Weightwatchers on the NHS?

I write a blog which is, very loosely, about trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers.  So a story in the news about GPs being advised to send obese patients to a local slimming club is, of course, going to attract my attention.  But having dipped my toe into the hornets nest (talk about your mixed metaphors...) of British journalism, I almost wish I’d stuck to my usual lunchtime routine of celebrity gossip and blogs about lipstick.

My oh my but people love to fatty bash, don’t they?  Some of the vitriol spewed out in the comments section of these articles is quite, quite remarkable.  “Just put the cake down, fatty” is, I think, almost a direct quote from someone on the Guardian website.  Wow.  If only someone had told me that years ago I would have been saved a lot of time and trouble.

It saddens me.  It saddens me to think that people whom I have never met are making judgements – that I am lazy and stupid and that I might not even deserve access to the free healthcare that is my right as a UK citizen and taxpayer.  It saddens me that instead of having an open dialogue about what can be done to help people solve the problem of their obesity, a swathe of the population just want to have a go.  It saddens me that it doesn’t even surprise me all that much.  Fat people are easy targets.  We are programmed to be repulsed by flesh – nearly every article in the UK press on this topic was accompanied by a stock picture of rolls of fat hanging over the top of a pair of elasticised trousers, as if that added any weight (pardon the pun) to the debate.

I have said it before but it bears repeating; the reasons that people are overweight are varied and complex and include, although are not limited to, lack of education, chronic poverty and debilitating mental health issues.  The majority of people who are overweight do not actively choose to be so.  They do not sit at home, mainlining cream cakes, smugly congratulating themselves on their lifestyle choices.  Many of us with weight issues will battle our entire lives, and may ultimately be unsuccessful.  Some of us may, at some point, just stop fighting because it is exhausting – it is exhausting to be constantly monitoring what you put in your mouth, to bargain with yourself for every indulgence.  Food issues, unlike other substance abuse issues (and yes, I think that I am using the phrase advisedly) can not be overcome by complete abstinence. 

Personally, I am unsure that referring patients to slimming clubs is the best answer – certainly it is not the only one – but if it helps even a small percentage of the obese population to learn about how to lose weight, then what harm?  Yes, I hear those of you in the corner screaming in outrage that your tax pounds are going on aiding the tubtubs (another lovely phrase picked up from The Guardian's comments section), but where do we draw the line?  Do we refuse treatment to those addicted to drugs and alcohol?  To the smokers?  What about the people who injure themselves running marathons, or break a leg skiing?  The plethora of injured people who flood into our A&E departments every Saturday night after a few too many?  Are we basically saying that unless your illness or injury is entirely genetic then sod the hell off?  No, we are not.  We help our own.  We help them even when we know that for many, it might be hopeless.  We continue to talk about alternative solutions.  We don’t give up on an entire sector of society because they have made the wrong choices, even if they make them again and again and again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go and jump into a pool of full sugar Coca Cola.  I have a BMI of over 25 so that must be how I spend my evenings, right?

MPM: 26th May 2014

Greetings, and a very happy Bank Holiday to you all!  It is nearly noon and I am still in my pyjamas while the cat and I indulge in some quality duvet time.  

Meal planning this week - well, last night's tea has got bumped to tonight after a post cinema beer went on for rather longer than planned.  Then D is out for beer and burgers on Friday which means S will probably have some entirely random combination of M&S foodstuffs - the last time I was allowed free reign in the Food Hall I had cheesy chips and prawn dim sum for tea.  Meal wise, then, the rest of the week looks like this:

Corned beef with parsley sauce, braised cabbage, roast potatoes, carrot and spring onion mash

Broad bean salad, crispy bacon and griddled courgettes, lemon couscous

Soup!

Chicken Achar - the other half of the batch I made the other week.  A really lovely, tasty curry recipe that I heartily recommend; we say up the lemon juice slightly to increase the sourness but otherwise, definitely a keeper.

Saltimbocca followed by limoncello tiramisu - D is cooking Italian on Saturday night which means I will probably be bidding a fond farewell to most of my weekly points budget...

And a Sunday roast - beef, we think, with all the appropriate trimmings.

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

(New) scales on Saturday

Previously on WWF: -48.3lbs
This week: -3lbs
Total loss: 51.3lbs

There was a nasty moment earlier this week when my faithful old scales finally gave up the ghost.  Too weak to even finish their final error message, they flashed up a feeble "err" before dying completely.  Farewell, old friends.

Of course, my immediate concern was that switching to a new pair of scales could cause a rupture in the space time continuum - or, at the very least, a blip in my weight loss.  New scales can be very sneaky.  So, I don't really know whether this week's loss is all "real" or whether it is down to the newbies sucking up a little bit and weighing me a tad lighter than the old faithfuls.  Whatever - I'm taking it.  I LOVE my new scales.  I also really like the fact they weigh to 0.1 of a pound.  Little things, people.

I must admit, I was hoping for a good result.  I had done all the right things WW wise - not only tracking every last swig of gin consumed at the tasting last Saturday (it was painful to look at that day's tracker), but also getting to the pool for four (count 'em) swims, netting me 20 activity points (of which I consumed 2).  I'm trying to edge my way back into exercise and swimming, for me, is by far the least painful way to do that.  I want to start a running programme as well, but for the next couple of weeks, I think I'm going to stick to ploughing up and down the pool while I build up the nerve to hit the treadmill.

Onwards and downwards - the halfway point is approaching and I can SMELL it.  

Classic recipe corner: Perfect spaghetti carbonara

Every home cook should familiarise themselves with a carbonara recipe.  If you're anything like me, the ingredients are pretty much cupboard and fridge staples and it so quick and easy to do not to mention utterly delicious.

