Tag Archives: portion control

Day 184

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Well, I spent last night planning what I was going to do today. It was quite a list. Today was slightly different in tone and I did very little apart from avoid doing anything on the list. That is, I suppose, an achievement in itself, but not quite the outcome I was hoping for.

Breakfast, which hadn’t been on the list, was quite pleasant, as was lunch. We had bacon sandwiches for breakfast, with mushrooms, fried tomatoes and black pudding. Nutritionally I could have finished after tomatoes. I was tempted to leave the black pudding out of the list and appear more virtuous and sensible, but I am fairly truthful in the blog, and the black pudding presents a more rounded picture of both my character and my figure.

Lunch was fancy cheese on toast. I chucked some eggs and finely chopped spring onions in the grated cheese before toasting. We have been using thick-sliced malty wholemeal, which has been good.

We had vegetable curry for tea. Tomorrow we will be having vegetable curry for tea. Julia hasn’t quite mastered the art of portion control since the kids left home. It’s something I have struggled with over the years. I can still picture myself in the late 1970s with a pressure cooker full of vegetables – enough to feed  a family of four, to be precise.

At that point I realised that I had left home, but was still using the portion size I was used to seeing. Four days later, finally free of vegetables, I started to cut back on portion size. I should really have cut back a lot more, but that is a different story.

I have just been reading about a diet that could help me lose a lot of weight. Breakfast is a banana, lunch is chicken, rice and broccoli and tea is a protein shake. It’s a diet developed by someone who has more self-control than I do.

On the one hand I’m looking at a short, increasingly unhealthy life. On the other I’m looking at chicken, rice and broccoli. It’s a tough choice. Well, actually it isn’t. Chicken, rice and broccoli is not a winning combination.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the family (and one where I suspect that chicken, rice and broccoli is a winning combination) Number One Son just did his first Ultra-marathon.  Eighty miles in 24 hours. No, I don’t know why either, but I am glad he’s found a sport he enjoys.

 

Potatoes, computers and portion control

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We served lunch for 40 today. It was only baked potatoes with a variety of fillings, but it seems to have gone down well. We had a few left over at the end and nobody wanted seconds, which hopefully means they were full. If not, it means they were lying about liking the potatoes.

We served them with the cheapest marge, the cheapest tinned chilli, the cheapest coleslaw and the cheapest ready-grated cheese I could find. The only things that weren’t the cheapest were the potatoes and the beans. The beans were still cheap, but I bought the ones we normally use in the cafe, and the potatoes were nearly 30 pence each instead of four for 50p. To keep costs down I served them in small paper dishes that were big enough for the potato (though only just, in some cases) but didn’t leave too much room for topping. When you are cooking to a budget it all helps.

As usual I was so busy dishing up then clearing away that I forgot to take pictures of happy diners, or even a baked potato (for those of you haven’t seen one before).

It’s a good thing I went shopping in person, because if I’d shopped on-line and ordered the  cheapest potatoes I’d have been badly disappointed. When something is described as a “baking potato” I expect certain things – good skin and matched size for easy cooking are two key points, but mainly I want a decent sized potato that will fill someone up. The cheap baking potatoes from ASDA fail badly on this last point. They aren’t much bigger than a golf ball. Couple of chews and they’d be gone. A big spoonful of topping and they would be buried. You get the picture. Hang your heads in shame ASDA. (That’s Walmart for my American readers).

Of course, life here is never simple and although all is squared away I’m now sitting in the kitchen using a dodgy internet connection to blog while I wait to close up.

The connection isn’t too bad today, which is probably linked to the weak sun.  Confused? So am I, but from observations we have made it seems that the photo-voltaic panels on the roof cut off wireless reception when they are generating electricity. We first noticed that a digital radio wouldn’t work in here and after trying the lap tops we noticed that the signal cut out in strong sunlight, returning as clouds blew across the sun.

I have checked on the internet and apart from learning more than I wanted about solar power I cannot find any reference to this problem. Part of me says it can’t be happening, as all houses with solar panels would suffer the same problem, but another part of me says I have seen it happen.

Has anybody else noticed this? I’ve asked various people but they all look at me as if I’ve just said the earth is flat.