Will you have a COVID test, Amazon? Very important to be vigilant.
Get well soon. P

Back in the 90s, I had a job in a mail order company, run on the bosses farm. We used to drag great big computers, with long extension cords, out into the garden to enjoy the sun! Wirked like a treat!
Mmm..zucchinis..I haven’t grown them for years, as they devour so much room, but, if they are hardy, I might try them again. P

We are paying up to $40 per kilo for courgettes at the moment – or would be if we were silly enough to buy them. No supply from Aus, and not in season here! Will put in a plant when it warms up.

Hope it’s only a cold, Amazon.

Poor you, Amazon! Lots of tissues, apple cider vinegar and sitting up to sleep? Get better soon. P

Hi everyone,

I’m still full of cold but feeling fine and sleeping well.

I had a good day yesterday eating wise. I had Coronation chicken made with leftovers served on a bed of salad which was perfect for a 37C day.
I also made some Union Square bar nuts and if you don’t want to be blaming me for eating too many of them DO NOT look up the recipe 😆

It’s cooler today and there is a nice breeze which is welcome after yesterday’s sirocco.

The courgettes are going to get their moment in the sun today or should I say in the pan then onto the plate. When I watered the veggie plants last night I was very pleased to see lots of little finger sized courgettes and spent a moment admiring the ripening tomatoes (it doesn’t take much to please me these days 🤣 ).

Happy,

Michael Mosley has a new TV series starting on Wednesday 9pm Channel 4 introducing a quick weight loss plan which might be worth trying in the short term to aid getting back into regular fasting. I’ve set a reminder on the TV.

I’ve not been to any Zoom parties but that’s probably a good thing as I’m more than capable of drinking too many G&Ts without company……….. 🤪

I know how you feel, Happy. We have all become used to not having people in our houses and nothing has really changed regarding the pandemic, has it?
I have not had anyone here to eat, but we have eaten at our daughter’s twice… trying to keep our distance. Having someone stay is a whole different ballgame, isn’t it? Tough call.
I don’t need to be told about the rubber tyre, I am just covering it with thick jumpers at present. 🤭🤭

I’m lying, snuggled up in bed, quietly imagining Amazon’s intriguing nut bars, when a loud crashing and banging has started on the metal roof above me! A brush turkey has obviously managed to fly up onto our 2 storey roof! They are a very heavy bird, that normally only walk on the ground, roosting on low foods or branches. We never had one up on our roof before. The noise was a rude wakeup call!
Fast day here too. No food for the next 12 hours…

Good luck with your new regemin, B. I’m finding the 2 full fasts a week has reduced my hunger levels again considerably. I am no longer craving white carbs and loving mostly highly flavoured vegetarian meals, with the occasional meat dish. Seems to suit me. P

Mr P is like that. Lucky you. I get ravenously hungry, plan meals, mentally, all the time. He can happily wait infinitely for the next food, but, left to his own devices, will choose very unwisely!
Just looked up Nigella’s recipe for the bar nuts…mmmm…now I’m salivating, first thing on a fast day. 🤭😒😒😒🙄🙄😬

Hi everyone,

Barata,

Do you never think, “oh I fancy a glass of wine” or “I think I’ll have a slice of cake with this coffee”

If you do, that is a craving ie it’s not that you don’t get them (or don’t get hungry) rather you interpret those feelings differently to us food obsessed creatures.

Happy,

The cold is still here, they usually hang around for a while, I must be an excellent host…..
I feel fine which is the important thing.

I have been ravenously hungry all weekend but I just about managed to stay in control.

The description of your housework made me tired 😆 I can just about manage to keep a one bedroomed flat clean.
I guess that means you’re preparing for your friends visit.

I have two sofas in my living room and they are set at right angles to each other which worked out well when my friend came for dinner last week.
My dining table is round when the leaves are up so I raised one and set places so we were at 90 degrees rather than opposite and it worked well.
The hot weather also meant the back door and all the windows were open and as the long front wall of the room is mostly window there was plenty of fresh air circulating and the dining table is positioned close to the large bay window.

