Little Paris on Mare Street

On Friday, I went to the very recently opened Le Bouchon Fourchette on Mare Street in Hackney. I love Hackney, and Mare Street in particular has some great places along it, although there's no denying that this new restaurant is at the more 'rough and ready' end of Mare Street. However, hopefully this is a sign of things to come, as a decent neighbourhood restaurant is definitely something that's lacking.

Stolen from Le Bouchon's facebook page.. sorry!

The restaurant itself is decorated in a very 'on-trend' way, all stripped back and bare with  reclaimed(?) furniture, plain walls and a concrete floor. It was simple but I liked it and the buzzing atmosphere all evening on Friday indicated that so did other locals!

The wine list is excellent, around 10 glasses of red and white, plus rose and sparkling, all available by 125ml, 375ml [that's a half bottle] and by the bottle. I do love a restaurant that allows you to order every wine by the glass, and with prices starting at £3.80 or so, it was very good value. I had a very nice fruity Pinot Noir and the boyfriend had a slightly richer, deeper Merlot. The wait staff also brought out a carafe of tap water without me asking for it - always a nice touch.

To start, we shared some bread and butter, along with mackerel rillettes with cumin bread (me) and bone marrow with sourdough (?) bread. The mackerel rillettes had a lovely texture, not too smooth but no lumps either, and the cumin bread was a revelation. I didn't try any of the bone marrow but it disappeared quickly and I was assured it was all good! 

For main, we both had the steak frites, mine with the shallot sauce, his with the peppercorn sauce, along with a side of garlic spinach. Just simple food, cooked well. The frites were definitely more chip-like than fry-like, but that's how I like them so I was happy. 

The only slightly bum note of the meal was the dessert. We chose the Chocolate Liegeois, which was £7 and billed as an ideal dish to share. I confess that I should have asked what this was, as I was expecting some kind of chocolate tart. Instead, it was a pretty average chocolate sundae, but with rather a lot of vanilla ice cream, and definitely not worth £7. It was a shame as the other desserts looked really good and so I don't think it was a fair representation of the restaurant. So, Le Bouchon, if you're reading this - either ditch the ice cream sundae, make it (a lot) more chocolate-y and also cut the price - it definitely wasn't worth £7 (other desserts were around £5), nor particularly big to share.

However, don't let this put you off. On the whole the food was great, simple but tasty, and with a very appealing menu (it's not often I often want to eat the whole menu!). The wine list has enough choice to be interesting, plenty of good value wines and all available by the glass. Plus, it's fantastic value: starters are £4 - £6, and mains around £8 - £12. We spent £67, for a three course meal each, four glasses of wine, bread and service charge.

It's not breaking any boundaries but then neither is it trying to - instead, it's simply offering a taste of Paris in Hackney. Go now.

Go to work (or bed) on an egg

I absolutely love eggs. Not only are they cheap, they're supremely tasty, and incredibly quick to cook. Some people seem to struggle with associations that they're a breakfast food only - but more often than not, I eat them for dinner after a long day at work, when I'm starving and desperate to have something nutritious for dinner.

Here's two egg-based recipes that I've made recently. Neither of them took longer than 15 minutes to make (from start to finish), although I have to confess and say that for the second recipe, I did already have roasted squash in the fridge.

Baked egg souffle-type dish. Recipe here (scroll down the page a bit!). I added smoked salmon underneath the egg too.

Nigel Slater's spiced squash and fried egg. As you can probably tell, the picture is not mine! Recipe here. I roasted the squash in advance though and then just reheated in a frying pan with the spices.

The second recipe as well has the benefit of being suitable for the 5:2 diet - use low-cal spray to fry the butternut squash, and add a couple of sprays when roasting too. (or steam as per the recipe and no need for oil). You could serve with a green salad on the side or some steamed broccoli if you're still hungry.

A supermarket-free Lent

Even though I'm not super religious, I always give something up for Lent. Usually, it's a good reason to stop eating chocolate, or meat, or bread, or wine, in an attempt to get healthier. This year however, I've decided to give up supermarkets! So that means no Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrison, Asda, Waitrose, M&S or Co-op. I'm allowing myself to go to the local, independent 'mini' supermarkets as I think using those still counts as contributing to the local economy.

So far, I've done two food shops. The first one, I did via Hubbub, which is an absolutely brilliant home delivery service. I think they're only based in N1 and E8 at the moment. The basic premise however is that you order your food online from a pretty good selection, and then they go to lots of different independent shops to collect it for you.

The food is always very good quality, if a little more expensive than going to a regular supermarket. They also charge £3.50 for delivery, however given that it saves you time that's really not too bad. Another great plus point is that as well as offering plenty of fresh food, they also have cleaning products, shampoo, and other household goods that I'm likely to need.

