Oh my carbs, where have you gone?????

On Monday Bob and I both started the South Beach diet (or as they like to call it, the "lifestyle"). Both of us truly need to lose weight, but neither of us really has the energy or willpower for massive exercising. We KNOW that we need to change our eating habits (can anyone say pasta???) but have been reluctant to do so. Over the holiday, Bob bought the South Beach Diet Super Charged book - basically the newer edition - and I jump started us on Monday. Basically, the first two weeks of the diet is devoid of any kind of carbs or sugar, including fruit.

Can I just say now. . . this sucks!!!!! Ok, that was a mite crude, but I believe it accurately states my feelings on the subject. Let me better explain:

1) I now find myself cooking everyday - literally, for hours everyday. Most of you know how much I do not enjoy cooking - in fact, I loathe it. I have been very fortunate to have a husband who actually enjoys cooking, and I must admit, I have exploited that fact. Most days Bob would come home from work and cook us dinner. Breakfast or lunch for me was usually cereal or eating out. Before you think that I am some evil, pampered spouse, I did always cook one or two days every week and we'd usually order out once. But, those days are long over as I find myself trying (and I do mean trying, I'll explain more later) to cook breakfast and dinner for both of us and lunch for myself.

2) The receipes in South Beach are actually quite good, if you can find the ingredients in Shanghai. That is a BIG if. We've always relied mostly on imports for our cooking and because we weren't really sticklers about the health nut lifestyle (yes, you should chuckle here), I never really thought about what we don't have. [Well, not for the last two years, after my initial adjustment period was over. And, I guess, not after I immediately return from the States where I am overwhelmed by all the food choices available. Let me just say I understand after living in China, why America is a fat country (myself included, of course).] Anyway, while searching for the ingredients for the receipes in South Beach, I came away with less than half of what I needed. Low fat ricotta or cottage cheese? Yeah right - I'm lucky if the full fat variety is imported. Same goes with any type of cheese. Day three called for Salmon Florentine - are you kidding me??? Now, I suppose if I even knew what the hell salmon florentine was, I perhaps could make it because seafood is abundant here. But, one - I don't like seafood and two - I've already stated how much more time I'm spending in the kitchen; I'm not about to increase it! The book does state that you do not have to follow each receipe/day exactly; you can make improvisations. I imagine that I am doing that for roughly half of the meals/snacks. Needless to say, it does not make it easier to follow this diet.

3) I am really, really tired of eggs and vegetables. Eggs seem to be on the menu for every breakfast. Back home, all of you can run to the supermarket and get a nice carton of EggBeaters. Here I am trying to make some sort of combo with the whole egg and egg whites only. Thank goodness this is only for two weeks because I can't imagine what all those eggs are doing to our cholesterol levels. :-) My other peeve is all the bell peppers. I mildly like bell peppers. If they are set in front of me with some huumus or dip, they are ok. Somebody else cooks them and puts them in my meal, I'll eat them. But, come on folks - South Beach has you eating peppers almost everyday! I know, good vitamins and all that stuff. But, frankly, I've had enough and I'm only on day 5! Granted, I know some of this problem relates back to the previous item - lack of ingredients in Shanghai. So, I tend to redo many of the receipes we do have ingredients for. Guess what those usually include????

4) Carb shock - it's the only way I can describe what immediately and completely eliminating carbs and sugar does to your body in the first few days. Day two and three for both Bob and I was filled with a strange headache and lightheadedness. Admittedly, this probably reinforces the idea that we really did need to cut back on our carb and sugar (for me, especially) intake. But, it was a little disconcerting.

After all that, I am happy to report that the diet is actually working. My cravings have definitely been reduced, I'm drinking more water, and best of all, we're losing weight. Bob is already down 3 pounds and I am down almost 5. So, I lift my water cup to you, South Beach - here's to more weight loss!

stuff

it's the day before we leave for a three week vacation to the US, and like usual before a big trip, I am not having a good day. It's one of those days where Morgan won't stop crying, and after repeated, failed attempts at getting her to go outside or play with her toys, I finally give up and plop her in front of Barney so I can get some packing done. Today I am not mommy of the year.

Nor am I housekeeper of the year, laundress, or even, probably, wife. (All day long I've been silently cursing Bob for being able to go to work everyday while I deal with a whiny Morgan.) All I really want is to do is blink my eyes and appear at my mom's house on Tuesday afternoon. No list making, packing, airport, 15 hour flight, immigration, rental car woes, etc. I want the impossible - I want magic.

Genie, where are you?

Income

I have to admit, I've never made much of the green. As a teacher in rural Ohio, my top income was about $25,000. This was over halved when I became a full-time graduate student for five years. So, I've been used to not making much money. When Bob and I hastily got married to move to China, and I abruptly had to quit school and my job as a graduate assistant, I then had to get used to not making any money. This may not sound like such a big deal to most married folk - the whole "his money is my money" concept is pretty common, but my independent spirit really asserted itself in the beginning (I know, big suprise). It seemed wrong not to be working and making money. Of course, I eventually got used to this life of leisure and then Morgan came along, the whole stay-at-home mom thing happened. . . What I'm saying is that I eventually stopped worrying about it. Until this week.

