A Post About Paleo

I've been doing Paleo for a couple of weeks now and I am absolutely loving it so far. For anyone who has been living under a rock, The Paleolithic Diet consists of eating only things that our cavemen ancestors might have eaten. So sugar, processed crap, dairy, etc are all out and meat, eggs, nuts, berries, etc are all in. Sounds great in theory but not hugely easy to do. Which is why I don't stick to it rigidly. The truth is I wouldn't be able to do this diet if I did. So I still have milk in my coffee and occasionally cook with natural yoghurt. Both full fat as I believe low fat products to be evil and full of rubbish. I eat a wee bit of feta or goats cheese if I think it will enhance a recipe and allow a splash of soy sauce in Asian dishes. When I have a sweet craving I have a bit of dark chocolate. The darker the better. 

If you said the words carbs to me then I would automatically think rice, pasta, potatoes and bread. None of which are permitted on this diet. However I am learning that there are carbohydrates to be found in a variety of vegetables that I had no idea about and I am filling up so much on sweet potatoes (allowed) and other root veg that I'm not really missing my baked potatoes or linguine. 

Yet.

I also allow myself a day off each week. On the first week it was the Sunday. When I discovered that while following the Paleo diet can make you feel great - it can also cause the most killer hangovers when you over-indulge. I'm blaming the lack of potatoes. As this particular hangover from hell fell on what was to be my Paleo off day anyway, I went for it hell for leather and indulged in pretty much everything I'm not usually allowed. But by the Monday I was right back on it and didn't feel as crappy or as bloated as I usually would after one of my extreme blow outs. As I ended up cheating on Thursday night (the Lindt bunny met a grisly end), I have decided to stick to it today. So I fuelled up for my morning run with some bacon, eggs & mushrooms and for dinner I have roast lamb with loads of root veg planned. I even plan to be naughty and eat my body weight in sweet potato kettle chips later.

But this diet does make you feel fab. I feel healthy and lighter. My skin is clearer and I don't feel nearly as bloated as I usually do. I also seem to be sleeping great and am full of energy. I ran 3.5 miles this morning in the lashing rain. Usually I would have turned back in that weather after 1k.

I'm not saying that I will stick to this diet forever. We've all seen how long I lasted at yoga. But as long as I am enjoying it as much as I am and it's making me feel as good as it is then I intend to stick with it for as long as I can. With incorporated days off.

 Because brie. 

And burgers. 

And beer.

I have been using Pinterest to get some recipe ideas. As well as browsing through some of my online friend's Instagram feeds for inspiration. I say browsing but you'd probably call it stalking. If you see a familiar looking dish pop up on my Twitter feed now and again it's probably cause I stole the idea from you. 

Yeah you.

Salad leaves, baked aubergine & courgette, yogurt dressing, chicken, pomegranate seeds, garlic mushrooms and crispy broccoli fried in coconut oil and pink rock salt

Sweet potato frittata with spinach, red onion, anchovy and chorizo

Chicken tikka, curry roasted cauliflower, sweet Bombay potatoes & spicy onions

Cauliflower stir-fried in coconut oil with capers, anchovies, garlic & kale with pan fried trout

Chicken piccata with artichoke, kale and cauliflower

A Good Thing Happening

One of the biggest annoyances in my life is my body's inability to handle large amounts of bread. Eat it every so often and I am usually fine but eat it regularly then I am left bloated and in agony. But then maybe sometimes I think that it might be a good thing. Maybe it's the universes way of saving my arteries. However if I could eat bread every day I wouldn't take advantage to start every morning with buttery toast. Nor would I indulge in a sandwich every lunchtime. Nah. I would eat burgers every night. With skinny fries. Or maybe sweet potato chips. And a side of coleslaw. Extra pickle. Lots of burger sauce.....

I'm getting a bit carried away aren't I?

Back to the blog post.

Being such a burger fan I have obviously eaten them extensively all over the UK. Purely for research purposes of course. So when I found out the Edinburgh chain BURGER had opened a new branch on Shandwick Place, I saw a perfect opportunity for a road trip. And an excuse to see the ever gorgeous Miss Smidge obviously.

So armed with an empty belly and a teeny bit of a hangover (thank you Church on the Hill with your £13 bottles of Chenin Blanc), I headed through to the capital one Saturday for some cocktail drinking and some burger eating. 

