How quickly is this week going? It helps having had Monday off I know…
The sun has still been shining which is crazy. In fact, I’m not sure I should even type it as I don’t want to jinx it. Let’s prepare for rain. Or snow. Who knows! Funny side story, my parents just got back from Barbados all brown and tanned (there’s no bitterness in my voice, is there…?) and then my mum sits in the garden for an afternoon in Britain and gets absolutely fried because she didn’t put suntan lotion on. Oh the irony.
I thought this week I’d do What I ate Wednesday Sunday as it was pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself.
Thanks to Jenn as always for hosting this party. Let’s get started then!
Breakfast was something a little bit crazy for me. I tried quinoa oatmeal.
I’m not going to lie, this will never replace normal oatmeal. It was alright but nothing amazing. Quite a nutty taste. OK I probably could have put something more than just almond milk in it but I’m used to just plain oats so I was all at odds with what to do. I’m not good with change, people.
Lunch however was a show-stopper. I was inspired by Sara’s recipe HERE which I just had to make at the nearest opportunity as it sounded so good.
Mine doesn’t look nearly as good but it tasted AMAING. Ben looked aghast at what I was making (“goat’s cheese….and strawberries…in an omelette???”)
I made the strawberry sauce as per Sara’s instructions, using a little bit of Stevia and organic strawberries, microwaving them up to get them all jammy and amazing.
Absolutely heavenly.
This has been happening a lot around these parts as well. Thrown in the microwave in a hardy container, then sprayed with Fry Light and coated with salt. Cannot. Get. Enough.
Dinner was two tortilla pizzas. Yes two, I am a pig. No judgement please.
Can I just say that when lunch requires two dinner place mats you know it’s going to be good.
I used wholemeal tortillas, covered them with a home-made tomato sauce using half a tin of chopped tomatoes and a load of Italian herbs. I then covered it with a whole load of veggies (onion, zucchini, mushrooms), chopped chicken and blobs of cream cheese. And BBQ sauce. Just because Then oven-cooked them for like 12mins.
So good.
An honourable mention also needs to go to Monday night’s dinner. Strawberries, quinoa with a tablespoon of honey mixed in, and feta on salad.
Salty, sweet…deeelicious.
And Ben even enjoyed this. In fact, if I remember correctly he said “can we have this again?” Jackpot!
Apologies for the concentrated look on my face…there’s no non-awkward way to take a selfie
Top from Warehouse (new!), jeans from Top Shop, wedges from Dorothy Perkins (new!). Absolute school girl error though in wearing my new shoes to work and then walking to the shops at lunch in them. Stupid. Now I have two big old blisters.
What’s the best thing you ate today? I think mine was popcorn as part of my lunch at work…see, I’m addicted.
What’s your favourite pizza (or tortilla pizza) topping? Mine is BBQ chicken with loads of veg.
Does your partner eat the same food as you? My hubby will normally eat what I eat but if it sounds ‘too healthy’ he will opt out and have something more “manly’”, like cheesy pasta. He avoids sweet potato like the plague, it’s heart-breaking.
Hi guys! If you live in Britain, I hope you’ve been enjoying the lovely weather (if you’ve been as fortunate as us in the South to have so much sunshine) and the Bank holiday weekend. I hope the weather is just as nice where you are!
Beautiful blossom tree on my walk with Alfie
This weekend has been a mixture of being busy and doing nothing. Perfect combination I’m sure you’ll agree!
Friday night Ben and me went over to my parents’ house to enjoy a sneaky Indian take-away. I much prefer the Indian take-away near their house than ours. They know us well which is rather embarrassing but makes it feel homey.
Since moving out (actually, since going to university) whenever I came home I’d always raid my parents’ cupboards for anything nice. I know it’s wrong. I don’t do it without them knowing (most of the time ). They just tend to buy stuff I’d never buy as it’s either too expensive or I don’t know if I’ll like it or not so won’t want to waste my money. So I steal borrow it from my loving parents. It’s a very similar situation with my mum’s nail varnish/handbag/shoe collection. She doesn’t mind…sort of.
