Sunday 29 June 2014

Monthly update - oops!

I really need to get better at updating this here blog! Not too much gardening at the moment as I'm committing as much time as is reasonable to cycling, now that the Coast to Coast trip is booked and paid for, and rapidly approaching! Today I completed my second ride to Arbroath, and this time without the help of a fish and chip lunch to keep me going. Instead I had a home made energy bite at Carnoustie on the way out (recipe here) and  made it as far as the Van Diner before stopping for a not exactly healthy Lorne roll and slice of carrot cake. Well, I had to wait for he rain to go off.....
For a chalet on a caravan park it's a pretty decent little cafe, and it's a really handy spot too. 
Broughty Ferry was pretty busy today as it's the start of gala week and there was a fete on in the park. Lots of people out and about at the yacht club and sailing club too so slightly tricky cycling along the shared use path. As long as you keep smiling and go really slow people are friendly enough, but not always very good at getting out of the way! 
Lots of birds and butterflies about, and some stretches of the route were looking particularly colourful with all the flowers out. I didn't take any flower pics but did get a snap of this heron in Arbroath.
  


Saturday 17 May 2014

Long time no blog!

It really is easy to get out of the blogging habit isn't it? I've just had 2 weeks off work though, so plenty of pottering news! I'm still at least a month behind at the allotment but that's an improvement on where I was 2.weeks ago. I now have peas coming up, courgettes planted out and my leeks aren't far off being ready to plant out. Hopefully the netting will protect my peas from whatever's eating the decoy petunias! In knitting news, I've knitted a pair of socks on double pointed needles
It's a bit fiddly, but not as difficult as I thought, although I need to find another pattern as the heel is a bit odd! I bought the wool from one of the new wool shops that's opened in Dundee recently - it's called Fluph and stocks some pretty funky yarns, including the sock yarn I used for these socks. It's by a German brand called Schoppel wolle and is dyed in such a way that you get an identically patterned pair of socks once you've done some unwinding (instructions are on the 'flying saucer it comes on!).
I didn't get as much cycling in as I'd hoped, as I really had to prioritise the allotment. I cycled out to Carnoustie yesterday, and hit some pretty string wind on the way back. It was tough going but you just have to keep the gearing low and keep going really. I did stop at the Van Diner for a hot chocolate to break up the slog though. I've also now cycled all of the green circular, though admittedly not in one go! Templeton woods and Camperdown park are interesting when you have no suspension, but I did see a deer and heron on that run, without even leaving Dundee. You do see your city in a different light on two wheels!

It was my birthday, and our wedding anniversary, this week so we went out for dinner at the new fine dining restaurant in town, Castlehill. I think it's a good sign for Dundee that someone would even consider opening somewhere of this calibre here, rather than edinburgh or Glasgow. Not sure if it's the V&A effect or not, but whatever it is, there's definitely a bit of a buzz about the place just now!

Saturday 5 April 2014

Keeping at it

Week one of maintaining my weight and I've actually lost a wee bit, so I think a bit of tinkering may be in order! I promised myself a bit of a reward for reaching target and here it is...
Pretty isn't it? And it's got so many pockets I can't imagine what I'm going to use them all for. I've never used a hydration pack before so that going to be an experience - I'll report back on that one!
I've not managed any cycling this week with the weather being stuck in a cold, grey rut. It's been milder today so I'm hoping for a better week this week. Whether the weather picks up or not I'm going to have to get back in the saddle and get some hill climbs in.
I'll be off to the allotment tomorrow to sow some of the big stash of seeds that arrived in the post this week. Off the top of my head that includes peas, tomatoes, Beetroot, courgette, kohl rabi, salad, herbs, kale, leeks. Enough to keep me busy for a while! Oh, and I have my cocktail garden that I got for Christmas to sow too.
Dinner tonight was interesting - a work buddy gave me a cockerel of all things, so that spent the afternoon in the slow cooker with a bottle of red wine and some veggies for a genuine coq au vin, which went down well with mashed potatoes and a pile of cabbage. I really don't use the slow cooker as often as I should. It really does do wonders with what would otherwise be tough chewy meat!