Here's the set up. It's like a cross between a restaurant and a fast food joint in the sense that you choose your own table and you order and pay at the counter. Here's the difference. You can get a beer and there's a small wait for the food (about ten minutes maximum). So you sit back down (with your beer) and you wait on the little buzzy gadget thing (technical term) they give you lighting up so you can go get your food. 

We went for double cheeseburgers, regular fries, chilli cheese fries, a wasabi mayo and coleslaw. 

Presentation wise they came exactly as you would imagine. On a tray, wrapped in paper and nice and hot. The burger itself was good. Cooked well (I prefer it pink but it's not the kind of place you can order it rare), well seasoned, lots of pickle, lots of sauce. 

Given that I reckon I have had the chips out of almost every single eating establishment in Glasgow, I can be picky when it comes to one of my favourite foods. However these were awesome. But forget about those fries. Let's talk about the chilli cheese fries. Because from now on if my chips don't come smothered in spicy beef chilli and oozing with melted cheese then they will be getting thrown back at you.

All I will say is that these won. 

The day.

The coleslaw was great, made with fresh ingredients with nothing bought in about it and the wasabi mayo was the perfect thing to dunk those tasty fries in. 

All in all this was a good meal.

I'm not entirely sure I loved the set up. I prefer to sit down and be brought wine. Much like how I behave at home. As the prices are a bit higher than the fast food places I would have preferred it. However I understand what these guys are doing and I can see how it is working. You are paying slightly higher than a fast food place because the food is fresher and of a better standard. The fact that there is a slight wait and it doesn't just get thrown at you is testament to that. And the food is better.

Would I stick on my skinny jeans and heels and go here with the girls for a drink and a catch up? No. Would this be the perfect destination to have a mid-shopping beer and burger before you get back onto hitting the shops? Totally. Would this also be a great place to grab a quick dinner with the kids when you couldn't be bothered cooking but didn't want to spend a fortune? Definitely.

Point is - this is fast, affordable and home made food that also tastes good.

Try it.

Our meal was received complimentary in exchange for a review.. You can see more about my disclosure policy here.

NibNibs & a Giveaway

There are lots of things I love about Ava. I love it when she is fresh out of the bath in the evenings. Running around all cute in her PJ's with her wet hair and slippers on. I love it when she wakes up first thing in the morning. Her little body curves into a stretch and then she opens her cheeky little eyes and informs me (still half asleep) what her breakfast cereal of choice is for that day. I love it when I pick her up from nursery and she runs straight to me without a moments hesitation, as if I am the best thing that's happened to her all day. Which I'm sure I'm not. Her nursery has pancakes and a princess dress up box. 

But at the risk of sounding selfish - I also love it when she whispers these three amazing little words at the end of a long day: 

'night night Mummy'. 

Because as much as I love that kid, there is something unbelievable decadent and delicious about getting to the end of a day filled with swing parks and soft plays and knowing I have the next few hours to myself before I take my own self to bed. And although I do TRY not to snack, some evenings I like nothing more than taking an hour out to chill before I cook dinner. Pouring a glass of red, tipping something salty into a bowl and just sparking out in front of the telly for an hour before I go into the kitchen.

So I was like "OH ALRIGHT OKAAAY THEN" (big hard done by sigh), when Nibnibs offered to send me some of their products to try. Because we all love a cheese straw don't we? I tested out 3 different types of cheese straw (cheddar, cheddar & chilli and cheddar & onion) and some roasted salt and pepper jumbo peanuts. While the peanuts were pretty moreish, the cheese straws were oh my god I can't stop eating these I am going to have to put them in Ava's treat cupboard to stop myself kind of moreish. The chilli ones being my favourite. Because chilli is always my favourite.

FYI nothing in Ava's cupboard is safe from me. I am constantly refilling her sweetie jar so she doesn't know I've been at the Kinder chocolate and Jelly Tots.

Given my love of cooking for just about anyone willing to eat it, I adore a good pre-meal nibble. One of my group Sunday roasts or even just a casual mid-week risotto at mine pretty much always consists of some form of snackage on the coffee table when you arrive. And these little beauts are perfect for that. In fact those cheese straws dipped in garlic and herb dip might just push me over the edge.

If you like a bit of snacking as much as me then you can check these guys out properly over on Facebook and Twitter. Or even better you can enter the following competition to win some Nibnibs goodies to try out for yourself....

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What's In My Fridge #2

The second edition of What's In My Fridge is brought to you by Paula!