Anyway, this time my mum seemed to have gone crazy with buying loads of different herbal and normal tea bags.
Sooo I did a bit of sampling to take home with me…as you do.
Only problem is when I got home I don’t know what is what. So it’s a bit of a tea adventure. Ben helped me sniff out the Chai ones as apparently he has a talent in identifying cinnamon. He’s a keeper!
I think I enjoyed a Sunshine Grey Saturday morning, but who knows!!
Anyway so Saturday morning I got up and ran my usual long run (9 miles) which was a) tough in the warmer weather and b) tough after a spicy Indian take-away the night before. Pre-run food it is not.
Then I got back and did the housework. Not much different to most Saturdays! I went on a little adventure to Waitrose to have a mosey around. Does anyone else do that? Just go for a little trip to the supermarket just to have a look? It’s a fun activity for me. I can’t believe I’ve just admitted that.
I literally walked up and down every aisle just browsing around. I don’t get to go to Waitrose that often as it’s quite far away and expensive. I managed to spend a fair bit of money on nothing that we needed. You know how it is…you see stuff you don’t necessarily need but want… In the end I came away with several tins of tinned pumpkin, Ambrosia rice pudding and tapioca, a jelly with sweets in it for Ben as a pressie and a new porridge bowl for me. It could have been a lot worse. I was quite refrained. It’s a good job it’s not closer!
Saturday night we went out with our couple friend (you know, friends who are a couple – is there a better way to say that?). We went to a Brazil all-you-can eat (‘rodizio’) restaurant. Oh. My. God. It was good.
You sit down, order drinks, fill your plate high with salad from the salad buffet (though actually more than just salad really – they had meatballs, fries, fried banana things – which Ben adored; he had six of them).
Check out that bad boy of a selection platter. We’ve got refried beans, fried mushrooms, Greek salad, battered mackerel, black eyed peas and tuna salad mix, meatballs, green beans, broccoli and salad. And no, that is not the only plateful I got.
Then you turn over your magic card to the green side and the waiters bring round meat to your table to carve for you to add to your plate.
Sirloin steak, rump steak, venison, pork, gammon, chicken drumsticks, roast turkey, king prawns, ribs, sausages, chicken wrapped in bacon, and chicken hearts. Yes chicken hearts.
I pretty much had everything but the steaks, sausages and drumsticks. I even tried a heart. Small and chewy. We literally all tried one at the same time. It was the culinary equivalent of a shot. Tasted like chicken.
And I even had myself a strawberry capirinha cocktail.
And maybe a few jugs of Sangria were shared…
Honestly, I was STUFFED. Like uncomfortably full stuffed. We all were. It was just really hard to not keep going. They kept coming round with more meat that we hadn’t tried and well…we just kept eating. But it was good fun.
Needless to say I was looking after a hefty food baby when I got home and had to ‘sit and chill’ for a bit before going to bed.
Sunday morning I was surprised that I was actually hungry in the morning. My body is a strange thing. Ben’s mum came over and helped with some gardening. Now gardening is neither my forté nor my favourite thing to do. So I did some cupboard organising while they worked away like troopers and then I helped a bit at the end…I know where my talents lie I am massively impressed at what they achieved and hugely grateful for my mother-in-law’s expertise and help.
This is what it looked like before.
But without the flowers. Basically we just had two main plants and then a barren wasteland of cracked soil because Ben and me are rubbish with anything that requires more than watering. One of those plants is a blueberry plant and honestly I have no idea how it survived. It’s a fighter.
And this is what it looks like now.
So much tidier and easier to deal with now. It looks rather posh, if I do say so myself!
My little blueberry plant is standing strong
And the cupboards are all nice and clean and organised as well
Monday I got up and ran an even warmer 6 miles. Really, really tough. My legs felt like lead.
Not fun. Enough said.
Then I enjoyed a bit of solo shopping. Don’t get me wrong, I love going with my mum or friends or Ben (if I fancy enduring his sighs and not-so-subtle moaning), but sometimes it’s nice to whizz round on a mission by yourself. I stopped for a take-away coffee with hazelnut syrup and then speeded on.
