Baile Rochel Locked In? Nah! Can't Keep a Good Girl Down

Baile Rochel tell you how it really is:

Life in The Corona Lock-down

The other day I got an emergency call from my childhood playmate:

"Baile Rochel, the world is waiting for your words of wisdom."
"Nu, me?"

What wisdom?

I'm just a sloppy overweight middle-aged senior citizen who keeps getting chastised by my children for taking walks outside the house. I dress like a bandit with a mask and all. OK, I admit that the "mask" is just a folded shmatta, cut from a ripped flannel sheet. For goggles, I have my trusty multifocals.

When people ask why I still go outside I answer:

"Doctors orders!"

When corona virus, COVID-19, the plague, or whatever you want to call it, is no more than an awful memory, high blood pressure, diabetes, serious aches and pains, etc ad nauseum will still be live threats. In addition, I live in the "sticks," in a private home, so I don't need scuba gear in an elevator or public stairwell.

I rarely see anyone when outside, and if I do, I cross the street. And if that's not possible, proper corona manners demand that the younger wanderer must climb the nearest tree. A close call was averted when a clueless little kid started approaching encroaching on my personal space, about the distance/height of a star basketball player, so I growled. He got the hint and ran away.


Like many, I'm hoping that I still have clothes that fit when this corona has crooned away. In a "normal year," I would have given fattening chametz, the food forbidden on Passover, away before the holiday begins. And in case you haven't been following the Jewish calendar, Passover's next week. Corona prevention regulations forbid giving away food, so my husband and I are enjoying suffering by eating pancakes-made in large family quantity and other forbidden for dieters foods. Yes, I'm finishing the beer, too. It's chametz!

I haven't seen my grandchildren in person since Purim. But now on the advice of one of my kids I am "living my old dream" to be an international "entertainer" by reading children's stories daily on facebook. Anyone can tune in, as long as you have a facebook account. Join to watch my daily shows.


One corona related regulation I'm following very strictly is staying away from the supermarket. My husband can't do his beloved shuq, open market, shopping either; it's in Jerusalem and shuttered. We must be saving a lot of money. Every few days I call the manager of the local grocer and order a few things. They arrive straight to our doorstep.

And I can't remember the last time I ate out with friends, another frugality of the corona lock-down. We now meet frequently on Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp, email and, of course, my blogs written under my other name. But:

 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND!

Mrs. Sullivan's Dancing School, Bayside, NY, circa 1953

About That Gorgeous Sequin Top I Wore to US Embassy Bash

Here are my husband and me, all dressed up waiting for the bus that never came.

Those who know me in real life know that I have simple, relatively inexpensive and easy to launder clothes. I buy most of my new clothes in the Israeli Hilah chain. I take pretty good care of my clothes and some are very old. I also buy skirts and sweaters in a second hand shop. Actually the skirt I wore to the big festive American Embassy Independence Day "bash" in Jerusalem predates my big diet. It was bought in Hagara, another Israeli chain. My neighbor took it in after I lost about 30 lbs, 15 kilo.

But this top I'm wearing has a history. No, I didn't buy it. I inherited it. It had belonged to my mother. My sister offered it to me after she had passed away. It was too nice to donate to Goodwill. It's covered in sequin and heavier than it looks. This is definitely a more expensive piece of clothing than I've ever bought for myself. And, no, I have no idea when my mother bought it. The sleeves are slightly shorter than I normally wear, but not too short to wear.

When my husband told me that the invitation to the Independence Day celebration gave "cocktail dress" as the "dress code," I was suddenly inspired to wear the top. And as you see, I paired it with the white linen skirt and simple white scarf. I felt that black would be too formal and "heavy." It is summer time now, and Israelis don't dress as formally as Americans. The white felt right, and I was comfortable in all ways. 

The only problem was when I was waiting at a cocktail bar for a special drink, and the bartender spilled the drink all over me. At least it was a pale color, but now I have to get the sequinned top cleaned, dry cleaned. That's a challenge. Any recommendations nearby?

Selfie at Embassy Bash

with the YESHA crowd

great music

With Moshe Lion, Mayor of Jerusalem

Shavuot Menu, Keeping it Easy

Maybe someday I'll still do it. A number of years ago, I started writing a cookbook which I named:

The Lazy Cook Cookbook

For some strange reason, people told me that the title is awful. Am I the only person who looks for easy ways to prepare food? I don't like recipes that have too many steps and too many ingredients. Those of you who have seen my recipes already, must have noticed that they're pretty minimal.

