Weight Goal

Although I am quite proud of this, it will be the last time I show this graph. I have hit my weight loss goal after over a year's worth of work. This was a goal that I thought was totally impractical when I started out in February 2010. Wow. Now I work on maintenance, keeping my sodium intake down, and exercise. I have slayed a lot of risk factors over the past couple of years: smoking, obesity, being a couch potatoe. Now I should live forever, don't ya think? Well, at least I'm feeling great. I can say that for sure.

Recipes for Salad Dressing

Here are two recipes for salad dressing that I use everyday. They are very low in salt and high in taste.

Creamy Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Dressing

This recipe is for the Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender. As prepared on Feb 6 and Feb 26, 2012.

1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese 4 cloves Garlic clove, roasted 1/2 tsp Olive oil 2 Tbsp Lemon juice, freshly squeezed 2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar 4 Tbsp Egg Busters 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp Anchovy paste 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp Freshly ground pepper 1 cup Extra virgin olive oil 1/4 tsp Tabasco to taste

Salad Dressing 1 Insert the blade assembly in the prep bowl. 2 Place the cheese cubes in the prep bowl. 3 Pulse to chop, 10 times, then process to chop finely, about 15-20 seconds. 4 Add remaining ingredients to prep bowl. 5 Process for about 30-40 seconds, until creamy and totally emulsified. Nutritional Analysis per Tablespoon (from Cuisinart): Calories 53 (89% from fat) Carb. 1 g Pro. 1 g Fat 5 g Sat. Fat 1 g Chol. 4 mg Sod. 82 mg Calc. 18 mg Fiber 0 g To Roast Garlic: 1 Slice off 1/2 inch of top of whole garlic. 2 Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil over the top of the sliced bulb making sure oil gets into the sliced cloves. 3 Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes. 4 The roasted garlic should keep for a week in the fridge.

Servings: 15 Yield: 30 tbsp, 15 fl. oz.

Degree of Difficulty Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Oven Temperature: 375°F

Cooking Times Preparation Time: 1 hour Cooking Time: 40 minutes Inactive Time: Total Time: 1 hour

Nutrition Facts Serving size: 2 Tablespoons. Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 144.14 Calories From Fat (93%) 134.66 % Daily Value Total Fat 15.24g 23% Saturated Fat 2.36g 12% Cholesterol 2.47mg <1% Sodium 88.14mg 4% Potassium 26.32mg <1% Total Carbohydrates 0.77g <1% Fiber 0.09g <1% Sugar 0.14g   Protein 1.52g 3%

Green Goddess Dressing

1 avocado avocado, preferably Hass, cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk 4 Tbsp Chives, snipped or Onion, minced 4 tsp tarragon vinegar 2 tsp anchovy paste

Puree avocado, buttermilk, herbs, vinegar, and anchovy in a blender until smooth.

Servings: 10 Yield: 2 1/2 cups

Degree of Difficulty Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Cooking Times Preparation Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: Inactive Time: 12 hours Total Time: 12 hours

Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1/4 cup. Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 40.15 Calories From Fat (53%) 21.23 % Daily Value Total Fat 2.53g 4% Saturated Fat 0.51g 3% Cholesterol 2.32mg <1% Sodium 76.41mg 3% Potassium 135.43mg 4% Total Carbohydrates 3.11g 1% Fiber 0.95g 4% Sugar 1.82g   Protein 1.81g 4%

Spring Arrives in the Hills

Spring has arrived in Shark River Hills. I just received my new Lytro camera and took some flower pictures. I know, an easy subject. The camera does well and is ridiculously easy to use. The folks at Lytro studied at the Steve Jobs School of Design and learned their lessons well. You can play with the focus by clicking on different parts of the picture. Here's another one:
Do a pass over at the bottom of the frame to reveal the link to the Lytro website and my modest "living picture" collection. What fun, heh?

Instead of doing something productive . . .

Instead of posting anything significant here or contributing to Fred's discussion board I'm listening to Andrew Bird on the Colbert Nation website. Very nice.

History of Zero

Reference: Mathematics—From the Birth of Numbers by Jan Gullberg (c) 1997.

Zero is a mathematical symbol of the void, obviously. It's history as a place holder in advanced number systems goes back thousands of years.

Another Pretty Picture

Shot from Crown Point over the Columbia River in Oregon, August, 2010. This is one of a series of high dynamic range (HDR) pictures I was able to put together from Mount Hood.

Major Victories on the Hypertension Front

I've reduced my sodium intake to just under 2000 micrograms (µg) over the past month or so. Pretty close to my goal and 40% less sodium than I was eating regularly back in December. I have learned to appreciate the subtle flavors in my cooking that are not overwhelmed by so much salt. I lost three pounds between Jan 25 and Feb 5. Some of that could be excess water because more than half of my sodium is gone.

The problems I am having in reaching and maintaining a daily intake of 1500 µg arise from old recipes that I cooked up back in December and that I still have to eat. And going out to eat at restaurants. Some restaurants, like Chili's, post their nutritional information, always a big help. I still have to learn to ask the right questions and to be assertive enough to get what I want.

The big news is that my blood pressure went down from 134/84, in June of last year, to 118/72, taken when I saw my doctor last Friday. That's a huge decrease and very significant for me. My grandfather, George Dees, died from a stroke when he was my age, in his late 50's.

Of course, this graph shows my logged sodium intake, not my actual intake.