LJ, your dining table, chairs and cupboards look stunning. What a great choice on that table and chairs! The paper pattern on the cupboards ties it all together perfectly. Another good choice. It goes so well with the table and chars. Your pantry items look just like mine with all the tea, flours and crackers and beans and all in the plastic containers. So many of the same items. The 26cm depth is perfect for pantry items. Lots of shelves and you can see everything. I have some deep shelves in our pantry and it’s so difficult to find things that get pushed to the back. That depth may be trickier for some kitchen items that take up a lot of space. But you also Kaveri kitchen cabinets that can hold the wider things. The other 2 padded chairs are for the veranda?

Quacker, that is so disappointing that the races are cancelled. They can’t plan them again for later when it isn’t raining? There must be some place where you could wear your new clothes. After all the shopping to find them.

Cinque, thank you for the lovely virtual flowers! Such a nice thought. It sounds like you’re going to be busy preparing all those veggies. I get carried away with veggies at farmers markets here in the summer and then have to scramble to find ways to use them all. A big minestrone is always nice, and good for FD meals.

LJ, I just had one eye done and the other will be in Nov. My vision has been getting even better throughout today. The TV looks so much sharper. And I can see clocks and small pictures across the room in detail, even in dimmer lights. I didn’t realize how bad my vision had become over the past year or so.

I ended up doing my second FD today even though I didn’t eat anything for the first half of yesterday. DS had a luncheon yesterday at work so she was doing today instead so I switched mine too. She’s sticking with 5:2 and only has a couple kg to go.

Quacka, I won’t be praying for rain on Melbourne cup day – you deserve break. And a chance to wear your new clothes.

Cali, Glad to hear that your sight is already improving. Hopefully you won’t be as nervous in November when you have the other eye done.
There is enough room at the end of the dining room (opposite the new built-ins)for the 2 extra chairs to sit either side of a small cabinet when not in use. With the family all here I need to seat 12-14 people so having 10 dining chairs means I won’t have to drag in too many outdoor chairs. In fact my entertaining seems to work in extremes. It’s me and 1-2 friends using the lounge or dining room, or it’s 12-14 family members. There isn’t often anything in between.
One thing I did notice, once all the furniture was in place, was the lack of artwork on the walls. I’ll need to sort that out soon, as they look so bare to me now. Thankfully my niece’s husband took me to the local hardware and showed me all various fixtures that will work on my plaster board walls (without needing to locate the timber behind it). It was really helpful, because I now have some confidence that I can hang pictures so they won’t fall off the wall.

I’m actually quite impressed with how well such cheap furniture has turned out. The built-ins are 2m x 2m and cost $760 (including some extra fittings and the wallpaper). The dining table was only $285 and the 10 padded chairs $650. I feel really pleased with these purchases. They meet my needs without breaking the bank.

My controlled day has gone really well and I’ve eaten very little today. I’m having 4 turkey breast nuggets and salad for dinner. I was going to open the kippers, but I have to eat it ll within 3 days once opened and I expect there to be a lot of leftovers from tomorrow night. I should deal with those before starting new food.

Hope everyone else is having a good day.

Good morning,
Lovely Sunday Fast Day for me.

LJoyce, what great work and your place looks both comfortable and elegant. How did you manage that? Good luck with cooking for that family dinner party today. A lovely family housewarming, and then you will be pretty well ready for our virtual house warming!

I really love such usable shelves!
And what a pleasure to be looking for some art works!

Cali, so happy to hear your news that vision in your eye has been getting sharper over the day. How lovely.
What an amazing picture you found, and just perfect for a meditation room!

Quacka, Yes! Melbourne Cup Spring Carnival! OH has just got time to grow his hair out 😉
I wish you were actually coming to Melbourne, and we could meet up for a cuppa 🙂 .

Well, I made dolmas again yesterday (Turkish recipe so they are dolmas, not dolmades) and they are more sausage like than last time, and delicious. I am going to make up a couple of meals with them ( and with tahini sauce and a cauliflower and roasted red pepper salad) for a couple of friends who could do with a meal dropped off. And I am making my kvass today, I have the yoghurt whey ready and boiled water to be safe, so just waiting for it to cool.

I’ve got fresh mushrooms for my miso soup so just thawing tofu, and I’ll have broccoli and carrot too.

