peaking through

Every morning (since Wednesday) we have checked on Evies sunflower seed..

...yesterday after James had gotten up he told me that the seed had finally sprouted :)

So I got Evie to check on the plant and she told me that it still hadnt grown, so I told her to check properly and she told me that there was a leaf sticking out.

Evie assessing her plant

I weighed myself yesterday and I have lost another 2 lbs so that is 41lbs in total or 2 stones 13lbs and considering I had a whole carton of pancake mixture (as pancakes on Shrove Tuesday) I have done well :)

still not a fan

So yesterday I did Evie a pancake...

..probably about half the size of a normal one (as she only has a small tummy ;o)), and I left it to cool down for her.

So after her dinner I chopped the pancake up for her into little pieces and drizzled some maple syrup on (just a few drops).

So I bring the delicious pancake into her and she wouldnt even try any...

...so I fed some to monkey and she fed some to monkey but she still didnt want to try any, so I even tried feeding it to Evie while she fed some to monkey but she still wouldnt try any.

She did try some in the end but pulled it straight out of her mouth again!

So I ended up eating it ;o)

James then had the cheek to say that he wouldnt have eaten it either, so I suggested that he make her one then (if I didnt make it properly) he then said that he wouldnt eat it cold and that she might eat one while it is still warm.

So after dinner I made myself a couple of pancakes (James didnt want any) and cut off a piece for Evie and she still wouldnt try any!

I almost forgot...

I almost forgot it was pancake day today...

...I was downloading a podcast for Evie, and I saw the mention of the word pancake (I love how my brain can pick up that word when I wasnt even "looking" for it ;o)).

I have some ready made pancake batter in the fridge, so will make us some tonight ;o)

Hopefully Evie will enjoy it more this year ;o)  Again Im going to make it when James gets home from work so that it will be cool enough for her to eat after her dinner ;o)

Happy pancake day everyone ;o)

not overly impressed

Yesterday was Evies first proper pancake day...

...so I did her pancake (a nice thin one and not the thick monstrosities that I normally make) and left it to cool before she had her dinner.

She only ate about half of her dinner before she started crying to say that she didnt want anymore so I cut of a quarter of the pancake for her and sprinkled a tiny bit of brown sugar on (so that it would be sweet).

So I put a bit of pancake onto a spoon and put it in her mouth but she kept on pushing it out with her tongue and after a few minutes she started crying again to say that she didnt want anymore so I gave her a fruit pouch...

...oh well hopefully she will enjoy it more next time ;o)

first proper pancake day

I am so excited because Evie can have her first proper pancake day ;o)

I have been semi lazy and have bought the ready mixed batter...

...good old m&s ;o)

I will do Evie a pancake when James gets home from work so that it has time to cool down before she has her dinner ;o)

Happy pancake day everyone ;o)

saying our goodbyes

Yesterday was my friend Emmas funeral.

I had never been to a funeral before and it was really sad that the first one would end up being for my best friend.

When me and my friends would go up to see a show we would always end up getting lost looking for the theatre (despite having a "map" with us) so it was quite fitting that we were driving around the cemetery looking for the chapel...

...she would have been looking down laughing her head off ;o).

The first thing that started me crying yesterday was seeing a huge mound of earth that was waiting to refill the graves that had been dug.

We went into the chapel and sat in the middle, with me sitting between my 2 friends with their husbands sitting either side.  One friend had her arm linked in mine throughout the service.

The service itself was really nice (the priest was prepped with all of her hobbies).  Her coffin came into Memory and she went out to You will never walk alone, I think that these must have ben suggestions of the priest, as as far as I know Emma never saw either of the musicals that these songs came from.

On Emmas order of service they got her date of birth wrong - what a thing to get missed when it was being proof checked!  I can hear Emma saying bloody cheek they got my birthday wrong ;o).

Next came the burial - after the priest did his bit Emmas Dad said some nice words and then through some white petals in and these were passed around to us to throw some in too.  I threw mine in and said goodbye (I didnt really know what else to say to her).

We then got lost finding the pub were her wake was being held, a spread was laid on and tea, coffee & wine.

Happy pancake day everyone ;o)

pancake (yester) day

Yesterday was Pancake Day, and I went the semi lazy route and bought ready made pancake batter (if I had gone ultra lazy then I would have bought them ready made...).

I buy the ready made pancake mix to stop James from moaning about the mess I make (hasnt he ever heard of someone being creative?).