I'm (quite clearly) no Italian mama, and my understanding of Italian food is that recipes tend to vary from region to region in much the same way as they do in this country, so there is possibly no such thing as a completely authentic version - however, this one was taken from The Silver Spoon which I think is about as close to an Italian food bible as one is going to get.  You will note the complete lack of any bells and whistles - no mushrooms or onions and most definitely no cream.  To add cream to a carbonara is, in my humble opinion, just plain wrong - it makes it an entirely different thing.  I love the naked simplicity of this recipe - the rich saltiness of the bacon and cheese and the silky golden coating on the pasta with the faintest hum of garlic.  Utter bliss.

The only change that we make is to sub different types of bacon for the pancetta depending on what we have to hand.  Four rashers of back bacon will give you the same points count for more meat because of the lower fat content and is worth it if you want a good hit of bacon.  Because of the butter I don't really think the end result is compromised.

Admit it - it wouldn't be the WWFoodie without god awful food photography!

Ingredients

10g butter
50g pancetta
1 fat clove of garlic
175g spaghetti
1 medium egg
40g Parmesan cheese

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

One of the key things to remember with carbonara is to heat the plates up in advance.  Because you have to combine the pasta and sauce off the heat, it is already starting to cool down by the time you serve it.  Unless you want cold pasta, your plates need to be hot.  So put them in the oven at a low temperature now.

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil while you get everything else prepped.

Finely grate the Parmesan cheese.  Whisk the egg and add two thirds of the cheese to it along with a hearty grinding of black pepper.  Peel the garlic clove and then, using the flat of a knife blade, lightly bruise it.  Chop the bacon if you haven't take the lazy route and bought it pre cubed.

Once the water is up to the boil, tip in the spaghetti.  Heat the butter in a frying pan large enough to hold all the pasta once it is cooked.

As the butter melts, add the pancetta and the garlic clove and cook until the bacon is crispy.  It should take about the same amount of time as the pasta takes to cook - that is 8-10 minutes depending on brand.

When the pasta is cooked, reserve a mug full of the cooking water and then drain.  Fish the garlic clove out of the frying pan and throw the pasta straight in.  Over the heat stir well so that the pasta is completely coated in a light layer of butter and bacon fat.

Now - and this is important - you have to remove the pan completely from the heat.  Pour in the egg and cheese mixture and a splash of the cooking water and combine well.  I find tongs the best tool for this to ensure that you are lifting the pasta and it all gets well coated.  Add more cooking water as required - you want the spaghetti to have a very light, silky coating.

Serve in the warmed plates topped with a scrunch more black pepper and the remaining Parmesan cheese.  Sigh in contentment.

Mental health awareness week - my two penn'orth

Last week was Mental Health Awareness week, which completely passed me by. It was also British Sandwich week, which, to be honest, I am far more likely to have noticed since I love sandwiches (and don’t tend to keep on top of mental health issues). But I didn’t want it to go completely unremarked upon, especially since the theme this year was anxiety which is an issue with which, sadly, I have had some considerable dealings.


The first time I had a full on anxiety attack I thought that I was going to die. Does that sound melodramatic? It feels melodramatic writing it down like that. But, nevertheless. I became intensely aware of every single function in my body – my heart, pounding, my stomach, churning, I had to concentrate on the act of breathing because if I didn’t I thought I might just stop. I was on a train to York, a journey that I had made a hundred times, and on this occasion the ambient light and noise was almost unbearable. Every sense was heightened to an uncomfortable degree, every limb tingled and trembled. I remember sitting, rigid, eyes closed, and just counting to ten over and over and over again. I had the sense that at any moment I might lose the capacity to understand language but as long as I could count, could remember the sequence of numbers, I still retained basic comprehension and it was all I could think of to do, so I counted and I counted.

When I got home I couldn’t do anything except lie prone, counting and crying. D came and sat with me, but I couldn’t bear for him to talk because the thought that at any minute I wouldn’t be able to understand him was overwhelmingly frightening. I tried to sleep but was too edgy and the dark held too many unnamed terrors. The next day, a Saturday, I phoned NHS Direct and wept down the phone at the poor lady who told me to go to A&E where a nice doctor gave me some betablockers to try and ease the physical symptoms. To be honest, she could have given me Smarties – at that point I just needed the comfort of seeing a medical professional and receiving the tacit reassurance that I wasn’t about to keel over with an advanced case of Death.

The trouble with anxiety attacks is that once you’ve had one you live with the constant fear that it will happen again, although nothing since has ever compared to that first experience. As I have got more used to them I have found that I can recognise the symptoms fairly early and, for the most part, actually talk myself down before sheer blind panic takes hold. When it comes to anxiety issues, knowledge really is power.

Even now, having experienced it first hand, I am slightly doubtful about the ease with which the terms “depression” and “anxiety disorder” get used. Like my mother before me, I am a natural born worrier with a tendency to fret about little things – this is not an anxiety disorder. Having a stressful time at work and coming home and bursting into tears over a stiff g&t is not depression. Sometimes we need to recognise our normal emotional reactions for what they are – no more and no less.

That said, if anxiety is taking over, if the thought of getting out of bed is just too much to cope with (bed being a designated safe place) then help needs to be sought. The right doctor is a very important part of the solution, so I would always encourage people to make sure that they are comfortable with their GP – and if they are not, request another doctor. You need to be prepared to be honest and raw with them so a rapport is crucial. Equally, medications – the effects and side effects can vary massively from person to person so don’t be afraid to ask to try different ones after an appropriate bedding in period – I went through four or five before settling. Talking therapies can be a great help and are available, as far as I know, in most health authorities, although the waiting list can be significant. A lot of doctors will recommend CBT for anxiety issues, and it can be helpful, but again, a lot of it will be to do with your relationship with the practitioner – the first time I tried CBT it did nothing for me at all. As an alternative, Helen Kennerley’s book “Overcoming Anxiety” was recommended to me by several people, so might be worth checking out while you wait for a referral, or decide whether CBT is the right kind of treatment for you.

