19 April 2011

Hot Hot Hot

So here we are, Tuesday the 19th April and summer has arrived ! Ok, maybe not arrived officially, but in my office, we claim summer starts on the first day that we have to turn the air conditioning on so todays the day!

This building has got to be the worst place to be on a summers day when its hot, namely because
  • its south facing
  • its got a flat roof and we are on the top floor
  • its not a proper building, more like one of those temporary site huts that you get on building sites, so insulation and ventilation are non existant
So I'm sitting here with an air conditioner throbbing its way into my left ear, the blinds all down to try and keep it cool, and the thermometer is still saying that its 86 degrees in here - phew !

There is one consolation to this though, and thats the fact the are are only in here for 4 days this week thanks to Easter coming so early this year - and the BBC weather reports are saying that we are in for a couple of weeks of this lovely weather. Hopefully they will prove to be correct and I can start working on the tan !

In other news I took the new camera out for a spin at the weekend and I was very happy with the results, the pictures are on my Flickr feed. I only managed to get to St Albans but I had a nice wander around the cathedral and then down through the park afterwards.

I went to the gym last night and met Baked by Brian there, which was nice as I'd not seen him for ages. Managed to burn through 850 odd calories last night so it was a very worthwhile session - I wonder how much I'll shed this evening if it stays as warm as it is now !

15 April 2011

The weekend starts here !

Well my camera arrived at 8:55am Thursday morning and I have to say its even better in the flesh than it is in the pictures. The only downside that I can see at the minute is the chrome band which runs around the edge of the camera - its a fingerprint magnet !

I had a bit of a play around with it last night at home and took some of the cats (which are on Flickr - follow link to the left hand side) Weather permiting I want to get out with it at the weekend and give it a thorough test drive, but I'm very happy.

I went to the gym last night and managed to get shot of another 800 calories which was very pleasing. 600 on the crosstrainer and another 200 on the treadmill. I actually ran for a fair amount of the time, so my stamina levels are definitely improving. OK its not exactly London Marathon standards yet, but I'm getting better !

I don't really know whats happening this weekend - I would dearly love to get out with the camera but I've got a bit of running about to do, so I might not get the chance. Still its Easter next week and I have a nice eleven days off from work, so maybe I will be able to get out with it then, fingers crossed.
My cousin has invited me down to her chalet at Selsey for a break so I think I will take her up on the invite - the cats are more than able to look after themselves for a day or two  :)

12 April 2011

Itching like a dog with fleas ...

Unfortunately I suffer with prickly heat - I don't get it all the time but when it happens it lasts for days. Its probably one of the few traits that I inherited from my dad :(    It all started at the weekend, what with the nice weather it was top off, shorts on and start doing stuff in the garden :) I just didn't realise how strong the sun must have been, despite giving myself a good coating with sun protection spray.

So last night (Monday) when I got home from work I had a little itch on my chest which I scratched, then it moved to my stomach, so I scratched it there. Fifteen minutes later I was going frantic - I was itching so much I was in danger of tearing my skin - stress major ! Luckily I found some Piriton tablets in the cupboard so I took a couple and went to the gym figuring that being there and doing something would take my mind off things, which it did.

I had another bout of it at work today so I went to Boots at lunchtime and bought some anti histamine pills and a cream which has certainly calmed it down a bit - fingers crossed it will be back to normal by tomorrow.

and in other news, I made a mad impulse buy on QVC on Saturday - I've been thinking of getting a new camera for a while and they had this little beauty on a Todays Special Value offer.

You had a choice of black, red, blue or white - initially I was going to go for the red one as I think they look really smart, but after seeing the white one being demonstrated I opted for that one.

Its on 4 easy pay installments, but I can try it for 30 days and still send it back if it doesn't cut the mustard.

The courier tried to deliver it today but I was at work, so I will call them tomorrow to get it delivered to the office.

I also ran out of bread this evening so I made another loaf with the bread maker - this time I used Allinsons 'Seed and Grain white bread flour' and it looks pretty good .

Overall I'm very pleased with the bread machine, although for my taste the loaf could do with being slightly crustier - next time I'll just use it to make the dough and then I'll finish the bread off in the oven, that way I should have a bit more control over the crust colour.

06 April 2011

a quick morning update

Well I christened the bread machine last night and it was pretty successful to be honest - the brown loaf setting took three and a half hours as opposed to the five that it took with Sara's machine - however there are a couple of drawbacks
1. Its SO noisy ! - I don't know if its because its new and the parts have to work themselves in a bit, but when it started whirring away, the cats took off and flew into the garden

2. Its got an annoying bleep that tells you when to add the nuts / seeds and when its starting to bake for the final time (plus when its finished) Theres no way that you could have that on over night unless you wanted to use it as an alarm clock !

So this is my first attempt, its a wholemeal loaf with Poppy Seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped hazelnuts and  pecan and walnut pieces. It does look slightly insipid but I had it on a medium crust setting - I'll put it on the dark one next time and see how that turns out.

But if you close your eyes when you eat it, the taste was very good - big up for me !

05 April 2011

Ouch !

Last weekend was rather pleasant, well at least it was in sunny Watford. With this in mind I decided to tackle some odds and ends that needed doing in the garden, namely

Loading the car with bags of tree clippings and taking them to the dump
Weeding some of the borders
Replacing the broken trellis panel that collapsed under the weight of the snow
Putting in a new garden spotlight to illuminate my Acer tree
... and generally chilling out and fussing the cats

and so it came to pass that I thought the cats might like some nibbles as they were sitting with me in the sunshine. So as I went into the house I managed to kick this paving slab which has been there for the past 14 years minding its own business. Now I'm never very good with blood, so when I touched the bottom of my foot and felt a big flap of skin that really shouldn't have been there, I started to feel a bit giddy, then came the blood !  Thankfully I managed to make it into the bathroom so I could have a sit down (talk about a drama queen !)
So anyway, I just found the biggest plaster that I could find and whacked it on top of the loose skin, holding it firmly in place for a good ten minutes - that seemed to stem the flow of blood. That was on Saturday, its now Tuesday and I still haven't been able to bring myself to look at it properly - I know theres no infection there but sooner or later I'm going to have to attack it with some nail scissors and I'm not looking forward to it at all !

