I'm fat! I decided this today when I couldn't fit into a lovely jacket. I'm not just pleasantly plump or curvy or reubenesque, I'm fat!
So now is the time to stop complaining and do something about!
I have struggled with my weight all my adult life, I have been very thin and fit, I have been a healthy weight, I have been up and down like a yo yo and it's mostly down to the fact that I love to cook and I love to eat the end results! I don't seem to have a moderation button I just eat!
But not anymore! I am going to be a conscious eater and I hope to lose a stone by my birthday in 6 weeks times, so wish me luck!
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Sunday, 8 January 2012
So that's why they call them ghost chillis!
So last night I had cooked a slow cooker chilli for dinner, absolutely delicious with great big chunks of steak and my lovely home made ghost chilli oil and my son comes in opens the pot as he always does when anything is cooking and tries some
"that's not that hot, I thought you said you were using ghost chilli oil"
me, "thought it best to only use a little so as to not destroy the children's taste buds"
son, "oh that's nothing though, I bet a could eat one of those chillies"
Me, trying to blind him with science and convince that I actually do know best "they're like a million scoville units! That's about 10 times hotter than a scotch bonnet, are you insane!" to which the answer is obviously YES! Because he keeps on and on so eventually I get my little bag of dried ghost chilli that I hide at the back of my herbs and spices so no one uses it by mistake and I say "Right son of mine chop a very small bit off the tip of one of thoses and try it then" but what does that idiot boy do (at this point I feel it worth mentioning he's 24!) he bites in to it like its a sweet!
"don't know what you're on about mum, it's not that ......" then it kicks in his eyes start watering first, then streaming then his whole head turns red "quick grab your brother some milk" I say to his 17 year old sister who is practically wetting herself laughing at his misfortune or utter stupidity! He downs a pint in one then another then another, I in complete motherly concern am taking pictures of him , laughing and reminding him that no matter what age you are generally your mother DOES know best! I then realise that he is still rather red and salivating rather a lot ( he's a drooling red eyed wreck to be more precise!)
"now I know why they call them ghost chillis" he says "it's because you want to die after you've eaten one", in between laughing and telling him that I did warn him, real motherly concern does kick in and I google how to lessen the affect , the consensus seems to be ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream! Two bowls later and his head isn't quite so red and he says he thinks the feeling is starting to come back in his tongue so hopefully a lesson has been learnt and he won't do that again....Wrong! an hour later I ring him to see if he's fully recovered and what does he say "yeh feeling much better now seeing as the pain only lasted an hour, I think I might me able to do one of those chilli challenges!" Unbelievable 2 hours ago he was dying now he can take on a chilli challenge!
Oh, we'll I guess it's true what they say "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!" or "men are idiots!" I know which one I think!
"that's not that hot, I thought you said you were using ghost chilli oil"
me, "thought it best to only use a little so as to not destroy the children's taste buds"
son, "oh that's nothing though, I bet a could eat one of those chillies"
Me, trying to blind him with science and convince that I actually do know best "they're like a million scoville units! That's about 10 times hotter than a scotch bonnet, are you insane!" to which the answer is obviously YES! Because he keeps on and on so eventually I get my little bag of dried ghost chilli that I hide at the back of my herbs and spices so no one uses it by mistake and I say "Right son of mine chop a very small bit off the tip of one of thoses and try it then" but what does that idiot boy do (at this point I feel it worth mentioning he's 24!) he bites in to it like its a sweet!
"don't know what you're on about mum, it's not that ......" then it kicks in his eyes start watering first, then streaming then his whole head turns red "quick grab your brother some milk" I say to his 17 year old sister who is practically wetting herself laughing at his misfortune or utter stupidity! He downs a pint in one then another then another, I in complete motherly concern am taking pictures of him , laughing and reminding him that no matter what age you are generally your mother DOES know best! I then realise that he is still rather red and salivating rather a lot ( he's a drooling red eyed wreck to be more precise!)