Miso the cat waited reproachfully until 6pm last night for me to feed her. Several hours of reproachfulness, but we both made it through.

Cheers to everyone and best wishes for a good day.

Good morning SHs, hope you have nice plans for Sunday. I’ll be cooking as I have 12 for dinner tonight.

Cali, that is rapid improvement, hopefully you will return to excellent vision.
I think you are right about that canvas too. It’s such a restful scene that the size isn’t too large. I’ve actually seen this one at Ikea – I thought it was ingenious to sell the frame and canvas separately so people could get them home in a car.
I have one existing picture that I could hang in the dining area although I am also considering some of the Ikea pictures too.

Padded dining chairs normally cost $200+ here too. The Ikea chairs were the only affordable option. The reason that the chairs were so cheap when I bought mine, was because they were changing manufacturers for the chairs, so they heavily discounted the old stock to move it quickly. It brought the total cost of the chairs down from $850 to 650. The base chair is normally $60 and then you need to buy a cover to put on it – they cost $15-95 (from basic fabrics to leather). The textured fabric covers that I bought were $25 each. This photo shows the texture of the fabric closeup https://imgur.com/zjk5U80 The fabric is a weave of dark aqua and navy threads. If you stand back your eyes blend the two colours and they look like teal blue. I like the fabric it feels heavy duty and durable, not like some of the thinner cotton chair covers that Ikea also sell. I wasn’t averse to leather covers, but black was the only colour choice.

This is my third NFD in a row, but I think my body feels like it fasted yesterday as I had a low cal controlled NFD. I even ate cereal for breakfast – not often I feel like that at 8:30am.

I hope the Sunday fasters have a good good day, I’m delaying my FD until tomorrow.

As usual everyone else posts while I’m writing. Good morning Cinque and Thin, your posts weren’t there when I started typing. I got distracted along the way by cups of tea and cereal.

Cinque, you are going to have to find non-food ways to let Miso know she’s still loved. Sounds like she’s less than impressed by the “no snacking” regime.
Are you going to publish your recipe for Dolmas.

Thin, yes I did see the cartoon and had a chuckle. I told the family members who arrived to help on Friday about the “build your own chair if your want dinner” suggestion. They agreed with me that the teenagers in the family would be more concerned about food than good workmanship.
I understand the fear of Italian restaurants, especially as most things seem to contain all the white starchy carbs you try to avoid. The fancier Italian restaurants usually have some mains that are ok (veal & chicken mostly). The cafe that I go to regularly doesn’t have things like that, but it has minestrone and a couple of salads on the menu so I don’t mind going there regularly.

Enjoy your FD today you two. I’ll probably be back to a Sunday fast next weekend.

Monday morning,
And yes, your breakfast loving SH is having adai. Again. Oh but they are yummy, and a great way to start a day. Especially after a Fast Day. And this is the last of the mixture.

A good Fast Day yesterday, I even managed to get a few things done. But, on the down side, that just uncovered more things to be done.

Miso did well again. I think you might be right, Thin, and the collar message is working. I should have done it years ago.

Congratulations on such a successful visit to an Italian restaurant!

Cali, you are right that Miso is quite capable of undermining a written request, with her sad, golden eyes telling people she is starving. Her fat tummy does indicate otherwise, and the nice feeding person must be made of excellent stern stuff, it does seem!

(Her fat tummy is my fault because I believed her when she said she was extra hungry, when the winter cold hit us. I fall for it every year. She is losing it, but maybe that will melt the heart of the excellent stern feeding person? Eep!)

Ha, re the non food rewards LJoyce, she is a master at exploiting them all, especially getting me to sit still for much longer than I want to, because I am a warm comfortable cushion for her to sleep on, and she doesn’t want me to move. Or make a sound. Definitely not reach for something.

Or giving her a huge bowl of water that sits in the bathtub, because she has told me, very clearly, that it is how she prefers to drink.

(I’ve been had! 😉 )

LJoyce, how are you after your big family dinner?
Enjoy your fast day today. It seems like life is just getting so beautifully ordered again for you, in your home and with your eating rhythms.
I am aiming for that here!

Cali, I hope pizza and movie were great fun, with your clear eye and your mindful consumption!

