Monthly Archives: April 2014

Gym Stories: Spotted….my favourite female sprinter!

by

Athletes train at the same gym I go to. Some I recognize. Some I don’t. Usain Bolt and Johan Blake are two who I have seen often enough. Imagine my delight when I spotted my current favourite female sprinter a few days ago!

It was Pilates class day and as usual, I try to do some cardio before, otherwise my muscles rebel. [Loudly] Got to the gym too late, on account of waking up too late. Did 3 minutes walking on the treadmill instead of 5, then headed for the elliptical. Apart from the elliptical being my favourite cardio machine, the one I use is positioned so that I can see when the Pilates teacher arrives so I can get in there and not miss too much of the beginning of the class.

The Qunicy Jones ‘Back on the Block’ song rotation was on my music player so was already in a great mood, especially when One Woman Man played. Unlike the lady on the stair stepper who was singing out loudly whatever she was listening to on her player, I refrained from doing likewise.

Ever so often I would turn my head to look at the door to see who was coming in through the entrance, which is about 15 m from the machine. Nearing the end of the 12 minute period [instead of 15], I glance to look and who should I see come into the cardio room??????  Continue reading →

Clove – a culinary star with versatility

by

I love the smell of all spices and clove is one of my favourites. Though I don’t use it often, when I do, the aroma pleasantly tickles my olfactory receptor neurons. That means that it smells lovely! I put one or two buds in my herbal tea sometimes. Any more and it’s overbearing. I don’t eat ham anymore so I had to find some other way to enjoy Clove.

Here is an article I wrote for The Caribbean Current on this versatile culinary and medicinal star.

Budgeting

by

There are different schools of thought on budgeting. Some argue that it is pointless to write down everything you spend and that you should strive to earn more money so you don’t have to give up lattes, if that makes you really happy.

Then there are others who feel it is absolutely necessary to know where you money is going. Here is an article which focusses on the latter. In this year of living frugally, I do have to take note of my expenses.

A few years ago, I used the budget template on the Financially Smart website. I was pleased to see that I didn’t have much debt, relative to the other side of the equation.

 

 

Experiments in the Kitchen

by

This year, as I will have some more time on my hands, I am experimenting with new things. That includes spending more time in the Kitchen. Although I did not do Food & Nutrition in secondary school, I have been cooking since I was about 13 when my mother took me and said “this is how you cut up a chicken”. I don’t eat meat anymore, so I am experimenting with both raw foods and vegetarian and vegan dishes. I was so pleased to find this recipe on Twitter and even more pleased when I recognized I had ALL the ingredients in my fridge. Yes, even Chickpea Flour! Who da h*ll has Chickpea Flour in their fridge???? A non-meat eater like me of course!

First issue though was….does my oven work? A call to the former tenant (a friend) returned a voicemail. Went upstairs to the Landlord but what he told me did not work. Thank goodness for a toaster oven, which I had resisted buying but a friend insisted and she’s usually right. It saved the day. Once you get a feeling, you just gotta go with the feeling, else the feeling might not ever appear again!  Continue reading →

Nutmeg…..

by

Grenada’s black gold

From my adopted island.

Look out for more of my articles on The Caribbean Current .