Day 24 - Super Fit Sunday

Today I have been overly energetic and weirdly not as hungry as I supposed I should be.  I skipped breakfast to fit in my Wii Active session before I was due to head up to the gym with my little sis.  It would be our first session!  Well this was the plan, it was all going fine up until my little sis had car troubles which set us back an hour or so.  However, she got here in the end and we walked to the gym.  We only joined today so it was impressive that we were able to go immediately - big up to The Gym Group. We did a good little workout of 45mins cardio on the running machine, cross trainer and rowing machine and 30mins on the various weight and toning machines before laughing at our attempt to do sit-ups with a medicine ball.  It works the stomach I can tell you!  It was a good session to ease ourselves into the whole process and one of many to come I hope!  It's very good to spend a little time with family and I love the fact that A lives so close at the moment.

Gym over I headed home as the stomach was getting fairly famished since it was now around 3pm.  I stopped for a sushi hit from the supermarket.  I know it's not good sushi in any respect but a little guilty pleasure of mine that I indulge in from time to time. Especially if it is adorned by a little yellow sticker...

Anyway, real food was needed but sweet potatoes were done and dusted so I had a little left over veggie moussaka and small baked potato with salad. It hit the spot but not the sweet tooth so I followed it with a scoop of Carte D'Or ice cream and Leibniz chocolate biscuit.  This little concoction comes in at only 100 calories so it's great for my frequent after-dinner sweet craving.

I then settled in to watching 20 episodes of a show I'm interviewing for on Tuesday.  I made copious notes and a little excel spreadsheet and at 8pm I was very thankful to be finished.  A little more brushing up and collating everything tomorrow and I should be fully prepared.  However, because of all this work I've not thought about dinner.  Actually that's a bit of a fib I have thought about it but at the moment a Pea Risotto with Bacon isn't exciting me.  Not sure what to do. Gerry is back from work in around 30mins and may well have eaten already so it seems it might just be a bacon sandwich or something.  Not the satisfying food I normally have on a Sunday I know and I do feel slightly disappointed by the lack of something to look forward to...

Gerry arrived home, not fed, so I threw some noodles, veg and chicken in a pan for a 'street-food' style Thai stir fry, my version of Kway Teow Mae.  I threw in some sliced red bird's eye chilli, chicken,  few prawns, crushed garlic, some beansprouts, flat noodles and some soy sauce.  I fried this all up in a wok with a little groundnut oil, garnished it with a lime and Bob's your uncle all done. Quick, easy and delicious.

Thai Noodles

Day 12 - The Joy of Motherhood & Childlessness

The weather has turned! Hurrah, it's cold but sunny and this always makes the outlook a little more cheery. Gerry had a day off today and we were off to see our friend Crummy Mummy and her new tiny adorable daughter with our other friend K and her son. Prior to all this, Gerry went off for a run and I got to the half way point on the Wii Active 30 Day Challenge. 10 workouts down, 10 to go!  Think I might start going out running soon, just by myself to begin with, before I join her. She is a pretty accomplished runner so need to up my game before stepping out with her.

Showered and beautified and K ready and waiting we jetted off up the motorway to see Crummy Mummy. We got there in good time and she had a most excellent lunch almost ready and waiting - an exemplary Coronation Chicken that was munched down with Pitta Bread and cous cous.  It made me want to make one of all time favourite recipes soon, Celebration Chicken. My mother has been making it for decades and I simply love it.  Since I've been dieting I've had to adapt it slightly for a healthier version but it is still delicious so stayed tuned for the full ingredients soon.

Today was a proper baby affair with both Crummy Mummy and K's new additions taking centre stage.  I got to bottle feed the wee girl who is only 6 weeks old and she really is something you could just eat!  Despite this being a food blog, I did choose not to however! K's small boy, only 4 months old, is one of the most well-behaved smiley babies I've ever come across (obviously, based on a totally unbiased opinion, my nephew is the best). They were so adorable and although I really do want my own at some point I  know that now is not the time. They are utterly exhausting and that is just from playing with them, let alone constant nappy changing, feeding, burping etc.  All in all it was a very enjoyable day, we caught up on each others lives, gossiped about other's lives and generally laughed uproariously.  Laughter is good medicine for the soul.  We left, I think, happier in heart and vowed to do it all again soon. I really hope we do, perhaps this time with a cheeky glass of vino. Said of course by the non-mother of the group.

By the time we got home Gerry and I were pretty hungry again and what better than a made-in-minutes prawn noodle stir fry. We headed to the shops for supplies.
Back at home I heated groundnut oil in a wok.  This type of oil is good for stir fries as it has no real marked flavour and can be heated to high temperatures without burning.  I threw in some garlic, sliced carrots, half a yellow pepper, tender-stem broccoli, sugar snap peas, baby corn, sliced spring onions and a whole red chilli. This was stir-fried for around 3 minutes or so to soften it all up. I added a tsp of fish sauce, 2 tsp of green thai curry paste (just because I had it in the fridge) and then added some raw tiger prawns for another 2 minutes to cook through. For the final 2 minutes I added some wok ready noodles and 2 tsps of soy sauce to bring it all together.  A meal for 2 ready in less than 10 minutes - perfect. One note to self though, whole red chilli's are very hot and should not in future be bitten in half and eaten with seeds still intact....

Prawn Noodle Stir Fry

After dinner and an hour of aimless channel changing I decided to be spontaneous and suggested a jaunt to the local pub. Gerry looked slightly shocked because we are meant to be saving money at the moment but after a beat agreed.  It was after all only 9.15pm and as a young, vibrant, childless couple with no work tomorrow, it is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing. A quick change into something resembling cool and we headed to The Lion.  It's by no means the best drinking establishment closest to home but it is very reasonable.  A bottle of Germany's finest Riesling cost a mere £8.70.  Two bottles later and a rousing game of 'I have Never..' we tottered out onto the street for home. It was a great  unexpected evening and something I want to do a little more often.  Maybe next time I'll suggest dancing in town... :)

Day 6 - Hump Day

Wednesday is always an interesting day, I reflect about what I still need to do in the week and what I've achieved so far. Even thought this is only day 6 of my 365 challenge I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far and I'd already started thinking about what I was going to cook today last night.  My mind was running through all the things I had in the fridge and freezer in an attempt to try and last an entire week without a trip to my local store. Last year I all too quickly rushed out to get new ingredients for recipes I wanted to try out but found that half the time I only used part of what I bought and then it would go off.  This year I'm trying to recycle what I may have used in one dish for another but try and make them as different as I can.

Therefore tonight's supper will consist mainly of prawns, aubergine & spring onions.  I have all the usual staples I can add such as garlic, chilli, ginger, soy sauce and stock.  I also thought since I now have a partly used jar of harrisa which has a use by date of 5 days and counting I would lob that in too, should give it a little more of a kick.  I'm going to wok all this little lot together and pop it on top of some steamed jasmine rice. At the moment this all sounds like a good plan.  I'm sure other ingredients will make it in while I'm cooking but thats my starting point.

The finished product turned out well but had a substantial kick to it so I added a couple of teaspoons of creme fraiche just to take a little heat out of it.  Tasted good!

Prawn & Aubergine Stir Fry