Movie, Expo, Weight Watchers

Last night we watched a movie called Whale Rider. It was a lovely little story about a Maori village by the sea where the chief was looking for a future chief amongst the children of the village. His granddaughter was competing with the boys to become as good as they were at all the things a chief had to learn. His sons had never fulfilled his expectations and he was a somewhat disappointed man. There were some lovely shots of whales and a few insights into Maori life which were interesting. The actors were people I didn’t know obviously because they were Maoris – whether they are well known in their own part of the world I don’t know. They certainly did a good job.

Google have a lovely doodle today from Swan Lake to celebrate the 170th birthday of Tchaikowsky. More of a picture than a doodle.

Tomorrow and Sunday I will be doing some volunteering for Canadian Diabetes by sitting on a chair and stopping people using a particular door!! Not very exciting I guess, but it is something the expo people need to be done. This is the Health and Living Expo which is taking place at Bingeman Park on Saturday and Sunday and this year they are associating the expo with the CDA so if you are in the area I hope you will drop in.

In fact Bingeman Park are doing a Mother’s day Brunch so Canadian Diabetes have been suggesting people go for the brunch first and then attend the expo. Only being a step mum I don’t qualify for this kind of attention, sigh!!

By the way, they are lowing the ‘box’ over the oil leak as I write. It remains to be seen whether it works.

Also, what about yesterday’s fiasco where because of an error (maybe a typo) of a B (billion) being entered instead of an M (million) the Dow lost 1,000 points and caused panic in the markets for a while. Who needs terrorists.

For supper last night we bought a ham steak which we grilled and served with some pineapple slices. We now have pineapple left over of course. I then remembered a Weight Watchers dish we used to make and haven’t made for a very long time. I first joined Weight Watchers in England in 1975 when we were planning to emigrate to Canada – I guess I thought I needed to be slim and healthy for my new life. I bought a little cookbook they published that year which gave the whole programme – as it was at the time – people were horrified that if the programme was published, no-one would go to the meetings. Obviously that didn’t happen as Weight Watchers is still going strong. I ended up losing 56 lbs that year and managed to keep it off for quite a while. Oh to be so slim again. If I had kept off all the weight I lost over the years!!!! Of course if I had I would be ill and not happy anyway. It is a fact that in later life it is much harder to lose weight. As you see, this is a very simple dish, but quite delicious and an unusual combination. I actually used to call it Hawaiian Chicken Salad. In those days your had specific amounts you could serve, no points – they didn’t come til later. Although the book does contain pictures, it doesn’t have one of this dish. Some of the book has been chewed too, by one of our dogs in the past. Pity we lost a couple of recipes and I cannot get the book any more.

Salad Rice Bowl Source: Weight Watchers – a way of life Serves 2

6 oz. cooked rice 8 oz cooked chicken, diced 2 slices pineapple and 2 Tbs. juice (unsweetened) 1 dessert apple, cored and chopped salt and pepper 2 Tbs mayonnaise lettuce

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, except the juice, mayonnaise and lettuce. Mix the mayonnaise thoroughly with the juice and then stir into the rice mixture thoroughly. Serve on a bed of crisp lettuce. (Or with some nice fresh asparagus).

Have a great day