Finally, I thought I would mention in passing (it being pertinent to the blog) the now pretty well established link between obesity and mental health issues. The direction of causality does not seem to be confirmed – i.e. no one is sure whether being depressed make you fat or being fat makes you depressed or if the truth lies somewhere in the middle. In my experience it is very, very natural to want to self medicate with food and drink when you’re going through something like this; when Outside is just too big and scary then wine and Kettle Chips on the sofa are comforting and safe. But they’re false friends - I know from bitter experience that if I eat well and get regular exercise then I am less vulnerable to those anxiety demons. And I think there is some comfort to be found in the ritualistic side of planning meals and concentrating on nourishing your body in order to soothe the mind.

For more information – or rather, for information, since I don’t flatter myself that my own ramblings count for very much at all in this particular field, the mental health foundation website can be found here.  No one should ever have to suffer this alone when there are resources and people out there to help. 

MPM: 19th May 2014

Is this it?  Are we finally into summer?  It's so hard to tell in this country and one hates to get too excited lest it all go horribly wrong.  Let's just say as I sit here writing this the sun is pouring through the windows and I can see more than a patch of blue in the sky.  But not all of the meal plan for the week does is particularly summery - I think there is some bet hedging going on chez WWF!

After blowing most of my weekly points at a gin tasting on Saturday (totally worth it) I don't have a lot of wriggle room this week so will need to be careful.  I think most of the evening meals are pretty modest as a result.

Baked eggs with asparagus, anchovies and Parmesan - we continue to enjoy the British asparagus season and the combination of the lovely, ironey shoots with a creamy, salty egg should be lovely.

Rotisserie chicken with salad, homemade coleslaw and crusty bread - I love a good Waitrose rotisserie chicken for a quick and delicious supper, and I HAVEN'T solely put this on the menu to see if the cat likes roast chicken....

Leftover chicken biryani based on this recipe (although clearly subbing lamb for chicken...)

Sea bass with parsnip puree and caramelised garlic - a D masterpiece to start the weekend.

Corned beef and mustard sandwiches on rye with dill pickles and, with the other half of the piece of meat we remove from the freezer...

Corned beef, mashed potato, braised cabbage and parsley sauce (this sounds like good Sunday lunch fodder to me).

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Of scales, Italian food...and capricious cats

Firstly, weigh in results...

Previously on WWF: -46lbs
This week: -2.25lbs
Total loss: 48.25lbs

Yay!  Just over half of my gain kicked into touch.  Another really good week and I could be into Fresh Fat (TM...Love Cat, I think).

It feels like ages since I had a proper catch up with you all, so this will be a bitty post while I try and remember all that I wanted to say.

Firstly, Minx continues to prosper and has taken over her rightful place as Queen of the Household.  She is definitely a Mummy's girl but D continues a determined, treat ridden campaign to turn her.  What's that, you'd like a picture?  Happy to oblige!

Isn't she beautiful?  On a more serious note, taking in a rescue cat hadn't really featured on my radar at all before I started to research but it is a real pleasure to see her gradually come out of her shell and grow in confidence.  She still has plenty of skittish moments - and trying to get her into a box in order to take her to the vet for a check up this week was NOT fun.  But she is a very affectionate creature underneath the nervousness and it is lovely to watch that emerge.  

On a food front, what have we been up to recently?  Well, we went for a lovely dinner at Sara Danesin Medeo's supper club in York the other week.  For those of you who aren't Masterchef groupies, Sara was a finalist back in 2011 and now works full time as a chef, running a regular supper club from her house on a (I think) weekly basis.  The food was delicious and reasonably priced, and Sara herself was absolutely lovely.  Despite the fact that she must have heard the same questions every single bloody week, she was more than happy to chat about her time on Masterchef, which we found fascinating.  She runs cookery lessons out of her beautiful kitchen and D and I are quite tempted to go and learn about pasta making with her at some point.  We had such a lovely evening that we promptly re-booked the next day - we're taking my parents along at the beginning of December.  Highly recommended if you want somewhere special to eat in York (although she is currently booked up until November so you do need to get in there well in advance).

No more meals out planned for a while which is, of course, good news for the diet.  I have an exam coming up in six weeks so I really need to put my head down a bit - but once that is over and done with we're flying out to Barcelona for five days, so plenty to look forward to as I grind my teeth over Capital Gains computations.  I'm trying to avoid doing diet maths - whether I'm two pounds or ten pounds or a stone lighter by the time we go then that will be something to celebrate.  

So come on guys, fill me in - what's new with you?

MPM: 12th May 2014

Ah, Monday. You come around so ridiculously fast and are so unwelcome when you arrive. And yet, I woke this morning to beautiful sunshine streaming in through the gap in the curtains (one of the few advantages to a six o clock start; it has subsequently begun to cloud over) and a purring cat kneading my shoulder and it wasn’t such a bad old start to the week.

A break from pasta then, after last week’s carb loading exploits – which, may I say, I thoroughly enjoyed. I could never go Dukan. D ran the half marathon with a really impressive time yesterday, so it obviously paid off and we both agreed that all the dishes, most of the them old favourites that sometimes get forsaken in favour of the new and the different, were welcome additions to the menu. Both classic lasagne and mushroom risotto need to feature more regularly in the rotation being not only delicious but also delivering decent portion sizes for surprisingly few points thanks to a good volume of lovely zero point veggies.