Sunday 30 March 2014

Did it!

So I weighed in yesterday, and surprise surprise, I've hit my target weight a week earlier than expected! To celebrate, I had a wardrobe clear out today, and discovered several pairs of trousers I bought in sales a while ago finally fit. I'll be wearing the flowery jeggings for tomorrow's dress down day at work. As far as the hairy bikers diet club goes, I'll be keeping up my membership for a while yet - it's a handy way to meal/ exercise plan whilst I train for the Coast to Coast, and the forums will keep me on track too I reckon - I'm not just keeping the lbs off for me!
On the allotment front, the weathers been pretty rubbish of late so nothing planted yet, but I did order a load of seeds online last night. Hopefully the weather will pick up soon, but I can always sow some bits and bobs in the green house in the mean time.
Knitting wise I've made a decent start on the baby blanket so I should have a good stash of knitted things ready for beans' arrival in June. Once I've finished this ill move on to the debbie bliss bunny booties - I've already made a pair for a friend at work, so I know they'll be tricky but worth the effort I think

Cycling wise, I braved the wind yesterday to cycle to to Broughty Ferry. Not the most enjoyable ride, but at least I had the wind behind me coming home, and the fudge doughnuts in my basket helped! I've been sticking to the low gear, high cadence approach to hill climbs and this did get me up a hill I've never managed before - more molehill than mountain, and I was nearly sick at the top, but you have to start somewhere! A good power to weight ratio is important for hill climbs, so now that I've reduced the weight I need to build up my strength, which I think will mostly mean more cycling uphill to be honest! Bring on the hills.........

Thursday 27 March 2014

Ta dah!



I did threaten a knitting post so here goes - I finally finished the cardigan I started before Christmas, bar the buttons which need a trip to the wool shop! This picture actually makes it look brighter than it looks 'in the flesh'. I think it's what usually gets called aubergine. This was some wool a girl at work was giving away so basically a free cardigan and I'm pretty pleased with the result. It's quite boxy which I think looks good - no idea if that fashionable or not! I wouldn't rush to knit with such dark yarn again though as it was really hard on the eyes sewing it up!









I've also knitted a pair of wrist warmer for Mother's Day but no pic as they went in the post this morning! I now have a really fluffy blanket on the needles for the niece or nephew who's due to arrive in June.
This is what the finished product should look like, and because the yarn is really chunky it won't take long.

Sunday 23 March 2014

Been a while!

Not sure where the last couple of weeks have gone! I managed a week of cycling to work for 3 out of 5 days but last week was really pretty windy so I opted for walking/bussing it instead. This week looks cold and windy again but I think I'm just going to have to 'man up' and cycle anyway. I planned on cycling by default by the end of March to make sure I was on track for the Coast to Coast so I need to crack on really. The poor old allotment is suffering neglect so far this year, but I did clear out some rubbish for the tip today. I just need to figure out how to put up new shelves in the greenhouse to replace the rotten ones I pulled out.
I went out for tea on Friday with friends from work, for Italian at Visocchis in Broughty Ferry.  I've only ever had ice cream or cake there so it was good to get to try their pasta. I had spaghetti vongole, which is probably a reasonably healthy choice if you don't follow it up with tartuffo limoncello! Saturday's weigh in showed a 200g gain, but after someone pointed out how bloating pasta is I weighed in again this morning and actually had managed a 500g loss across the week so I'm still on target to lose 5kg over my 12 week plan. Also worth remembering to avoid big plates of pasta if you're planning on wearing tight fitting clothes the next day!

Tuesday 11 March 2014

The big yurt adventure







I've been meaning to post all week about last weekend's trip away, so it being Sunday I thought I'd best get started!
The weekend started with a coffee break at the Krispy Kreme cafe in Edinburgh. The very calorific doughnut was okay but I still can't believe people were queuing for an hour round the bypass when it opened. A victory of marketing over common sense I think!
We met Ben and Lauren (my youngest brother and his girlfriend) in Bellingham where we had a tasty late lunch in what I think was a community centre cafe. After the doughnut I thought I'd be good and have soup, which was a good plan as it was a very tasty homemade onion soup with loads of pepper, just how I like it! We then hit a slight hitch - no mobile phone reception and we hadn't put the address for the yurts in the satnav. Ben had a rough idea of where we were going so off we set in convoy. I wasn't convinced we were on the right road as road gave way to farm track, and going through a farm gate didn't really reassure me! We did make it safely to our destination, but it was definitely the cross country short cut - we didn't use that route again.

