Alien Spouse

Spicy, Delicious and Invigorating.

Today I took the day off because I'd had, oh about 3 hours of sleep last, thanks to my sinuses. I was exhausted and weepy this morning, so I would have been neither use nor ornament in the office.

Nothing seemed to be helping, until I tried covering my lunch in hot sauce. After that I could breathe again! Oh, Hot Sauce - you are a special new friend!

Doc C is cooking pasta for dinner, I hope he doesn't take offence when I cover mine in Tabasco.

Hydration.

Clearly whilst on the flight back from Las Vegas I didn't drink enough water, which you would have thought would hit me yesterday but it was actually this morning I woke up with a headache and a raging thirst, so clearly I had dropped below acceptable water levels. Doc C got up to feed the cats, then he brought me a bottle of Perrier water and the iPad, so I could e-mail in to work as de-hydrated.

I stayed in bed until about ten, and got to work at eleven thirty (a mere three and a half hours late). I brought with me a large coffee (Don't tell me the coffee is a diuretic, I know that, I still needed the caffeine), a litre of water and half a litre of Gatorade which Doc made me to make sure I got my electrolytes.

With all of that, I should have been able to swim home.

Work Clothes.

At work today I wore a scoop neck black t-shirt, a black cardigan and grey tweed trousers. I accessorised with a pair of black converse, my new glasses and a double strand of oversized pink pearls.

If I'd worked at Sterling Cooper, I'd probably have worn the same outfit - just swapping out the trousers and chucks for a skirt and heels.

The only constants in my work outfit are my rings, watch, silver bangle and, first thing in the morning, a cup of coffee in a travel cup.

First Friday of 2012.

Doc C was sure that today was Thursday, he was quite surprised when I said I was Friday. In fact he almost convinced me that I was wrong, but I stuck to my convictions and you can all thank me for insisting we have a weekend now.

For dinner I made Macaroni Peas from the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Veg book. It's a very simple recipe, just peas, parmesan, macaroni, butter and garlic, so I'm not convinced it really requires two sauce pans, a fryin pan and a blender to make. I feel sure there are some tweaks to be made to reduce the washing up.

2012.

Happy New Year!

We spent yesterday evening at Randy and Laura's house with a small grop of friends. It was a very nice way to end 2011, and start 2012.

Today I slept late; finished playing "Arkham Asylum"; got half-way through "Genius Wars" and had a most satisfactory afternoon nap.

Doc started playing "Arkham City" (Catwoman! Squee!); made vegetable stock form the HF-W cookbook; looked on-line at houses for sale and has now settled in for a "Star Wars" marathon.

2012 is off to a cracking start!

New Tasty Foods.

For Christmas Mum sent me Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new cookbook "River Cottage Veg Every Day" and I'm pretty sure we are going to try out 178 of the recipes at least (probably not the beetroot ones though, and I'd bet especially not the beetroot ice cream). I've made a short list of a dozen recipes that need to be eaten as soon as possible, and we cooked off this evening with a deceptively simple leek risotto.

Doc C likes to follow recipes fairly precisely, so we made a very detailed shopping list for the ingredients we would need for the food for this week. We went to our usual super market yesterday and got pretty much everything, but it was surprisingly hard to find chestnuts. So we tried a smaller hippy super market, where I found ginger candy and Doc pounced delightedly on buffalo jerky, but no chestnuts.

This meant we had a mission for today, and I pleased to report we found some at the super hippy supermarket. By the way I had no idea that a jar of chestnuts was so expensive, but they were half-price (because most people only eat chestnuts at Christmas?) so that wasn't too bad and I only used about a quarter of the jar for this meal.

The chestnuts were pan fried in butter, and then sprinkled on top of the leek risotto. It was bloody delicious.

'tis The Season!

Christmas Day!

We celebrated with a late breakfast followed by the traditional playing of video games (Doc C - Arkham Asylum, normal mode); a long walk followed by coffee and cherry pie; the traditional playing of video games (Me - Arkham Asylum, easy mode) and now we are watching "Metropolis" whilst I cook risotto for dinner.

It's practically Dickensian, isn't it?

Coffee Morning.

There must be something about me that suggests that I enjoy home-made baking, because for Christmas I was given a dozen banana cherry chocolate chip muffins and a gift basket of assorted cookies. We finished off the last of the biscotti this morning, so I'm going to have to try out a recipe so we can make more of them.