In other news I bought a bread machine at the weekend and I'm going to christen it this evening

I managed to find this one in Currys for £49.99 after a £30 reduction, which was pretty good in my book. Unfortunately the first one that I collected didn't have any instructions or anything in the box apart from the machine itself. This despite being assured by the assistant that 'because the box didn't have a special sticker on it, it meant that it was all in there' - yeah right !

anyway, if its a resounding success, I'll post some pictures later of my first loaf - fingers crossed !

17 March 2011

St Patricks Day

First I must apologise for the lack of postings recently - I had a rather nasty bout of man flu last week and it left me feeling rather lethargic and sorry for myself - all back to normal now though I'm happy to report.

I'd not been to the gym for over a week due to my dibilitating runny nose, so heading back there on Saturday morning I was feeling a bit aprehensive. Thankfully it all went well and I managed to run off nearly 800 calories which I was very pleased with. Subsequently I have been on Monday, Tuesday and Weds nights this week, managing to do gradually less each night as the tiredness kicks in. I've decided to take a break from it tonight, just to allow my batteries to recharge - I might try to have a go on the bike at home instead.

Yet again I'm on annual leave from work next week, and seeing as the weather is getting better, I'd like to think that I could get some bits done in the garden. I need to replace a couple of sections of trellis which broke during the recent snow we had, but I was shocked at the prices - I'm not mean but fifteen quid for some badly nailed together bits of wood - thats taking the biscuit !


In other news, my friend Sara lent me her bread maker on my last visit.
I'd said to her previously that I fancied trying to make my own bread and had been looking at getting a cheap bread machine.

So, to take a break from baking cakes I've started dabbling with bread.
I'm currently on my third loaf - my first attempt was a plain white loaf which I added some wheatgerm to, just to zhuzh it up a bit. It looked really good and the taste was ok, but there seemed to be something missung.

My second loaf was another white loaf, but this time I added some chopped walnuts and pecans into the mix, and gave it a liberal squirt of maple syrup. Again it rose like a dream and smelt fabulous whilst cooking, but the taste just seemed not to be right.

My third loaf which I baked earlier this week was a wholemeal one - I figured it might be the flour that I'd been using that wasn't giving me the right taste. This time I threw in a handful of chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds to give it some texture.

I didn't take a picture of this one as they all look very much the same - next week I might use it just to knock up the dough, and I'll shape and bake the loaf in the oven - that might be more fun.

I gave a couple of slices to Baked by Brian last night for him to give me his verdict - hes been emailing me today so it obviously didn't kill him !

04 March 2011

Times flies

Well will you look at that - my last post I was half way through my week off and then suddenly I've been back at work for a week and not given you any updates !

ok, so here it is in a nutshell
I had a lovely day out with Sara and the kids and dogs at Black Park - I took the camera and managed to get some nice pictures which I have put on Flickr. Sara had very kindly got me £20 worth of vouchers for that cake shop I told you about in Rickmansworth (Cinnamon Square), so I shall be making full use of those before too long.

On the Friday my boss was having his leaving drinks 'do' after work. It started off in our regular lunchtime haunt (Passion Bar) where he had got them to lay on some food which was really tasty. KSR had quite a good turn out of people and it was a nice atmosphere in there. We left Passion at about 6:30 and caught the train to Oxford Circus, where he had reserved places in a club called Loop (which was right opposite John Lewis in Oxford Street) despite it not being too bad in there, I didn't really want to spend the night in a straight bar with my workmates, so I had arranged to meet up with my friend Brian in Soho.

We did a bit of a pub crawl (The Village, Comptons, The Yard) and ended up in Bar Code which was surprisingly good. Brians friend Dr Napper had joined us during the night and suggested we went downstairs in BarCode to the 'Bear Cage' - not something I'd have normally done but I'd been drinking on an empty tum and was game for most things !

Now, my usual routine when I go to London is to have a few drinks and start posting rubbish onto Facebook - however my phone inexplicably died half way through the night and left me unable to do any updates

so consequently I had noting to keep me occupied on the train
I fell asleep
woke up in Berkhamstead
and had to pay £30 for a taxi to get home - but it was a Lexus !

never again - until the next time !

Hopefully baking this weekend, so there should be more to read on Monday !

24 February 2011

Home again

It was my 49th birthday on Sunday and I decided to go and stay with my friend Jane in Lincoln for a couple of days. I had a nice slow morning and opened my cards and gifts which were cake related but very useful - Baked by Brian had bought me a cake thermometer / tester probe, and one of the girls at work had got me the Baking made Easy cookbook by the woman on BBC2 (Lorraine Pascal) thank you both very much !

I arrived at Lincoln around three thirty which was pretty good going really - after a cuppa and a biscuit I had to go into the front room where Jane had been practising a dance game on the wii - it was so funny to watch. I did grab a video but this little clip doesn't really do it justice !


Once we'd got ready, Jane took me out to a great restaurant called Damons, where we had a really lovely meal. They do this offer that if its your birthday and you show some ID, you get your meal for free, which was really smart. We both had this 'combo' meal of ribs, chicken / pork steak, chips, coleslaw and onion rings fried into a loaf - so tasty !

So that was Sunday really, on Monday we went to Lincoln and had a wander around the shops and had lunch in Lloyds bar which was down on the riverside - I'd guess its lovely there on a summers day, but on a damp February afternoon it was a bit fresh ! After lunch we went to see a couple of Janes sons which was nice - they both have children of their own now and its scary just how fast they grow up.

Then we stopped in at Janes work place so she could show me where she worked and I could put a few faces to peoples names that she mentions. In the evening we just chilled with some wine and pork pies. Sarah came over from over the road and stayed for a while but thankfully there was no dancing this time !

On Tuesday morning I needed to get some petrol before heading home, so we popped to some shops on the way - Jane is hosting an Anne Summers party at the weekend so she had to get some food and drink in for that. We also went to a place called B&M homestore which was a nightmare - have you ever been to a shop where everything that you touch either falls over, falls off the shelf of just breaks ? I'm sure I was being videoed for some prank show !

