Lose Weight and Gain Health

Happy New Year to you all !!!!

We had a fantastic NYE, thanks to our hosts, David and Annette who conveniently live just 3 houses away.

James, Harvey and I joined them and their friends for a delicious supper.  The starter, all made by David, was definitely one of the best starters I have ever had, anywhere.  I am just sorry my photo does not do it justice.We had warm goat’s cheese with an olive breadcrumb crust, pastry cones filled with pureed leek, watercress and herb salad with caper, coriander and lime dressing and a rhubarb and cranberry chutney!  It was fantastic.
Our lovely hostess, Annette with James. The main course was duck with pomegranate and a jus made by reducing a bottle of Port and a bottle of red wine with butter and possibly other things added.  It was incredible.  I wanted to lick my plate!  Served with roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts and soya beans. This was my contribution – a chocolate tart with raspberries.  It was dark and rich but dairy free so Harvey could have some. Rosie and Ella are cutting up a white chocolate cheesecake and Neil brought a gateaux made with pannetone, mascarpone, pomegranates and pistachios.  Obviously I tried all of the desserts !

We had such a lovely evening.

We ate wonderful food, drank lovely wines and champagne, we had a sing song, played games and tottered back down the hill at about 3 am.  It was a wonderful NYE; thank you David and Annette and friends.

So New Years Day.  Hello 2014.

I am giving up sugar again.  For January I am also giving up dairy and wheat.  I eat far too much butter, cheese and bread.  So I am not going to have them.  I will try adding dairy and wheat back when I am used to eating without them but I want to give up sugar permanently.  For January I am also keeping off alcohol.

I am going to give my weight loss a kick start by following a 3 day juice fast.  This is not recommended when giving up sugar as no juices should be drunk as they are too high in fructose.  However, I need a boost and to break the bad habits I have been in recently.

I began the day with a mug of Yerba Mate.  No milk or sugar.

Juice 1 was made with 5 carrots, 2 apples and a lemon.

It was quite sweet but that made it easy to drink. I love this tea; it tastes uplifting and bright and smells incredible. I had a glass of coconut water. Second juice was made with 2 cucumbers, 2 apples, kale and parsley.This made a large quantity of juice.

My final juice of the day was made with half a watermelon, half a lemon and basil
The basil and watermelon were wonderful together.I think I will end my day with a mug of camomile tea and an early night.  I am pleased I stuck to my juice fast today, it was actually easier then I thought it would be.  1 day down, 2 to go.

Another year lived.  Another year with many happy events, wonderful memories, time well spent with my wonderful family and dear and cherished friends.  A year which included some fantastic travels, holidays and celebrations.  There were also times which were not so good.  There are things I am reflecting on and working out how to improve or avoid to make the next year better.

One of my biggest frustrations and disappointments is that I weigh about the same now as I did 12 months ago.  I can take solace from the fact I am not bigger and heavier but I so very badly want to be smaller and lighter.  It is up to me and me alone to sort that out and sort it I will.

My penultimate day of the year was spent having a very enjoyable long and leisurely lunch at my Dad’s with my sister Abi and her family.  We both took along the lunch.  I made roasted vegetables with pearled spelt.

This is quite a new discovery for me and I rather like it.  The grains are slightly larger than rice and have a good firm texture.  

I oven roasted some red onion, parsnips, carrots, beetroot and leeks. Abi made a fantastic ‘Salmon Coulibiac’  from the Hairy Bikers recipe pages.  You can look the recipe up here.  I highly recommend it.  Now I know it has rice with it, I would probably recommend serving the salmon with something lighter than roasted veggies and a starchy carb as the salmon had rice in it.  The salmon coulibiac was absolutely delicious and I would like to eat it again.  I think with a green and tomato salad and a glass of something chilled would be perfect. But how we had it was good too. I also made a trifle as that is one of my Dad’s favourites.  I made a mini one with soya custard for Harvey.  I know a traditional trifle doesn’t contain fruits but I have to stick them in somewhere so I added banana and raspberries. We had a lovely day.

