Loch Lomond

Another test video, this time of Loch Lomond.  Taken during December 2012 I will return later this year and video it in all it's majestic glory during the summer months.

Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism, it all helps.

Dumbarton and Loch Lomond

Started taking some video with my camera.  Please feel free to leave constructive criticism while I am learning this new skill

Burns Night surprise!

"What's for dinner tonight?", I queried as I hung up my jacket after coming home.

"It's a surprise", she said, closing the kitchen door quickly.

I'm intrigued.  Hmm, let's piece together the clues. Burns Night, check. Surprise, check.  Could we be having a haggis dinner Japanese style?

No.  Smoked oysters, smoked mussels, wasabi (big dollop), sushi rice with umeboshi on top and a large bowl of wakame and spring greens in a miso broth (not pictured).  Now I did not think of that!

It's been a while since we had either oysters or mussels so having both at the same time was a rare treat.  They are very similar in taste though but their densities differ quite a bit, with the oysters not being quite as firm as the mussels. The wasabi and lemon slice were meant to be decorative but I ate some of it with the seafood and mixed some of the rest in with my rice and the remainder in the miso broth.  I'm sure there are a few Japanese whose toes are curling at the thought.

Tuna soup

Ah, one of my favourites, especially on a cold night after a long day at work.  Left the house at 05:30 this morning and only got back at 19:35.  Surprisingly not overly tired (yet) and the soup and rice perked me up even more.

This is an easy one to make.  There's about 2/3 of a white cabbage, a couple of red onions and two cans of tuna added to enough water to cook the cabbage in, some pepper to season and that's it.  We don't add any salt as the tuna provides more than enough but if you find you need more then do so.

Served with a bowl of short grain sushi rice so there is no chance of you feeling hungry afterwards.

No miso or wakame added.  We've been eating this for 8 years or more but the rice is a recent addition and it fits in nicely with our hashi diet.

Fish ball soup

No, not what you were thinking, naughty naughty.  Very tasty soup in a large bowl with udon noodles, wakame, miso and sliced fish balls.  The fish balls have a meaty texture and come in a sausage which we thickly slice and then halve.  The udon is cut into pieces that are manageable on a spoon.

The wakame is added dried and takes about 5 minutes of cooking time to swell up so is one of the last ingredients to be added.  The noodles are fresh so don't take long at all and we added some tamari to the mixture for an extra flavour.

Quite a filling lunch.

Karaage chicken

Our version of karaage chicken tonight, we don't deep fry but instead pan fry in coconut oil as it has many health benefits and leaves a nice aroma in the kitchen.  Very similar to yesterday's meal but probably more palatable for fussy eaters (of which I do not number myself).

The chicken is coated in dry ingredients which are mixed together first: potato starch, ginger, pepper, salt (not a lot), sesame and turmeric (hence the lovely yellow colour).

We like it "just" cooked so the chicken is still nice and juicy, so it's a very quick dish to prepare.  The potato salad, salad leaves and sunblush were all shop bought so just needed served (yes we did wash the salad leaves first) straight from the container.

Sadly no sushi rice.  I love the taste but it just wouldn't go with this.  The potato salad made up for it though, creamy and with chives.  Thought that would be difficult to eat with hashi but both of us managed without any difficulties.

What delights will tomorrow's dinner bring?

Been a while

Something we used to eat quite a lot of and for some reason stopped is liver.  Tonight saw a return of my old favourite, although with a difference.

The liver was cut into bite sized chunks and coated with the same mixture that we use for karaage chicken (potato starch, ginger, pepper and salt) and then pan fried.  Not quite the way to make karaage chicken I know but it's a wee bit healthier and tastes almost the same.  Served with potato salad, sunblush tomatoes, watercress and baby spinach.  Delicious.

The liver was still lovely and pink and melted in the mouth, just the way I like it.

Love the plate too.  Forces you to eat well with your hashi.

