Weight Watchers: the Fourth Week

Incredible as it may seem, given my recent Epicurean adventures, I lost 1lb this week!  10st 5lbs, BMI 24.8, body fat percentage 35.75%, which is still really high, but down from 36%.  I am very pleased with myself!  I rewarded myself by troughing half-a-pound of luscious, dark crimson cherries from the Indoor Market...delicious!

So how did I do it?  Well, this might not work every time, but I did do one or two things which I think helped me to stay on the Weight Watchers straight and narrow this week.  The first one was 0% fat Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit for breakfast.  Delicious, satisfying and filling.  I've had it for breakfast every day for the past six days (I think I'm a bit obsessed).  The second one was sneaking in some exercise.  I took my trainers and gym kit away with me and did half-an-hour walking/jogging one morning.  The third one was eating veggie when out.  Given that you never know where the meat you're eating has been, that's maybe not a bad thing on more than one level.  The final thing was the penitential curry.  I cooked a massive vegetable, chick-pea and chicken curry (otherwise known as a hunt-the-chicken curry; I used one chicken breast and stretched it over four meals) on Monday evening and ate it on Tuesday, Wednesday and tonight as well.  I've eaten very lightly at lunchtime too, and filled up with loads of fresh veggies.  Surprisingly I haven't been too hungry.

I'm off for another long weekend tomorrow, this time in Dorset, and I shall be enjoying lots of hearty full English breakfasts and pub meals, so my goal is to stay the same weight for next week - to be honest I wouldn't be massively bothered if I put on a pound, but we'll see. 

Liz's Home and Garden Blog Goes to London

On Friday I left a very rainy Durham...

...and arrived in a very sunny London to spend the weekend with an old and dear friend.

Regular readers will not be surprised to know that one of my dream jobs is restaurant critic (another is lottery winner).  So here's my weekend in food!  Friday lunchtime - sadly unpictured - was courtesy of Polpo in Soho, where I met a former colleague and friend, my lovely Stu.  We I enjoyed authentic Italian tapas at the bar, accompanied by a glass or two of Prosecco.  We had a Summer pea & speck (ham) crostino each, and shared one portion of Veal & porcini meatballs in tomato sauce and one portion of a fantastic Zucchini, rocket & Parmesan salad.  It was all fresh, tasty and beautifully simple.  A very satisfying lunch and I would highly recommend Polpo's to anyone visiting the capital.

Friday evening ended with cofee and dessert in  Le Pain Quotidien in Borough.

 Le Pain, as I believe it's known to afficionados, is a lovely boulangerie/patisserie with branches in central London and worldwide.  I got at least two of my five-a-day from this delicious tart - a gorgeous combination of sweet, short pastry, fresh, vanilla scented cream and juicy fruit.      

On Saturday we visited Maltby Street Market which, we were informed, is where the real foodies go (Borough Market is over, darling!).  The food certainly looked gorgeous, especially the French bakery.

In deference to Weight Watchers, I didn't eat one of these fruit and custard brioches, I just lingered lasciviously by them while queueing for drinks and took photos.  I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee with hot milk, while Jane had a fresh mint and honey tea.

Saturday lunchtime provided me with an introduction to Anatolian Turkish food, courtesy of Tas on Borough High Street. 

It was amazing, although superlatives fail to adequately describe the deliciousness I consumed.

This hearty platter (a bargain at six selections for £6.25) contained falafel, houmous, carrot and broccoli salad, lentil salad, chickpea salad and, best of all, imam bayildi.  Literally translated the name means "the priest fainted" - presumably at the deliciousness of the dish - and I really don't blame him.  Unctuous, silky aubergines slowly baked with onions, tomatoes, cinnamon, paprika and lemon juice, it melted in the mouth and had me in transports of delight.  I will be attempting to recreate it at home next week.  Either that or have it shipped to Durham from Tas from now on - now I have experienced it life without it is not to be countenanced!

The indulgence continued with a trip to Borough Market (even though it's over) and a coffee in Monmouth, which is apparently reknowned for the heavenly nectar.  I couldn't not.

