Birthday

Just over a week ago I turned 51 and due to the current world conditions, we did not go anywhere. We are in Tier 2, so could happily go to tier 2, 3 & 4 places, but this epidemic really has put us off from going places, add to that it was pissing down, meant that there was no point trying to go anywhere unless we wanted to either stay in the car, which wasn’t much of an option or seek out a place that was dry, which really meant that the day would be option one as it was raining close to all parts of the country, except the mountains in Scotland where it was snowing.

As always, M spoiled me with hobby stuff, books and a Go Cube. If you do not know what that is, it is a Rubix cube for competing, and it has an app for people wanting to learn how to solve the cube as well as brush up on skills, and speed. I did have it on my wish list waiting for the price to drop, but it really didn’t move, so I never purchased it.

I thought I would share my birthday cake with you all.

Covid Birthday

Dietary Adventures in Narnia

I know, Narnia indeed! But, it would seem like I have stepped into the blessed snowbound place. Why? Well, it would seem that sticking to my diet I have been able to eat really nice things and keep under my calorie count. I decided that it should be around the 1200 mark, with a margin (of error?) taking me to 1500 if I am being a bad boy.

I have cut out milk, which was a shock to the system as I quite literally, live for milk, cannot get enough of it, and tend to drink many pints a day of the lovely creamy full-fat milk. If I have unpasteurised milk, or raw as our American friends call it, I can drink a hell of a lot more, oh, then there is sterilised which is my all time favourite from when I was a kid.

Anyway, I have been keeping track of all that I consume, and I have tried my best to increase my intake of water. I am a bugger for not drinking water, and this is due to the amount of coffee and tea I drink on a daily basis. I am still not drinking enough water if I am honest, but it is a lot more than I have done in the past.

I started at the beginning of the year at 14 stone 7 pounds. I am broad shouldered so carry the weight quite well, but I need to shift my gut. At least I still have a 32″ waist and this has never increased for the past 25 or more years. After weighing myself I have managed to lose a stone (14lb) so far, but there is still a need for lots of improvement. I have been bad the last few days, so back on the diet again and try as I may to avoid the sinner’s delights of cake and sweets (candy).

Both M and I have ended up with colds, so they do say that you have to feed a cold, so that was my excuse to eat cake, ice cream and other delights. The world is too full of nice things, so I don’t mind sinning from time to time, after all, what is life without a little whimsy?

Back to Baking…

I have been dying to bake for quite some time, but the so-called diet has kept the urge at bay, but this weekend, I thought stuff this, I am making something. It was a toss-up between this cake or my beetroot and dark chocolate, however, since it was my first bake of the year, and due to the abundance of Easter cakes about I decided to make Cherry and Marzipan Cake.  It has a layer of marzipan running through it.  I make the cake batter, put half in the cake tin, covered it with a layer of marzipan then the rest of the batter, and covered it with flaked almonds.

Lately, we have been really bad, and this week I have gone overboard.  I went to Patisserie Valerie and bought luxury cakes which does not sound too bad, but when you take into account that I had a massive Chinese meal consisting of beef green pepper black bean sauce, salt and pepper chicken, fried rice, chips before the cakes then the fat boy pants really needed to come out.

I was going to bake a cheese and onion pie too, but M pointed out that I would be one meal away from a heart attack, so I will make that next week.  In the meantime, I made cheese macaroni with tomatoes, onions and curry.  M does not like that dish, and I had made enough for four people and ate quite a lot of it, so heart attack city here I come.

 

Christmas looms closer…

With that, I have started buying my Christmas presents.  I have bought quite a lot, and have wrapped them already.  I am only buying for M, Harper, Mum and her hubby and my niece and nephew.  My siblings and I decided on my suggestion that we do not buy for each other.  I decided to WhatsApp chat with them all to suggest this as each year we buy each other gift cards.  A few years ago I went out of my way and spent a fortune one them all, and did not receive a thanks or anything else for that matter.  So, I decided why bother.  With the loss of our wee dog, things gained perspective, and I was glad I made that decision, there is no love lost between us all, and true colours over the years have all of a sudden become blatant, so I will not regret, or have to sit there thinking about what to buy, and if they liked it.  It makes Christmas easier to deal with.

I enjoy buying for M, and each year I have gone totally overboard, but this year we said that we would stick to a £50 limit.  M questioned this limit the other week, and I said I was more than happy to stick with it, after all, I do not need anything at all, and want for nothing, hell I even have a framed picture from North by Northwest complete with Cary Grants signature, I literally have everything I want, well, apart from a new Range Rover and a new top end iMac, and maybe the new iPhone X, but apart from that I have no needs.  Even the things I would love to have are not needed, I have a new car bought only in January, I have a perfectly good MacBook Pro that I bought myself last year along with a new iPhone, so all told I really do not need anything.  Not even knitting stuff.  I have a stash of yarn that if unwound and tied end to end would circumnavigate the earth several times.  Maybe I am missing a few extra long circulars, but being honest, if a pattern calls for it and I do not have it, I will just order one from Amazon.  One of my many traditions of Christmas wrapping is that I go totally mad, one year cost me about £70 to wrap them, not because there were many to wrap, although there were, it was due to the things I used, including hand-carved wooden deer, stag and Santa tags, handcrafted organza ribbon that was beautifully decorated, and other things, not to mention the paper.  This year we have stepped it down a few notches, okay, quite a lot of notches so far.  The paper that I have is a frosted blue with deer and rams on it, very festive, but I need to find bows and ribbons, and of course, name tags.  Yes, lots of them are wrapped, but not completed until I find the perfect additions.

Down to one dog, so no doubling up on each thing.  Lilu taught Harper to open her presents, the first year Harper was bewildered, but she was only just over four months old.  The year after she watched and copied her, and last year as soon as we took something from under the tree and placed it in front of her she tore apart the wrapping and had a wild time, usually with the wrapping as she has a thing for ripping up paper and cardboard.  Again, she does not need for anything.  I have just bought her a new winter coat, she has a sturdy police harness, and she gets toys and balls all the time, however, I will make sure she has lots to play with.  We have bought her one thing so far, a talking ball that taunts her with sayings like “I’m gonna get you”, “Hey Puppy!”, “Woof, woof woof”, and more besides.  She has one already that we bought from Ireland and she loves it, but being a Staffy, she chews through everything, no matter how tough it is.

Purchasing for parents is a bind too, my Mother changes her hobbies at a rate of knots, one year gardening, next knitting, the next painting (even went as far as having a studio).  Her Hubby is easier as he likes to make things from lego to 3D puzzles.

My next task will be to decide on the menu and to make a Christmas cake, the latter will be started in the next week or so and of course full of cognac which I inject into the cake to “feed it”.  Mmm, I fancy some cake now.