Those of us who live very Jewish lives, according to halacha, Jewish Law, will be celebrating the Shavuot Holiday immediately after Shabbat. That means that since it's forbidden to do any preparation, whether cooking, setting the table or even cutting a salad on Shabbat for the Holiday, even the fanciest balabustas, Jewish housekeepers, should keep it pretty simple. The family and guests, if you have any, will want to eat as soon as possible, no doubt.

That's why I decided to serve me and my husband cream cheese, lox and salad. That's not something we have frequently or at all. I may serve a dairy vegetable kugel, which should heat up pretty easily, but I still have to make it today. With the added treat of ice cream for dessert, we should be ready on time to go to a Torah class. Neither of us learn all night anymore. We're not as young as we used to be.

For Shavuot "lunch," after synagogue, I'll make a version of my "one pot baked fish and vegetables" in advance. We don't have any guests for that meal either, so I can cook exactly what we need to eat.

Ever since we both began to "diet," I try to serve us only what we need. The only "unlimited" foods I have on the table are salad and low carbohydrate vegetables. We've never been on "starvation diets." Just the thought of one makes me gorge on forbidden foods. When we have guests, I put out more food, but many of our guests are "repeats" and have the same food preferences as we do.

I bought a couple of special cheeses as Shavuot treats, besides the ice cream. We won't starve for sure.

Soon I'll go to our local swimming pool, and then after breakfast I'll cook, Gd willing.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Shavuot Sameach To All

Diet's Not Doing Well, Lost Self-Control

This week I've barely had one day when I've stuck to my "diet," better eating regime. When offered temptation, I just can't say no.



One day a week eating what I shouldn't can work and still keep my weight down.  But this past week or so, it seems like every single day there's some sort of special/joyous occasion, irresistible food...or drink.

Even worse, my "at home pick me up" somehow morphed from cashews/dates to chocolate chips. They're all stored in the freezer. It hasn't helped that I read one of those "doubtful facts" on facebook that chocolate is a good cure for coughs. A few tiny chips are a lot less fat/sugar than squares of chocolate, but still...

Considering that I've been following the low carbohydrate eating regime for about a decade, I guess that these "little rebellions" are pretty normal. I must get myself back on the wagon, now, soon, tomorrow, after Shabbat.... whenever. I guess it will be whenever I can recharge my motivation, soon, Gd willing.



After all... tomorrow is another day

Could It Be The Cheese?

In recent months, I noticed a occasional increase in my "upper abdomen," but then it would go down. I kept blaming it on weight gain. A few unwanted kilos have been popping on and off. But this was still pretty strange for me, since that part of my body isn't the usual fat-storing spot.

I began to wonder if it was something I'd been eating. Recently, during those same months, I had made a couple of very small minor significant changes to my general diet, food choices.

• Since I'd begun craving carbohydrates, I added some periodically to my meals or snacks.
• For the first time in a decade I began buying and eating yellow cheese. At the time I lost weight, I was also unemployed and had stopped buying the cheese because of its expense. Recently I had started buyin it again and discovered that I felt much fuller/more satisfied after eating a slice or two.

Since I believe that our diet can affect all sorts of things, I decided to see if the carbohydrates, cheese or the combination were guilty in changing my body. Cow milk allergies are common in my family, and even though I love eating yellow cheese, I know that it's terribly processed and unhealthy. Just read the ingredients, if you don't believe me. So, I started with the cheese and eliminated it from my diet. 

The E-202 is a preservative,  Potassium Sorbate, which does cause stomach problems in some people.

And what do you think? Yes, my stomach went down once I had stopped eating yellow cheese. One thing we have to remember is that yellow cheese is highly processed. I've never heard of anyone making it at home, easily or not, while people do easily make yogurts and white cheeses. 

A decade ago, when I began making changes in my eating to facilitate weight loss, I also began cutting down/eliminating processed foods. In addition, I followed the basic principle of the Blood Type Diet, which for me Type O Blood meant eating more animal protein and less carbohydrates. 

As much as I like yellow cheese, I'm just going to have to try to avoid it. There are worse things...

Appetite in Flux, Suddenly Needing Carbs

About a decade ago, I radically changed my eating habits, reducing carbs and grains drastically. The result was a fifteen 15 kilo, thirty 30 pound weight loss, which, I've pretty much kept off all this time. The key was to increase cooked vegetables, especially, squash, cabbage and carrots. I found them most satisfying. I made this change, which I tried not to call a "diet," because diets are temporary and I knew that the weight would pile back on with interest if I reverted back to my old eating habits.