Well, I am on to my last adai, and there is still mixture over! I might have the last couple with soup for my evening meal.

Guess who just got on my knee when I am about ready to get up?

Ooo she is so soft and happy though…

Cheers everyone, hoping a 4 legged creature isn’t undermining your day too badly!

Happy fasting or non fasting. Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants!

Good morning SHs,
Hope you all had a nice weekend and that Penguin and Cali are enjoying the last of theirs.

Dinner went well, but as usual I feel quite tired today. The dining table was just big enough for all of us, I think any more than 12 would involve a lot of clashing elbows but the fact that I can even seat that many is excellent.
When I think of how much food I cooked there was remarkably little left over. I was also interested to see what was left. From the dip platter all of the yoghurt raita and raw veggie sticks were eaten but some cheese and crackers remained. From the main meal, there was a little of the two meat casseroles left. A bit of veg remained, but all the beans, broccoli and carrots were gone, there is some potato mash and sweet potato casserole left. None of the berry fruit salad was left, but half of the chocolate fudge cake remained. It’s a credit to my niece and nephew that they’ve raised their kids to be such good fruit & veg eaters. Actually it’s a credit to my sister as well, to as she instilled that in my niece and nephew when they were growing up.

All of the leftover chocolate fudge cake went home with family members and also the leftover casseroles. I kept the remaining veg as I can use that over the next few days, although I’ll have to cook some more greens to go with it!

Cali, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed pizza night. Actually I think knowing that your FDs will take care of those calories probably makes it easy to enjoy those pizza slices – and it’s nice to have family traditions that you enjoy.

Cinque, you really have become addicted to adai. After reading your description of Miso’s routine it looks like she has you well trained. No wonder she can’t understand why her usual methods of persuasion aren’t working for afternoon snacks.

Thin, sounds like your NFD is off to a good start too. I love the mental picture of your little lizards waking up from their winter hibernation. I bet first feel of sun on their backs is glorious for them.
You lovely Sunday weather has arrived here in Adelaide today. I’m going for a walk shortly – I love the days when I can walk without a jacket.

I’m fasting today. I’ll do something with leftover veg from last night for dinner. Either have some of the veg with some added greens and a poached eggs, or I might make the leftover sweet potato casserole into a soup – it definitely needs lemon as it tastes incredibly sweet to my palate.

Have a nice day everyone.

Hi Thin, it was a quiet day on the SH front.
I had a busy day with some errands and housework.
Glad to hear the the boys next door have behaved well enough to mollify you somewhat. The only silver lining in this one that I can see, is that it’s better for their health to be playing outside than stuck indoors looking at a screen all day. Unfortunately I don’t think kids know what playing quietly means. Having fun seems to always involve yelling and screaming.
I don’t blame your daughter for wanting to avoid meat if she has to spend a week watching animals be killed and butchered. How will your husband cope with veggie meals (or is he away at present)?

I finished my FD uncertain of whether I actually stayed under 500 cal. Because I constructed a meal from leftovers. My best guess is that I’m probably in the 5-600 range. I can accept that, but I think I’ll make sure I have at least one controlled NFD in addition to the second FD, just to keep everything in balance. My tightest jeans fit comfortably at present and I really don’t want to jeopardise that.

Last night my new built-ins impressed my nephew’s wife so much she asked for all the details, as she wants to do something similar in their dining room.

The whole family is coming back again for diner in a fortnight as my sister and brother-in-law are staying with me for a couple of days. My great-niece has already requested lasagne. As it’s something I can make a day ahead and serve with a big salad I don’t mind, it’s a good meal for feeding a crowd.

I’m hoping to get to the gym tomorrow morning. It’s been a week so it’s overdue.

Goodnight all, talk to you tomorrow.

Good morning everyone,
Good luck today Quacka, you’ve definitely got the pleasures of tomorrow to help get you through today! ‘Wellness bowl’ is a great name (I’ve heard Buddha Bowls and Poki bowls and the like).

My daughter has some teabags that have the vanilla already in them! I quite like them.

I’m busy working through the huge lot of veggies I bought. I made eggplant dip and spicy cabbage and carrot, roasted the red capsicum and made the dolmas ofcourse. Today I am going Sri Lankan to make cauliflower and and pea curry. Then I need to check out what needs to be cooked next, and get onto it quickly! Maybe a wellness bowl!