And so, on to this week. D has requested our monthly fish and chip Friday, I’m out at my book club tomorrow and we’ll soup it up as usual on Wednesday so only four other meals to plan. At the moment, it’s looking a bit like this:

Asparagus and goats' cheese tart – with leftovers to take cold for lunch

Mustard pork chop with gnocchi and a side of asparagus (we’re eating as much as we can while the season lasts)

Chicken Achar and mushroom pilau

Veal and Parmesan burgers (Waitrose rather than home made) probably in buns with homemade spiced potato wedges and perhaps even some homemade coleslaw using some of the blanched cabbage currently taking up freezer space.

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M’s.

Scales on Saturday on Sunday

Previously on WWF: -50lbs
Last 3 weeks: +4lbs
Total loss: 46lbs

Ah well, three weeks worth of halo slippage and what can one expect?  Actually, I don't think a 4lb gain is too awful considering there were plenty of indulgent meals and sneaky g&ts and one Hotel Chocolat chocolate crispy nest (yum!)

Getting back to pointing after a hiatus is always difficult, but three days in and I'm gradually getting back into the swing.  I'm still in that slightly resentful stage whereby it seems like a chore rather than routine but that, too, will pass.

Stop the rot

Right, enough already.  Easter has come and gone and I am still not properly back on track.

No excuses, I've been a bit rubbish but it has to stop now.  I refuse to let myself go backwards.  I refuse to give up.  I may well have lost fifty pounds, but there are plenty more to go and I need to get over the complacency and get on with the business of weight watching.

I have gone and signed up at the gym / pool situatued in a hotel just across the road from my office.  It is pricey and small but it is convenient and that is the key at the moment. 

I have plenty of nice meals planned to look forward to over the next few weeks but, other than a gin tasting session that I'm attending on Saturday afternoon, not much by way of outings - which suits me fine for the time being.

There are eight weigh ins between now and when we fly out to Barcelona for a few days.  There is no reason why I couldn't have hit the four stone mark by that time - and hopefully be sailing down towards the next stone bracket.

This is a declaration of intent.

Wish me luck.

MPM: 5th May 2014 - a plethora of pasta

On Sunday, D is running the Leeds half marathon so I offered him carte blanche with regards to menu planning this week so that he could tailor his meals to meet his...um, athletic needs.  You will notice that we have ended up with a menu groaning under the weight of a thousand carbs.  I.e. there is an awful lot of pasta.  Fortunately, I adore pasta and so am more than happy to eat it every night.

Tonight and tomorrow it's a lasagne - made in the classic British rather than Italian style, so relatively few layers but tending towards the slightly stodgy.  This to me is the very epitome of comfort food, being a dish that my Mum cooked often when I was growing up.  The meat sauce is in the slow cooker as we speak and is packed full of veggies and that will then be layered up with a nutmeg scented, cheesy Bechamel and pasta sheets.  I'll do a salad on the side as well.

Wednesday - soup night.  Nuff said.

Thursday - mushroom risotto - NOT pasta but very nearly.

Friday - Pan fried salmon fillets and pasta pesto with courgettes and peas

Saturday - Classic spaghetti carbonara - and I may make some pre-race garlic bread as well.  I think that should be a thing, don't you?

On Sunday we'll be ditching the carbs in favour of a post half-marathon barbecue - the current plan is a spatchcocked chicken marinated in lemon, garlic and olive oil and some pork belly and red pepper skewers with salad accompaniments.

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Classic recipe corner: A simple, mid-week kedgeree

Kedgeree is a dish that I seem to recall my Mum being very fond of when we were younger, although I think that I am right in saying that her version contained cream.  It's certainly very delicious indeed, and a welcome addition to our regular supper rotation.  It doesn't feel like the combination of smoked fish and curry should work but it really, really does.  When I decided to make this, research seemed to suggest as many different methods of making it as...well, there were lots.  This is a very, very simple version which just allows the lovely flavour combinations to shine through and is closely based on Felicity Cloake's "Perfect" recipe.  We initially made it, as she suggests and as the picture shows, with soft boiled eggs on top but decided in a later version to have one hard-ish boiled egg chopped through and then a poached topping where the yolk runs down and creates a little bit of a sauce which works really well.

16 pro points gives you a hefty portion size - even D, who tends to fine my portions a bit meagre - was quite happy with this.  But to reduce the points even further, you could get away with cutting down on the amount of rice.

This is terribly easy to cook but be warned, it uses a lot of different pans so have a handy husband standing by to wash up.

Ingredients

165g basmati rice
250g smoked haddock
30g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and sliced thinly
2 crushed cardamom pods
1 tbsp curry powder
3 medium eggs
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Small handful of chives, chopped
Small bunch of coriander, chopped
Lemon wedges to serve

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

You could soak the rice beforehand but I don't tend to find it makes a whit of difference.  In which case, cook the rice in salted water according to your usual method.  I use my mother in law's foolproof technique which is to use double the volume of water as to rice, bring to the boil and then cover and turn the heat down to the lowest setting and leave for five minutes.  Then turn off the heat altogether and leave covered for a further five minutes at which point all the water should be absorbed and you should have perfect rice.

In a second pan, place the fish (skin side up) cover with boiling water and then place over a low heat and cook for ten minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon (you can discard the cooking water) and, when cool enough to handle, flake.

Hardish boil one of your eggs - Delia's six minute method is perfect.  Be sure to run it under cool water as soon as it comes out of the pan to ensure that it doesn't continue to cook.  Peel and chop.

You now have all the constituent parts of your kedgeree - the rice, fish and egg can be done in advance.  Now for cooking.  Put one third of the butter in a large pan and melt.  Put a pan of boiling water on the heat, complete with white wine vinegar, ready for the eggs.

