Things I like ...

Take wee Dougal with you - the bracing air will do him good, but make sure he's wearing a little cat parachute in case he gets too frisky!
 
:lol:

He's bouncing round the office at the moment. Wants a game, I think.

He is a bit of a wuss, so a balloon ride would scare the catsuit off him completely. It's bad enough when one goes over the house (they take off from a few fields away, so are quite low), the burners make quite a noise and he runs indoors until the sound has gone.
 
I don't blame the little chap! Quite enough to scare anyone who wasn't aware they were on their way, I reckon. Glad to hear his new suit's growing through, though - that has to be a sign that his system's regenerating after all the past and ongoing traumas, no?
 
Hopefully. I don't want to get too optimistic or everything will go pear-shaped as it normally does.

I know it sounds pessimistic but, as my closest friends would tell you, while I am still cautious about something it progresses okay, but once I start to relax and think things are great something always goes wrong, takes forever to sort out (with much angst) and leaves something good totally changed and never the same.

Fate has taken great delight in teaching me this lesson, so I am now very reluctant to show much enthusiasm for anything. Funny really, as my basic temperament would imply an optimist, but I have learned through hard experience to expect the worst. That way I'm never disappointed and sometimes (not often) pleasantly surprised.

Dougal is well in himself at present, so I am happy while he is happy. I am learning, rather late in life, to just coast along.
 
The ward kitchens are 2 floors above and opposite me across a small courtyard. The windows are open and someone is cooking bacon ...
 
...mmm... there are so many cafes and bistros all around me here, that there's a daily assault through the windows of frying bacon, onions, grilling steaks, curries - is it any wonder I can't stop snacking?!
 
Hot buttered crumpets, with honey on them. Can't you tell its autumn?

I used to put Y Fenni cheese on crumpets too, but can't get it around here at the moment. I will try the Cheese Merchant in Cheltenham (next to the Everyman Theatre, for visitors.)

If you haven't tried it, Y Fenni is a Welsh cheese made with ale and grain mustard.

Delicious on crackers or oatcakes and even more so on hot crumpets, where it melts into the holes. Yum!
 
Discovered that Krispy Kreme doughnuts has opened its first shop in Brighton, just a couple of doors from Boots the Chemist, which is on my regular round in town. I lurrrrve several of their varieties, and to prove it bought a box of 12 tonight, sharing with some neighbours. And the diet had started off so well!

I'll have to be strong and just have the favourites as singles in future, and then just as a special treat. But restraint and food aren't the best possible pairing with me!
 
Oh geez me too! I've been told I have two great choices in life. Either have another really awful, painful, crappy operation to keep a liver duct clear, or lose a stone which will help the liver be less fatty. The op has a low success rate and often has to be repeated, doc is quite keen, sadist. Losing weight or op? I love food so much, have no willpower but hate hospitals and pain .... so am trying to be good. Grapefruit and all of that, small results, have to include exercise. So, things I like to eat are off the menu. I guess I can smell them though!

Moonstones are okay though - I love them too. I do not have any, maybe a shopping trip is in order to cheer me up. A friend has a really lovely ring, oval, quite large and really dreamy.
 
Beautiful, clear blue October sky days like today, all the more precious as you know that soon we will be well into winter, four layers, mud, shite and mucking out.....
 
Which bit, Kri?

Isi - have you tried meal replacement drinks? Don't bother spending a fortune on Slimfast etc, which are foul because they use sweeteners.

Just have a Complan sachet for breakfast - chocolate is great, because you can add a spoonful of coffee to it, but there's vanilla, banana, strawberry and some savoury drinks too.

You can also mix Complan with water or milk (247 cals with water) and drink it hot or cold. Makes a good breakfast if you don't fancy food first thing and each sachet provides 1/3 of your RDA.

They also do a hot cereal meal called Complan With Oats, which is a bit more substantial if you need it.
 
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I'm doing my chicken soup diet at the moment. Cook a chicken, take off the meat, boil the bones for hours with lots of garlic and a few stock cubes;then add carrots, celery, leeks and onions plus mixed herbs, ginger and paprika. Blend it all with the meat, put a few days worth in the fridge and freeze the rest. Heat it up and add some bio yoghurt and rice. Really filling and, because, once it's been made, you don't spend much time in the kitchen cooking, you're less likely to nibble. Gives your system a bit of a detox as well [unless you're a veggie]. Really filling if it's got the rice in. Lost a couple of kg's over the past week. Afraid I smell horribly of garlic, though....
 
The best way I've found of getting rid of middle age spread is giving up bread and only eating fat free yoghurt (strawberry as the non-flavour one is very bland) in the evening. It certainly beats going to the gym two or three times a week. And it's a lot cheaper as well.
 
It's really hard not eating bread, isn't it, specially when you just get in from work and need something to eat quickly. Stopped eating it for 3 months once, and felt so healthy, but then slipped back into eating it [same with cheese; I love cheese]. Only thing that works is not having any in the house and having lots of apples to cruch on.
 
A piece of cheese at bedtime makes for a good sleep, I find. Not much, just a thin slice or 1" cube.

Put light out when you feel dozy and sleep until the alarm goes off. Heaven!
 
moehat said:
It's really hard not eating bread, isn't it, specially when you just get in from work and need something to eat quickly.
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I've found it ok. I've never been a sandwich man and never really a fan of normal loaves anyway. French bread I do miss a bit.
 
I waste more bread than I eat, so only buy a small wholemeal/granary each week and get in wholemeal crackers or Krisprolls.

I've never been much of one for crispbreads - particularly Ryvita, which always had the texture of hardboard to me, but they now do a delicious multigrain variety and I find that really good when I get the munchies (with butter of course, I'm not that good).

There's also a jar of pickled onions on the sideboard for picking at.

I noticed that our local greengrocer has shallots in and was daft enough to mention it to my sister. My family have now placed their orders for Christmas, so the cats and I will be settling down to peeling onions next Sunday.

It's also time to make some piccalili, too. Hot and tangy, to be eaten with a strong cheese. Yum.
 
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redhead said:
I've never been much of one for crispbreads - particularly Ryvita, which always had the texture of hardboard to me, but they now do a delicious multigrain variety and I find that really good when I get the munchies (with butter of course, I'm not that good).
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I buy the Wholegrain version which contains Rye with currants and seeds. Its great with Philadelphia, Nutella, Peanut Butter and even Tuna.
 
I l love bread. Ever get a chace to try some from gails bakery in london do so. The rosemary and sourdough is fabulous. Cheese too. Proper artisan british and irish cheeses from neals yard are a dream

I cut back on spuds. Never bothered about them anyway. I'm abit lucky in so far as green veg and oily fish are my fav foods so I should live to 100 at least

Its pies that are the real killers and that's why northerners arer croaking in their droves

As it happens I know a millwall fan who is fcking huge. Saw him eat five tesco value steak and kidney pies cold at the oval and as it happens again, he has got stuck in the turnstile at the den. True
 
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