We will be welcoming in the new year with our lovely near neighbours, David and Annette.  I am going to make a chocolate tart to take along and that will be the last sweet thing I eat for a very long time as I will be giving up sugar again.

I hope you have a good evening and that your new year will find you blessed with good health and will be filled with happiness, laughter, love and peace.

Thank you all for stopping by my blog.

We had a lovely day in South Kensington today.  I suspected, correctly, that lunch would be late so we had a substantial breakfast to keep us going.  I stir fried some onion, yellow pepper, mushrooms and spinach in coconut oil.

Tipped in 4 eggs (to serve 2 people) and cooked it through. I like my eggs and veggies with Cholula, a hot pepper sauce.  Harvey used to like his with ketchup but since we no longer have ketchup in the house, he just eats it as it is. We went to the Science Museum with James’ sister Anne and her family and booked to see the special exhibition about the Hadron Collider.  I will put my hand up at this point and state I am not very knowledgeable about science.  I happily gave up science after O’-Levels.  However, I know the Higgs boson is a big deal, I don’t really understand it and was keen to discover more.

I am reluctant to be negative in case it put someone off visiting who would get a lot from it but to be honest, I was very disappointed by this exhibition.  Myself and my children, who went in there with very little or no knowledge of the Hadron Collider and the Higgs boson, came out with only a little bit more.  James who is ‘sciencey’ didn’t come away knowing much more either.  So that was a shame. However, the Science Museum is great and we enjoyed pottering around it and I loved being in this incredible building.  It has been too long since I visited a London museum and I will go back soon.  Our museums are fantastic places.  They are free if you can’t afford to pay but they recommend a £5 donation which is excellent value for money.  The next one on my list is the Natural History museum for the Wildlife photographer of the year exhibition. Lunch time 🙂

We went to a fantastic Tapas restaurant near the museums – Casa Brindisa.  I have visited the Borough Market restaurant owned by the same company previously and this was on a par with that one.

I am not a sherry drinker.  I associate it with my beloved Nana and traditional trifles.  I would never choose it as an aperitif.  But, my sister-in-law chose one so I did too.  I really enjoyed it and it seemed appropriate since we were in a Spanish restaurant.
If you have not been before, tapas is very sociable.  The portions tend to be small but they are quite rich and are made to be picked at, passed around and shared which is a very sociable and friendly way of eating.  While we read the menu we nibbled olives, almonds and some delicious chicken liver pate. I did pass on the octopus leg! The cheeseboard was good.  The thin slices of sharp apple and sweet quince jelly with Manchego were delicious. Potato tortilla. Chicken breast stuffed with goats cheese. My favourite was the lightly warmed spinach with pine nuts and sultanas eaten with ….. this spectacular goats cheese with honey and beetroot crisps.  I have eaten this before and it is amazing.  The combination of salty chalky goats cheese, crisp beetroot and the earthiness of the spinach make a fabulous mouthful.  It was so good we ordered it twice. We all enjoyed the food and the fun way of sharing so many little dishes.  We had others too but I did not photograph it all.

Cute cousins. More cute cousins. Siblings. Thank you Casa Brindisa, that was great fun. We strolled around South Ken’ as we were looking for somewhere to go for a dessert and a coffee.  We stuck to savouries at the Tapas restaurant. This is such a beautiful part of London. We eventually found a space at Le Pain Quotidien which I am a fan of.  We sat at their large “Sharing Table” which is perfect for groups.  The younger members of our party had hot chocolate which is presented with the hot milk in a bowl and the chocolate served separately in a little jug. 4 thumbs up to this beverage. There was a lot to catch up on. The largest cookie the little fella has ever had. This delicious fruit crumble may have been mine but I may not want to confess that!

