Might die of stress but probably not...

I have spent all morning giving myself a plate-shifting mega-migraine. This is easily achieved. Simply sit down and try to create a 'Wedding Production Schedule'.

I have created one but I doubt it's very useful. One should at least give wedding party members some kind of schedule to blithely ignore though.

In other news, Mr mowed the lawn for me this morning like a good little muffin. Points awarded. I made Samurai soup and Chilli Spring Onion rice in quantities that would frighten even dedicated catering companies (v.good plan though =no cooking/thought/planning needed for 3 days at least. Am v.v.clever). Heading out to 75 billionth dress-fitting this evening (blergh) and am smoking too much. I am nervous and anxious, so sue me. May do zombie makeup on self before fitting just for fun. Seamstress will surely be chuffed with outstanding creativity and whacky sense of fun. Seamstress may be less pleased with fake blood spilled on expensive and time-consuming work-of-art that is wedding dress. Seamstress may care less if plied with substantial amounts of alcohol...will consider.

My cat is cute.


She was sleeping on my bed when Mr unceremoniously dumped a pile of clean washing on her. She looked around a little and went straight back to sleep. Funny little umerow pudding:-)

I'll tell you why Mr and Lydgate are nobs...

Here's why; Mr decide that a fun way to spend the evening would be for me to make Lydgate into a zombie. he boiled 'blood', I used a woefully inadequate makeup kit. I still think he looks more 'Eric Draven' than Zombie. They the ran around the house with Lydgate striking various Zombie-esque poses while Mr snapped away. Someone should tell Lydgate that still cameras don't record sound. He 'grrr-aaaahhhed' and moaned his way through half an hour. Then they had casserole and banana bread and settled down a bit. I do apologise to anyone out there who knows anything about makeup. I had NO latex, NO brushes, one mangy and mostly dry basic palette, no blues except for a garish aqua eyeshadow, and a serious dearth of effctive cosmetic contact lenses (used to have a cats-eye yellow pair but they disappeared years ago).

Anyhoo, that's how we marked '2 weeks until the wedding'. Unlikely to forget it in a hurry:-)....Nobs.

15 days to go....

Yup, 2 weeks from tomorrow the grand hitching occurs. I'm still supposed to work next week, and like all brides, I can't get my head around everything at once. I had a dress fitting last night, and although the dress is magnificent, the body underneath is disppointing. Any waif-like people out there; this dress design would look fantastic on you!

Maybe it's a symptom of my scattered and stressed mind, but at this point, I am basically eating the same thing every day. It's wonderful, comforting, healthy and easy. I don't crave anything else. It's nice to go into the kitchen and not have to think about what to create. Mr is probably getting a little bored, but then he's quite happy to chow down on a pasta snack with some added frozen veges or 2-minute noodles.

I have refined my Chilli Spring Onion Rice and am now convinced it is utterly perfect. These days I am adding finely chopped celery (2 stalks) and a handful of peanuts and dressing the served portion with a drizzle of soy sauce.

I eat a small bowl of this with some steamed greens on the side. Early in the week it was Bok Choy, Gai Lan and English Spinach, but having run out of the aforementioned, it's been broccoli for a couple of days (good thing I'm one of those odd people that adores broccoli) occasionally supplemented with some brussels sprouts.

This combination of flavours is perfect. I have awarded myself a Michelin star for sheer brilliance. In other news, the RSVP list stands at 20 of a potential 15 with 18 confirmed 'other' guests (ie those that are bringing their own picnic). Wish they'd hurry up and ring,-it's difficult to sort out food quantities without the correct numbers!

I'm also busy trying to memorise my wedding vows. Shakespeare is much easier. I am having nightmares about forgetting them on the day. I will also almost certainly drop Brett's ring, stand on and tear my dress and develop a nice big nose zit. Harbinger of doom, me.

