Number 22

I am coming to you today from a rather sleepy place, but never the less a VERY happy one.

To Start off - an apology for not writing about the Avengers movie yet, it is on my to do list and I will get around to doing it soon - promise, but for now I want to share with you the amazing weekend I had, away in Cardiff - or The 'Diff ans I am affectionately calling it.

Well Friday night was filled with excitement and nerves about leaving so not much sleep occurred, however I woke fresh as a daisy and finished packing. As I left the house my four gorgeous boys stood at the step and waved me off, blowing kisses and shouting messages of love and telling me to behave. Cute. 

We stopped off initially for a McDonald's breakfast - a road trip staple - it was my first one in months so was   happy to be eating it! The traffic was good and we arrived at about 11:00am to the Dexby Townhouse (which is owned by Marie and James Church, Charlotte Churches parents). We were greeted by Brain the manager and shown to our room - it was beautiful. It was stylishly decked out with flat screen TV, gorgeous bathroom suite, beautiful bedding, patio and plenty or storage. Brian was funny and I'm pretty sure though we were more than friends (Elin and I) which was so amusing, and so we cleared it up asap! We unpacked and had a cup of tea and our complimentary penguin, heehee, then off to the centre for shopping.

We walked through a beautiful park next to the castle, which is on the route of the Cardiff marathon too. The weather held up, except the wind, so no overcoats needed.
I am by no means a fitness guru, I don't work out, run, gym, Pilate's or zumba, but I have been known to enjoy it when I take part - Elin on the other hand loves to run. We went to Run and Become - now I had no idea that there were different running styles or techniques, well Elin needed new running shoes so they measured then got her to run up and down outside so they could assess her style (this was much to my amusement - I even took pictures!). They found the perfect ones and off we went. Next door was an authentic comic book shop - just like off The Big Bang Theory - I noticed it on the way to the other shop then completely forgot about it on the way out - so I will have to go back to go there for sure!
Elin took me then to the shopping centre where all the best shops are. It was like combining Swansea, Carmarthen, Tenby and Haverfordwest all into one area, shop wise. I went in so many and yet there was a weeks worth there I didn't even notice! I managed to get a gorgeous dress in the Debenhams sale for a wedding I have in a couple of weeks - YEY, I also managed to pop into the Disney shop and buy the boys some pressies. 

         

After spending 5 hours shopping and eating (cookies, smoothies) we went back to the hotel in a taxi to primp and prepare for the night ahead.
I had bought before I went up there a jumpsuit - yes I know risky - and I have to say I haven't felt that comfortable or pretty in a very long time. It was a deep purple and a got a 3/4 denim jacket to wear with it - I accessorised with peacock feather earrings and a bangle of the same colouring. Those and my heels and I felt a million dollars - not self conscious or fretful someone would think I looked horrid. I was bang on trend and feeling great.

Off we went to Red Hot Buffet for 7:00pm. Well I can honestly say that I have never been to a restaurant like this one. After being seated you get to go around multiple food stations where you can pick up as much food as you like. There are also stations where you can have dishes made especially for you - noodles, risotto, pasta, Mexican, Indian. It was completely insane, and then once you have finished your plate, the waiters come and remove it and off you go again, as many times as you like. AMAZING! Needless to say I took full advantage - here are some of the things I tried:


Mango cheese tart
Caribbean mango and spinach salad
Crab and cheese stuffed mushroom
Mushroom and chili pasta (made especially for me)
 Crispy duck
Mexican chicken sausage and burger
Stone-baked pizza
Baby potato's marinated in mustard and chives
Brushetta with avocado and sour cream
Slow roast pork with fennel
Lamb kebab
Onion bhaji's
Vegetable samosa
Spring roll
Popadoms




I know this sounds like lots, but almost everything was available as bite sized pieces (although I did have several helpings of certain things). Desserts was a place of absolute heaven. I had a plate with bite sized morsels of 4 different cheesecakes, chocolate and mango mousses, orange sponge cake (the best I have ever tasted) and i can't remember what else. Unbelievable - and all of this is only a fraction of what was available. In total there were well over 150 different dishes. Needless to say I think everyone should go as often a possible - and for £15 you can't go wrong - please go and check out the menu here.