So an interesting and fab foodie day out with the family.  Lovely.

Another windy night and more trees down and more flooding.  None have effected me luckily but I remain mindful of all those around, some of whom are very close by geographically, who have really suffered.  Let’s all hope the flooding subsides quickly and power is restored soon to those who have been without since Christmas Eve!

I didn’t eat badly today, considering the season.  For someone trying to lose weight it was not a great day but at least I packed a lot of veggies in.

Turkey, day 3!  I decided to do a stir fry which at the last minute became a delicious curry.

I chopped up half the leftover turkey we have in the fridge, brown meat, white meat and stuffing remnants and set aside. I then chopped up a mountain of veggies and fried them in coconut oil; onion, carrots, red pepper, pak choi and mushrooms. I was looking through my spice cupboard and came across this.  It had a dried spice mix and a sachet of sauce. I added the dried spices to the veggies.  Then added the sachet of sauce, the chopped up turkey and some cooked bacon I found in the fridge and let is all simmer for 10 minutes.  I had also coked some brown basmati rice. This was delicious and we all enjoyed it.  A great way to use up some turkey.   We spent the evening in Covent Garden, London as we had theatre tickets.  We would not have gone if it were not for those due to the inclement weather and it all worked out very well.  We were unsure about the reliability of the trains so went early.  The trains were on time which gave us time for a pre theatre drink.  I was in the mood for some cocktails and we went to a bar where Harvey was allowed (it was only 6pm) and they had a great range of Virgin Cocktails.  He had the ‘Virgin Rose’ and loved it.Lara had a Pina Colada.  Cheers 🙂 I had the ‘Tennessee Lemonade’ and James had a beer ! This is the view towards Waterloo Bridge with the Lyceum on the right, from our seats at  Christopher’s Martini Bar.  We had one drink and headed round the corner to the theatre. The Wind In The Willows was very charming.  Performed by the Royal Opera House group but at The Duchess Theatre instead of the ROH.  It was an enchanting combination of dancing and singing with excellent narration by Tony Robinson. 

Harvey was relieved it was not very long!  The rest of us really enjoyed it.  Here’s hoping that is enough wind for quite some time.

So obviously I have not been eating healthily or losing weight over the past 3 days!  This was our first Christmas at home and the first Christmas just the 4 of us for years.  It has been quieter than we are used to but very lovely.

We have been lucky at home to have had power.  Half our village and the neighbouring village still have none and have been without since Christmas Eve.  I feel very lucky to have had the Christmas we have had and am so sorry for everyone in the South who has endured power cuts and flooding.

We escaped lightly.  One fallen Scots Pine which cleverly wedged itself against another tree so caused no damage.Plus 2 large branches from 2 others.  Again, no property damage.  So we were lucky and feel sad for others who were not as fortunate.
Christmas Eve

A festive smoothie starring Spirulina, almond milk, sesame seeds, banana, half a frozen avocado and half a frozen kiwi, plus desiccated coconut and Goji berries for decoration. Cheers. Christmas Day

Happy Christmas to you all. Boxing Day

A walk in the chilly but beautiful sunshine at Camber. We were not alone! Sand damage at a beach house, Camber. Sand all over the road, Camber. Extensive flooding, Northiam.

A simple supper.

Time to relax some more.

The shops in Cologne, even large supermarkets,are closed on Sundays!  That took me back a few years to when that was normal in England too.  The markets were open but to be honest we had seen enough markets and wanted to see something different.

We had breakfast in the hotel again.  I had fruit with Bircher Muesli and Bilberry yogurt topped with sunflower seeds.  This was about the only healthyish thing I had all day! Bizarrely, we sat at the same table beneath this picture for 3 breakfasts and dinner at the hotel.  I say bizzarely because the restaurant was full each day at breakfast but this table was always empty!

