In Custardy

Monday saw me & James' Mum going to Harrods...

I was well surprised that they had special offers on, such as three for the price of two, and buy one get one half price, and I'm pretty sure that before I hysterically collapsed I actually saw a buy one get one free!

A buy one get one free in Harrods, What is the world coming to? ;o)

The only things we bought were from the food hall. I bought two tins of biscuits, some fudge, some cakes and a Christmas pudding for James - so not too bad.

For our lunch we went to Cafe Rouge, I had a rather nice grilled spicy sausage baguette with chips (which I only ate half of ;o)).

I'm pleased to say we didnt get "asked to leave" or more importantly to "never darken their doorstep unless hell freezes over", and neither did we strangle each other ;o).

That Thai Coconut Curry Innocent Veg Pot I had last week was really nice, James didnt like it. In fact he said "Yuck, are you trying to poison me, you know I dont do any of that healthy muck".

I have bought another two to try this week...

The Tuscan bean stew and Moroccan squash tagine - I shall tell you what theyre like next week ;o)

I have just looked on the Innocent website to see what it says about them and for the Tuscan bean stew it says that Luigi is your uncle, well thats uncanny because hes my Dad ;o).

Tomorrow I can start on my Advent calendar - a chocolate one of course. It would be really good if they did a liqueur chocolate one. Perhaps thats the way I can make my fortune ;o).

I actually saw in Marks & Spencers that they are doing a biscuit one ;o)

Well youll be pleased to know I managed to get a packet of two custard tarts before the phantom custard tart napper got to them ;o).

So I hear you asking what did the sausage baguette do to your weight? Well I put on one pound and am not too surprised.

I dont think December is going to be good weightwise and it shouldnt be either ;o). Im umming and ahhing about whether to weigh myself at all in December and guess that I should do.

Snow on the ground and nutmeg on my skinny latte

We have had the first snow of winter today and blimey its cold...

We were worried it would be busy in Chelmsford today as the Christmas lights are being switched on...

Luckily I think the weather has kept some people away, Starbucks was emptier than it is usually (I guess most of the people were using the mini ice rink ;o)).

After putting on our hats, gloves and scarves me and James went out looking more like we were going on an expedition to Antarctica than going to do our weekly food shop ;o).

Today whilst shopping in Sainbury's I spotted in the ready meal aisle some Innocent veg pots the one that really caught my eye was the Thai Coconut Curry one, it has three vegetable portions in it too (making it super healthy), they also do a Morrocon Squash Tagine one and a Tuscan Bean Stew they both looked pretty yummy too ;o). Anyhow I will try it tomorrow and will let you know next week what I think of them.

In Marks and Spencers they again had no two packs of custard tarts :o( Im sure someone (who is reading this blog) is puposely thwarting me and buying them all up before I get in there on Saturday mornings ;o). Hmmm its all happened since telling my Mum about this blog...

...could this be a coincidence? Who knows ;o)

I have been on my own (quite literally) at work for the past two weeks as my colleague has been off sick. Anyhow on Friday I had to bring some packs into London for a monthly meeting on Wednesday and my boss (feeling sorry for me) said I could meet my friends for lunch then go home afterwards.

I weighed myself this morning and despite my lunch of scrambled eggs on toast I managed to lose 300 grammes. So Im well chuffed.

I have Monday and Tuesday off this week (trying to use up my holiday by the end of the year) and am going to Harrods tomorrow with James' Mum so if you hear about a "disturbance in Knightsbridge" on the news tomorrow youll know its us ;o).

Plumtastic

When we do our food shop on Sunday, I always buy enough fruit to get me to the middle of the week. James will then buy me the additional fruit to get me to the end of the week...

...anyhow last week I only needed some fruit for Friday, and on the Thursday he got me some blueberries, and I had already bought some to have with my lunch that day. Generally I dont mind what fruit I have as long as its stuff I like and that I have my five portions.

Now back to what Im trying to say...