We were met by Rob, the owner, gave us a tour of the facilities. He was particularly proud of the underfloor heated shower block! He then showed us to Esk Yurt, our home for the weekend, accessed via a field of sheep - this may be luxury camping but it's definitely rural!
First task - light the stove!


It was a bit of a chilly weekend with overnight frost, so it's a good thing the stove kept the yurt toasty warm once it got going. There's definitely something rewarding about keeping a good fire burning!
Friday night started with a trip to the local village pub for dinner.  We then headed off to Tarset village hall for a concert - Richard Digance (from Pebble Mill and Countdown fame!) ably supported by a ladies' a capella singing group from Hexham called the Hex Pistols. Bearing in mind all we really knew about Richard Digance was that he's currently touring with Jim Davidson whilst between cruise ship contracts I think we were all pleasantly surprised with how the evening turned out!
Saturday started with breakfast in the kitchen, as there was no way we were going to try and cook on the stove. Rob had left us some eggs from the chickens that wander around the site so it was scrambled egg for breakfast, along with some banana pancakes (Hairy Dieters recipe) I'd brought along with me. We found some leaflets in the Yurt featuring local walks so we picked a short-ish one setting off from the site, going through Greenhaugh village and back over the fields. Some lovely landscape to admire but boy was it muddy once we were off the main road - thank goodness for decent walking boots!



We then headed off to the Boe Rigg coffee shed, a few miles down the road for a very tasty lunch.   worth checking out if you're in the area.
We'd arranged to meet my parents in the local pub for dinner in the evening, so just pottered about at the yurt for the afternoon. It's a good job we did as they decided to surprise us by turning up at the yurt - and they'd sensibly brought a map so actually used the right road! It was back to The Hollybush Inn for another tasty dinner, then back to the yurt for a beer and another good night's sleep.
The forecast wasn't great for Sunday but we headed off to Kielder reservoir for the day, equipped with anoraks and walking boots, which were put to good use! We had a nice lunch in Kielder castle cafe then headed off for a walk through the woods - quite atmospheric in the rain really! We didn't see any red squirrels but did see loads of chaffinches and other small birds.


We then drove further down the reservoir for another walk, including a curved suspension bridge which is apparently unusual:
We then headed back to Bellingham to kill a bit of time before the pub we liked the look of opened for dinner. We nearly ended up just eating in Bellingham but waiting for The Pheasant Inn to open turned out to be one of our better ideas.  Really tasty Sunday roasts all round, and a vegetarian option that wasn't curry! 
After a day of rain it was a pretty muddy walk across the field back to the yurt so I was glad of my wellies. 

All in all it was a pretty chilled out weekend and I would definitely recommend 'glamping' to anyone who wants to get away from it all without having to go totally back to basics! And I know I'm probably biased, having grown up in the North East, but it really is a stunning part of the country - beautiful countryside, great beaches, loads of castles and Newcastle if you need a bit of city life!

Saturday 22 February 2014

A weigh in and a walk

Week 5 (?) weigh in and I've lost another 500g this week, and at this rate my BMI will be in the healthy category by next week. I do take BMI with a pinch of salt but it's not a bad benchmark, and means I'll hopefully be at target in another 4 weeks. I went for another townie walk today, through the eastern cemetery, Baxter park, up to the Hilltown clock then down the Hilltown into town. Stopped for a coffee and a muffin at caffe Nero and picked up some bargains in the millets closing sale, before walking home. Just over 6 miles of walking to burn the calories off from the muffin! Still, it's a mile more than last weekend so by October I should be more than ready for the 13 mile kiltwalk!
Just hope the weather picks up soon so I can get some more cycling in!,