The Art’otel featured works by Seo, a Korean artist.  Her works are in the reception and every bedroom. The shops may have been shut but Cologne has many museums so we set off for one of them.  The walk took us back through the shopping centre. This window display was strange, coming from London to Cologne to see a display about Christmas in London.

On an ordinary street close to this splendid looking building,

was the El De House.

In the basement of this building, the Gestapo imprisoned and tortured thousands of people from across Europe and killed hundreds. The prison cells have been maintained as they were and the writing of the prisoners on the cell walls preserved.  The upper floors are a museum showing exhibits about the National Socialist Party.  The upper floors were quite challenging to understand as they were all in German but the prison had an excellent audio guide so it was easier to understand what we were looking at.  It was very grim and a chilling reminder of a time Germany would perhaps prefer to forget.

It was good to be outside again, in the fresh air.

Refreshments were needed.  A raspberry gateaux and a latte were enjoyed. We wandered back to our hotel via the town hall.  This is such a beautiful building.   We have not been able to get close enough to admire it properly because both times we have walked past it before, there has been a wedding in progress.  But not today.

This was our destination, the Schokoladen museum on the other side of the harbour wall to our hotel.  This is another example of a building that combines old and new, very effectively. Linné,  one of the first people to manufacture chocolate from cocoa beans, believed chocolate had many nutritious properties, and helped weight loss!  Sadly I do not think that is right or I would be very skinny. We walked through exhibits on the history of chocolate, manufacturing and trade and then came to a chocolate factory.  A Lindt factory no less, which was a surprise.  We were not expecting that! This was an excellent display as you could get very close to each step in the manufacturing process but it was all safely and hygienically concealed behind screens.  The process began with raw cocoa beans and ended with packaged chocolate. Conching made all the difference! These are the moulds for tiny little bars of chocolate. This machine tips the chocolate out of the moulds and on to a conveyer belt to a wrapping machine. This lady packages the little gold wrapped bars in to bags.

Having seen how chocolate is made, we wanted to taste it.  Le voila, the Lindt chocolate fountain. The Oompa Loompa’s kind ladies who dip wafers in to the chocolate and give them to you 🙂 That has to be the best chocolate fountain I have ever seen. This lady is making bars of chocolate.  You could select toppings such as nuts, sweets or marshmallows but the queue was too long so we just watched what they did. Packaging the chocolate took a lot of designing to perfect.

They got there in the end 🙂 Having watched chocolate being made, we all wanted to eat some.  I managed to stay clear of the shop and instead we went to the cafe for a hot chocolate.  It was delicious. It was served with a little tiny bar of Lindt. The hot chocolate was made with milk and melted chocolate – no wonder it was so good. This is the view from the top of the chocolate museum towards the Art’otel and the market.After the chocolate and to provide sustenance for the journey home, we chose something from the market beside the hotel.  I chose to have a Flammlach.

This is the hot smoked salmon which is just so delicious.  I would drive back to Cologne to have it again it was so lovely. The salmon are pegged on to boards, placed at an angle over an open fire.  The fish cooks and the fat runs down in to the troughs either side of the fire. I had it today in bread with lettuce and honey, mustard and dill sauce.  Salmon perfection.I can’t believe how quickly time flew by and that it was time to go.
We all really enjoyed the Art’otel and do not hesitate to recommend it.  We paid extra to have corner rooms.  Mine was fantastic and considerably bigger than the other.  I was in 346 and having checked at reception, I can confirm that 146, 246 and 446 are equally big.  Our other room was 302 and although pleasant enough, was much smaller.  So if you are planning a visit to Cologne, book n46 for a lovely room.

We had so much fun in Cologne on Saturday.   It a great city because the centre is large enough to have everything you need in a City but it is small enough to be able to walk everywhere.  I have definitely walked many miles in Germany which will help to compensate for all the Gluhwein we have drunk and food we have eaten!

We began with a hearty breakfast in our hotel and then set off for the nearest market. The Christmas market on the Alter Markt had an ice skating rink.  Lara used to skate regularly but Harvey had never been before.  They were both very keen to have a go!