Thin, isn’t it lovely to be looking forward to the next Fast Day food!
Hello to the lizards, and the longer days. And to the boys from next door. So sweet to hear about their well rehearsed speech.

I am lucky that I like the sounds of kids voices playing, love it when they are happy, and quite grateful for the noise when I am (was) working inside as it means you have a handle on what they are up to, what their mood is, and when you need to get out there to intervene.

The sound of the blower, on the other hand….

Sympathies to DD visiting the abattoirs, I know the smell of a chicken processing factory. Gross.
Have fun making delicious vegetarian meals.

LJoyce, no wonder you were tired yesterday after hosting a dinner party. And such a wonderful one. What a great delicious array of food, and so well appreciated. Great choices by the guests too!

Mm, yum, lasagne next time!

Miso the cat disagrees with you. She thinks I have a long way to go before I become her perfect servant, but she just about puts up with me. 😉

We are quiet and slow here on the forum at the moment, a nice breather before the next time we move into high gear and rattle through the pages.

I’m enjoying my coffee and hoping that all the SH’s are waking up to a good day.
And the NH’s are having a good night!
Best wishes all.

It’s certainly a lot easier to keep track of everyone when there are fewer posters. Then again, I have been promising to shorten my posts for years. I am a rambler.

Glad you had good FDs Quacka & LJ.

Quacka, I found a rooibos tea with vanilla that I can drink after dinner (no caffeine) on NFDs. And my favourite tea is Twinings Chai with Vanilla, also for NFDs (because I drink milk with both). From memory, the vanilla flavoured A & C milk may contain more cals than the unsweetened variety. OK for emergencies though I’m sure. Do you camp in a tent and cook over an open fire? Have a wonderful time. It’s the absolute best of Australia.

Those Rainbow Bowls and the like are very colourful and satisfying when you actually have to chew and crunch through every bite of wholesome food.

It is great to have so many veggies in stock that you have to work hard to use them up. Better than at the other end when you’re running out and resorting to frozen peas (I love them too but it signals that the fresh veggies are coming to an end).

Yes I agree, the sound of children playing and laughing is lovely to hear. And it’s better for them to be outside than in front of a screen. It’s the screaming & screeching that I can’t deal with. In Australia, we are fortunate to have public parklands with extensive playgrounds absolutely everywhere where children can let off steam, play ball games, run wild and not disturb others. We have two within a 5 minute stroll.

It will be interesting to learn how the chicken abattoir has managed to conceal that smell in a city environment.

I have lost a bit of weight since yesterday CalifD, so have now re-joined you under the 60kg mark.

P.S. I’ve just seen your post, I took too long to write mine. Quickly showed DD your T shirt on her way out to the abattoir. That never gets old. Too funny! Time for coffee number two and hopefully another mindful eating day.

Thin, congrats on getting under the 60kg mark again. I was at 60.1 this morning after a weekend of not being careful enough. Today’s FD should put me back in the 59’s. You know, I just realized something…when I was losing the weight there were several plateaus along the way where on some FDs I wouldn’t lose anything. Now, I always lose at least 300 or 400 grams on a FD, usually a little more. I wonder why that is?

Quacka, have fun on your camping trip. That Healthy Bowl that you had sounds really good. Smoked salmon and pickled cabbage are foods I love. Maybe I’ll try to make something like that tomorrow night for dinner.

Cinque, cauliflower and pea curry is a favorite of mine. But I usually make it with Indian spices and add a good amount of nutritional yeast which gives it a really nice cheesy flavor.

Thin, I think if I ever visited an abattoir I would probably not be able to eat chicken again. Having the killing of an animal hidden somehow makes it possible to believe they come from plastic covered packages in a refrigerated section. ☹️

LJ, wewere posting at the same time (or I didn’t refresh the page before starting). I like those drawer organizers. I should try something like that. I have 2 drawers for kitchen tools and they’re really a mess. So many different sizes of tools. Your drawers look deeper than mine I think. Your drawers look so nicely organized now.
Blue Diamond Almond Breeze is the one we often buy here. Small world. I have trouble sleeping at night too. It’s midnight here. The other part is waking up at 3 or 4am and not being able to fall back asleep.

