- Braai mussels w/ garlic butter
- Pesto chicken w/ rocket
- Braai: Jerk chicken, wors and prawn skewers w/ slaw and sweet potato w/ bacon vinaigrette
- Czech meatballs w/ sauerkraut
- Smoked mackerel, green bean, beetroot and orange salad
- Lamb dosa w/ savoy cabbage
Lamb and greek salad for one
Tonight I was left to fend for myself while Hubby played Hipster-Commuter in Shoreditch. Rather than stuff myself with (Paleo) snacks I prepared a proper dinner, just for little old me 🙂
Two nice lamb steaks, seasoned with oregano and griddled, and a side of fresh Greek-style salad:
Clean June – Day 14
Dairy intake reduced to <250ml – ACHIEVED. Nice cup of tea in the morning and a lovely flat white from the independent coffee shop in town.
Alcohol reduced to maximum 14 units per week (in line with health guidelines not to exceed 2-3 units per day) – ACHIEVED. Half pint lager and 2 vodka and apple juice spritzers (3.3 units) Overall for week: FAIL (17 units)
Get out for a walk or cycle every day, including gym days – ACHIEVED 5km afternoon walk
Clean June – Day 13
Dairy intake reduced to <250ml – ACHIEVED. Blew the lot on a huge latte before gym 🙂
Alcohol reduced to maximum 14 units per week (in line with health guidelines not to exceed 2-3 units per day) – ACHIEVED. 2 small glasses white wine (3 units)
Get out for a walk or cycle every day, including gym days – FAIL 1hr Zumba Class only
This week’s menu – 13 June 2014
- Spicy tomato brisket on lettuce tacos with roasted swede
- Reuben Rollups/ Pesto chicken w/ broccoli
- Sweet potato hash w/ sausage meatballs and eggs
- Pina Colada Chicken w/ broccoli
- Bora Bora fireballs w/ som tam salad (pineapple, carrot, courgette, lime)
- Prawn and veggie green curry
- Greek salad with minty lamb chops
Happy Birthday, Blog
Today marks a whole year since I started posting on a regular, if not daily, basis. The actual site started a few years earlier but life happens and priorities change.
So, what’s changed in a year? Well, I’ve not been snapped up as the next Nigel Slater so no living off my art just yet 😉 I started to work on my photos; better shots, more post-production, but it got to be a bit of a pain so I’m mostly just uploading straight from my little Nikon for posts. I may be doing a course to improve my skills, but got to put it in the queue with all the other must-dos.
Over the year, I’ve mostly stuck to the Paleo/ Primal plan but I can see where I’ve slipped up and what caused it. I assumed it would be holidays abroad, as I’m not home with my usual familiar resources, but actually that’s been fine. At home, as long as I eat enough fat, I don’t get the munchies after dinner and I have the energy to give 100% at the gym. Where I have slipped up is the unexpectedly good Summer weather (= need a cold beer = ooh look, snacks!) and weeks where I’ve broken routine and not stocked up properly at the supermarket. All fixable 🙂
For the next 12 months I hope to be sticking to the food and exercise plans, but I’ll be branching out into Cross-Fit so I’ll be needing all the slow-carbs I can get!
Clean June – Day 12
Dairy intake reduced to <250ml – ACHIEVED.
Alcohol reduced to maximum 14 units per week (in line with health guidelines not to exceed 2-3 units per day) – ACHIEVE. Pint of lager after evening walk (2.3 units)
Get out for a walk or cycle every day, including gym days – ACHIEVED. 6km evening walk – TV still broken 
Clean June – Day 11
Dairy intake reduced to <250ml – ACHIEVED.
Alcohol reduced to maximum 14 units per week (in line with health guidelines not to exceed 2-3 units per day) – FAIL. Made cocktails 🙂 3 Aperol Spritz (5 units)
Get out for a walk or cycle every day, including gym days – ACHIEVED. 1hr Body Balance class plus 5km evening walk – TV still broken 🙁
Sundowners
Ah, the perfect tipple for a warm summer evening – Aperol Sprtiz.
Braai etiquette
You may have seen I refer to braai a few time in my blog. Yes, this is similar to what a Brit might call “barbeque” in that you cook outside, on charcoal. That’s about where the similarity ends.
As a Brit, only South African by marriage, I have had to learn the rules of the braai over more than a decade. Tricky as I did work as a grill-chef for several years, which does make me slightly more qualified than the average bloke with a can of beer! How did I know I might be causing offence by innocently picking up the tongs…. (see rule #2)
- always charcoal or, better still, kameel hout (exception being use of camping-gas in fire-risk areas, using a skottel)
- women must not interfere with the braai – keep yourself busy making salad (1-2 is plenty) or arranging napkins and cutlery
- only the braai master will turn meat or decide if more charcoal is to be added
- the braai master will need regular hydration; Hansa or Castle are suitable options
- this is no land for burgers or bangers
- no place for “veggie” kebabs either – there’s salad coming from somewhere
Dogma aside, what can you cook? What can’t you cook?! My Oom Steve does the most AMAZING pork ribs. I also had a delicious T-bone steak that I hope, one day, to recreate. We’ve successfully cooked a chicken, a big hunk of beef and salmon fillets on our Weber.
Latest experiment involved smoking a slab of brisket, on the low heat after cooking dinner. We threw on a handful of soaked hickory woodchips and left it to take on the awesome aroma for a couple for hours. This didn’t completely cook the joint so it went into a low oven the next evening for a couple of hours.
Result: subtly smoky, and super-tender beef. Nom nom nom 🙂