SOMETIMES,WISHES TAKE A WHILE…

But, if you wish hard enough…

http://www.weather.com.au/qld/mackay

So far, it’s all good, but I’m prepared to lay a sizable chunk of the housekeeping money on some folks in town looking nervously at the puddles!

And already there are roads underwater  and rivers over roads in some inland areas. And you should see the happy grins out there!

www.theage.com.au/…/02/17/1234632797397.html

Of course, had that cyclone crossed a more populated stretch of the coastline there’d have been much worse damage.

To put this in perspective for some who don’t know our geography –

Imagine, say, parts of Oklahoma battling raging fires while Florida battens down for a cyclone (I think they say “hurricane”).

Now imagine the cyclone crossing the coast, weakening to a severe rain depression and heading towards Oklahoma. That rain would be OK in OK.

But spare a thought for the southern part of West Australia which is ablaze.

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And now, a little self-survey. Your responses will not be shared with marketing companies, but I would like you to answer honestly.

during the Christmas break did you:

a   eat as you usually do

b   eat “special” meals

c   eat more meals per day than usual

d   prepare all meals yourself

e   eat whatever anyone else prepared

f    eat at home (yours or another’s)

g   eat at restaurants

h   gain (or lose) significant weight

And , since I’m sticking it to you, I’ll tell you my answers!

a   no

b   yes, but only one

c   yes

d   yes

e   see above

f   at home

g   no

h  hoo boy! See you at the Weigh-in?

And the tragic thing is that it was all such good food. None of that burger trash, no TV dinners-on-a-foil-tray, nothing so full of additives I’d need Ritalin*.

Hell! I even cooked some meals! That’s “cooked” as in not raw. In this climate we pretty much live on salads, but I did serve a couple of “hot” dishes. I even made that gnocchi that Marie swears is as easy as it is delicious. I’ll go along with the delicious, but easy…we..e.ell, not so much! I think the heat and humidity were its undoing; the gnocchi just wouldn’t hold their shape, despite having been locked in the fridge for a couple of hours.  I’ll make some adjustments and get back to you…

But I  was not chained to the stove, sweating into the gravy.  And, for the record, I haven’t made gravy for years! I did not eat cheesecake, ice cream, candy. No, I ate as I usually do. Just more often.

So how in the name of Escoffier did  my waistline disappear?

Back to the hamster wheel…

*Ritalin is the drug commonly used to treat Attention Defficit Disorder.