Weekly recap: Tomato baby, squirrel, ice, Monty, and healthy eating

Some highlights of the past week!

I was so worried about the red squirrels who disappeared for a couple days after the big snow fall last week, but they are back with a vengeance! Here’s one taking a walk across my new screen!

Updates from my indoor garden – the first tomato is forming! These are a small tomato species, so hopefully it’ll fully mature and I’ll soon eat my first homegrown, indoor tomato! I have a fan blowing on them so the flowers vibrate enough in the wind to pollinate/fertilize. Looks like it worked!

Weather wise, the past week has seen more snow, rain, sunshine, but it hasn’t ever been too warm. We took Monty for a walk on this icy backroad earlier this week.

Here’s Monty being goofy after our walk, hanging upside down on my lap.

Healthy eating has continued. I’ve gone a month now without fast food, pop, or junk food. I’ve minimized added sugar (except from natural sources like maple syrup) and have minimized wheat flour. I feel good, and I’ve slowly been losing weight. At this rate, it might take a couple years to get to the size I’m supposed to be, but slower sounds more permanent to me.

Here’s the start of a shrimp, tomato, fresh basil in butter dish I served with rice noodles. Fresh basil is so incredible!

And here is one of the many stir-fry’s I’ve made. This one I made with some jasmine rice we bought awhile back, and I quickly fried the vegetables in coconut oil which gives them a great flavour, especially with the jasmine rice. I can physically feel the higher glycemic index value of the jasmine rice though so I don’t eat it often. It does taste delicious though!

I’ve had a bad chest cold for a couple weeks, probably a chest infection, after using a really old and expired inhaler (dumb). Something with the phlegm in my chest has mucked up my smelling ability. All balsamic vinegar smells and tastes exactly like alcohol swabs now (the packaged swabs that my nurse mother always came home from work with in her pockets). I was convinced our Modena balsamic vinegar went bad, but the brand new jar smells the same to me. Hopefully that’ll resolve soon! Until then I’m having my salads naked, or with just a bit of olive oil.

And a quick weather update before I go: It poured rain all day today, making our thick, ice-covered driveway pretty treacherous. Our mailbox has been buried since the last big storm, so we asked the mail lady to hold our mail in town. The snow has melted enough now that we can see the top of the mailbox, but it is several feet away from the cleared portion of the road still. 10+cm of snow coming tonight and tomorrow! I’m happy it’ll whiten up the snow mountains 🙂