The only tough thing is trying to decide if something looks nice. Which involves a lot of photo taking and sending the pictures to Ben to harass ask him for his opinion.
Lots of dresses were purchased (even though I told myself to buy something other than dresses). And a pair of wedges, yay!
And a few tops. A very good haul!
Now I’m just relaxing. All in all an entirely fabulous Bank holiday weekend.
What have you gotten up to this weekend? Have you had the Monday off?
Have you been to an all-you-can eat restaurant before? They are my nemesis…I just can’t stop myself.
Hi guys, we made it to Wednesday and May amazingly enough! Actually this week hasn’t been that much of a drag for me. The sun has been shining and work has been good. Aaaaaaand we booked a holiday! I am so excited about this. We are going to…*drum roll* Mexico! We’re heading for 10 days all-inclusive to a resort in Playacar for September of this year to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. I’ve never been to an all-inclusive so this is rather exciting for me.
Usually I’m not a beach fan as I get bored. There’s only so much lounging around I can do. But with this resort they have loads of planned activities, sight-seeing opportunities and water sports. It’s a compromise between Ben and me as Ben likes holidays where he does nothing (bless him he could have two weeks off just playing the Xbox I imagine) but I need something to do. So this works out well!
Right, enough of that. It’s time for What I ate Wednesday.
Breakfast has been the usual business. Oatmeal, almond milk. Fabulously filling though, yes, predictable….
Boring maybe, delicious definitely.
Lunch has been my usual salad. With tuna and lots of veggies.
Next I had popcorn, which I currently have a huge obsession for at the moment.
I prefer it salted for lunch, though I do love sweet popcorn too. Or a mixture…yum.
And then for afters (do people still say that??) I had Greek yogurt with organic strawberries. Oooh err.
I thought I’d go crazy and push the boat out and have some organic strawberries as they weren’t that much more expensive than the normal ones (and, if you caught one of my previous posts, I’ve been doing some thinking about organic). It’s crazy that alongside the British strawberries you can buy Spanish ones cheaper. What a way to make people buy locally sourced! Ha. Come on, Britain, get behind your farmers.
An honourable mention needs to be made to lunch on Sunday though as it rocked my world.
Roast chicken, roasted butternut squash and broad beans…with of course:
BBQ sauce! I didn’t actually use any of the apple and fig chutney as the BBQ sauce stole my heart. Though the chutney has been a star in many salads. Both are keepers. Yum.
Work snackages have been in the form of my Graze boxes…
In the box I got mini banana cake with an ‘afternoon infusion’ teabag, some pretzelly things, crackers with a salsa dip and some Japanese crackers. Fabulously tasty.
Dinner last night was a new-to-me recipe. I was inspired by Jess’s recipe HERE.
I really enjoyed these stuffed peppers. I filled them with lean beef mince cooked in chopped tomatoes, herbs and some crumbled beef stock cubes. I ten added a big tablespoon of cream cheese just because
Then I popped the mince in the peppers and oven cooked them for about 15 mins. I love this photo of the peppers in the oven. Bless Alfie for photo bombing.
I popped the peppers in a muffin tray to make sure they didn’t fall over and it worked well! Ben and I had two of these bad boys each.
I had mine with broad beans. Really enjoyed this meal.
Evening snackages come in the form of some chocolate that really needed eating (doesn’t it all…?)
These were from a box of truffles that we’ve had loafing around for ages. I’m forcing myself to use up all our chocolate supplies before allowing myself to buy any more (specifically Lindt). Otherwise we just get backlogged with chocolate we’re not going to eat because there’s always the better Lindt option. *sighs* It’s a hard life I know
I snack on other stuff during the day (fruit & Snack a Jacks) but it’s all fairly standard and boring!
Fitness-wise, it’s been my standard running. Last week I managed to get my mileage up to 32.5miles!
