You knit and make soup in the winter, right?

So it is cold and it is the winter and I want to knit a jumper and I want to make soup. A jumper that I will finish knitting and a soup that will taste nice.

 

So no pressure there then.

 

I furtively sneaked out yesterday and got myself a pattern and some needles and some lovely grey and black chunky wool with the odd sequin here and there. It sounds awful but it's actually quite nice and I really cant wait to post a picture of me wearing it. It may be a long wait but it's my new hobby and I am going to finish this one. Definitely.

 

I also felt the need to do some good old Slimming World cooking. Inspired by one of the ladies up Redruth, who always bakes 'cakes' for us all to nibble while we are having our coffee, I fell back on my trusty old favourite from a couple of years ago - couscous cake!

 

I have established in previous blogs that the SW cakes are no eclairs or doughnuts but fat people cant be choosers and it is so miserable and cold at the moment and I don't do carbs 2 days of the week so on the other 5 I need something sweet and just downright stodgy. I couldn't remember the ingredients ( apart from couscous obviously ) so I threw what I thought was the correct quantities into a mixing bowl and then into a cake tin and it is currently sat on my hob looking at me. I have yet to taste it.

 

And yet another pan of soup is sitting there right next to it. I am confident that this one will be edible. It has brussel sprouts in , which is never a bad thing, and chopped up roast potatoes from last night and a few carrots. I have named it 'roasted country vegetable' soup and in the words of the brilliant Victoria and Julia  - ''what  country? Taiwan?''

 

I have also made a pork tikka masala and it has been nubbling in my slow cooker for 7 hours. It smells nice and after doing a bit of spoon dipping I can confirm that it tastes good too.

 

I have 5 and a half pounds to lose until my next award and 6 weigh ins until Christmas. That is less than a pound a week. Soup, pork curry and couscous cake are going to enable me to achieve that goal and then the minging dress will be draped around my body - and zipped up too!

 

I am aiming to be wearing my jumper by January and you will notice that I have not specified which January. I must also avoid eating any of my special cake whilst knitting as couscous crumbs do not go well with black , grey and sequinned.

 

Onwards and downwards.

 

 

dietdevil: I love a good breadasm and a hat trick and being p...

dietdevil: I love a good breadasm and a hat trick and being p...: So I lost 2 pounds and ( men look away ) it's the 'wrong time of the month' so I rarely lose this week and I am chuffed to bits...

I love a good breadasm and a hat trick and being photo bombed by Elton!

So I lost 2 pounds and ( men look away ) it's the 'wrong time of the month' so I rarely lose this week and I am chuffed to bits and I know I am boring the pants off everyone and I don't care!

 

I scored a fat club hat trick!

 

1. Got my stone and a half

2. Got my ten per cent

3. Got the 'slimmer of the week' award

 

And to compensate for the bloody steak and lettuce from Monday I celebrated in true fat club style and had myself a whopper of a brunch when I got back.

 

 

Amid the crispy grilled bacon and Leanne's eggs courtesy of Beryl and Jean the chickens, you will see 2 slices of bread. Not 2 slices of wholemeal from a 400g loaf. Oh no, proper seeded lush stuff. The bread of dreams as far as I am concerned and totally delish. I adore bread but 2 measly slices are rarely enough so that is why I generally abstain from it. Not on a Wednesday though. Wednesday is all about the thick sliced and all about me enjoying it.

 

I got my secret fat club buddy to take a pic of me brandishing my latest award and it was only after I had uploaded it on facebook I realised that I was actually holding the wrong certificate so oh well. You will also notice that I was stood in front of the door and Elton John appears to be trying to get in.

 

 

 

He only wants to be my friend now I am thin, the fickle bitch.

I have now set my next target of 2 stone by Christmas. My normal fat club session falls on Christmas Day and they are therefore doing the class on Friday 27th. I have told the consultant that there is no way I am going to weigh on that day so we are going to weigh 2 days early instead on the 23rd up Camborne! I cant wait to meet the Camborne ladies and I reckon they will be as just as entertaining as the ones from Redruth, but maybe slightly less mad.

Witchy Liz was AWOL. We predict an incident involving mother's crumble or maybe difficulty in finding a topical outfit for this week. We did think maybe a poppy or  a toffee apple and I am sad that I will miss her in full fairy/ elf/ Christmas tree/ sprout get up on Friday 27th.

Anything can happen in Redruth.

Just ask Elton...............

 

 

 

 

dietdevil: Babies, Birthdays, Banter and Flimsy.

dietdevil: Babies, Birthdays, Banter and Flimsy.: So yesterday I was busy doing all sorts of nice things. I went and visited the new born baby Beau and had lots of cuddles and said ooh and ...

Babies, Birthdays, Banter and Flimsy.

