Milestones (Amy's diary)

True enough, Rob! A new month, a new day, and the future is right there in front of us - no turning back, I'm humming to myself! :)

I've never had peanuts boiled, but even new, if they're fresh, they taste like peas - and hence the name! I used to wonder what they were, In Agatha Christie novels, the "ground-nut schemes" that people would go to Africa for, and either make or not make fortunes. I didn't ever know it was just peanuts! It still seems strange that anyone could make fortunes out of something so humble, but I guess they did, and maybe still do.
 
In South Georgia and into Alabama and Mississippi peanuts are a big crop. That's where Jimmy Carter's family peanut farm is. Just a few miles north of where I used to live in Florida, so we had lots of peanuts. They boil them a little green, freshly picked and still in the shells. You then squeeze the nut or bean out to eat, its done by hand. Boil peanuts are sold in a lot of small road side stands, that's where I used to get them.

Another way they fix them is deep fried, again they are fried fresh and a little green in the shells. You eat them shell and all. They taste pretty good, but are not so low calorie. In that part of the US south they fry most anything, all vegetables even pickles. Fried okra used to be one of my favorites, fried pickles not so much.

I like peanuts, but have not been eating many since going on this diet. I do miss them from time to time.
 
aiminglow said:
(Whoops - just absent-mindedly picked up and crunched on a clove of garlic instead of a peanut!
That's what I get for nibbling and typing at the same time. It was quite hot in the mouth - stinging, even - not that it's still in there!)
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Lol! I like that you didn't force yourself to eat it. Haha. That's a sign of a healthy attitude to food! ;)
 
Rob - I like the sound of the fried fresh peanuts! But then, I tend to like the sound of fried things generally. I like nuts generally, too, and have been a bit shocked/depressed to find out how calorific they are - but I still am eating them, on the grounds that they give protein as well.

Cate - not as far as I know! How's things in Tasmania? I hope a really good weekend planned?

I did keep eating it for a bit, Em - not swallowing it, but chewing it out of curiosity, but when it got too hot and stinging, it was ejected pretty forcibly! :D
 
Haha, I guess there were no Halloween vampires hanging around your house, that's for sure! :D

Does anyone else find nuts overrated? I know they are meant to be so good for you, but I honestly think a 'good for you' quantity is probably 10 almonds a day, haha.
 
I've just now weighed and counted the peanuts, and got fifty to the ounce, which was about 160 calories. (These are raw ones - the ones I ate, I dry-roasted, in a fry-pan.) That was about a handful. For me, they're boosting protein intake, and maybe also thinking on the "good fats" side - I guess I should also look up all the rest of the nutrition.

The worst thing about nuts is they're so easy to eat - just scoop them up and munch!* The best thing about them is the taste - not peanuts, especially, but cashews and almonds, and maybe pecans. Of absolute course, the best-tasting ones are the most calorific.

*not pistachios! Pistachios make you work for every munch! :D
 
aiminglow said:
The worst thing about nuts is they're so easy to eat - just scoop them up and munch!
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That's for sure.

Pecans and cashews are my favorites. Are pecans grown in Australia? Seems like you might have the right climate, in places anyway. Pecans are really nice big shade trees.
 
I love pistachios. And cashews. Preferably with raisins/fruit. Been weighing them out for years though.
 
I love nuts roasted , salted , smoked , with rubs or salt , etc etc. Oh smd honey roasted. I have cut back on eating and buying almonds and other nuts because firstly I eat way too many and secondly they are pretty expensive. Also someone pointed out to me one day as I was eating a few almonds that it takes about 4 litres of water to grow one almond. No wonder some countries that produce a lot of these foods have drought. Not that almonds are different to other foods in that respect really as most foods require water to produce it. anyway I digress , yes I do weight stuff like that out now if I was to have them
 
Petal001 said:
Also someone pointed out to me one day as I was eating a few almonds that it takes about 4 litres of water to grow one almond.
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We're in a no win situation when it comes to food consumption I'm afraid. If I wanted to shop locally and buy from a market at the weekend, I would be spending 10 times the amount I spend in Aldi or Lidl or even Dunnes. So it's hard to win.

I was in Super Valu the other day waiting for them to get me some boxes and I was looking at all the packaging on the fruit and veg and was trying to see could I get by with just buying everything not covered in plastic. It was an interesting thought experiment. I probably could.
 
I shop In all those stores too Em . Lidl have a lot of loose fruit and veg and they have little netted bags now to reuse . I got some . My daughter wants us to only buy local produce but like you say it’s a no win situation . I like variation in my fruit so unless I eat only Irish cox apples, strawberries and raspberries only in summer I can’t actually do it . Veg is ok . Ireland are brillaint for veg. I do buy irish meat but we do buy lots of imported stuff . It’s life . On a side note I got my dishwasher tablets , detergent and slab of diet cokes in Dunne’s yesterday with my money off vouchers , 30 Euro . Was delighted !!
Amy I apologise for the massive hijack on your diary !!
 
