Sunday, November 13, 2005
Yes, Chef
I've just got back.... from the kitchen. I feel very impressed with my productivity today, which is all the more suprising considering I'm going to have a relatively busy week too.
This morning, I got up late - not an auspicious start. But after having a shower and considering the day, I decided that now was a good time to make a start on a mount for a photo of mine I printed a couple of days ago. As it's my last session on my picture framing course this Tuesday, our tutor is letting us have a free-for-all and just practice what we have learnt. I haven't yet had a go at making a frame from moulding, so I figured if I could get my mount made, I could have a proper go at putting a frame together, although I am going to have to wait for the glue to dry afterwards, of course. So, this morning I completed my mount and I'm very pleased how it turned out.
While I was making my mount, Daisy was putting together a "zero point" soup. It's a recipe from Weightwatcher's old introductory material that, in the eyes of Weightwatchers, has no bad stuff in it so you can eat as much of it as you like. Although we're not really doing Weightwatchers anymore, we have started to try and eat a bit better again having put back on nearly all the weight we lost last year. Daisy made it to freeze.
We then went up to my parents' house and I subjected them to a test run of the micro-teaching session I have to give on Wednesday. It's going to be about Salsa dancing, and I'm going to have to teach 16 of my fellow learners how to dance. I think I've got the plan and timing of the lesson ok, although I'm not sure whether anyone will actually go away from the lesson remembering it! I think it might be a bit of an "information burst".
We left there about 2:15pm, as they were having some people round to look through the wedding stuff my sister does and possibly hire them for a wedding. As an aside, I have been officially hired as a photographer at my friend's sister's wedding. I'm already nervous about that!
I watched the end of the World Rally Championship season, of which I'm quite an avid fan. The skill and bravery the rally drivers show is just incredible. In a different life I would have been a rally driver!
At 3pm, it was time for some cooking. Yesterday we went into town and did some shopping. We have decided that from now on we will try to support our local businesses and shop for organic "happy" chickens, vegetables and stuff. We have decided that we will get as little as we need from the big supermarket in town. We cycled in, and came back with my little cycle-trailer full of vegetables and things. We have also decided to try and eat a bit healthier, and so bought a fair amount of fruit (at least - a fair amount from what we're used to). However, all this fresh vegetables means that if we don't eat it all fairly quickly, it'll go off.
Fair enough, we just need to cook during the week. However, on Friday we were at the pub with our fellow salsa dancers and we ended up agreeing to go ballroom dancing in Boscombe. I'm really looking forward to it, but it does mean that for this week we have only got Thursday night free:
I'm gonna be knackered next Sunday!!! Anyway, it means we also won't have time to cook, so I made a decision that we should make up lots of stuff that will give us time to eat healthy, home-made food in the week, but not take time. So, 10:30 and we've just about finished. It means we've also managed to get rid of a nice big pumpkin that had been hanging around on our kitchen top for a while. This is what we made:
Hrm, doesn't sound so much written down, but it took us all day. We had some of the thai pumpkin curry, which was absolutely yummy, which is why we ended up making another batch to freeze. It is originally from the weightwatchers "Time To Eat" book, although due to a lack of foresight, we had to alter it a bit, but it still worked fine :o)
So, in a mo, I'm going to have to go and make some space in the freezer for a whole bunch of tupperware pots!
Tomorrow I have a meeting at 10, Wednesday another meeting at 2. Wednesday evening, then, I perform my teaching duties and dance the salsa. I'm glad I got all my powerpoint slides ready last week!!
Anyway, this was a long one. I've been a bit busy recently to keep this up-to-date, and with my photoblog also taking up precious evening time I'm not sure where I am sometimes!
I'll let you know how my lesson goes.
This morning, I got up late - not an auspicious start. But after having a shower and considering the day, I decided that now was a good time to make a start on a mount for a photo of mine I printed a couple of days ago. As it's my last session on my picture framing course this Tuesday, our tutor is letting us have a free-for-all and just practice what we have learnt. I haven't yet had a go at making a frame from moulding, so I figured if I could get my mount made, I could have a proper go at putting a frame together, although I am going to have to wait for the glue to dry afterwards, of course. So, this morning I completed my mount and I'm very pleased how it turned out.
