The DietChef Thing: Day 8

Hey everyone.

Well, the see-saw is still in operation, only now I don't mind because I'm on the end that's up in the air! Today has been, contrary to all my expectations, an extremely nice day indeed. Let's have some more of those if possible. I have not been without my slight wobbles and temptations, but it's all good.

Usually, in the pre-austerity days, when noble husbans going on a business trip, I would pull an all nighter, that is, I would sit up in here, read a book or watch loads of movies, so that he could have the bed to himself and get maximum sleep. I have, as you will all be aware by now, bones that insist, however much I plead with them not to, on aching. During the day I try to make the minimum of fuss about it, but in the night I can be very restless and, I am told, can also moan with pain, how embarrassing! I would not want to disturb my husband, which I know I do sometimes, when he has to get up at 3 AM. Usually, when he would get up at three I would then try for some sleep, but it would not usually happen until he would leave the house at four-thirty and would be pretty messed up and, if I was really unlucky, would mess up my sleep schedule for the rest of the week.

Since I started this thing I have gotten into the habit of going to bed at midnight, or near it, sleeping for a good eight hours till Karen comes, and it's working well for me. So I tried doing it last night, I managed to sleep soundly and without being restless, was far enough down so that noble husband didn't disturb me by his moving about and I only partially surfaced when he said goodbye before leaving. Next thing I knew, Alexa was bleeping at me and telling me it was ten past eight.

L and whining Winnie are not being helpful this morning. L is gibbering with fright, sure she is going to fall down, mess up, bug out, faint, break everything in the house, explode the microwave, defrost the fridge, drop the kettle, send stacks of plates, dishes and bowls, all my beloved, imported and expensive corell, the pride of my heart, cascading to the floor, smash the glass plates of the stove to smithereens, set the kitchen on fire, and that's just for starters! Whining Winnie wants to know why we can't just stay in bed like we always do. There's water and juice, we've got that graze box we could nibble on, and there's lots of turtles and MilkieBar, we won't starve. boo to the diet food, we can just forget about it, all we need to do is curl up for one day, it wouldn't matter, not just this once!

Lady Willpower fixes them both with a face like Medusa the gorgon! You can practically hear the snakes hissing in her hair. She doesn't quite turn them to stone with her eyes, but pretty damn nearly! They shut up. We get on with the day. Karen and I go through the morning routine. No coffee this morning, Karen doesn't know how to do it, so lovely hot tea instead. Chocolate granola and yogurt for breakfast.

I don't need to write about it, I've had it twice before. Breakfast is yummy and soon over, the morning goes on, very quietly, very, very quietly. About mid morning I get tired, I'm longing for a nap but don't dare to have one. I know if I do I'll miss lunch, sure as life. Even if I set Alexa to waken me I could easily just go back to sleep, this is the kind of tiredness that I don't easily get out of unless I'm nagged. So I don't give in to it. I don't have much to do today, so I while away the hours with Google, Youtube and wicky, as I usually do when my mind needs distracting. I love looking up the wicky articles on things I remember from my childhood, toys and gadgets and things that are long outdated, and seeing if there is any youtube footage of them. I learn interesting stuff that way, distract myself from whatever woe or food craving I don't want to think of and bring back a bunch of sweet old memories. Sometimes I find real real treasure trove, old tv footage I haven't seen since I was a child.

Anyway, it's finally lunchtime. Curried parsnip soup today, I'm looking forward to this one, I love parsnips. My heart sinks slightly as I pour it out, it sounds thin. I never like it if I can hear it pouring into the pan, it's a bad sign. Finally it's ready and I take it to the sofa and sit down. Contrary to all my dire expectations, nothing awful happens.

First bite: well, if I hadn't added a pinch of salt it would have been under seasoned again, but hey, I'm coming to expect that now. At first I don't like it, it tastes strange, but as I go on eating it grows on me. It is thin, but not as thin as the carrot and coriander of the other day. The parsnip flavor is lovely, the curry is very pronounced and has quite a nice kick, which makes me wonder, their spicy soups are so very spicy, why are their spicy dinners too wishy washy to stand up! It's not consistent. Anyway, I do like this one and I think I will put it on my would get again pile.

So, back to killing time in the afternoon, I'm peckish, and L is being a pest. She reminds me that today we are entering our second week of dieting, we have had one whole week of being on this thing. Actually that isn't strictly true. If you are counting full days, we really didn't start until last thursday, which means it won't be our second week until tomorrow, because the box didn't come till last Wednesday late afternoon. This day last week I had a normal breakfast, no lunch as I always did then and five, count them, five turtles. I remind her that if she doesn't believe me it's written in my blog for anyone to see. There's a pause. Then, in a horribly insinuating voice, she says, on the subject of turtles, don't I think that, as we've been good for a whole week, we couldn't just have one, one teensy weensy little turtle for being such a good girl? It would be kind of like a reward.