Tasty little devils!

Phoning It In.

Today we had afew things to do before going to Jack and Amber's house for dinner and cooing over their preternaturally cute baby son.

First we had to take out the recycling because it was at the falling-on-you stage, and as our preferred recycling center happens to be close to a Verizon shop I decided to upgrade my phone. Well, actually, I did not want to upgrade my phone, because an upgrade to me would mean a smart phone and I do not want to pay for the monthly data plan - In fact I wanted to get the simplest of the basic phones, I'd actually have quite liked to down-grade to something without a camera or an MP3 player, because I never use those features. I tried to explain this to the assistant at the Verizon shop, but I think he'd just taken some cold medication or something else that advises you not to drive or operate heavy machinery, I soon realised I was on my own out there. In the end I grabbed an LG Cosmos 2, which was fairly cheap, had a slide out keyboard and uses a micro USB to charge. When I got home I second guessed myself by checking on-line reviews and it seems to be a good texting phone and have a good battery life. Perfect.

After that we bought a cherry pie and came home to get changed for dinner.

On the First Day of Christmas.

We have enjoyed the first day of our Christmas holiday, celebrating by on Doc's side by finishing his grading and on my part by watching several films of varying quality. Then we went out for lunch to reward Doc C's having submitted the grades by today's deadline. Yay!

Asheville Saturday - December.

Journey - We drove to Asheville today for my haircut, on the way we stopped in a shop that we've been interested in going to for a while because it also serves slices of pie with coffee. The pies are baked in house and are really delecious; we both got pecan pie this time, but I'm going to have to try the coconut cream pie next time.

Shopping - Even with a stop for pie, we still were 45 minutes early so we shopped for books. I scored two kids books by Catharine Jinks and "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Doc C was giddy to snap up a $2 copy of a Bertrand Russell book, so that was good too.

Haircut - Seeing as I won't be at work for a couple of weeks, I asked Naomi for a slightly edgier cut than I usually get and I think she enjoys having a bit of creative freedom! She took a couple of photos with her phone for her portfolio.

Food - Sushi! We ate miso soup and seaweed salad, then an excellent selection of sashimi and sushi. So delicious.

After that we came home.

It was a good day.

The Stuff Diet.

In the midst of my recent and un-characteristic de-cluttering (Next on my list to get rid of is all of the acrylic yarn I bought when I first started crocheting/knitting, I have no idea why I was keeping this because I really dislike working with it), I find that I'm being offered really good deals on things that I've been wanting for a while. Out of nowhere the fleece lined Doc Martens I've been visiting on-line for two years were suddenly reduced in price by $50, and then this morning BuiltNY sent me an e-voucher for $10 off their super cool Cargo™ Travel Organizer.

It's definitely odd to be simultaneously buying new treasures as I'm clearing out old junk, but I don't think it's entirely contradictory. What I noticed during my purge is that I've been holding onto a lot of cheap things that I didn't care for that much, as opposed to owning a reasonable number of good quality belongings that I love. I'm thinking of it like transitioning from only eating junk food to a diet of healthy but delicious things; so the aim in both instances is not to weigh yourself down with stuff you don't actually need or want but to consciously aim for a good balance.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” William Morris

 

Black Friday: Cleaning Day!

Today I have been in organisational mode, which wasn't entirely my plan for the day, until I found myself cleaning the stove and then the upstairs bathroom in my pajamas. Then I changed into some comfy work-out clothes before taking on the major job of re-shelving my library, whilst also removing everything that was not a book from the bookshelves.

Then I had a cup of coffee and read an Agatha Christie mystery on my Kindle.

At this point I decided I needed to re-fold and re-classify all of my tops, so now my t-shirts are stored by sleeve length, colour and then by how much I like it. It's a complicated system, and it took me 2 hours (whilst watching a cheesy thriller) to get it properly done. I also packed my summer clothes and shoes into suitcases then put them in the loft.

Doc decided to vacuum the living room, so the cats and I retreated to the bedroom and read some more Christie.

Finally I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, including the litter trays (by the way, I use Dr Bonner's liquid soap to clean the litter trays - which is Gwyneth Paltrow's shower gel of preference. That is how fancy my cats are.)

By this point I was completely sick of cleaning, so I had a shower and put on some clean lounging pajamas and made myself a gin martini, with a splash of angastora bitters and an olive. Because, omg, I deserved it!

