The Denim Diaries by Kami Gray

The Grays - Passport Photo - 1972

Today, my parents celebrated their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. This is a happy occasion for many reasons – the most important being that my parents still like each other. They met in junior high and have been the best of friends ever since. A few rocky years for sure, but that strong friendship got ‘em through and I am eternally grateful for that. It’s typically my responsibility to arrange family events since my older sister gave me the oldest sibling duties by the time I was in kindergarten. She wasn’t interested and we both had to face facts…I’m a lot bossier, meaner, louder, and it’s better just to let me have my way.  

Like many Americans right now, we needed to find something fun to do, but it had to be cheap. I decided on just the immediate family (minus my kids who are officially out of towners) for a day of bowling and pizza. The bowlers ranged in age from 7 to 67 and the scores ranged from 32 to 144.  I never broke 100. Until today…this is my one hundredth blog post!

Pizza afterwards was at Flying Pie Pizzeria. You should move to Portland for this pizzeria…they pile the freshest vegetables on your pizza, and have 100% whole wheat crust, a decent wine selection (although the glasses are thimble-sized), an arcade for the kiddies, and a million board games you can play all day if you want. They will also let you take your food next door to a beautiful, refurbished movie theatre…granted, you could be ordering the same movies through Netflix, but whole wheat pizza and a movie? I’m in!

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad. You are two of the best people I know and the reason I care deeply about what I put in my body, my trash can, my house, and my attention towards. It all filters through the goodness you taught me. It didn’t seem like I was listening or being respectful most of the time, but some how it sunk in! Thanks guys! I love you!

It’s been over a week since I last made an entry on my blog. I took a little vacation to enjoy the holidays and now I’m wondering if I succeeded…did I enjoy myself? I was still doing final, final, final edits on my book as late as Christmas Eve so consequently; I didn’t put my tree up until an hour before guests arrived. And I never adorned my tree with a single ornament. It did have very pretty and colorful lights and I decided good was good enough, which many of you know is a saying I live by and use repeatedly in my book. It was that kind of holiday. I can summarize my holiday experience in three words…poor, good, and great!

POOR

My eating/drinking habits during Cranium (game night) on December twenty-third.  I downed a bowlful of extra salty, dry roasted peanuts, drank way too much wine, and forgot to drink water. I woke up repeatedly that night feeling bloated, thirsty, and pissed off at myself.

GOOD

My eating/drinking habits over the following two days. I did indulge in a little wine, but I remembered to drink buckets of water, eat small portions, and abstain from salty nuts, candies, and cookies.  By the twenty-sixth, I was feeling considerably better.

GREAT

The tin of my sister’s whole wheat dark chocolate chip cookies made with ground flaxseed and wheat germ that she left at my house during Christmas. Lucky me! One tasty cookie and a perfect cup of coffee and I was able to sit back and reflect on the love, joy, and bliss I feel for my children and the rest of my family. We’re not perfect and we’re having a bit of drama presently, but I wouldn’t trade any of them for anything in the world!

Hope you all had a wonderful or at least “good is good enough” holiday too! Have a safe and joyous New Years.

JOHN MCCAIN:

According to the Chicago Tribune, McCain’s:

“Favorite food: Shrimp, and pizza topped with pepperoni and onions”

According to the New Yorker, the campaign bus has…

“On one side is a bathroom and on the other a galley stocked with Dunkin’ Donuts and Coke, the staples of the McCain diet.”

According to dietsinreview.com:

“Apparently he isn’t too keen on watching his waistline, his favorites include enchiladas, pizza, BBQ and shrimp.” And, “McCain – Says he doesn’t “do too well with vegetables.”

BARACK OBAMA:

According to healthcare.zdnet.com:

“His personal aide, Reggie Love, offered The New York Times  some insights into that diet, which runs to grilled fish, protein bars and iced tea.”

According to dietsinreview.com:

“ It looks as though this candidate is more in tune with a healthy diet, preferring to eat vegetables like spinach and broccoli, nuts, Dentyne Ice gum, and handmade milk chocolates from Fran’s Chocolates in Seattle.”

“Obama - Skips salt and vinegar potato chips and mayo, will eat beets and asparagus only “if no other vegetables are available,” and drinks water over soda.”

