Digging Deep and Getting Messy.

Woolovers navy cashmere/merino V-neck and Clarks bootees, but this time with a couple of blasts from the past: M&S jeggings, v. old; under the V-neck is a Monsoon ecru silk shirt, 20+ years old.

This is a good time to mention that my blog clearly isn't intended to get you out there shopping!

I have been posting everyday clothes, none new.  One of my missions via this blog is to encourage me to dig deep into the archives to identify old, sometimes prehistoric, items of clothing that I couldn't bear to part with when I retired, and then integrate them with more recent buys to make outfits that fit my new life.

Maybe through my posts I can in some small way inspire you to do the same, should you wish to.

And for my morning constitutional, I topped that little lot with a quite old navy quilted jacket from Cotton Traders similar here.

Back home to a BIG warming soup, pretty much the same as last's weeks but with a few additions.

It's a huge chunk of my 5-a-day; I can relax now, any other veg consumed today will be a bonus!





Later, windswept, after coffee with a friend. 

So, I dug deep for that Monsoon shirt.  I dug deeper for this M&S navy pure new wool jacket (from a skirt suit), vintage ca. 1997-8! 

I kept it as it's good quality, still looks like new, and, get this, the tag says "Made in England" so it's definitely a keeper! Possibly a museum piece?!

And finally, just wanted to show you me trying out how I think "girls seem to wear shirts these days", showing a bit of shirt down the bottom ... fit of naughty-girl-giggles as my "photographer" told me I looked very untidy.

Did I get the look right?  Or am I just a bit messy?

A la perchoine.

A Time to Gain, a Time to Lose

A Fast Day. 

The weekend was a time to gain.  Now it is time to lose - that's the theory, anyway. 

Firstly, let's keep with the spirit of this blog and check out what I viewed as

the dress code for a Fast Day!

Dress code for a Fast Day? Oh behave, PP!  I really am joking, of course;

there isn't and there definitely shouldn't be a dress code for such an event

but this is what I wore when I happened to be fasting.

Woolover's grey cashmere/merino cardi here and vest top (looks like it's discontinued), M&S slim jeans, a print scarf, Gabor bootees and a Corde clutch.

Now, I rarely do blogger-style links to items because my stuff is usually very old and long-discontinued.  However, Woolovers seems to be a rare exception and keeps the classic lines going for ages.  But, queue sad emoticon, it seems that even they don't keep their lines going for as long as PP wears them!  The cardi is now in their on-the-way-out outlet section and the vest top has totally disappeared.  Shame, but the cardi is now available at a bargain price, so it's all good as it turns out!

Here's a close up of the scarf.  It's covered with long strands.  Makes it look itchy but it's not. 

I've had it for years.  It came from Creasey's.

So, I am digressing as usual.  Let's get back on track.  A Fast Day.  A day to make amends for any prior naughtiness.  And there was some at the weekend, the party wine, the breakfast crumpets, the creamy crab pasta, oh and did I mention the chocs previously? Maybe they just slipped my mind!  And there's me thinking that's it's a mystery that I'm not losing weight!

Anyway to claw back some Brownie points with my body after those little indulgences, I made

this soup.

It is so satisfying.  I used cannellini beans instead of chickpeas, as that is what I had in the larder; in doing so I shaved about 45 cals per portion, according to my calculation.  Job's a good'un.

 I always make enough for soup for two days' lunches so that there's something easy to hand the next Fast Day. 

Lunch, done.  Here's the evening meal.

This tasty burger recipe also originates from the same site, but as a burger with an artichoke dressing.   I did a quick search just now and can't find it there but I've tweaked it quite a bit over time anyway, so I'll give you mine.  It's really quick to make, beautifully moist and I make extra to freeze.

Makes 4

Calories per person, 290 (per the original recipe)

600 gr really good finely minced steak

about 25gr stoned black olives

about 1 tbspn capers, drained and rinsed if they are very salty, and chopped

some chopped coriander if you want

pepper (no salt as the capers take care of that)

2-3 tbspn of a relish/pesto/chutney/pickle - for these I used M&S red onion, tomato and mint relish

 a few slices of jalapeno peppers for topping

1 tbspn oil for cooking

Mix together all ingredients and shape into burgers. 

Fry 2-3 minutes each side. 

I serve with a salad drizzled with balsamic, or stir fry vegetables (I like a mix which includes lots of bean sprouts).

Even if the weight isn't falling off for me this time, I do find that a couple of Fast Days a week is are cleansing experience for the body.  Temple Days.  I do feel better in and with myself after a day of meals like these.

.I do hope you find these recipes helpful. You know, when I started this blog I envisaged it running with just a sprinkling of food talk and recipes.  It has not panned out that way, food seems to creep in most days.  Now, what does that say about me? :-). 
Maybe that most days I am busy with the building blocks for A Time to Lose!

A la perchoine.

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,