Jolly Green Giants

Remember me mentioning that my brother was trying his hand at growing some giant veg this year?   Well these are his cabbages so far.  They're bloody hewoooooge! There is no photoshopping involved in these photographs - that really is a garden fork put there for scale!!

In other news, I have 6 ikkle chicks being delivered on Monday.  They'll be about 8 weeks old and will consist of 2 black marans, 2 chocolate orpingtons, 1 lavender pekin and a mille fleur.

I can't wait to have a little flock back in the garden.

See you soon!

Back again

Hello all

I've had a bit of a blogging respite these last few weeks.  Life has been a bit mental to say the least and my feet haven't touched the floor.  I do miss my blog though and still do catch up with all of you even if I may not post a comment at each visit.

Weight loss now stands at 45lbs.  I'm struggling though.  I've had about four weeks where I'm at a complete standstill and am sick of the sight of bloody yoghurts and quark!  I have to kick myself very sharply up the backside now because I can feel myself starting to slip back into bad old ways.

The lottie is looking rather stunning.  We've had pickings of beautiful broad beans and lots of strawberries.

The flag Iris have been stunning this year - and huge to boot!

The redcurrants are beginning to turn

The foxgloves are rife and encouraging bees to visit

I think this one might be a bit of a hybrid!!  A foxglove crossed with a lavatera perhaps?!  Who knows?!

OI! Stop doing that and get eating those ruddy blackflly on my beans!

My brother is growing giant veg this year.  His cabbages are nearly as big as me already!!   I'll try to take some pics this week so you can see their progress.  He's also growing giant swede, leeks, sunflowers, tomatoes and pumpkins!

We've had a busy few weekends too.  Zara and I did a summer fayre stall - me selling my weightloss boards and count down boards and she was selling her jewellery.  It was very wet unfortunately so the attendance was very poor.

Later the same day the family gathered and took Mum on the Severn Valley Railway evening fish and chip supper tour.  It was lovely and the weather was stunning - brilliant after such a soggy day.

This is Mum and her two babies (my brother and I!) at Bridgnorth.

What else?  Oh yes - I completed the "Legal Walk" around Birmingham! 8km if you please!  I certainly couldn't have done that when I was 45lbs heavier!

The dog has been shorn!  His coat was sooooo thick and itchy, and quite matted beneath where he gets silly and doesn't let us brush him out, so we took him to the doggydressers and they clipped him.  He looks about half the dog he was!  It's a little drastic I know but he really did need sorting out and it won't be this close a crop in future.  I think he'll appreciate it in the predicted warmer weather.  He looks sooo funny and his ears are HUGE!

Right - that's me all caught up with my news I think.  I'm off to catch up with all of yours now! 

Toodle pip!!

Lottie time

Had a stint down at the Lottie today.  She's looking rather fetching in her spring finery.

I've sown butternut squash, sunflowers, broccoli and cucamelons today and they're all slumbering in the shed.

The potatoes have been mounded up. The peas are showing now so will need protecting against the marauding pigeons. The raspberries have gone mental so need thinning out drastically and the strawberries are already in flower.  The rhubarb patch is looking like a small prehistoric jungle. As you can imagine there is lots to be done as always.

A froth of forget me nots!

My brother's plot is over the way from mine and mom's and is a complete show piece. He lives, breathes and sleeps gardening and this year is growing some monster veg as well as his usual crops.   He is experimenting with hydroponics and poly tunnels and soil vitamins and all manner of chemistry and witchcraft. I'll take some more pics next time as my phone died, but nestling safely behind the cage within a cage is the first of his giant cabbages!

More Lottie updates soon.

 Blessed Beltane. 

)0(

Spring is Springing

For some reason I'm just not able to sleep past 5am  of late.  It's a bit of a annoying really as I'm on holiday! 

I gave up trying to force my eyelids to stay shut at 6am and ventured out over the fields and far away with the doglet. 

It was so beautiful.  The clear skies and eye-wincingly bright sunshine belied a breeze cold enough to rival a blast freezer though and so my extremities were all but dropping off by the time we came back.  

Harvey ran off at 100mph as usual and at some point, hidden from my view, rolled in something unspeakable.  Vile hound.  I predict a much needed bath tomorrow - he won't be happy!  We spotted the mobile dog groomer visiting a neighbour this afternoon and our hopes were raised - however he had no available slots until June! He's obviously a very busy man!

Just to prove the sun was shining here today - here's a couple of pics.  

See you soon!!

No filters on these pics - this was as blue as it was

Ooops - dodgy panorama shot with a wobbly bit!


See you soon

 

Since I saw you last ...

I've now lost 37.5lbs

I've registered for a 10 km sponsored walk. (I'm still looking askance at myself for that one!)

I've become a bit obsessed with Instagram

The bathroom has been gutted and is undergoing a revamp

We started watching Breaking Bad and are now two thirds of the way through season 3.

We booked a holiday to Glastonbury in September. This makes me soooo happy!

