And just when I thought it was safe to step out in the garden ...

... along came Storm Imogen.  Gale Force 10 winds battered our shores with just under 80 mph winds being recorded in the area.  There are some atmospheric photos on FB  of our poor little island taking a right pounding.  My little olive tree was nearly blown inside out!

Of course, the photo is not as clear or as dramatic as I would have liked, I couldn't quite click the nano second it was doing one of its touch-the-ground bendovers ... and of course I took it from indoors from behind rain-splattered glass!

Talking of touch-the-ground bendovers, leading up to retirement I had a vision of me waking bright eyed and bushy tailed and heading out on to the "terrace"

(for that was my vision, reality = same old patio)

 wearing The White Company yoga style clothes and doing a session of tai chi before sitting cross-legged on a stylish cushion pad to contemplate my navel in deep meditation, thinking profoundly deep thoughts which would lead to me saving mankind and the planet.

The White Company, Loungewear

Storm Imogen is the reality.  No meditation gonna happen out there.

I too was getting a pounding on Storm Imogen Day.  It was a both a designated gym and a 5:2 day.  Not really anything like my vision for retirement, eh?  A double-whammy of self-inflicted hardship.

I'm not inflicting pictures of me in my Lycra on you, dear reader, count your blessings!

But what you do get are pictures of my day's

500 scoffacious calories.

The top one was how lunch looked, Pao's Asparagus Soup.  It is truly yummy!  I'll give you the link to the recipe below.  I haven't been able to find anything other than full-fat evaporated milk on the island, so I calculated some extra calories for that.  If anyone finds the skimmed version that the recipe calls for, please let me know. 

It must be an American thing as the recipe measurements are in cups.

The link: http://www.dce.org/resources/recipes/archive/pao-s-asparagus-soup/

The evening meal was some sliced marinated chicken which I'd cooked on Saturday, and warmed through in the oven with some kale (with the dregs of the previous day's salad chucked in for fun).  I added some boiled carrots for colour, and, well, for nutritional purposes too, I 'spose.

This dish was yummy too but not as yummy as something that is only 100 cals worth of yumminess.

OK, let the Word Police pull me up for repetition of "yummy", but yummy it was.

Now here's the thing about 5:2, and the same goes for all diets I expect.  They work super-fast first time round.  You have a break, you go back, and the weight falls off at a snail's pace.  Just 2kgs have departed from this body in 5 weeks.  Queue sad emoticon face ...  Bodies are clever, they remember, they adjust.  But, looking on the bright side - and I'm scratching round here - I expect it's keeping my winter weight off and they do say that weight lost slowly does tend to keep off longer. 

Last time round I found some great recipes for 5:2, mostly on

http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/

and

http://www.fatsecret.com/Default.aspx?pa=recsh

I found it helped to truly engage with cooking the food, rather than just piling a few lettuce leaves and handful of prawns on to a plate.

Hope this helps!

So, I will persevere and hey ho, here's me signing off, ready to fight another day. 

A la perchoine,

A Day for Domestic Goddestry

I'm not a Luddite but I'm not much of a techi either and oops, I've discovered an issue as this
 old blog wasn't posted.  I apologise in advance for what may appear to be a glut of my ramblings over the next few days as I remedy this.

On Saturday it rained.  And it rained.  And it blew a hoolie.  The wind speed was supposed to reach 50-60 mph, up to strong gale force but I don’t think it quite got there. It was, however, blowy enough to inspire me to stay indoors and cook.  Now, let me start by saying that there were no photos taken.  My serious cooking and housework gets done with me leaping around in my jammies.  I feel more workish that way.  But as I wasn't planning too serious a session, I ended up in the kitchen, showered and dressed (yes, dressed!) in something pretty much like this. 

Minus the muffler and boots, of course.
Next modal top, denim skirt ca. 2003, black opaques.

So, photos could have been taken but me slaving over a hot hob is not a look I would jump to share with you.  Nor is it one that would interest you in the slightest, dear reader.

I have days where I raid the fridge, freezer and veg basket, targeting whatever is getting close to BBD and adding those to my basic, less dodgy ingredients! 

They are fun, creative and frugal sessions.   I am at one with my inner Scrooge.

 I started yesterday’s goddestry with 2.2lbs of good minced steak (my Imperial Measurement butcher doesn’t do metric, well, why should he?!) and two chicken breasts.  Massive breasts, coming from what must be the Katie Price of chicken breeds.  Because they are BIG they cook up oh so succulently. 

So what came out of the kitchen after all this goddestry? 

I made a big meat sauce, with lots of veg, tomatoes, herbs, wine and brandy and half went into a lasagne made with close-to-BBD pasta sheets; instead of doing a bechemel I used up leftovers of crème fraiche, cream cheese, cream and gruyere.  It made a pretty nice supper served with a colourful salad; the salad included avocado which in 2016 I Will Train Myself to Like - they have always been on my Slimy Food No-Go List, but 2016 is the year of me growing up, food-wise.
The mea t sauce and most of the lasagne was frozen in portions.

The two KPs were cooked in foil in a soy/honey/chilli jam/mustard marinade.  Just one of these breasts makes a generous serving for two. These are destined for a stir fry and a chicken pie. 

Leftovers from the above meals will get made into soup for next day’s lunch. 

It is so satisfying to have days like this because, well, for little cost that makes eight servings of lasagne, potentially another eight from the meat sauce and four servings of chicken, plus countless lunchtime soups.  That makes …. er, lots, you do the maths! 

I love getting so much from so little effort.   Soooooo me :-).

This morning’s weather is a tad less blustery but very heavy hailstorms have now been thrown into the mix.  Brrr.  Roll on Spring. 

Luckily, I’m staying indoors today as I have a charity lunch to go to shortly. 
Here’s me as a Lady who Lunches.

As is my wont and my mission, I rooted around to use up what I have in the wardrobe; for wardrobe, you could read freezer, or fridge, for I approached this outfit selection as I did yesterday's fridge raid! 
M&S cardi, 15 years old, black Gabor knee-highs, an aunt's silver brooch (read as my modesty pin!), 
scarf from French market,  teal jersey dress from Artigiano, ca. 2009. 
Well, I think that are all within BBD!

Artigiano continues to make very nice and very wearable jersey dresses. 

http://www.artigiano.co.uk/art/dresses/italian-mock-wrap-jersey-dress-ajds410-product-1

Maybe you are thinking of a fridge/wardrobe raid yourself.  Whatever you are doing this brrr of a February day, please keep warm and cosy. 

A la perchoine!