ransacking each year before you get a chance. Give your herbs and veggies the TLC they barely get each year (come to think of it, the basil and tomatoes did taste sweeter this year).
Bake the easiest thing around: Banana + _______ (insert any fruit) loaf! We did have to cut ourselves off after the third one though for the sake of our sugar levels and the fact that I haven’t been able to work out for 2 months now.
Learn to cook with the objective of making it flavourful as opposed to not burning it (jury is still out on this one).
Clean the house (although I refuse to clean it for a third time, darnit!).
Take on a weekly DP Photo Challenge - this one is tough though since balance is an issue, and quite frankly, your pregnant body likes to swing around your centre of gravity rather than stay firmly on it.
Put together that baby mobile you’ve been working on for the past 5 months (picture to follow).
Get the all-time high score in Bejeweled and Dr. Mario (the poor circulation in your legs will thank you for this one…not!).
Five days post-due and no pregnant-body changes really noted. I’m trying my darnest to keep positive, and Chad and I are relishing the free time together to do all the things we say we never have time for, but it’s hard not to feel somewhat disappointed after all this build-up and the due date comes and goes (even though I know he will be here soon). I confess - I’ve asked Chad to screen phonecalls because I don’t think I could handle another “He’s not here yet?” statement/email from a well-wishing, excited family-member/friend - sorry everyone! I read somewhere that only 5% of babies actualy arrive on their due date, and of the 95% who don’t, just 3 out of 10 arrive before the due date while 7 out 10 come after it! A little reassuring.
They say that the nesting instinct gets intensely stronger before the baby is born, which is true to some extent. I personally think it’s more the fact that I have to find something to do to fill the day. In fact, this post could have alternatively been titled Log Report of a Post-due Pregnant Lady who has been on Leave for 3 Weeks Now =)
Today is my first official day of maternity leave…and now it’s just a matter of waiting.
Tehnically, I’m due in 2.5 weeks, but I’m holding thumbs for sooner so we can finally meet our baby boy (he’s been kicking up a storm in there!). So far, the pregnancy has been going really well, and (yikes!) my growth has been in the 90th percentile, meaning he is going to be a big baby! I’m definitely looking forward to having my old body back though (and no more peeing every 5 minutes, being able to fall asleep on my back, being able to have a glass of wine and wearing pants without elastic waists!).
I can only hope that there is airconditioning in the hospital with this record breaking heat wave we’re having!
It’s not my favourite Jamie Oliver TV special, but this week we managed to catch an interesting presentation on how chickens are cultivated for the general public’s consumption. I guess many of us know subconsciously that this is how it’s done, but he goes into the production cycle for both the egg and the meat industry, and it’s actually quite an eye-opener about how we can choose both wisely in our every day lives.
In other news (in case you haven’t heard and are wanting to choose healthy sustainable fish for your family), the Overwaitea Food Group (Save-On Foods) has agreed to carry only SeaChoice fish in their stores. Read more on the David Suzuki site.
Chad and I were both spoilt this Christmas each with our very own iPod touch! And as much as I had told myself that I hadn’t needed it previously, I find myself borderline obsessed with having it near me wherever I go ever since *blush* Slowly, over the past year or so around the house, we have started to rearrange and furnish the rooms into something more classical and comfortably adult, and less I-just-moved-out-on-my-own-and-furnished-my-pad-with-the-bare-essentials-from-Ikea. This included pretty much more comfortable seating/chill-out area with a stereo in each room (it’s amazing how many stereos I have managed to accumulate since junior school), and with the arrival of our new sexy portable music/media players, Chad set it up so that we can just plug in wherever we are in the house.
So with slight fear of sounding a little obsessed with having music with me wherever I go, I decided to share with you a few of my picks for fundamental-must-haves for your music library for various times of the day that always manage to make me feel good. Enjoy!
I’ve been pretty excited these past couple months learning ophthalmic photography in our fluorescien angiography clinics at work. This test essentially involves taking photos of a patient’s fundus (back of the eye) as we pass dye intravenously through the body - any areas where blood travels in the retina hyperflouresces to let us know if there is any fluid leaking into areas it shouldn’t. Check out some of my photos of a patient’s left eye with central serous retinopathy.
Once the filters are in place and the dye is injected, the arteries fill first, followed by the veins. By the 3rd picture, there are areas of hyperfluorescence near the macula (outside of the vessels) which shouldn’t be there. Click on the images for a larger view.