Purple,

Your turkey story put me in mind of watching peacocks flying and landing in trees, they looked so ungainly the thought entered my mind they needed to be tied to the branch to prevent them falling!

So it’s 9.20am and I’m already hungry. I would like to fast today but I’m not sure if it’ll be successful.
I might give my workout a go but it may induce a coughing fit………..

It’s going to be a long day 🤪

Hello Fasters
Have I been absent for a month?
It must be nearly that.
Your cold sounds worrying, Amazon. Glad you are getting better.
I have been catching up and there have been ups and downs for all of you.
A bush turkey on the roof, Purple! I believe they are not even very good to eat.
The month has been head on for me.
First I needed to prepare for the arrival of the family and my friend from Lyon. This was hard work, but at least I didn’t get that “Oh, maman” with a sigh. The house was looking good.
We were 8 at the end. The family birthdays passed with a lot of fun. The Brazilian boyfriend is a most positive edition to the family, though the language mix of the family is expanded with his Portuguese added to our Italian, French and English range. Funnily enough my younger daughter’s baby due in December will be speaking French and Portuguese and will in theory not be able to speak to the cousins in Italy.

We already have this situation in the family with an 8 year old Mexican second cousin speaking Spanish and French.
The family stayed 10 days and left me with Robin aged 8 for nearly a week. This was a great time as I so enjoy being with that great kid. I drove him back to Italy. We were in the hazelnut area of Piedmonte, presumably the home of Ferrero Nutello, and there were lovely wines growing too.
It was mid 30 temperatures and a bit hot. It was 1000 km return there by small roads only and the return trip of 10 hours was a bit much (50km/hr average).
I am doing a self isolation period to make sure I haven’t caught the virus, and then I will do my best to get to NZ.
I was sold a ticket on a flight which is not running and Singapore Airlines haven’t informed me. It looks as if I will need to quarantine in Auckland if I can make it. I liked the idea of doing some Romeo and Juliet from quarantine in Wellington, but that won’t happen. I would be quite willing to pay for quarantine. Finding a way home is this week’s objective, as well as prepare the house to be shut up for 6 months.
It’s cool here again after temperatures of 35° 3 days ago. I have one very sore leg from the heat and trying to keep the leg elevated.
I am beginning to fear the heat.
My garden is full of veges so I will be self-sufficient in veges till I leave.
I am trying to get back to more reasonable food habits.
Glad to be back.
xx

Oh Barata,

Wine and cake were examples and not meant to be taken literally.

Wiwi,

Hi. Your recent weeks sound fabulous, and another grandchild on the way is wonderful 😍

As for my cold, thank you for your concern but it is nothing to worry about and it will soon be gone.

Thanks for the advice Barata. In fact we are in heatwave again, so inside is pleasant. But there are wasps everywhere. They ate peaches I hadn’t stored properly.
Yesterday I drove 150 km return to get an echo-doppler as they consider DVT a problem.
Apparently I am not susceptible, but the lump was caused by too much time not moving while the family was here. That’s the best excuse I have ever found for not doing the housework. It ruins the health.
Anyway the doctor prescribed two hours a day walking and I must say I feel better.
But the best news is that my younger daughter in London will have a wee girl in December. They announced it with pomp and ceremony on Skype last night even though we couldn’t all communicate. I will need to learn Portuguese now.

Morning/evening all,

My cold has gone and the cough almost gone which is great news and my joints love the hot weather.

We’re having a heatwave.
I spent yesterday with a good book in the garden under the shade of my parasol. It was very quiet and relaxing.
I’m considering doing similar today.

I watched Michael Mosley’s show on C4 on Wednesday and it has motivated me to try 8 weeks on 800 calories every day. I’m doing LCHF and keeping any eye on the amount of protein as I don’t always eat enough.
The first 2 days have been easy but it’s a long way to go and the temptation to have a cold beer or a chilled glass of wine on a hot evening is always there.
I’m going to try to avoid drinking alcohol at home and if I go out to eat I’ll take a day off and get back to 800 the following day. To be honest the idea of going out to eat is becoming less attractive as the R number has crept up although I do wonder if that is because we are doing so many more tests rather than a real increase in infections.