At the time, we weren't at all in a good place financially, so I also had to find low cost foods. That's when I discovered that a couple of spoons of sesame paste, the stuff you use to make techina at home, is a fantastic and filling low-cost protein. It also keeps well for meals to go, when paired with cooked vegetables. That was my "take to work meal," sauteed onion, carrot and squash topped with sesame paste.

Recently, maybe because I have fewer scheduled things to do this year, I've begun to crave carbohydrates. I still stay away from pasta, which has always been a "control" problem with me. When I need something quick and easy to "fill" me, I take oats, not the super instant, and just add some boiling water and cover, until they are edible. I don't add anything to it, no milk, sugar, cinnamon nada. And shockingly, I've even started buying/eating the rice crackers, though I had always considered them terribly addictive. When I eat them, I follow the rule of never eating from a package. I set up a plate and only take out one or two at a time. When I need a very filling snack, I'll spread some of my sesame paste on a couple of them.

The most difficult thing in recent months, or longer, is that I can't find a breakfast that satisfies me. No matter what I prepare, whether it's a muesli of oats, goat yogurt and fruit, or an omelette with lots of vegetables, I want something more.

I used to eat the same exact breakfast pretty much every day for years, and now that just doesn't work for me. Maybe I just have to schedule in variety and have my breakfast suit pre-breakfast activities and also where I am. I usually sleep out once a week.

The Diet Saga is never over. For those of us who have been obese, or very overweight, keeping control of our weight is a lifetime sentence/job.

Succot Almost Over, Soon אחרי החגים

In the Jewish Calendar, there's a period late summer when for almost a month we celebrate holidays. And when we're not celebrating, we're preparing, or cleaning up from them. This holiday season includes lots of fasting and even a twenty-five 25 hour fast.

In Israel, all these religious holidays are national holidays, when schools, government offices, banks, some stores etc are closed. Considering how soon they can fall after the two month school summer vacation, you shouldn't be surprised that for a couple of months many things get postponed until אחרי החגים, acharai hachaggim, after the Holidays.

Tonight we begin the last of these Holidays, Simchat Torah, when we joyfully dance with the Torah and move back into our homes after a week of eating and sleeping in our sukkot.

One thing for sure is that many of us will have to work really hard trying to lose the weight we've gained over the holiday season. That's one אחרי החגים things I'm not looking forward to.

Super Simple Salad

My favorite type of food preparation is "easy." The other night I had promised to bring a salad to the potluck dinner my book club enjoys before we get into the meat of the book discussion. Since another member said she was brining a green salad, I decided to make mine a "Walking Salad," as my mother used to call it, a Simple Salad, just cut vegetables, perfect for noshing.

I was planning on using carrots, too, but I forgot. As you can see, the tray was full without them.  And I bought a kohlrabi, but it was rotten inside.

This salad has mushrooms, red pepper, cucumber and tomatoes. That's it.

Simple salads like these are very popular in my community. Whenever we have an event with cakes and cookies there are salads like these, too. I get a kick out of seeing young children filling cups with carrots, cucumbers and peppers, as if they're candy.

Healthy Lunch at Herzog

Even though I usually "brown bag it," bring my own food when out, I don't when I sign up for a day of studying at Michlelet Herzog's legendary Tanach summer program during the 9 Days.

Their lunch is perfectly healthy and diet-friendly. You serve yourself and can choose fish and lots of salads. The dessert is fruit, and on the table there's water to drink.

There are a selection of pastries in various hallways, corners etc throughout the buildings along with coffee, tea and cold drinks, too. And there was fruit, too, in some of the snack places. They are included in the price. The lunch is a separate payment when you register. I consider the lunch a very good investment. The food is tasty, and the diningroom cool and comfortable. A friend and I met up to eat together since we were in the same "sitting," though taking mostly different classes.

Diet Dilemma: Will Water Exercise Get Weight Off?

After dropping to the lowest weight I had been for a couple of years, due to a few factors, including a Jewish eating Holiday and a weekend in a hotel, a few of those annoying kilo returned.

Last summer, although I exercised a lot in the pool, no weight left. If anything חבר הביא חבר chaver hevi chaver, a friend brought a friend, and I weighed more at the end of the summer than in the beginning.

So, I'm back struggling, trying to eat less, walk more and also tone my muscles in the water. This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a better number on the scale, B"H. It's a struggle for sure.

Diet Tip: Banish "The Clean Plate Club"

One thing that has been consistent in most of my life is that I was a founding member of  "The Clean Plate Club." That was even before the "baby nurse" my parents had hired after my sister was born introduced the name to our lexicon.

I almost never left food on my plate. I can't remember ever being served something I didn't like, even vegetables.