Alcohol and Comedy.

You know what rocks? Martini and a collection of P.G. Wodehouse short stories that you haven't read before. That delightful combination totally restores one's jolly old equilibrium.

Happy Martini Haze.

Well personally I like keeping the gin in the freezer, it produces a perfectly chilled martini that definitely softens in flavour as you drink it and I rather liked that. This has a dash of Angostura Bitters in it, and that is just delicious.

Doc C made this for me, because I was covered in sleeping cats and he then brought it to me in the living room. This then presented somewhat of a problem; how to get a decent photo of the drink with out distracting background clutter and with out leaving my station as comfy cat bed. Fortunately one of the pieces of clutter on the coffee table next to me was a sheet of crumpled red tissue paper.  I put the glass on the paper and held that up as a backdrop with my left hand whilst taking the pictures with my right hand.

I'm just as pleased with the photos as I was with the chilled gin. A successful set of experiments all around!

Freezing Gin.

Late last night the wind really picked up and the door to the outside cupboard was banging, and that cupboard is directly behind the fireplace. Edith has been obsessing over the fireplace for the past couple of weeks, we think because of the mice but who knows with cats; anyway all this noise meant she became very excited. This led to much zooming around and that woke us up.

Doc C went downstairs to see what was going on, and then went outside to shut the door, but the damage was already done and Edith was more convinced then ever that there was something of interest in the fireplace. She carried on dashing around crashing into things, so then I went downstairs and cleared the fireplace and surrounding area of anything breakable or loud. At this point it was 3:30 and when I got back to bed I discovered that I couldn't sleep, so I did some important research on my iPod.

Mostly I was trying to work out how to make myself a nice cold martini without having to waste ice and dirty the cocktail shaker, because it seems a bit fiddly for just the one glass. Knowing that vodka could be stored in the freezer, I thought what about gin? It may interest you to know that there are competing views on this subject, because gin is a botanical spirit and so some people think that freezing it will dull the aromas. I can't honestly say that my palate or nose is particularly refined, so I think it's worth the risk of losing some of the aromatic experience in exchange for a cold martini with minimum effort.

This morning, whilst making my breakfast, I was already thinking about having a cocktail after work, so I put the gin and the vodka into the freezer, and the vermouth into the fridge (where it apparently should have been all along). We have a mostly empty freezer, so I also put in the cocktail shaker because that was another tip I found in my internet searching.

I'll make myself a drink at some point later this evening (the hour after we get home from work is cup-of-tea-and-a-snack time) and we shall see what my verdict is, I hope that it will be a blissed out martini haze.

Mid-Week Pub Night.

I've never liked Wednesdays, but now I've started meeting friends after work for a pint at least Wednesday evenings are starting to grow on me.

Vin Rouge.

Red wine! It rocks!

We currently have six bottles, which is much more wine than we usually have in the house; this is purely because we had a party and several of our guests clearly know how to make us happy - Wine!

Halloween 2012 - More Photos!

 Halloween may be over for another year, but I still have photos to show you!

Bwa-ha-ha!

The Dessert Buffet of Halloween! Quake with fear at the coconut macaroons, almond cupcakes with chocolate icing, pumpkin tarlets, spiced butter cookies and chocolate frogs!

The Flamingoes of Halloween! In plastic champagne glasses no less!

The Dozen Battery Powered Candles of Halloween!

The Sweet Silence.

Last night we had all of the lights on, left the front door open (we have a glass screen door, so the cats were in no danger of getting out), and ran to the window every time we thought a car was about to stop at our house because we were really hoping to see small children in costumes. We were usually disappointed to realise it was just someone turning round in our driveway (our driveway is the favourite place for people to turn around in our cul-de-sac, also I'm pretty sure the Fedex guy stops there every weekday afternoon to do his mid-point inventory).  

Despite our vigilance, the front porch was only approached once by ghoulish sugar fiends. There were two of them, presumeably a pair of siblings, gender unidentifiable under the surprisingly gruesome costumes and totally silent. We assumed they came to our house to get free confectionary but they actually didn't say that. Or "please", or "thank you" for that matter.

I will happily admit that I'm not very familiar with Trick-or-Treating as a tradition, because we just don't really do it that much in England; however I was given to understand that an integral part of the whole thing was the phrase "Trick or Treat!" being yelled in a exuberant manner by the children demanding sweets.

