Hi everyone,

It’s a nice spring day here with lots of sunshine 🌞

Jo, I’ve had a quick countries visited count up and it is 32 not including Scotland and Wales. Some of those places have been visited more than once eg USA (3)Australia (4) India (3) Tunisia (3) Italy (2) Spain (6)

I don’t have anything booked at the moment as I can’t make up my mind where to go but I’ve got a couple of UK trips organised to look forward to 🙂

I don’t mind long haul flights as it is an ideal time to relax and do nothing. I rarely read, listen to music or watch TV on such flights, I just idle away the time and sleep if I can.

I’ve made some bread and had it warm from the oven with some home made marrow and ginger jam.
I have a very light dinner planned and am looking forward to my weekend vino 🍷

I must slice and freeze the bread before I’m tempted to have seconds.

Have a good one everybody 😜

Good Morning
Beautiful day here! It’s just that acwoke up on a lazy mood. My kayaking girls wants to go out there but o promised my husband I was going to church with him this morning. If they wait a little I might go.
My husband isn’t that adventurous in terms of traveling. I am always ready to go.
I’ve been to 33 American states out of the 50.
Most of my traveling abroad has been to Europe I guess 10 countries. Not counting Lichtenstein/Malta, so small. The Caribbean many small countries there as well.
Brazil is also very big! I haven’t visited my neighbors down there.
Yesterday I also a travel agent I guess is in England who organizes the bike tours. I would love to do that. I still looking into that River Cruise vacation. Because is in high demand is ridiculous expensive. Out last one with Viking Cruises we had that cabine at the bottom with the little window because the others were sold out.
I am very excited about you Wee! Next year I will take my Mom on a cruise vacation. My Mom had a very hard life. Vacation was never an option for her.
Enjoy your day ☀️

Hi everyone,

What a glorious day 🌞

I’ve been busy all day. I cleaned the flay yesterday and did all the washing knowing that the sun was going to shine all day today, so I started my day by hanging it out in the fresh air.

I then did a grocery shopwhich was swiftly unpacked and put away so I could get out into the sunshine.

I had a fabulous walk in Kew Gardens, marvelling at how much it has changeD in the 3 weeks since my last visit. So many bulbs in bloom along with other early flOwering plants. The camelia border is beautiful. I also walked the new woodland boardwalk which was very interesting, lots of new information about the trees, plants and wildlife plus a couple of tall shelters for various insects and a new pond.

I was also pleased to see so many people including a sizeable number of tourists visiting the gardens.

I went into the plant shop and bought some plants. I had a perennial wallflower that was ailing throughout the spring and summer before it gave up, plus I plan to move a few things which will create some space and justifies buying a couple more new flowering perennials 😉

I’ve been fasting today and didn’t think about food or hunger once until I began to prepare dinner which is basically a vegetarian cottage pie. The base is puy lentils cooked with onions, garlic, leek, carrot, herbs, tinned tomatoes and a few spices. The recipe uses sweet potato mash for the top but I’ve used a mixture of some celeriac and swede that desperately needed using plus some parsnip and potato. I’ll get 4 dinners out of a half quantity of the recipe. I’m going to cook some greens to serve with it.

I got on the scales yesterday morning after a Saturday when I ate two doorsteps of bread covered with butter and jam 😏 a sizeable dinner and had far too much wine due to an unplanned catch-up with a friend and I’ve lost weight.
Plateau over 😎

Dinner is in the oven and smelling delicious.

I’m hungry now………

Good Morning,
Big blizzard in New England . I am so happy to be here in FL.
Amazon congratulations there. Your theory makes sense. For sure there’s a delay on melting that fat.
Mana most all man I know, specially the older ones have a hard on letting go of their stuff.
Having two houses makes it double trouble. Mine here makes me upset because he is not too good consolidating his stuff. The other day I meant to organize his mess and he was so worry I was going to throw things in the garbage. I problabky would e he would not even realize🤣🤣🤣🤣
Nervous week here getting everything ready 🌻.
See you!

