キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか？ しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか？ 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな？』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう？もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain's Log, Stardate 08.12.2011
So, this requires a little explaining.
On the advice of my friend Tosca Lee, who was Mrs. Nebraska, I read the book Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet by Ann Louise Gittleman
.
I did not do the one-day detox, but I was fascinated by her explanation of liver function (yes, my geeky biologist side is coming out) and the foods that help the liver out. Apparently in order to break down toxins, the liver uses a two-step process (which I vaguely remembered from my college biology classes).
The first step sometimes creates a compound even more toxic than the original, but that’s so that the liver can then go to the second step and break down the compound entirely into a form that can be eliminated from the body. It’s a common thing that I remembered from organic chemistry. Sometimes you need to make a more complex-looking compound in order to use a certain catalyst and break the compound down into what endpoint you want.
Anyway, the body needs certain things for both steps of the process, but if you’re lacking in things for the second step, you’re stuck with a toxic compound in your body that your liver can’t break down. That’s why you get headaches and stuff when you’re in detox.
For the detox diet, the author recommends eating certain foods the days before the detox so that your liver isn’t lacking in anything. Which makes logical sense. I didn’t do the detox, but I try to eat the foods that she recommends so that I have a happy liver.
Some things are harder to eat than others. Like beets. There are other things in the list that I can eat besides beets, but since we’ve been getting lots of beets in our organic co-op basket each week, I figure I should eat them rather than going out to buy some of the other veggies in the same list just so I can avoid eating beets.
But then I was looking at a raw foods website and saw a recipe for a green smoothie that didn’t seem too bad. The woman added a lot of fruit to her smoothie as opposed to having it be all green.
And since Captain Caffeine bought his nifty super-duper Blendtec blender, I figured I’d try a green smoothie in order to get my beets and other veggies.
I put in a chopped raw beet, a chopped raw carrot, 6-8 stalks of chopped Swiss Chard with the stems cut off, about 1.5 cups of frozen strawberries, and an overflowing tablespoon of honey. I also added a bit of water.
Can I just say, the Blendtec blender is totally awesome!!!!!! The consistency is very smooth and the blender is incredibly easy to clean, as opposed to my old KitchenAid blender (that thing was at least 15 years old).
And the smoothie tastes okay. There’s a slight “green” smell of the raw beets/chard that I’m not nuts about, but the flavor is good, nicely sweetened by the honey and strawberries. I have to admit it looks a bit repulsively mold-green, but it tastes fine as long as I don’t stare at it.
Another benefit is that it’s a great smoothie for me to drink in the morning when my stomach is usually a bit nauseated. The smoothie is no-fat and easy on my stomach, and it has greens in it, and they say that you should try to eat veggies with breakfast somehow anyway for a well-rounded meal.
We’ll see how this goes. Any thoughts?
So, this requires a little explaining.
On the advice of my friend Tosca Lee, who was Mrs. Nebraska, I read the book Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet by Ann Louise Gittleman
.I did not do the one-day detox, but I was fascinated by her explanation of liver function (yes, my geeky biologist side is coming out) and the foods that help the liver out. Apparently in order to break down toxins, the liver uses a two-step process (which I vaguely remembered from my college biology classes).
The first step sometimes creates a compound even more toxic than the original, but that’s so that the liver can then go to the second step and break down the compound entirely into a form that can be eliminated from the body. It’s a common thing that I remembered from organic chemistry. Sometimes you need to make a more complex-looking compound in order to use a certain catalyst and break the compound down into what endpoint you want.
Anyway, the body needs certain things for both steps of the process, but if you’re lacking in things for the second step, you’re stuck with a toxic compound in your body that your liver can’t break down. That’s why you get headaches and stuff when you’re in detox.
For the detox diet, the author recommends eating certain foods the days before the detox so that your liver isn’t lacking in anything. Which makes logical sense. I didn’t do the detox, but I try to eat the foods that she recommends so that I have a happy liver.
Some things are harder to eat than others. Like beets. There are other things in the list that I can eat besides beets, but since we’ve been getting lots of beets in our organic co-op basket each week, I figure I should eat them rather than going out to buy some of the other veggies in the same list just so I can avoid eating beets.
But then I was looking at a raw foods website and saw a recipe for a green smoothie that didn’t seem too bad. The woman added a lot of fruit to her smoothie as opposed to having it be all green.
And since Captain Caffeine bought his nifty super-duper Blendtec blender, I figured I’d try a green smoothie in order to get my beets and other veggies.
Can I just say, the Blendtec blender is totally awesome!!!!!! The consistency is very smooth and the blender is incredibly easy to clean, as opposed to my old KitchenAid blender (that thing was at least 15 years old).
And the smoothie tastes okay. There’s a slight “green” smell of the raw beets/chard that I’m not nuts about, but the flavor is good, nicely sweetened by the honey and strawberries. I have to admit it looks a bit repulsively mold-green, but it tastes fine as long as I don’t stare at it.
Another benefit is that it’s a great smoothie for me to drink in the morning when my stomach is usually a bit nauseated. The smoothie is no-fat and easy on my stomach, and it has greens in it, and they say that you should try to eat veggies with breakfast somehow anyway for a well-rounded meal.
We’ll see how this goes. Any thoughts?
Comments
I did actually try a pseudo-detox. I went low carb and no gluten for a month. It was really hard! I don't feel like I really need a quick detox that much since we eat a lot of organic foods and we're slowly getting rid of our use of plastics and toxic chemicals. Plus it seems like a lot of work and I'm lazy. :)