That’s the name of the game these days.  So, I decided to try out Braised White Beans; beans braised in olive oil of all things.

I don’t buy into the high-carb/low-fat mantra of the past 20-30 years, so it didn’t concern me that these beans would be cooked in two cups of olive oil.  Olive oil is rich in vitamin E, after all.  I also find high-fat foods to be far more satiating than low-fat options, and this recipe definitely satisfies.

I’ve been having a few large spoonfuls on toast as a quick snack.  It was at least enough to get me through my workout this afternoon.  I’ve also been reusing the olive oil for omelets/scrambles and salad dressing, adding a little flavor kick.  Delicious!

Several months ago, I decided to try to save a little money by making my own yogurt.  It’s mostly been a success.  I bought a yogurt maker to make the process easier.

It’s better than the cheapest yogurt on the market, but not as good as the luscious “Greek” yogurt, mainly because I don’t strain it.  I want that whey.

The whole heating/cooling/cooking process takes several hours, so it can be kind of a pain in the ass, but, ultimately, I’m spending about as much on a half gallon of yogurt as I used to for a quart, and I know it’s real yogurt, not that goopy, syrupy stuff with some cultures mixed in.

Next I’m going to have to try my hand at kefir.

In an effort to make healthful, and tasty, quick breakfasts, I decided to take a stab at this recipe:  No-bake Sunflower-Oat Bars.

I realized I forgot the sunflower seeds just as I was checking out at the store (which is always the way), but then I also realized that I’m not a huge fan of raw sunflower seeds.  I decided to substitute some peanuts left over from this recipe.  Also, as I was making it, I also remembered, that I find sun butter to be a little strange tasting.  It has a musty/musky undertaste.  A better version might use almond butter and toasted almonds in place of the sunflower butter and raw sunflower seeds.

This is my terrible photo of the end product:

Except for the strange undertaste of the sun butter, it was really delicious.  It was too sweet, though.  I wonder if the writer of the recipe took into account that no sunflower butter seems to exist that doesn’t have added sugar.  The recipe does not need 1/2 cup agave nectar.

Strangely, as the days went by, the strange sun butter taste started to go away, and it really did start to taste like peanut butter.  I still want to try this recipe with almond butter, and maybe with honey, much less than 1/2 cup.

And this just happens to be the first Thursday of the month.  Why am I doing this instead of going to an art gallery?  Because I’m a shut-in, duh!

My first attempt at maintaining a Sims dynasty was marred by a fatal glitch.  I was really attached to them too.  (sob)  This go-around, I decided to micromanage my Sims somewhat less.  My first Sim of the dynasty was entirely game-created.

Meet Jackie Schreiber.  She’s lucky, a light sleeper, a couch potato, excitable, and a genius.  Her favorite things are classical music, tri-tip steak, and the color yellow. Her lifetime wish is to be a chess legend, and her career wish is to be a world-renowned surgeon.

I immediately enlisted her in the medical track, starting out as an organ donor (prestigious!).  I also sat her down to start practicing chess almost immediately.

I wanted her to have a little time to work on her lifetime and career goals before she settled down and had a family.  So, I mostly worked on making her some new friends.

Such as Sunshine Leary, a coworker,

And Alice Rantt, Jackie’s boss,

I redecorated the standard canary yellow house to be more simple and clean, almost clinical.  A more appropriate abode for a Sim on the medical track.

But having her take care of herself proved to be too much trouble.  The woman has important life goals!  She needed a househusband or housewife.  I sent her out on the war path.

Virtually no Sims hang out outside the hospital, and apparently all of Jackie’s coworkers were women.  Not that I’m hostile to the idea of her being a lesbian, but she was only wishing to make friends with other women.  I needed to introduce her to some men.

I sent her to the art gallery, effective predatory grounds for two of my sadly lost Sims.  Pickings were slim this day, but Jackie did meet Tony Apablanza.

Things were looking decent until I made the mistake of having her tell Tony a funny story.  A natural grump, Tony wasn’t just bored by humor, it actively pissed him off.  Jerk.

A humorless prude is not the man for my Sim.

So, I had Jackie move on to the gym.  There’d have to be some fit men there, right?  She met Randy Monroe.  He’s brave and handy, has a good sense of humor, and is a bookworm.  Not bad.  Since Jackie lacks charisma, flirtatiousness, and the hopeless romantic trait, leveling her up with any given Sim is a painstaking task.  I had her go home for the night.