I tried bulb fennel for the first time yesterday. I’ve never eaten it before as the thought of a vegetable tasting of aniseed with the texture of celery put me off but I decided to give it a go.
I had sea bass with a fennel, orange and olive salad and really enjoyed it.

I’m going to try roasting the other bulb with some other veggies and chick peas for the Sunday roast.
Crispy roast chick peas are one of my new favourite things 😀

Today it’s roasted feta with tomato and courgette salad using my home grown courgettes and tomatoes.

Have a good weekend everyone 🤪

We are back in our heatwave, and I am sitting by a ventilator.
My leg is much better already, though today I didn’t manage my 10k steps as it got very hot even by 8am.
It’s too hot outside even in the shade.
Good thing is that feeling hungry is off the spectrum.
I am not sure how much more of this cabin existence I want- too cold or too hot and only 3 or 4 months in-between. Unrelenting heat actually makes me panic-the fear of fire. I guess it’s like this for you, Purple for the too hot.
All the moisture has gone from the earth and my garden is dying even though I water it.
I have been reading a book called “Blindness” which won a Nobel prize for literature, showing the breakdown of society after everyone goes blind. It’s too close to the bone as the parallels with our present situation are too obvious.
xx

Not all of us today, P. Lovely day here, 18 degrees, t-shirt weather. It means a cold night, though. Your rain arrives here tomorrow night 🙁

Good to hear your leg has improved, Wi, and your cold gone, Amazon. I have a soft tissue injury below my ankle (cause unknown), and know from experience that it will last weeks. So no walking at the moment, but it doesn’t stop me gardening!

I have just put “Blindness” on hold at the library. Two of our great magazines stopped publishing during lockdown and I so miss the book reviews. They are both going to re-start under new ownership, fortunately.

Morning/evening all,

I saw a tweet this morning saying “it’s snowing in Blackheath” with an accompanying video of said snow, but the person who tweeted it can’t fool me as I know there is a Blackheath in Australia.
It did serve as a reminder that the land I always think of as permanently 35C with wall to wall sunshine also has winter 😆

What is it with bad legs? Wiwi and Barata I hope they get better soon.

Happy,

Some of the same people who would usually be in Spain are also behaving in a similar manner down South.
I read a news article a few weeks ago about a couple whose garden abuts a path leading to a beach on the South coast and as the public toilets were closed people visiting the beach were using their garden and I’m not talking about emptying their bladders.
I cannot understand how anyone can think it’s OK to defile anyone’s property, leave litter, block road by parking illegally so little Jonny can build a sandcastle etc.
There has been an increase in littering here since lockdown began and our council workers have been doing a magnificent job in clearing it up.

I use chick pea flour for my fritters.

I decided I needed to do something differently that I had to really think about. MM’s TV show came along at the right time to inspire me.
I spoke to my Herefordshire friend on Thursday and she is doing it too as she’s gained some weight during lockdown. We can compare notes if our plan to get together at the end of September works out.

It’s day 4. Day 1 was easy, day 2 less so and yesterday I was hungry all day but really full after dinner and today I feel good so I think that’s the first tricky bit over.

I have written a 2 week menu plan so I don’t forget anything I’ve got in the fridge.

As for reading I’m alternating fiction with fact and after the current read is finished it’s MM’s Covid 19. I’m also wanting to read Tim Spector’s new book entitled Spoon Fed with the by-line why everything we’ve been taught about food is wrong.

Don’t we know it…..

Have a good one everybody 🤪

Currently 6.6 degrees, and I’m off to bed. Another short night – 5am waking 🙁

I like to alternate fact and fiction, Amazon. It keeps the brain ticking and entertained.

