Dont eat any food that you see lying at the side as its pretty old

Thursday saw me and James being diners on Market Kitchen...


...I cant really say too much about the food as we had to sign a confidentiality agreement - it said we cant give interviews before the transmission date but didnt specifically mention blogs! hmmmm who knows? Oh well I cant really be sued for much anyway...


As with typical English weather it was raining that morning, we stayed at a Holiday Inn the night before as we had to be at the studio at 8.20 that morning, so no time for breakfast.


So armed with our backpacks we walked from Camden Town to Kentish Town, it was all uphill too, but luckily James had remembered to bring an umbrella with him...


Anyhow we arrived at the studio soaked through at about 7.30 (there was a board outside saying about Market Kitchen but otherwise you wouldnt have known that they did filming there) we asked if this was the right place for MK and are told it was and to take a seat in the seating area (just a couple of round tables and some seats) and that we can help ourselves to tea and coffee.


We were the first people to arrive, and like us the others who arrived a bit later also asked if this was the right place too (didnt feel so thick after that ;o)). I half expected there to be a little cafe nearby for people to get something nice to eat and drink before going in, although we saw some people coming in with their Starbucks coffees so I guess there was one fairly nearby in the other direction.


At about 8am out came the hot croissants, then shortly after that we were asked for our names and had to sign the confidentiality thing which included a consent for being on the show, we were also given notes on the show which included recipes and transmission date etc, we were told to sit on the notes so they werent in show.


About 10 minutes later we were then led upstairs to the studio, there was a little cloakroom area to leave our coats and bags.


I was quite surprised that we were coming in part way through the show as the first segment had already been filmed with the previous diners (I will have to watch the diners when I next watch Market Kitchen to see when they "change"). we were there for three quarters of one show and half of another show.


The presenters were Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles, Matthew was really friendly and interacted with us lowly diners but Tom couldnt be bothered and just went off everytime his little segment had ended...


...maybe he was having a bad day...


...or maybe Im just being too kind!


We had to do a lot of moving about between segments too, and shock of shocks we had to share our food too (some of it I didnt mind sharing as it wasnt overly nice but some I definitely didnt want to share even with James ;o)!).


As neither me or James are photogenic we werent asked what we thought of the food, and we had been practising what we were going to say too ;o).


There was a raffle at the end and James won a packet of seaweed instant noodles, so we were well chuffed.


The transmission dates are 6th March at 7pm for the show where were there for three quarters of the show and the 3rd March again at 7pm where were there for half the show.


On Wednesday James came to meet me for lunch on his way to the hotel...


We went to a S&M Cafe in Leadenhall Market, it was really busy in there and was glad that James got us a table before the 1 o'clock rush!


The service was really slow, plus they bought out the wrong order for me so took both of our meals back out cooked mine and then bought them both out and unfortunately James lunch was then cold...


...if you know James then you know he HATES cold food :o(


Anyhow the S&M cafe is a sausage & mash place that does different sausages that you can pick from with different mashes and different gravys. They have eight set combinations that you can chose - I went for their "Some like it Hot" which was one thai sausage one creole sausage and bubble & squeak mash with peppercorn and mustard gravy.


Im not really a person who tends to like gravy but it was nice, the mash wasnt what I thought it would be either...


...I was expecting mashed potato with cabbage & onions that had then been fried, but what I got was mashed potato with peas in (I dont think there was any cabbage or onions in it at all).


The lunch was passable but not great which is a shame really.


Those of you who are wondering how my culteral being is going, will like to know that I didnt have any posh soups last week, but I still had the after effects of them (shockwaves if you like)...


...I found myself listeniong to audio books of Charles Dickens Christmas Classics, I was as shocked as you are!


Me and James were then coming up with suggestions of tv programmes that would counteract the effects of the soups...

The best or worst depending on your view was Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, I could feel the cultureness seeping out of my body trying to escape the inaneness...

...wow that was wordy!

I guessed when I weighed myself yesterday that I wouldnt have lost any weight, and was well chuffed that I only put on one pound.

I know with Shrove Tuesday being tomorrow Im not likely top lose any weight this week either (especially as I have bought a tub of ready made pancake batter mix - no Im not THAT lazy it just saves on washing up), oh and I bought a squeezy bottle of golden syrup too ;o).

It didnt have spinach in last time

I got a new bank card through the post a couple of weeks ago and I have been in the process of changing the card details of things that I order online.