Still, that just means all the more chocolate and lollipops for Doc's Philosophy class today.

Chocolate Frogs and Fat Little Chipmunks.

It's Fall Break, and my Department Chair said I could close the office! So I did and I have had a really fun day!

First of all I woke up really late because I'd turned off my alarm, then Doc C made pancakes. After that I had a shower and got dressed, before spending what was left of the morning making chocolate frogs and spiders. I am very pleased with how they look, I hand-painted the molds with different colours of candy melt to get the markings; the problem is that we only had chocolate chips in the house, so the texture is wrong. As everything I read about molding chocolate had predicted, the chocolates are just too soft and melt to easily. Well, I've bought some different chocolate to experiment with, so suppose that means I'll have to taste test chocolate all over again. Deep sigh.

After that I practised applying my new mineral make-up, watched the first episode in the new "Psych" season and finished making the party invitations.

We also spent a fair amount of time today watching the chipmunk that lives under our house. It discovered the bird seed that Doc C had left on the porch for it (the man is such a softy, but don't tell him I said that), the chipmunk had to make two trips and ludicrously overstuff it's cheeks to transport all the food back to it's nest, but that is a very determined little rodent. Edith was fascinated, and very excited.
Later I looked out if the kitchen window to see (probably the same) chipmunk swinging from the bird feeder. Again it did this a few times, so I got to watch it shimmy up the feeder's metal stand and then leap across to the feeder. It was pretty impressive.

Now I'm watching "Alien" (1979), eating smoked salmon pizza and drinking pumpkin beer.

It's been a bloody nice day.

Autumn Morning.

There are some mornings when both of your precious darling cats have thrown up in various places, and, whilst you clean that up, the kitchen fills with smoke because your breakfast bagel has burnt in the toaster.

It is particularly important on those mornings to take a deep breath, and also to appreciate a moment of unexpected beauty when you walk around a corner to see misty sunlight shining on autumn leaves.

Baking for Disbelievers.

This evening I'm cooking for the University's fledgling band of heathens - The Atheists and Agnostics will be getting almond mini cupcakes with a raspberry compote, and a deconstructed pumpkin cheesecake (spiced pumpkin creamcheese piped onto a graham cracker (English Translation - A square biscuit that is sort of like a slightly less crisp digestive)).

It's rather convenient that these are two of the items on my Halloween buffet menu, isn't it? But I'm sure the students won't mind being culinary guinea pigs.

The First of October.

It being the first day of October Doc C has allowed me to kick off the Halloween decorating - It also helps that we got paid yesterday, because I needed one or two things to get this party started!

I'd already arranged the dried rosebuds, assorted foliage and ribbon (which all came from the lovely bunch of flowers I was given by a colleague who does weddings - So this is a recycled bridesmaid's bouquet!) onto the vine wreath, but it needed more. Specifically it needed moss, fake cobwebs and plastic spiders. The plastic spiders are rings that come in packs of 50 from the dollar store, but I had to get 2 packs because they ar a mix of the black spiders that I wanted and bright orange spiders which did not really work for this particular project. I wanted to make this look like a really lush wreath had been left on the door for years and was disentegrating, but was still just about being held together by the cobwebs -Actually the rosebuds kept falling out when left to their own devices, so the cobweb really is integral to this project.

With Edith's help (how do people manage to do any sort of DIY craft project without a cat around to helpfully try and eat everything?), it took me about forty minutes to get the whole thing finished and now it's on our front door.

I then spent a couple of hours watching old episodes of "CSI" and cutting the rings off the backs of the orange plastic spiders that I deemed totally unrealistic for the wreath. I then poked a whole in the back with my handy bradle and then stuck a cocktail stick in each one. I now have orange spider cocktail sticks, perfect for my Halloween party snacks and drinks! Thanks Martha!

AA/AA.

Should you be wondering how you would get one of Doc C's delicious macaroons, I am delighted to tell you it is now as simple as joining our University's Atheist and Agnostic association.

Doc was asked to be their faculty sponsor (all student organizations are required to have one) and this week he baked for the meeting. I'm planning to contribute various different things over the next few weeks so I can perfect my Halloween party buffet items! Yay for the Atheist and Agnostic Association!

It turns out the wages of sin, or, at least, disbelief are home-baked treats.  