Can you believe that they had a chrome and glass shelf unit that I brushed against and one of the legs fell off ! I tried to put the leg back but that just made it worse - Jane was no help, she just ran off laughing - poxy thing !!

So after a final coffee I left Janes just after two, and made it back here for around 4:45 last night which was excellent - no hold ups and I missed all the rush hour traffic as well. I did go to the gym last night as well because I'd eaten too much bad stuff up north.

This morning I had to be at the garage for 8am as the car was having a belt replaced - luckily I waited for it to be done and it was all finished within an hour ! The rest of the day was just spend washing and cleaning up really. I did go to teh gym again this evening, but didn't manage to burn off quite as much - oh well !

I was supposed to be going to the seaside tomorrow, but the weather looks like its going to be a bit pants, so Sara, the kids and myself are taking a run out to Black Park near Slough with her dogs, then having a BBQ in the evening - more food to be worked off !

thats all for now !



19 February 2011

I've got a Nigella whisk !

So I finally made it to the weekend - it has been a very long week at work.

Thursday evening Julie came over and gave me a much needed haircut, it was long overdue and it looks a lot smarter now. You know when you get to that stage and you think, "shall I grow it a bit longer or shall I have it all lopped off " well the lopped off option won :O) Unfortunately I have very fine hair, so keeping it nice and short is much the easiest way to have it - you can gel it, spike it up, or zhuzh it in so many ways !

Friday was my last day at work for a week, so that was all very good. After work I went over to see my cousin Allison who lives in Pinner. We had quite a nice evening and she managed to stay awake for
nearly the whole time I was there which is almost a miracle !

This morning I decided to get up early and go to the gym, basically to get it out of the way as I was meeting up with Pete for lunch.
I don't know whether it was a combination of going there too early or just not feeling in the mood for a workout, but I only managed to do 300 calories and decided that was enough. I'd been on the cross trainer first of all and then went on the spinning bike, but I got a bad pain in my knees so left it at that. Still 300 calories was better than nothing.

I went to Petes and he treated me to a lovely Thai curry at a restaurant in Borehamwood - we've been there before and the food is really good. We were the first people in there, so the food arrived really quickly and we had the waiters undivded attention.
Pete had also bought me some great gifts for my birthday which was really too much - I opened them a day early but what the hell - I'm 49 and I can do as I please :O)




So incase you can't work out whats what, there are a set of measuring cups that look like Russian Dolls, they are going on display for certain (in fact I very nearly bought myself a set of those in the Habitat sale, they are so cool). Then there was a silicon cake mould that makes a cake that looks like a sandwich - I can have hours or fun making fillings for that one.
And last, but not least, a Nigella whisk - I saw her using it in her latest series and thought that it looked so smart, and it is, The prongs sound like wind chimes when you rattle it - nothing like a bit of Zen in the kitchen when you're cooking up a storm !

17 February 2011

Tingling in the nether regions !

You might have noticed that I've not been going to the gym as much as I should have been lately, in fact last week was a total washout on the exercise front.

I get very down when it comes to weight and trying to stay fit - Some mornings you wake up and you just feel fat. You don't need to get on the scales, you can know that you are heavier than you were the day before and theres no real reason for it happening. Its a bit like Gordon Brown with his "boom and bust" - as long as my weight is falling then everything is perfect. But as soon as you see it start going up you think 'whats the point' and break out the chocolate or biscuits :O(

Its more annoying for me - last year I booked a course of treatment called Hypoxi and I managed to drop from 77.3 kgs to 72.5 kgs which was a great result. I did this by having the Hypoxi and being careful what I ate. Since finishing the course, I've still remained pretty strict on what I eat and not going overboard on the whole sweets / crisps and chocolate thing. I even joined the YMCA gym in Watford around November time and have been going almost religiously. Yet despite all this my weight has been creeping up by 100g here, 100g there, so now I'm almost back at the point where I started. People have said that its fat turning into muscle that makes you heavier and to a certain extend that could be right as I have a lot more definition in my legs than I ever had.

Anyway, so I didn't gym on Monday night as I had a pounding headache, Tuesday I went and managed to do 500 calories, and I went again last night meeting up with Baked by Brian (who oddly enough was there early for once and had 'apparently' burned off 200 odd calories before I arrived :O)  )
So we had a session on the cross trainers and then went onto these new 'spinning bikes' that arrived over the weekend.

The bikes are really good, they have a much more detailed display than the regular bikes, and they have a screen so you can watch tv, or a motivational/training video, or you can plug your i-pod into a slot and listen to your own tunes or watch a movie - very smart

So during the ride, Baked by Brian says 'Ooh, thats different' and smiled. After a bit of banter it turns out he had the same thing as I did last week - a strange tingly sensation around your bits. As we walked to the lockers on the way out, I got it too

I don't know if it was down to the new spinning bikes or not, but I think I've found my new favourite exercise machine !

16 February 2011

Another one bites the dust

Its a sad day when you see yet another pub closing down.



When I was growing up in South Harrow back in the 1980's, every major road junction or crossroads had a pub on it. In fact more often than not, if somebody asked you for directions you would sent them on a route which was defined by Turning left at The Flag, or right at Farmers.

I spent a great deal of time working in bars during that period. Starting out at The George in Ruislip, then moving on to various pubs and clubs, ending at the Fox and Geese in Ickenham. Thankfully none of those that I worked in have been bulldozed - although I have no connection to the buildings apart from having spent time there, it would still feel like losing a little bit of me.

So I was a bit sad to see the shutters come down at The Goodwill to All on Headstone Drive. I'd never been in the pub in all the time I've lived in Harrow - when I worked at the Tithe Farm it always had a reputation as being a 'hard nuts' pub. When ever trouble happened in Bogarts, they generaly were regulars from The Headstone (alas long gone) or The Goodwill.

We had a couple working at Farmers who left to take over The Headstone as their first tenancy many years ago - according to myths, one of the regulars decided to 'take a poo' into the ice bucket and leave it on the bar as a surprise to the new landlord and his wife (I can't say if this actually happened, but if you remember the pub you can probably vouch for the liklihood of such a thing happening).

So, following a long tradition, I'll ask you to raise your glasses and bid a fond farewell to another of Harrows vanishing pubs - I never drank in you, but I'm sure you've got more character in one of your battered window boxes, than the block of flats that will take your place could ever dream of having !