Not quite as easy as Harvey thought it was going to be – we tried not to laugh but I confess we failed 🙂 Luckily his sister is a good skater and a patient teacher. They went round the circuit a few times together and as we were quite early, it was quiet to begin with.

I managed to obtain one of the yellow market porter style trolleys which had little blades on it and was hired out to help beginners.  It was brilliant and enabled Harvey to get his confidence and Lara to have a decent skate. This was such a pretty skating rink.

They also had penguins for really young children to push along.  The penguins moved very slowly which was perfect for young ones.

Eventually Harvey mastered ice skating 🙂 A very good time was had by all. After refreshments we wandered along to the next market.  Look at this pretty detail on the wall. The market near the town hall had a green and goblin theme, and had lots of traditional hand crafts. It was very crowded! The gluhwein here was served with crisp ginger biscuits. When we had seen all we wanted to see we strolled through the main shopping centre.  These enormous gingerbread houses are all edible. We saw many superb examples of buildings such as this.  Much of Cologne was badly bombed during the war.  Some of the most beautiful buildings were preserved in part and became part of the new building.  Very clever. Shopping time – again 🙂 I love habitat and was so sad when it closed down all its shops in the UK.  I was delighted to see a habitat in Cologne and we have a car so I could buy things as I could actually transport them home – wheeeee 🙂 Just across the street and past another magnificent church was another market. This one is the Market of the Angels. It was quite different to the others as it was set in a huge square and all the stalls were in white chalets with white stars.  The produce on sale here seemed to be very upmarket.  After an enjoyable potter about we returned back to the hotel for a short break.  It was very cold on Saturday but we wanted some supper so we popped in to the market beside the hotel.  This stall sells a variety of sugar coated nuts which I know is really naughty but they were so delicious.  A cone of warm sweet nuts was just the thing when it was so cold.
Hello sailor! Most of us had “Backfish” in a roll with tartare sauce.  It tasted like cod, the batter was crisp and warm and the tartare sauce perfect.  Each one cost about 5 Euros so much cheaper than a restaurant meal. We headed back to our hotel and snuggled up to watch Baz Lurhman’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ which was one of about 40 films on offer.  This is the funky Reception desk at the hotel.

So that is the winter Solstice behind us – here comes summer!

Blue skies and sunshine in Cologne on Friday morning :-).  We started our day with an excellent breakfast in the hotel before setting off to visit the Christmas Market beside the Dom.

We strolled along the side of the Rhine towards the City Centre.Like many cities in Europe there is a fascinating mixture of old and new architecture all mixed up together.
Enormous churches dominate the skyline.  These little colourful buildings are adorable. A few minutes later is this very modern museum. Which is next to Koln cathedral.  Also known as ‘The Dom’. This building really is too magnificent for words. Everything about it is just stunning.Look at the detail on the stone sculptures which adorn the entrances.

We were lucky the sunshine showed it off in its best possible light. A strange thing about Cologne is that it never seems to be too early for a Gluhwein! The Christmas market at Cologne Cathedral is the largest of Cologne’s 7 Christmas markets. The stalls sell a wide variety of food, drink and items to buy.It is so very enjoyable to wander around, looking at the things for sale, eating, drinking and generally soaking up the atmosphere.  This is how Christmas shopping should be.  It is much more fun than coping with the crowds in a large shopping centre or high street and infinitely more pleasurable than shopping on-line.  I was just disappointed I had finished most of my shopping before I came away as I kept seeing things I thought my family would like.

Not having an itinerary to have to stick to meant that when we saw somewhere we liked the look of, such as this charming chalet, we could go ahead and indulge ourselves. What shall I have to drink? This cute bar and restaurant was done up in the style of a South Tyrollean chalet.  It was very cosy in there.  James and Lara enjoyed a mulled wine made with white wine and I had a raspberry Schnapps.What next?  I had resisted lots of food all morning and eaten nothing since breakfast.  This amazing chocolate stall got the better of me though and I chose 4 sweet yummys; 2 chocolates and 2 marzipan.