Stupid Head Cold Thingy.

Today I stayed at home and drank a lot of warm drinks, mostly ginger tea but also hot water with fresh lemon and a squeeze of honey it.

I think I feel better, but then I thought that on Friday and spent my weekend paying for it! We met Randy and Laura for brunch on Sunday, and I was only slightly more chatty than you average Romero zombie; most of the time I'd mis-heard what people were saying anyway, so in the end I just focussed on eating my potatoes.

Today I lay on the sofa with Edith and read, and also watched two delightfully cheesy sci-fi movies that TiVo had randomly taped. I didn't realise that it was the first and the third of a trilogy until quite a way into the latter, but I honestly don't think it made too much difference to my enjoyment. There were random explosions and occasional witty banter, and that was good enough for me!

Now I'm making a big stew pot of lentil soup with as many vegetables as I could throw in it. It's also ot garlic and ginger in it, so I feel positive this will have me operating at full power in no time. I expect I'll go to work tomorrow, my general rule of thumb wih head colds is as soon as you can breathe with your mouth closed again, then you are passably fit for human interaction.

Trying Something New.

It should be bloody illegal to feel ill at the weekend! Stupid bloody head cold!

Today Doc C and I went for a walk, so that I didn't feel totally sedentary, then we went to the supermarket and I got Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold (lemon), Alka-Seltzer Plus Night (lemon), lemon-and-honey throat lozenges, ginger tea, a bag of lemons and a neti pot.

I'd never used a neti pot before, but it felt like a really god idea to try irrigating my nose with a mild saline solution. I won't lie it's a weird feeling to pour warm water through your nose, but it really did help me to breathe more easily for a little while at least. I'm defitely going to do it again when I get ready to go to bed this evening, having a stuffy nose makes it so difficult to sleep.

Ugh. I hate having a cold.

Unexpected Side Effect.

I feel better this evening, my throat is not as sore as it was and my ears have stopped aching in sympathy; plus I sound far less croaky and Dalek-like. I think the key is plenty of warm drinks through out the day, and if one of those drinks happens to be an early evening Hot Toddy, that is very beneficial too.

Before I went to bed last night I took a dose of liquid Nyquil, last time I took Nyquil it was in caplet form and I didn't like it - but I'd forgotten that apparently. In the middle of night I woke up, just like last time, but this time I had a new sensation and the only way I can describe it is that it felt like my face was strobing. It was just a wave-like feeling radiating out from the tip of my nose, and it was not pleasant. So I'm not doing that again. Please remind me if I seem like I might have forgotten that again!

Mmm... Garlicky...

I have finally got the hang of baked aubergine (it's a very American dish, so it's usually called "eggplant parmesan" - I just can't do it myself), thanks to Sophie Dahl's first cookbook, and Doc C even likes this version where as he could never see the point of this particular meal before.

One of the best parts of making this is that it's really delicious with home-made garlic bread, and that's a treat we've not had for a while. It isn't that we're totally eschewing carbs, but equally we aren't training for any marathons in the near future, so there's absolutely no need to carb-load on pasta AND bread.

So garlick bread is back in the meal plan! Hoorah! I use a loaf of fresh French bread baked that morning at our amazing local bakery, and that bread is delicious in itself, so it's hugely tempting to eat the whole baguette in one meal - but I've been freezing half, which is hugely restrained, don't you think?

Pizza and Tardis.

This evening we are going to eat pizza and watch "Doctor Who" with Randy, whilst Laura is away. Don't worry she knows that we're cheating on the TV viewing whilst she's not here, but, I won't lie, it does feel wrong to be watching River Song without her.

As for pizza, Randy and Doc C share a love of Hawaiien, so they always have that. I have recently discovered Mellow Mushroom's Mega Veggie, this is a "Red Sauce base pizza with Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions, Black Olives, Roma Tomatoes, Broccoli, Feta, Banana Peppers, Artichoke Hearts and Tofu." which is delicious once you ditch any form of pepper from it; tofu on a pizza I can handle peppers (other than jalapeño)? No, not for me thanks.

Sneaky Office Blogging - Shhhhhh!

Doc C has called Charter and made an appointment for a house call tomorrow morning - So I am hoping against hope that we will have blissfully uncomplicated internet access this weekend.