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Nostalgia

We had pan haggerty for tea tonight
As an ex pat Geordie I could say it has many fond childhood memories attached to it, but I honestly don't think we ever had it growing up - it was jolly good anyway! No, the thing that's really making me reminisce isn't food related at all. I've been watching the folk awards on the BBC red button, and the winner of folk singer of the year credited the Folkworks summer school with getting her started. Admittedly a fair few years after I went to summer school, but fond memories all the same. The English folk world really is like a big family when you see them all filling the Albert Hall. Peggy Seeger really is a remarkable woman too. I don't know how old she is but she really knows how to hold a crowd in the palm of her hand!

Sunday 16 February 2014

A post about cycling

It's just crossed my mind there hasn't really been any cycling in this blog yet, with good reason - I've not been out on the bike since I started the blog! Buffy got her first outing of the year at the start of January but it's been pretty much wet and windy since then so not great for cycling. After yesterday's 5 mile walk I thought it was about time to get started. I've inherited a garmin(one of the advantages of being married to a tech-head!) so I'll be able to track my rides, which may even lead to a proper training plan! Food wise, today started with a yummy ham and feta omelette, which looked pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

One of my favourite things about exercising is that burning the extra calories means you can afford a bit of a treat when you're done! Let's not get carried away though - the skinny lemon cupcakes from the Hairy Dieters book may taste great, but they only have 167 calories, and go perfectly with a cup of tea:

Saturday 15 February 2014

Week 4 done

Time flies when you're hairy dieting! Not so much weight off this week - only 400g, but that's not bad considering how long we spent in the pub last Saturday! The bad news is I've done something to my neck/ shoulders today. I was fine when I got up but I must have been sitting funny or something because I stood up after breakfast and found myself in agony. I'm hoping to wake up fine tomorrow but I'll just have to see how it goes. Didn't stop me going for a walk though, as it actually seems better when I'm moving. I went off menu for tea tonight as I really fancied trying the diet donner kebabs from the new hairy dieters book, and I'm glad I did. Tasty and really easy to make!
A little blurry but you get the idea. Note to self - keep using the smaller plates....

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Socks!

Gosh, it's been a while since I remembered to post anything here! I even forgot to post my weigh in result on Saturday, which was another 700g, so going to plan so far.  Had a fantastic afternoon on Saturday, enjoying some really good beers in a German style beer Halle in St. Andrews. Lucky for me they serve 1/3 pt measures so don't think I completely blew the diet! And we did walk into town for the bus so that has to help.
Today I picked up a parcel from the delivery office that I was really looking forward to - lovely cosy socks from Seasalt to keep my feet warm whilst I'm out walking and cycling:
How cute?? No excuse not to get out there now!

Thursday 6 February 2014

Burger night

Well, not actually a burger - more like chicken in a bun to be honest but it was tasty! Good to know the home made rolls toast pretty well too. Also, plenty of space left for my new favourite evening snack - a rice cake with half fat cheese, which tastes a lot better than it sounds. As far as the diet club goes I'm still enjoying the menu plans, but finding the forum really quiet. I need to wind it in a bit before I end up having the highest post count! Don't want people thinking I'm gobby!

Sunday 2 February 2014

New shoes!

I treated myself to a new pair of shoes for cycling today.  Apparently skater type shoes are the best thing to wear with flat pedals so I went for a lovely pair of dunlops in the sale at schuh. The best thing, apart from the colour, is that they fit my wide feet!

Yesterday was my second week's weigh in and I've lost another 700g so progressing as I hoped - not bad considering the weather's kept me off the bike! Here's to another week of shrinking....

Sunday 26 January 2014

Cake!

These little beauties are skinny lemon cupcakes, made with low fat yoghurt and blueberries - definitely my kind of diet food! The only question now is what to do with the 'spares', freeze them as suggested, or take them in to work? 
Tonight's dinner looked pretty good too if I do say so myself! Orange and ginger chicken skewers with mashed sweet potato and stir fried veg:
Not quite Michelin standard but still pretty!

