Sunday 31 May 2009

Burger me...

After saying in last weeks post I really fancied a jam donut, I bought myself one yesterday and it was blooming gorgeous - and well worth 17p ;o)

James said the other day that if he could be any super hero he would like to be The Incredible Hulk I think I upset him when I said he was more Sulk than Hulk, it so made me laugh when he gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the evening ;o).

I was in Tescos again yesterday to see if they had anymore buy one get two free offers, and they didnt. I even had a look through the doors every morning to see if they had any displays to entice me in. The Jaffa Cakes were back on a respectable buy one get one free offer!

On Friday James had his interview by Tower Bridge (Im keeping everything crossed for you there ;o)), he then met me for lunch and we went to Corney & Barrow, being the fussy eater that I am I went for the Home made Organic Beef Burger with chunky chips asking for just a plain burger, but as usual the burger came with all the garbage (I hear from all the reality tv shows thats what they call the garnish), so poor James got the bits that I didnt like including half of my bun as it had butter on it. It was really nice and I would definitely get it again.

We even came into London together which made a nice change ;o) We even had a coffee together in Starbucks.

Yesterday I got my roots coloured in at the hairdressers (I would do it myself but I end up making far too much mess), so I was out yesterday afternoon with that Just out of the Salon look. My hair must normally look really naff because the lady from Holland & Barrett actually came upto me to say how nice my hair looked ;o) I think I am going to have to buy myself some straightening irons as this has shown me that I really should do something to make my hair look nicer - sorry James I may/will need your help with this ;o). Basically I have what I call witches hair (its frizzy and has a life of its own), when I was a kid my Mum would spend hours trying to make her hair straight, but I have never bothered myself!

I was umming and ahhing about whether to weigh myself this morning after the lunch I had on Friday, and decided its best to know what Im up against, and I was well surprised to see I have lost one pound. I was well chuffed ;o)

Sunday 24 May 2009

Buy one get two free

This was the sign that caught my eye as I was walking past Tesco in Bishopsgate on my way to work on Thursday morning.

So I hear you asking, what product was this brilliant offer on? It was Jaffa Cakes, what a great bargain. I guess they had them by the door to draw in customers (which they certainly did in my case) in the hope that they would then buy more products, which I didnt do!

If deflation means more offers like this then thats great...

Im now waiting for the cost of my annual train ticket to reduce, somehow I think we will see flying pigs first!

James has been moaning that the birds have been messing up the birdseed that he has left out on our unused waterbutt for them to eat, by yesterday I was getting fed up with his constant whinging, and jokingly suggested that he should glue the birdseed to the waterbutt so it doesnt get messed up. It took a full five minutes for him to realise the full impact of my suggestion and then I got an almighty glare ;o) Its a good job looks cant kill!

Because its a Bank Holiday weekend my Boss decided to close the office at lunchtime on Friday, and because Im normally ravenous by then I decided to get my half a lamb sandwich (yes, it still makes me laugh) and eat it on the train. I managed to catch the Intercity train to Ipswich and there was a Canadian lady on the train who by the sounds of things had just landed that morning and was on her way to stay at her Sons, she was saying that whenever she comes to England she likes having jam donuts. She was also saying it was years since she had a Cornish Pasty (but I cant stand those). Anyhow, I now fancy a jam donut and will make sure I get myself one next weekend I think ;o).

Its amazing how hearing someone talk about a certain food product will immediately make you want to eat it. I wonder if food companies have ever thought of employing people to sit on trains or in public areas and bring conversations around to the said item, and they could have a mobile stall selling those foods nearby.

You could imagine going to see a Stand up comic and he or she being sponsored by a food company, and they bring the different products into their routine, and you come out thinking about it and what do you know theres a concession stand with those products. I think I shall market that idea ;o)

Because I left work early on Friday I then didnt have enough fruit for Friday, I decided to walk down to Asda to get myself some more (I like to eat fruit before having something nice for my dessert in the evening). While I was in there I saw they had garlic baguettes for 50p each and loving a bargain the way I do I bought two.

I had my one last night, and it was nice, but I think next week I will stick to having a garlic flatbread as its a lot nicer ;o).

I weighed myself this morning and have put on another pound, I blame that firmly on the garlic baguette, as I thought I was pretty good earlier in the week. So I shall see how I go next week and as Fagin says I shall review the situation.

Sunday 17 May 2009

Brahms with my Praline, I dont think so

Thank you all for my Birthday wishes last week ;o)

Whilst out shopping last week I bought a birthday cake to have, not a proper one because that would have been plain greedy, but a coffee sponge roll, which was really scrummy ;o)



If you click on the link it will take you to my flickr page

The day itself was good, I even got cups of tea made for me at work, which is generally unheard of! I always seem to be the one who makes most of the drinks. I swear they would die of dehydration if I didnt make the drinks.

I even did the right thing and bought cakes for everyone or rather pastries...

...I bought three croissants, one pain au raisin, and a maple pecan plait for me ;o) Theres only five of us.

When I was back in London my boss even told me not to feel I should make the drinks and to only make them if I was making one for me. I even half joked on another occasion that I wait til Im dieing of thirst before I make the drinks!

I got this mailing the other day from the Chocolate Tasting Club, I really did consider going for it, but thought to myself do I really want to pay another £7.00 for a CD? The answer to that was a big fat no! Especially as Im not really a fan of classical music.

Talking of unheard of things, I normally bring to work some sort of food thing when Ive been away on holiday, and my colleague brings me back a bar of chocolate (which is really nice of him) when hes been away, the other people dont tend to bother. Im the only person to send postcards too.