Apart from that it's been a fairly quiet day in the office, hence the quick blog break, but I am really looking forward to going home because we've got last night's "Top Chef: Just Desserts" Willa Wonka reunion special to watch. Squee!

Also, red lipstick. I don't want to wear it everyday, but, when I do feel like it, I find it makes me quietly confident and happy. Useful to note.

White (Chocolate) Bones.

Today's plans to stay in my pajamas and play "Portal 2" all day were modified slightly when it became clear that I needed to get more baking soda and vinegar to unclog the drain in the bath, so I got dressed and we went into town. Now if we were forced to go into town for boring things, then we were also going to look at Halloween stuff. I know it's barely even September, but the Halloween goods are on display already and I need to get the good stuff before it runs out. I've learnt from previous years that leaving the Halloween shopping until the day before results in a disappointing amount of orange plastic junk, and none of the good chocolate.

This year we are having a cocktail party with the theme of Suburban Nightmare, this only requires a very simple costume for me which I already have pretty much got together, and so now I'm focusing on the menu. I definitely want to make cupcakes with something poking out of them, and I think that something is going to be a miniature bone or two. I bought the mold this afternoon, and have successfully made two white chocolate skeletons.

I also got mini-cookie cutters to make hors d'oeuvres of grave stones crackers and cheese slice ghosts; as well as a baking tray which is supposed to make molded bone-shaped cookies, although I'm thinking of using that to make bone-shaped cheese straws.

Doc C is also getting into our theme, and has had some really good ideas for the decorations and ambiance of the house. This is going to be such a fun project to work on with him!

Weekend Status Report.

The Good: I am reading Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and loving it. It's sort of a murder mystery with academic overtones, but whodunnit is never any sort of a puzzle. It's gripping.

The Bad: The weather this weekend has been really humid and sticky, my least favourite kind of weather personally. I cannot wait for Autumn proper to kick in with some nice crisp mornings.

The Ugly: The cream that the dermatologist prescribed causes a rash to flare up on my chest, and so it suddenly feels as though every single t-shirt I own has a scoop neck to it which hits me in just exactly the wrong spot. Yesterday I discovered that wearing a scoop neck backwards creates a boatneck at the front which conceals and protects the itchy bumpiness. This will look intentional with most of my tops; the exception being henleys, so if you should happen to notice that I have a row of buttons down my back, can we just pretend it's a new fashion trend from Europe or something?

The Fabulous: Monday is Labour Day, it's like Bank Holiday Weekend, and I have finally treated myself to a copy of "Portal 2" so I intend to be spending several hours of my day off in my pajamas playing that, with occasional breaks for coffee and toast.

Overly Full.

I. Have. Eaten. Too. Much. Coconut. Fried. Rice. With. Prawns.

MSG and carbohydrate coma imminent.

Pre-Halloween Jitters.

I'm already thinking about Halloween, as ever; particularly this year thought because we are seriously considering having a cocktail party. I already have a theme in mind, so I've pulled out my Martha Stewart Halloween specials to find suitably spooky nibbles and drinks that would work with that.

First and foremost we are going to need black vodka to make all the drinks look inky and forbidding, and there are so many cookie cutters and cake trays available that my head is already spinning from all of the options.

That's just the refreshments, we also need to decorate the house and come up with co-ordinating costumes. Now I'm starting to worry that I've let this too late, and two months just won't be enough time!

Tiny Tasty Tartlets.

Doc C's department had a party this afternoon, which everyone brings some food too. This year Doc had checked ahead and ascertained that the main courses and side dishes would be fully covered, so that meant he felt honour bound to make two kinds of dessert. Damn.

He made coconut and almond maracoons, which were and will always be damn delicious; then he extended his baking repetoire to lemon meringue tartlets.

From the pastry cases to the lemon curd to the meringue, all you see was made from scratch in out little kitchen this morning by Doc C on a baking kick. My only note would be that the pastry could have been a touch thinner, but certainly not at all bad, particularly not for a first go.

Gathering My Strength.

Wow, the first week of classes is exhausting - And that's just for me, answering questions, scrambling to sort out room mix-ups and giving out permit forms like it's going out of fashion (which it will next week, when the add/drop period ends. Hooray!) If I was actually going to classes as well, I would have been asleep on my feet, which, now I think of it ,might explain a lot about the students this week.

I told Doc C categorically that I would not be leaving the house today. That I needed to sleep late, make toast, watch DVDs, play video games, drink several mugs of tea and take a long nap after lunch; and that is exactly what I did, except for the video games and there is still time for that.

