tj_rowe | Entries tagged with food

I walked up the the shops like an old lady, bought my eggs and milk and orange juice, then went into the pharmacy on my way to the butchers and they said that they'd pick up the perscription for me, and then the butchers had gluten-free sausages! So I got some of them as well as bacon, and also a conversation about another patron's sister and the horrible loosing-weight thing.

And now I am home and there can be food. Or at least orange juice, because food requires cooking requires staying stood up for a while at a time.

I got sent a box of tasty food through the letterbox on Thursday. And it was free tasty food, because I used Gemma's referal code to get a free box. And now I have my own referal code with which to refer people! It is 5TBNG3B.

http://www.graze.com/p/5TBNG3B

That is a link to the website, including the referal code! It is possible to sign up, obtain the free box, and then cancel, by the way. Or sigh up, obtain the free box and the half-price (half price = £1.70, ish) box, and then cancel. Or continue, because they are tasty and nom and made of healthy.

You can do the thing of rating all the stuff they offer as 'don't send ever' 'I'd like to try' 'send occaisionally' or 'send often' - in a box you get four little punnets. I got rice crackers, flapjack, dried fruit (now I know what a goji berry is!) and a fruit/nut combination (which I haven't tried yet) this week. I rated all the things with olives or much wheat in as 'don't send ever'. They have easy menus for nut and dairy and gluten-free lists, but you can search for any ingredient (like wheat, or lemon) and deselect things individually, too.

Um, so yeah. I get a pound off if any of you sign up using the code, and you get free food. So, do that, if you fancy it.

Current Mood: rejuvenated

( Read more... )

Also: Every single one of you, food is good, and required for life. Do not answer wrong to the 'eat or die' ultimatum, or there will be Words.

I think I may need to rewrite my food rules. Currently, I've got it as a rule that I don't leave the house or do anything strenuous until I've had breakfast - or at least had easily nommable food with me, like an apple and breakfast bar or something. When I had to go far from my house in the morning and would often feel dizzy before I got another chance to eat, this was a good rule, because getting dizzy is bad. It was also a good rule because tbh, I was hungry when I needed to eat.

The past couple of weeks - it's been a bit of a creep, but has become more and more apparent - this rule has meant that I've sat in my pyjamas reading the internet and maybe drinking tea until I felt hungry, and then my day would start. This is extremely inefficent, time-wise, especially as later in the day/evening I'm a lot lazier and time seems to go faster. So, I'm going to trial a model of the day in which I set an alarm and Do Something at/close to home before breakfast/after just a yogurt or something - going to the shop, washing my hair, maybe even going for a walk or something that's almost-exercise-but-not-quite. (I have a set of light wrist/ankle weights - trying to start being stronger would make me hungry, right?)

And now it's occurring to me that on University days last term I'd eat something to fulfil the 'rule' before leaving the house (like a yogurt or half-bowl of cereal or some fruit), and then have a 'proper' fried breakfast later on at Roger Kirk - more like a brunch, really - after doing a lecture or some problem questions. So, my current way of organising is just substituting 'more sleep' or 'internet' for 'actually doing some work'. I was finding, in the later part of last term, that I was finding the days I woke up on campus to be the most productive, especially when I had late lectures, because I had to be out by nine o'clock and frequently only had the 'breakfast' at about half-past ten when Graham or James appeared and I could give them the bits of breakfast special that were made of wheat. That's an hour and a half-ish a day of being productive, so between three and four and a half hours a week of work (or attempted work) which wouldn't have gotten done otherwise.

So, yeah, I'll try that. I kinda wish I'd resolved this earlier in the holiday... One week (and three hours) until my exam...

Current Mood: contemplative

I've actually managed quite a few things from the list in the last entry, for such a lathargic start: clothes, ~~washing clothes~~ discovering that the washing machine's water supply has been turned off, effective shopping (the co-op now has trollies, resulting in the shop not being Utter Hell any more - and making me realise that the lack of trollies was a big thing in me deciding to take the bus to Morrisons instead), and cooking!

I'm making stew in the slow cooker I got from Steve's family for Xmas.

Ingredients:

half a packet of '3 for a tenner' casserole beef, browned in oil with the dried herbs
~ quarter of a swede
two potatoes
two carrots
a parsnip
a small red onion, fried a little
a knorr beef stock pot (it's like a gravy cube, but without the thickener or salt, also in jelly format)
dried herbs: quite a lot of rosemary, some thyme, a pinch of sage
spices: paprika, pepper

And I've shredded three cabbage leaves ready to chuck in at the last minute (well, the fourth-to-last minute).

I'm thinking that this is going to result in approximately two portions of food, but I'm not sure. (I'm not going to even try for one portion of food) You get so much more leeway cooking for more people. -_-;;

ETA: Have now also put flapjack in the oven! It contains the usual things, as well as coconut and marshmallows. I shall bring it along to larp tomorrow, if there's any left. XD

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Snow Blind - Black Sabbath

Aww! Heartwarming story is heartwarming.

In other news, I mopped the kitchen floor today and it's now like a completely different colour. It took three buckets of bleach-water turning black. I feel productive and useful now, even though I've only done half a set of problem questions so far. ^_^

Also, there was larp yesterday, which made me feel useful and happy and competent in a different way. Also struck up conversation with one of the newbies a couple of times, and that was nice, too.