So yesterday I was busy doing all sorts of nice things. I went and visited the new born baby Beau and had lots of cuddles and said ooh and aah a lot and marvelled at how tiny he is. Were my 2 ever that small? They must have been but I certainly cant remember.

 

 

 

And speaking of small and getting bigger, M and I went out last night to celebrate her best and oldest friend's 17th birthday. Little Billie. They lived in the house behind us and the fence fell down and they forged a path through the hedge and the rest is history. I have cuddled her, fed her, bathed her, told her off occasionally, tucked her into bed and she genuinely is part of our family. The banter between her and M is brilliant. They know each other so well. We recalled stories of their adventures as little girls , we laughed because Billie had to sit on a pillow for her first driving lesson, we sat tight lipped as they told us how they are going to drive to college when they have both passed their tests and it was a brilliant night.
 

 

And Billie's mum Karen and myself gave ourselves  a congratulatory pat on the backs for perhaps being not the most conventional mums in the whole world, but we still managed to raise good people.

 

Now onto the actual meal. It was in the local gastro pub and as I surveyed the menu yesterday my heart did sink a little bit. What the hell was I going to eat? It was a non carb day and I have rattled on all week about how much I want that half pound for my next award and nothing was going to stop me. Billie's older sister is at uni in Edinburgh and had rung the pub earlier in the day and there was a lovely bottle of cold fizz awaiting us when we sat down. Ok, I thought, a couple of glasses wont hurt me. I then plumped for the steak and specifically said 'no chips' and ordered veg instead. The sneaky bastards had put a blob of butter on the steak which I scraped off and ironically Billie's mum ( the slimmest person I know ) ate the fat off the sirloin.

 

 

Despite the fact chips weren't involved I still had a wonderful time and when the cake was brought out , which M had made the night before it was a magical moment.

 

 

 

And I didn't have a crumb. And it had three layers and a ganache filling.

 

 

 

And I am told it was delicious.

 

I am not being all humbug. I just want to lose this final bit of weight more than I want to eat cake. M being the feeder of the house whips one up most days and they sit and stare at me and it is oh so hard but I cant stop her creativity.

 

I did however, sniff the cake. Fresh air is free.

 

Onwards and downwards.

dietdevil: Ladies wot lunch and darkening nights and knit one...

dietdevil: Ladies wot lunch and darkening nights and knit one...: So today I had lunch with my friend Tara in the Pednolva Hotel  no less, and no we didn't sit on the roof because it was freezing but t...

Ladies wot lunch and darkening nights and knit one purl one.

So today I had lunch with my friend Tara in the Pednolva Hotel  no less, and no we didn't sit on the roof because it was freezing but the best bit of all was the fact that she too has lost a lot of weight so chips weren't an option. We plumped for the prawn and crab salad and it was wee and we therefore ate very very slowly. We talked about everything under the sun and it was just downright nice. I had 2 vodkas with diet coke and I did not keel over or roll my eyes or froth at the mouth so obviously the evil pills are gone from my system and I do love an illicit lunchtime tipple. It was extremely civilised which counteracted all the more messy afternoons I spent on the roof slurping magners and getting sunburn a few months ago.  Tara is a busy lady and dances and does zumba and I felt my paltry 2 gym sessions  were a little naff in comparison  but we did big each other up on the weight loss front and discuss the joys of hip bones and new clothes. A good day indeed.

 

Tara pre nibble

 

 

Me holding a big prawn

 

 

 

And a view of the pier and the tide going out and the night drawing in - lovely!

 

 

 

My night out last night was fun too. I caught up with an old friend that I haven't caught up with for ages and we were proper locals. We entered the meat draw at The Sloop , we yapped to other people that we hadn't seen for ages and we wandered up Fore Street and didn't see a soul. It's times like this that I remember why I love St Ives.

 

I got home today to find out that Debbie has ordered me a ticket for a wine tasting, I have writing group next week and a meal out on Friday, I have made soup and I am thinking about knitting a jumper. It's the sort of thing you do in the autumn isn't it?

 

I have even nearly bought a Christmas present. I couldn't quite find the courage to go to the checkout but it is there just waiting for me in my online shopping basket.

 

For all my Facebook readers, you already know this but I had a bit of a to do with my scales this morning. Hopped on and saw the words 'FATT' pop up on the display screen and it was only when I had stopped snarling that I realised it actually said 'BATT' and my battery is low. Funny now but  at the time it made me have a little palpitation which is never good on a Saturday, or any other day really.

 

So as I sit here writing this blog and the light is dimming outside I am thinking about the big bowl of soup waiting for me and the cheese and I am going to grate into it and that famous bottle of prosecco that is sat waiting for me in the fridge. A night of totally crap telly, a bit of banter on Facebook, a night in bed with my Kindle and then shopping and swimming tomorrow.

 

I haven't yet mentioned the half pound I want to lose because I am just not thinking about it at all.

 

Much.