Rock Pool soup

Tonight was salmon night, poached of course, accompanied by a bowl of sushi rice with umeboshi on the top.  The big surprise was the bowl of Rock Pool soup!  Well that's what I'm calling it anyway as it looked like a small rock pool.  It's actually a miso soup with wakame (a type of seaweed) and mushroom.  Maybe I should say wakame with mushroom and miso as it was mostly wakame!  No picture this time but next time we have it I'll post one up.

Very tasty indeed and with added health benefits.

Japanese style dinner

Tonight's dinner was really tasty and filling too!

The salmon was steamed and served cold with preserved whole lemons which we sliced and de-seeded.  They are quite sweet and the skin is quite delicate.


The sprouting beans are about four different types but as the packet has been thrown out I'm not sure what they all are.  Bought them in Sainsburys so if you are interested take a look in the fresh fruit and veg section. 


Juliennes of carrot and celery were served with some halved pomodorinos.  They are very sweet too for a tomato.


Was expecting some sushi rice in the covered bowl when I took this photo but got a pleasant surprise when I lifted the lid and found mashed sweet potato with tamari dressing.


Loving this new eating regime!  Mmm mmm (for Chris I, I know he must have missed that over the Christmas period).

St Andrew's Day

Thanks to my work giving us St Andrew's Day as a public holiday I've spent a relaxing time at home with my feet up, eating good food and watching anime.  Currently watching 4 ongoing anime, that is ones that are still being broadcast and are made available to watch once a week and a whole bunch of others that have completed their runs.  My favourite at the moment is Amagami SS, which Bob the Axeman tells me is based on a Playstation game.


Changed my wallpaper to suit, using my favourite of the characters so far, Morishima Haruka.

The evening may end with a final blast at Bakemonogatari, which is excellently directed and has a really good style to it.  Only got a few episodes to go before I have finished it though so may limit myself, it's so good that I want to stretch out my enjoyment as much as possible.

ILUG

Back from three days at the ILUG (Irish Lotus User Group) in Belfast and what a great three days it was. I'm always amazed at the amount I take away from events like these, not only in material I have learned but  in ideas that form in my head on things we should be doing differently.


Paul Mooney and his "green-shirts" did an absolutely outstanding job of organising all of this, giving both their time and their efforts for free. Everything (well most things) ran smoothly and the only sore point I had was my bottom from sitting too much. The team had managed to get a fantastic selection of speakers and software suppliers to participate in the event and I was amazed at how approachable everyone was. The only complaint I had was there wasn't as many coffee breaks as I needed :)


Had to stay in a city centre hotel (Jury's Inn) and taxi it back and forth to the event hotel but that just added to it all. If you ever go to Belfast the traffic is OK every day except Thursday, late night shopping kicks in and everyone seems to go mad. The weather wasn't brilliant but it was November after all. I'd thoroughly recommend Belfast to anyone thinking of going there, a lovely city full of friendly people.


Happy to be back sleeping in my own bed again though, not that the bed in the hotel was uncomfortable, it was just unfamiliar. Back to work on Monday though and looking forward to submitting some change requests for improvements to the system.

Week 15 update

It's been a bit of struggle the last few weeks but mainly down to not going out and walking regularly.  Back on track this last week and the weight loss shows.

Finished the period with a 1.09Kg (2.4lbs) loss so hopefully I'm over the stagnation of the last 3 weeks and will start losing regularly again. Getting out for a walk in the morning is more laborious now with the darker mornings and the bitter cold and rain but I'm determined to walk as much as I can, even managed a few walks at lunchtime in Glasgow. With the surrounding woods in Dalkeith my lunchtime walks there have been good only slightly marred by the carpeting of leaves on the old Innocent Railway footpath around the top of Ironmills Park. May take some photos next time if the weather is good and post them up here.

Week 10 update

Well after a small blip with a 0.5Kg (1.1 lbs) gain last week for no apparent reason I'm back to good gain loss this week with 1.81Kg (4 lbs), again for no apparent reason.  Didn't eat any differently and exercised about the same so I am a bit puzzled.