Saturday 25 January 2014

Weigh in number 1

Today was my first weigh in of the weight loss programme, and I've lost 2lbs so that's good news. The other bit of good news is that today's shopping was cheaper than last weeks! Now admittedly that may be because I went to lidl instead of sainsburys and bought the meat from the butchers, but it's still reassuring to know that being 'on a diet' won't necessarily break the bank! Oh, and for today's scheduled walk I went up to the allotment for herbs so that's one less thing I had to buy. My calorie allowance goes up this week, but I think my walking is supposed to go up too do hopefully I'll still manage a decent loss.

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Waga who?

Tonight's dinner was soba noodles with soy glazed tofu. I bought silken tofu instead of firm as that's all I could find in sainsburys so the texture was a bit weird but it was pretty tasty. I'd never had soba noodles before and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised - they're made with buckwheat flour so are a pretty unappetising brown colour but brown food always seems more filling than white/beige so that's hopefully a bonus! Anyway, the peppers, courgettes and spinach helped with the colour:



Yes, they are basically kids chopsticks incidentally!
Today's live well work well meeting at work was interesting - we had the meeting doing laps of the car park, so 40 minutes of slow walking to add to today's activity log!

Saturday 18 January 2014

Week 1, day 1, shopping fail!

Today is the first day of my weight loss programme, which meant shopping from a ready made list. Not entirely sure how I managed but instead of buying the steaks we were supposed to be having I ending up buying stewing steak - Oopsie! I reckon the stew I ended up making had a similar calorie count to the meal I was supposed to be making though, and to be honest it probably suited the weather better anyway, so win!
Today's official exercise was a 30 minute walk, which I managed to fit in before the rain came on.  There's a long and dull story attached to my walk involving Royal Mail incompetence but as I say, dull and boring, and a walk's a walk!
Slightly concerned  by the cost of this week's shop. I think it's probably just because it's the first week, and a lot of the stuff I bought will go in the freezer, but all the same, I may have to throw in some swaps in future to keep the cost down.

Thursday 16 January 2014

The big cauliflower rice experiment, and some rabbits

This is a picture of some baby bootees I knitted for a friend - pretty cute but really tricky to knit! Anyway, cauliflower rice.....I've seen this mentioned a few times now online so thought I'd give it a go. In theory you blitz cauliflower in a food processor and steam it in the microwave for a few minutes to make a low calorie alternative to rice. I have to agree with hubby's opinion that it was more like couscous, but we both quite like couscous so that's no bad thing! It went fine with the hairy bikers paprika chicken that I made from a packet tonight. It wasn't bad for a ready made sauce, but the 'proper' version I made from their recipe book was much nicer, if I do say so myself! Having said that, lots of people don't cook from scratch for whatever reason so good for them for trying to cater to that market with something vaguely healthy.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

On a diet?

Well this is a first - I'm 'on a diet'!  I've signed up to the hairy bikers diet club which basically works the same way I approach weightloss anyway, ie on a straightforward calorie with lots of tasty home made food. I won't be starting my plan till Saturday as I'd already meal planned this week but as it happens, tonight tea was a hairy dieters recipe anyway. Peppers stuffed with feta and mushrooms which was tasty and got the thumbs up from Mr C too! 
On the exercise front I walked home from work tonight,for the first time this year. It was a bit chilly but not too knackering, so I'll be making a habit of that until the nights draw out a bit more and I can cycle to work without worrying whether my lights are bright enough.

Monday 13 January 2014

New Year, New Blog

Yes, I know we're a couple of weeks into 2014 but it's still January so I'm still going with new year!  My big 'thing' this year is the C2C bike ride I've signed up for, but I don't want it to just be a training blog so I'll also continue to post pictures of my dinners, and report on developments at the allotment which will have to involve some building work this year. I need to build a couple of pea/bean fences and replace some shelving in the greenhouse so that should be fun! Did I mention the C2C? It feels like an impossible goal at the moment but I have till August to train so hopefully it won't be too traumatic. I've mostly been focussing on weight management over the past couple of years so I think it'll do me good to switch focus to fitness.