"now I know why they call them ghost chillis" he says "it's because you want to die after you've eaten one", in between laughing and telling him that I did warn him, real motherly concern does kick in and I google how to lessen the affect , the consensus seems to be ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream! Two bowls later and his head isn't quite so red and he says he thinks the feeling is starting to come back in his tongue so hopefully a lesson has been learnt and he won't do that again....Wrong! an hour later I ring him to see if he's fully recovered and what does he say "yeh feeling much better now seeing as the pain only lasted an hour, I think I might me able to do one of those chilli challenges!" Unbelievable 2 hours ago he was dying now he can take on a chilli challenge!
Oh, we'll I guess it's true what they say "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!" or "men are idiots!" I know which one I think!
Saturday, 16 July 2011
A weighty issue
Many moons ago I told you all (sounds like I have hundreds of readers! that would be nice by the way!) how I wanted to be fit and fabulous by time I'm forty! I called it my 3 F's challenge got myself all psyched up started wearing actual clothes other than jeans and a tee, brushed my hair at least once a day, when I can find the hair brush of course! I even wear make-up now and have bought myself new clothes but one thing that has been my nemesis is weight! Who am I kidding it's homemade cakes, bread and red wine that have been my nemesis or rather my lack of will power to stop eating them! I even joined WeightWatchers with the theory that if I was accountable to someone else I would be good and lose weight but the only pounds I've lost are the 20 quid a month that it costs me to weigh myself in front of people and be told I weigh the same! Ok not strictly true I've actually lost 7lb but that's in 9 weeks! that's how little willpower I have! And the amazing thing is I've doubled the amount of exercise I do in an attempt to get fit, I walk ALOT now , I Zumba I even attempted the gym yet my weight loss is pathetic which leads me to believe that I'm actually eating more than I was before or my own body is trying to sabotage me!
Couldn't be my fault after all!
Even illness didn't aid my weight loss I had the chest infection from hell, I'm still coughing but still managed to shovel enough food in to stop me losing any weight!
I've been off the wine for a week now because of the antibiotics but even that hasn't helped.
It just doesn't make sense!
So with the realisation that I turn 40 in just over a month I am going to step up my game make sure I note everything that I'm eating, food eaten while walking does count apparently as does food pinched off the kids plates! I know right who'd have thought it!
So I want to be accountable to all of you who read this, ask me how I'm doing, keep me in check remind me that just because wine is made from grapes it's not one of my 5 a day! And ask me in a weeks time if I've lost any weight!
Couldn't be my fault after all!
Even illness didn't aid my weight loss I had the chest infection from hell, I'm still coughing but still managed to shovel enough food in to stop me losing any weight!
I've been off the wine for a week now because of the antibiotics but even that hasn't helped.
It just doesn't make sense!
So with the realisation that I turn 40 in just over a month I am going to step up my game make sure I note everything that I'm eating, food eaten while walking does count apparently as does food pinched off the kids plates! I know right who'd have thought it!
So I want to be accountable to all of you who read this, ask me how I'm doing, keep me in check remind me that just because wine is made from grapes it's not one of my 5 a day! And ask me in a weeks time if I've lost any weight!
Monday, 4 July 2011
The Big Feastival and a lovely weekend
I have had a lovely busy weekend, filled with enjoyable things rather than the usual catch up on laundry, cleaning and kids stuff and I realised that the world does not actually fall apart if I'm not here doing everything!
My weekend started on Friday Afternoon with The Big Feastival!
The Big Feastival is hosted and organised my the wonderful Mr Jamie Oliver and according to its website The Big Feastival is the first of its kind: a summer festival combining top-class food with the world’s best live music and the best and most amazing thing is 'all' yes I did say all the profits go to charity!
The charities supported by this event are The Prince’s Trust is a charity for 14 to 30-year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Through practical and financial support, The Trust helps young people develop the skills they need for successful employment, education and training.
The Prince’s Trust ‘Get into’ programme is a series of short vocational courses in sectors such as cooking and hospitality. Last year, 1,837 disadvantaged young people took part in a ‘Get into’ programme and 74% of those who completed the course achieved positive outcomes including employment, further education or training and voluntary work.