I've bought three pairs of shoes

I've read four brilliant books. I can't remember finishing one in the last three years!

I've made a decision to look for another job

The man and I celebrated our five year anniversary of getting together today

My decree nisi is imminent.

We've booked tickets to see old favourites Def Leppard and Whitesnake tour in December. This too makes me very happy!

I'm just going to catch up on what you've all been up to!

A Comforting Cauli Cheese

Hello lovelies.  And a special hello to Cocojayne a new follower.  Thank you for stopping by.

One of my favourite comfort food dishes is cauliflower cheese, although these days such creamy cheesy goodness is out of the question as it leaps out of the dish and slathers two inches onto my already ample hips.

I was, therefore, intrigued to find that Slimming World had concocted a low syn version of it so today I've given it a try.

You will need:-

One large (as big as your head) cauliflower or two smaller ones. Or a bag of frozen if that's your thing.
One 500ml pot of fat free natural yoghurt
2 eggs - beaten
2 cloves of garlic
One bunch of spring onions
90g low fat cheddar-grated
1 teaspoon of English mustard
Low fat cooking spray such as Frylight

So.  Break the cauliflower up into small florets and boil or steam until tender.

Whilst the cauliflower is cooking chop up the spring onions and garlic quite and spray a frying pan with Fry Light.  Fry the onions and garlic until transparent. I didn't have spring onions (well actually I did. Or they may have been Torontonians onions once)  Sigh.  I used a finely chopped red onion instead as it was more easily identifiable in the bottom of the fridge!

ANY way.

Drain the cauliflower and leave to dry off for a short while before transferring into a ovenproof dish.

Into a bowl transfer the yoghurt, the mustard, and the beaten egg and stir well until combined.

Add the cooked onions and garlic and also three quarters of the cheese. Mix until well combined.  Add seasoning to taste. I use a fab cheapie seasoning which is basically garlic, salt and pepper. It's about a pound for the grindy bottle and I use it over everything, particularly veggies.  Because I'm a rebel I also added a shake of smoked paprika.

Pour the mixture over the cooled cauliflower and then sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake until golden and bubbling

I was sceptical about the use of yoghurt  but I was very pleasantly surprised.   Next time I may chop up some grilled bacon to mix in for a bit of a twist. I reckon the sauce would also work well with par boiled sliced potatoes for a low fat version of daupinoise potatoes.

This will be served with some lean pork loin, carrots, broccoli and sprouts. No potatoes as I'm avoiding carbs  right now.

For those of you following Slimming World then the syn value is 3.5.  It stares that this is a four person serving but I reckon our huge dish will be divided into at least six portions. I guess you could make the appropriate alteration for your healthy extra A choice.

Weight loss update - 24.5 lbs gone so far. It's the tip of the ice berg really but I've made a good start since 5 January.

Do you have a low fat version of a favourite comfort food?

See you soon xx

There be Gargoyles in Gloucester ...

Hello lovely blogging people.  A very warm welcome to my little bloglet and a smiley, wavy hello to new followers Rachel and Froogs.  

Forgive my bloggy absence - there's been a pale and wan six foot two 16 year old to attend to.  Poor KTG has had an awful bout of tonsilitis and he's still not 100% a couple of weeks later. 

Prior to this however,  Man and I took ourselves away for a night in Gloucester for Valentines Day.  Well.  It wasn't really for Valentines Day at all - we just fancied a night away and it just happened to fall on that weekend.   We stayed at the New Inn in Gloucester town centre, a delightful galleried inn which dates back to Medieval times, and, reportedly, haunted.  Well we saw no sign of ghostly goings on but from my point of view saw plenty of spirits. Tee hee.   You could tell the building was old - the modern wardrobe was leaning about 10 inches from the wall in our room!  We loved it!  Particularly when you walked up the stairs and pigeons were roosting on the landings!

We were peckish and so stopped for a spot of light lunch.  Because we are both 12 years old, we had milkshakes so deliciously thick you could stand your straw (and probably a telegraph pole actually) up in at Ed's Diner - a fabulously retro 50s diner chain establishment.  Shakes were fab.  Food was overpriced and nothing to write home about really. (my skinny chicken and salad was, in fact, half a tomato, a butterflied chicken breast in a pesto type marinade and approximately 3.5 romaine lettuce leaves - £7.70.  Grrr!).   We fared better at our evening meal which was an Indian/Thai fusion buffet style restaurant on the Quays.  

We couldn't believe the weather.  It was actually too warm for coats as we strolled around Gloucester docks.  The sky on these pics shows what a beautiful day it was. 

As the man hadn't slept after his night shift on Friday night, I left him to sleep on Saturday afternoon and took myself off exploring.  I meandered down a little alleyway where I found the shop purported to be inspiration for Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester.  

I continued on through that arch way and then there was the Cathedral looming in front of me.  I'll have to do a couple of posts about this I'm afraid cos I took tons of pics.

