My Big FAT Diet Show January 29, 2010

Apparently one of the most popular (and least successful) new year’s resolutions is to lose weight / get into shape.

Apparently less than a quarter of people who make new year’s resolutions actually manage to keep them.

Apparently the main reasons for this are that people either spend too much time thinking about them, rather than actually doing them or they take the advice of self-help gurus and rely on willpower alone. However, I suspect the main reason that people fail (specifically on the “lose weight / get in shape” resolution) is that they don’t really have any idea how to succeed in this area – and end up following bad advice.

One good example of this would be the frankly horrendous “My Big Fat Diet Show“, which aired for two weeks post Christmas. The premise of the show was that a bunch of slightly overweight “diet divas” would try to drop a dress size in 2 weeks. Having recently decided to go on a bit of a health kick myself, I thought I’d give it a watch to see if I could pick out any healthy eating tips from the supposedly “no gimmicks, no fads” show… Guess again! The gimmick of this diet is that you restrict yourself to eating just 1,200 calories for 2 weeks (it’s not a fad though. Honest). So, if you want to use up your calories by eating 6 bars of milk chocolate a day – go ahead! Fancy living off a couple of bags of crisps a day? Feel free – as long as you stick to that calorie limit, you’re on the road to weight loss success.

And to help the divas on their way, they were given access to a pop up “100 Club” supermarket, in which everything was packaged in 100 calorie portions. And what was the most surprising thing they learned from all this? That a pork pie has over 200 calories in – whereas a bag of vegetables has less than 100… Shocking. So, rather than inspiring me to carry on with my resolutions through giving me tips, it actually inspired me through giving me the confidence that in fact I already know an awful lot about food and healthy eating. And through combining that with our new exercise regime, we should be onto a winner!

We’re currently just over three weeks into our regime and, although it’s been tough at times (yes I mean you, 5.45am weekday starts!!) and we’ve had a couple of days where we’ve not done everything as planned, we’re still doing really well. Currently we’re doing about 45 mins core training every weekday morning, followed by 10 mins jogging. Then in the evening we’re doing another 10 min jog, followed by either weight training for arms, weight training for legs, weight training for backs, or more cardio (generally 20 mins cycling / cross-training). At the weekends we’re having one day off from both exercising and eating healthily, and the other day we’re following pretty much the same routine as we do in the week.

In terms of diet, we’re eating little and often (every four hours or so):

• Breakfast consists of a bowl of porridge (whole rolled oats), a boiled egg white and half a grapefruit

• Lunch is a healthy home-made meal with some carbs (a baked potato / small portion of rice or pasta), healthy protein (cottage cheese / tuna / grilled chicken / beans and pulses) and some veggies

• Afternoon snacks consist of a healthy yoghurt, and a selection on chopped carrots, celery and apple

• Dinner is carb-free, so we eat lots of protein and veg

On top of that I’m drinking at least 1.5 litres of water per day (top tip – keep a 1.5 litre bottle on your desk and re-fill it each day to keep track!), as well as a glass of fruit juice. And no fizzy drinks (I literally haven’t had one so far in 2010) or alcohol (with the occasional exception of a small glass of red wine) unless it’s a day off. And even on a day off, beer is limited. And to be honest, having pretty much given up drinking in the week, it’s often quite tough to get back in the mood at the weekend! Who’d have thought it?!

All in all, we’re gradually building muscle and strength, as well as slowly slimming down. We’ve still got a weight to go (do you see what I did there?), but fingers crossed by the time spring comes around, we should be fit as a pair of fiddles!

x

Byron Burger January 26, 2010

My brother has recently started working a few roads away from me, which is cool because it forces him to see me without me having to travel to the depths of Hertfordshire for the pleasure…