The Prince’s Trust other key activity is ‘Get Started’, a programme of arts and music designed to engage young people who are significantly alienated from education, training and employment and lack the confidence, motivation or skills to move forward. ‘Get Started with Music’ gives young people unique opportunities such as working with professional musicians and developing their skills in vocals, instruments or music technology. Last year, 76% of the 1,238 people who took part in a ‘Get Started’ programme achieved positive outcomes.
www.princes-trust.org.uk
The Jamie Oliver Foundation who's mission is to empower, educate and engage as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food. This means learning how to cook, understanding where food comes from, and recognizing the power it can have on our health, happiness, and even finances. We do this through teaching, training and employment, and also by making good clear information available to as many people as possible. The Jamie Oliver Foundation is a registered charity .
The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees who have been recruited on the basis of their shared passion – that food can make an empowering and lasting difference to the lives of every person. To date, the Foundation has worked with a range of ages, from kids as young as four to the elderly.
Jamie is the driving force behind the Jamie Oliver Foundation. Under the UK Foundation, there are three charity activities:
At the heart of the business is a desire to encourage young people to believe in themselves, to show each one of them their past can be left behind and persuade them that they can create their own future. Every year, each restaurant takes on unemployed and under-qualified young people in the local area and trains them to become qualified chefs through a unique Apprentice Programme.
To date, more than 220 apprentices have graduated, many of whom have carved out successful careers in the restaurant industry all over the world. In fact, a 2002 graduate, Tim Siadatan, was named as one of the ‘Top 10 Young Chefs in Europe’ by The Wall Street Journal, following the opening of his restaurant, Trullo.
After Jamie took a petition with more than 271,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street, asking for major changes to what children were fed in school, £280 million of investment was promised and the School Food Trust was set up to help improve the quality of school food.
Jamie continues his campaigning role in relation to the school food agenda: watch this space as work continues behind the scenes on the School Kitchen Garden project.
When Jamie set out to make the Ministry of Food TV series, he wanted to prove that anyone could learn to cook – and that it was fun, cool, could save them money and help their family and friends to live healthier lives.
To date, there are three Ministry of Food centres in the UK, and one mobile outreach programme. A further two centres are due to open in late 2011. In late 2010, a Ministry of Food subsidiary was launched in Ipswich, Australia, in partnership with ‘The Good Guys’. The centres are places where local people can learn the basics of cooking and get friendly advice on recipes, ingredients, menu-planning and nutrition, and how to make good, simple meals on a tight budget.
From the minute we got there to the minute we left we had nothing but an enjoyable time, this was the first Festival or Feastival that I've been to that I truly felt was as family friendly as it said it was and with children under 12 able to attend for free and 12 to 17 year olds only charged £25 a ticket and that included 3 dishes of food! for the adults there was the choice of standard entry with all dishes at £5 each or VIP which included 5 dishes an exclusive VIP area plus unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks and BBQ all day!
The atmosphere was lovely , the Common was kept clean even the toilets were kept stocked with toilet tissue and cleaned something rare for most festivals!
As well as the pop-up restaurants and food stalls there were cooking demonstrations , wine tasting, Romany Caravan complete with tarot and palm reading, The little dudes den for children which had it all art, crafts, entertainment, face painting even a quiet reading area!
And there was my daughters favourite The Fairground! Beautifully traditional rides safe for children of all ages and all FREE! My little ones favourite was the Ferris Wheel she's very adventurous for a 2 year old!
*all information about the charities supported was taken from The Big Feastival Website
My weekend started on Friday Afternoon with The Big Feastival!
The charities supported by this event are The Prince’s Trust is a charity for 14 to 30-year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Through practical and financial support, The Trust helps young people develop the skills they need for successful employment, education and training.
The Prince’s Trust ‘Get into’ programme is a series of short vocational courses in sectors such as cooking and hospitality. Last year, 1,837 disadvantaged young people took part in a ‘Get into’ programme and 74% of those who completed the course achieved positive outcomes including employment, further education or training and voluntary work.
