I love beetroot

I've eaten too much today, and am a little hungover still.

Up at 5.30 tomorrow for London, then early again on Sunday for a 5am check into get to Prague.

I'll be back sometime next week, take care everyone

I haven't had marrow for years but I used to slice it in half side ways and scoop out the middle to make a boat shape, I then boiled it for a few minutes then filled it with a sort of bolognaise sauce mixture, grate some cheese on the top and then bake it.

I also used to have marrow as a starter - sliced in rings, peeled, pips taken out then steamed, top with a little garlic, chopped sundried tomatoes and chopped olives fried in butter with chopped oregano and basil on it. (Delicious!!) This works well with over grown courgettes as well.

Helen... Prague! You lucky thing!!! Have a GREAT time.

Neleh.... Eurodisney! You're a lucky thing as well....

Kim.... I'd like that recipe - I love anything with bananas in. Could you type it up and put it on the Recipes thread (at the top of the UK chicks thread list).

PhatPhoenix - I feel exactly the same. I've gone back to mainly eating what used to be called 'whole' foods (very 80s!!) - its a little extra work but it all tastes so much better and at least I know whats in everything.

My veggie patch did very well this year (and still is) - and the greenhouse is coming along nicely - we've had LOADS of spinach, courgettes, raspberries, strawberries and herbs. The tomatoes are ripening well (we're growing those huge great big ones) and the chillies are flowering now, so they should crop next month. We grew mixed salad leaves and runner beans in tubs and they've done very well. We were given a fig tree in a huge tub which we put against a south facing wall and thats giving loads of fruit. I've just sewn some lambs lettuce and yet more spinach for the autumn. This year's disasters were the blueberries - we bought three little bushes for £12 and they just didn't like our garden and the aubergines - I'm no good with anything in the greenhouse apart from chillies and tomatoes.

Well, my weekend is going to be a boring one. I've got people over for dinner this evening - most of the prep for that is done now and its all stacked in the fridge ready to cook. Other than that DH is working 6am to 6pm today, tomorrow AND Monday.

We got an invite to a GCSE pass celebration BBQ tomorrow evening! Heavens knows why!! You'd think it'd be just the 16 to 18 year olds who took the exams.

Hello all. I love beetroot raw in salads, or roasted in the oven, yum yum!

I've been in Manchester today, shopping! Well sort of. I bought two books, one on crochet, called "The Happy Hooker" and another on refashioning t-shirts. My homage to my resolution to have a more balanced life, and do some of the stuff I enjoy again, rather than living in the gym!

I'm applying for a job this weekend, so on Monday will be working on my c.v. My old one is covered in cob webs. I'm not really looking forward to that task at all.

Ky - good luck with the job application - is the prospective new job closer to your home?

I'd love to be able to do a craft type hobby but I just haven't got that creative thing in me. I can knit and I've got a cardigan on the go but its taking forever.

The dinner party went okay last night - well, the food part did - DH's boss was awful, as usual. Last night she insisted that she had DH one side of her and the area manager on the other - then talked to them about business all evening, except for the few sarcastic and rude remarks she made to her husband. If DH talked to me that way I'd have just got up and walked out.

The dipped fruit was gorgeous - I had a couple of strawberries dipped in to the white chocolate then half dipped in the dark choc - very nice!

The job is slightly further away than where I work now, however, if I get it, and it's a huge if, I think I'm a rank outsider, then we'll move. It's not ideal, but the new job is considerably more pay than what I get now, is in a nice town near Manchester, with lots of nice villages within easy public transport distance of Manchester. I could potentially cut my travelling time down to half an hour a day, and I currently allow 2 hours!!! That will leave me much more time to do stuff!

I'm glad the food was a success, sorry about the SDBFH (she-devil boss from ****). I hate people who talk shop outside work hours. So annoying.

I went for a nice long swim this morning, it was lovely!

And we're having roast chicken (a la somerfield) and steamed veggies and roast spuds for lunch!

I made it! I ran 8 miles - north finchley to Euston! Then I found a nice whole-foods store at the end of my run in Camden - I was going to get a protein shake but they were £4.50!!! RIP OFF!!!

I made it with burning quads, blistered toes and a big swollen bashed-in ankle (thanks Lee ).

I came home and had a lovely bath - my legs feel a little better. I tidied and watched MIB II, now I've got sweet potato fries in the oven, not sure about them. I bought sweet potatoes in the whole food store. I've also got some haddock in there and I'll sort out some stringy beanies in the micro. I'm STARVING!!!! I've been very restrained in my eating today - totally on plan with BfL, oh apart from the muscle-wasting catabolic run

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Well done on the run! £4.50 for a shake - thats outrageous!!

It must have rained a LOT during the night (but I slept through it) - my walk this morning was very, very muddy and we came home early cos I thought I might take another tumble.

Not sure what to do.... I just went to my eBay sales page and someone has bought AND PAID FOR four of the exact same top. All bought and paid for separately at spaced out times during yesterday evening. Very strange.

Frus, the sweet potato fries sound... interesting! I only tried making sweet potatoes in to oven chips once and they mushed up and fell apart on me.

Ky - I'll keep my fingers crossed about that job for you.
The SDBFH (She Devil Boss From ****) is the perfect description for this woman - TBH I'm not sure is a woman at all - I don't think she has ever had a feminine thought in her head. She certainly pulls no punches where her husband's feelings are concerned. Poor bloke. Now HE is a man in touch with his feminine side - he loves being a househusband and chatting about decorating, recipes and shops. Makes you wonder how on earth they ever got together.

I'm trying out a new recipe this evening - skinned chicken breast stuffed with a mixture of feta, sun dried tomatoes and olives then wrapped in prosciutto and dry pan fried then finished in a lemon, thyme and honey sauce. Sort of Greek, I suppose. Not sure what to have it with yet... probably a green salad and new potatoes quartered and roasted like oven chips.