Morning /evening all
I’ve been sitting slightly higher for a few weeks, despite 2 fasts a week. Yesterday I carefully recorded every calorie I ate on a non fast day. And yes, it is portion size that is the issue. It is exceptionally hard, after 4 years, to not gradually increase what I think is a “normal” amount of food. I ate 200 cals more than I had expended, but did not gain weight. The reality is, at a realistic healthy goal weight, at my age, no matter how much activity I do, I simply don’t need much food.

Regarding kefirs and yoghurts. Homemade milk kefir has up to 30 different bacteria. Water kefir has 10-15. Many yoghurts have very few. As the purpose of having kefir is to expose your gut with a wider range of bacteria, homemade milk kefir is the clear choice.

Miserable British weather here at present…we are having to carry an umbrella with us all the time!! 🌧🌪🌦 Keep at it everyone…this is a lifetime committment. P

Like everything else, Happy. ..rubbish in, rubbish out. The same kefir grains give widely varied results depending on the milk used.
It IS a case of ongoing vigilance with food intake. A little more here and there will end up as a long term increase in weight and loss of health. P☺

It’s a glorious day here in Wellington, so happy to be taking a day off from the bustle of work. I have lots of cleaning to do, now that the painter has finished the hallway and stairs, but the garden beckons too. We have visitors for dinner tomorrow, so it’s good that the house is in a finished state (for this stage – next the major one, the kitchen – not looking forward to the disruption there).

Happy St Paddy’s Day, all. 🙂

Morning/evening all,

Another fine morning 🙂

Jo, what do you mean by yoghurt kit, have you bought a yoghurt maker of one of those kits with flavoured sachets?

I have a yoghurt maker that I bought from Lakeland and I make natural yoghurt using whole organic milk. I never flavour it with anything as I used Yeo valley natural yoghurt to start it and then use the remaining couple of spoonfuls for the next batch. It is smooth and creamy and in my opinion doesn’t need anything to change the flavour
I use it in cooking, to make raitas to go with spicy food, as dressing for coleslaw and just to eat as it is or with berries and/or nuts and/or seeds. On the now rare occasions I have Bircher muesli I put some on top.

It will keep longer in its natural state so adding flavour when you are about to eat it is the best option 🙂

Another FD today which is going to be tough as I ate too many bread carbs yesterday.

Have a good one everybody 😜

Happy St. Patrick’s 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

Jo,

If you like the flavour of natural unsweetened yoghurt, why do you want to adulterate/ sweeten it with fruit sugars or honey (that is pure sugar too you know!).

I totally agree regarding the taste of natural yoghurt and kefir. No point in adding sugar, in any form. I know many of us have found IF has changed our taste buds. Sweet foods just don’t appeal. A few nuts and cinnamon can add pizzazz to create a treat. Keep in mind that as good as kefir and yoghurt are, they need to be but a small part of your balanced diet. All things in moderation. 🙂
The rain has been so heavy here, we may be evacuating to the boat soon. 😑 Have a good, sensible weekend gang. P

You have some great plans Nama!
I had a cauliflower mash with pork and fennel sausages in an Irish pub yesterday. Excellent comfort food in teeming rain. 😊 I thought a lamb tagine tonight would match the weather too.
As the cat is our solo pet these days, I can’t see an ark full of pairs. My little lettuce and spinach seeds, that I popped in last weekend, will be ready to eat by the end of the week with this much water. 😊
Missing a few regulars. Hope you are all going ok. P

Jo, my kefir sits happily on the kitchen benchtop in all weather….from 8deg in winter to nearly 40 in summer. It survives and thrives. The grains are surprisingly hardy. The only rider to that is, I am very fussy to wash all implements thoroughly to avoid cross contamination. All are washed and rinsed daily. I wash the muslin that covers it about once a week.