Thin, I can’t imagine not weighing daily, even when I know it’s going to be up. I’ve been at 59 and 60 kg for a while but don’t count that as a plateau because I’m eating quite a bit on NFD, I’m so disciplined on FD but a bit out of control on NFD. I need to change that and get in the 58’s again.

Good evening all

Well it’s been a topsy turvy week for me ever since the races were cancelled. I posted this morning that I was on a B2B FD even though it was unplanned. Well the boss arrived at work about 10am this morning and tells me we are no longer going on our work trip tomorrow. I was very happy as we need to pack the Ute tomorrow afternoon for camping and I usually get home late after these long day trips.
thin, yes we camp in a tent and have an open fire but we don’t usually cook on it. We have a gas cooker although sometimes we will throw some foil wrapped potatoes in the fire. I will never forget the first time we did the foil potatoes. We cooked them for so long and in such a hot fire that they turned to powder. There was a hard (burnt) skin and potato powder inside! Oh well, live and learn.

So today ended up being a NFD. I went to a new cafe with my friend from work and I had a breaky salad – mixed lettuce, cherry tomatoes, smoked salmon, haloumi, pepitas and pesto as dressing. It also had tri colour quinoa tossed though it. I don’t know what the calories would have been but I really enjoyed it.
So now FD tomorrow (fingers crossed) as long as someone else doesn’t change my plans!!
I have always been one to not make too many plans, I actually prefer not to make them. This week has reminded me why.

Looking forward to camping. Thinking about taking some baby spinach from the garden and some shredded cabbage to make salads with. We usually have some sort of protein and salad or sometimes veggies (a little harder as they all need to be cooked in the one small pot). For lunch it’s usually wraps or similar to dinner. I’m hoping to not go over board with the calories and get some more exercise. OH will hopefully get some surfs in so I can go for really long walks. Maybe I will even see some whales coming back though.

Hope you all have a lovely evening and a great day tomorrow x

Good Morning everyone and hi Cali (I’m guessing its not morning where u are)

I forgot that my lunch yesterday also had a poached egg on the top. No wonder I was so full with all that protein in it!

After the big lunch yesterday and then a yummy beef stew for dinner (I probably ate a bit more than I needed) I was sure I would be up on the scales this morning. I weighed in at 69.5kg which I am happy with. FD today so we will see what tomorrow’s weight is – I know sometimes it takes 2 days to catch up with me.

Oh Cali, I absolutely love hummus. The only fat in the one I make is from the tahini which I know are good fats. I think that is a great idea. I have to pack our things for camping (food, bedding, clothes etc) this afternoon while OH gets the boat ready and packs all the camping gear. Hummus whips up very quickly so I think I should get time to make some and plus now I think I have a craving for it!!

I picked my baby spinach this morning ready to go as well.

Hope everyone has an awesome day. As I am on a FD I will probably check back in later x

Good morning all

Well rested this morning after a proper night’s sleep.

Cali, I find somethings survive as long as they are in a spot that’s well protected.
When I grow basil I usually turn all the leaves that are left at the end of the season into pesto and freeze it in portions. So nice to have this in winter.

Quacka, have a fun camping trip.

Thin, don’t forget to pack that banana too!

Hi Thin and LJoyce, your posts came through while I was writing.
So glad you got a refreshing night LJoyce!

Thin, I hadn’t realised it was a FD. I too like to get through to at least early afternoon before I dive into the fruit bowl on a FD. I think you have lots of fasting company today as Quacka has her postponed FD and Cinque is fasting too.

I seem to be a day behind everyone this week, I’m fasting tomorrow – busy day of appointments and errands, so no time to think about food. However I ate too much yesterday so today is a controlled NFD. I turned the leftover sweet potato casserole into soup yesterday – enough for 2 large bowls. I’ll have one tonight with a boiled egg and a slice of kibbled rye, tomorrow I’ll just have the soup as it’s a FD.

Cinque, I keep opening the baking drawer to look at everything laid out where I can find it, it’s such a treat to have enough space to do that.
I have also moved all my saucepans, stockpots, dutch oven and roasting pans into the old pantry cupboard. It’s so much easier on my wrists to have these heavy items spread out throughout this cupboard. When they were packed into what is now my baking drawer, they were all stacked inside each other. It always feels luxurious to have ample kitchen/dining storage space.