The Old Library was on our hit list next - for a sit down and some drinks - was lovely in there and much bigger than I thought it was going to be! Cheap too.

Tiger Tiger club was our final stop (unfortunately no hunky welsh rugby men to stare at - heehee) - now the dancing and music was brilliant, but the drinks prices wee outrageous - £16 for two. needless to say we had one each. We spent most of our time upstairs in the 60's and 70's disco, grooving along to some classic tunes.

I had such a wonderful time - and Elin is fabulous for coming with me and showing me such a wonderful time. We even called in to McArthur Glen Outlet Shopping Centre on the way back for a spot of extra shopping and munching - did you know there is a Cadbury shop? I was in heaven and bought a handbag full, heehee. 


I missed the boys so much, but felt renewed and so happy when I got home - straight back into mum mode with ease and did the washing up. 


We are planning to go back soon but with our other halves so they can enjoy it too.


So there you have it, probably a bit too much information, but I could of gone on and on, trust me. I'll be back soon and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too.


Hugs
xxx

Number 18

Morning all :) 

As promised I am back and am very pleased to announce that I have weighed and lost a further 3.5lb this week - so that gives me a total of 22lbs lost altogether - yey!! I am very close to having lost 10% of my total weight and I hope to have got there before I go back to the doctors in the next couple of weeks.

In blog post Number 6 I ranted on about how disgusting people are for throwing their litter onto our beautiful countryside - well yesterday we all took the first step to cleaning up where we live and embarked with litter grabber, poo bags and a black bag to see what we would find. Unfortunately we didn't manage to complete one of the circuits I mapped out as once we got a third of the way our black bag was full so we returned home to try again tomorrow. How awful is that! about half a mile walked and a black bad filled to the top with bottles, beer cans, crisp packets, cigarette ends and all sorts of other rubbish that people couldn't be bothered to throw in a bin. It made us all very cross but there was a wonderful silver lining to our outing...

Stanley the slow worm. Yes, I know we already have two dogs, two fish, and a guinea pig but my children completely fell hook, line and sinker for him. He is a male slow worm (which we were very pleased about as the boys had already named him Stanley before we checked), he is about 12" long, silver/brown in colour with blue specks on his tummy, he has eaten a worm and a slug since yesterday and is very happy in the vivarium I created for him. 

Don't worry folks, we came home and googled for around an hour to make sure it was ok to keep him, how to look after him and make sure he was happy and comfortable - we are responsible owners for all our pets! The boys are besotted and spent around 4 hours cuddling him yesterday afternoon - even Mathew my squeamish son!

So yesterday I blogged about food and recipe's and it had a really good response so I thought I would give you a couple more of the menu item's recipes to change up your BBQ menu's.

The first is the marinated Chicken kebab recipe...
To make 4 Mango Chicken Kebab's:


1/4 cup (60ml) of olive oil
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp of fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1 pinch of white sugar
1 skinless chicken breasts, fat removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
Pinch of salt
2 mango's, peeled de-seeded and diced
4 kebab skewers

In a plastic container or a food bag mix the olive oil, orange and lemon juice, brown and white sugar. 

Add the diced chicken breast pieces and ensure they are thoroughly coated, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight if you have the time to spare.

Heat your BBQ or grill to a high heat.

Season the chicken with the salt and then thread onto the skewers, alternating between chicken and mango.

Discard the marinade!

Lightly oil the BBQ grate/grill rack to avoid sticking and cook the kebabs for around 15 minutes or until cooked through on all sides (you'll have to turn the kebabs often).

MMM I am super hungry just thinking about those kebabs! Only a few days to go... So the next recipe I shall share is my stuffed mushrooms. These are so yummy, and as I use small ones they are perfectly bite-sized and very more-ish!

For 8-12 cheese and bacon stuffed mushrooms:


3 slices of streaky bacon cut into lardons
8 - 12 mushrooms with the stalks removed and kept to one side
1 tbls of butter
1 finely chopped red onion
90g of grated mature cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees or 180 if fan assisted.

In a frying pan add the streaky bacon and cook through.