Fry the onion gently until softened before adding the chilli and the spices.  Cook out for a couple of minutes, or until the curry powder has lost its "raw" smell, and then add the rice and stir well to ensure that it is all coated.  Then add the fish, the egg and the remaining butter, combine well, and check the seasoning.  Smoked haddock tends to be quite salty so you will need a judicious hand with the salt cellar, but kedgeree loves plenty of black pepper.

At about this point, you can put your eggs on to poach.  They will only need a couple of minutes, so while they are going for it, stir through the fresh herbs and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and dish up the rice and the fish into warmed plates.  Slide the perfectly poached egg onto the top before serving.

Foodie Abroad: Van Zeller, Harrogate

As part of a general week of indolence and indulgence, we took ourselves over to Harrogate for lunch.  Van Zeller's is a restaurant situated in the Montpelier Quarter which is exceptionally pretty, although as we discovered, not particularly great for attracting passing trade.  We had been once before in the evening and D had subsequently received emails from them offering us a special lunchtime offer  of a seven course set menu for £35. This by any stretch of the imagination is incredible value but when it is food of this quality it becomes almost unbelievable.

I often complain about the fact that London (and Londoners) get the best deal when it comes to dining out.  The range and quality of restaurants in the capital just isn't comparable to what one finds elsewhere (and if there is any corner of the country that I've maligned by that comment then I'm sorry, but please do let me know so I can come and eat there).  But then you get a place like Van Zeller's that, apart from us, was stood empty for the entire lunchtime service and you begin to understand that perhaps there just isn't a market for it.  Which is incredibly sad, but there you go.  J Baker's couldn't survive in York, Anthony Flinn didn't make it work in Leeds; I would guess that there is money in all of these places but clearly not an appetite.  Quite literally.

If you find yourself in Harrogate and fancy a fine dining experience then I would definitely commend Van Zeller's to your attention.  There is something Roganish (that's a thing now) about his food in terms of both style and content and it comes as no surprise to discover that Tom van Zeller lists L'Enclume as one of his favourite restaurants.

It's very clever food too.  There were a couple of dishes where the component parts didn't quite work on their own but put it all together and BOOM - perfectly balanced fireworks.

Our particular favourite was the lamb with lettuce, artichoke, mint and ricotta:...

Lamb!

...where the sourness of the artichoke and slightly bitter char on the lettuce were utterly lifted by the sweetness of the other ingredients.  The only problem was that we could have eaten the plate twice over.

I was also extremely struck on the quail with tomatoes, jersey royals and hazelnuts - again such a magical touch with unlikely combinations, and so good to get a tomato that actually tastes of tomato:...

Quail!

And honourable mention to the doughnut dessert - another brilliant balancing act with sour blackcurrants tangoing with fennel, lemongrass and marscapone, and kudos to anyone who will actually serve up doughnuts for pudding.  There are not enough doughnuts in the world for my liking:...

Doughnut!

Standard lunch is £35 for three courses and dinner is £50 for three, although that will include a couple of amuses and little bits thrown in.  D and I have resolved to try and go there as regularly as we can - as I honestly don't think there's anywhere local doing anything quite so lovely at the moment, at least at those prices.  And if that alone is not enough to tempt you to make the trip to Harrogate, remember that you can always have a cup of tea at Betty's when you're finished...

Van Zeller

8 Montpelier Street

Harrogate

HG1 2TQ

01423 508762

Foodie Abroad: Simon Rogan at The French, Manchester

I think that Simon Rogan might be my favourite chef which I am sure that he is delighted about.  Clearly, if I am the type of overwhelmingly pretentious person who thinks that having a favourite chef is an actual thing, I am a fan worth having.

If you’ve ever eaten at his restaurants though, you’ll know what I mean when I say that he is someone whose every dish is a paean to the particular qualities of its component parts.  Sorry, that is an appallingly written sentence in praise of food that is anything but.  It sounds like it should be obvious that ingredients are the focal point of any plate but too often, especially in very modern restaurants, technique seems to have supplanted them as king, and the foams and gels and spheres and whatnots just end up adding layers of obfuscation that gets in the way of the natural flavours and texture.  Simon Rogan can do all the whatnots, but never at the expense of the wonderful ingredients he is using, many of which comes from his own dedicated farm in Cartmel.  And while The French, situated as it is in a busy central Manchester hotel, does not have a farm of its own, the hostess did tell us that they have put poly tunnels up on the roof to grow herbs and vegetables to supply to the kitchen.  Commendable stuff.

The choice for dinner is simple - six or ten courses.  OBVIOUSLY we opted for ten because we are greedy and covetous.  There was some definite loosening of belts around the halfway point and we did not so much walk as roll out of there but nearly every mouthful was worth the discomfort.

I say nearly because, in an unusual turn of events, D took violently against one of the dishes, to the extent that he just refused to eat it.  This was the final dessert course - the "Lancashire coals" (or toasted liquorice cake) with fennel.  It was very, very heavy on the aniseed and although I didn't hate it, it is not something I would be in a terrible hurry to eat again. 

The offending "Lancashire coals"

Elsewhere though, the meal was a treasure trove.  We loved the little selection of nibbles brought over at the start - especially the dainty rye toasts with cream cheese and the cheesy baked potatoes with a liquid centre that I, of course, managed to squirt everywhere by not popping it all in at once.  And from then on it was one spectacular dish after another - although particular highlights for me were the quail eggs with leek, kale and mustard:...

Egg, veg and mustard!

...and the roasted hake with cauliflower and mussels:...

Hake, cauliflower, mussels!