That may have made me into a "good eater," something praised by my family, especially because I wasn't a fussy eater. And since desserts were rare, candy forbidden, and we had lots of freedom outside to play, I wasn't fat as a child.

Dieting is a losing battle!

But as I got older and bigger, so did my appetite and at some point I was overweight, even mildly obese. For the past ten years I've been working hard at getting weight off and keeping it off.

First I cut out carbohydrates to almost none, and I also limited my protein portion. By doing these two simple things, I was able to lose about 30 lbs, or close to 15 kilogram. And I've kept most of it off.

To be honest, as time went on I've become less strict. One of the reasons is that research has shown that varying your calorie count, including having one day "off" a week actually speeds your metabolism. That helps the weight stay off.

About a year ago I discovered that five kilo had snuck back.  I've spent the last year fighting to get them back off. A month ago I succeeded, but now after some holidays and a hotel vacation a couple just crept back.

The good thing about having the weight off for so long is that my body has adjusted to the lower weight, and frequently, I realize that I'm "full," when there's still food on my plate. That is a new phenomena for me. So, as quickly as I can, I "clean" my plate by either packing away some of the food or throwing it in the garbage.

It's not a waste to throw out food. It's a waste to add it to your waist!

All You Need is Watermelon

This past Sunday was the Shavuot holiday here in Israel. Out of Israel aka Chu"L, it's a two day holiday, so was Sunday and Monday. On Shavuot we celebrate that Gd gave us the Torah, and we spend time learning Torah subjects.

Some people even learn all night. There were years when I learned a good part of the night, but didn't this year. For over twenty years, on Shavuot afternoon we've been hosting a class in English by my neighbor, Rabbi Dov Berkovits.

I serve watermelon. I used to also serve pretzels, but since the pretzels were mostly eaten by me, I eliminated them from the menu. This year a neighbor brought some cheesecake, too.  It was just too delicious, as was the watermelon. Of course the watermelon I bought was much too big, but it's a perfect juicy one.

When watermelons are this good, it's criminal not to eat them. I don't want to know about the calories and sugar in them.

Salad Could be a Meal

This salad could be a complete meal, if you're trying to cut down on carbohydrates. The seeds have protein. It can also be a side dish, served with any sort of meal.

The ingredients:
shredded raw beet
pumpkin seeds
fresh parsley
mushrooms
cucumber
tomato

The dressing:
olive oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice

This colorful and tasty salad was my contribution to our book club's pot luck dinner meeting. This month we read Rebecca. I find that the best way to make sure that there's something low carb at the meal is to bring it myself.

Breakfast Tweak Prevents Sugar Craving

Reporting on how my switching from a nice full vegetable omelet to fruit and goat yogurt has affected my food cravings. A few months ago I found myself craving sweets and fruit at best after eating a nice big vegetable omelet. And I also couldn't get the 3-4 kilo which had snuck on back off. So I decided to change my breakfast to fruit and goat yogurt. In the beginning I sometimes even added some oats.

apple, peach, ginger slivers and goat yogurt

Well, the results are even better than I had expected. I no longer crave something sweet, eat less fruit during the day and I lost the few kilo, thank Gd.

There are times that we must listen to our "cravings" and then use them as guides. If you find a way to prevent them, you gain control and can even lose weight.

Have you any easy diet tips like this one?

Easy Chicken "Fricassee"

What's Fricassee? It's generally chicken cooked in a sauce, frequently a white sauce, but Chef Google showed me links to definitions that say any sauce makes it a Fricassee.

I had a package of chicken wings and a package of chicken breast I needed to cook/use up before Passover.  So first I made a very simple sauce. I don't use/buy ready-made sauces.

Sauce Ingredients 

Photo by Y. Medad

• diced onion
• fresh garlic
• a few ripe tomatoes. OK in Israel they aren't expensive, so you can buy a can of diced tomatoes.
• 1/2 cup of wine I needed to get rid of
• a few peppercorns
• a couple of Tablespoons of Tamari sauce
• a couple of Tablespoons vegetable oil of your choice

Instructions

• saute the vegetables in the oil
• cover pan
• When the sauce is boiling strongly, add the wings and cut pieces of chicken breast.
• Cover again, and cook until chicken has become white and well cooked.

I've made it with meatballs, instead of the chicken breast. You can also add more vegetables to the sauce. We enjoyed it very much. If you try it, please tell me how it came out and how you changed it.

Fat, Fat Go Away

I guess that my diet saga will never truly end. I have very slowly gotten off about five kilo, 11 pounds after they had been vanished in a rather successful diet a few years ago. But I know well that they can return in an instant. Because it has happened.

