So I'm back from a wonderful, long weekend away camping and enjoying time with friends at an SCA event. The Society for Creative Anachronism is largely comprised of those who portray different aspects of medieval history from all over the world and varying time periods. I'm in what is known as the East Kingdom (east coast). One of the biggest events that we do in the north east area is the War of the Roses. It's our annual get together pre-Pennsic camping event where we meet up with friends we may only see twice a year, go to different classes, and basically have a nice relaxing weekend.
I never try to delude myself when it comes to Roses weekend. While it is a wonderful event, it is one of those weekends where you raise the white flag of your diet and just surrender to the gods of gluttony because you really have no choice. For me it calls to mind John Pinette's skit on healthy eating and gluten free.
Yes, just about everything there contains some form of gluten. Lucky for me the camp that I stay with we have a number of individuals who are celiacs, so there was gluten free option most of the time. However, this didn't take into account the fact that I usually don't even ingest potatoes or rice. So I resigned the weekend to be an off weekend for my eating routine. It happens, I don't get upset about it because I knew I'd be back on track come the week.
It's now Wednesday and my body is still railing back and forth between wanting more of the unhealthy deliciousness of the weekend food, but at the same time loving the healthy choice that I've been pushing into my body. In a way I feel like the week after a weekend off is another gorge fest onto itself. The first few days back on my typical eating patterns it seems like I eat much more than I usually would and I recognize that I probably do eat more than needed. My body over the course of 4 days basically became use to being stuffed with products that it hasn't had in a long time... realized it remembered what they were and started to make more of a fat storage and demand more be put in my system.
Tonight I made a quinoa pasta with caramelize onions and crimini and shitaki mushrooms. It's simple and delicious and helps to provide my stomach with something that provides the bulk of a starch along with the large heaping of veggies and fungus to fuel me with some good vitamins and minerals.
It looks and tastes a lot better in person (camera phone pictures still are quite crappy). Given that I have a Spartan Race on June 2nd, this upcoming Saturday, I want to feel good both inside and out.
In addition, I've made sure to stock up with some farm fresh strawberries... I've been eating away at them slowly.
Hope everyone continues to fuel themselves with healthy food... I fully agree with an 80% lifestyle of eating healthy and occasionally indulging in something not in your usual plethora of daily foods. Roses for me happens to be a long weekend off. Now it's back on the horse and time to get ready for Spartan Race!
On a side note I picked up some amazing fabric from one of the vendors at Roses and am very excited to start making a new middle eastern dance outfit for my gypsy SCA character. There was a wonderful choli-making class and I now know how to make a measurement for ANYONE and can make a personalized fit choli for any type of body type. This is very exciting stuff! I now have fabric for a new dance shirt, ghawazee vest and/or coat, and dancing skirt. For those not familiar with the renaissance faires or SCA, a choli is a middrift top (there are also styles that cover the waist) that has ties either in the back (usually a double or triple set) or on the front (right at the middle of the chest) to adjust to fit the wearer. A ghawazee coat can be long or short (some people actually wear ghawazee vests) and typically are meant to hug against the figure of the wearer and in most cases it puts the assets of a woman on display. For many of the gypsy tribal women that myself and my friends portray, beauty is not about letting all your skin show.
Above is a nice example of a choli top. It doesn't look like it has very much support, but the great thing about them is you can make them to give you support and they can be as tight or as loose as you like. On the right is an example of a ghawazee coat; some of the style the women are wearing are more cabaret style, while the style of the model above is more what I tend toward with tribal jewelry. One of the thoughts I lead with when buying clothing and dressing for an event as my SCA character is that most women in medieval times from the middle east were thought to be more beautiful and alluring by wearing more. As a belly dancer and character I fully embrace the art of wearing multiple layers and relish in the fact that I can walk into a party at any camp at Pennsic and receive just as much appraisal and acknowledgement if not more than women wearing skimpy leather bras and skirts. ...and I guarantee you it has nothing to do with size. There are some very beautiful women there who are 200lb and up who move with the grace of swans and keep themselves entirely covered from head to toe when dancing in their gypsy garb and it is one of the most beautiful sights you can see.
But anyway, I digress. I'm very excited to get underway with my new projects for the SCA, but better start thinking about conventions. Otakon is coming up and I'm nowhere near ready!
No comments:
Post a Comment