Real Women – There is no wrong way to have a body.

Healthy is the new skinny. Strong is the new skinny. Real women are where it’s at. Something to remember on those days you may be feeling out of sorts and hiding under the dining room table with your three dogs and a bottle of wine.

Real Women

Real women do not have curves. Real women do not look like just one thing.
Real women have curves, and not. They are tall, and not. They are brown-skinned, and olive-skinned, and not. They have small breasts, and big ones, and no breasts whatsoever.
Real women start their lives as baby girls. And as baby boys. And as babies of indeterminate biological sex whose bodies terrify their doctors and families into making all kinds of very sudden decisions.
Real women have big hands and small hands and long elegant fingers and short stubby fingers and manicures and broken nails with dirt under them.
Real women have armpit hair and leg hair and pubic hair and facial hair and chest hair and sexy moustaches and full, luxuriant beards. Real women have none of these things,
spontaneously or as the result of intentional change. Real women are bald as eggs, by chance and by choice and by chemo. Real women have hair so long they can sit on it. Real women wear wigs and weaves and extensions and kufi and do- rags and hairnets and hijab and headscarves and hats and yarmulkes and textured rubber swim caps with the plastic flowers on the sides.
Real women wear high heels and skirts. Or not.
Real women are feminine and smell good and they are masculine and smell good and they are androgynous and smell good, except when they don’t smell so good, but that can be changed if desired because real women change stuff when they want to.
Real women have ovaries. Unless they don’t, and sometimes they don’t because they were born that way and
sometimes they don’t because they had to have their ovaries removed. Real women have uteruses, unless they don’t, see above. Real women have vaginas and clitorises and XX sex chromosomes and high estrogen levels, they ovulate and menstruate and can get pregnant and have babies. Except sometimes not, for a rather spectacular array of reasons both spontaneous and induced.
Real women are fat. And thin. And both, and neither, and otherwise. Doesn’t make them any less real.
There is a phrase I wish I could engrave upon the hearts of every single person, everywhere in the world, and it is this sentence which comes from the genius lips of the grand and eloquent Mr. Glenn Marla:
There is no wrong way to have a body.
I’m going to say it again because it’s important: There is no wrong way to have a body.
And if your moral compass points in any way, shape, or form to equality, you need to get this through your thick skull and stop with the “real women are like such-and-so” crap.
You are not the authority on what “real” human beings are, and who qualifies as “real” and on what basis. All human beings are real.
Yes, I know you’re tired of feeling disenfranchised. It is a tiresome and loathsome thing to be and to feel. But the tit-for- tat disenfranchisement of others is not going to solve that problem. Solidarity has to start somewhere and it might as well be with you and me.
Copyright 2011 by Hanne Blank. All Rights Reserved. This free PDF is available online at http://www.hanneblank/pdf/realwomen

All kinds of chocolatey Guinnessy goodness!!!

Rumor has it that Guinness is so chock full of fab nutrients and dietary goodness that it is served in Ireland in hospital. True? Or an Irish Urban Legend? And once you add dark chocolate to the mix these cupcakes are a virtual fountain of youth.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Serves 24. (Seriously, you’re not going to only eat one cupcake. Sharing is nice and all, but these are really good!)

for the cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup Guinness Stout
• 1/2 cup espresso, or strong black coffee
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar (press out any lumps)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (press out any lumps)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cups sour cream

for the mocha glaze:

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 2 1/2 tablespoons hot water
• 24 perfect berries, washed and air dried, or 24 perfect whole coffee beans (perfection is way overrated. and I don’t have the patience to put perfect beans or berries on anything. Although I’m sure it was very pretty!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set oven rack to middle. Lightly grease cupcake pan(s) with cooking spray. Line cupcake pan(s) with 24 paper liners. (I of course didn’t have the requisite liners. Everything came out just fine).

Warm the stout and coffee. I do this in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, then add butter and stir until melted. Add cocoa powder and vanilla, and stir till combined.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking soda and salt.

In mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together the eggs and sour cream. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix slowly. Gradually add flour mixture and gently mix until it is all combined. Fill each liner ¾ full.

Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, turning pan(s) from back to front and top to bottom half-way through cooking time. Check with a cake tester to be sure – it should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove cakes from pan(s) and set on cooling rack to cool completely.

Glaze

For glaze, mix together dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Add hot water by tablespoon-ful. Mix with a spoon until a loose icing is achieved. Alternatively, you can use fresh-brewed espresso in place of the water and espresso powder. Dip tops of cakes into glaze and set on wax or parchment-lined pans to catch drips. Top with berries or coffee beans and let cakes dry for about 20 minutes.

Serve with a lovely espresso, caffe latte, glass of milk, or the remaining stout if you haven’t guzzled it down already. (I highly recommend the cupcakes with the stout)

Recipe courtesy of www.Food52.com