I love food. I'm pretty obsessed with it, in fact. More often than not, I'm thinking of my next meal while I'm eating my current meal. So when Dawn put out feelers on Twitter to see who would be interested in taking part in her What's in My Fridge series, I was immediately up for joining in. And also immediately hungry...

 

Fridge Staples?

• Nut milk. There is usually some form of this in my fridge: Almond milk, coconut milk, hazelnut milk. For smoothies. For making Shredded Wheat Bitesize taste good (and I bet you thought it couldn't be done.) And sometimes just for drinking.
• Diet fizzy drink. I'm addicted. I know it's bad for me, but I can't cope with the caffeine withdrawal headache. Honestly. It's worse than a hangover.
• Flavoured water. To try and wean myself off the aforementioned fizzy drink. I'm still trying...
• Cheese. I don't think there has ever been a time when my fridge has been cheese-free. I am utterly obsessed with it. I was probably a block of cheese in a previous life. Or a mouse.
• Little cartons of fruit juice. These belong to my boyfriend. He also is responsible for the little bags of cut-up apples/pears etc which I THINK are meant to be for children. (Big wean.)
• Cold meat. Easy to add to veg for a salad, or sometimes I just eat it directly out of the packet if I need a snack.
• Wine. There is often wine in my fridge. Rarely in there for long though...
• Veg. Usually avocados, red onions and tomatoes, often courgettes. With the exception of the avocado and onions, I tend to forget the veg is there after approximately 18 hours of the newest health kick.
• Cauliflower. I love making cauliflower mash, cauli rice, and cold "faux potato" salad which substitutes - you guessed it! - the potato for cauliflower, so there's usually a cauliflower in the fridge somewhere.
• Eggs. Always handy to have these. I like to make individual crustless quiches in advance for snacks during the week. And the boyfriend makes a mean omelette!

What's your signature dish?

Cooking makes me nervous, and if I check out a recipe and it has more than about six ingredients I immediately lose interest. However, the one thing I feel like I have mastered is Chilli Con Carne - that being said, if you're a massive spice fiend and come over to mine for dinner, you might want to bring some extra chilli flakes to add to your plate when my back is turned. (I'm a bit wimpy when it comes to spice.) It's okay, I won't be offended. Promise. I like to keep it low-carb and usually serve it with some grated cheese and natural yogurt, or cauli rice. Delicious.

What do you cook when you really can't be bothered?

I was quite surprised Dawn said risotto in answer to this question because the last time I attempted to make risotto I ended up with stirring-related R.S.I. and nearly had a nervous breakdown over the pan. Considering I am not the best of cooks at the best of times, when I can't be bothered my "cooking" is limited to either cheese beanos or I'll boil up macaroni, sprinkle with grated cheese and microwave it until it melts. Either that or I fire up the omelette-making machine/boyfriend . . .

Food heaven & food hell?

Food heaven for me = Chocolate. Cheese. (Incidentally, If someone told me I could only have either chocolate or cheese for the rest of my life, I don't think my brain could cope with the decision.) Freshly baked bread. Philadelphia (I know this falls under the cheese category but I can actually eat the stuff out of the tub with a spoon, like it's ice cream.) Mexican food. Italian food. Traditional Scottish food. Maybe one of Dawn's roast dinners, even? (Hint, hint...)

As for food hell: I'm actually not that fussy. I avoid prawns - don't like the texture. I've never been a fan of bananas either. And celery and cucumbers... how can they barely taste of anything and yet STILL taste offensive? It's a mystery.

Favourite supermarket?

Not technically a supermarket but I'm all about the M&S food department. There's an M&S Simply Food around the corner for me and I could practically live in it. I try not to buy ALL of my food shop there but it's difficult.

Favourite food treat?

Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. Or Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. If there's no peanut butter cup related paraphernalia in the vicinity, I'll settle for a Fondant Fancy (pink or yellow only) or a couple of meringue nests covered in squeezy cream. Basically anything sweet.

Or cheese... DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE!!!

And now I'm hungry again . . . great!

You can read more about Paula on her blog Insert My Blog Name Here or you call follow her on Twitter right here.

Usha's, Glasgow

 

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will be aware of my embracing the whole #meatfreemonday campaign. I try and give it a go almost every Monday, apart from those days when I forget and eat ham straight from the fridge (what - that happened like TWICE). For the most part though, I am pretty good at keeping up the recent go veggie one day a week trend.

