7 posts tagged “chocolate”
When I found this article from mamamia, I identified with the title instantly.
Is the only thing making fat people unhappy, the prejudice of everyone else?
It is refering to an article by Tanya Gold, in which she writes:I'm posting it because I have always thought the sentiment is true, but didn't realise other people agreed with me.
"According to the advertising industry, I am unattractive; men don't want me. Or if they do, they certainly won't tell their friends about it. Clothing shops don't cater for me. In fact, they detest me. In Bond Street, I am literally waved away from the racks of precious clothes."
Recently the Australian Government began a campaign to encourage Aussies to measure up.
TVC, print, outdoor and even online ads are everwhere, and they look like this:
I've always thought of myself as a fat person. Even as a kid. But when I look at photos of me in primary school i'm perfectly normal, and same as all of the other kids. I might be slightly bigger, but nothing too bad. Doesn't matter though, because the damage had already been done. I'd already heard the comments and murmers, and that was enough for me to not care about my weight.
(On a side note, this is why I get annoyed when I hear the words "childhood obesity". I think just saying the worlds makes a kid eat a mars bar, instead of a banana. It gives the skinnier, prettier, more popular kids another reason to persecute the larger, more lonely kids. This campaign is the adult version of this and I've had enough).
Through my life I still hear lots of comments which hurt my ego. The other day I asked if there was a Krispy Kreme around here (work), and got told off, that "you don't need that, do you?". Not that it was even for me, instead my half brother was coming up from the country, and I thought it would be a nice gift cos he probably wouldn't have tried them before. One place I worked at my boss wanted pringles and I got told to go up to the shops and get them "because I could use the exercise". Just the other day I got told that if I worked out then I probably wouldn't have had so much period pain. Because strangers have the best insight into how my body works. Even my psych, subtly noted that a fitness first was opening in my area, and therefore "there were no more excuses for a lot of people". There are many more I could add to this list but will stop for my own sanity.
What frustrates me about all this is 99% of the time I'm perfectly happy with my weight. I've accepted who I am and D loves me and my body and I don't care about my size. Sure I have the fitting room freak out when I go to buy clothes, but people get that at any size. Its when I hear the comments, get the looks, that I feel like shit. Like fat people really are the cause of all bad things on earth. Quick, fat people are hiding terrorists behind their great asses. Fat people are the downfall of the economic crisis, and they are responsible for this earths demise because they consume so much more resources.
But what perplexes me the most is that I don't know what to do about it. I'm sure the government awarness ads will help some people who are on their way to being overweight to stop and think about what they are eating and how much they are exercising. But for the ones who are already over the 'waistline threshold' its too late. The damage has been done and unfortunately will continue to be build. I mean, how many people looking at that ad are going to feel good about themselves. Try stopping them from reaching for a mars bar.
Now I know I have my own issues. Gyms just freak me out, and even walking sends me into anxiety territory. But I also know that I have done it all before. Before this anxiety bullshit started I did go to the gym. Nothing. I played soccer. Nothing. I ate salads everyday. Nothing.
The only time I have ever lost weight was when I wasn't trying. D and I were dead broke, and I would walk out the door to go to work with no money, no food, and only eat dinner when I got home. It was a low point and i'm sure it was part of the reason I am where I am now. Once we had a bit more money the weight went back on, and I continued my life as normal.
In a perfect world our media would be saturated with both thin and fat people. Designers would make clothes for a resonable size, not a stick. Gyms would be a place of relaxation and not torture. And food would be something you appreciate, not judge on how many calories make up your meal. Unfortunately we don't live in that world. At least I know that there are other people out there who feel the same. (And that we will be the ones fighting over the last mars bar in the vending machine).
The biggest news story coming out of Sydney right now is about how patrons of a pub were served free gelato with human feces in it... Can you imagine, spending an afternoon out watching a grand final with the family. You get bad service, they won't turn up the TV, so after all the hassle you are finally appeased by a complimentary bowl of gelato. Greedily, you go for the chocolate bit at the bottom... You slowly bring the spoon to your mouth, to your lips.....
You would never touch chocolate ice cream / gelato again!
It reminded me of the other day, when I was reading someones blog and they had mentioned they had seen "Two girls one cup". This is not for the faint hearted, warning warning warning, only google it if you have an iron stomach. I could only watch the first ten seconds of this without turning away. A guy I used to work with (whom obviously had no problems with watching porn at work on his work laptop) liked to play it again and again just to gross other people out...
Anyway, this blogger, whomever they are, said, they too, would never eat chocolate ice cream again....
This morning, while reading my vox neighbourhood and polishing off almost an entire fucking block of Cadbury Snack (chocolate, its awesome) I thought i'd give my genius a go on itunes. I had actually been researching it only the night before, interested in how it actually works. I have been having issues with it, because all of my old school jazz and big bands isn't getting recognised whatsoever, and can't give me a playlist.
Anyway, this morning I saw "about her" from the Kill Bill soundtrack, and I wanted to see what genius would do with it. First off it couldn't find anything, and told me to update genius. Once I did that, (which took a while as I have 37GB of music on my computer - about half my collection by the way...) this is what it gave me:
Playing it, the first couple of songs aren't actually that bad. they are all the same type of slow, laid back, kinda depressing mellow songs, except now, cos i've just hit 'some kinda shuffle' which would go very nicely with my big band stuff if genius was actually smart enough to recognise that.
I can't be too negative about genius though, I got props on Friday at work when it was picking obscure Santana songs and other brilliant music. I did have to guide it a bit though, turn off music, rearrange the playlists, etc. But it would be nice to create a genius playist and it not automatically play the new song.. like, if you could have multiple playlists, and really explore everything genius recommends.
One thing i hate though: where is my update for my ipod? not my iphone, but my trusty 80GB ipod which holds all my music? Surely that thing should get genius, because it would have such a great selection of music!
is when you late-night message your favourite boy... to bring home chocolate!
Loathe:
- work
- anxiety
- waiting for packages to arrive
- never being able to resist food, i swear i have no self control
Love:
- D, and the fact he FINALLY got his ingrown toenail to a surgeon and got it cut out. Now its all bandaged up...
- mmmm chocolate
My sister in law came over today with her very cute son (see previous post) and together we made rocky road cupcakes, as she is teaching me to bake.
The recipe came from a donna hay magazine, which i don't have, but i did find an almost exact copy on the web..
Rocky Road Cupcakes
250 grams butter, softened
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (8 fluid oz) milk
200 gram (7 oz) dark chocolate, melted over a water bath
Whipped Chocolate Cream
2 cups (16 fl oz) single or pouring cream
1 1/2 tablespoons icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 160C. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift over the flour, hazelnut meal and baking powder and beat until combined. Fold through the milk and melted chocolate and spoon mixture in preferred cupcake papers - the original recipe is for 12 large size cupcakes but a half recipe yields twenty tiny cupcakes using the above cupcake paper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool slightly. When warm, make a hole with a paring knife in the centre and remove the cake centre. Fill with marshmallows and hazelnut spread. Take out a bit of the cake centre and add back the cake top only.
To make the whipped cream topping, place everything in a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Don't overbeat or else it will become hard. Spread on top with a palette knife.