The Prince’s Trust other key activity is ‘Get Started’, a programme of arts and music designed to engage young people who are significantly alienated from education, training and employment and lack the confidence, motivation or skills to move forward. ‘Get Started with Music’ gives young people unique opportunities such as working with professional musicians and developing their skills in vocals, instruments or music technology. Last year, 76% of the 1,238 people who took part in a ‘Get Started’ programme achieved positive outcomes.
www.princes-trust.org.uk
The Jamie Oliver Foundation who's mission is to empower, educate and engage as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food. This means learning how to cook, understanding where food comes from, and recognizing the power it can have on our health, happiness, and even finances. We do this through teaching, training and employment, and also by making good clear information available to as many people as possible. The Jamie Oliver Foundation is a registered charity .
The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees who have been recruited on the basis of their shared passion – that food can make an empowering and lasting difference to the lives of every person. To date, the Foundation has worked with a range of ages, from kids as young as four to the elderly.
Jamie is the driving force behind the Jamie Oliver Foundation. Under the UK Foundation, there are three charity activities:
- Fifteen’s Apprentice Programme
- Jamie’s School Projects
- Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Fifteen’s Apprentice Programme
In 2002 Jamie founded ‘Fifteen’, a restaurant group that uses the magic of food to give unemployed young people a chance for a better future. The group is made up of three restaurants: the flagship Fifteen London (established in 2002), Fifteen Amsterdam (in 2004) and Fifteen Cornwall (in 2006).At the heart of the business is a desire to encourage young people to believe in themselves, to show each one of them their past can be left behind and persuade them that they can create their own future. Every year, each restaurant takes on unemployed and under-qualified young people in the local area and trains them to become qualified chefs through a unique Apprentice Programme.
To date, more than 220 apprentices have graduated, many of whom have carved out successful careers in the restaurant industry all over the world. In fact, a 2002 graduate, Tim Siadatan, was named as one of the ‘Top 10 Young Chefs in Europe’ by The Wall Street Journal, following the opening of his restaurant, Trullo.
Jamie’s School Projects
In 2005, Jamie’s Channel 4 television series ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ highlighted the poor quality of meals provided by the majority of UK schools. Jamie’s ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign, which ran alongside the series, led to major investment by the government as well as policy changes to improve school food.After Jamie took a petition with more than 271,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street, asking for major changes to what children were fed in school, £280 million of investment was promised and the School Food Trust was set up to help improve the quality of school food.
Jamie continues his campaigning role in relation to the school food agenda: watch this space as work continues behind the scenes on the School Kitchen Garden project.
Jamie’s Ministry of Food
In 2008, Jamie launched his Ministry of Food campaign with the aim of getting people cooking again. He wanted to encourage people to share their cooking skills and teach their friends what they had learnt. The campaign was inspired by a nutritional programme during the Second World War in which cookery teachers offered the population help and advice, to make sure people knew how to feed themselves properly.When Jamie set out to make the Ministry of Food TV series, he wanted to prove that anyone could learn to cook – and that it was fun, cool, could save them money and help their family and friends to live healthier lives.
To date, there are three Ministry of Food centres in the UK, and one mobile outreach programme. A further two centres are due to open in late 2011. In late 2010, a Ministry of Food subsidiary was launched in Ipswich, Australia, in partnership with ‘The Good Guys’. The centres are places where local people can learn the basics of cooking and get friendly advice on recipes, ingredients, menu-planning and nutrition, and how to make good, simple meals on a tight budget.
From the minute we got there to the minute we left we had nothing but an enjoyable time, this was the first Festival or Feastival that I've been to that I truly felt was as family friendly as it said it was and with children under 12 able to attend for free and 12 to 17 year olds only charged £25 a ticket and that included 3 dishes of food! for the adults there was the choice of standard entry with all dishes at £5 each or VIP which included 5 dishes an exclusive VIP area plus unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks and BBQ all day!
The atmosphere was lovely , the Common was kept clean even the toilets were kept stocked with toilet tissue and cleaned something rare for most festivals!
As well as the pop-up restaurants and food stalls there were cooking demonstrations , wine tasting, Romany Caravan complete with tarot and palm reading, The little dudes den for children which had it all art, crafts, entertainment, face painting even a quiet reading area!
And there was my daughters favourite The Fairground! Beautifully traditional rides safe for children of all ages and all FREE! My little ones favourite was the Ferris Wheel she's very adventurous for a 2 year old!