I'll show you my favourites first though.  The Gargoyles, !  I stood for ages painstakingly photographing them before I went in (yes they allowed me in. And no, when I left it was still intact and the roof had not come crashing down on my head).  

These two are new additions

Aren't they all fab?

What I hadn't realised is there are about 40 Green Men in Gloucester Cathedral.  I found a leaflet about them just as we were coming away on the Sunday so I didn't have time to go in search of them.  Gutted!! 

More photographs of inside the Cathedral coming soon.  Don't touch that dial!

As an aside, if ever you are missing my inane drivel inspirational writing and photographs, you can also find me on Instagram. Chocobomb1.  That's me.  

See you soon! 

Every loser wins ...

Hello beautiful ones!  I trust that you are all fine and dandy and the week is being kind to you. A very warm welcome to my new followers.  It's lovely to `see` you here.

Thanks so much for your lovely comments about the weight loss so far.

At weigh in on Monday, this happened!!

My son has asked me to point out that his thumb plays a starring role in this picture!

I was a little disappointed in just a half pound loss last week, particularly when I have seven trillion stones to lose so I made a few adjustments to my eating plan.  I love them, but at the mere sniff of a potato or a slice of bread and the carbs joyfully migrate to my hips and have a party. And invite their friends.  So although you can eat anything on the plan in moderation, I cut them out completely last week apart from two tiny salad potatoes and a tiny amount of noodles added to a stir fry. I tried as much as possible to eat 'clean' and filled up on lovely fresh veggies, fruit, salmon and chicken. I didn't feel deprived at all and amused my office colleagues by eating a bag of sugar snap peas at my desk. It must look like I'm eating all the time!!  Added to this was lots of water and I replaced my copious cups of tea and coffee with hot water. For my evening treats I've been enjoying a yoghurt and fruit, a low cal hot chocolate drink and the odd curly wurly to assuage any chocolate deficiency!  

All this combined with a couple of power walks at lunch time resulted in a five pounds loss, and so brings my total to date to 22lbs

I achieved my stone and a half award, and was, embarrassingly, slimmer of the week again. It really does prove that if you stick to the plan it will work. I've cheated on diets so many times in the past but the only person I've been cheating is myself. And quite frankly, that just ain't on any more sunshine!

A thought for the week :  Don't wish for it. Work for it. 

Random piece of information:-  I have 19 kiwi fruit in my kitchen. I think they're breeding. 

Non-foody treat purchase this week:- an infusions bottle, more about this soon. 

Something I'm looking forward to:- a dirty Romantic weekend away with me fella in Gloucester  

See you soon! 

Weekend catch up

Hey guys

How lovely of you to visit me here at Peapods.

It's been very cold here in the Black Country this week but although icy we've had no snow.  The sunrises over the field have been stunning.

I'm so lucky to have such easy access to the canal towpath near to where I work. I never get tired of it.  It's odd. I feel a real affinity with it and the barges make me very wistful.  I often wonder what it would be like to live on a barge.

The canal has been iced over for days and the wisps of smoke hanging in the still morning air from the barges smells delicious.

As part of my self imposed 'get fit for fifty' regime, I've been trying to do at least forty minutes walking during my lunch break. If I can walk away from the office for twenty minutes then that allows me twenty to get back and still have time to grab some lunch.  It's baby steps right now but everyone has to start somewhere and at least I'm doing something rather than sitting vegetating at my desk.  So far I've lost 17lbs since 5 January so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.  Stones and stones to go but again, it's a start.

During my walks I have seen coots, moorhens, Canada geese, ducks and a pair of swans who I'm really hoping will nest somewhere neat and raise a family. They've been around for a few weeks now so I'm hoping so.

This week I bought my fellow secretaries a bunch of daffies each as a cheer up token. I think we were all feeling a bit 'February-ish' so the splashes of gold around the office really brightened things. You can't feel glum with a pot of daffs on your desk!

I saved mine for home and mixed them with iris and hyacinths. Very springy!!

See you soon. Xx

Haring around

Hello lovelies. A Blessed Imbolc to those of you who follow the path.

I thought I'd show you some of the hares around my home for no other reason than I don't think I've shown you before and I've just learnt how to make pretty pic collages on Instagram!!

The big running hare is one of my favourite possessions. It makes me smile every time I look at it. It's by Jim Shaw and is part of the Heartwood Creek collection.

I have very limited  space to display trinkets here at Peapods  which drives me bonkers.   I don't do minimalist very well. We have some lovely 'stuff' and  I like  to have that stuff around me.    It just makes me very selective about any purchases.  I have to LOVE something very much  and visualise a place for it before I even contemplate buying.  Our home is quirky more than show home but it works for us.

Hope your weekend was perfect.

Love love. Xx

What is this and do I need one?

I reckon every home should have one. 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go up to a stranger and say "I've got a long dodi prod", nod and smile politely and then walk away. 

Better still, ask the nice man in the supermarket if he has one. Tell him I sent you. ;)

Tra a bit!