Glimpses of Life – Page 49

Visiting Friends and Eating Paleo

I recently took a trip to Seattle to check in on a friend who has started on hospice for the second time in a year. She looks healthy but did not remember me when she first saw me. Her dementia is getting worse and she is pretty much bed bound now.

She sits in her bed and “counts” her blanket as if she’s measuring it. Over and over again — she counts, one, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five. This is not unusual to me as she was an avid hand quilter for many years and subconsciously she must be remembering those days.

While in Seattle, I also visited other friends. Most of them knew I have been trialling a Paleo Diet so they attempted to accommodate me the best they could. One couple in particular really went above and beyond the call of duty.

They made seasoned beef-filled green peppers with roasted eggplants, veggies and lemon dressing. The green peppers were absolutely delicious!

The roasted eggplants with veggies and lemon dressing was also good but a bit “juicy.” I’m including the “recipe” below but keep in mind that my friend doesn’t use a recipe and this is all from the top of her head. (Good luck if you try it!)

This is ? — Roasted Eggplants with Veggies and Lemon Dressing

Dessert was baked apples. Yum!

Since I had gone to visit my friends with another friend, they brought out a beautiful dessert torte. Oh! This was so tempting to me but I declined a few times and made it out of Seattle without one bite of this torte.

I had a great time in Seattle even though my reasons for going weren’t for “fun and relaxation.” It’s rare when I get to really relax because of visiting most of the people I know there.

Below is the recipe for the Roasted Eggplant …

Ingredients

2 eggplants roasted, then remove the skin and mash the pulp (make sure you poke a few holes in each eggplant so they don’t burst open)
Mash the pulp in a food processor on “pulse”
1/2 – 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3-4 green onions chopped
2 T chopped fresh mint
1 medium tomato chopped (save some for decoration)

Dressing

1-2 garlic cloves crushed to a pulp
juice of 1 lemon
salt to taste
1/4 C olive oil

Instructions

Mix most of the above together then taste to adjust for how much salt and lemon you want
Decorate with the saved chopped tomatoes
Note: Â This dish tastes better if left to marinate a little in the refrigerator

Hope you enjoy it!

Ratatouille, Indian Spiced Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Mash

Tonight we had a paleo vegetarian meal that included Ratatouille, Indian Spiced Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Mash.

The ratatouille was pretty good but a little soggy although I’m told that’s how it’s supposed to be. I enjoyed (again) the sweet potato mash but didn’t enjoy the Indian Spiced Butternut Squash as much as my husband did. I rated it a 3 on a scale of 5 (with 5 being the best) and my husband thought it was a 5. Go figure. For me, it had a tad bit too much lemon and cardamon seeds (only 2 pods though).

Ratatouille, Indian Spiced Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Mash

Had the butternut squash been spiced down just a bit I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But it really depends on the person and how spicy they like their food, eh?

Paleo Bread

The main ingredient in this gluten freeÂ paleo bread is almond flour. The texture is a little different than wheat or white bread — it’s a little more dense. But add a tad of butter — oops! now you know we’re not having butter on this part of our paleo diet journey — so, my husband had egg salad on his slice of bread.

Either way — dry or with something else it was good. But if you’re looking for something soft and mushy in your mouth, this is not your bread. A fried over easy egg would also be a good accompaniment with this bread.

It is filling though so slice your bread nice and thin …

Fresh? Orange Juice

I’m a little behind the eight ball in hearing about the story that “broke” back in December of 2011 (well, only a little over a year).

I consider myself to be one of the “try to be healthy” people who likes to buy fresh orange juice — but only when it’s on sale.

An article/video was recently sent to me that discussed how fresh orange juice — the one we pay more for because it’s fresh — is actually made. Come to find out, it’s not very fresh — unless you think sitting around for a year is fresh. Â Personally, I don’t.

I share the video with you as informational only. You can choose to continue to buy “fresh” orange juice or not. I just found it quite interesting that we pay extra for a product that’s not fresh at all.

Please turn the volume down on your computer as there is a video that starts up right away that discusses fresh orange juice and then later (after an ad or two) another video starts that discusses arsenic in apple and other juices.

Feel free to turn off the video and just read the article. Again, I found it quite interesting.

Click below to read and/or hear the article.

Orange Juice’s Secret Flavor

And … what did you think of it? Will this stop you from buying “fresh” orange juice?

Cozumel, Mexico

Our last port of call on a recent cruise was in Cozumel, Mexico. I was really thankful that the weather turned out to be beautiful as we did not have a paid excursion to go on and were simply going to walk around the local area.

Cozumel is Mexico’s largest Caribbean island and is approximately 30 miles long and 10 miles wide. Since we were on foot, we were only going to see a small piece of the island.

Once we disembarked the ship, we walked to a plaza-type area that had many shops.

We were looking for wifi on land as the ship’s internet service is quite costly. And, look what we found. Yes — even Cozumel has a Starbucks.

After sitting down for a few minutes and catching up on our emails and messages, we “hit the road” to see what the area had to offer. Cozumel is quite colorful which brightens a heart easily.

