Simply Primal - Annie Tries Again

New forum, new journal, new leg of my primal journey.

Name: Annie
Address: NZ
Age: 50-something. I lose track.
Primal since: 2012

I like to take the simplest approach possible to both nutrition and fitness, not too much into facts and figures, I can do them if necessary but I am lazy that way. My favourite primal food is eggs. My favourite activities are hiking in the bush, and tap dancing. I wish I were more into gardening than I actually am.

This journal may or may not be about my primal insights and lifestyle applications including wholesome food, consistent exercise, health gains and weight losses (not that I need to lose much, but a few kilos have crept on while I was being lax).

Friends new and old welcome to visit and comment, let's have a conversation along the way. Grok on.

I'll be following you here. Your approach rings true for me.

Hi Annie - so happy to see you starting a new journal here as well. I love reading about your hikes in the bush. So wish I had some of that here.

Can't wait to read of all your new adventures.

Grok on my friend

Good to read your approach. I love eggs as well, especially because I can get organic, pastured eggs in the village I live in. Some of the chickens are next door and come to visit!!
I enjoy walking, too but I am also a gardener.
Looking forward to see how you do.

Hi Annie!

Thanks for the invite. Look forward to reading your posts.

Welcome Rig, NM, HFF and newbie Jeangenie. Thanks all for dropping in.

Today I simply walked up a mountain and down a riverbed. The greatest part was once again finding some new territory to explore, and following a new route we had only heard about before.

I enjoy the rock hopping a lot, my two friends not so much. It was overcast while we were in the river, which was a relief.

The interesting thing about the river was that at first it was running briskly, then it simply dried up in the middle, and further down it reappeared. The water must have seeped underground and then welled up again. It was intriguing, the level of the terrain must have changed, and of course rivers don't flow uphill.

The other highlight was the extremely beautiful star-shaped clematis vine flowering in the bush.

It sounds stunning! In Derbyshire, UK we have rivers that disappear and reappear further down. I think they are called sink holes.

I've never heard of rivers doing that before, sounds weird.
FWIW, over here, when one talks about sink holes, these are holes that appear for no apparent reason in the terrain and sometimes swallow road sections, cars, houses, etc.

I'm with Rig on his comments.

Annie you terrain and what you have available to explore just sounds so stunning. I try to imagine myself on the walk/hike with you. Thank you for sharing those in your diary.

Grok on my friend!

I can imagine your treks. I love coming up to flowering anythings in my urban explorations. Wild clematis certainly a treat for the eyes.

Hi Annie,
Living where I do, hiking anywhere near water is such a treat! And it is fairly common for water to flow, disappear, and the reappear farther downstream.

Looking forward to reading your stories!

M2M

Cold shower. Tick.

Whoa go for you giving the cold shower a try. However it's warm in your area of this world right now isn't it? How did it go?

Grok on my friend!

Can't do it.  After the slow as molasses "procedure"  of getting onto the shower chair, I gotta have a warm fuzzy pay-off with soft warm water to hug me.  :} Admire your grit, tho.

Hello Friends I admit I posted about my cold shower because it would sound stoic but in reality I am not. After a long hot day, and then a tap class, no grit at all was required.

I had another cold one tonight. I do it like mini-Meep - splash the feet and legs first, gradually work my way up. Letting the water run down the back of my neck and shoulders comes last of all. By then, I am enjoying it, I feel like I am practising for when I next discover a waterfall on one of my hikes. Now I am refreshed and ready for bed.

Sadly, tonight's tap class was the last of the year and won't restart till February.

I cooked pork crackling today, which made the kitchen even hotter. But it tastes good.

I hope the Meep family makes the switch to this forum.

Annieh wrote:Hello Friends  I admit I posted about my cold shower because it would sound stoic but in reality I am not.  After a long hot day, and then a tap class, no grit at all was required.  

:]

I was totally impressed! Annie - the hard core one!

Lol, hardcore, that's me! I had my third cold shower tonight, it is becoming a habit.

I also did 10 pressups and finished the pork crackling.
Then I made another batch, which looks even more crackly.

It's great you're posting regularly again Annie. Love your stories.

Annie - how does one make pork crackling?

perennialpam wrote:Annie - how does one make pork crackling?  

Ah, Pam, usually you just end up with some on the top of a roast pork if it is covered in the skin. But this week I found the supermarket selling big flaps of the skin only for just $1.81. I simply score it with a sharp craft knife and rub salt into the cuts. Then place in a hot oven long enough for it to crackle up.

The fat just melts away so I pour it off to reuse cooking potatoes or something.

I tried grilling the crackle but apart from smoking out the kitchen it doesn't work very well anyway because it tends to burn on top.

Hmm intersting. I’ve never seen the skin available here.

OOooooh YUM! Chicharones!! I tried making the puffy ones once. It's all to do with removing every bit of fat and meat, then pop them into the fryer. The cleanest ones were the puffiest.

Another cold shower, that makes four, but I am warm again already, this summer is taking off with a hiss and a roar.

11 press ups today, and some pistol squats - 5 of left leg, and 3 on right which is my stronger so I am trying to catch the other one up.


I am making a dress for my niece. Yesterday morning she was a slim size 8, by evening the same dress was tight around her belly after a big dinner comprising burgers. Shows how much effect bloating can have, even in a young person. I will have to let it out again, she needs to be able to breathe.

Now that I think about it, I probably experienced that myself in those days and always just thought I was getting fat. The penny finally dropped five years ago.