Second Day of Classes - Much Less Earth Shaking.

No earth quakes today - But I did get to go to the pub with my friends after work, and that was pretty damn nice following a day of intensive multi-tasking. Guinness is good for you! It also goes really well with veggie burger tacos!

Saturday Lists.

Morning - Tea. Toast. Honey.

Afternoon - Asheville. Sushi. Window-shopping. Haircut. Iced latte. Home.

Evening - Pizza. "Eureka". Cats.

More Mole Removals.

So you know when is a really daft time to decide to do a month long fitness challenge? When you have minor surgery scheduled that requires you not to do anything for at least two days slap bang in the middle of that month. My instruction sheet actually says two weeks, but I checked with the doctor who performed the procedure and he said that because my surgery site is at the top of my left breast I can still Zumba as long as I wear a supportive sports bra! Yay!

Anyway, it was all fine. I took my valium, well it was actually tamazepam, with breakfast and was considerably more relaxed about the whole thing then Doc C was. He has been taking a lot of interest in my remaining moles since my last visit to the dermatologist, and asked me to get another one on my shoulder checked out too. So that one has been taken too! I'm not going to have any moles left at this rate!

Before getting out the scalpels for the main event the doctor drew me a picture to explain exactly what the procedure was, and the picture looked a bit like a knitting pattern that requires short rows. There almost definately will be some pink scarring because I am so damn pale, but the plan was to give me a curved scar line rather than a big blotch. Should I feel the scarring is too bad then they will give me some laser treatment to fade it. Or I could get another tattoo to cover it up, that's an interesting option, right?

I was a model patient (the doctor really said that!), and it was all very quick; so after we left the clinic I insisted Doc C take me out for early lunch before coming home to sleep off the tamazepam on the sofa. Right now I feel fine, if a bit itchy, but, once the local anaesthsia fully wears off, then it is going to hurt so I've got some over-the-counter pain killers and, if those don't work, then I've got some prescription meds too.

All in all I'd say it was fine, but not exactly my idea of a fun way to spend a morning and I don't really want to do that again any time soon.

The Miniest of Breaks.

At about lunch time yesterday I spontaneously decided to take the afternoon off, because there was really nothing happening in the office and Doc C has had a paper provisionally accepted by a journal that is, like, a really big deal in his field of philosophy so I wanted to celebrate that with him.  It was a lovely day, not too hot but with beautiful blue skies; so we went for a walk around a lake, had some from frozen custard and then went home for a cup of tea and a nap. It was very pleasant indeed!

What with one thing and another it's not been a particularly great summer (Note to Self: A great summer involves me having at least a week off from work for starters), so I am very pleased that I decided to take three hours of my holiday time on the spur of the moment to actually do something nice.

Of course I still wish I'd had days and days and days of walking around lakes whilst chatting with my husband and eating delicious food before having a nap in the afternoon, but one takes what one can get and tries to preserve that nice afternoon in mental amber to be enjoyed again later.

Cake for Breakfast.

We decided last night we were going to go out for breakfast this morning, and I looked up our favourite breakfast place's menu on-line to ponder my options. I decided on a vegetable packed tempeh scramble, and was fully intending to eat that - right up until I saw the specials board and read the words "Pound Cake French Toast - with raspberry cooli and warm frsh peach sauce". I mean how are you supposed to turn your nose up at that?

 I, for one, have no idea, it was a really delicious french toast concept. Bravo!

Guinness O'Clock.

Yesterday I was really grumpy, so I made a cup of tea and went to bed early with a B&W film. I think I was mainly sad about Lucille,my friend David's dog, who died at the weekend. David is currently in London with a group of students, so I haven't been able to give him a hug or hand him a strong drink. It's just so sad, Lucy was a really sweet dog and I'll miss her.

The other theory is that I psychically intuited how irritating people were going to be today (Good Grief People! What do you want from me? Argh!), and that I would be very glad that Doc C had a meeting in the pub after work. Which is where I am now with a pint of Guinness. It does a soul good.

 

Food and Sleep = Happy.

On Facebook this morning I noticed that our local rock n' roll burrito place were serving pulled pork tacos as their special. Now obviously that didn't interest me, but I knew Doc C would like the sound of that, and he did. We went for lunch (I had a satay based burrito with tofu, broccoli and carrots. It was yummy!), and Doc got that look on his face that speaks of a satisfyingly tasty meal. After that we had frozen custard.