I'm going to post a graphic every 5 weeks showing my weight loss as a kind of incentive to myself to keep things going. This Primal lifestyle certainly seems to be agreeing with me, well my feet still complain from time to time - but I've always had problems with them. I think the health of my feet has improved, throwing away shoes that were constraining my feet in any way certainly helped and my new work shoes almost feel like I don't have them on.

10.43Kg (23 lbs) total loss

Just back from shopping and a walk down to the Titan crane and back afterwards and found another supply of brambles (blackberries) ready to be picked, so tomorrow morning looks like a foraging morning (unless the weather is particularly bad).

Foraging

Today we went foraging for brambles (blackberries). The banks of the Union Canal at Ratho have some brambles, mostly just out of reach, so only collected enough for a dessert. Just had an apple and bramble "crumble" the other day so these are being frozen for use later in the week as a treat. I say "crumble" because it was made without any wheat products, ground almonds, dried fruit and coconut oil taking the place of all the bad ingredients (that's bad by Primal Blueprint standards).


Probably venture out again on Saturday as the weather looks like it's going to be good over the weekend although thinking of heading somewhere else for our fruit supplies. Where have all the brambles gone? I remember there being tons of them when I was a kid but they seem to be thin on the ground these days.


Also had a wee walk around part of the Almondell and Calderwood Country Park in the vain hope that there would be some brambles there too. Good views but no fruit.

Walking campaign

Started my new walking campaign today. Kept up a reasonably good pace for 58 minutes and feeling quite pleased with myself. Feet feel a bit sore but not as much as they used to. I think all this walking that I have been doing lately is toughening them up and making them healthier too.

Let's see how well I can progress over the coming months.

The evils of food

Just shows you how bad what we eat is for you. Last weeks loss was only 0.5Kg (1.1lbs) due to eating those damn chocolate brazils. No more! Determined that this week's weight loss will be more than 1Kg (2.2lbs).

Fit the fat way

I'm still losing weight but can't quite believe how. Yesterday, for instance, I ate 4 boiled eggs for breakfast then ate 3/4 of a whole chicken for lunch (had the rest for breakfast this morning) with a pack/wedge of President Brie later in the day. Doesn't sound healthy? Well I feel better than I have in years and am about to voluntarily walk into Clydebank.

Travelling light

Decided that carrying my Canon EOS 20D around with me while on these country walks is not ideal. It's quite heavy and not ideal for taking "snaps" with. I've brought my first digital camera out of retirement, a Fujifilm Finepix S304 as it is lighter, smaller and more suited to journal type photos. Might event start taking it with me everywhere to capture everyday events.

It's not the greatest camera on the planet but I always say that it doesn't matter what you take pictures with it's the moment that counts. One of my favourite pictures (not taken by me by the way) was taken on a throw away camera. Any budding photographers out there take note: you don't need to bust your budget to get good results.


Camera phones (although I don't agree with the concept) give good results too and are very unobtrusive.

Keeping track

Another satisfying weigh-in this morning with another 1.72Kg (3.8lbs) lost. Feeling good about myself at the moment.

5 weeks worth

This all during a week where we thought we had strayed off the path when we bought some chocolate covered Brazil nuts. It took me a few days to finish them all as I only ate two at time and there were about 17 in the box (OK I ate six on the last day over a period of 4 hours).

At this rate I'll need to start looking at getting some new clothes as everything will begin to look baggy on me.  Whoopee!

Sutton Hoo

We spent a few hours yesterday in Sutton Hoo. They have an excellent visitor centre and some fine examples of what was found, shame the really good stuff is at the British Museum in London though. The visit started off with an eight minute video outlining the history of the site and it's fortuitous excavation. After that we toured the exhibits and read the story behind the burial mounds and how they had been investigated.

Belt buckle

Some of the jewellery was truly astounding. Something as simple as a belt buckle was a masterpiece. This may look like just some fancy design work engraved onto the surface but there is a hidden mechanism to unlock and open the buckle. Considering when this was made I was gobsmacked. I'm not sure if we can reproduce this quality today.