You're very welcome, Petal! :) And everybody, of course!
And I sympathise with the struggle to balance virtue with budget - meaning all sorts of virtue, like environmental impact, nutrition, fair return to farmers, boycotts where applicable etc etc. Plus - this was been mentioned on another thread - the problem of lugging back weighty-but-healthy foods when you live in a food desert with poor public transport - like, it's much easier to carry a single kilo of rice, than three kilo of oranges and the rice will last longer, meaning less time between shopping trips. I'm not in that situation now, but I have been, and it's verifiably bad for health. :(

Pecans in Australia? - yes, we do grow them, Rob, but I think it must be in northern New South Wales, or Queensland - where they also grow the macadamia, a native to Australia, which like pecans comes from a big, majestic, shady tree. :) Further south, we grow almonds - a water-guzzler, as Petal says, so I don't know what the future of that's going to be. Pistachio-growing is newish, but pretty well-established by now, and I hope will prosper.

And - the weekend! I knew it would be tricky for me, with a couple of social-eating occasions, and so far, so it has been. One more meal to go - and then back to home cooking, home catering, and hopes for hitting target by next weekend. Today will be pleasant, though, visiting a family with a newish baby, and two older little girls, the parents of course, and the grandparents - I'm especially cheerful because I've just been to my presents-for-children cupboard and found a lovely book to take to the little girls - one of those art classics for kids books. I got a puzzle on Friday, so that's two things that the two of them can share, so they won't be sidelined too much by the new baby.

I hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend - with excellent nutrition and exactly as much social engagement as you feel like!
 
Amy you remind me so much of an old aunt who used to travel to visit people and she always had gifts for everyone. It's lovely.
 
It was fun, LaMa, and I guess I'm a quasi-aunt to this family, Petal, which is very pleasant indeed! The presents weren't big things, just some books and some animal book marks and a press-out cardboard construction "puzzle" - not really a puzzle, because all you had to do was put tab 26 into slot 26, and so on, making a stand-up cottage from all the pre-printed pieces.

Anyway, I had a lovely time; my weight will be up tomorrow, but a day's serious concentration (no butter! nothing sweet but fruit! definitely no cheese!) should bring me back to a place where I have a chance of getting to "overweight" by next weekend. Hope springs eternal, anyway.

On the slightly less lovely side - the family's in-laws run a bakery, and they had sent over a present for me to take home. Sort of coconut macaroon cakes - sigh! Of course I accepted with expressions of delight, and sending warm messages of thanks - at least I hope I did, this was right at leaving time - but equally of course I can't eat them, until the results of two meals out, yesterday and today, have evaporated. Such is life, to quote Ned Kelly.
 
aiminglow said:
On the slightly less lovely side - the family's in-laws run a bakery, and they had sent over a present for me to take home. Sort of coconut macaroon cakes - sigh! Of course I accepted with expressions of delight, and sending warm messages of thanks - at least I hope I did, this was right at leaving time - but equally of course I can't eat them
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I know that kind of thing can be challenging. Last night my 12 year old granddaughter made brownies with chocolate chip cookie crumbles in them. I made a big deal of eating a bite (a very small one), fortunately her attention span is typical of a 12 year old so she didn't seem to notice that was all I ate. Point is there are ways of dealing with these things, not always very satisfying ways, I'd sure have liked to have more of those brownies. Good luck with disposing of the coconut macaroon cakes, I sure like those.

Thanks for the info on pecans and macadamias. I don't know much about macadamias, so I looked them up, you are right both pecans and macadamias are nice big shade trees, and both grow in humid subtropical climates. I think pecans may be a little more frost tolerant, but not a lot of difference. We don't grow a lot of macadamias in the US outside of Hawaii, so I had assumed they were more tropical. Both are good, far too good, nuts.

Even if you do go up a little tomorrow you are doing very well, keep it up!
 
It sounds like you are a very good quasi aunt, Amy. I have a presents cupboard too. I used to love "spoiling" my nieces & was never going to have children of my own. It's very thoughtful of you to take gifts for the older children.
You'll vanish any grams you may have gained over the weekend quick smart. Can you freeze the cakes?
 
I'm not sure (about the cakes.) They're sort of a macaroon-style coconutty top, sitting in a light pastry base. I'll look more closely and see.
Meanwhile - off to start the day! Cheers!
 
The presents cupboard is such a lovely idea. I'm glad kids still like books and puzzles!

I'd probably eat the macaroons, but space them out. :)
 
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