Then we came home, I made lentil soup to have for dinner when we finally felt hungry again after our big lunch. Doc played video games and I changed into my work out gear before having a nice long nap on the sofa.

It's been a very pleasant Saturday.

Summer Breakfast.

In the summer I like to make my breakfast the night before, so all I need to do is get up and make a huge cup of green tea. I really like brice, which is rolled oats mixed with yogurt and then left to soak overnight; this particular breakfast was a top tip from my lovely friend Stu who made it for me with rhubarb yogurt a few years ago.

I can't get rhubarb yogurt over here (and let's not get me started on the list of perfectly normal things that I can't seem to find in supermarkets, I believe we've covered that ground once or twice now), so I use plain yogurt and stir in some frozen raspberries to the oated yogurt before putting it in the fridge.

By the next morning the raspberries have thawed, and there are bursts of bright pink in the creamy brice. The plain yogurt with the raspberries makes for a very tart breakfast, so I drizzle some honey over the top and the whole thing is totally delicious.

Can't Talk... Gaming...

Doc and I are taking turns in being obsessed with the video games we rented at the weekend; I nabbed the PS3 straight after work and Portal-ed until it was time for dinner. Then I threw together some ginger vinaigrette to dress a salad with and handed over the play station to the L.A.P.D. under Doc's careful guidance - He just busted Greg Grunberg! I love watching Doc play "L.A. Noire" as much as I enjoy playing "Portal 2" myself, well, really both games are becoming somewhat of a collaborative effort and are all the more fun for that I think.

Derby Day.

I was so tired last night, and that translated to me sleeping for something like 14 hours. Ridiculous.

This afternoon we went to watch our local Roller Derby team play their inaugural bout against a team from another city. Our girls were creamed, but it was very entertaining to watch. I may have even wooped once or twice.
Hopefully Doc C and I will be able to go to the next match which is in Charlotte, but Doc has a conference that day so it all depends on the timing.

After the match we went for burritos and then rented some video games from Blockbuster. Doc got "L.A. Noire" and I got "Portal 2", I can never resist rummaging through the ex-rental DVDs so we now own "The Brothers Bloom" and "In The Loop" for 99 cents each. I also got some cardboard speakers for 69 cents that Doc is highly skeptical of, but might do for when I'm workin in the store room at the office and I need some tunes.

All in all, a very successful Saturday.

Migraine Avoidance Techniques.

Today I sat quietly at home, read a couple of chapters of a nice soothing murder mystery and drank mug after mug of tea.

I successfully avoided getting another headache that made my teeth feel like they were throbbing, and I'm celebrating by introducing Doc C to Russian horror sci-fi.

Friday : And Relax...

Today I got stuff done at work, as one does.

When I came home I took off my make-up, put on my exercise clothes and watched last night's "So You Think You Can Dance" with a cup of tea. Then I Zumba'd, but I'm glad none of the judges were there to watch, I'd never have made it through the initial auditions.

I also played a demo of a PS3 game called "Flower", which just involved swooping around as petal on the wind and bringing other flowers into bloom. Not exactly good botanical science, but bloody gorgeous and very relaxing. I got Doc C to give it a go after dinner and he thought it was lovely too. Not something you say often of video games; actually Doc is playing the "Watchmen" demo now, and that involves slot more violence and mayhem.

Speaking of dinner, this evening Doc grilled burgers (veggie for me, naturally) and half a lobster tail each, with a large salad. Please excuse me now whilst I curl up like a cat and luxuriously digest the tasty.

Food and Exercise.

Pilates classes started again this evening, we're signed up for ten classes in the equipment room and we'll be starting our mat classes on Tuesday. I'll still be Zumba dancing three times a week and I am being extra vigilant about my calorie counting.

As well as counting the calories I'm also trying to keep my starchy foods under control, I don't mean I'm not eating carbs at all, but if one meal is bread based then the next can't be pasta based. There are a lot of salads going on, and I'm becoming increasingly fond of chick peas. This evening I made a warm chick pea, cherry tomato and spinach salad, with garlic and balsamic vinegar.

So by the end of summer I should have toned up my core, and dropped some of my excess body fat. That is the plan, let's just hope it works.