15 February 2011

Treated to lunch

I've done quite a lot since my last posting so I'll just do a bit of a catch up for you all.

Saturday morning I had a market research meeting to attend - it was at Windsor Racecourse and all about cars so I was quite looking forward to it. Once we checked in we were taken to a room to get a coffee and some biscuits whilst watching a short film about how they wanted us to do the research. Once watched, they took us outside to a marquee where there were 4 cars on show - A Peugeot 207, Citroen DS3 (lovely), Nissan Juke (weird but smart) and a Mini - the mini was hidden behind a curtain - we had to compare and rate the other three cars first of all and then compare those ot the mini.

As market research things go it was very interesting and surprising to see how your initial impression can change once you've sat in a car and played around a bit. Anyway, it was £75 for two hours of my time and I quite enjoyed it.

Once that finished I decided to visit my cousin Graham at his nursery near Farnham, seeing as I was well over half the way there. I'd not seen him for a few months and we had a good catch up - unfortunately he didn't have much in the way of spring bedding plants. I was a bit too early so I'll have to go back in a month or so.

On Sunday I decided to do a bit of baking to make some Valentines gifts to take into work. I did a selection of cookies and some red velvet cupcakes - I have to say I was pleased with how the cupcakes looked (and seeing this post is written in arrears, I can vouch that they tasted pretty good too.

 


So I took the selection of cakes and goodies into work yesterday and they went down a storm - the biscuits in cellophane bags looked ever so good and I was very pleased with the ribbons (which I bought from Ideal World)

Today (Tuesday) our boss took us to lunch at the local Indian bar up the road from work - he's leaving next week to take up a job in the main building and he very kindly treated us to the meal which was good of him.

I was feeling a tad bloated from all the food and cake that I've been having recently, so this evening I went to the gym for the first time in a week - I managed to go on the running machine and the cross trainer, burning off 500 cals in the process - yay for me !

11 February 2011

Bread and cake

I went to see my friend Sara last night.
We used to work together at The Fox and Geese in Ickenham - this was long before I'd be drawn to the 'dark side'. Years had passed and we lost touch, only to bump into each other on a dating site where she messaged me - it turned out we were both looking for the same thing :)

Anyway, I baked some carrot cake muffins to take with me as Sara and her kids love cake (well, don't we all really) Sara in return had baked some bread which was really tasty. She'd made a sun dried tomato and onion loaf which was tasty beyond belief, and she baked a white loaf for me to take home which was really sweet of her.

We had a nice catch up and took the dogs for a walk around the block which made a change, then we went and picked her son up from cadets, by which time it was nearly 11:00 pm

I've arranged to have a day out with them during half term, maybe take a trip to Portsmouth or Southend

09 February 2011

A bit of a catch up

Ok, its been a few days since my last entry so this is a brief round up.

Friday nights celebrations at the Black Pepper restaurant were very good. They had put us in a little room at the back which they had decorated with balloons and streamers - it was a really nice atmosphere and we had a good time. The food was very tasty, you didn't get much for your money, but I've never been one for eating out "Twenty quid for a chicken breast, I could buy a weeks shopping for that !!"  I did take a few photo's but unfortunately my little Sanyo camera really struggles in bad lighting so they didn't come out too clearly.

Warm apple pie and ice cream
delish !
Oilves and oil - filth !
On Saturday I went to Watford in the morning and then gymmed after lunch - I was very pleased to break my 1000 calorie limit, a first for me ! Can't really remember much of the rest of the day.

  Sunday I gymmed again after lunch, but it was a much lamer 400 cals this time - I think I was feeling the effects from Saturday. In the evening I made some of Nigellas 'Salty chocolate peanut bars' to bring into the office - very tasty !


Monday was just work as usual - I had planned on going to the gym but developed a monster headache from mid afternoon onwards. Got home and fell asleep for three hours which helped a bit, but it didn't quite clear it.


Last night I went over to see P (the ex) - I'd not caught up with him since Christmas and was conscious that it had been a bit too long. I stayed there a couple of hours and we had a good chat, sadly he had been burgled a couple of weeks ago so things had been a bit stressful for him lately. He had fitted a burglar alarm at the weekend which hopefully will stop anything from happening in the future.



So thats been me so far this week, although today is shaping up pretty well. We were scheduled to have a staff team meeting between four and five this afternoon, but thats been put off until tomorrow morning - yes !

This evening I'm hoping to get the the gym for a bit, and then I have to make a batch of cakes to take to my friend Sara's tomorrow night. I have all the bits at home, so I'm making the carrot cake muffins that i bought in here a couple of weeks ago - they went down very nicely.

I'm also planing to do a bit of baking this weekend, just to bring some bits into work on Monday for valentines - I was thinking of heart shaped cookies, glazed with royal icing in shades of red, white and pink, plus a batch of red velvet cupcakes. Nothing says "I love you (cake)", more than red velvet cupcakes with a dreamy vanilla frosting




04 February 2011

Big night out

Well to be honest any night out is a bit of a treat for me right now - even a trip to Asda fills me with a warm tingle ! The reason being is that I've tried to be good since Christmas by not spending money recklessly and trying to keep my expenditure down to a minimum. Mostly its worked, but when you are used to buying stuff on a whim and not even thinking about how you're going to pay for it, it does rather put a dampener on things.

Anyway, this evening I'm going out for a meal with some work colleagues to celebrate Jacqui's 40th birthday on Sunday. We are heading to a restaurant in Hatch End called Black Pepper and I have to say it does look quite nice.


We had the option of picking from the party menu (2 courses for £20 or 3 for £25), or individual items from the ala carte. I've never been very adventurous when it comes to food so I opted for the party menu - Chicken breast with veg in a tomato and garlic sauce followed by Apple pie and vanilla ice cream (photos will follow later on) Hopefully it will be a good night - they have put us in a room at the back of the restaurant so it should be a bit more relaxed as we all know each other.

I'm taking the camera tonight, so fingers crossed I should get some decent pictures to stick on here or facebook

Have a good weekend !