Anyhow armed with my ready made mix I made myself 2 pancakes (I can hear you saying "thats not too bad") but LOL I did use half of the batter (I think it was a pint of mix so theoretically each pancake used up a quarter of a pint ;o)).

I even tried to be healthy by putting a chopped up peach in one but I did drizzle golden syrup on both ;o)

I shouldnt be dressing myself

When I get dressed in the mornings I am usually half asleep...

...yesterday morning was no exception.

I got dressed, had my breakfast of a cup of tea and a banana and went to work. Because its cold at work I put my cardigan on.

At lunchtime I took my cardigan off and put my fleece on to go out to get some lunch (a soup from Pret a Manger and mango fingers from Sainsburys).

I came back from lunch taking my fleece back off (and not putting my cardigan back on because I had warmed up).

I went down to get the mail going into the toilets first, looked in the mirror (this is not something I do very often ;o)), and shock horror I saw that my top was on inside out! INSIDE OUT! I rushed back into the cubicle to put my top back on properly.

I came back with the mail, and phew, nothing was said as clearly nobody was any the wiser!

All I can say is thank goodness it was cold and I was wearing my cardigan throughout the morning, and that it is Winter, as I wouldnt have been wearing a coat and fleece and people would have seen that I cant dress myself ;o)

Yes I have checked, double checked, triple checked and quadruple checked that what Im wearing today is on the right way around ;o)

Happy pancake day ;o)

Thrice as nice

Pancake Day was yummy not least because I am not dieting as I was this time last year...


...this year I bought a tub of ready made pancake batter from Marks & Spencer, I limited myself to having two pancakes which I lovingly smothered in golden syrup with a chopped up banana - in the hope of making them healthy (I know, I know ;o)).


Last year I bought a packet of ready made pancakes - I think I used some Starbucks Creme Brulee syrup on them. The year before (pre diet) I had the tub of ready made batter and had the whole lot!


Dont get me wrong, my mindset hasnt changed one iota...


...I really wanted to eat the whole lot but that little voice inside my head said not too (and for once I listened to it!).


I got a leaflet through the post last week from Hotel Chocolat and the tasting club has a members only egg, Ive gone for the mix egg that has one shell in milk chocolate and the other in dark chocolate. I wouldnt normally order something so extravagant, but I thought sod it ;o).

Now I dont have to worry about trawling around the shops to see what I fancy (in all honesty I fancy the whole lot of them except Bounty as I dont like desiccated coconut).

I have found a new favourite shop to look in...

...in London Lite last week there was an article about Paul A Young a chocolate shop in The Royal Exchange. They had sold out of the Pecan Mallows (which was what I went in there for), but I got me and James each a salted caramel chocolate instead (I couldnt taste the salt but the caramel definitely tasted sweeter because of it). I was faithfully told by the French shop assistant (I have a feeling that the amount of times I will be going in there he will become my new best friend) that they will have some more either on Monday or Tuesday. While I was there I was looking at their flavoured chocolate bars (they had loads of them and I fully intend tasting each one ;o)) and bought myself a Venezuelan 70% bar with green peppercorns.

I bought the chocolate bar with me to Starbucks so I could try it after I have weighed myself (incidentally I put on 100 grammes, I was gutted at first then remembered I had the two pancakes on Tuesday and a huge ciabatta garlic bread last night and now am quite pleased that I didnt put on more ;o)). The chocolate bar was really nice and you could taste the bitterness of the peppercorns which was a nice contrast. James tried a bit and didnt like it - Im not bothered about this as it means I dont have to share it with him ;o) and no I didnt buy it knowing that he wouldnt like it - it just worked out that way (honest ;o)).

On Fridays Birleys had again sold out of lamb, so I couldnt have my half a lamb sandwich (it still makes me laugh as it sounds really greedy).

So they actually lost a proper sale this time, as I went to Pret a Manger and got a soup instead. Talking of soups I had three this week...

...On Monday I had Sag Aloo (you will be pleased to know it was as nice as it was last week), on Thursday and Friday I had two new soups.

My first new soup was Five Bean Cassoulet (borlotti, cannellini, kidney, flageolet & butter beans, olive oil, sundried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, organic vegetable bouillon, parsley, sage & thyme) and the second was Chilli Beef & Rice (minced beef, tomato, kidney beans, red peppers, red chilli, cumin, balsamic vinegar & rice), they were both nice but not really nice and would go on my reserve soup list.

Dont forget those of you who can get UKtv Food to watch Market Kitchen at 7pm on Tuesday and Friday this week.

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).