I also hnd an amazing peanut butter and white chocolate blondie(if you're going to have a blondie, you might as well have a SERIOUS blondie) from an artisan baker whose name I didn't take note of.  Jane had a raspberry and chocolate brownie, and we enjoyed them halved and served with fresh raspberries on the balcony of Jane's gorgeous flat for Saturday afternoon tea and Sunday morning coffee. 

Dinner on Saturday evening was a light affair, and we continued the Mediterranean theme at The Real Greek on Bankside.  I started with crudites and an aubergine-based dip called Melitzanosalata, which I didn't like over-much (but was still glad I'd tried it - I love trying new foods), halloumi and courgette skewers, which I did like - I hadn't had halloumi before and liked it a lot - and finally Greek yoghurt with wet walnuts and Greek honey.  The walnuts were a revelation!  I can't say I ever devoted much thought to the matter, but if I had I think I would have concluded that the dried walnuts you buy from the supermarket are how walnuts are when they come off the tree - not so!  Fresh walnuts are moist, sweeter than their dried counterparts and their flesh is so tender they are almost like fruit.  I have to find somewhere in the North-East that sells them!

Sunday lunch was once more on the Mediterranean, at Casa Brindisa in South Kensington.  The service was splendidly continental, with long waits punctuated by waiters rushing past and tossing a little tapas plate at you every now and again, but as Jane said, at least you knew that it had been freshly cooked!  We both had spinach leaves tossed in olive oil and served with sultanas and pine nuts, which worked perfectly, and I had a mysterious little concoction whose name I've forgotten which was basically a little breaded ball of cheese sauce with aubergine and onion in it.  It was extremely tasty.  Finally I had a chorizo tortilla which was just melt-in-the-mouth...perfectly cooked and bursting with flavour.

Our final meal together was at Rapscallion at Clapham Common on Sunday evening.  I had some delicious bread with hazelnuts and sultanas in it, served with bread and houmous, tasty little courgette fritters with rocket and cucumber raita and a little (!) glass of Chardonnay.  Perfect!

My final treat came at the lovely new King's Cross on Monday morning, courtesy of Pret a Manger, just about my favourite chain breakfast place.

Look at all that delicious fruit...and look what was nestling inside the bag...

...an almond croissant!  A total, out and out indulgence, and the perfect end to a gourmet weekend!

Weight Watchers: the Third Week

Humph.  No weight loss this week.  Not a sausage.  And no apparent reason either - I've stuck within my daily points, not used many of my weekly extra points (and only had one cupcake and a bit of Cava at Dorothy's 90th!), and cycled to work every day. 

Never mind.  I am not too discouraged, for the following reasons: 1) my work trousers feel noticeably looser 2) my high fruit-and-veg, low-processed-food diet is making me feel BRILLIANT and 3) I lost 3lbs last week.

No cupcake treats today, but I'm going to London for the weekend tomorrow, and I intend to treat myself to one or two of these...

...one or two of these...

...and maybe even one or two of these!

My goal is not to have put any weight on next week - we shall see how I do!

A Garden Visitor

We have three hedgehogs in our garden.  We put cat-crunchies out for them every night, and every night at about 10pm they turn up to eat them, regular as clockwork.  Recently, however, we've had another visitor.

This little chap made an appearance between 3 and 5pm on two days last week, ate a huge amount of cat-crunchies...

...and hasn't been seen since.  We think he was a youngster who got so hungry he forgot that hedgehogs are nocturnal!

Clematis Montana Gets a Short Back and Sides

Poor clematis montana.  He has just been drastically pruned.

I hate pruning my clematis montana - cutting off all that lovely vigorous growth is horrible.  My dream garden will have a wooden pergola in it, over which a clematis montana will rampage unchecked, but back in Littletown we occasionally need to open the front door. 