Thin, I suspect abattoirs learned the hard way, that if they showed the slaughter first they’d lose a few observers to vomiting who’d miss the rest of the tour. There is also an element of linkage too, starting with something that everyone is familiar with (the packaged supermarket trays of meat) and working backwards.
Unless someone is from a rural area they may be able to imagine the process but have probably never seen it for real, let alone participated.
I grew up seeing live chickens become dinner. It wasn’t the head being chopped off with an axe that bothered me, it was having to help with the plucking. My dad wielded the axe, my mum did the scalding to loosen the feathers and then my sister and I (and sometimes mum) did the plucking. I also hated seeing the innards removed – that also bothered me much more than the decapitation.
The laying hens were allowed to live out their days and die of old age – a reward for all those eggs. But it was a different story for the roosters. When a clutch of eggs was allowed to hatch most of the roosters became dinner. There would usually be a couple left alive to grow to adulthood, to determine which one was better suited to the flock of hens. Some were a bit too vicious – if they attacked my mum when her back was turned I knew their days were numbered.
Sorry, have I put you all off your lunch now?

Cinque, I guess the effect of being overtired is a bit like a toddler, although I don’t throw a tantrum about it!

Cali, Amazon have a lot of drawer inserts and that may be an economical place to get them. These aren’t containers, but adjustable bamboo dividers https://www.amazon.com/Define-Essential-Bamboo-Kitchen-Dividers/dp/B06X41MQBY/ref=sr_1_22?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1536719606&sr=1-22&keywords=drawer+dividers these would work for cutlery or implement drawers, but probably not the best solution for a deeper drawer. These look more like the containers I used: https://www.amazon.com/Seville-Classics-5-Piece-Storage-Organizer/dp/B006MON3XE/ref=pd_sim_201_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B006MON3XE&pd_rd_r=6236c03c-b634-11e8-9f1d-0fdf2b561195&pd_rd_w=4hR9H&pd_rd_wg=Cx9qN&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=4AKESGQ35EW59WAVDP65&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=4AKESGQ35EW59WAVDP65 If you scroll down on this page there are clearly many other similar options also on Amazon.
Not that I’m trying to encourage you to do any more online shopping!
I measured the things I needed to fit into the containers before I went shopping, however I forgot to take into account the way the boxes were measured. The stated dimensions are for the outside of the boxes, that means the internal space is smaller – I had to move things around a bit because of this, but got it to work in the end.

Quacka, LJ came up with another suggestion some months ago for making hummus. She uses toasted sesame oil in place of the tahini. Or maybe in addition to. I think it gives the hummus a nicer flavor so I usually use it instead of the tahini. I don’t use any other oils.

Cinque, I finally remembered to get a couple packages of tofu to freeze. I’m looking forward to using it in all kinds of things. Your beetroot kavass sounds like it’s coming along well with fermenting. Bubbling is a good sign.

LJ, thank you for th

Lindsay, lets hope the travel scales are just calibrated differently to your home ones. You’ve done really well to avoid those pastries – definitely a weakness of mine at breakfast buffets.
Hope you get back into routine quickly once home and that you bring lots of lovely memories home from your travels.

Cali & Quacka, I use sesame oil instead of tahini not as well as. It adds the sesame flavour but with less fat as the oil has a stronger sesame taste so it doesn’t take much. For every tablespoon of tahini in a hummus recipe I’d use one teaspoon or less of chinese sesame oil. I actually started doing this because I was worried about the tahini going rancid before I got to the end of the jar as I don’t use it for anything other than hummus. I use Chinese toasted sesame oil in lots of asian cooking so it never gets a change to age for too long. Then I realised it was also adding a lot less calories to my hummus without sacrificing flavour – a win-win!

I decided to get stuck into the gardening today and I have enjoyed it so much. I’ve removed all of the decorative black bark mulch from the area I’m using as a veggie patch and I’ve shoveled it into large garden bags to reuse elsewhere. I’ve removed the black plastic and checked the soil – fairly heavy, but nothing some gypsum and compost won’t fix. Then I carefully dug up some poor bluebells that were trying to find the sun through all that black plastic – I’ve put them in a terracotta pot for now as I don’t know where I’m putting bulbs in this garden – probably out the front. (I have the same problems with waste when it comes to plants as I do with food.)

