Do you mean a macaroon? If so, yes, I've had them. Not my favorite but many people love them (they are often considered a Jewish food and eaten at many Jewish gatherings).

On the coupon topic: I stopped using coupons for most things years ago as I found that I was spending more time cutting and sorting them than actually using them. And then I found that most of the items you get coupons for are NOT the best choices (at least food-wise). So now I don't waste my time even looking at the circulars.

BUT--I do save all my Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons. They go right into my car's glove compartment. Then when I do need something (Keurig coffee refills for one) I get 20% off of each one. Those coupons, despite saying they expire, never really do (at least here in California). I found that out once when I was going to use one and said to the cashier that the coupon had expired, she said it didn't matter, they honor them anyway. I've been known to give away coupons to others in line who say, oh, I left mine in the car...or at home. BB&B doesn't care one way or anther, but IMO, they ought to just lower all the prices by 20% and do away with the coupons.

I have to take DS back to the oral surgeon today. They opened his incision on Monday, rinsed, packed and sutured it, so today they take out the suture and packing and see how it is doing. The swelling is pretty much gone, so that much is good.

Macaroons--aren't they just egg whites and sugar? Maybe some have chocolate on top, but I like them plain however I haven't had one in years.

As for salt, I don't add any salt to anything I make except eggs, steaks and celery. If a recipe calls for salt, I omit it (unless making bread). I think that manufacturers do use too much salt in the food we buy, so in that regard it is probably best to make things from scratch, but who has the time to do that? Certainly not I.

Michele, there were two triggers for him to try to reduce his BP. One is that his office is doing a health screening in March and he gets $50/month off his health insurance premiums if his BP is under 120/80 at the screening. The other is that his parents are a doctor and a nurse and they think he should be on medication to lower his BP because nowadays 120/80 is considered pre-hypertension. Previously when he talked to his own doctor about it, she had him log his BP a couple times a day for a few weeks, then looked at the log and said it wasn't bad enough to be on meds. He hates medication in any case and wants to lower his BP naturally. He's also trying to lose a few pounds, which might do the trick on its own.

It was definitely easier when I first started losing weight, because DH, on his own, has always had pretty healthy habits. He only ate junk when he was with me and I used to insist on going out all the time. When he was living on his own he worked out regularly and his diet consisted mostly of oatmeal, rice, pasta, beans, broccoli, and plain chicken. He grew up on a much more bland diet than I did and I just can't eat plain, unseasoned food like he can.

In any case I have always tried to keep our salt intake low. I don't add salt to anything, I leave it out of every recipe, and we don't eat much in the way of processed foods except for jarred pasta sauce and canned tomatoes. My own BP is usually around 120/80, sometimes it's like 125/82, sometimes 117/75, and nobody has ever said I needed to lower it. :shrug:

My understanding is that macaroons are eaten at certain holidays because they're an unleavened baked good -- that is, there is no yeast & no baking soda involved in their making. Just a delicious, moist, chewy pile of coconut shavings glued together with egg whites & plenty of sugar & probably something else that I can't remember. From my former life, I know that one ought not to bother with the grocery store packaged brands. Go straight to a bakery to get a good one. I'd imagine there are worse cookies out there that one might ingest, as coconut doesn't seem like an evil substance.

Okay, was that an enabling post, or what? Dagmar, do you want us to aid & abet, or should we hold you to your resolutions?

Don't feel guilty about your paper clutter on my account. I just don't like mine. The other day, I realized I'd stopped seeing it; I was looking "around it," editing my view, the way I was able to do with the fat on my body when I was over 250 pounds. I've only been looking at the prettiest parts of my apartment. And it has occurred to me that spending just a couple minutes each day looking at each item could help me get rid of it. Kind of like the "lose five or 10 pounds at a time" theory, transferred to "lose five to 10 pieces of paper a day."