My boss went to Turkey for a golfing break and actually bought us back some Turkish Delight, so it was actually the proper stuff ;o) It was really nice too, I ended up having two pieces one mint and one rose and they were coated in coconut with a nut in the middle.

I weighed myself this morning and knew that I was bound to have put a bit of weight on after having all those yummy things, so was well pleased that I only put on 200 grammes. Im going to try to be (or rather reasonably) good from now on. I know who am I kidding ;o)

Sunday 10 May 2009

not so souper

On Thursday I tried another new soup from Pret a Manger, this time I went for Spinach & Nutmeg (Spinach, nutmeg, potato, sage, cream, butter, onion, celery & organic vegetable bouillon) the taste was ok, it was just devoid of lumps, so it wasnt very filling. I was hungry for the rest of the afternoon, and as James (and the numerous charity collectors - sorry I didnt mean to scream at you "never mind the starving millions I want feeding") will testify a hungry Amber isnt a happy Amber!


As followers of Als blog would have seen, I made a mission statement so to speak, to eat a portion of chips on every beach in Britain - I should have said England really - but as ever I speak first (should that be comment first?) and think later! I now have to include Wales and Scotland also, Im not quite sure how many beaches there are, "but it sure will be fun finding out". As I said I can cross off Southend ;o).


Its my birthday on Wednesday and James has bought me a new camera, I have had a little play with it (but was told off because its not Wednesday yet!), I will try and upload the few pictures Ive taken (be warned theres a scary self portait in there to ;o)).


I hate wasting food and on Friday James said to me "theres some Walnut Pave left - if you dont want it I will throw it away", I had to eat it - it wasnt just "some" bread it was half the loaf, and I felt incredibly full after eating it - so full infact that I couldnt eat a chocolate! Yes, I was that full!


Considering I ate all that bread, I was well pleased that when I weighed myself this morning I only put on 100 grammes (I wasnt too pleased that I have had to pay again - oh well two weeks free is better thatn a smack in the kisser!).

Monday 4 May 2009

theyre trying to make me healthy!

Theyre recognising me now in Birleys when I go in for my half a lamb sandwich (this still makes me smile as it sounds so greedy), I normally have it on white bloomer bread. I was waiting in the queue and the lady (I think she is either Spanish or Portuguese) asked "half lamb, no butter, no salt?" (Ive never liked the texture of butter or margarine anyway so its not like Im trying to be super weight conscious or anything) and I said yes please. She then got a slice of brown bread, I didnt say anything as I thought it would make a nice change, and it did ;o).

On Monday I met my friends for lunch and we ended up going to their staff canteen. Incidentally lunch is now down to two friends as one of them has gone and got herself a proper job in Westminster (she was temping previously and her assignments were nearly always in the city). Hopefully once she has settled she will be able to wrangle herself a longer lunch period and get the tube down to Bank. Anyhow back to the lunch...

...I ended up having chicken wrapped in bacon with herby polenta, and it was really nice. My boss was really surprised that I was only back 10 minutes late and asked me if my friends didnt like me anymore ;o).

Did anyone see my review on the Innocent website? Well here it is...
click here for a larger view

Click on picture for a larger view ;o)
Talking of Vegpots (yes I know I brought it up myself) I bought a new one today Mexican Sweet Potato Chilli.

While doing the big shop yesterday morning, I was looking through the doors whilst waiting to be let in and my heart sank when I saw that the self scan wands were out of order so (in a fit of temper) I took the bags that I had positioned into the trolley and threw them into the front section. They finally let us in and I went to have a schmoozy at the scanner holder and saw that the other side wasnt out of order (what a refief that was) so I got the scanner and had to put the bags back to where they originally were positioned. yes James I did check the Coinstar first!

I went to scan the first thing I picked up (a punnet of strawberries if your interested) and when I pressed the trigger the light didnt come up on the scanner! I thought damn the scanners must all be out of order :o( my heart sank again.

I was merrily down the dairy aisle and I see a man with his wife and they were using a scanner too, so i asked him if his scanner was working as blah blah blah and he said it was. So I gave the scanner one more try and hey pesto it started working. I shouldnt have got my hopes up as halfway through scanning the bits I had got, the scanner decided to die and came up with the dchp error.

Then about five minutes later it started to boot up and did its start up sequence (James you would have been mesmerised as well as paranoid), and all my scanned items appeared on there again and I carried on scanning my bits and the bloody scanner died again and did the whole start up thing again. Only this time it didnt die again so I presume whatever the scanner problems were finally fixed.

Although when I left the out of order sign was still on one side of the scanner holders, so who knows.

I have recently started watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after seeing a parody of it on South Park in the episode South Park is Gay! I couldnt believe how right they had got it. I was watching an episode yesterday. I looked around at James who was shovelling Kellogs Frosties into his mouth, and I thought if Carson saw you (in your jogging bottoms and oversized t-shirt) I could just hear him saying "Sweetie Ive heard of casual but you are the limit" , I think styling James would be a challenge too far for the Fab 5!

Incidentally I was watching Professor Regans Nursery and I was completely gobsmacked to hear that Kellogs Frosties are mainly eaten by young men (as opposed to children) I was waiting with baited breath for her to say they were especially popular in the East Anglia Region, in the Essex town of Chelmsford ;o)

I weighed myself yesterday morning (for free again) and was well chuffed that I lost 300 grammes, especially as I had the polenta earlier in the week.