Then I drove over to Bunnings and filled the car with bags of compost, fertiliser, gypsum and peastraw mulch. I was so happy pushing my trolley around and loading this stuff onto it – the other customers must have wondered what on earth I was grinning about. It reminded me just how much I’ve missed gardening. I’m really excited to have a little project to work on. 😀
Now I also need to plan what to plant and where so I don’t overcrowd the plot – something I’m notorious for doing! I like to use companion planting where possible to reduce pests naturally.

Isn’t it wonderful the night after a poor sleeping night? You can’t wait to fall into bed and you get off to sleep so quickly.

Lindsay, good to hear from you. I, too, have a thing about monkeys. We’ve had a few unpleasant encounters, the worst was being chased by baboons in Namibia. I’m starting to sound as if I don’t like animals what with my constant whinging about snakes and now monkeys. But I do love wildlife. It sounds as if you have managed your eating very well while away. Even if you have gained 4 kgs, I bet at least half of that will be gone after the first FD. Enjoy the remaining days, it seems that you’ve been away so long.

LJ, I think it’s good that people connect with their food supply and understand where it comes from & how it’s killed. I wouldn’t fancy that plucking business. I also don’t like it at dinner when DD inserts her fork prong into a chicken artery and gives us an anatomy lesson. I’ve grown used to having no filter on the dinner conversation now.

LJ, I was wondering after I wrote my earlier post why I can easily get through a bridge lesson without feeling hungry on a FD, yet become really hungry towards the late morning of a bridge game on a NFD. It’s either psychological because FDs are non-negotiable or perhaps the milk in the NFD frothy coffees stimulates hunger whereas the FD almond & coconut milk coffee does not. I wonder if it could be that subtle? Anyway, today has been easy and, after the lesson, I went for a walk into town with OH, caught the ferry back and arrived home about half an hour later than my normal 2pm soup time. Decided against the leftover bacon & chicken casserole (now frozen) as I have a whopping Chinese cabbage that needs eating so it’s miso soup tonight.

Cinque and Quacka, hope you’re having an easy day too. Sleep tight, CalifD.

That’s an ideal change of plan LJ – you completed most of the FD without even realising that it was one! Yes, I think you could be right – I might be in need of food earlier the day after the FD. May even be a combination of factors.

https://m.imgur.com/a/tvYQbOi

Quacka, I was excited to click on that link. Disappointed that you weren’t in the clothes though! I absolutely love those shoes. And I’m not a shoe person. The pink and navy is a great combination. Have a wonderful weekend. I’m sure you’ll be terrific at towing the boat – if you have to reverse, you can just go round the block!

My turn for a sleepless night. DD came home all bloody which didn’t seem quite right even for someone who’d spent the day visiting abattoirs. She’d parked at the local shops on her way home where she witnessed a little dog run across the road off lead and get hit by a car. It was already near death with horrific injuries when she reached it and it died within minutes while she was trying to examine it. A horrible end to an already awful day.

Over dinner, DD recounted some very disturbing scenes that she’d witnessed at both the sheep and the cow abattoirs. Most of her peers had to walk out before the end but she forced herself to stay because she felt it important not to turn a blind eye. 5th year vet students are hardly squeamish, but they all found it very confronting from an animal welfare perspective. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the unnecessary suffering of those poor animals and I woke very early feeling sickened by it. I don’t know what’s going on in your respective states but I’m ashamed to be Australian after what I’ve heard. As a family, we are in the process of re-evaluating our relationship with meat and have already made the decision not to support the sheep industry. Today it’s the pig abattoir.

Cate, it’s good to know that you’re sticking with 5:2 and have found a regime that’s working for you. I always equate Tassie as a place where people can source no end of fabulous, high quality, fresh produce. I expect the same ethically farmed meat is available here too but, as a city dweller, I’ve tended to go for the easy, supermarket options. You’ve made me think about sourcing alternatives now, not just for animal products. Inspired by posters here, we’ve also been eating less meat and that can only be a healthy change. So when we do eat meat, I’d be prepared to pay more for a guarantee that the animal didn’t suffer.