02 February 2011

Wednesday - halfway done

Its odd how some weeks can really fly by, yet others can drag like nothing on earth - thankfully this one seems to be fairly whizzing past.

I managed to haul myself out of the house and hit the gym last night, unfortunately there were no burly firemen in the building this time :O(   Despite that I felt quite pleased to have burned off another 600 calories (400 crosstrainer, 100 rowing machine and 100 treadmill) I even managed to jog for most of the time on the treadmill, without feeling any noticeable pain in my legs.

I did make a mistake and got on the vibro plate machine at the end of my session. For those of you not familiar, it looks like one of the weighing scales that you get in a doctors surgery - basically you stand or rest on the base plate, press a few buttons and it buzzes away for 30, 45 or 60 seconds.
Anyway, I got on the plate, tweaked the settings and hit the start button - I was expecting it to be a gentle buzz but it was more akin to digging up the road with a pneumatic drill ! 

Talk about shaking your fillings lose !

01 February 2011

Work, eat, gym, sleep...

Don't you just hate going back to work after a weeks leave - I know I do. I invariably have a sleepless night the night before, worrying that I'm not going to wake up in time and thinking about all the stuff that could have gone wrong whilst I've been away. Well, thankfully there was nothing of the sort waiting for me when I came in yesterday morning, which was really good.

My inbox had about 40 messages, none of which were important, and all the things that could have thrown a spanner in the works, all carried on working perfectly, so I was really quite pleased.

I also did a bit of baking on Sunday night, just to take my mind off things, so I came in fully armed with a Buttery Maderia cake with orange zest. I have to say it was a very authentic looking maderia with a crumbly crust on top, and just the right texture. The recipe called for 6 passion fruit to be de-seeded and the resultant juice to be liberally ladelled over the skewered cake, but I left out this step for two reasons. Number 1 I hate the taste of passion fruit and Number 2, I couldn't see any in Sainsburys. Next time I make the cake I think I'll knock up a lemon syrup and put that over the cake instead, I think it would be just as nice.

So that was yesterday in a nutshell, back to work and then to the gym in the evening.  Although the gym session was good and I burned off 500 calories, it would have been better if the firemen that I bumped into on the staircase on the way out, had been there on the way in, before I was all sweaty, and red, and smelly !!

29 January 2011

Last day of the holidays..

... and where did that week go ? I wish the week at work would fly past just as quickly !

So where were we, oh yes, Tuesday's post and the date on Wednesday. Well I met the guy as arranged at 12:00 outside WHSmiths in Rickmansworth, good place for a meet eh ! Having previously decided that I wanted to try eating something at the Cinnamon Square bakery, that was where we headed.
I had a coffee and a small cinnamon square bun (having bought a large one last Saturday and taken nearly all day to eat it - they're massive) D had a hot chocolate and a Danish something with almonds on top. We grabbed a table upstairs and spent a good couple of hours chatting which was good - turns out that we have a couple of mutal friends which isn't that surprising really. D went to a 33rd birthday party in London at the weekend which I had been invited too but just didn't fancy it on the night - small world.
I'll probably see him again but who can tell.

As for the rest of the week its been a bit of a blur really. I had a day in the garden clearing up leaves and dead plants, then taking them to the dump. I semi sorted out the front bedroom and got rid a lot of the clutter in there, there is still a bit more to go but its not as frightening now.
I did a bit of shopping grabbing some bargain quilts in TJ Hughes which pleased me quite a lot and thats sort of been it really.

I did manage to squeeze in a couple of sessions at the gym, but didn't go today as it was an 'open day' so it would have been full of people trying things out for free - I'll go back tomorrow afternoon for my regular session.

Then thats my week over, I'm going to do a spot of baking tomorrow night just to take some bits into work as a 'welcome home' for Chris (he's been on holiday for three weeks to Australia and Fidji) I'm thinking Lemon Maderia cake and salty chocolate peanut torte (one of Nigellas creations)

so I'm going to finish with a couple of pictures of my new garden lights, courtesy of QVC, they're solar and seem to be working pretty well despite the weather having been really naff the last day or two.

There are three of them and they colour change - its so me !!




25 January 2011

Tuesday

I had quite a nice day today. I got up reasonably early and drove to my cousins in Pinner for 9:30 ish, from there we headed up to Ikea in Brent Park, which is about a 30 minute drive from her house - depending on the traffic.

We did a circuit of the upper level and stopped off in the cafe for a coffee and a danish pastry which was really tasty. Once refreshed we went downstairs and mooched about in the market place picking up odds and ends as we walked and chatted. Once we'd paid for our stuff which came to a very reasonable £35, we went to the hot dog bar and re-filled our bellies with hot dogs and fizzy pop, which was just what we needed.


Ikea is a strange place - no matter how much you say you are going there 'just to look', you always end up walking out with something. In my case a bunch of ten artificial gerbera flowers, three storage boxes, a jar of jam, some freezer bag clips and the obligatory scented tea lights !


After I dropped Allison home and had a coffee, I detoured into PC world and finally bought the wireless keyboard thing that I'd been harping on about in my previous post - unfortunately they wouldn't give me any more money off for the damaged box, but they opened it in store to show me the contents were fine - hurrah !

So now I have the internet up here in my spare bedroom and also down in the lounge (although the downstairs one is really only for browsing and you-tube as it's only a baby and has a really small hard drive)

Logitech diNovo mini

Oh and I gymmed tonight as well - bully for me !

Early night tonight, I've got a 'date' tomorrow lunchtime and I need my beauty sleep. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow - goodnight all

24 January 2011

Lazy Monday - I wish !

Today is the first day of my weeks leave and I was hoping for a nice relaxing one. I'd already arranged to go and see my friend Joyce for lunch, and as a surprise I wanted to bake her a Victoria Sponge - nothing too difficult there !

Unfortunately, I managed to oversleep this morning and finally work up at 11am, which gave me an hour to bake, clean up , shower and get to Brickett Wood. After a mad rush in the kitchen I managed to knock up a very reasonable Victoria sandwich with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream, dusted with icing sugar. (I didn't have time to grab a photo, but you all should know what a sponge cake looks like !)

Had a nice afternoon with Joyce and the cake managed to go down very nicely with a couple of cups of tea.