If I'm honest, I am a carnivore through and through. I live off white meat and fish during the week and often opt for the red meat option when I'm eating out. The real reason I do meat free Monday is more to do with cooking. I'm quite experimental in the kitchen and it gives me the opportunity to try my hand at vegetarian dishes. Monday is my 'I'm going on a detox' day anyway, and as veggie dishes are often healthier, it just seems to make sense. 

You get me? 

So when I was invited to the new Usha's Indian Vegetarian restaurant in Glasgow's West End for a pre-opening party I was pretty intrigued. Usha's is the concept of the guys behind the already well established TriBeCa restaurants and aims to bring something new to the Glasgow curry scene by being Glasgow's first ever dedicated vegetarian and vegan Indian restaurant. 

So we have the USP.

But forget the USP - let's talk about the party. And what a party it was. The hospitality and enthusiasm that was pouring out of manager Bunty and the entire Usha team was exceptional. They were literally so excited about the food that it was infectious and Jack Dee would have struggled not to get into the party spirit. The champagne was flowing, the food was in abundance and we even got some amazing entertainment from Britain's Got Talent runners up Signature. 

An early start and way too much table service style free champagne (I swear they were on a mission to get us drunk) meant that I didn't get to taste as much of the food as I would have wanted but what I did taste was pretty bloody good. You know you are onto a good thing in a restaurant when you invite a bunch of food bloggers to your launch party and they have already made arrangements to come back as paying customers two weeks later. And I can't wait to come back and test out more of the amazing dishes on the menu. 

The brilliant entertainment, the unbelievable hospitality and the gorgeous interior of the place coupled with the fact that they are doing their own one of a kind type thing in Glasgow at the moment means that this is one place you will want to tick off your food bucket list soon.

So I will see you all there?

Get the champagne on ice Bunty.

Some of the above images were taken from the Ushas Facebook page.

Pizza Express, Glasgow Fort

I have always kind of liked Pizza Express. It has that amazing optical illusion of allowing parents to take the kids out for a fun lunch whilst still pretending you are cool enough to eat pizza that actually tastes authentic and drink wine that actually tastes nice. 

So on Tuesday night my big sister, Ava & I headed down to the newly opened Pizza Express at Glasgow Fort to try out the menu and terrorise the staff (Ava, not me). Big virtual high five to our lovely waitress Colette. She didn't blink an eyelid when Ava had her shoes and socks off within ten minutes of our arrival, handled Ava's instruction that she 'only does spaghetti' with total competence and even went to the effort of blowing up a purple balloon because apparently the other colours available weren't to my two year old's liking. You were fab Colette. We salute you.

Anyway, the food. Ava devoured her dough balls like they were smarties so I would say they got a big thumbs up. My sister and I both went for the bruschetta (her regular, myself mushroom) despite the fact that we knew we were going full on pizza mode for the mains. Judge us at will. Starters were massive - another virtual high five - and really tasty. My mushrooms were cooked with just the right bite and the cream sauce worked really well with the balsamic dressing (I will be doing this at home). The tomato bruschetta was apparently 'yummy' and the pesto drizzle gave it a 'really nice finish' so another thumbs up there. But forget that, let's talk about pizza. God, I love talking about pizza.

We shared two pizzas the size of satellite dishes. And you know I'm not exaggerating when there is food left on the table that I can't finish. The Da Morire (blue cheese, pancetta, leek, artichoke, mozzarella, rosemary and chilli oil) because we are so Mediterranean you know and the Pollo Forza (chilli, garlic, more chilli, peppers, chicken, Gran Moravia, parsley and more chilli) because just always give me all the chilli. Now I have a real issue with pizza. I like it thin and crispy, I'm not a huge tomato lover so I just need the lightest scraping of sauce and the cheese quantity has to be perfect (not too much, not too little). These guys got it just right. Straight up some of my favourite pizza to date.  Apart from those life changing pizzas I once ate in the cafe courtyard on St Mark's Square in Venice at 3am. Drunk on wine and beautiful Italian men, they will always have a pretty special place in my heart if I'm honest.

OBVIOUSLY we got dessert, and while I opted for a gargantuan sized fudge sundae my sister chose to embarrass me by going for a very ladylike and dainty looking Panna Cotta. Which I'm told was delicious. My sundae was also delicious with real, proper, vanilla pod flecked ice-cream, lashes of sauce and chunks of authentic fudge. My only gripe would be that the sauce should be heated as I'm a hot fudge girl at heart. But really I'm just picking at hairs. 