The National Lottery in its infinite wisdom will not let you change your card details while you still have money in your account(you have to have money in your account before you can buy your tickets online)! So you have to transfer the money you have back to your bank card before you can add your new card details, THEN it says you dont have the minimum amount in your account - I think the minimum amount is £5.00 (no sh1t sherlock) then you have to add funds to your lottery account, to enable you to keep on playing.

The ticket I bought eight weeks ago had expired, and I didnt have enough in my online account so I had to do the whole transfer money back to my bank card, add card details, then add funds just so I could buy our tickets for the next two months!

Only in the UK do they have to make things which should be so easy difficult!

Well you'll be please to know that my whinge is (at the moment) over with ;o)

I have sampled yet more nice soups last week in Pret a Manger on Monday I had Thai Chicken Curry (chicken, rice, sweet potato, toasted coconut, lemongrass, fish sauce, turmeric, coriander, red chilli flakes and lime juice) which was really nice. On Thursday I thought I would have soup again and saw they had that again (I tell you it was that nice) so I ordered it...

...I got back to work opened up the carton and saw that it had spinach in! It didnt have spinach in last time so thought they had used a slightly different recipe, it then dawned on me that they had given me the other soup that they had that day Sag Aloo (potato, spinach, yoghurt, ginger, red chilli flakes and nutmeg), and that was really nice too. A definite contender for my nice soup list, there isnt a horrible soup list yet.

Im pretty sure that someone out there is trying to sabotage my lunches, as on Friday I wanted my half a lamb sandwich and Birleys had sold out of lamb! I then had to go for the half a turkey sandwich instead (that was nice too but not as nice as the lamb).

I only have a short week this week as on Thursday me and James are being diners on Market Kitchen, I'll let you know how we got on and when the broadcast date is next week ;o).

I must say Im really looking forward to it and have recorded an episode to watch so I know what we are supposed to say during the end credits (something like: Weve really enjoyed ourselves today, it was really good watching the chefs and I hope they invite us back again ;o)).

I see that Carmen is on at The Royal Albert Hall at the end of February....

...no no no this is so wrong I dont do culture, having soups is definitely having an adverse effect on me ;o) Apparently the "danger time" is in the first 2 hours after eating soups - I have to make sure I keep away from the internet as who knows what I will end up ordering!

This morning while doing the big shop I bought myself a jam donut to have for my dessert tonight, after all my talking about them last week.

I weighed myself this morning and have managed to lose another 200 grammes, I know that I will be putting on a bit of weight next week...

They cope in Switzerland!

First thing first...

...the weather...

...we have two inches of snow and everything grinds to a halt (the trains were running very slowly here in Essex), but elsewhere the trains werent running at all!

There was even talk of some councils running out of grit for the roads!

Kelly, your originally from Minnesota arent you? Im sure Minnesotans (is that the correct terminology?) dont go into mass hysteria at two inches of snow!

Now that I have that off my chest back to what I wanted to say...

I know what you are all asking yourself, what happened Monday morning with the bloke who jumps in your seat when you get off at Shenfield? I was quite upset that he didnt batt an eyelid. Im not sure what I was expecting...

...I guess it was somewhere between a load audible sigh (that I could hear despite having earphones in) and a two year old style temper tantrum.

I was supposed to meet my friends for lunch on Tuesday but because of the weather (one friend took the day off because the roads were treacherous where she lives) lunch has been postponed. I didnt mind too much as it meant I could have a nice lunch elsewhere.

I have been making the most of the nice lunches that I can get in London that you cant get in Romford!

Ive had two soups from Pret a Manger the first one Sausage Hotpot Soup (a tomato soup with vegetables in and pieces of sausages) I had on Monday (because it was cold), and the second one was Thai Corn (on the hob) (a spicy sweetcorn soup with sweetcorn and potato), I knew that one would be nice as James had it when we were in Oxford Street just before Christmas.

I think that while its cold Im going to have soups as part of my lunch repertoire ;o).

I also had a half a lamb sandwich (or rather half a sandwich with lamb in it) from Birleys.

I tell you, you can buy some right poncey food in London...

...I was in Pret a Manger getting my soup and I was looking at their fruitbowls and saw mango with a squeeze of lime it was mango pieces with a wedge of lime that you squeeze over the mango! It actually added to the mango ;o).

I really think that eating this posh food is doing something to me...

...you know what, I may invite Clarissa and Hugo around for a spot of supper.

Im sure your thinking to yourselves "well Im sure that Hugo and Clarissa are a lovely couple", but there are two things wrong with that last statement...

...one I dont EVEN know a Hugo and Clarissa and two Ive never had a "spot of supper" in my Life!

Now for something unusual but nice...

We regularly have Insurance Brokers coming into our office...