I'm tired today after partying wildly until 5pm yesterday, celebrating Dorothy's 90th birthday.  Mum and Dad really did Dorothy proud and we had a lovely time, but we drove down and back in a day (thanks Alastair!) and it had been a hard week before that.  So, I've just done one or two garden jobs that couldn't be put off any longer, some housework (ugh) and a lot of pottering.  As well as dealing with clematis montana I just planted some salvia and nicotiana that I'd grown from seed in the flower border - unpictured because my flower border is manky and weed-filled and I can't be bothered to deal with it today.

I also admired my colour-magic geraniums which I'd grown from seed, although I do have to say I feel slightly disappointed they are a) miniature and b) not colour-magic so are not doing what it said on the tin!  I shall be observing them closely for colour-changes!

Finally I spent some time playing with photographing a vase of sweet peas.

I love the white ones with the purple striations and edges - so subtle, so beautiful.

Weight Watchers: the Second Week

It's felt quite easy this week.  So easy that I thought I hadn't lost any weight.  So, I was pretty chuffed when I found that I'd lost 3lbs!

We went for a walk on Saturday, and I am pleased to say that I got the amount of food exactly right.  It's quite a strange experience when you're used to over-eating a bit to eat something when you're hungry, and then after a certain period of time you feel hungry again, and that's how long that food "lasts".  I liked it - it made me feel like a battery!  For the record, we did about six miles of strolling, and about six miles of SERIOUS hill-walking. 

We walked up Winder Fell almost to The Calf, but turned off and ended up at the top of Cautley Spout.

We scabbled our way down (or I did, Alastair is a bit more sure-footed than I am!) and then it was just a quick stoll past The Cross Keys to where the car was parked.

Throughout the day I ate: a BIG breakfast.  Muesli, crumpets with low fat spread and jam, melon and blueberries (I have been having a slight obsession with melon over the past couple of weeks, I've eaten tons of the stuff).  Pre-lunch snack was half a bag of almonds (about 25g).  Lunch was an egg and tomato sandwich, an Alpen bar (top walking snack!) and an apple.  Post-lunch/pre-dinner snacks (fuelling the hard part of the walk!) were another Alpen bar, another hard-boiled egg, the remainder of the almonds (another 25g) and a banana.  Dinner was home-made bolognaise sauce with two slices of bread instead of pasta - I was too hungry to wait for the pasta to cook! - with raw spinach leaves eaten as a salad and a Weight Watchers chocolate biscuit bar (processed, strange and wrong I know, but sometimes you just need a little sweet snack!). 

Since starting Weight Watchers I have been making an effort to try new recipes.  This week I made Mediterranean Baked Cod which was cod loin topped with tomato puree, olives and lemon zest, wrapped in bacon, sprinkled with parsley and served on a bed of tomatoes and onions.  It was a very nice recipe, and looked lovely both before it went in the oven...

 .
..and after it came out.

Sadly, it just proved what I know really, but keep pretending I don't because it's so good for me, which is that white fish really doesn't agree with me (unless it's battered and served with chips and mushy peas.  Then it agrees with me).  However, the ensuing dodgy tummy meant that I only felt like fruit for breakfast this morning, which meant that I could splurge on a cupcake at the new cupcake cafe in Durham at lunchtime when I met the lovely F B. for coffee.

I've forgotten its name and it inexplicably doesn't seem to have a website, but it was very good.  It's on the Bailey up from Georgian Window and is called Coffee and Cupcakes if you're in Durham.  You can't miss it, it's very pink.  

Anyway, seeing as I don't want to eat the left-over Mediterranean Cod Alastair can hoover it up when he finishes the long bike ride that he's enjoying today - I'm off to eat an Amy's Kitchen Light & Lean Black Bean and Cheese Enchilada.  For some reason I've been wanting to try one ever since I first saw them in the veggie section of Tesco and I took the opportunity of not having anything in except the cod tonight!

Bye Bye Beans, Hello Peas!

It's been a rare warm, sunny evening here in Durham. 

I cycled home, put my tea on and then pottered in the garden for a good 45 minutes.  I felt such peace and happiness, and so very lucky. 