If you have the babies in tow then Pizza Express is always a great bet. They get the full treatment: their own little menu, which they can later desecrate, crayons, stickers, a hat and a balloon. Although that might just have been cause Ava bullied the waitress into giving her one. But they get all the stuff that those little people go crazy over. Plus they get a doughballs starter, a choice of pasta or pizza and a dessert of their choice served with the cutest little babycino you have ever seen.

 This was a genuinely good meal and the menu is pretty great value for money. I would definitely recommend it as somewhere to go for a family celebration or if you just need to get out of the house on a weeknight because the kids are driving you mental, there's nothing in the fridge and you have run out of wine.

Our meal was received complimentary in exchange for a review.. You can see more about my disclosure policy here.

Back To The Stone Age

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My eating habits have always been pretty standard. They are not to everyone's tastes (see what I did there) but I've had a similar eating pattern for a few years now and it works for me. I've hovered around the same weight since my early twenties (8,10 lbs) and every single week without fail I promise to lose that 3 lbs and make 8,7 my new NORMAL weight. I never do. I touch on it when I  have been really good, then I celebrate by eating as much pastry as I can until normal 8,10 lbs service has been resumed.

I don't eat breakfast. Apart from the odd weekend brunch or when I was pregnant, I never really have and despite it being hammered into us constantly that it's 'the most important meal of the day', I don't feel I am any unhealthier for it. Two or three days a week I only eat one meal per day (dinner). I used to keep this fact pretty quiet until good old Michael Mosley started heralding the credits of the fast diet and then suddenly everyone started jumping on my bandwagon.

Still bitter.

If I do eat lunch during the week it's usually something light like soup or rice cakes with hoummous. This allows for an evening tipple or some chocolate after dinner without too much guilt. I usually have a glass (sometimes two) of red a night but I tend to keep a few week nights booze free if I know I am going to be out on the lash that week. Dinner is always home cooked and usually pretty healthy but I don't shy away from carbs and eat lots of brown rice & noodles. This way of eating & drinking works for me. I've managed to maintain my weight for many years now and as long as I don't overdo the burgers or pasta dishes (which I usually reserve for the weekends) then I feel pretty good both physically and mentally. Plus I find it easy to deprive myself during the day if it means I can enjoy that glass of wine or a slightly larger portion at dinner time.

However this summer saw a few stressful life events like a break-up and a house move and my healthy diet went right out the window. For about two months dinner was usually a large bag of Walkers Extra Crunchy and half a bottle of wine. I was stressed out, low, tired as hell and my usual cooking mojo had taken an abrupt absence. As a result I felt terrible. I was lethargic, my skin was rubbish and I was constantly bloated. I'm a big believer that what we eat and drink has a massive effect on our mental state and I know that my diet was making me feel even worse about an already bad situation. So I went on holiday for 2 weeks. Ate and drank like a fish and then I came home and decided to start the Paleo diet.

There were two reasons for this. The first was that it promoted putting all natural things into your body and this could only ever have a fantastic effect on one's health, right? The second was that I had a good friend who absolutely swore blind by the diet and you could see yourself how much it worked for her. 

Unfortunately the results were not great and after a week I came off it.

I thought cutting out dairy would be the hardest bit but I actually found that ok (although I did miss cheese). I took to drinking soya milk like a duck to water and drink it regularly myself now. The cutting out carbs was probably the hardest bit for me. You are allowed sweet potato and given that I eat so lightly during the day, I always opted to include it in my evening meal. As you can imagine I would quite happily never lay eyes on a another sweet potato in my life. As a result of cutting out all the main carbs I started having to eat during the day much more than I was used to. I was eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and filling up on good proteins like avocado, eggs and nuts. All things that are very good for you and all things that I eat a lot of anyway. But this diet just made me SO HUNGRY. I know that is the opposite effect for most people when they eat so much protein. But I was suffering from hunger pang induced insomnia so bad that I was getting up at 3am to cook myself eggs. 

Every single night.

I found myself nearly passing out in Sainsbury's one afternoon and this was only day 4. I also went on a night out on the Friday night and got so drunk I am surprised I managed to get myself home. Even my friend commented to me that she couldn't believe how drunk I seemed despite the fact we had matched each other drink for drink. The next morning was one of the worst hangovers I have ever experienced in my life. I spent most of the morning with my head down the toilet and when I did manage to move from one room to the other, I did so hunched over and swinging my arms. Ironically very much like a caveman might walk.