Monday: 6 miles tempo
Tuesday: 3 miles interval
Wednesday: 5.5 miles no particular goal
Thursday: 8 mile with the running club
Friday: rest
Saturday: 10 mile long run
Sunday: rest
I’ve been loving it! My body seems to be copying well, no twinges, no aches, no nothing! Though I have been gently increasing my mileage to help prevent any shocks to the system.
I love the variety I have as well. Monday and Tuesday are solo runs stupidly early in the morning (but lovely and light now thankfully). Wednesday is a lunch-time run usually with guys from work. Thursday is my running club and Saturday is my favourite long run listening to a good podcast.
And here’s what I wore:
The dress is one of the ones I got from Camden market, belt and necklace are from Accessorize, leggings and cardigan from New Look
Nothing else to report. Did I mention I’ve booked a holiday to Mexico…? Shoot, I already did? Whoops I promise I won’t go on about it hehe.
Runners out there, what kind of mileage do you like to hit during a week?
Do you, like me, hate wasting food? The chocolate truffles are no where near as good as Lindt but I can’t throw them away. I hate throwing food away!!
**SlimKicker have finally got back to me on who won the giveaway. They chose:
So Angela, please email me and we can arrange your winnings! 🙂 **
I’m not going to lie. This week has been tough. I feel like I’ve been chasing my tail and never quite catching it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being busy and I love having goals to hit and chunky bits of work to get my teeth into but I feel like everything has slipped.
Yesterday (Thursday) was a really tough day in terms of work. I felt frazzled by the end. And the annoying thing was that I really wanted to get to running club in the evening but because work went on longing than I thought it would it meant I had to miss it as I just couldn’t have made it there on time.
I know that this is completely ridiculous but it really stressed me out. I had my whole evening planned, I had geared myself up all day to go and then suddenly the realisation hit when I was supposed to be leaving by 5pm I was still sat there at 6pm that it wasn’t going to happen. I am a rigid person, I know that. I’m not that flexible in that when I have something planned it’s a big deal for me to just miss it. Don’t get me wrong, in this circumstance I know that work was far more important and I don’t regret staying. But it really got to me. I felt stressed inside all the way home. It wasn’t just the disappointment of not going to running club or missing a run, it was just the whole messing up of my plan. I really need to work on this. This can’t be healthy. In the past I have found myself getting really annoyed or upset when my routine is shifted. Even if it’s outside my control. Please tell me someone else gets this way too?
Anyway it’s Friday!
Because I missed my run last night, I ran this morning. Unfortunately this meant getting up at 5.50am so I wouldn’t be late for work. But when my alarm went off I actually wasn’t that tired and felt raring to go.
It was a nice clear morning so it was good to be outside. But I would have preferred to have run last night with the guys from the club!
Food-wise, like I said, this week things have slipped. I had planned a few meals but with time just running out it just wasn’t going to happen. However, I’m pleased to say that didn’t mean turning to microwave meals. Not that there’s anything wrong with eating them once in a while don’t get me wrong. But I’m not a big fan and I never think the portions are that big! And any vegetables are just horribly soggy and pathetic.
So a couple of evenings this week we’ve had ‘wing-it’ meals. For example, the other night we had chicken with a salsa and cream cheese sauce. Such a simple meal!
Chicken with Salsa & Cream Cheese Sauce (Serves 2)
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 white onion, diced
half a zucchini, small chunks
3-4 mushrooms, sliced
Half jar of salsa (I used just a supermarket chunky mild version)
Large tbs. cream cheese
Spices (I used paprika, garlic powder, salt & pepper)
Literally took next to no time. The most onerous thing was chopping the veg! Very tasty. We had this twice. The second time we had it I threw in some torn mozzarella as well and it became even more cheesy and rich. Really tasty, this is definitely one for our rotation!
On a food related note… Ages ago I bought a banana holder so I could carry my banana around in my handbag with ease. I have such a hate for bruising my bananas and getting all battered. I have been known in the past to carry a banana in my handbag covered in a thick clean sock to protect it. I did this once when I was going on holiday with some friends and when I went through security the security guys searched my bag and found my sock covered banana. Literally the most embarrassing experience of my life. That obviously all my friends saw. I’ll never forget the security guard’s bewildered face. Anyway, so along came the banana holder…
A large yellow, er, strangely shaped object I think you’ll agree… This lives in my desk drawer at work because, well, I just don’t use it. I tend to buy my bananas at work to avoid the transportation issue from home. One of my colleagues saw this object in my drawer and there commenced a lot of awkward explaining that this was purely a BANANA HOLDER and nothing else.