Remove the hard end of the stalks and discard, then finely chop the stems

In a saucepan over a medium heat add the butter mushrooms and onion and cook until the onion is soft and not too coloured.

Remove it from the heat and add in the cooked bacon and 2/3 of the grated cheese.

Mix well then spoon evenly into the mushroom caps.

Place the mushroom caps onto a tray and bake for around 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining cheese onto them.

Don't they sound good? So pudding wise I'm not doing too much as I don't want to be over tempted but I do use a lovely recipe for hot cross buns that I will be making so thought I should share with you too. I can't take credit for it however as it is not my own but in fact Delia Smith's :) hehe - so here is a link to her site with the hot cross buns recipe:

Delia Online - Hot cross buns with a sweet glaze


Right off I go again :)
Hope you have enjoyed once more.
xxx

Number 6

Fed up of me yet? :D

Today I went for a walk with the gorgeous Donut and Fudge around our local area. I live in one of the most beautiful countries in all the world (in my opinion) and as I walked it was so nice to see the blooming daffodils, primroses and snowdrops that grow wildly all over. As I was looking however my doggies were busily sniffing other dog's poop (I know, I know, disgusting but I have a point) and happily chewing all the rubbish they found along the way (stay with me guys).

This made me feel so cross and frustrated -

Firstly with the mindless owners of the dogs that have fowled and they couldn't be bothered to clear it up.

Secondly with the awful people that think nature is their dumping ground for beer cans, packets, boxes, tins and bottles.

Thirdly to the council for not putting more dog bins and general refuse bins along our gorgeous B roads - where most of us walk our beloved pets.

As I walked I decided that it was up to me to do something about it - If you don't like it - change it, so I came home and purchased this - Silverline Litter Picker. Next time I go on my walk I will be collecting all the rubbish that stupid people throw away, and once I'm done a week later, I will take a photo of all the rubbish and send it to the local paper to see if anyone else thinks that this is acceptable behaviour! I also think a well mannered letter (yes I can be polite) should go with the images to the council, in the hope that they might do something about it. I live almost in the sticks and there is not ONE dog poop bin within a 4 mile radius of where I live - also on the 3 paths I take there isn't a single rubbish bin on the B roads (there is one on our main road and that's it). I may be naive in thinking they will do anything but I will keep trying until we get at least one doggy bin in Llandissilio!

Here are the routes I take:

Together they total 7.5 miles - can you imagine being in a city or large town with only one bin in a 7 mile stretch and No dog bins at all?

I also found this awesome website in America with funny dog fouling signs - here is one that had a free PDF. I'm thinking about printing it out and posting it everywhere!

There are many others on this site which are available to purchase or download free - I urge you to download and print if you can! Make your voice heard! Join in with me and clear up your area - either that or sit back and relax while I do it and you read about it - heehee.

I just hope in some small way I can actually make some sort of a difference.

To end I want to tell you how I was a little proud of myself this evening. We decided to go out to dinner - now this is usually fine as we go to the wonderful Toby Carvery restaurant in Carmarthen. Here I know the menu, I know the food is healthy an the vegetables are steamed. I wanted to try somewhere different though to see if I could manage it on my healthy eating diet. I decided we would go to the Harvester restaurant as I knew most of their menu was flame grilled so healthier than other cooking methods. I was so happy when we got there and read the menu - every item had it's calorific value next to it, which meant I could make an informed choice (I'm not counting kcal's but you can see what's better for you with the lower amounts). They also serve all sauces on the side never on the food which is a bonus, and they have an unlimited salad bar so you can get plenty of fruit and veg. All in all I was very pleased - the food was wonderful and perfectly cooked. I had a baked jacket potato (the only bad point being that they put butter in the middle of it without asking, and it wasn't mentioned on the menu), a grilled chicken breast and garden peas, I also had a portion of bbq sauce on the side. I was so apprehensive before going in, and even reading the menu made me nervous as I wanted so many things that I knew weren't good for me, but I persevered and took the healthy options and crikey I am so glad I did. YEY ME!!

Right, I'll sign off for now and be back soon, oh and hopefully I will of lost some weight again this week! Hope you all are ok.

xx