Anyway – we’ve made it a fairly regular thing to go out for lunch every few weeks. We take it in turns to pay and everything. Up until now, I’d been doing fairly well in the luncheon stakes. We started out fairly small with a cafe, moved on to fish and chips (and mushy peas – yum!), after that I managed to trump him with a quite frankly scrum-diddly-umpscious meal of cumberland sausages with mashed potato and veg, served in a GIANT yorkshire pudding. (Thank God for the good old White Horse‘s traditional pub menu!) Admittedly I did make a school boy error in leaving most of my yorkshire pud until the very last thing, and had a total batter-overload when I tried to down it in one…

But I digress. All this was before Christmas, and we hadn’t met up for one of our regular lunch dates until last week. That’s when he sprung it on me… BYRON on Wardour Street opened in November last year. It’s difficult to describe in that on first look it appears to be a fairly upmarket restaurant come gastro-pub (without the pub attached). However, on closer inspection it is in fact a sort of British take on the American burger bar, with friendly waitresses, cosy tables adorned with carafes of water and boxes of condiments (including a fabulous hot sauce), as well as a wacky projector screen wall. I’ve walked past it countless times, each time promising to go back for a meal at some point and yet never quite managing to follow through. Simon had apparently been there 3 times since we’d come back to work on 4th Jan – such is its sheer greatness.

And so it was that we ventured in out of the rain last Wednesday, to be greeted by a mouth-watering menu of burgers, fries and sides, salads, extras and desserts. Obviously Simon and I went for the Byron burger which is served with dry cure bacon, mature cheddar and “Byron sauce” (we’re not sure exactly what the Byron sauce is made of, although at the time we did discuss the possibility of it being “special” in more ways than just the taste). And, in true London style you can even choose how your burger is cooked (mine’s medium-rare, thanks). It was the best burger I’ve had in a long time, and to be honest I’m just glad I’ve got another week and a half (due to my brother’s ridiculously crowded diary) to think of somewhere else to go…

… Claridges anyone? The Ivy? Maybe I should just cut my losses and stick to Nandos…

x

House of Mouse January 25, 2010

Hello!

Firstly I should apologise for the radio silence over the past couple of weeks. It’s been a rather odd time, and I’ve been hugely busy without being able to talk about it… That may all sound fairly secretive, but the reason for this is that I’ve actually had a couple of interviews over the past few weeks (the second and final one of which took place last Monday afternoon) and didn’t want to talk about them in case I jinxed it. However, the entire process is now over, so I’m back and raring to go with lots of ideas for new posts to write over the coming days. Now – back to those interviews:

When I moved over to the European office at Sony PlayStation, I had to move onto a temporary contract since they didn’t have the headcount to allow me to transfer on a permanent one. I was therefore only ever supposed to be here for a year (from last July) and the plan was to start looking around for another job post-Christmas. However, a couple of weeks before the Christmas holidays, I noticed a job advert in one of our trade magazines for a European Product Manager located in Hammersmith and the little cogs in my brain immediately began to whir, wondering whether this was in fact an advert for a job at my old home – Disney. Having worked at Disney about 3 years ago now, I still know a majority of people there and so made a couple of enquiries and ended up sending my CV through to them just in time for Christmas. The following week, I was off work (during which time I was mainly on the sofa, watching movies, eating my body weight in snack food and drinking wine) when I had a call from Disney, asking whether I could go in for an interview during the first week back in January. I jumped at the chance and booked a morning off work for a 9am interview.

When 4th January rolled around, and with it the necessity to go back to work (ughh), I had all but forgotten about my impending interview. That was, until I realised that all the SNOW (which I may have mentioned previously on this very blog) would in all likelihood be making my journey to Hammersmith all the more treacherous and time consuming… And so it was that I left the house on 7th January, wearing my very best business dress, tights and walking boots. Yes walking boots – in fact the ones I climbed Kilimanjaro in. Because it was literally that icy. :-s Somehow I managed to make it there without breaking my neck and the interview went okay. I’m not very good at judging whether an interview goes well or not – and this one was made all the more difficult because one of the girls interviewing me was someone I had frequented the pub with on more than one occasion during my time at Disney… So, once I’d left I tried to forget about it and went on with my working week.