We wanted to actually go inside the cathedral or “Dom” as it is called locally.  So we did.  WOW!!!!!  The scale of this incredible building is extraordinary.  It took over 600 years to build and I think they did a remarkable job. I lit a candle for my Mum.

Harvey lit one for Storm (a deceased cat).

The cathedral is generally quite spartan inside but there are areas which are decorated, such as this floor which has a beautiful mosaic pattern. The craftsmanship on this piece was superb.

Much of the stained glass was very impressive too. We all enjoyed looking around and admiring the cathedral but all preferred to enjoy it from the outside as it was such a lovely day.  It was about 10 °C so very pleasant.Before leaving the market beside the Dom we had something to eat.  I hesitate to call it lunch as it was very late by the time we chose a fondue, served by some very charming Swiss men.

This was our view of the market while we ate – we had the Dom behind us.  It was very bust by the afternoon. A very good fondue, served with a mixture of bread.  For those of you who have not enjoyed such a delicacy, a fondue is melted cheese with white wine and Kirsch added to it.  We loved this Christmas market.  We would have travelled to Cologne to just visit this one and would have thought it was worth the trip.  How wonderful to think Cologne has 7 markets to visit!  2 down, 5 to go.

It was quite hard to leave.

The walk back to the hotel along the Rhine was well timed to coincide with a pretty sunset.

After all that gluhwein fresh air a little siesta was required ;-).  We then set off back to the market next to the hotel for supper.  I had a portion of the hot smoked salmon with a honey, mustard and dill sauce, served on a bed of iceberg lettuce.  The salmon was sublime – perhaps the best I have ever had.  It was full of flavour, succulent and perfectly cooked.

It wasn’t quite enough though as apart from a fondue and some chocolates, I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.  The pirate ship provided a gluhwein to help keep us warm while we pondered what to eat next.

A ha!  I know.  A Flammekuchen with a glass of white wine from Alsace.  This was fantastic.  Flammekuchen is similar to a pizza but the crust is impossibly thin.  One crunch and it is gone.  It is spread with a thin layer of sour cream or whipped cream cheese, tiny pieces of onion and ham.  The wine went with it perfectly.  A delicious and enjoyable end to a wonderful day.

I do love a holiday and I even enjoy the travel.  I enjoy the anticipation of what we will find, see and discover.  For this journey, we were going by car.  We set off early and stopped at a Starbucks (it was that or Burger King!) where I had a Bircher muesli with passionfruit and coconut and a latte.  The muesli was surprisingly very good.

We followed the signs from the Eurotunnel terminal to our first destination 🙂
Are any of you watching this drama?  We are and loving it.  It is a bit too gruesome but what we love is never being able to guess what happens next.
So it seemed slightly un-nerving to be going in to the tunnel. We made it through with no severed bodies or ‘Truth Terrorists’.  We then drove through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany to our destination.  That makes it sound like a long drive but it was only 4 hours from driving off Le Shuttle to getting to Cologne, Germany.  Well, in theory it would have been 4 hours if there hadn’t been that detour in to the middle of Brussels !!!  And if we hadn’t had a much needed loo, chocolate and coffee stop on a motorway somewhere.Finally we arrived at art’otel in Cologne.  What a lovely hotel this is.  We found a great deal on-line for their ‘Christmas Package’ which included breakfast and a dinner one night in their restaurant plus Gluhwein and train tickets.

We had booked a corner room and it was huge.Plenty of space for sleeping, working (unlucky Lara!) and just chilling.
Immaculately clean and well designed bathroom too. So we settled down to enjoy our complimentary Gluhweins – no, Harvey was not drinking Gluhwein. We then set off in to the market next to the hotel.  The Weihnachtsmarkt is just outside the hotel door.