Regarding sugar and carb consumption, remember you are talking to the crew who have all changed our diets too. None of us would be where we are today if we hadn’t made these radical changes. You have come a long way. So have we all.

Last night, we watched a fellow at a nearby table in the Irish bar we were in. Over a period of 3 hours, he drank pint after pint of Guiness and beer and injected himself in the stomach twice with insulin. Needless to say he ate only hot chips and was fat. He was probably in his 40s. I found the whole thing terribly upsetting. He and his doctor are killing him.
P

Morning/evening all,

RT, sorry to hear your Dad had a fall and also that you’ve had to make a tough decision, but you are doing what is best for him. Don’t forget to look after yourself while you are coming to terms with it.

Jo, my kitchen is cold and mostly unheated even in the middle of winter. It has never been anywhere near the recommended temperature and my kefir grains have been growing like crazy.
I don’t measure anything either, just put all of the grains in the jar and add some milk. I’ve actually had to get rid of some grains as I had so many and I’m going to freeze some when I get round to it.

I am also in the less is more camp so far as washing the jar is concerned and it gets a rinse under the hot tap a couple of times per week and then cooled down under the cold tap before the grains go back in. The sieve and plastic spatula get the same treatment although they did go into the dishwasher for the first time yesterday as I knocked a pot containing some cold coffee over and it went everywhere!

This just goes to show that kefir grains are very hardy and can survive and grow in many different environments and range of temperatures.

And as Happy said, you asked for comments……….

Nama, my garden is tiny, only 3m x 7m but with space for lots of plants and there is enough room on my small patio for my fancy reclining chair and my baby Weber 😎
The quilt sounds like an excellent idea as I get the feeling that cot will be well used in the coming years 🙂

We had rain overnight which was perfectly timed after my moving shrubs and planting new ones.

I slept really well last night and am surprised that nothing hurts after my efforts wrestling with enormous ivy plants that are growing like triffids in the alleyway and lifting heavy shrubs. This gym lark must be working 😉

Have a good one everybody 😜

For the first couple of weeks I didn’t have a cover on my kefir. It was in a kilner jar with the lid left unfastened and then the sun started to shine and a bluebottle appeared as soon as I opened the window so I decided I’d better start using a piece of muslin 😫

Jo, if you like to eat honey etc that’s fine, go for it. I have no intention whatsoever of giving up sugar but my tastes have changed and I’m less inclined to eat sweet things as often as before. I’ve also started to notice the natural sweetness in things such as yoghurt, almonds etc. Fasting definitely gives ones taste buds a kick!

I eat much less fruit but I’ll not be giving it up although I’ve gone off bananas, and as apples and pears are two of the best fruits to eat as they contain so much fibre, they’ll be staying near the top of my list. I won’t be giving up jam, marmalade, honey or maple syrup either but they are all consigned to the shelf marked occasional.

I made some buckwheat pancakes using kefir for brunch. They were light and fluffy and delicious with a drizzle of maple syrup and a topping of yoghurt and fresh figs 🙂

23/1 has gone out of the window at weekends and I am finding that I’m less likely to overdo it if I have brunch and a small dinner.

It looks miserable outside as it is overcast and quite breezy but it is much warmer than it looks and the sun is peeping out occasionally.
I’ve just been to the garden centre and bought some alpines and perennials which went straight into the ground when I got home.
It still looks a bit sparse out there but in a few weeks it’ll be lovely (fingers crossed)

When I was working there was a standing joke regarding the “10.30 banana” as nearly everyone had one as a mid morning snack! I never ate one at the weekend and when I first gave up work I kept wondering why they were going brown in the fruit bowl. I always used to freeze them when they were too ripe as they are great for banana bread and in muffins.
I can’t say I miss them.
I used to eat at least three pieces of fruit on workdays, usually in the form of homemade fruit salad plus the narna and would usually have a fruit based pud at the weekend.

I like to add fruit to salads and savoury dishes but I’ve not worked out which goes best with lentils 😉