The streets where we walked were quite narrow.

Here’s a local plaza that we walked past. Not much going on here though.

There are a lot of local shops right off the pier and the prices of items vary greatly from one to the next. It really does pay to negotiate a price here. I had wanted to purchase a small Mexican sombrero and the first shop I went to wanted $5 U.S. I kept going and purchased it from another shop for $3.00. Negotiate, negotiate!

There were quite a few “men” dressed up as if they were statues and some of them were pretty good at posing quite still.

I saw a sign for a synagogue but was not able to locate where it was. Perhaps it was a lot further than where we walked.

I enjoyed looking at the various shades of blue in the water — beautiful!

Cozumel, Mexico Square — Square, Cozumel, Mexico

Just walking and walking … that’s what we did.

Cozumel, Mexico Boutiques — Cozumel, Mexico Shops

The people are friendly although when you pass a shop they “encourage” you (quite insistently) to go in and browse.

After walking for awhile, we decided to stop and have some real Mexican food at a restaurant called Alberto’s Bar and Grille. The waiter stood outside the restaurant encouraging people to come in and eat and that worked for us.

Alberto's Restaurant Bar & Grille — Alberto’s Restaurant Bar & Grille

Alberto's Restaurant, Cozumel, Mexico — Alberto’s Restaurant, Cozumel, Mexico

Our food was quite good. I’m not sure why that surprised me. Perhaps because the restaurant was so close to the ship — I guess it shouldn’t have mattered.

After lunch we walked around a little more and saw people taking rides on horse drawn carriages.

It was definitely a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the Mexico sunshine.

This was our last port of call on our cruise on the Norwegian ship called The Star. Tomorrow would be a “sea” day — no ports, just sailing across the Gulf of Mexico.

Other posts from our cruise to Mexico and Honduras are below.

Preparing for a Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico Sunsets

The Norwegian Star – The Ship

The Norwegian Star – Food

The Cabin Steward

The Modern Churrascaria Restaurant

Trip to Belize City, Belize

Trip to Roatan, Honduras

Excursion to Costa Maya, Mexico

Paleo Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie, paleo style — that means no bread and this one was made with no bottom crust either. The top crust was made with coconut flour and other ingredients. It tasted pretty good!

The pot pie was served with a delicious papaya pear arugula salad which was scrumptious. Arugula is a little bitter though so the papaya and pear helped to sweeten it up.

I had this meal as leftovers also and the pot pie heated through just fine and tasted the same as the day it was first made.

This meal is a keeper in my recipe “book.”

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Roatan, Honduras

The second paid excursion that we took while on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship called the Star was to an island called Roatan in Honduras.

The day before, we were in Belize City and got rained on. The weather today was pretty similar — rain, rain and more rain.

We signed up for the “Tabyana Beach Party Snorkel” excursion at $74.99 per person. Unfortunately, when you purchase your tickets for the excursions they are non-refundable and you go whether it’s sunny or rainy (unless you purchase them the same day but then you risk not being able to go on the excursion of your choice).

A group of dancers greeted us as we disembarked the ship to board a bus that transported us to the beach on a very pot-holed winding road.

It was looking pretty grim weather-wise. Once we arrived at Tabyana Beach, our group gathered around a young man who started asking the group questions. “Anyone with a pacemaker?” No hands went up. “Anyone have asthma?” My hand shot up because, although I was not suffering from asthma at the time, I have been known to get asthma when I have a bad cold and I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.

By raising my hand, I was automatically eliminated from going snorkeling. I thought it was rather unfair as my husband and son were able to go snorkeling and all I was Â able to do was sit in a covered patio area since the rain continued to pour and the beach area was wet.

Needless to say, I was disappointed but did receive a refund for the snorkeling portion of the trip.

Shortly after the snorkelers had made it to the beach, I could see people gathering around. Something was wrong. A man had turned blue while putting his head underwater and was brought back to the sandy beach. He needed to be resuscitated as he had swallowed water through his snorkel gear.

After he was resuscitated by the ship’s nurse, who just happened to be there, they took him in an emergency vehicle back to the ship.

The snorkeling group was now able to go into the water and they had a team ready to guide them to some great places (so I was told by my husband and son).

So, what did I do? Well, I played with my new iPhone5Â on the covered deck and socialized with a woman who was sitting at another table reading a book as she didn’t want to snorkel although her husband was with the snorkel group.

Covered Deck, Tabyana Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Around noon, the snorkelers returned and they opened up the buffet line so we could have lunch which consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers and barbecue chicken along with drinks.

Tabyana Beach Buffet Area, Roatan, Honduras

After lunch, I strolled down to the beach. It was beautiful even if the day had been wet. There were many vendors on the beach selling jewelry, hats and even services such as hair braiding or massages. It was sad for me to see that they had children trying to sell things also.

Most everyone wanted to leave after the snorkelers returned as the rain really started to fall and there was not much to do after eating. I did go to the local craft store that sold pictures but didn’t see anything that I particularly wanted to purchase.