*Sighs* Seriously, bananas, you have caused my life no end of embarrassment.
And because I haven’t shared my outfits with you in a while (not that they’ve been that interesting I must admit)…here’s my outfit du jour!
Cardigan and leggings from New Look, shirt-dress from Dorothy Perkins
No thick woollen jumper, no huge scarf curled around my neck a million times – a more spring-like ensemble finally! I can’t wait to finally stop wearing cardigans and allow my arms to see the sun. Yes, Britain, I said SUN. Make it happen.
Fingers crossed the weather is spring-like where you are! Have a great weekend people!
Do you get stressed when your routine is messed up? How do you cope?
Bananas: are fanatical about bruising them like me? Or are you not too bothered?
Any embarrassing fruit-related stories? No judgement here
Hi all! And it’s Friday! Honestly this week has positively zoomed by, which is always lovely. I’m glad to be back at home after going to Derby again! Here’s a recap of my week. This might be a bit long, so apologies in advance!
Monday I did a 6 mile run which as I’ve said previously was really hard as I was still tired from the long run at the weekend. I should have delayed the run until the Tuesday but foolishly didn’t.
Though I’m happy with those numbers, I’m not happy with the run. It was a struggle the whole damn time. I’d much prefer a slow and enjoyable run then a fast and difficult one.
Tuesday I decided not to run – good decision! I needed to let my body rest. I love running but I need to give it time to ‘heal’. In the evening it was my mother-in-law’s birthday so we went out for dinner with her and Ben. It was such good fun. We caught up and celebrated with good food and, because I was driving, they had a few glasses of wine. I’m not a big drinker so I don’t mind at all not drinking! I love a big glass of diet coke, such a treat.
The food was deeeeelicious. For starter, I had scallops:
Heavenly!
Then for main I was craving something meaty, so went for half a chicken in a Mediterranean marinade with roasted vegetables.
Though I usually hate the skin on chicken, this was so crispy and yummy it couldn’t possibly not be eaten. It was really infused with flavour.
And well, a celebration isn’t a celebration without some pudding surely? Ben went for a knickerbocker glory.
I think he was happy
And Ben’s mum and I shared a PUDDING PLATTER. Now clearly these are not mini-versions of ordinary puddings. No, no. These are full sized fat boy puddings. And yes, of course we ate it all.
Chocolate brownie, treacle tart, crème brûlée, apple crumble, custard and ice cream. Hello heaven, I have arrived. Though I must admit Ben took the crème brûlée off our hands as we both weren’t big fans. And let’s be honest here, people, there was some strategic planning that had to be done in terms of how much our stomachs would allow.
So a really lovely evening. Good food and good company
Wednesday I went running with two guys at work at lunchtime which went really well, despite being fairly windy. I didn’t feel that I had to run next to them the entire time so ‘sped’ off from them a bit towards the end as I wanted to make it worthwhile to me. Sorry if that sounds really arrogant, but they don’t run on a regular basis like I do so I had a slight advantage on them. I got a cheeky 3 miles in under 24 mins which I’m happy with
Then in the afternoon I headed up to Derby with another colleague, arriving there in the evening ravenous for food. We picked the hotel restaurant for sheer ease and the fact that it was good the last time we came up.
I had a haddock fishcake with a poached egg and mustard sauce with courgette parmesan frites on the side. Absolutely delicious. I was dubious ordering the fishcake as it sounded quite dull (hence ordering the frites) but it was so chunky and fluffy and the sauce, though quite rich, was a great accompaniment. Do I need to tell you how good the frites were??
In the morning I headed to the gym for the dreadmill treadmill. I made the below interval plan to follow beforehand as I didn’t want to just run aimlessly because I’d die of boredom.