...the latter of which I am minded to try and recreate at home.  The swede dumplings in duck yolk sauce were amazing as well with a remarkable texture, achieved by using a Japanese starch called Kuzu (yes, we are the annoying customers who ask questions about every single dish).      

Dumplings!

So, digestive problems and unappealing pudding aside, another fabulous dinner at the hands of Mr Rogan - or, since he is probably quite busy elsewhere at the moment, one of his trusty lieutenants.  I am so pleased that he will be getting a permanent home in London because it will bring his extraordinary food to a wider audience and perhaps get L'Enclume the third star it so richly deserves.  In the meantime, he has a devoted fan girl in me - which, as we know, is almost as good.

The Midland Hotel
Peter Street
Manchester 
M60 2DS 
0161 236 3333 

MPM: 28th April 2014 (aka Back to Reality)

Ugh, back to work.  And do you know what makes it worse?  Remember when I had to go and deliver courses at a remote training facility in the wilds of Lincolnshire?  Well, for three days this week I have to go and be on the receiving end of a course at a remote training facility in the wilds of Lincolnshire.  I am not happy about this.  For one thing, I am being trained in something that I already know how to do, for a second thing I have to be away from my cat husband and for a third, I will be subjected to what can only be described as school dinners for the duration.

Things will pick up at the weekend though, since we're off to dinner at Masterchef finalist Sara Danesin Medio's York dining club.  Tasty Italian food and maybe some insider gossip about Toad and Egg - I can't wait.

So, a shortish week in terms of meal planning - D will be freezer diving while I'm away (or getting chips from the end of the road) and we'll have soup one night.  The remaining nights will consist of:

Corned beef hash

Cauliflower and macaroni cheese with a bacon and rosemary crumb topping (a Jamie O 30 minute meal that we first cooked a few weeks ago and were impressed enough to a) buy the book and b) get it back on the menu asap)

Chicken and new season asparagus (hurrah for British asparagus season!)

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Scales (and blogging) amnesty

Happy belated Easter everyone. I hope you had a wonderful time and much chocolate was consumed.

D and I have both just had a week off work - our first break since Christmas - and have been gloriously, indulgently lazy. A fabulous lunch on Wednesday, a pootle around Whitby yesterday, lots of stroking the cat...bliss. I have not been pointing or tracking, nor have I been weighing in, and it's been great. I've got past the stage of thinking that Weight Watchers - or, at the very least some sort of lower case weight watching - is something I'll ever be able to completely stop and, most days, planning and tracking is just part of my routine. Still, a few days "off" is very pleasant. I'm learning to not go completely off the rails and have got better (although I'm not quite there yet) at listening to hunger signals and not eating for the sake of it.

I have got lots of posts that I want to put up - some meals out, some recipes, perhaps even some cute feline pictures (yes, I am still besotted) so will get to it tomorrow.

And in the meantime, lots of love and leftover Creme Eggs to all. xxx

Blog Party!

Weeks 1-28: -47.25lbs
Week 29: -2.75lbs
Total loss: 50lbs

FINALLY.

Pre Easter meal planning

 

 

It's my equivalent of the last week of term.  Next week I am off work and plan to do extremely little - there will be reading, there will be sleeping, maybe some walking if the sun decides to make an appearance, there will be LOTS of cuddles with my new cat and probably not all that much by way of counting points.  Hurrah.  Easter weekend looks set to be the perfect start to the holibobs - D and I will have the traditional Good Friday fish and chips (is this just a Catholic thing or do all families do it?) then on Saturday we are cooking dinner for a friend and on Sunday we are seeing my parents.  Good food, friends and family, sounds like the perfect bank holiday.  So meal planning just relates to the early part of the week.

 

Some really lovely, classic dishes this week which would be nice to blog at some point (makes mental note to add blogging to the holiday to do list).

 

Toad in the hole with onion and mushroom gravy, carrot and swede mash, creamed Cavolo Nero (bumped from last week)

 

Soup night

 

Kedgeree

 

Spaghetti carbonara

 

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Smitten kitten takes to the scales

 

 

This week we welcomed a new member to our little household.  This is Minx, whom we brought home from our local Cats Protection rescue centre.  She was taken in when her owner got a new partner with an allergic son; I say, ditch the small child and keep the beautiful cat, and that is precisely why I am currently more suited to being a pet owner than a parent.

I won’t bore you too much by talking about my cat – poor old D already has to put up with my constant stream of chat about her food intake (good) , toilet habits (also good) and behaviour (skittish but affectionate).  Suffice to say that I am utterly besotted.

 

But what of the scales....?

 

Weeks 1-27: -48.25lbs

This week: +1lb

Total loss: 47.25lbs

 

It is also fair to say that I have experienced a little case of Can’tBeArsedness with regards WW this week and I have used poor old Minx as an excuse for a couple of bad habits creeping back in – specifically the midweek drinkiepoos and a lack of organisation with regards meals.  I didn’t think, especially after such an indulgent weekend, that the scales would look kindly on my transgressions (I’m pleasantly surprised at the relative smallness of the gain) and I’m having to dig really deep at the moment to get back on track this week knowing full well that the following week I will be off work and, again, out of routine. 

 

I suppose (writing this down is actually helping to clarify the problem) I am just feeling a bit disheartened at the moment because I’m not getting a proper run at the thing.  You know, a good two or three week period where I can just knuckle down and make what feels like real progress.  I keep banging on about not being prepared to give up my weekends away and meals out – which is fine, WW should fit around life not the other way around - but then keep being unreasonably disappointed at the seesawing scales.  I’ve been coming up to 50 pounds lost and, shortly after that, the halfway point for what feels like ages and their elusiveness is annoying me.  And, as history tells us, negative emotions are not good for my weight loss.