The ranges of food, the smells, the tastes all amazing we tried Malaysian food with delicious chicken satay and roti, beautiful fresh seafood, gourmet burgers, amazing gellato and of course BBQ !
Then on to the entertainment! before the headline act 'Soul II Soul' Jamie Oliver came on stage to thank everyone for coming, explain a bit more about the charities and where the proceeds would go and then introduce the Brilliant Soul II Soul! I did try to upload a video but technology hates me! though I will try again later!
We danced, we enjoyed the music and the atmosphere , we enjoyed more food and all in all had the most fabulous day and hopefully this wasn't just a one off and it will be on again next year as I can really see this going from strength to strength there was definitely room for growth and I can see this becoming one of the big Festivals or should I say Feastivals!
*all information about the charities supported was taken from The Big Feastival Website
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Fabulous, Fab ice lolly with a Fab new flavour
The lovely people at Fab Ice lolly's kindly sent me a goody bag and some vouchers to try out their brand new limited edition Blackcurrant and Apple Fabs as I true fan of the original fab ice lolly, it's been a favourite since childhood, I was a little dubious of this new flavour, How wrong could I be! They are delicious! Actually more refreshing than the original strawberry.
I know it's down to personal taste but I tried them on my children and the neighbours children who all said they prefered this flavour, so Fab you're on to a real winner for a hot summers day! And at only 82 calories per lolly a nice treat for the weight conscious of us out there and it's the gift that keeps on giving because my lovely people once you've eaten the lolly, on the stick there is a web address www.myfabland.com where you can find out more about fab, enter competitions,download an activity calendar and find some summer survival tips!
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| My Daughter enjoying her Fab Ice Lolly! |
And courtesy of Fab, I have a £2 voucher and a cute penguin badge for you to win so you can try them out for yourself! Just leave me a comment telling me your favourite summer survival tip and my favourite will be chosen at noon on Tuesday! you can leave your tips on twitter too!
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Food glorious Food!
No I'm not about to break out in song....although I could offer you a quick rendition! No I actually just want to talk to you about Food, I've been thinking a lot about it lately probably because I'm trying not to eat so much of it! Food is one of the things that ties every single life form together, we all have to eat something, we all have to fuel our bodies, now what we eat that's what separates us!
For me I love all food in fact the only food I can think of that I dislike with passion is pimento and I'm not that fond of fennel, really why would you spoil a perfectly good olive by stuffing it with pimento? and likewise why would you think that the addition of fennel would improve my salad, it won't!
I love food, for me it's not just fuel it's the enjoyment of creating a meal from all these different ingredients that singularly are nothing special but when combined together become an explosion of flavours, textures and something to be enjoyed and savoured.
I don't follow recipes as such but I enjoy to read them, to take inspiration from and make them my own but more often than not I make things up, I create, I think about tastes I like, combinations that work well and I just cook I don't weigh things I just guess, I probably have an eye for approximate weights from high school cookery or home economics as it was called when I was at school and that has stayed with me I guess. I don't even own a set of scales although I do mean to buy some so I can share my recipes in a more accurate way, the recipes that I have already posted have been guestimates and hopefully worked for you if you tried them.
And now having shared all of that with you I'm off to bake! Something low fat and healthy of course! .....As if!
For me I love all food in fact the only food I can think of that I dislike with passion is pimento and I'm not that fond of fennel, really why would you spoil a perfectly good olive by stuffing it with pimento? and likewise why would you think that the addition of fennel would improve my salad, it won't!
I love food, for me it's not just fuel it's the enjoyment of creating a meal from all these different ingredients that singularly are nothing special but when combined together become an explosion of flavours, textures and something to be enjoyed and savoured.
I don't follow recipes as such but I enjoy to read them, to take inspiration from and make them my own but more often than not I make things up, I create, I think about tastes I like, combinations that work well and I just cook I don't weigh things I just guess, I probably have an eye for approximate weights from high school cookery or home economics as it was called when I was at school and that has stayed with me I guess. I don't even own a set of scales although I do mean to buy some so I can share my recipes in a more accurate way, the recipes that I have already posted have been guestimates and hopefully worked for you if you tried them.
And now having shared all of that with you I'm off to bake! Something low fat and healthy of course! .....As if!
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