Right, deep breath. Get shoes on and walk to station. Try to be enthusiastic for music students. Try to stay awake after at least 3 nights of severely broken sleep patterns due to constant worrying about wedding issues. Try to get some sleep in forthcoming weeks. Try like hell to remember not to panic. Don't worry about people that haven't returned messages etc. They do not hate you. They are simply busy. Everything will be OK. Won't it?

Duh

Note to self: Kiwi's do NOT ripen on the vine. Perhaps you should thunka this before giving Mr the go-ahead to cut it all back,-thereby losing at least 60 fruit.

For one who spends a good deal of time on the web, you would think it would have occurred to me to look this up earlier.

The only reason I figured it out at all, was this;

9am I head down to the washing line in t-shirt and uggs (v.v. attractive) to grab clean clothes. I notice a lone kiwi in the grass fallen from Mr's pruning efforts. I grab it with the intent of throwing it into the garden and notice that it has some 'give' to it. I take it inside with a weird mixture of elation and trepidation. I cut it open and lo! Perfectly ripe Kiwi sending out a fragrance so spectacular that I have to pop it into my mouth post-haste...and lo again! Waves of orgasmic deliciousness flood through my mouth.

The perfect kiwi. The kind you dream of tasting but have never bought in a shop. Those fellas are poor and anaemic cousins to the taste of this thing, much like a shop tomato compared to a sun-warmed garden tom straight off the bush.

I grabbed some secateurs and a basket and busied myself saving whatever fruit was left....6 kiwis are now sitting on the kitchen windowsill ripening....6!!!

Although I feel like the world's largest nob, I comfort myself with the thought that I will know better next year. (Please let us still be here next year! Please let real-estate lady not be lying when she told us we could have a loooong lease).

A pleasant walk down to Lawson in the chill breeze has me planning a spring bulb display...I am gagging for daffodils, jonquils, hyacinths and forget-me-nots (not bulbs but work well trailing in amongst them). Will be spending some of 'wishing well' on bulb purchases (as well as new fridge).

Am waiting for new batch of Chilli Spring Onion Rice to cook. Am obsessed. V.delicious and v.non-fat. Will serve this to Mr this evening with a chilli-garlic stir fry.

Meeting with Minister this evening re: final wedding format...nervous...but why?

Dress fitting tomorrow...excited. Dress will be nearing completion and am gagging to see it in all it's (brilliantly deisgned) glory=P

Trip to the Riff with mother tomorrow to source antipasto and cheeses in bulk for picnic baskets...will put my overwraught mind at ease for a few minutes.

Day 21

No weight change. That's OK,-I've been laid up this weekend with Cysts, so exercise has been nil....also had Cheezely, biccies and pickled onions yesterday,-may not have helped but sure was fabulous:-)

The promised drive past veges happened(!) and as a result some really gorgeous fresh celery was purchased.

Having recently read that the Samurai diet was based largely on brown rice and veges, I decided to get creative and make a nice Japanese-style meal with very little fat and lots of goodness. For those that aren't privvy to Japanese traditions, they eat small quantities and usually have rice with a meal rather than bread.

I am also very taken with Ken Watanabe in general...lol

So here's the meal, with recipes to follow;

Samurai Soup

prep: Soak 1 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns in 1tbsp kecap manis, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tsp Chinese five spice, 1 tsp garlic granules, 1 tbsp sweet chillit sauce & 1/2 cup water until corns are squishy

Soak 3/4 cup pearl barley for 3 hours in cold water, rinse and drain.

Ingredients

( as well as the above) 1 large white onion, finely diced, leaves and stalks of 1/2 bunch of celery (top half), 3 L Massel Chicken Stock.

Method

Soften onions in a little stock and add sauce/spice mix til fragrant

Place celery tops in food processor until finely chopped and add to pot

Add soaked barley and stock and boil (rolling) for 1 hr

Just before serving, add 2 packets of crushed rice noodles (vermicelli) and a handful of crushed toasted sesame seeds. Serve with

Chilli Spring Onion Rice

In a microwave safe bowl combine the following;

1 cup brown rice, 4 tbsp savoury yeast flakes, 2 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp massel chicken stock, 3 cups water.