...James said to me "but you had blueberries today surely you wont want them tomorrow as well...

...I dont like to have the same thing day in day out, but of course that doesnt include takeaways especially Fish and chips, hey you should blog that" ;o).

We were getting some bits In M&S on Saturday and shock horror they didnt have any packs of two egg custard tarts, they had the packs of four but James really doesnt like them so I thought I would have a looksie at their other desserts...

...I found some Christmas crumbles (I mean anything with Christmas in the title has to be good) theyre "mulled fruits (plums, sour cherries and blackcurrants) infused with Merlot wine & ruby port topped with an all butter crumble" and the one I ate last night was blooming lovely ;o)

I weighed myself this morning and despite having an extra flatbread during the week I have managed to lose another pound.

Donut be so jammie...

On Wednesday, the new Christmas drinks came out in Starbucks, and I've gone to great lengths and have tried all three of them, and mighty nice they all are too ;o).


The brand brand new drink was the Dark cherry mocha - it is super scrummy - just like how I think a liquefied black forest gateau would taste. I think I'm going to alternate it with the gingerbread latte which is my other current drink of choice ;o).


On Friday night I was out with my mates for one of their birthdays, we went to see Hairspray, Michael Ball was good as Edna Turnblad (the Mother).


In my quest to not be too bad foodwise and knowing I wouldnt have time to eat anything substantial for my dinner (I just got some extra bits at lunchtime to eat on the train going up there) I decided to take some nuts and dates to munch on during the show.


Let me go back...


...a few weeks ago whilst being dragged kicking and screaming (I was in my head anyway) into Poundland I bought some press and seal foodbags for a pound.


Anyway, one of the said foodbags was being used for my snacks and when I pulled the bag out there was a shower of macadamia nuts flying like confetti around the theatre. Yes, you guessed there was a hole in the bag along the bottom seam. James has also said that the useless bags also seem to tear just under the press seal too :o( I think I will have to go back to buying decent bags again... oh well.


Weve seen the new advert for Pizza Hut now being called Pasta Hut and just thought it was a marketing gimmick. But blow me, whilst in Theatreland I actually saw a Pasta Hut! In Romford the Pizza Hut there is being refitted so I guess that will become a Pasta Hut too. I will have to have a looksie at their menu to see if they have anything yummy looking.


I havent been too bad eatingwise this week, although I did have a jam donut on Friday. I havent had a proper jam donut for ages and had forgotten just how lovely they were. When I was a kid my Mum would buy a bag of frozen jam donuts from Bejam, and I would be allowed to carry them home in a carrier bag and I would always end up swinging the bag into my legs and would end up with bruised legs ;o).


I weighed myself this morning and despite having my jam donut I have lost the two pounds I put on last week so am well chuffed.

Creme brulee madness

My eating had been pretty good last week...

...well apart from eating a naan bread with my dinner one night in the week.

Then yesterday happened and I had the urge to pig out and ended up eating a fifth of a 300 gram tub of rosemary & thyme infused nuts (a mixture of pecans, macadamias and cashews), they were really nice. I put them back in the kitchen to stop me finishing the lot (I probably would have too). And as if that wasnt bad enough I had five pieces of a toffee crunch chocolate orange that I have hidden away for such occassions.

Yes I'm a bit like a hamster having food hidden away, or should that be like a squirrel?

Walking past Starbucks on Friday night I saw on their advertising A board outside that their Christmas drinks come out on Wednesday (5th November). One of their new drinks is a dark cherry chocolate mocha, it sounds really nice and cant wait to try one. I think I will have to have a wander down there Wednesday morning ;o).

So I hear you ask yourself...

...so what did this do to your weight? Well, I put on two pounds. I'm not hopeful about being too good this week either as I am out on Friday night for my mates 39th birthday (that makes me feel really old having a mate whose nearly 40!).

I think I'll have to be in damage limitation mode this week ;o).