Don't get me wrong. Given that when I started the diet this cave woman could usually be spotted around 6pm in a Tesco metro in her work shirt and heels foraging amongst the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Kettle Chips, anything was going to be an improvement. But Paleo for me was a non-starter. I did take some things away from it though. Before starting the diet I had gradually started sneaking more bread and pasta into my diet. Two things that while I love, and often indulge in from time to time, don't do me any favours when it comes to getting into my skinny jeans. Cutting them out completely when I started Paleo means that I have remembered just how rubbish they make me feel and they are back being to being reserved to occasional weekend treats. I have discovered a love of soya milk and as one twitter user put it I am now that Starbucks 'Soya Wanker'. Drinking cow's breast milk always did freak me out a little anyway if I am honest.

I am not dissing this diet. It seems to work wonders for many people and all the ideas behind it make sense. It just didn't work for me.

Things have settled down so much for me anyway that I am back to my usual eating habits regardless. I'm my usual weight and I'm learning more and more that stupid diets just aren't for me. 

My own 'diet' works for me because I have been studying it and adjusting it for my whole adult life. And it's not really a diet, it's just how I live my life.

So I am off to make a spag bol for dinner. 

With extra parmesan.

And I will get those 3 lbs off before Christmas ;)

The Kailyard, Dunblane Hydro

When you say the words 'Dunblane' & 'Hydro' to me I get flashbacks to an absolutely terrible Christmas party I went to in one of their function suites one year. However we won't talk about that because that was 10 years ago and the Hydro is now a Hilton. After an extensive, multi-million pound refurbishment, the hotel has teamed up with celebrity chef Nick Nairn to create it's flagship restaurant, The Kailyard.

Last week a few of us were invited along to try the new menu and have a chat with Nick himself. You didn't have to ask me twice.

We were greeted with a drink and sat around a big table to wait on the chef and his food. And my was there a lot of food. Here's some photos to give you an idea.....

Confit pheasant terrine, celeriac remoulade, apricot puree, pickled walnut dressing

Smoked Loch Duart salmon "Nick Nairn", apple & watercress salad, pickled fennel

Glazed pork belly, crackling, apple sauce, crispy fritters, sage

Slow braised featherblade of Scottish beef, mustard mash,  truffled celeriac puree, Swiss chard & red wine gravy

Seared fillet of Loch Duart salmon, shellfish risotto, crispy seaweed

Nick's berry trifle, warm brioche bread & butter pudding, milk chocolate ice-cream

I'm not being sycophantic when I say that all the food was genuinely good. Very good. I preferred some stuff more than others. The pork belly was quite literally one of the nicest things I have tasted in a while. The salmon was good & the flavours immense but I felt I had tasted nicer smoked salmon. Although maybe I am a philistine as having recently discovered Tesco's Finest smoked salmon earlier this year, I cannot see past it. Although I doubt it is as sustainable and ethical (bad Dawnie). The shrimp cocktail (not pictured) was exactly what it was trying to be. Simple yet effective. A perfect example of a really good prawn cocktail and the use of brown shrimps added a lovely sort of nutty and sweeter flavour to the salad.

My favourite was by far the salmon & shellfish risotto. Risotto is my go to dinner most nights now that I am usually cooking for one and having sickened myself with it slightly, this definitely re-ignited my love for the dish. The featherblade of beef didn't really do it for me. It was good but I felt it lacked something and I don't know what. It just didn't wow me like I had hoped it would. However I lack the expertise or the properly trained pallet to tell you what.

In terms of the desserts, it turns out I like trifle and bread and butter pudding which are two of my previous ideas of food hell. Maybe I just hadn't tasted them "done right" as Nick explained during the tasting. Who knew?

All in all, I really enjoyed myself at The Kailyard. In fact, this was probably one of my favourite events. Given how much I like being in the kitchen, I would have preferred the discussion to centre a little more around the actual food, what was in it, how it was cooked, etc but the other topics of conversation that we touched on were just as interesting. Covering everything from Twitter, to the current obsession with people taking food pictures to blogging and bad reviews. 