The following week, however, a couple of unexpected things happened – firstly I was offered a permanent contract at SCEE (yey!) and secondly, I had another call from Disney who, to my surprise, wanted to see me again! This time I would have to write and present a marketing plan for one of their upcoming (and quite frankly stunning) games – Epic Mickey. Having spent the last week and a half working on PowerPoint presentations for an SCEE company conference, I have to say the thought of having to write another one in my spare time was not the most inspiring way to end my week. However, I was delighted at having the chance to go back in to show them exactly what I can do. And, to be honest, I quite enjoy giving presentations – not least because all the preparation before hand enables you to go in fully loaded with all the ammunition you’re likely to need to survive the onslaught of questions that will likely arise.

And so I spent an ENTIRE WEEKEND planning, writing, organising, and making my marketing plan look pretty. When Monday afternoon came around, I was more nervous than I have been for a long time. So much so, that when I arrived at Disney’s head offices in Hammersmith and one of my interviewers asked how I was doing, I replied “nice” rather than “very well thank you, and how are you?”. She must have either thought me to be either retarded or just plain special… The presentation itself went as well as I could have hoped, and I think I handled myself pretty well during the round of questions too. And so, after about an hour I was invited to stay for another half hour to speak to the Marketing Director – who was one of the nicest and funniest people I have met in a long time. She was extremely welcoming, very honest and had a sense of humour that meant I literally spent the entire interview laughing… And so, once again she must have thought I was either incredibly unprofessional, drunk, or bizarrely relaxed about having just sat through an hour’s interview and to now be sitting with the European Marketing Director.

Luckily for me, it seems is was the latter (and more positive) of these in both cases, as the following day I was offered the job! And so it is with much excitement (although I’m sad to be leaving SingStar) that I can say, I’m officially going back to the House of Mouse as of 22nd February! Yippee! And that explains where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks! But it’s good to be back, and I’m looking forward to writing some new posts over the coming days – so make sure you keep checking back.

Take care and love to you all!

xx

Duck Tales – Breakout! January 12, 2010

As you may have gathered from my recent blog posts, we’ve been having some rather unusual weather here in the UK over the past few weeks in that it’s bloody freezing. As well as this meaning our daily walk to and from the tube station is more difficult than walking up a bobsled track (eins, zwei, drei!), it also means that our darling duckie-boos are having to lodge with us as it’s too cold for their little butts to stay outside all night. As such we’ve had to build a make-shift pen in the kitchen and, up until now it’s been fairly painless. Sure they do plopsies at every given opportunity and require daily cleaning. Sure they need to have sole use of our bath-tub for about half an hour each day so that they can swim, splash and make a holy mess in the absence of the frozen pond outside. But at least they’re well behaved. That was until a few days ago…

It all started when at the weekend Huey – or Hueyetta as we now call her – thought it would be funny to jail-break. As such she spent a day planning out a safe route before making a run for it, and heading on into the lounge for more fun and games (and plopsies). Of course her darling husband Louie wasn’t far behind and they now seem to be making a habit of breaking out at every given opportunity. I would say roll on summer, but in all honesty I’ll miss the little buggers once they’re back outside. It may sound strange but they’re almost like children. They both have such funny (and naughty) little personalities that I’ll really miss the troublesome two.

In the meantime, here’s an awesome bird related video that we took before we got our very own duckies. We were out at Green Park feeding ducks and geese and found this particularly hungry chap, who seemed so desperate for a mouthful of bread that he would double-footed jump up to get it!

Enjoy!

