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Question — I’d like to generate nutritional information for the recipes in my cookbook, and I was talking to a nutritionist this weekend, and she said there are programs that one can use for this. Recommendations?

It seems better than trying to have Heather calculate it all herself — if she can just plug in 1 cup of broccoli, and have it give her the nutritional info, and then plug in the whole recipe, and get the info for the whole recipe (and, ideally, the weight / metric conversions), that’d be perfect.

If there are ones that are cheap, that would be ideal, since my needs are small. 🙂 Maybe 250-500 recipes total?

Heh. I appear to have lost two pounds this week without trying. I will now market my new weight-loss plan: cook and decorate obsessively for seven days straight, and you will be too hyped up on adrenaline to remember to eat much, and will wake up the day after the event with arms and legs as sluggish as if you’d done an intense gym workout.

Was fun, but also ridiculous; I really must learn to pace myself! Am contemplating rule for next party — no more than ten (10) savory items and ten (10) sweet items. But can I actually hold myself to that, is the question???

I seem to be worrying about something in the photo below — maybe the possibility that I haven’t made enough food…

(As I plan to just sit on the couch and eat leftovers for the next three days, I’m sure those pounds will swiftly return. 🙂)

Texts with Kevin:

K: How many onions did you want me to prep?
M:
– seeni sembol: 4 medium onions, finely sliced
– chicken patties: 2 onions, finely chopped
– rolls: 6 medium onions, finely chopped
– mackerel cutlets: 4 medium onions, finely chopped
– do those first, and we’ll see if we have time for vadai too…

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Roshani took me out for lunch at the local Vietnamese place yesterday — I somehow hadn’t registered that when Saigon Pho moved from the neighboring suburb to Oak Park, that they’d also gone from being a takeout place to including a small sit-down restaurant.

My clay pot spicy catfish with rice = delicious, and I think Roshani really liked her ‘bun’ — noodles with grilled pork, lots of veggies, and a classic sweet sauce to drizzle or dip. Kevin often gets their beef pho, and if I’m feeling very nice when I’m in the area, I pick some up for him to go — they pack it in a host of separate containers, so you can combine it perfectly at home.

Maybe there are enough sweets on the table, Mary Anne. The parents of the kids attending tomorrow may not thank you for this. Better switch to making savories at least…

It’s not Christmas until I make the trifle. 🙂 Mostly the same every year, but I added a bit of lemon curd this time around, which I think will be nice. And I was out of sherry, so it’s brandy. Mmm…

Flash sale — running through Sunday 12/15 midnight! $5+ off books, and I’m offering paper goods, sweets, and bath indulgences too! While supplies last — I’ll update here as we sell out. We’ll be shipping early next week, so items should arrive within the continental U.S. in time for Christmas — this is my LAST flash sale of the year. 🙂

Post in the comments with your order, and I’ll confirm and PM with payment details (I can take credit cards through PayPal or Zelle).

BOOKS (please indicate if you want them signed and/or personalized)
• A Feast of Serendib (hardcover) – $35
• A Feast of Serendib (paperback, no photos) – $20
• A Feast of Serendib (ebook: PDF / ePub / Kindle) – $8
• A Taste of Serendib (the original!) – $10
• Perennial (a garden & cancer romance) – $10
• Bodies in Motion (mainstream lit, hardcover, $20) – 10 copies left, and then I’m out. Eep.
• Survivor (SF/F anthology; stories of trauma and survival, $15) – 3 copies on hand (it’s much cheaper on Amazon right now, so you probably only want to buy it this way if you want it signed…)
• The Stars Change (science fiction, $10) – 2 copies on hand

Okay, in the interests of my sanity, while we’re going to do one more flash sale this weekend for holiday gifts, the last one that should arrive in time for Christmas (if you’re in the contiguous U.S., at least), it is ONLY for things I have on hand already, so no special orders, please. Sorry! Books, signed and personalized! Sweets! Soaps! Cards! Etc! All first-come, first-served; indicate if you want something, and I’ll confirm if it’s still available, updating the counts as I go along, as I have time.

I’m going to take a little time to actually inventory everything that’s left, so the details will go up in an hour or two, so watch this space. Well, watch for the next post. And you might comment here if you want me to tag you into the sale post, because FB is terrible about showing people anything. Deal? Deal.

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Thanks to Roshani for the lovely Christmas present, perfect for showing off my pistachio-rose marshmallows. I do like pink & green food for a Christmas party, and the salt of the pistachios is a great contrast to the sweetness of the marshmallows.

Recipe link.

#serendibkitchen

Kavi helped me with the first stage of party planning last night — the brainstorming and list-making. We’ve checked off a few things already, but some items will probably fall off the list, and others will get added. The proportion of savory to sweet is a bit off right now, and I completely forgot to list the scones, clotted cream, and jam. What kind of postcolonial British-Sri Lankan party would this be without scones???

We also forgot to list the drinks! Mulled cider and spiced wine. Some kind of festive punch. And in theory, this is a tea party, so we’d better have tea…

Three days out from the party — today was confectionery (Which can, of course, be made weeks in advance, but there was this little Kickstarter to finish fulfilling…)

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