...Thursday i got a phone call asking what coffee my boss would like, so I told him he likes lattes, then he asked what the rest of us would like (while he was on a coffee run), so I had a skinny latte and my colleagues had cappucinos, that was relly nice of him, I know he got them on expenses but it was still a nice gesture ;o).

I treated myself to a Krispy Kreme donut from Tesco on Friday, the donut of the month is Strawberry Kiss a heart shaped donut filled with strawberry sauce and covered with strawberry curls. and very nice it was too.

Im now working on the third floor, so as I walk up the stairs Im getting more excercise, and the ladies toilets are on the second floor and the fourth floor so I have to walk up and down stairs when I need a "visit" too, oh as well as having a longer walk to the train station too. Im going to be super fit soon ;o).

Yesterday we went to Matalan just to have a look around, I saw some
Wellington Boots, I bought some really nice navy blue boots with white stars on, to replace the boots I wore on Monday that I found out WERENT waterproof. I am now ready for the next lot of snow which probably wont come now until next year!

I weighed myself this morning and was well pleased that I lost another pound.

No more changing at Shenfield

The move to London was yesterday, so from Monday no more changing trains at Shenfield ;o)

There is one bloke who gets on my train at Ingatestone (where I used to live incidentally) who always (well nearly always) takes my seat when I get off the train (I cant blame him because I would do (and have done) the same thing too ;o)).

If Im feeling particularly evil tomorrow I will sit in my usual seat when I get on the train and not get off at Shenfield!

Seriously, it was quite sad packing up all the bits last week, one of the companies on our floor I was quite friendly with...

We had the crates delivered on Monday morning, and because our office was quite small the crates were left in the outside corridor, anyway the lady from this other company said to me Monday afternoon "do you know whos moving out?" I then said it was us and she said "so when were you going to tell us?". I said in all honesty that I was going to tell her next time I saw her in the toilets (the well known "hub" of "whats happening" the world over ;o)). Isnt it funny that anything of importance is always overheard in the toilets.

Friday afternoon after everything was packed I said goodbye to the other company and made sure I said goodbye to the buildings receptionist too.

So what things am I going to miss about sunny Romford? How comes people (myself included) think putting the word sunny in front of a dreary place will instantly make it nicer?

I will miss being able to buy cheap fruit (stuff that is class 2) in Sainsbury's (the shops in London will only sell the nicer looking stuff), and James will be gutted that I wont be able to check the coinstar for him.

Those of you who are vaguely interested in how Todd Carty is doing in Dancing on Ice? Not interested? Tough, Im going to tell you anyway ;o)

Todds skating had slightly inproved although it still looks like Susie Lipanova is holding him up. The choreography actually had stumbles built into it but Todd still managed to add a few of his own ;o), but he looked like and said he was thoroughly enjoying it.

The commentator Tony Gubba was laughing so much that he couldnt read out the judges scores properly. Todd managed to survive last week but how much longer will this continue?

The other thing that Im sure you want to know is did I get to the packets of two custard tarts before the not so phantom tart knapper? Well sorry mate but I had already set my sights on the white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake slices, and the one I had last night was really yummy.

Heres a picture of the self scanners or fast track scanners as theyre called in Sainsburys in Brentwood kindly taken by James when he went there with his Dad on Wednesday. This website is of a similar vein although our scanners dont have the adverts yet (Im sure theyre not too far off).

We have been watching Masterchef for the past few weeks, James made me really laugh the other week when we were watching one episode and he said I really want Alice to win. I thought yeah thats fair enough...

...so James why do you think Alice should win? Is it because she is an innovative cook? no... is she using unusual ingredients? not particularly... No, its because she is a fellow Tefal Head ;o). Im sure Alice was really pleased with his support and the reasoning behind it!

A little teaser for you...

...me and James may be on televion. I applied for us to be kitchen diners on Market Kitchen last year, Id forgotten all about it then a few weeks ago I got an e-mail asking if we would like to be diners the next day but unfortunately it was too short notice. I got an e-mail earlier in the week with a load of dates in February. Anyway weve been booked into a filming in a couple of weeks time.

I now have to fill out their questionnair and cant wait to tell them that my favourite chef is Ronald McDonald, my favourite dish is Turkey Twizzlers and chips, and with their question "how good a cook are you?" to say Im ok if it comes with microwave instructions ;o).

Has anyone been to Edinburgh? Ive just booked to go there for a couple of nights ;o).

I weighed myself this morning and was well chuffed that Ive lost another pound and am down to the weight I was when I came back from our holiday last year, so only eight pounds to go ;o).