The market also goes along the opposite side of the river.  Our hotel is the large white building on the right hand side of the picture.

It was a very mild afternoon and evening – just perfect for browsing through the market.
Hot smoked salmon? Candles, honey or spices? Make sure you get your 7 a day in children! Rusty tools? No, these are all made from chocolate. They are incredibly realistic. Fork handles?  Oh, no, my mistake, they are door knobs. This stall got the boys salivating………. Sausages! Despite being very hungry we managed to refrain from eating anything at all because we had booked dinner in the hotel restaurant.  We decided to use that offer on our first night as we were all tired. The hotel restaurant is Chino Latino and it’s food is described as drawing from China, SE Asia and Japan.  I assumed from the name it was Chinese and Latin American!

We started with mixed vegetables. This was Tuna tartar on a cripsy something.  It was delicious but I am not sure what it was. These crispy wantons were filled with some kind of raw fish (Hamachi) and spring onions with avocado and radish.  Really delicious.  I had 2 of these as James and I shared starters.This was the other starter – butterflied prawns with wasabi and coriander.
We also shared mains.  This was beef which was served on hot rocks. It arrived flaming and was served with soy sauce, wasabi dressing and white rice.  The other main was black cod served with miso.

We declined dessert as it was not included in the price and this restaurant was expensive. Our mineral water was 8 Euros a bottle!

We are also resisting the crisps, chocolates and alcoholic beverages in the room as they are expensive too. Over the road from the hotel is a garage which sells inexpensive wine, beer and chocolates.  We enjoyed a very reasonable Reisling for 6 Euros while we all snuggled up in bed and watched one of the many films the hotel provides.  Well, watched anything the way families do these days – watching while also on iPads and iPhones!

It is good to be here and we are all looking forward to getting to know a bit about Cologne.

I was intending to have a busy chores day today but instead it ended up far more enjoyable 🙂

I had healthy goals in mind too which began with a walk through the woods.  And through some water for the hairy ones! The woods are beautiful at all times but I particularly like them in the mornings when the sun is beginning to shine through the trees. I like the reflections in the puddles too. All was quiet and peaceful and beautiful. Back at home we had crispy bacon, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms.A while later I was very pleasantly surprised to have a visitor – Michelle.  I had done the unimaginable and forgotten she was coming which was dreadful of me so we went out for lunch.  I decided to give my newly revamped local another try – The Milk House.  Their winter menu was far more my type of fodder than their classic menu I had selected from previously so I was a happy customer.  We had a small but perfectly formed bread roll while we perused the menu.
I chose smoked haddock on bubble and squeak with a poached egg.  I also shared a green salad with Harvey who did me proud by ordering it to go with his burger! I did not manage to be sugar free today.  Michelle was disappointed at my total lack of biscuits and cakes but I remembered our neighbour had brought round Quality Streets so I helped out with those.  That gets the sugar devil going and I then want more.  So I had this cute dessert of 3 mini mince pies with an almond pastry served with brandy cream and rum and raisin ice cream.  Very naughty but very enjoyable.

Thank you for visiting Michelle 🙂 I had a rather bizarre supper.  Half my family were out tonight at short notice so the dinner I had planned was uneaten.  Plus I am going away tomorrow and wanted to eat up some of the perishables such as these spinach and pine nut bites.  They were ok, not great but edible.  I much prefer the spinach falafels and Waitrose organic humous which is amazing. I was craving a pile of veggies so I had roasted red and yellow pepper, sautéed spinach and tenderstem broccoli, raw cucumber and tomatoes with the spinach and pine nut bites and spinach falafels and humous.

The veggies and falafel were lovely but they did not necessarily all taste complementary to each other.  However, they were nutritious and I enjoyed my meal.  I enjoyed everything I ate today.  I may not do so well tomorrow with yumminess as I am travelling all day!