Unfortunately I didn't stay over there as long as usual, as I had to get back home and do some more baking for this evening. One of my 'friends' on facebook (who must have been a random add as we don't have any mutual mates) was chatting last night and asked how much I'd charge for a batch of double choc chip cookies - I really didn't have a clue as I've never reallly made cakes or baked for a profit. After some deliberating we settled on a price, and so there is now a batch of cookies in the kitchen waiting for be dropped off tonight. If he likes them he'll order more - if he doesn't he won't, can't say fairer than that can you ?

gym later on as well, I need to work off last nights bread !!

23 January 2011

Bread - is it easier to buy it ??

I'm on a roll today (pardon the pun) ! Gymmed, fitted the cat flat and looking forward to a weeks holiday.

I've been meaning to try baking some bread for a while now. I think I have the knack of making cakes, so trying bread seems a natural progression.

I've just finished all the messy stuff, mixed up the dough and kneaded it for the required ten minutes - now the dough is relaxing in an oiled bowl in the airing cupboard (where hopefully it will rise like some huge balloon, ready to go in the oven)  If everything goes to plan, I should have a batch of about 16 soft dinner rolls at the end of this blog entry - watch this space !

Well two hours after I started I have a batch of rolls ! ok,  they could have done with slightly less time in the oven as they are quite crusty on the outside, but the inner texture wasn't too bad at all - I've eaten worse !




Cat flapping

I decided that it was time that I fitted a cat flap.
When I just had Jade I used to leave my bedroom window open at night and she could jump in and out as she liked. Good during the summer but not so hot in the winter when she'd be soaking wet and still insist in walking across my face to get to her side of the bed - typical woman. Since Sooty has moved in as well, I started to close the window as it was just too much with both of them coming and going all night - added to that the glass roof that they jump down onto is really quite unsafe now and I didn't want them cutting their paws or anything like that.
So yesterday I went to Pets at Home and found a rather neat cat flap that wasn't hugely expensive (you'd not believe the price of some of them, shocking !!), and I fitted it this morning.

Sooty seems to have taken to it like a duck to water, hopping in and out quite happily. Jade on the other hand isn't too sure at the minute. I was trying to coax her to use it and she sniffed at it, but still sat there miaowing for the door to be opened. Its amazing how the sight of the flea spray bottle can focus the mind - I've just got to see if she can make it back in now !

In other news I went to PC World yesterday to see if they had this wireless keyboard thing that I've been looking for - bearing in mind on their website its advertised for £82.00, it was on the shelf at £134.99, but the box looked as if it had been dropped, trampled underfoot and had everything done to it to make it unsaleable. When I asked the assistant about the shop price, he said that I could 'buy' it online and collect it from the store, saving myself around £55 which is good, IF they had a different one in stock. I got home and tried to buy it online but the site told me that Watford Arches doesnt have any in stock, "but they do" I argued to a very uninterested pc screen. I'm debating whether to go in and buy the one on the shlef, but haggle for a bigger discount as it might be suffering from its boxy beating - decisions decisions !

21 January 2011

The holiday starts here

Ok, I know its only been three weeks since Christmas but I thought it was time that I booked some leave from work - it never pays to run yourself into the ground, does it ! So I've got all of next week off (which is good) and I've also booked off the week following my birthday in February (which is better). That leaves me with just one more week to use up before the end of March, when the whole thing starts over again (which is better still).

I've not really got any definite plans for the week because at this time of year you can never be certain what tricks the weather will play on you. If its nice I'd like to get a bit of work done in the back garden, if its wet and horrible, I'm going to get my back bedroom decorated. Add into that a trip to Ikea with my cousin, a 'date' on Wednesday, various visits to the gym and it won't leave me very much time at all !

In other news, I went to the gym last night but felt thoroughly shattered before I'd even got there - consequently I only managed to shed 400 calories in my 50 minute stint, which was not very good at all - slapped legs for me !

Brian's Danish pastry as mentioned in my previous post was very nice, although in my view it could have done with being about twice the size - you never skimp when it comes to cake :)

I'm hoping to do a bit of baking myself next week - I really want to have a stab at baking some bread which I've never tried, plus I've got some friends birthdays coming up, and thought it would be nice to give them something home made. I just need to hone my icing skills because at the minute it generally end up as 'slapping on the icing with a palette knife' and then disguising the cake with sprinkles or jelly beans and a touch of glitter.

I'm sure there will be pictures of my efforts on here if I do bake, and whoever gets the cakes are bound to eat them. In the words of good 'ol Nancy Lam as she said in her restaurant "If you don't like it - don't come back"

20 January 2011

Back on track

I've not felt right over the last few days, not ill or unwell, nothing like that, I've just not been feeling myself (go on, laugh now, get it out of your system).

Tuesday evening I couldn't even motivate myself to go to the gym, I just stayed indoors, had a nice supper and then cooked myself a huge pot of soup, something that I'd never made before.
I have to say it was very easy to do and I was really pleased with the way it tasted - it was called Moroccan Tomato, which I guess was because the recipe uses Cumin and chick peas (although I don't like Cumin, I think it tastes like mud so I used coriander instead)

So yesterday (Weds) I felt a bit more positive when I woke up. I had a decent day at work, got home and had a big bowl of soup and a slice of sourdough toast. Then I went to the gym for an hour and met up with Brian which was good. He bought me some samples of his latest baking session - peanut cookies and a Danish pastry. The cookies were really good - I woofed those down with a cup of tea when I got home.

Ok, purists might argue 'whats the point in gymming if you eat biscuits afterwards' - however I saw something much worse on Monday night. When I arrived there was a guy who was on the far end treadmill by the window - he wasn't pressing himself too hard (in my opinion) and after about ten minutes of a leisurely workout, he went to his bag and pulled out a Crunchie bar which he then walked about the room eating. Even the girl on the machine next to me stopped and mouthed 'whats the point' as he walked past !

I'll rate Brians Danish pastry once I've chomped it this afternoon - it looked to tasty good for elevenses !

18 January 2011

What is it with cats ?


Avid readers will know that I have two cats - Jade, the one I adpoted from the RSPCA and Sooty, a stray who just sort of moved in and made himself at home.