 

This week I need to get back to basics with regards really looking at what I’m eating and planning regular meals and snacks to ensure that my blood sugar stays on an even keel – if I’m hungry I get grumpy and distracted and more inclined to stray.  I have seven days with nothing planned, which means I have a full compliment of weekly points at my disposal and I shall make sure I’m using some of them to bolster my daily allowance rather than saving them all for “treats”.  I also think that seven days without any alcohol would be a good thing, especially since I plan to indulge over the Easter weekend. 

 

This week, as well, I need to be process focused rather than results focused – if that makes sense and doesn’t sound too management speak-ey?  So I’m going to temporarily ditch the daily weigh ins to ensure that I’m not being lulled into a false sense of security by a downwards movement or frustrated by an upwards one.  I still think, ultimately, daily weigh ins are an important part of the puzzle for me – but for now I need to get the diet right and just trust that the losses will follow.

 

Onwards and downwards, comrades!

 

 

Brewdog - beer for punks and Dirty Americana

 

 

I'm finally beginning to see the point of real ale and the game changer for me was Punk IPA by Brewdog.  An independent Scottish brewery, in business since 2007, Brewdog not only produce interesting, complex beers but they open bars that people like us (definitely not punks but with a slightly anarchic streak well concealed by our middle class jumpers and sensible shoes) really love to drink in.  It's a crying shame that the Leeds branch is so blooming small - it's very, very hard to get a table.  We've been drinking our way around the others though and can reveal that Birmingham might be the best one.  Or possible Shepherd's Bush.  Or Camden.  Or Glasgow.

 

Our local bar has had a Brewdog tasting which was exceptionally reasonably priced and a great introduction to the different products so it's worth keeping an eye out to see if somewhere near you is running something similar.  Punk IPA remains my favourite but I did enjoy tasting some of the others.  Like wine, these sorts of beers can have quite complex flavour profiles.  Brewdog are also slightly notorious for producing the some of the world's strongest ever beer; my brother actually shared a bottle of Sink the Bismark (41%) with us a couple of years back and it is really interesting stuff - much more akin to a whisky than a beer and definitely not one for downing by the pint.

 

The other thing that I have really enjoyed about the Brewdog bars is the food - for a well priced, tasty lunch they've proved a pretty safe bet.  We recently had pulled pork and cheesy fries in Shepherd's Bush:

 

 

 

And, just last weekend, beer battered Cajun chicken and a mushroom and halloumi burger in Manchester with seriously good sweet potato fries (apologies for the yellowness - I had a weird filter on.  The burgers were just the right amount of yellow in real life):

 

 

The menu appears to vary slightly from venue to venue but is all in the style that D called "Dirty Americana" - barbecue, lots of meat, judicious hits of spice, really scrummy stuff.

 

Whether you're a beer fan or more of a beer semi-virgin like me (although can one be a semi-virgin?  It's probably a bit of an all or nothing state of being) this is definitely a chain to check out. 

 

(NB:  On reading this back it came across a little bit like a sponsored post - and I almost wish that I could say that this was because then I would probably have a load of bottles of Punk in the fridge, but it isn't.  I just really, really like Brewdog and want to spread the love.)

MPM: 7th April 2014

Why, look boys and girls, it's...


This comes to you from a rainswept railway platform in Manchester. I spent yesterday cheering on a friend who was running the marathon and I am exhausted; admittedly, not quite as exhausted as her but still...

A quiet week for meal planning which is no bad thing at all. I'm expecting a gain on Friday but will spend the next four days doing my best to mitigate it. The meal plan contains a bump from last week and remains fairly wintry looking but I see no sign of spring springing yet in anything but name.

Toad in the hole, onion and mushroom gravy (a repeat from last week rather than a bump - my Yorkshire remained embarrassingly flat and I need a second attempt! Plus, it's yummy).

Cauliflower macaroni blue cheese

Soup

Haggis pizza (do NOT judge until you've tried it)

Fried whitebait with homemade mayo

Jungle curry - vaguely based on a recent John Torode recipe on Masterchef but using leftover roast chicken rather than guinea fowl

Oxtail ragu, mash, crispy parsnips, sautéed mushrooms

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Scales on Saturday

Weeks 1-26 -46.75lbs
This week: -1.5lbs
Total loss: 48.25lbs

Bah, the big 50 remains elusive. I was almost, almost disappointed this week hoping for a better result. But a pound and a half is pretty good going and I should take my own advice and celebrate anything that takes me closer to my ultimate goal.

Which begs the question - what is my ultimate goal? As Gabby pointed out on last week's post, I've never actually said, and I think this is partly to do with the fact that people I know (whisper it) in real life are aware of this blog and I've wanted to remain evasive for them. And, as well, I'm not really sure. I originally had a figure in mind which would have meant losing (look away now if you'd rather not know) 120lbs - just over 8 and a half stone (I'm saying it quickly to try and gloss over the horrific reality of those figures.) I've since revised this to 112lbs or 8 stone (again, the horror) with a view to seeing how I feel when I get there. I recently met up with an old school friend who had lost weight for her wedding and was struck by how much older she looked - and I would rather carry a little bit more heft and get the occasional request for ID when buying wine. So by that reckoning I am nearly halfway through.

I'm bound to gain this week though - off to Manchester tonight to eat at Simon Rogan at The French. I'm too excited at the prospect of the food to get very upset by the currently distant chidings of the scales.