I thought you had, Amazon. 🙂
We went up there with the family about 5 years ago when snow was predicted to show the grand kids (and the grown-ups 😉😉). We all stayed in a really crumby motel in a town a bit further west. and got up at 5am when we realised it was snowing. We ran around the carpark having fun, and freezing. After breakfast we drove up through the mountains, stopping at every bit of snow we found. Govetts Leap at Blackheath was the best. It’s a real thrill for Sydneysiders to experience falling snow so close to home. ☃️☃️ It always melts again very quickly, so causes no major disruptions, only the traffic of sightseers! Remember, this same area suffers frequently from devastating bushfire, too. 😔
Fast day, Monday here. Game on!!! P

Enjoy that heat, Amazon…I’ve frozen all day on this fast. 😒

Your conversation, Amazon and Purple, is kindling a desire to come and visit Oz.
I will need to wait for the Trans-Tasman bubble to open.
Fortunately here the temperatures have dropped a bit, but apart from my walks at daybreak I don’t have motivation to do much.
Books and cool water are the most attractive things.
I hope you find, Blindness interesting, Barata. It’s very dense.
I am reading “The spy and traitor” now -a non fiction book about the Russian who spied for the UK called Oleg Gordievsky. John Le Carré thinks it’s the best non Fiction spy book he’s ever read, and I love Le Carré’s books which I have read all of except the latest. It’s on my bookshelf.
So this book is great and informative.
Food has little appeal at present. I will see if I can hold out till this evening.
xx

Purple,

Yes I’ve been to Port Lincoln.
Back in 2004 we spent a few days in Port Lincoln in an apartment by the water and had a wonderful time. I paid for my friends two elder girls to spend a morning kayaking with their Dad and they came past our apartment which was fun. When we were in town I took the little one who was only 5 for a ride in a pony and trap.

We then spent a few days further along the coast in a little place situated on an inlet. It didn’t even have a store so we had to take everything we needed.

We had our own little boat so went fishing and caught our lunch and we also did a trip on a bigger boat and had the opportunity to swim with wild sea lions and a pod of wild dolphins which was one of the most exciting experiences ever.

I have so many wonderful memories of my 4 trips to Australia and I’m very lucky to have my friends in Adelaide who always want to take me somewhere I’ve not been before.

Morning/evening all,

Purple,

The village we stayed in was Baird Bay.

Food memories where do I start,

Fabulous dinners in Cairns the first time I visited Australia including my first taste of oysters, a 50th birthday cake for a fellow traveller cooked as a surprise over an open fire when wild camping in the Okavango Delta, made to order sushi and sashimi in Cape Town, brunches after a morning game drive in Bandhavgarh Tiger Park, a Khmer cuisine cookery lesson and eating the result for dinner in Battambang, Cambodia, a lobster dinner from a beach shack eaten on wobbly chairs and tables in Zanzibar, more lobster in Newquay, a crab sandwich and a beer in Sennen Cove, Aperol Spritzers in Piazza Navona, Rome and so many more…..

I’m hungry now 😆

Talking of giant Cornish seagulls, I remember walking harbourside with my Grandma in one of the small towns on the South Coast of Cornwall eating ice cream. Granny tripped and the ice cream fell out of the cone. A seagull swooped out of the sky and caught it mid-air then swallowed it in one go as it flew off.
I could not believe how quick the bird was or how it managed to swallow a huge lump of frozen food without batting an eyelid.
I bought Granny another ice cream and found somewhere to sit while she ate it 😆

Day 6 of LCHF fast 800 style eating and all is well. I hope I’ll be saying the same when I get to week 6.

Have a good one everybody 🤪

Don’t apologise, I agree with you.

I’ve been doing the ironing and I think I emitted more steam than the iron 😆

More food memories,

Fish and chips cooked on a campfire wild camping (again in Botswana), the food on the Indian Pacific train journey from Perth to Adelaide, homemade trifles in a jar on a picnic in Kew Gardens for one of their live music concerts, ice cream on a fruit farm in Tasmania, Belgian chocolate in Bruges, Pina Coladas after a day white water rafting in Costa Rica. Smoked salmon on soda bread and Guinness somewhere in Ireland….

I’m doing a great job of travelling the world from my sofa 😎 and I still have my trip to Africa booked for next June (fingers crossed) to look forward to.

I am aware it’s a cocktail 😂