Note to All Media Buying Agencies… January 9, 2010

Media buying is all about purchasing time and ad space for the purpose of advertising. This includes slots within / around certain TV programmes for TV ads, as well as pages in magazines / news

Sticking with the theme of my last post, even when you have a decent and effective advert, placement is crucial. These beauties show just what can go wrong… :-s

The Snowman January 7, 2010

As those of you that read the comments section of “Happy No-snow Day” yesterday will be aware that my office closed at 3:30pm yesterday to allow people extra time to get home safely in the snow storm. By the time I left, it was around 4pm and the pavements in Willesden Green were already a death-trap – and that was before another night of freezing temperatures to solidify all the snow. So, this morning (and I apologise for my fashion faux-pas Leila, but safety first!) I had to resort to wearing these rather attractive hiking boots to work:

Particularly attractive when worn with tights and a black shirt-dress, I have to say. Despite looking like the littlest hobo and one pretty convincing “Bambi on ice” impression, the boots (and the fact that “the boyfriend” kindly walked me to the bus stop) prevented any broken bones. Sadly though, we still haven’t had enough snow for another full Snow Day. However, lots of people outside of London (my sister and niece included) have been having a fabulous week, and have been making particularly good use of the snow through sledging, snow ball fights, making igloos (or eggloos, as my niece calls them) and generally having a good time. However, by far the best way to put all that snow to good use is, in my humble opinion, to make a snowman. And over the past couple of days, people have really excelled themselves at this one, and looking through these has brightened my spirits on another otherwise non-eventful no-snow day.

Good work, people of the snowy Great Britain!

Happy No-Snow Day January 6, 2010

Last February we had a “big chill”, which London’s transport system was totally unprepared for. It was a disgrace, and meant that people like me were physically unable to get to work – despite our longing to be able to get there so that we could perform our daily duties. Instead we were forced to spend the day at home, making snow angels and building snow men in the street, having snow fights, sledging down any remotely sloped surface and generally having an awful time. I remember the day bitterly.

I am therefore glad that the forecast severe weather warning and 10cm of snow failed to arrive in Willesden Green last night, and was in no way disappointed to wake up to a mere couple of inches of white fluff covering our garden rather than the promised snow drifts. I am also thankful that the Jubilee line is working to its usual high standards despite the snow, and I did not spend the first hours of my day watching the travel updates on the news and hoping for some sort of mechanical failure / freak blizzard [please delete as appropriate] in our area. I relish the fact that I am currently sat at my desk on my lunch break rather than being curled up at home on the sofa under a duvet, watching a movie with a big bowl of soup.

And above all, I hope to God that the snow that’s been falling since 8am does not continue until tomorrow morning, disrupting the tube and bus services, thus meaning that I am unable to complete my daily commute into Central London, to my place of work. Should this happen, I will be filled with regret and longing for my desk and will not in fact be cavorting in the snow all day, with the occassional checking of emails when I happen to be inside warming up with a hot chocolate ready for the next onslaught of snow balls.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to all of you who are incapacitated due to the snow. But, for the rest of you – happy no-snow day!

George’s Sunday Dread January 4, 2010

I spent most of yesterday afternoon cooking – homemade egg pasta for freezing, roast dinner, chicken stock for freezing, baked potatoes for lunches in the week… And, since cooking is one of my favourite pastimes, I really enjoyed it. However, one thing I did not relish was the reminder (via the baked potatoes) that this week it’s back to work.

Having had two full weeks off, during which time I only got dressed when absolutely necessary (i.e. to leave the house), today was always going to be a bit of a shock to the system. Even George had a severe case of the Sunday dread, which he illustrated by curling up underneath his log for the night – something he only does when he’s in an especially bad mood.

He was still there this morning, and I had to force him to come out to warm up so that I could feed him before I left for work. (Lizards can’t digest food unless they’re warm, so I sat him right underneath his heat lamp at 6:15 this morning). I think he dislikes early starts even more than I do!

Anyway, this morning was the official start of our new fitness regime (further spurred on by this ingenious story about members of “beautifulpeople.com” dating website being struck off the list for gaining weight over Christmas – it seems it’s a harsh world for singletons at the moment). It began after a restless night’s sleep with an alarm call at 5:50, followed by our core exercise routine (to improve balance and core muscles) for around 45 mins, and then 15 mins of cardio.