My politically impartial view is that Barack Obama’s diet is the clear winner. I’m not big on Obama’s protein bars, but they’re far better than McCain’s apparent love of Dunkin Donuts. Obama is also not fearful of veggies like McCain appears to be and drinks water instead of soda. In fairness, Obama’s sugarfree gum and milk chocolate has to go. Nicorette would be a much better choice and always go for the dark chocolate Senator! 70% pure cocoa or higher! Even so…My vote stays with Obama because McCains’s pizza, doughnut, and coke diet combined with a distaste for vegetables is not only unhealthy for the mature Senator from Arizona, it doesn’t make him a good role model for Americans trying to eat healthier. There you have it!

In honor of my daughter’s 19th birthday today, I’d like to talk about cheating. Not that kind of cheating - cheating on your healthy-eating-to-slim-down plan. I’m a pretty strict eater. I rarely deviate from my good habits because I’ve done it before and I know what happens…my jeans get too tight and a muffin top appears. On celebration days like today, I’m cheating. My daughter is away at college and I’m still gonna cheat. My sister and I are having lunch together and wishing my girl well with a glass of champagne and some dark, chocolate cake. We’re not going to worry about fat or calories or fitting into our jeans. Its one little indiscretion and we trust ourselves. We don’t think one piece of dark chocolate cake is a gateway dessert to Snickers bars, Boston cream pies, and hot fudge sundaes. We’ll balance out our little tryst with chocolate cake over the next day or so and all will be forgiven.  

Happy birthday Lil Girl! Your Mommy loves you and misses you. Enjoy your birthday cake today.

Who doesn’t want to be a kid again? At least sometimes? Like when you’re paying bills or getting your first mammogram or listening to your kids argue in the backseat of the family car?  My book publicist Kim has the perfect cure to beat the blues that come with adult responsibility…Go Skipping! 

Her website iskip.com outlines the many physical and mental benefits that come from getting your skip on. Did you that skipping is great exercise? According to Kim’s website, skipping burns twice as many calories as walking and is easier on your joints than running. Plus, since it’s a joy-based activity, it lifts your spirit. Kim says that when you least feel like skipping, that’s when you need it the most. Even ten steps will get your mood going in the opposite direction.

If you think you’d feel silly skipping, that’s the point! Being less serious and more silly is good for you. Grab a couple friends and try it out. Looks like Kim and her friends are having plenty of silly fun skipping all over San Francisco. If you get really into it, you might enjoy “Extreme Skipping.” Check out this video on Kim’s blog, iskip.blogspot.com.

Have you noticed that there is always a bowl of porridge in fairy tales?  I never really knew that I’d been eating porridge all my life until I saw the recipe below.  In fact, porridge was likely responsible for many a good night’s sleep in my childhood. My Mom fed us porridge, but disguised it as oatmeal with a bunch of weird things added to it. My older sister Kelly makes a hearty porridge…she makes a hearty everything.  I wish she lived next door to me. I’ve been trying to devise a plan where we have side-by-side duplexes with a secret door between our kitchens. She puts food in and takes money out of my jar. Kind of like when you have a urinalysis, but there’s no money, just a sharpie so you can write your name on the plastic cup. Here is Kelly’s recipe for Wheatberry porridge.  She’ll let you sub quinoa for the wheatberries, but I wouldn’t take it any further than that…she’s kind of strict. Make a big pot on Monday morning and you’ll be eating like a queen or at least a frog or a prince all week.

Wheatberry (or Quinoa) Porridge

-13 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

-1 cup dried chopped apples and apricots (soaked for 20 minutes in boiling water and then drained) (or you substitute 1 cup raisins)

-1H cups nonfat milk (or water)

-1 cup nonfat plain yogurt sweetened with 1 tsp

evaporated cane juice brown sugar

-7 tsp sea salt

-13 cups cooked wheatberries (or quinoa)

-1 tbls  ground golden flax seed

-1 tbls wheat germ

-2 tsp evaporated cane juice, brown sugar or raw honey

-1 tsp ground cinnamon

-1 cup berries

-3 cup chopped raw almonds or hazelnuts

Bring milk (or water) to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in oats, apples and apricots and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for three minutes. Stir in cooked wheatberries (or quinoa) and cook until heated through, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from burner and stir in the nonfat plain yogurt, wheat germ and ground flax, brown sugar, cinnamon. Stir, top with almonds and serve. This takes a little more prep than your standard bowl of oatmeal or wheat farina, but the taste makes it well worth the extra effort.

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