Sooty is a lovely cat, and I guess that somebody somewhere is really missing him. He runs to greet me at the front door at night, standing on his back legs and reaching up as high as he can. He jumps on my lap as soon as I sit down and makes himself cosy, and he's got a wonderful habit of breathing up my nose, whenever he's eaten anything smelly.
I kid you not, he seems to revel in it, its got to be a cat equivilant of 'dutch ovens'. His favourite time is when I'm on the pc - he'll sit on the desk between me and the keyboard, stick his face in mine and you can see him breathing out.

Still, things could be worse, at least its the right end !

17 January 2011

Gymboree !


Well tonight was the third day on the trot that I've been to the gym, and I have to say I'm feeling pretty good for it. Saturday and Sunday afternoon I managed to burn off 900 calories in each session. This evening I only managed 800, but I was a bit limited for time.


You see I'm not mean, but I object for paying to park the car at night, in a deserted car park. On a weekend I generally park in Sainsburys where you get two hours free parking - that gives me time to walk to the gym, have a good hour and a half in there and then have a quick wander round the supermarket to pick up my essentials. During the week its easier to park in the multi storey right next to the gym, but you have to pay if you are there longer than an hour, so my week night sessions usually last 45-50 minutes - hence the reason for a lower calorie burn


OK that was a bit wordy but it made sense in my head as I was typing it !


In other news, the cakes that I took to work went down very well. The carrot cake muffins were undoubtedly the best ones that I have ever made, light and fluffy with a really great texture. The victoria sandwich was equally tasty, but some of the cream leeched into the sponge overnight, so it wasn't as light and fluffy as it had been the day before - never mind, it still tasted fine (yes, I did have to try a bit of each!)


oh yes, and my gym partner arrived tonight in what I thought was a 'self portrait' t-shirt - sorry Mr H :O)

Where did the weekend go ?

If I didn't know better, I'd swear the sleep pixies had crept in and stolen one of the days over the weekend - it feels like it was no sooner Friday evening than I was slapping my alarm clock to silence Steve Allen and get up for work - ho well !


I did manage to get a fair bit done, which was quite pleasing. Some of it was housework which included changing all the beds, washing down the woodwork and windows, and shampooing the bedroom carpets. Having two cats in the house makes a fair amount of mess as it is, and seeing as one of them had trodden mud all over the quilts it needed to be done.


I took a drive up to Brent Cross on Saturday as I'd seen a couple of baking items in the sales that I wanted to purchase. Just my luck when I went into Fenwicks, that all the items that I'd gone to buy had been snapped up. I had a bit of a wander around and then dropped in at Lakeland on the way home to see what they had to offer me. Thankfully they had the things in there that I couldn't find in Fenwicks, and they were just as cheap so it wasn't a wasted journey. (Just in case anybody is remotely interested in what I bought it was some pastry / icing cutters, a cake leveller and a 'daisy' baking tin which was an impulse buy)


I also managed to do two sessions at the gym which was really pleasing - I burned off 900 calories on both days which is my best effort yet, and I felt remarkably sprightly at the end of it too - I must be getting fitter !


Yesterday I had a nice lazy afternoon. I cooked myself a rather tasty Sunday lunch, and then decided to rustle up some cakes for work as I had some odds and ends in the fridge which needed using up. I made a batch of 12 carrot cake muffins and a victoria sandwich.

The muffins were my best attempt ever, really light and fluffy with loads of air bubbles in them - I can't comment on the victoria sandwich as its still in the fridge waiting to be sliced and diced.


Looks like another 900 this evening isn't even going to scratch the surface today - oh well !

14 January 2011

Its Friday :O)

Not much has happened in the last couple of days so rather than waffle about nothing, its easier not to do a post - I hope you understand !

Yesterday, my friend Julie called in for a coffee after work. It was nice to see her as we'd not really had a catch up since before Christmas. By the time she'd left and I'd got something to eat it was far too late to go to the gym - shame ! To keep myself occupied, I faffed around trying to set up my notebook pc to run through the tv in the lounge - surprisingly for me it all went pretty well and it worked perfectly. I just need to get myself a wireless keyboard and mouse now and I'm in business. I have seen one that I like, but it is a tad expensive, plus I'd like to see it in the flesh before shelling out on it.

There will be no gym for me this evening either because it closes early and I don't have enough time to get home, sort out the cats and get up there - I guess it just means that I'll have to do a session on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend - no rest for the wicked eh !

12 January 2011

hmmmm...

I don't know what went wrong last night. I got home in good time, fully expecting to have dinner and then head to the gym around 8:00 as per usual.

Somehow I managed to doze off and woke up at twenty to nine which scuppered any plans I had to get hot and sweaty for the evening :O(

Added to that I've had a really bad nights sleep and for some reason the top of my head is really tender, it even hurts to run my hands thru my hair. I've not bumped it or anything like that, I do hope that I'm not going down with a bug !

10 January 2011

Shock in the litter tray

Ok, this isn't the most pleasant of posts but I've got to post it !

I bought the cats some treats at the weekend, as I'd been to the pet shop to get them a sack of food. I've recently been spraying stuff with catnip scent which they seem to love, so when I saw a bag of catnip treats I thought they would go down really well.

When I got home and opened them, Sooty turned his nose up and walked away - Jade on the other hand ate her pile, then ate all Sootys ones, and stood there miaowing for more.

The following morning I was 'clearing up' and had to empty the litter tray, oddly enough the catnip treats come out exactly the same colour as they go in - dark bottle green !!!

yeuch ! (and no photos coming either - I promise )

08 January 2011

Bargain hunting

I don't know about you but I think the sales have been really lame this year. Its either the same old tat that they've been pulling out for the last four or five years (Next) or they've reduced the stuff that nobody wants. Take Boxing Day for example, any self respecting bargain hunter would go out looking for reduced wrapping paper and christmas cards - I did, only to find that the shops had taken all the stock off the shelves - thats just plain mean ! Whats the point in having sales if you can't stock up on bargains for next year !


