Do you too try to get thin for Paris or wherever you're headed on a trip?
Usually I have a 3-month window to yo-yo, procrastinate, dream about it, without actually doing it. This time I just have 2 weeks to move mountains. Not happening.
I don't like feeling like a hippo in Paris, though I did see lots of them around (on book jackets, sculpture in front of musee d'Orsay, this doormat etc.).
It's not as if Paris cares a hoot whether we're thin or not. Though it would be nice to think we could wolf down lots more pastries knowing they would do less damage...
Last trip was the first one where I didn't gain any weight. I changed some eating habits thanks to The Power of Habit combined with Bringing Up Bebe.
I ate more fruit compote instead of pastries.
Fr Girl had a fit when she heard I was buying it,
'It's so easy to make!
How could you do that?'
The Power of Habit tells you how to replace a troubling habit with a new more beneficial habit if you set up the cue-reward-routine.
I found I could resist the siren call of meringues,
If there was compote de pomme nearby, as there often is in Parisian patisseries.
And I would be quite satisfied with no afternoon sugar lows in the process.
'All this (weekend) baking doesn't just yield lots of cakes. It also teaches kids how to control themselves. With its orderly measuring and sequencing of ingredients, baking is the perfect lesson in patience. So is the fact that French families don't devour the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven, as I would. They typically bake in the morning or early afternoon, then wait and eat the cake or muffins as a gouter(pronounced goo-tay)-the French afternoon snack'.
I had a chance to test this out. Someone suggested putting the leftover madeleine batter in the pan and FREEZING IT! Then simply defrost and put in the oven 8-10 minutes.
The second batch of madeleines came out better than the first batch. But how NOT to eat them at one go?
Illustration by Katy Couprie
How to space them out, eating ONE-a-day at afternoon snacktime/gouter and not feel deprived? After all, 'French kids snack only once a day' says Karen Le Billon.
I found I could do it!
Big Merci to Power of Habits + Bringing Up Bebe. I now have a tin full of madeleines waiting for gouter time.
Natch that was before Ooh La La Confectionary sent us a giant box of goodies from CapeTown yesterday. The delish calissons are gone sorry to report. Ate all 12 of them in one fell swoop.
The best laid plans of 'bears' and men oft go astray.
*update: Sat afternoon I made a 'betise'. In a weak moment I downed THREE madeleines, then fell into a comatose sleep. We will not even discuss the nougat from S.Africa :(
