Fantastic February

Sugar-free crumble, yogurt and almond butter

In between doing what I do today, I have been having a little think about what you blog readers like.

Viewing the hit counter, and popular posts, it's pretty obvious that what you really love is heavy duty articles relating to fitness and fatloss. I'm more than happy to oblige, but as these things take research, I can't write one every day (if I could do nothing but write blog posts, I absolutely would). I'm going to aim for one really good article every two weeks, and in between, there will be the fluffy stuff, felines, foodcam and foodie fridays.

The article I'm working on delves into motivation theory, and should be a goodie but for today, I have.. .. foodcam and fluff.  :D As promised.

Here is how Fantastic February got started over here in sunny En Zed... Sugar-free eats, crazy fizzy, sexy bottles and intellectual stimulation.

Sugar Free Rhubarb Crumble

Yesterday I recreated my usual fruit crumble, using rhubarb as the 'fruit' and erythritol + stevia for the 'sugar'. I used 2 grams of stevia mixed into 200g of erythritol (1%). I was concerned that it might not work out, but the evidence suggests that my #1 taste tester approved.

..he gave it the serious seal of approval - remembering to leave some for me, of course.

It was really good. I never post a recipe the first time I make it, in case it was a fluke success, but I will recreate this soon and do that. You wouldn't know it was sugar free.

Zevia

I do not drink 'fizzy' generally (in NZ we don't say 'soda', we take the literal approach and call it 'fizzy drink' or 'fizzy'). However, was intrigued by this one called Dr. Zevia. As you may guess by the name, it's a stevia sweetened fizzy. I grabbed a can while at the organic shop.

I started slurping it this afternoon, but didn't really like it. I think my month without sugar has made me hypersensitive. The sweetness of it was just too much.

I got half a can down and noticed that my afternoon was proceeding with an unusual sense of focus and productivity. No afternoon slump, how strange...

what's that???? Caffeine?  42mg? Ok, that is only the equivalent of one double espresso, but usually my afternoons are stimulant-free.  

Tricked into overstepping my new caffeine limit of 3 espresso a day. Devious Dr. Zevia.

MVM Plus 

Yesterday we got the sample label for MVM PLUS, and discovered a last minute problemo. Two actually - the label was too long, and the words were too small. So I spend most of the day reformatting it and now the queen is pleased.

The back is a bit less elegant:

It's an exercise in craziness trying to fit on there everything that is legally required. But, it's done, and I really like the sexy black bottles. What do you think?

Brain Food

Sometimes, when lying in bed just decompressing, I check my kindle for the 'kindle singles' that are popular. These are short stories or essays, just the perfect length for a pre-bed calm down.

Last night I downloaded, for the huge sum of NZ$1.99, In the Shadow of Beethoven, by Jonathan Bliss.

Jonathan Bliss is this man:

He is not just an author, but also a world famous pianist.  The story is about his experience getting to know, and then recording the entire set of Beethoven's sonatas. I would recommend this story. All of us can learn something from someone that has lived a life of dedication to his art. 
Oops, I have Sistasana and Miss J trying to Skype me (possibly about her upcoming trip) so I will leave you with Jonathan Bliss and post this unedited.. try not to judge ;-) 
How is your February going so far? Is it looking FANTASTIC?