I should get dressed and get ready for my lecture later, but I'm warm in my pjamas and dressing gown and fuzzy socks and boots (slippers + bleach = bad) in my heating-less house. Ooh, another reason to feel good: I've actually eaten two meals before half two. Porridge and gluten-free sandwiches. (Yay Tesco!)

Current Mood: happy

We now have a working shower, and getting to wash my hair after a week of not feels so good! Clean hair, yay! I have ringlets again!

Also I got to the co-op and bought food, including cereal and ready-meals, so that when the idea of food is unwanted, there is an easy thing to start preparing immediately as I want it on a whim, so then it's half prepared and I have to eat it, then. Still will need to pick up veg from a shop with actually stocked shelves, though. Then I can make bolognaise!

There will be larp tomorrow! ...And I still have no idea what I'm doing. XD

Soya mince, stock, onion and pasta*. Things which don't really go off if you look after them, and so are always in my cupboard, and TASTY!

*Gluten-free corn pasta, nowadays.

Today I went for a walk completely wearing 'summer' clothes, including sandals, and when I was about half-way down Hull Road, it started to rain. Thankfully, it only got really heavy just before I ducked into a charity shop (where I found a really nice green top), and so it wasn't too bad. I decided to take the bus back when the back of my sock got wet, though - and about half-way home the rain stopped for good. Gah.

In unrelated news, I like having the house to myself. I just cooked a pasta bake with kidney beans, brown lentils, soya mince, chopped tomatoes and a tub of cream and a load of herbs (the lid to the paprika decided to mutiny, so rather a lot of that went in!). I should have put in more chilli flakes, but it was tasty.

Current Mood: content

Stopped eating (probable) poison. Had a weekend full of Steve cooking big meat-and-potatoes-tastic meals for me, and feel a bit better. Blood test occurred - will make an appointment with Doctor Griffith when the results come back (she's the one monitoring my iron, anyway).

Planning to go visit my parents at the weekend, and pick up my nice warm dressing gown. Discovered that at least one of my housemates has had the good idea of turning the heating on - by stretching my arms out along the sofa-back and encountering hot radiator. Also discovered that my radiator-tap was closed, opened it so as to gain benefit from any heating that is going to go through the house.

Went to the supermarket and did a giant shop because Steve brought his dad's car down with him. Lots of dry, tinned and gluten-free food now resides in my cupboard (spent two weeks of food budget, but the food bought will last longer than that).

Term-time soon. Gah.

So, yesterday I started this 'gluten challenge' thing, in which I have to eat as much wheat, barley, rye and spelt as possible over the next week ready for a blood test next wednesday, and my stomach spent the whole of this morning trying to convince me never to eat again.

I had a beef burger for lunch, and a piece of bread with my supper. I felt fine last night, but since about quarter to seven this morning (when I got up, needing to get a lift with Steve's dad to Darlington to catch the train back to York and work) it's been constant nausea and please-don't-put-food-near-me-but-I'm-hungry. I got a hot chocolate and a pastry thing at York station, and it helped a bit. Hope that the pastry doesn't try to escape too badly when it's being digested, though.

It's weird. The last few weeks I've kept going all 'That bread smells so good!' whenever I go into a shop, but I have no desire whatsoever to actually eat any. Eating the burger bap yesterday felt a bit like eating candyfloss, to be honest. You chew it and taste it and stuff, but it's not food, as such. Pointless.

...It occurs to me that it's one o'clock in the afternoon and I haven't eaten any food that my body will recognise as food yet today. Lunch!

Current Mood: hungry

[Error: unknown template qotd]

(Assuming non-lying genie)

I'd panic so hard and have as inactive a day as possible, because obviously there was something seriously wrong with me if any food I ate was going to give me no energy whatsoever.

I made a spicy-peppery sauce for my pasta today. I am so, so glad that Steve's mum showed me roux! I just boiled up lentils in stock and pepper and garlic, dolloped some of the roux from the freezer into another saucepan and then added the stock-mixture with lots of stirring until it turned into sauce. ^_^

Though, the recipe books are wrong about not heating it while adding, at least with this one (might be different as I used sunflower oil instead of butter, or maybe I didn't heat it hot enough when I cooked the roux). It started to go all bitty when I'd only mixed a little bit in (and it wasn't too fast), so I bubbled it on the hob fr a few seconds and suddenly it looked like it was supposed to.

Also, I think lentils may be, in fact, my favourite food. This may be because we never really got to eat non-meat protein when I was growing up, or just that they are nommy. This also goes for chick-peas.

... is that I'm learning to cook. The bad news is that I forgot to eat today and ate nothing but my own cooking yesterday.

And we have no veg in the house.

So egg, ketchup and instant carbs, basically. *wishes that she'd rememebered the egg*

Current Mood: busy

I had four inches off. Now, stretched, it's just past my shoulders. When it springs up after I wash it, it's going to be up around my ears... Noo...

In other news, my nan makes really nice perfiteroles!

I'll get a pic of my hair after I wash it. Bizzarre!