I posted a few weeks about about Morgan taking some test pictures for a catalogue shoot. She was grumpy and didn't photograph well so I didn't expect anything to come of it. Well, yesterday I got a call from the photographer that she actually did get a gig - shooting baby carriers - this Wednesday. It's all in good fun - I thought it would be cool to show her some flyer when she gets older with her in it. Then I realized, Morgan actually makes money from this. Ok, it's not much money - somewhere around $40 for an hour's work. But, that $40 is more money than I have contributed to our household income in the last three years! Does that make me feel small and unimportant? Yeah, a little bit. Am I a tiny bit jealous? Yup, I think so. My slightly-less-than two year old daughter makes more money than I do. Again, I am faced with a bit of moral discomfort that somehow this is wrong on several levels.

I comfort myself thinking that in less than a year I will be back home and, hopefully, soon thereafter reenrolled in school to finish my Ph.D (yep, look at me throwing that out there to make me feel big and important again). Of course, that graduate income that I'll hopefully be getting again will only just pay for Morgan's child care while I finish that degree. But, that's a whole other topic of guilt and discomfort. Until then, I'll just suck it up and probably go have a lavish lunch or shopping spree - courtesy of Morgan, of course. ;-)

How I Wish I Could Read Chinese. . .

We came across these (what I can only imagine to be) public service messages on our walk Sunday. They were too funny not to take a picture of. Is it just me or is the one about masturbation????

Walking the French Concession

Since leaving the downtown area, I have really missed being able to walk the former French Concession tree-lined streets. So, this weekend, we decided to head back downtown for a little walk. Before heading out, we stopped off for breakfast at Haya's, a Mediterranean restaurant nearby. They had excellent omelets and Morgan and I both enjoyed our first foray into pancakes with Nutella - who knew chocolate could be so yummy with breakfast?

Afterward, Bobby (our driver) dropped us off near O'Malley's, an Irish pub downtown. Our walk was originally supposed to follow a planned route from a book I bought at a recent x-mas bazaar, but I misread the start point, so we ended up just walking around instead. Luckily, we found Pantry Magic, a store with imported kitchen goods I've been meaning to check out. There were some great items in the store, but we had the best laugh at two of the signs posted in the store. Someone should really tell them that if they are going to cater to expats, they might want to change the descriptions on some of their products!

It was a nice day for December in Shanghai – sunny and in the 50s, so lots of people were out. Many of the Chinese love to stop and say hello to Morgan, and she loves watching them, too. We saw several fresh roasted chestnut carts (I never realized before living here that people actually do eat roasted chestnuts!) beside roasting sweet potato carts – it’s definitely x-mas time when these show up. We also admired many of the older homes still standing amidst office buildings and skyscrapers.

We had a great walk, but we ended up cutting it a little short due to the cold and Morgan’s cough that’s returned in the last few days. It’s a good thing there are lots of restaurants around where we could pop in for a coffee. We ended our walk on Huai Hai – a main shopping artery in downtown. Before leaving, we stopped for a photo op for Bob and Morgan beside the ubiquitous triangle x-mas “trees” in Shanghai. When they do x-mas in Shanghai, they do it big, and most large shopping areas have some version of the triangle tree. Hmmm, that might be a good photo blog in itself. . .

Saturday X-Mas Party

This last Saturday, our compound hosted their annual Christmas party for the residents. Coming from our former residence Shanghai Centre (and associated with the 5 star Ritz-Carlton hotel), we didn't have quite as high hopes as our x-mas spread last year. It's a good thing or we would have been a little disappointed. The SC food was gourmet catered by the Ritz hotel. This year we had mayonaise and mystery meat triangle sandwiches, oreos, and crackers. It was all in good fun, though, and we realize that food at a party isn't really the main thing. At x-mas, it's SANTA! Santa at Ridgewood (our current compound) did come loaded with presents for the kiddos. We really must have lived here long enough because Bob and I weren't the least bit shocked to see a thin Chinese Santa arrive. Morgan still wasn't very impressed and refused to sit on his lap without mom's arm around her. Maybe it was that fake beard or pillow belly that came up a bit too high. Whatever it was, Morgan was in a hurry to get her present and get out of there!

The compound employees did try hard to make a nice party. To start and end the festivities, they sang Christmas songs karaoke style. The residents all joined in, and Morgan even clapped after every song. Morgan liked her gift from Santa - a miniature version of himself playing a saxaphone (a loud, tinny sound only Chinese toys seem able to accomplish), although she was often more intent on chewing it than playing with it since a tooth was coming in. Mom wasn't as impressed with the toy and has not allowed the sound to go back on since! Overall, we had a great time and appreciated our compound's efforts to make our x-mas season festive.

Morgan's Bedroom/Bathroom - 2nd Floor

These pics are of Morgan's bedroom. The furnishings here (except for the curtains) are all ours. The crib is from the US, but otherwise, most of the furniture pieces have been (usually custom) made here in China. The last pic is of her duck-themed bathroom.