MPM: 31st March 2014

 

It may be the beginning of April, but the meal choices are a bit wintry in style this week, and very Britishy-comforty food type stuff.  I never really had school dinners very often, but if I had done, these are the kind of things that I would have wanted to eat.  We're away for a couple of nights next weekend and will be having the usual midweek soup night, and for the rest:

 

Toad in the hole with red onion gravy, braised Cavolo Nero and asparagus

 

Grilled pork chops with caramelised onion bubble-and-squeak

 

Game, red wine and mushroom pot pie with mash (we first had this a couple of weeks ago and there was enough filling for four pies, hence the reappearance.)

 

Cauliflower and macaroni "blue" cheese based on this recipe but subbing some of the Cheddar for Cashel Blue.

 

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Scales on Saturday - six months in

Weeks 1-25: -48lbs
This week: +1.25lbs
Total loss: 46.75lbs

 

Today is my 26^th weigh in and it would have been nice to celebrate that half year milestone with a good result.  But it was not to be.  While I understand the gain in context of an indulgent weekend, I remain a little disappointed – the scales were hinting at a loss in the run up to this morning, the sly divils.  But, if this is to be a two step forward, one step back kind of journey then I’ll have to take it on the chin.

Half a year on (and hasn’t it flown by!) I am approaching a three and a half stone loss.  That’s not too shabby at all – the average works out at around 1.8 lbs a week, the top end of what anyone has a right to expect who is not living on chemical dust (TM Peridot).  It has slowed down since those heady, early days and I appear to have less leeway now than I did but, as my dear readers know, a big part of my life is enjoying eating out and I am (at the moment, at least) not prepared to give it up for the sake of weight loss, so I’ll just have to deal (TM young people).

 

I was very fortunate the my weight had yet to impact significantly on my health and yet there is no doubt that I feel a lot better for shedding nearly fifty pounds.  My fitness levels are still desultory (yes, I still need to tackle that and yes, I know that I write this on here with irritating regularity) but there has been a definite improvement in my energy levels and stamina which is nice.

 

There is still a long way to go.  I remember hitting the weight that I am now on the way up and feel utterly gargantuan which just goes to show how the mind plays tricks since at the moment I have some days when I feel positively svelte.  The truth is somewhere in between.  By any measure – BMI, waist size, the label in my trousers – I still have a lot of work to do.  I can’t afford to be complacent or to lose concentration and I have to be open to the possibility that the rate of loss will continue to slow down.  Without that weekly shot of validation from the scales, things are likely to get an awful lot of harder. 

 

I say it to other people and now I say it to myself – all you can do is keep on keeping on.  I think, whether a size 10 or a size 20, I’ll always be fighting my inner fat girl and some days she will win – and that’s ok; as long as those days are few and getting fewer then I will content myself with that.

Foodie Abroad: Spuntino's

I was already fairly sure that I liked Russell Norman, media styled “King of Soho Dining”.  But then I saw him on the BBC series “The Restaurant Man”, dispensing advice to aspiring restaurateurs, and this became a certainty.  He was witty and wise, had a very snazzy line in cardigans and (most importantly) was often to be seen writing busily in an elegant little notebook – any man with a proper appreciation for good stationery is a man that I wish to know.

 

This would still not be enough to induce with me to part with hard earned cash to eat in one of his venues were it not for the fact that they are very good indeed.  Russell Norman has a habit of creating restaurants that you really, really want to eat in.  They are trendy but not painfully so, stylised but with the substance to back the style up and genuinely appetising sounding menus which of course is the most important aspect of any restaurant.  Concept alone will not fill one’s boots.

 

We had already been to the original Polpo and to Mishkin’s and on Saturday we went to sniff out Spuntino’s – perhaps still on the tail end of our New York kick (it describes itself as a Brooklyn diner).  Fabulous stuff.  Not being particularly trendy we were more than happy to skip the queue and take one of the seats away from the bar area which meant that, despite the no booking policy, we had very little wait.  And waiting, to be honest, would have been no great hardship considering the excellent cocktails that the cheery bar staff were quite happy to hand you while you stood gazing longingly over the shoulders of fellow diners.  Let me tell you, the rhubarb sour was a thing of absolute beauty (always assuming that you like rhubarb and sour drinks – which we do). 

 

Drinks!

Food wise – Spuntino’s serves little dishes for sharing (or not) ranging from a selection of sliders (we tried all four) to some fresh looking salad plates (which we did not get around to ordering – D curled his lip at the thought, but I want to go back and check some of them out).  The truffled egg toast, which seems to have become something of a signature dish, was so amazingly good that we had to order a second one.  Nutty cheese, thick, sweet toast, a pool of golden yolk quivering in the centre, and that unmistakeable whiff of forest floor – it was just fantastically good, and I’d love to have a go at recreating it at home.

 

Toast!

 

Sliders!



I don’t know whether I was still a bit full from the day before, but I found myself struggling earlier on than I would have liked and so a disturbingly large proportion of the menu remained unsampled (I even turned down the prospect of another drink after dinner in favour of heading home for a stomach soothing peppermint tea – unheard of!)  But we still found a corner for desserts and I am mightily glad we did.  The “peanut butter and jelly sandwich” was amazing – a blissfull combo of peanut butter parfait and raspberry compote, but the star (to my mind at least) was the brown sugar cheesecake.  This unassumingly beige dessert was sweet and creamy with a delicate hum of cinnamon spice – a perfect example of the cheesecake genre.  Worth the trip alone.

 

Cheesecake!

Mr Norman has recently opened a traditional pub which I will be sure to go and seek out next time I make it down South and, if I should happen to find him in there, perhaps doodling in a Moleskine, I will be sure to pull up a seat and explain to him in no uncertain terms why York would be the ideal location for a Northern branch of his empire.  In the meantime, Spuntino’s joins Polpo and Mishkin’s in the league of Restaurants I Wish Were Just Down The Road (but it is probably lucky, for the sake of my not inconsiderable waistline that they are not).