I was also rather excited...my peas have grown!  I am sure that the rest of the country has already well and truly had its pea harvest, but up here in the frozen North - and, to be fair, a shady patch of my garden - my peas have suddenly come to life.  Having given up on them I happened to notice them out of the corner of my eye the other day, and on lifting one up discovered it was actually about six inches high!  I've just staked them up, and I noticed that there's a flower on one of them.

I also pulled my broad beans up, having picked the last pods.  

I've never grown broad beans before, but I will definitely grow them again.  They've been absolutely brilliant, needed absolutely no looking after whatsoever apart from staking up, and have produced a goodly haul of delicious, tender, pale-green beans (the last of which I ate for my tea!).

Slash and Burn

Pruning is a dark art.  Prior to this year I'd only ever pruned my buddleia and my clematis montana, both of which - as I think I've said previously - you could prune with a flame-thrower and they'd still come back.  In March this year I ventured into slightly murkier waters and pruned my clematises.  Only one of them died, so I considered myself to have done quite well.  Well enough...to prune the temperamental possible philadelphus! 

The temperamental possible philadephus is so-called a) because I once pruned it and traumatised it so badly that it refused to flower for the next three years and b) because due to a) I wasn't sure whether it actually was a philadelphus or something else entirely.  Anyway, after being left strictly alone for a long time it flowered this summer, and I became reasonably sure that it was, in fact, a philadelphus.

As well as the philadelphus, the viburnum and the weigela also needed serious attention.  Ahem!

My pruning style tends to be a bit slash-and-burn - once I get started I can't stop.  This is what I ended up with.

I reassured myself with the fact that I pruned my climbing rose almost down to the ground in March and it's now about three foot tall and has nine buds on it, plus one beautifully scented flower that had been hidden by the rampant weigela (or viburnum, I can never remember which is which).

I'm hoping that philadelphus will flower again next year - having read up on pruning I learnt that philadelphuses flower on old wood, and so you have to prune them after they've finished flowering, so that by the time a year has passed the new wood that you didn't prune last summer has become old wood which flowers.  That's the theory anyway - we shall see!  One branch had a couple of blossoms left on it, so I put them in my bud vase and took a photo in case I don't see any philadelphus flowers for another three years.

The one thing about rampantly overgrown foliage is that it hides all the weeds...now that the foliage is all gone I'll have to sort them out!  Then I can start working on getting a bit more colour in the flower border - it's a bit late for this year, but I do have a couple of things to plant out, and I can always put some bedding plants in if I get desparate. 

In other news, it was my Dad's birthday on Sunday.   Happy Birthday Dad!

King Edwards 

Weight Watchers: the First Week

I lost two pounds!  10st 9lbs when I weighed myself this lunchtime.  I am very chuffed.  I celebrated in the only way possible...coffee and a chocolate cupcake!

Photo from here.

My cupcake looked like the ones with the flowers on but was, if possible, even more highly decorated as it had toffee and chocolate chips and edible glitter on it as well.  It was so sinful that I left half of it...just to prove that I could!

So how was my first week?  On the whole, it was good.  I was hungry, but not unmanageably so.  My first week even included a meal out at Pizza Express, where I was stunned to find that a Pizza Romano La Reine was only 9 points (I have 26 per day, and 49 extra per week for treats).  Pizza aside, I ate an incredible amount of fruit and veg and hardly any processed food, and cycled into work every day. 

Even if I hadn't lost weight I think it would still have been worth it, as I have felt noticeably better in myself due to eating so healthily and exercising.  Tracking what I ate was easy, although the fact that some points values have changed since I last did Weight Watchers took a couple of days to get used to.  All of the tools the on-line package offers are simply fantastic - my favourite so far is the Recipe Builder.  You simply key in all the ingredients - it knows literally thousands of different foods, both raw ingredients and things that you buy in the supermarket (like specific breakfast cereals for example) - and it works out the points value of one serving of the recipe.  There are also hundreds of recipes available.  I've scanned through them and ear-marked a couple to try next week.  The whole thing has been absolutely ideal for someone like me who's seriously addicted to being on the computer.  All I have to do now is stick to it...eek!