While I was making my mount, Daisy was putting together a "zero point" soup. It's a recipe from Weightwatcher's old introductory material that, in the eyes of Weightwatchers, has no bad stuff in it so you can eat as much of it as you like. Although we're not really doing Weightwatchers anymore, we have started to try and eat a bit better again having put back on nearly all the weight we lost last year. Daisy made it to freeze.
We then went up to my parents' house and I subjected them to a test run of the micro-teaching session I have to give on Wednesday. It's going to be about Salsa dancing, and I'm going to have to teach 16 of my fellow learners how to dance. I think I've got the plan and timing of the lesson ok, although I'm not sure whether anyone will actually go away from the lesson remembering it! I think it might be a bit of an "information burst".
We left there about 2:15pm, as they were having some people round to look through the wedding stuff my sister does and possibly hire them for a wedding. As an aside, I have been officially hired as a photographer at my friend's sister's wedding. I'm already nervous about that!
I watched the end of the World Rally Championship season, of which I'm quite an avid fan. The skill and bravery the rally drivers show is just incredible. In a different life I would have been a rally driver!
At 3pm, it was time for some cooking. Yesterday we went into town and did some shopping. We have decided that from now on we will try to support our local businesses and shop for organic "happy" chickens, vegetables and stuff. We have decided that we will get as little as we need from the big supermarket in town. We cycled in, and came back with my little cycle-trailer full of vegetables and things. We have also decided to try and eat a bit healthier, and so bought a fair amount of fruit (at least - a fair amount from what we're used to). However, all this fresh vegetables means that if we don't eat it all fairly quickly, it'll go off.
Fair enough, we just need to cook during the week. However, on Friday we were at the pub with our fellow salsa dancers and we ended up agreeing to go ballroom dancing in Boscombe. I'm really looking forward to it, but it does mean that for this week we have only got Thursday night free:
- Monday: Ballroom
- Tuesday: Framing
- Wednesday: Teaching
- Thursday:
- Friday: Salsa
- Saturday: Photography Trip
- Friday: Salsa
I'm gonna be knackered next Sunday!!! Anyway, it means we also won't have time to cook, so I made a decision that we should make up lots of stuff that will give us time to eat healthy, home-made food in the week, but not take time. So, 10:30 and we've just about finished. It means we've also managed to get rid of a nice big pumpkin that had been hanging around on our kitchen top for a while. This is what we made:
- Zero Point Vegetable Soup - Courgettes, Carrots, Tomatoes, Onion
- Pumpkin Soup - Pumpkin, Onion, Red Pepper, Chilli
- 2 batches of Thai Pumpkin Curry - Pumpkin, Onion, Mange Tout, Green Curry Paste, Garlic, Tomato
- Cajun Sausagemeat Burgers - Sausagemeat, Sweet Potato, Cajun Spice, Chilli
- Coriander Rice Naan Breads
- Teacakes
- Pumpkin Paste (for making other stuff later)
Hrm, doesn't sound so much written down, but it took us all day. We had some of the thai pumpkin curry, which was absolutely yummy, which is why we ended up making another batch to freeze. It is originally from the weightwatchers "Time To Eat" book, although due to a lack of foresight, we had to alter it a bit, but it still worked fine :o)
So, in a mo, I'm going to have to go and make some space in the freezer for a whole bunch of tupperware pots!
Tomorrow I have a meeting at 10, Wednesday another meeting at 2. Wednesday evening, then, I perform my teaching duties and dance the salsa. I'm glad I got all my powerpoint slides ready last week!!
Anyway, this was a long one. I've been a bit busy recently to keep this up-to-date, and with my photoblog also taking up precious evening time I'm not sure where I am sometimes!
I'll let you know how my lesson goes.