I picture it in my hand, the smoothe, hard, flat circle of chocolate, no bigger than a fifty pence piece, though a good deal thicker. I think of undoing its indevidual wrapping, feeling its ice coldness in my mouth, feeling the rich, fatty milk chocolate melt on my tongue, sinking my teeth into the oozy soft caramel, feeling the pecans crunch beneath my molars. I feel my mouth fill with water and close my eyes with longing. Just one, I think, just one wouldn't hurt. Lady Willpower puts her hand on my shoulder and gives me a knowing look. Just one?" is all she says, and I know what she means. It wouldn't be just one. I couldn't have just one. I'd want more, and if it's hard not to have one now, it would be five hundred times harder not to have another after I'd had just one. I have to admit to saying some very very rude words to L, very loudly in my head, and telling her exactly what awful things I'll do to her if she ever, ever mentions turtles to me again! But I can't be too hard on her, after all, she is me and I am her.

Shortly after this I am distracted by first a phone call, and second by the return of noble husband, I am so very glad to see him. He finds both the happy home and myself in one piece! A cup of matchless Earl Grey makes things even more cheerful. Five O'clock and the hungry hole opens very wide and deep, but hey, it's only an hour, I can tough it. Dinner tonight is beef stew, doesn't sound very tempting and after last night's slime from the black lagoon I'm not hopeful, but we shall see. At six O'clock I cook some nice fresh greens, heat up the unexploded bomb and serve up a plate of oh my gosh, what have we here! Actually this smells nice!

First bite: yum, this isn't bad at all., we're def having this again! The sauce is rich, it's got that weird stabiliser in it again, but either because I'm expecting thick gravy this time or because the taste is more palatable I'm not finding the glue texture so unbearable. Lovely chunks of vegetables, root veg but I can't tell what kind, cooked to butter softness. Melltingly tender beef which really falls apart at a touch. That's the key really, this is the kind of stew your Mum might once have made in the pressure cooker. Everything's meltingly soft and all falling into bits, if you took a spoon you could mush it up fine enough for a baby to eat. But I'm not minding because there's a lovely, rich tasting gravy which I think has wine in it, so the whole thing is good. Rich, tender, comforting, warm as a pair of sympathetic arms around you after a hard day. Would be even better if I had some lovely buttery mash, but alas, not to be. Just my usual tablespoon of crunchy lightly cooked greens, which go with it perfectly. Delicious. I think, you know, this would be more popular if they changed its name. Stew makes me think of the muck we got given at school. If they called it rich beef casserole or beef with red wine I bet more people would want it. It hadn't been added to my plan I had to add it, which tells me it's not one of the popular ones. Oh well, just thinking aloud.

The evening is more delving into memories of the past. I strike total treasure trove of old commercials from the 70's on Youtube, and nine O'clock arrives before I know where I am. Cheese and onion potato and soy snacks, I didn't know they had potato in them, they really are so delicious. I can't decide which of the snacks I like the best of the ones I've had. Of course, there are still ones I haven't tried. I have cookies and oat bar, I've fought shy of them because they're soooo tiny! Maybe I'll give one of those a go tomorrow. I get every last grain of seasoning from the packet of chips or whatever they are, drink my last drop of the last cup of tea, and then begin my daily letter, and here I am, nearly at the end of it.

So, tomorrow's another day, now if the see saw is still working we'll go down again, let's try not to, but it is pizza day tomorrow. L isn't going to like that. Here's an idea: why can't they invent a pizza that doesn't smell of pizza! Why can't they invent one that smells of, ooh, let's see, um, oatmeal instead! Then L and whining Winnie wouldn't give me grief and I wouldn't have to bore all your ears off with my agonizing! *big giggles*. Have a wonderful rest of your day, wherever you are. Goodnight everyone.

Food eaten today.

Breakfast: Chocolate Granola, plain, no fat yogurt.

Lunch: Curried Parsnip Soup.

Dinner: Beef Stew, serving of sliced spring greens.

Snack: cheese and red onion potato and soy snacks.

Drinks: Tea, no milk or sugar.

Bad? No.

Are you hungry? Peckish, no more.

Mood: Relaxed and Nostalgic.

Music: David Dundas: Jeans On.