Breakfast consisted of rolled porridge oats, which release energy slowly during the day, a boiled egg white for protein (no yolk since sadly, as with a lot of tasty food, it’s all fat…), and half a grapefruit to aid digestion. I then walked all the way up the escalator at Oxford Circus, and again used the stairs at work. (I’m refusing to get lifts from now on – every little bit of exercise counts!) And I have to say that despite the early start the whole morning really set me up for the day. I felt great and was raring to go back home to start our weights programme at the earliest opportunity!

In fact the only negative outcome of the whole day was that I arrived at work on one of the coldest days of the year so far (albeit that we’re only 4 days in), to find that our heating was broken… And even then, we had our emergency supply of hoodies (God bless gaming merchandise!) to help warm us up.

And luckily for me, my fabulous new boots, which I had ordered from eBay pre-Christmas and since forgotten about, also arrived all the way from China just in time to warm my icy toes. They’re almost boxing-boot-esque, and are very funky. I officially LOVE them!

Lessons to be learned – on days when the Sunday dread is setting in, and even George has decided it’s best to stay underneath his log and have a duvet day, wrap up warm and soldier on if only on the off-chance that you might end up with a pair of brand new boots at the end of it all!

Happy Monday!

Recipe – Homemade Egg Pasta January 3, 2010

In March of last year I visited my Mum and Dad in Florida. Whilst there, we tend to do quite a bit of shopping and one of our favourite haunts is Bed, Bath & Beyond – since both Mum and I are kitchen freaks and love looking at all the cookery gadgets that we absolutely don’t need and which are overpriced anyway. However, on this occasion I managed to find an absolute BARGAIN in this pasta machine – which I think cost me around $20, reduced from $35.

Since it’s not the least bulky item known to man, I had a few problems getting it to fit into my suitcase, but in the end we got it in and it made the long journey back to London with me, where I found it a lovely place at the back of one of our kitchen cupboards. Five months later we moved house and, on clearing out the kitchen, I found my beloved and totally unused pasta machine – and promised myself that I would use it once we were settled in. Five months later and I find myself in January 2010 having not even got it out of its box… So, since we’re now in a brand new year, I thought I’d try it out – and the results were surprisingly delicious!

Before I started out, I did a bit of research into various pasta recipes online, and this Jamie Oliver recipe was by far the best one that I came across. I have therefore used it as the basis for my recipe, which I have adapted slightly to make even tastier pasta! So, if you have a pasta machine gathering dust at the back of a cupboard, or if you spot one in the January sales, why not get it and give it a whirl? I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Ingredients (per person, for a small serving)

1. 100g plain flour (preferably “tipo 00″, which means extra fine, but normal plain flour works great)
2. 1 large free-range egg (some recipes say you can substitute this for two egg yolks, but I tried this and wasn’t able to get the same result)
3. A pinch of salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon of mixed dried herbs (optional but I highly recommend it!)

Method

1. First sieve your flour into a bowl (some recipes say that you can do this on a work-top, but I did this my first time and had a slight disaster when I added the eggs…), and add a pinch of salt. If you are using herbs, this is the time to add them – I advise scattering equally over the flour/salt mountain. Make a well in the centre of the flour, big enough to hold the total number of eggs that you are adding.

2. Add the eggs to the well in the flour and beat them using a fork. Once they are beaten, start to mix the flour in a little at a time by moving your fork in slightly larger circles with each “mix”. Do this until your mixture begins to come together, or until it becomes difficult to mix.

TIP: If at any point your mixture is too dry, add a few drops of water or olive oil. Similarly, if it is too wet don’t be afraid to sieve a little more flour into the mixture.

3. Now comes the fun part – make sure your hands are clean and then get in there and mix, squidge and generally pound the mixture into a dough. At this point, you may find it easier to work with the dough on a cutting board. Once you have a dough, continue to knead, bash and squish it until it becomes soft, fairly smooth and pliable.

4. Now, take your ball of pasta dough and wrap tightly in cling film – making sure no air can get in, or else you’ll have crusty bits in your pasta! Then pop it into the fridge for at least 30 mins before you start working with the pasta machine.