Blimey, I just rememebered I also had a quarter of a creme brulee bread & butter pudding last night, I could have finished that too... ;o), and I will be having another quarter of it tonight. I think I will let James have the rest of it to have with his cereal (see he doesnt just get the stuff I dont like ;o)).

Talking of James, hes been moaning about my lack of punctuation (yes I know there should be a comma here) I personally think its overrated and one day I will do a post with no punctuation in protest ;o).

I havent bought anything new to cook this week, but did get the juicer back out and did some grape, apple and plum juice.

Ive been trying to buy different types of potatoes each week to have with my dinner...

...yesterday I bought some Red Duke of York ones. In Sainsburys today I saw that they are doing Pink Fir Apple ones so I will have to try and remember to get them next week.

Chocolate goodness

In the last week I havent been too bad eating wise...

...well apart from meeting my friends for lunch in London.

We went to Pontis at Liverpool Street Station (as that is near to where my friends work and it is the station that my train comes in to).

Trying to be good after my holiday induced massive weight gain I had scrambled eggs on toast this is part of their all day breakfast range, it was really nice.

As I normally do when I go into London I got myself a Krispy Kreme donut - I went for the biscuit crunch donut (a ring donut smothered in chocolate and topped with biscuit crumbs) this forms part of their new carnival range. The donut was ok but not as nice as their New York Cheesecake donut - mind you I dont think anything will be as yummy as that ;o)).

Considering I had the scrambled eggs on toast and the donut I was well pleased when I weighed myself this morning and that I have lost one pound ;o).

My latest chocolate tasting box arrived this week...

...I get their basic classic collection every three months (you can choose how often you get your chocolates and when you want your next box to arrive).

So far I've had the Maple Manon which was really nice and you could really taste the maple in it. I've also had the Jelly and Ice Cream too that was ok but not as nice as the Maple one.

There are none in the latest box that I will get James to eat...

Sometimes there are ones in there like yukkie coconut ones that I dont like :o(

I have also pre-ordered my Christmas box too.

I havent bought anything different to do this week to eat as I am back to trying to be good...

Flippin heck...

Well were back from our holiday now...

Had a great time in Seattle and have eaten loads of nice stuff, the highlight definitely being afternoon tea at The Fairmont Empress in Victoria BC and very nice it was too ;o) It was really ironic that you travel thousands of miles on holiday and you get served jam that has been made 15 miles from where you live ;o).

So what other yummies did I have...

...I had a pre holiday curry, if I remember correctly it was a Chicken Kashmiri, Bombay Potato, Pilau Rice and an Onion Bhaji, that was lovely too (I didnt dare weigh myself before I went after that ;o)). The Chicken Kashmiri was nice but I dont think I would get it again.

Breakfastwise I adopted the "When in Rome" strategy and ate loads of pancakes and maple syrup which HAVE to come with sausages or bacon and it was the law that I HAD to eat them - so I DID ;o).

I tried to be fairly good lunchwise and only had one corndog, but by day four found a decent food court in The Columbia Center, there were around 10 different places to get something to eat and I locked my sight on City Soups and for the remaining four weekdays made sure we were near there so I could have a cup of Chilli with rice and very yummy it was too. James was more than happy with this, as there were several eat by the pound stands there too.

I think he may even have subliminaly put the thought into my head - I wondered what that tape was about that he insisted on putting on every night, I awoke one night to hear his voice saying "chilli at city soups is really good - all you need for lunch is chilli, in fact nothing else will satisfy your lunchtime hunger" ;o).

The only other lunch I had was a chicken curry pancake followed by a banana bread pancake from the foodhall in the Westlake Center they werent too bad but difficult to eat.

Dinnerwise was where I went completely mental...

Day one just hours after arriving we found a nice Chinese Restaurant P F Changs I tried to be fairly good by having steamed brown rice with my almond & cashew chicken. We couldnt believe the portion sizes...

