Adventures in Low-Carbing

Ugh. What a title. I sicken myself.

But seriously, I've been trying to maintain a low-ish carb diet for several months and I can tell you that I wouldn't do it if I didn't feel so damn good! The trade-off that I have settled on is that I will reduce my carb and sugar intake, but drastically increase my protein and fat intake. I feel fuller, more energetic, and generally better.

The most difficult thing is dessert. There have been some awful ones - a miserable almond and chocolate cake that closely resembled asphalt in both flavor and density. And I am cursed to forever remember the pancakes with the same appetizing texture as wet flannel.

As such I have devised this recipe for little almond flour spice cookies. I cheated a little bit with the whole wheat flour, but I am convinced that they would be fine without it.

Please bear in mind that the measurements are all rather approximate. I hope I documented it all accurately.

Almond Flour Low-Carb Spice Cookies

1¼ cup almond flour

½ cup unsweetened finely flaked or powdered coconut

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (you might need more if you are using ground nutmeg)

1½ teaspoon (though feel free to add more) cinnamon

3 packets of sucralose sweetener(splenda)

About 50 grams melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About a teaspoon of liquid sucralose sweetener

Two or three drops (LITERALLY) of liquid Stevia sweetener

1 egg

¼ cup whole wheat flour/rice flour/another flour

Mix the almond flour, powdered coconut, baking powder,spices and dry sweetener in a bowl.

Pour in the melted butter and vanilla and mix.

Add liquid sweeteners and stir until combined.

Add the egg and mix until combined.

Add flour as needed to make dough that is easy to roll into balls.

Roll balls that are about ¾ of an inch in diameter and flatten lightly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes.

DO NOT TRY TO REPLACE THE SUCRALOSE SWEETENERS WITH STEVIA.
BAD THINGS HAPPEN.

Italy 4 :Saturday evening in Roma

After sunset on Saturday, the Lamberts and I headed into the city to see the forum and eat in Trastevere, across the Tiber.

Forum! It looks really ghostly in the twilight. The stone is really red.
So different from the Roman ruins in Israel.

This is where the chariot races were!

Does anyone else have the soundtrack of Ben Hur running through their head?

We finally got down to the River. It was so beautiful! 

This is a picture from one of the bridges across the Tiber. The funny square dome is the synagogue! It was really moving to see it like that, among lots of Catholic buildings with crosses on their domes and roofs. Then the synagogue with its square dome and no cross. It's a very proud building, right on the bank of the river. I went to tour it on Sunday, but they don't allow pictures for security reasons.

The Lamberts contemplating the intricacies of the map.

We were lucky enough to go on a day of a festival. There were shops and booths and restaurants set up along the river. 

Lambert fashion shot!

I tried on a big hat. It would have been like a parasol for me. I should have bought it.

This one's for DS, in Israel. He insisted that I eat tiramisu. So I did. Delicious!

Then we walked back the same way we came on the river, until we crossed over a different bridge.

We went up to one of the buildings and saw a poster of Gilad Shalit. The poster says:

"Rome wants its citizen free"

Gilad has been held in captivity by Hamas for more than five years without any Red Cross visits or humanitarian aid. Hamas said that they are willing to release him in return for more an a thousand Hamas and Fatakh members that are held in Israeli prisons. Many of them are self-proclaimed terrorists who have vowed to continue attacking Israel if released. The movement to free Gilad Shalit is led by his brave and resolute parents. 

Back on the forum! The think that's Constantine, but we aren't sure.

Then, over to the Colosseum!

G and YGirl, Gladiators! With purses.

Now I am a kindly hostess showing off my new Colosseum:

YGirl: Isn't it lovely?

G: Oh, I simply adore it!

YGirl: We paid extra for the aging and weathering. It look more authentic that way!

G: Divine, darling!

Lamberts! Again with the map, making sure we don't get lost.

Arch!

We ended up wandering around until we found a taxi to take us home to the hostel. Lovely time!

Stay turned for Italy 5: Holy Places Day!

Italy 3: Napoli to Roma

On the Friday morning of my trip, G and I took the train to Rome.

As usual, there were some hilariously well-timed occurrences that turned the trip into a comedy of errors. The main example was that my suitcase's tall handle (used for the convenient rolling function of the suitcase) broke as we started on our way to the train station. I ended up lugging the damned thing through the street of Naples.