So, we boarded our bus back to the ship with the driver maneuvering his way through all the potholes.

I took a few more pictures before boarding the ship.

(I so enjoy the brightly colored buildings!)

And lastly reader, I was able to get a video of the dancers/performers while waiting to set sail (click below). The performers accepted “tips” as I’m sure the cruise line didn’t pay them to perform. It was a nice cultural performance.

Roatan, Honduras looks to be quite beautiful — we just needed a few hours of sunshine to enjoy it.

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Preparing for A Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico Sunsets

The Norwegian Star – The Ship

The Norwegian Star – Cabin Steward

The Norwegian Star – Food

The Modern Churrascaria Restaurant

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Belize City, Belize

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Cozumel, Mexico

Paleo Slow Cooked Lamb

Lamb is one of my favorite foods to eat so when my son made slow cooked lamb I was quite excited to taste it. The lamb was served with a peach salad that had a peach cumin dressing. They both turned out very good (even as leftovers later in the week). In addition, we had a butternut squash that was served with tahini. Yum!

For dessert we had paleo cheesecake. Uh, well, kind’ve cheesecake. It had no cheese so the name is a misnomer. The “cake” was good but quite heavy on the stomach, perhaps because it has a cashew nut filling that is blended with other ingredients. The topping was sweet enough as in a “regular” cheesecake.

It is very hard to make a dessert that tastes like “regular” desserts as no sugar, dairy or gluten is used. Kudos to my son for his effort in trying to find us desserts that are palatable while eating paleo and watching our diet.

The Norwegian Star – Trip to Belize

Our second port of call on the Norwegian Cruise LIne was to Belize City, Belize. We did not dock at the port and had to take tenders (small boats) that transported us to the port.

Belize is a country in Central America that is located between Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It was a former British colony and is about two hours (flying distance) from the United States.

The country is approximately 8800 square miles. The earliest inhabitants were known to be the Mayans so there are Mayan ruins here just like in Costa Maya, Mexico.

We had decided not to take a paid excursion this time but instead walk around downtown. Unfortunately, the weather was dreary — very very dreary. It seemed like it rained the whole time we were there.

We hired a local driver to show us some of the sights but in the rain we didn’t get to see too many things of interest. I did notice that the houses are painted with bright colors — very similar in style to houses in the Caribbean.

Our driver did stop at a church called St. John’s Cathedral (Church) Â and we were able to step inside and take some pictures. There was a small church service going on so we were careful to be quiet.

St John's Anglican Church — St John’s Anglican Cathedral Church

“The church was built by slaves from bricks brought to Belize as ballast in the hulls of ships sailing from Europe.Â The building took eight years to complete and inside one can find many original architectural touches including intricate stained glass windows, ornate mahogany pews and an antique organ.” Belize It

St. John's Church Altar, Belize — St. John’s Cathedral, Altar, Belize

The architecture in this church is pretty amazing.

St. John's Cathedral Balcony — St. John’s Cathedral, Belize, Balcony

The front door was very intricately done. Beautiful!

St. Johns Cathedral Front Door — St. Johns Cathedral, Belize, Front Door

The stained glass window was also beautiful. I enjoy looking at stained glass windows everywhere I go.

St John's Cathedral, Belize, Stained Glass — St John’s Cathedral, Belize, Stained Glass

Although it rained on us most of the day, we were happy we were able to get off the ship and walk around. Here are a few more pictures I took of the area.

The outdoor pictures above were taken from the tender (small boat) that transported us back to the ship.

I’m sure Belize is a beautiful country — we just didn’t have the best weather while we were there.

Preparing for A Winter Vacation

Gulf of Mexico – Sunsets

The Norwegian Star – The Ship

The Norwegian Star – Cabin Steward

The Norwegian Star – Food

Modern Churrascaria Restaurant on the Norwegian Star

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Costa Maya, Mexico

The Norwegian Star – Excursion to Cozumel, MexicoÂ

Paleo Chicken Soup

I love, love, love soup in the winter! I could have it every day if my husband wouldn’t get sick of it. Of course, normally I’d also have a nice piece of warm bread and butter with it …

No, no, no! Remember — no bread on this new paleo diet we’re trialling.

Actually, I didn’t miss the bread at all. This paleo chicken soup was that good. Period.

My son served the soup with chipotle sweet potatoes on the side. I was in heaven! Well, food heaven, anyway. (laughing)

Later, my son had made some pumpkin scones that were pretty good also. We normally give him a hard time when he makes paleo pastries as the texture is very different from a regular pastry — it’s more soft most of the time. There’s also the palette trying to get used to the taste of almond flour and coconut flour.

I’m not quite “there” yet but my palette is slowly coming around. (Not the best picture of the scone — sorry.)

Oh — on an “up” note, when I saw my doctor recently because of my bronchitis, she took my blood pressure and, guess what? It’s still normal. This paleo diet has brought my blood pressure down. Great news, eh?

I once read that “sugar clogs the system” and I believe it’s true. The body can repair itself if given a fighting chance. There are definite benefits to this diet.