Jackie had a desire to read a logic book, so I sent her to the bookstore.  After a little retail therapy, she hung out outside the bookstore, talking to men.  She met Adrien Landgraab.

Not a bad looking dude and with a nice, deep voice to boot.  But something about Adrien struck me as self-centered.

But, who is this?  Randy?

I had Jackie flirt with him, and they both seemed to be digging it.  But, unfortunately, Jackie was too tired and hungry to take things to the next level.

Jackie had the next day off, so I had her invite Randy over.  Things quickly progressed.  Since I already had it in mind to make Randy her househusband, I had them try for baby.

Dingle-a-ling!

I don’t know if I’m experiencing a glitch or what, but the “Ask Sim to Move in” option is rarely available.  Does it go away once Sims woo hoo?  Is it not an option after a Sim gets pregnant?  The game seems relatively progressive to require Sims to get married to merge households, but whatever.

Anyway, since I needed a Sim to take care of Jackie, the baby, and the household, I had Jackie propose right away.

She couldn’t let that one get away.

Once I had control of Randy, it turned out that he has the same career goal as Jackie, to become a world-renowned surgeon.  Oops.  Maybe once the kids are grown, Randy.  Until then, you’re gonna need to get cooking.

My mother used to make a Danish recipe, aeblekage, that was a childhood favorite of mine.  It was decadent enough to satisfy, but not enough to inspire serious guilt.  As an adult, I tried to make it on my own, but it was significantly different than my mother’s version, using a huge quantity of butter in proportion to its other ingredients.  I’ve been experimenting and trying to create a compromise recipe that cuts down on some of the grease while preserving the flavor.

Aeblekage is always buttered crumbs, raspberry jam, apple sauce layered together and usually topped with whipped cream, but there are apparently variations.  To try to recreate my mother’s recipe, I started out with the recipe in Danish Home Baking by Karen Berg.

Her recipe advises making your own applesauce, which I haven’t bothered with in years.  Maybe if I’m ever independently wealthy, or a housewife.  The most important thing about the recipe is the buttered breadcrumbs.  Incredibly, Berg’s recipe recommends a half cup of butter per 1/2 cup of bread crumbs.  This makes an impossibly greasy mass; delicious, but also difficult to spread over the applesauce and jam evenly.

My mother always went for very lightly buttered crumbs, which allowed for greater coverage, even if the result wasn’t as cake-like.  On my most recent go-around, I doubled the bread crumbs and halved the butter.  This was the result:

The crumbs are supposed to provide full coverage over all layers, and I only did two layers.  They were also still slight too greasy for my taste.  Next time, I’ll add at least another half cup of crumbs with the same amount of butter.

This time, I added some cinnamon to the mix, since I love cinnamon in applesauce.  The results were pretty damn good, and it also gave me the idea of adding toasted almonds to the crumbs in the future.  Danes love their almonds.

So, my tentative recipe:

24 oz. applesauce

1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

generous dash cinnamon

toasted almonds (optional)

raspberry jam to taste

whipping cream and sugar (optional)

Melt butter in a pan and add sugar, bread crumbs, and cinnamon (and almonds).  Toast until lightly browned, which is admittedly difficult to determine if you’re using whole wheat.  In a glass bowl, alternate layers of applesauce, bread crumbs, and jam, ending with bread crumbs.  Add fresh whipped cream if desired.

Once upon a time, I knew how to eat.  My mother was largely responsible for that.  She fed me balanced meals throughout my childhood, and the results were obvious.  Like every woman in the United States, I had body image problems starting with pre-adolescence; despite that, I was a pretty skinny kid.

Skinny even with all that ice cream

That knowledge has been pretty much lost through ten years of vegetarianism; various bad eating habits through college, especially with the lack of adequate kitchen facilities and the horrifying quality of grocery stores in New York City; and an unfortunate habit of temporarily adopting fad diets.

Thinking back on how well my mother fed me, I’m determined to readopt her methods.  I will eschew all fad diets, low-fat and high-carb alike.  I will load up on fruit and vegetables.  I will eat “bad” foods, but in moderation; the type of moderation that won’t make me feel deprived.  And I’ll combine this with the knowledge about personal fitness I’ve gained over the years.  This new tactic may not (probably won’t) result in making me as lean as I was twenty years ago, but, at this point, that’s hardly the point.