Given that we blew £170 on a meal at Jamie's Italian the other night and it was completely rubbish (I'm still bitter about that) I am always a little bit wary of recommending a restaurant to people that might sometimes just sell itself on the celebrity they have got on board with rather than the quality of the experience. However I would genuinely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a fine dining experience that delivers excellent food, great service and isn't so stuffy you feel uncomfortable or intimidated.

In fact a night here with dinner at The Kailyard would be the ideal present for a couple you are looking to treat. You can check out the actual website here.

More photos from my experience at The Kailyard can be found on my Facebook page.

Foot Loose & Wheat Free

Anyone who reads my blog, checks my twitter timeline, or just generally KNOWS me is aware that I like to indulge in a fun little eating cycle that, although enjoyable at the time, leaves me in pain, bloated and moaning about how evil the demon grain wheat actually is.

Basically every time I eat anything like bread or pasta I end up in a lot of pain. My tummy swells like I have swallowed a beach ball, I get intense and sore stomach spasms and occassionally some even more disgusing symptoms like trapped wine and diarhoea.

I haven't always been like this. When I was a skinny size 8 in my late teens I pretty much ate all the carbs without consequence. That meant toast for brekkie, sandwiches for lunch (the Boots meal deal with the 3 in it naturally) and then a pizza for dinner. Maybe even a chippy on my way home from the pub. I'm not kidding. I actually ate like that and I didn't put on a pound.

Which leads me to the question I have been asking myself for ages. Did I do this to myself? I'm thinking quite possibly so. I've never been particularly fat but my early twenties saw the start of a fixation with my weight and my descent into dieting began. During this time I was so insistant on maintaining my size 10 figure that I pretty much cut out carbs all of the time. At one point I went 6 months without eating bread. And the result? Now that I eat a lot more normally wheat seems to give me nothing but bellyache.

If I go gluten free I feel great. After a few days I lose a couple of pounds. I feel lighter and better and healthier. I have no stomach pains and I'm in a great mood as a result. But then the lure of the garlic bread or the chocolate cake ALWAYS gets me in the end. So much so that I don't think I have ever lasted any longer than 10 days gluten free. So why do I do it to myself? I don't know. Anyone who knows how much I like food knows what a greedy little glutton I am and I severely lack willpower. I tell myself that I will just have this one slice (or 3) or focaccia and that I will just take the pain (along with a couple of buscopan). But that come tomorrow morning I will start a new extra healthy gluten free lifestyle to rival Gwynnies.

Obviously I don't. I last another few days then I do it all over again. But the real reason for this post is more curiosity. I'm desperate to know if anyone else deals with symptoms similar. Trips to the doctors, blood tests, etc have proved inconclusive. The only suggestion the doctor can come up with is mild IBS. Which is mainly triggered when I eat wheat. But it doesn't even make sense. Because I tend to be fine after a bowl of noodles or a bottle of beer. But a bit of french baguette kills me. However, I have discovered the grain spelt seems to have none of these horrible effects on me. Spelt spagetti not only tastes delicious but I can eat a whole bowl without spending the rest of the evening clutching a hot water bottle. Same with spelt bread.

It's things like this that have led me to question whether this is all in my head. When I could eat whatever I liked only a few years ago. And when I was pregnant with Ava (which was only 20 months ago) I ate a ton of breakfast cereal, biscuits, pasta and flour without any real problems. But the hardness of my swollen abdomen and the disgusting toilet habits I incur after a big Italian leave me in no doubt that this affliction is very real. I think my boyfriend has hit the nail on the head. That if I start introducing wheat into my diet steadily for a while and just take the pain - that it will eventually go away and I will be able to eat it again. And he's probably right. The problem I have with that is that I hate the horrible bloated feeling that wheat gives me. And I like my skinny jeans too god damn much.

Has anyone else had symptoms similar to this? If so please feel free to comment or email me as I would love to hear from others who suffer from a similar condition.......x

Food #2

More food from the week gone by....

Antipasti platter at Vespbar.

Last Saturday we decided to meet some friends in Vespbar and finally use the Living Social voucher we got as a pressie at Christmas. This is the only bar I have ever seen that does Prosecco on tap. We were dubious at first (the first glass was flat) but the two glasses that followed tasted great. We stuffed our faces with this antipasti platter as well as garlic prawns and the best chips I have tasted in ages. Ava also rocked my world by eating an olive and insisting on dipping her bread in olive oil and balsamic. Love that kid.