5. Clean down a long work surface – I used our big kitchen table for this, which was perfect. Then clamp your pasta machine into place at one end and make sure it’s very secure. Then retrieve your pasta dough from the fridge and again knead for 2 or 3 mins, to ensure that it is workable.

TIP: At this point I would advise dividing up into manageable portions – I work with one person’s portion at a time and leave the remaining dough back in the cling film, in the fridge until I’m ready to work on it.

6. Set your pasta machine to the widest setting. Squash your pasta dough into a fairly flat lump on your cutting board / work surface, and then pass it through the machine. Move your pasta machine down one setting and pass the pasta dough back through the rollers. Once through, fold the sheet in half twice and turn it 90 degrees. Then move the pasta machine back up to the widest setting, and repeat this step 4 or 5 times.

7. Once you are happy with your dough (which should now have formed a fairly uniform rectangle) pass it through the pasta machine on the widest setting, followed by the next widest setting, and continue right the way down through the settings to the thinnest one.

TIP: If your pasta starts to crack at the edges, or breaks up in the rollers, give it a knead and repeat step 6 a few more times before you continue. It may also be worth adding a few drops of water to the dough to make it a bit “stickier”.

8. Now, fold the sheet of pasta back up into a fairly small rectangle and repeat step 7, rolling through the pasta machine settings for the final time.

TIP: You may need help with rolling it down through the settings, as the sheet will become really long and will need someone to catch it and lay it out, whilst someone else feeds it through the machine. Once you’ve had a bit of practise, you should be able to do this on your own though, so don’t worry!

9. You should now have a very long piece of pasta, which you can cut to the desired length (I cut mine in half). You will then need to switch to the cutting attachment of your pasta machine – which in my case is on the other side of the rollers. Decide which type of pasta you want to make, and then feed each sheet through the cutters – remembering to catch the end result as it passes through the cutters!

10. Et voila! Your very own, homemade, fresh pasta! You can now either cook this in boiling water and a touch of olive oil (fresh pasta will take literally a couple of minutes to cook, depending on the type of pasta that you have made), or you can freeze it to use at a later date.

TIP: Fresh pasta will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months! Remember to label your bag / container with the type of pasta, “made on” date and a “use by” date.

Happy pasta making!

New Year’s Resolutions 2010… January 2, 2010

I’m not normally one to make New Year’s Resolutions – mainly because I lack the self-control required to actually stick to any of them. This year, however, I’ve made an exception for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I absolutely need to jump on the old weight-loss band wagon before I balloon (I’m currently at my heaviest ever, and if I want to fit back into my early-2009 jeans, then I’ve got to do something about it). Secondly, there’s a tonne of gym equipment in our spare room that has done nothing but gather dust over the past 6 months. And lastly I now have someone to reach my goals with (because I think it’s fair to say that both my boyfriend and I have overindulged somewhat in 2009). He’s therefore agreed to be my gym buddy, and we’ve already planned out our new fitness regime – which centres mainly on lots of exercise. I have to say that, after having had two weeks off during which I’ve done pretty much nothing but binge on Christmas food, and watch our enormous collection of Christmas movies, I’m quite looking forward to a new, more active lifestyle!

Anecdotally, on New Year’s Eve this year we stayed home and cooked a yummy three course meal (seared A-grade tuna with salad; shellfish curry with basmati rice and greens; and finally Christmas pudding soufflé) played a few games and watched some movies. However, at midnight we decided it might be nice to go into our garden and let off a flying Chinese lantern, which I’d bought just before Christmas.

It is said that if you write a wish on the outside of a lantern, it will rise into the sky and your wish will come true. Our wish was for a “happy, healthy and prosperous 2010″. In retrospect that may have been slightly too much to ask for, since the result of our efforts was that our lantern got stuck onto some scaffolding, fell into the neighbour’s back garden and meant that we had to spend the next 20 mins making sure it didn’t set anything alight… The only blessing was that I hadn’t written our names on the damn thing!

Happy New Year!