#lethal drizzle

[themancorialist]

Deansgate, Manchester. 

[outlawedsugar-blog]

Day 10: The Dawn of Xylitol

This rather baffling blog title sounds perhaps more at home in science fiction but alas NO: it signifies a great discovery in my battle to avoid the great white shark of refined sugar in the sweet and syrupy nutritional ocean. This discovery is xylitol, a natural sweetener made from plant fibres (GCSE scientists may recall 'xylem' being a part of a plant, so I'm guessing the same suffix has some significance - learning happening right now), and also has a low GI rating. Essentially it's a replacement you could use if you needed sugar for something, in particular baking. Which is exactly what I did folks. Just to reiterate that my previous knowledge of cooking and nutrition was minimal, the way I found out about xylitol was by googling this: 'sugar free cake'. Yes, ten days in, I kinda wanted some cake. I admit it. Anyway, after reading a little more and finding the general consensus that xylitol = good, I managed to track some down in the supermarket (essentially £3 for 225g, so you'd go bankrupt if you used it all the time simply to replace all sugar), and then decided to make a lemon drizzle cake. The recipe I found looked promising until I realised it also had yoghurt in it, which the lactose intolerant human being I am didn't want, so I just directly subbed out sugar from my standard sponge recipe and and amazingly I produced an edible cake. Early signs suggest it's actually quite tasty (I ate some crumbs). If I get good feedback from willing test subjects, I might even post a recipe on the Internet, like some sort of clean-eating food warrior. If I get bad feedback, I'll redact this entire paragraph. This massive story about xylitol cake has distracted from the fact that I also attempted to make hash browns from scratch for my dinner. One issue was that I horribly mistimed my dinner, so I had to eat my mushroom omelette whilst still frying fine strips of potato. However, I ended up with some crispy potato bits - definitely not hash browns, but now I have aspirations to improve my personal hash brown skill set, which can only be good. Onwards and upwards - potentially up a long way, if it turns out you can sub xylitol directly in to a sugar high.

[teamdragonrollerderby]

Dragon of the Week - Lethal Drizzle

Name – Lethal Drizzle

Number -  73

Home league -  London Rollergirls Recreational League

How long have you been playing derby? About 2 years now, I think!

What is your favourite position to play on track?  Being a jammer is probably my favourite but I also love blocking, really seeing the jammer work is such an achievement ‘cos I know how that feels!

Who are you off track?  I have recently moved to London from the Netherlands so am still finding my feet here. I currently work in a theatre and do some voluntary work in film archives.

Likes -  Coffee, films, lifting weights, dark chocolate, time-travel and red wine.

Dislikes -  Cauliflower, fennel and velvet being brushed the wrong way *shudders*.

Who’s your derby crush?  I love watching Fifi Nomenon, she is probably my derby hero. I also have a massive crush on all of Auld Reekie Roller Girls, I did my fresh meat with them and they are so enthusiastic and inspiring – ARRG will always have a place in my heart!

Worst injury?  I broke my ankle in the second week of fresh meat. I still came back though, perhaps with even more enthusiasm! My family kept asking if I could pick a ‘less dangerous’ hobby, that made me laugh.

What has been your most magical derby moment? Scoring the first set of points in a tough game against Rotterdam at the Dutch National Champions was an awesome feeling. Though, to be honest, anytime I am on track with my teammates always feels magical.

Random Lethal Fact! I went to clown school but wasn't a very good clown.

© Patrick Spruytenburg fotografie

© Branko Collin

Main photo courtesy of our Mother and graphic design by Lil Bow Creep!