I was a sweaty mess afterwards! It was just over 3 miles in 36 minutes in total.
After getting showered, I got into my smart stuff again. At work usually it’s all very casual, but when we’re on a customer site I wear much more smart outfits.
Ohhh and I had such a hair-washing related disaster. I always take little travel pots of shampoo and conditioner with my when I go away. Just generic little pots that I fill up myself with whatever I have at home. I still had some left from last week so just topped it up. When I was in the shower after shampooing my hair I grabbed my conditioner only to find it also contained shampoo. Clearly at home I’d just mindlessly filled the wrong pots. Idiot that I am. But in the end my hair was alright. Just a bit less shiny! Really confusing for me in the shower though haha.
Then breakfast. Now last week I had bacon and eggs and though I did enjoy it, you know me…I love my oatmeal. So I asked the waitress if I could order some (as there wasn’t any at the buffet area, nor any menus) and, hurrah, she said that was absolutely fine.
Obviously with a good mug of black coffee and water. Comparing to last week, porridge definitely fills me up for a lot longer than bacon and eggs.
Then a day full of meetings, with a brief stop for buffet lunch. Once again lots of ‘picky’ food and sandwiches.
I had this and another ham sandwich (bit of baguette?) and a mini scotch egg. Not normally something I’d have for lunch but definitely filled a whole. By the end of the day, my brain was whirling with all the information and talking that had happened.
As a reward for our hard day, we decided to go to Jamie’s Italian again…well, if we must!
Sorry, bad lighting (again…). This was fish plank which basically was a board full of fishy delights: smoked salmon, a piece of bruschetta with mackerel pate, a slice of fontina cheese with a sweet jam on top, some shell fish, a salad of shredded carrots and pickles, and then a couple of sardines (pilchards?) in a breadcrumb with a tartar sauce for dipping. Ermmm, amazing! It sounds a lot but each thing was very small so it was like a tasting platter.
As much as I really wanted to eat the turkey Milanese again (I love, love that meal), I decided to try something else. Plus I was loving the fish!
I had a piece of white fish baked in a bag with a tomato sauce and shell fish alongside. This was all on top of some amazingly fluffy bulgur wheat.
I hated it
As much as I was loving the meals, I’d now eaten out three nights in a row (each time two courses) and my tummy was feeling a bit worse for wear. I went to bed not feeling my best I have to say. Nothing against Jamie’s food OBVIOUSLY. But I think I was starting to get tired of all this rich and new food. Sometimes you just want some good old fashion chicken with sweet potato, you know?
Today I woke up really not wanting to go to the gym. I dragged my bum there though and thought I’d just try a quick run and then see how I felt. I had planned to do some hill running. Ha. That didn’t happen. I watched some news on the TV while running and it helped take my mind of the dullness and the fact I didn’t want to be there. In the end though I ran 4 miles!
Mind over matter and all that! Then I got myself showered and smart for the day.
When I’m in a hotel room I like to make as little mess as possible – is that weird? I always unpack only the bare minimum and pack away stuff as soon as I’m done with it. I’m a bit OCD like that – I just like no clutter Anyone else the same?
Thankfully today was only a half day so we left at midday and I was home by 3ish. I’ve been on a mad tidying and washing spree as we’re off tomorrow skiing. I still need to pack and do some ironing but I thought I’d write my last post before I go on holiday.
I plan on getting up early tomorrow and getting in a 12 mile run. I’m panicking a bit that all the work I’ve done on my endurance in my long runs and general speed will disappear while I’m off skiing. I know this is ridiculous but I just hope skiing sort of maintains something! It’ll be fine. Stop being stupid, Anna.
Right, you lovely people, have a lovely weekend and week! Please keep your fingers crossed that I don’t break something – I’m so clumsy, if I was to hurt myself it would probably be falling over while walking to a restaurant.
What do you have for breakfast in hotels when you can’t have your normal stuff?
Do you like to keep things tidy when you’re away, or do you just relax and not worry about it?
Do you prefer wearing smart stuff to work or more casual?