Microwave on High for 30 min or until all liquid is absorbed. Fold through chopped spring onions (2 large,stem and stalk or 3-4 small)

Serve as a side dish.

A plate of steamed greens with toasted sesame seeds would also go well with this meal, bok choy or gai lan would be my suggestions. Steam until just green and drizzle with 3.2.1 sauce ( 3 tbsp soy, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp splenda + generous whack of toasted, ground sesame seeds).

'A good, functional and healthy body is the ultimate fashion statement' -Kiyokazu Washida

The Pipes, the Pipes are callin'

The mountains Highlands are swathed in mist, The long-weekend stretches out before us lazily. Mr is lighting the fire and Cath...is in a mega-Scots cooking frenzy:-) My mind is full of gorgeous things, mountains and heather, crofter's cottages, heros and poets, tatties and leeks, barley and oats, love and survival, chill wind and warm woollen wraps, log fires and great books, lovingly made quilts and soft beds, candlelight and a pair of strong arms.

On a day like today hearts and tummies call out for thick hearty soups and grainy breads warm from the oven. So after a thrifty and pleasing trip to the grower's market this morning, I am armed. Bubbling on the stove is a fabulous pot of Winter vegetable Chowder.

There is something very pleasing about a big pot of soup. A cauldron of steaming wholesomeness. A marriage of flavours and a smell that wafts through the cottage saying 'Home', 'Safe' and 'Comfort'. Combine this with the smell of baking bread and you will remain happy and peaceful all afternoon.

This is a simple soup but I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good dose of home.

CROFTER'S CHOWDER

2 medium white potatoes

1 parsnip

1/2 a sweet potato

1/3 head of cauliflower

1 brown onion

1/2 a leek

1 clove garlic, crushed

2L massel chicken stock

2 tsp ground cumin

2 ears of corn kernels

30g Nuttelex

1 tsp mixed spice

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Brown onions and leeks in Nuttelex, add garlic and spices

Add all vegetables (chopped into 1cm cubes or thereabouts)

Add stock and a bay leaf and boil on a slow roll for 1 hr.

Allow soup to cool then whizz in food processor until smooth and creamy.

If you like a creamier soup, add 1 cup soy milk at the end and bring back to heat slowly.

Serve with crusty grained bread straight from the oven.

Robert Burns

O Mary, at thy window be!

It is the wish'd the trysted hour.

Those smiles and glances let me see,

That makes the miser's treasure poor.

Day 19, switch to McDougall's MWL 12 day plan

This will still be mostly raw, but will allow me a potato, or porridge or some brown rice. Why?
(a) it's suddenly cold. My body yelled at me this morning to put something hot in it.
(b) I have been very weak on this raw diet,-very
(c) Because I have a tiny fridge I can't have the variety I would like in my raw diet and I'm bored.
(d) I just can't take it anymore, It feels too much like restriction and punishment.

Sorry to disappoint anyone following this, but I have done 18 days of raw and am left unconvinced. I know that raw food is optimal for health and will continue to eat mostly salads, but I need the variety of a bowl of porridge in the morning, or a hot soup in the evening.
The other silly thing about me on a raw diet was that I rarely had the energy to exercise. If that's the case,-what's the point? You can't be healthy while eating salad and sitting at home.
I am passionately vegan and will always remain so, but I'm not sure I can be passionately 'raw'. I'm not entirely convinced that it is the optimal diet for me. I'm a Scot fer chrissakes. Cold weather is my norm as is porridge and barley soup with potatoes and kale. I'm meant to clamber about mountains like a bloody goat, not wobble about weakly like a heroin-chic runway model.
I will still weigh-in in 2 days and we'll see what happens. I have always trusted Dr McDougall's advice, research and judgement,-I doubt he'll let me down:-)