Would you believe it - someone tried to break in to the Chavs' house last night. Their alarm went off and their security flood lights came on - and our dogs went absolutely beserk - whoever it was ran away before they could get in. Its their own fault, they told just about everyone in the village that they were going away on holiday.

Hello everyone

Glad to see you are all well. Just been reading all your posts.

I've been a busy girl out Friday with the girlies, out Saturday with my husband, two sons and some friends, yesterday I met my father for a drink and then met a friend last night too for a drink.

Ricardo my friend's rabbit has settled in nicely. He is staying here until my friend's garden is secure in her new house. Ricky is gay and my Kerry has done nothing but pester him for sex she is a very frisky rabbit. However I have to say today they were laying in the sun together they looked so cute.
Ricardo is Kerry's brother they were both hand reared by my friend after their mother died just after giving birth.

I got on the scales to day they said nine stone 13 llbs then got on them again and they said ten stone. Mind you the amount I have eaten and drank this weekend I have got away lightly.

I may go for a run this evening. Hugely impressed by your one Frus your a great girl.

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday everyone and take good care

Michele

Happy Bank Holiday England and Wales!

Sweet potato fries came out ok! They were looking pretty solid for a while, but they crisped and softened nicely

I'm still on BfL plan! I've given fitday the cold shoulder - I'm going to see what happens after a week of not counting. I think it might be good, since I can't say "Oh I've got 260 kcals left, I'll have a chocolate bar!"

Yesterday was rest day for me, we went for a bike ride (motorbike) to St Albans. My b!tch came with me He was ok, but kept forcing my head forward, so I ended up all hunched up.

Plan for today is BfL weights at lunch (run to the gym and back), then kickboxing this arvo. I get to throw a big solid black guy around for my belt test Then he gets to throw me around I've got a lovely turkey burger with oven roasted parsnips, carrots, courgettes and butternut squash. Also got a pumpkin cake bar thingy and some satsumas and stuff. I think I'll be having a protein shake or something this afternoon - I've still got some soya milk left in the fridge.

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Your lunch sounds gorgeous! I'm starving.... but I'm saving my calories until an hour before my visit to the dentist this afternoon to have a very large meal to stop me going all doo-lally like I did a couple of visits ago. I'm SO not looking forward to it - its an hour long appointment which is very worrying.

I got soaked through this morning. It was beautiful and sunny when I started out but at the furthest point from home this massive black cloud floated over and the heavens opened. I looked like a contestant in a wet T shirt competition.

I'm glad your DF rode pillion okay - not everyone can do it. My daughter used to hate being on the back with me but it was her only way of getting a lift home from an evening out if she's missed the last bus. (Can you imagine having your MUM dressed head to toe in black leather pick you up on a bike outside the pub - she hated it!!!) She always used to lean in the wrong direction.

OMG we went round some dodgy S bend and I warned DF it was coming up, he said something I couldn't hear then when we were in the bend he was leaning all over the place! Just stay upright goddamit!

I'm starving now too! But I gotta go gym first! UBW

Hope things are ok with evil dentist Oh and I posted some BfL questions in the LWL weekly chat - can you maybe check them out for me? Ta

Jen, I didn't follow the BfL food exactly because it didn't work for me (too much food at too many meals!) I kept to 1,800 to 2,000 zigzagged balanced, low GI calories depending on what my cardio was that day.

As for the length of time between food and exercise and food again - it didn't really apply to me becuase I used to do my workouts first thing in the morning before breakfast with just a pint of water first and another pint or so during the workout and then I ate breakfast about 30 mins later after a shower, etc.

I'm glad I did it, it helped me be more confident about starting a fitness programme but there are some anomalies in the book - like the fruit thing you mentioned. I think that the challenge/champion programme (especially with the prize) was a publicity thing for the various food supplement/replacement products. Having said all that, it is generally a good structured introduction to fitness when done as written - but you don't need that, you need a more advanced programme to meet your specific fitness requirements. I read all the Champions' stories and most of them didn't follow the plan exactly as written, they ate differently and did more fat burning cardio.

I think "doing BfL" will put me in the mindset that I am actually following some kind of plan - rather than aiming for a workout some times and eating vaguely healthily!

I think I have it sorted - BfL style workouts plus 1 long run, 5 hours kickboxing and then that 28 mile cycle commute once a week (when my saddle turns up ) And BfL style eating without the starchy carbs in the pm.

Oh and I made it to the gym when every fibre of my being wanted to mold itself to my office chair. I'm glad I went - my tris feel nice and tight!

Hello everyone

I'm so tired. I have worked so hard this weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday clearing the area that is to become a new kitchen which meant lifting and moving lots of crazy-paving slabs and breaking up a concrete path with a sledgehammer - very good for working out agression, but very painful the next day. Then yesterday we started digging out the foundations (old fashioned method of fork and shovel) and we have very heavy clay only about 10 cms under the soil. After about half an hour I had to admit that this was beyond me (after previous two days with a sledgehammer) and I was instead relegated to moving a never ending stream of wheelbarrows backwards and forwards between the trenches and the skip and walking them over the narrow plank of wood into the skip. The ground is so tough that we've only done about a third of the digging, which means my evenings are going to be pretty much the same for the next week or so. I got sunburnt as well so not only is every major muscle in my body aching, but my shoulders are stinging as well! To top it off, I am actually too tired to sleep, I seem to spend most of the night in a kind of doze where I have dreams that I can change if you know what I mean. I feel very tempted to just curl up under the desk and go to sleep! And I seem to have put on 1/2 a stone this weekend

I'll stop moaning now and go back to trying not to fall asleep