A somewhat reduced MPM: 20th June 2016

I have an exam tomorrow.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have been so tense that I currently have a permanently painful jaw from all the clenching.  It is remarkably difficult to relax your jaw without thinking really hard about relaxing your jaw.  Anyway, tonight and tomorrow night I am in Manchester and poor old D is left to fend for himself.  He was muttering darkly about subsisting on pimped up baked beans, the little lamb.

Then on Friday and Saturday night we are off to the country!  For my sister in law's wedding!  The name of the venue continually escapes me but I'm sure it will be a lovely occasion and perhaps by then I'll have stopped with the jaw clenching.  Plenty of champagne is bound to help.

The upshot of which is that there are just three meals to plan this week.  And one of them is a repeat from the last two weeks because we are both slightly obsessed.

Wednesday: Homecoming dinner - chicken breast and giant couscous with lemon, mint and feta.

Thursday: Poached trout with minted mayonnaise, asparagus and new potatoes.  We just can't get enough of this quintessentially British combo.

Sunday: Five spice braised beef from this recipe (already made and in the freezer), probably served with soba noodles and stir fried veg

To anyone else out there currently experiencing exam stress, either directly or via an associated teenager: I send you sympathy, solidarity and a plea for jaw relaxing exercises.  To everyone else: have a great week you jammy, jammy bastards.

Failure to weigh in, failure to care

There was no weigh in post last week because I didn't make it to my meeting.  I could, possibly, have got to a different meeting but I didn't.  Instead, I not so much fell as threw myself off the wagon and lay in the dirt laughing while it retreated into the distance.

My mojo is definitely missing.  I have...I dunno, WW fatigue?  Actually, the problem is more along the lines of a build up of work and study related stress that is leaving me very tired and very low and I am struggling, hard, to keep up momentum in...well, come to think of it, anything at all.

This is hardly sensible since I know full well that I tend to cope better if I am on top of the food and exercise side of things but knowing what is good for me and doing it, as ever, prove to be two entirely different things.

Things are not likely to ease up on the work front for a while so I need to just put my head down with regards to that - I've got a few days away now so I will try and put the office out of my mind altogether and relax (always easier said than done), rejuvenate and come back fighting.  I will go to my weigh in on Wednesday and take the result on the chin and...well, just keep going.

This isn't a very cheery post to welcome in November, is it?  Sorry, blog friends.  Back soon with tales of foodie adventures in Edinburgh which will make much more pleasant reading.