So anyway, this morning I went to BHS in Watford as I'd picked up two cushions last weekend that were a good match for my settee, and during the week I decided that I wanted a third one. Blow me if the mountain of cushions that they had last week had all but vanished and I just couldn't find the elusive third one anywhere. So as I left the shop I spotted the missing cushion in the window display, so I went in and asked the assistant if I could have it and luckily she got it for me - hurrah ! (A very respectable reduction from £22 down to £8.80)


I was intending to go to the gym this afternoon, but got sidetracked and ended up going to the Galleria in Hatfield where I found some mark down baking tins which I wanted, and I also bought a new water bowl for the cats, some drinking chocolate from Whittards and some Pecan Nuts from Julian Greaves. I feel a bit of baking coming along tomorrow !


This evening I went to my see my brother in Hayes, as he wanted me to clip his rabbits claws and in fairness, they are difficult to do on your own - especially when you have two rabbits as big as his ones are.


So thats been it really, not a really eventful day, but I got some bits done which was good.


Oh and last night I went to my cousins to give her the cake etc, and we had some while I was there - it was a bit firmer in texture than I would have liked, but they all seemed to like the taste which was the main thing.


07 January 2011

TGI Friday !

Its been a strange old week - I've never been very good at starting work on a Tuesday (or any other day come to that !) It just throws my body clock out of kilter and I feel like I've lost a day somewhere along the line. Thankfully I've got the weekend to get myself sorted out.

Last night was quite good, not only did I manage to make the cake for my cousin (as posted in my previous entry) but also went to the gym and had a pretty decent session there too - yay for me ! Tuesdays and Wednesdays sessions had been a real struggle, but last night everything seemed to fall into place and I had no trouble in staying there for an hour and a half.
It probably helped that my 'gym buddie' was there last night, it's always easier when you have somebody there to gee you along and have a chat to as you're pounding the treadmills !

I'm giving it a miss this evening as I'm going to my cousins after work, and by the time I get home and have something to eat it will be too late. It also closes earlier on a Friday so I think I'm entitled to skip a night once in a while :O)

Not sure what I'm getting up to this weekend, but I'm pretty sure there won't be a repeat of last weeks 'Dancing on Ice'. Whatever happens, if its good I'll post it on here with photo's to prove it !

have a good one !

06 January 2011

It's time for cake !



But fear not dear reader, I've not given up on my resolutions just yet ! Its my cousins birthday tomorrow and as a surprise I thought that I would take her a cake around after work.

Just before Christmas I bought the new Nigella Kitchen book which is a stunning book crammed full of tasty looking recipes, some of which she cooked in her recent TV series. I was flicking through it looking for inspiration and saw this Maple Pecan cake recipe which looked pretty easy to make apart from requiring me to purchase a new cake tin - well I wanted a Bundt tin anyway, so I thought it was the perfect time to buy it !

So this evening I came in from work and set about the cake - everything was as she described apart from her warning of the stickness of the cake mix. She did say to be prepared for a firm mix, but I wasn't prepared for something that you had to fight to pull out of the bowl !

So its cooking away in the oven and has about 5 minutes left before its done - if it's a success you'll see a picture of it here later on, if not, I'll just say I dropped it getting it out of the oven !


so here is it nicely turned out of the tin - I was a bit disappointed that the pattern didn't show through a bit clearer, but I'll know for next time. The brown parts round the edge are where the Maple and Pecan filling has oozed to the edge of the cake


and the picture below is the finished article - dusted with icing sugar and looking good enough to eat !












05 January 2011

Get behind me temptation !

Well I managed to get a good 45 minutes at the gym last night which was pleasing. It was quite a bit busier than usual but unfortunately there didn't seem to be very much to look at, which was a shame. I managed to burn off 500 calories which was reasonable considering the time I was there.

So this morning I get into work and its the guy in my offices birthday - he greets me with a big grin and says "Theres a box of Krispy Creme donuts there, help yourself" . Blow me if I hadn't sat down for 10 minutes and Jacquie calls up from downstairs - "It was my sons birthday yesterday and theres a shedload of cakes down here if you want to come down" - Doh and double doh !

I managed to resist going downstairs until 11am, consoling myself with an apple and a satsuma, but the lure was too damn strong and I succumbed to a thin (and I do mean thin) slice of strawberry Victoria Sandwich with a buttercream topping - it was fabulous !
Then after lunch I was passing the office again and just had to stick my head around the door to see if there was any left (which there was) so I had another slice - slapped legs for me.

.... and now its ten to five and I have the crumbs of half a Krispy Creme iced ring in front of me, which although I tried telling myself looked like a coil of doggy doos', it tasted great !

04 January 2011

New year, new start

Well thats the plan !

Crikey, over two years since my last entry and I bet you never missed me at all did you :)

So anyway, the 'new start' is my promise to myself to eat more healthily, exercise more and try to reach my goal of being 11 stone before I hit 49 in February - some chance of that !.
In all honesty I did pretty well over Christmas, managing to resist all kinds of sweets, chocolates and other bad things that were just everywhere - the downside to that was I did sort of let the gym slip a little and unfortunately you have to stay on top of these things.

Consequently, I'm now a bit further away from my target than I want to be - bad times !

So having gone back to work today, I figure that the best option is to throw myself back into the gym with all guns blazing and see what I can do. (and its got nothing at all to do with the fact that there's bound to be 'fresh meat' there tonight trying to shed the Xmas pounds ! )

In other news, New Years Eve was my usual 'hide myself away and wish it all over' affair - I plonked myself on the settee with a bottle of Baileys and watched about 6 episodes of 'Benidorm' on ITV2 - I think my brain was so dumbed down that I didn't have the strength to reach for the remote - even QVC would have been better viewing !


Headed up to London on New Years Day - I wanted to get some pictures of the skating rink at Somerset House, so I went up with a couple of mates. However once we got there one of them decided that he wanted to skate and I just had to join him on the ice (it'd have been rude not to otherwise) I'd forgottten that its been about 20 years since I pulled on a pair of skates, but thought that seeing as I'd been ok when I went skiing a couple of years ago, I'd be fine !
To say that my circuits of the rink were laborious would be a major understatement, but it was a laugh and I'd like to try it again before too long.
Afterwards we headed up to the bright lights of Soho, where unfortunately my skill at drinking too much and talking utter crud came to the fore - good times :)

catch you laters !