Blame my watching so many back-to-back episodes of "Hoarders" over the weekend while making the split pea soup. There's nothing like "Hoarders" for making me want to clean. Five minutes in, and I'm on my knees on the kitchen floor, wiping down my floorcloth, or pulling out the vacuum, or removing everything from the kitchen counter tops & wiping them down, or attacking a stack of papers on my desk. It's like a secret weapon. Nothing drives me to the Lysol & the Pledge & the Mop n' Glow like a really good "Hoarders" episode with debris everywhere & roaches & dead mummified cats embedded in the papers & shopping bags & etc.

Regarding the macaron/macaroons . . . There are actually three different cookies we're talking about here.

1) Almond macaroon - kind of like an almond-flavored meringue. It uses ground almonds and no flour.
2) Coconut macaroon - a pile of shredded coconut glued together with either something meringue-like or, like in the recipe I use, sweetened condensed milk. Often dipped in chocolate.
3) Macaron - basically two almond macaroons sandwiched around a filling.

Saef, you are right, macaroons are a common Jewish dessert during Passover.

And these are meringues. Alone, sandwiched with whipped cream, or in lemon meringue pie or pavlova.

You can lose fillings with meringues. ETA I mean dental fillings.

Well, you all have certainly reminded me that I REALLY need to clean off my desk... I have a giant calendar that I might actually be able to use if I didn't have piles of papers stacked on top of it!

http://http://www.bobbetteandbelle.c...rons_menu.html

Just to avoid any confusion I meant macaron, not macaroon (I too initially thought they had mispelled macaroon).

Two layers of meringue sandwiched around a filling. OMG! I have to find some way to work one of these into my birthday celebration.

I am on day 3 of eating healthily (can't you tell? :p). My treat tonite is a banana - woohoo?

Dagmar :devil: :devil:

I donated blood today, and my BP was 121/78. And according to the chart printed on my after-care sheet, 120/80 is desirable, 129/84 is normal, 130-139/85-89 is high-normal, and 140/90 is high. Is 120/80 seriously pre-hypertension? That goes against every # I've ever heard.

My blood donation group has also started posting your cholesterol online 3 days after you donate, so I get a free cholesterol check. Neat. I'm curious to see what it is, and hoping it separates the HDL and LDL.

I could go for a meringue, or a macaroon, or a macaron, but it's just cuz I'm tired. Getting my chores done and going to bed instead. Night all. :tired:

IMO, only the drug companies want to define high blood pressure as lower and lower... So they can sell us statins.

Jay

Good grief - we're the "Food Porn Enablers" thread, LOL. I am, however, seriously relieved to learn that I'm not the only one who gets stuck on the FREE coupons for food that I don't want or need.

Snow out there. Gotta go shovel.

I agree. They may be jumpy because, in this country at least, doctors are questioning the value of statins for all patients. The thinking is that their side-effects can outweigh their value for patients who are generally healthy.

My doctor has a reputation as an overmedicator. Despite quite good blood work, I've been on a statin for about four years now. (10MG Simvastatin daily, to be exact.) Is this very bad?

Bill, I'll also be shoveling. We got just under 10 inches in last night's storm. I think I'll be trudging through it to the gym in the evening, rather than this morning. Usually, I'd drive into the head office today for our weekly staff meeting, but my whole dept. will be working from home today & dialing into the meeting instead. I expect to hear dogs barking in the background, children's little piping voices & dishes being done as we talk about the recent manager's meeting, the Oracle Talent Management application with our year-end reviews for 2010 & etc. (How I love that phrase, "talent management." Love it. But then, I am a connoisseur of corporate speak & consider myself bilingual in it.)

saef, we don't give medical advice here, but for myself, I would not take a statin under any circumstances, and especially not if I had good blood work and was as healthy as you seem to be. Possible side effects: muscle pain and damage, and liver damage. More danger in women.

Unless you have a history of familial hypercholesterolemia, there really isn't any good reason, in my not-a-doctor opinion, to take a statin.

I'd run from that doctor as fast as I could.

Jay

Megan, they recently (in the past few years) changed the guidelines about high blood pressure after some studies were done. The American Heart Association now lists under 120/80 as normal, 120/80 - 139/89 as prehypertension, and then there are a few different categories of hypertension above that.