Walking has helped. I've raised my weekly step count. That is until the flu stopped me. But at least I didn't gain weight with the flu. I still haven't returned to my pre-flu walking.

I caught the pedometer stop count davka at such a crazy number.

The hardest thing is to get a nicer looking body. I lost a bit of weight, but I am still very overweight and growing older. OK good news that I'm still alive. Thank Gd

Easy and Healthy No Sugar Beef

If you check recipes in books and online for cooking beef, you'll see that so many require sugar, whether from jam, sweetened sauces, wines, juice or just plain sugar. You can cook a piece of inexpensive beef without any sweetener at all.

I buy an inexpensive cut of beef from the freezer section of the supermarket. I'm fussier about the price than the name of the cut. First, after thawing, I soak it in water to rid it of whatever salts and blood I can get out of it. Actually I use the pot for this, since health/hygiene experts say it's important to keep raw meat/fish/poultry off of eating and food prep surfaces.

Ingredients:
Beef, vegetable oil, onion, garlic, peppercorns, tomatoes or canned tomatoes preferably diced/chopped without added sugar or salt

Instructions:

• Cut up a large onion and some fresh garlic; store in a bowl on the side.  
• Cut about a pound of tomatoes or get a can/jar of diced or crushed tomatoes without added sugar; store in a bowl on the side.  
• Add a bit of oil in the cooking pot, (which should have a good cover)
• Turn on the heat and then add the beef. 
• Keep turning the beef so the outside looks cooked. 
• Add onions and garlic; continue turning for a few minutes.
• Then add the tomatoes and peppercorns, cover and lower the heat a bit.
• Let it cook for a couple of hours, checking periodically to make sure there's enough liquid. You may need to add some water.

That's it! Very no fuss and extremely healthy. No added sugar or salt is necessary. You can serve it with rice, pasta, vegetables, salad or whatever you like.

Yummy Health Drinks

Yesterday at the shuq, Machane Yehuda, I tried the health drinks, even though I'm not a juice drinker.  They were wonderful. And it's nice that there's a small "tasters" size cup.

I drank the lemon/mint. Is this living dangerously?

Sometimes you just have to do something different. And if it's trying one of these juices, why not?

Some Things I Should Never Buy...

The other day I walked into the health food store in Sha'ar Binyamin. I'm not quite sure why I went there. I didn't really need anything, but I bought a bit of nuts and then... I saw my weakness, what's called in Hebrew, the yetzer haraa. Evil inclination, temptation or chocolate covered mints. This health food store sells them by the weight.

I was able to resist all the dried fruit -yay- but not the mints. I love mint sweets, especially Hagan Daz mint ice cream. At least I can only get that in the states, and I doubt if I'll ever be there again. Sigh... Good news bad news...

I stored the mints in the freezer, with the nuts. And for the first few days I barely nibbled. But then on Friday I was so very tired, super-tired. And you know what they say about diets and not getting enough sleep. When your body craves sleep, it tries to overcompensate with sugar.

So, suddenly the mints got all eaten up by yours truly. Then I began telling myself that it was good that I ate them all at once. Now I won't have any to eat. No more temptation...  Does that make sense? Insufficient sleep plays with the brain and makes it a bit wacky.

May this be a much better and lower calorie week...

Losing The Diet Battle

People who see my almost nightly post about how many steps I've taken each day as I kick off my shoes must think I'm winning the battle. But the truth is that I'm making pretty much no progress in getting off the weight that snuck on the past couple of years.

A very important diet principle I stick to is to make/design an eating plan you can live with. That's because if you have a numerical weight goal, which requires a food and exercise regime that isn't really sustainable, you'll quickly go off of it and yo-yo. We all know what that means. It means that the weight will return "with interest."

Not only are we all different, but our bodies change with time. The medical experts say that even our metabolism gets sluggish, not just our minds with age...

So far, I like this pedometer application, and it's working well. The three numbers (you can set it to do miles and inches) I follow most carefully are:

• steps
• kilometers per hour
• time exercised

I've really been trying to keep to two hours of being active each day. Now, being active also means the simple walking around the house while doing daily chores. You can also see on the graph, that I have periodic heavier active times. Now that it has been raining, thank Gd, I also walk quickly around my house to get the steps increased. 

Food is pretty easy to control, since most meals are home, but after about a decade of trying to diet/keep my weight down, it is harder to deny myself some foods. But the good thing is that smaller quantities of food like dates and cake etc now satisfy my sweet tooth.

I hope you're not bored by this, because my diet saga will continue for the rest of my life. And how is yours going?