Chicken with ginger, lemon & chilli

My friend Colette sent me this recipe ages ago but I hadn't gotten round to trying it till this week. So glad I did though as it was really good. You can find the recipe here.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

This was delicious. I mean really delicious. I am still slow cooking the hell out of things before spring arrives and our meals become a bit lighter. I got the recipe from Comfort Bites blog. I HIGHLY recommend you do this. Now. Go.

Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca)

This is a great dish if you fancy something different and like a bit of spice. I served mine with brown rice although I think it is more traditional to serve it with couscous. The stew is quite soupy and the rice worked perfectly in it. I'm not sure how the consistency would work using couscous. Recipe here if you fancy trying it.

Cheese & chilli scones

I made scones! Cheese scones! I've never done that before. I got this recipe from Paula but used cheddar that had chilli through it as it was all I had in the fridge. They turned out great with a lovely kick at the end.

It genuinely doesn't cost a fortune to cook food like this at home. For a start I am a reduced section whore and have a freezer stuffed full of cut price meat and fish (just make sure you freeze it straight away). The scones I didn't even have to buy ingredients for as I had everything in the cupboard. I made the chicken dishes with a huge packet of chicken thighs I got for about £1.50 and for the fish stew I bought a bag of frozen coley fillets for a couple of quid. As long as you have a decent amount of spices in the cupboard and all your dry store basics you genuinely can cook healthy meals from scratch on a budget.

So what are you waiting for!?!

A Food Diary

I get asked constantly by people on Twitter and Instagram how I am not the size of a house. I can understand why they ask, all I do is tweet about food. But I actually don't eat as much as I probably portray myself to. Or maybe I do. I can seriously eat.

Anyway Mantra Pixie suggested the idea of a food diary on her blog the other day and being an unashamed thief, I stole the idea. So here is my food diary from last week. 

Monday: I didn't have any breakfast or lunch today. At night I made Jamie Oliver's veggie chilli with tortilla salad

Tuesday: For lunch I went for sushi with Chats. I had a full tuna roll. That night we had home made fish, chips & peas

Wednesday: I didn't eat during the day again. I then came home and ate lots of crap like popcorn, crisps and biscuits to make up for a rubbish day. For dinner my boyfriend made a crispy beef sweet chilli stir fry with noodles which I accompanied with my bodyweight in prawn crackers

Thursday: I just had dinner today. The bloke made some delicious king prawn & chorizo skewers with baked potatoes, sour cream and salad.

King Prawn & Chorizo Skewers

Friday: I had 2 rice cakes with ham and low fat coleslaw for lunch. For dinner I made Nigella's Asian Chowder which we had with garlic bread and a green salad

Nigella's Asian Chowder

Saturday: We were out and about today so we stopped off for a pub lunch. I ate half a whitebait starter then half a rotisserie chicken with chips (bbq and sour cream dips on the side). I might have also pinched a couple of Ava's chicken nuggets and some of her chocolate cake. I got peckish again around 6 (I eat ALOT at the weekends) and snacked on some antipasti mix and crisps. Then we had 5 spice duck breast with noodles for dinner. I might have followed that with a penguin biscuit and some Ben & Jerrys.

This 5 spice duck recipe was really disappointing

Olives, capers, stuffed peppers, feta & balsamic onions

Sunday: I had a couple of cocktail sausages for brekkie then made a fried egg sandwich for lunch. I snacked on another small bowl of antipasti before having a roast lamb dinner with hot millionaires shortcake and ice-cream for dessert. Later on there might have been a small bowl of popcorn and some chocolate. To be fair the three of us threw most of the popcorn at each other

Roast Lamb dinner

Unsurprisingly, Ava didn't love olives

Fried egg sarnie on toasted bread

As you can see, what I don't eat during the week I certainly make up for at the weekends. And I have a seriously good appetite on me.

Alot of people will probably think my diet is silly and unhealthy. I honestly don't agree. I see the days I only eat dinner as 'fast' days. A diet which I really advocate to not only keep you healthy but to keep your weight down. If you want to read more about it you can here. Prince Charles and Philip Schofield are also big fans of only eating once a day but no one gives them a hard time because they are blokes!

It should also be noted that I drank a glass of red every night last week. With maybe a couple of extra glasses over the weekend. 

I'm going wine free tonight. In fact I'm going wine free every night until Friday.

I'm hating it.

Link me up to your food diaries. I love this shit.