In the end, we bought a roll of medical tape in the Termini station in Rome and fixed the handle. Hilarious.

In any case, This is a photo of chez Lambert.

And Lady Henry Lambert. She's the snuggliest cat ever!

On the train as we left Naples. Next to us were a pack of older Italian men with really crazy regional accents, chatting away as G and I filled the trip with religious conversation. It's so wonderful to have someone to chat with all the time! Though out the trip I didn't use my MP3 player because G and J and I were talking all the time.

Italian countryside! I was so struck by how green it was. I didn't realize how used to the Israeli color palate I am!

G and I arrived in Rome and had lots of trouble finding the God forsaken metro to take us to the hostel. We were staying in Northeastern Rome. An area that is fairly residential. There are few tourists, and we liked it like that!

Here is G doing her best Joanie pose in the hostel.

Oasis lyrics on the sidewalk.

G took me into the city to see some tourist sites like the Spanish Steps. There were vendors trying to sell flowers and other random things. I should have bought a parasol there. It would have come in handy in sweltering, searingly bright Rome.

I decide not to schlep up the stairs. It didn't appeal.

ROMA!

We wandered over to the Trevi Fountain, but on our way, I needed sustenance. We stopped for zucchini pizza. BEST. THING. EVER. Simple and delicious.

Then we walked up to the Villa Barbarini - a beautiful building with a good museum. We didn't have time to go in, but we admired the building.

Then we walked up to the Four Seasons piazza. There are statues in each corner of the intersection representing the seasons. Sadly, most of them were covered in grime from the cars.

After that we went back to the hostel to get ready for Shabbat.

We went to a lovely family's house for a delicious dinner, good company and in my case, getting flirted with by handsome Italian Jewish man. I had no idea that he was flirting with me until G and J clued me in after dinner. I'm oblivious!

The next day we went to the other family's house that I mentioned in a previous ranting post. 

Then we had a lovely siesta and went into the city to watch sunset over the Roman Forum. 

Pictures in the next post!

Italy 2: Naples, Amalfi, Sorrento

Taking J to work, then off to Amalfi over the mountains!

 Lord and Lady L's street in Napoli.

 Napoli.

 Totally PC transvestite train advertisement. 

 Whoopsie! Wrong turn. Went too far. Need to turn back!

 Pretty accidental scenic tour.

 Ah! Amalfi Coast!

 Girls in the car!

 Though it is difficult to see in this picture, the mountains are terraced to grow agricultural crops. Grapes and lemons were very common.

 Posing in front of the car park on the beach in Amalfi.

What's up Amalfi?

Lovely town square, setting up for a musical performance.

 Lunch in a cafe in the walls of the crazy Amalfi Baroque cathedral.

Delicious little fishies with capers, parsley and lemon!

 Our meal!

 Cathedral. Coming up behind us were some of the Italian militarized police in their fancy dress uniforms for a wedding. The Italian military is very stylish, but I didn't really see them DO anything particularly useful. Things like examining their hats rather than monitor the site that they were supposed to be guarding.
Bless them and their fancy hats and custom made shoes.

I mean, seriously. Look at this. 

Not my picture.

 In the cloister gardens: Roman sarcophagi. 

 G. taking pictures of the Byzantine mosaics.

 In the museum: Fancy silver altarpiece.

 Carved bone box for... umm... something.

 Citrus peel candies in a candy and pastry shop!

We bought cookies at another place. All of the cookies there were supersized! The Amaretti were the size of a hamburger bun and deceptively hard. I discovered this as I struggled to break it and in shattered in my hands and on the ground. I wanted to walk away whistling.

 From the cathedral. Look at how the shape of the yellow dot with the red outline was used in the inlay!

Then we drove up the mountain to beautiful Ravello. 

The view from the parking lot.

 

Dear G looking at the town square. 

Inside the villa. 

Medieval style gardening. Brother Mathias would be pleased. 

On the drive home, G kept stopping for me to take pictures. We joked that it was a required part of the trip.

"Get out and TAKE SOME PICTURES, damn it!"

G cooked a lovely dinner for us and J and I devoured a ball of Mozzarella di bufala. If it was possible to marry cheese, I would marry mozzarella di bufala in all of its creamy, chewy goodness.