...when we did our mass ordering we thought the sizes would be similar to at home, and ended up with james bringing back to our hotel a doggy bag, we werent the only people bring food out with us ;o), my dessert was their Banana Spring Rolls (and yes they do taste as nice as they sound ;o)).

Day two we decided to eat near our hotel, but because we were there "out of season" lots of the restaurants were shut in the evenings, so we went to the The Crab Pot I had Chicken Tenders & chips (they were ok), I dont like fish and that was one of their few non fish dishes, I didnt have any dessert.

Day three was our afternoon tea in Canada, and as our boat didnt get back to Seattle til late, the trip was two and a half hours each way and there being few provisions on the boat I ended up having a peanut butter cookie for my breakfast! we decided to eat near our hotel so we ate at Anthonys Diner and I had the Snake River Farms Kobe Beef Burger it was nice although I had to send it back because it came with relish (and being the fussy madam that I am, I dont like any kind of sauce), and for the naughty dessert I had Baileys Irish Cream Mousse that was nice too...

Day four was back to P F Changs this time I had Ginger Chicken with Broccoli again with the steamed brown rice luckily we learnt our lesseons from the time before and only ordered what we could eat, and yes again I had the Banana Spring Rolls and I also had one of their mini desserts (they call it mini because it is served in a shotglass ;o)) the Smores dessert sounded good so I went for that, again it was very nice ;o) - Well it really couldnt be anything else...

Day five we decided to splash out and go posh and went to a fine dining place Capital Grille, I had Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin with Caramelized Shallot Butter, the place was so classy you had to order your sides seperately (this was no chips with everything kind of place ;o)). In my attempt to be healthy I went for the vegetable medley and got Brussels Sprouts (and its not even Christmas!). We even told our waiter how at home nobody likes sprouts and people are forced to eat them at Christmas and feeling sorry for us he just smiled. For dessert I had their Classic Creme Brulee - again really nice.

Day six we slummed it by going to Johnny Rockets in Pacific Place I had hot dog and fries but no dessert.

Day Seven we went to Daily Grill it was nice there but not quite as posh as Capital Grille but a bit more upmarket than a diner, I had Blackberry Pork Chop and for dessert I had their Cobbler of the Day which was Peach Strawberry it was absolutely massive and was by far one of the nicest desserts I had and even equal to the Banana Spring Rolls.

Day eight we went back to Daily Grill (I tell you the dessert was THAT good) this time I went for Charbroiled Rib Eye Steak and again had their Cobbler of the Day which this time was Apple Blueberry again really nice but I think I preferred the peach strawberry one.

Day nine was grotty airline food :o( We were served chicken in gravy with mashed potato (which I didnt eat) and carrots and green beans (which I didnt eat either). The dessert was a little piece of cheesecake oh and we got a funsize crunchie bar too. It all looked a horrible mess :o(

Other yummies eaten were cheesecake from a branch of The Cheesecake Factory the one I went for was the Caramel Pecan Turtle again very nice. And also a cheesecake from Confectional Cheesecakes I went for Mexican Chocolate which had cayenne pepper on it to give it a kick.

It amazes me how the UK and USA are two countries seperated by one language for instance I wanted to go to the toilet in Pacific Place, I found the restrooms and saw a teenage girl waiting...

...thinking that she was probably waiting for one of her friends (like you do) I asked her if she was waiting for the loo? She looked at me blankly I then said "oh sorry, are you waiting for the toilet" and she said "no, I'm not waiting in line".

Good job I'm not from oop North I cant think of what she would have made of "Are you't waiting for't Lavvy? ;o)

As I said to James the other day "why are they called restrooms? I dont want a rest, I want a plop" ;o).

Al in my jetlagged state last Thursday I finally tried the Pickled Onion Monster Munch and they werent too bad either, but I still prefer the Roast Beef ones and the Flaming Hot ones, sorry...

After all that food I was umming and ahhing about whether to weigh myself on Sunday, and stupidly decided to...

...so you are wondering how I did?...

Well I put on eight pounds, more than I was hoping for but am not disheartened ;o)