My second shop was a little more creative and I went to five (!) different shops for my weekly shop. I went to Newington Green Fruit and Vegetables, which is possibly my favourite greengrocers ever. They have a fantastic range, plenty of unusual vegetables, and also a good selection of things in jars, like capers and vine leaves. I cook a lot of food that requires unusual ingredients, but here they had tahini paste, artichokes, galangal and salsify, as well as plenty of things I couldn't identify.

My fish for the week came from a local Turkish fishmongers. I wasn't quite as impressed as although the fish appears to be good quality (I've not eaten it yet), there wasn't such a big range and it was dominated by the more standard fish types such as salmon and cod.

Other shops include the Wholefoods store (for creme fraiche and fresh soup; the latter was very expensive and so I need to find another stockist), L'entrecote for wine and Percy Ingle for bread. All in all, I spent about £30, although that includes £10 on a bottle of wine.

I'm looking forward to discovering new shops and new ingredients, although actually shopping in person is obviously quite time consuming as not only are these shops further than Sainsbury's, you have more to visit. I do like Hubbub but miss being able to choose my own food so that's not a perfect solution either. I'll keep you posted!

Chocolate and pear scones

I absolutely love scones. I think they are one of the most underrated baked good around, people's opinions blighted by memories of rock hard scones brought back from cookery class, or those horrible chalky crumbly things, punctuated with bright red glace cherries (not that I don't love glace cherries!). Last weekend in Greenwich, Harry and I had wonderful afternoon tea at the Fan Museum, with excellent small, warm scones. The weekend before we had an absolute behemoth of a scone from Euphorium bakery, with a inch of clotted cream slavered on top.

So gor those of you not dieting, this recipe is for you! I realise that I've only really posted low calorie recipes recently, so here is one without a calorie count, one to just enjoy.

The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, whose blog is far more eloquent and photogenic than mine. Nevertheless, I've got a couple of photos to show you and I made a few changes to the recipe. I also didn't use a dough hook to do the mixing, doing everything by hand instead, and it worked out absolutely fine.

Chocolate and pear scones

Ingredients

3 small pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks*
140g dark chocolate, cut into chunks
290g plain flour
75g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt, plus a little more for the egg wash
125g cold butter, cut into chunks
90ml double cream
2 medium eggs


*I actually only had 2 pears so I substituted a small apple instead

1. Put the pears on a baking tray lined with parchment and roast at about 180 degrees (fan) for 15 mins or so, until the pears are starting to brown.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl and give a quick mix with a spoon. Add in the butter, one egg, and cream. Mix a little with the wooden spoon. You'll find that it very quickly becomes difficult to stir the mixture. At this point, get your hands in, and start rubbing the butter into the flour, moving it around, kneading it, until it's starting to look uniform.

3. Add the pear chunks and chocolate and knead some more till you have a relatively homogeneous mixture.

4. Flour your work surface and tip the dough out. It will be a little sticky, but not inordinately so. Work the dough into a sheet about 4cm thick. You don't need to use a rolling pin, you should be able to shape it with your hands.

5. Using a cutter (or your hands), cut the scones out. I made  9, plus a small one of scraps. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment.

6. Using the other egg, add to a bowl along with 1tsp water and a pinch of salt. Whisk together with a fork until it's relatively uniform. Brush the scones (I used a pastry brush) all over the top and sides.

7. Bake in an oven at about 190 degrees (fan) for about 30 minutes. They should be golden brown.

8. Leave to cool and then eat. Or eat while still hot and the chocolate is all melty...

French women don't get fat?

I think I mentioned previously that I received the "French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook" by Mireille Guiliano for Christmas. Although I'm following the 5:2 diet, I'm still trying to eat healthy on my days off - which is where this book comes in.

The premise of the book, to me, is all about portion control. Learn to control your portions, slow down your eating and enjoy your food. I also like the idea of making each mealtime an event by having three courses, even if that's simply a sliced tomato to start and an orange to finish.

I haven't followed all of the principles in the book - for example, avoiding processed foods (those Cadbury mousses are just too good!) but I have been trying the recipes and I like them very much. As well as being healthy, relatively low calorie - and can be made more low calorie with a few tweaks - they are quite unusual, such as the recipe below, which is adapted from "Curried chicken with cucumber".

Don't let the cucumber put you off. It does sound strange, warm (and curried!) cucumber, but think of how well cucumber raita goes with Indian food. It's also extremely low in calories (10 calories per 100g) and so it's good for bulking up a meal!

Ingredients (serves 1)
1 small turkey breast (about 90g)
Salt and pepper
Low fat frying spray
45g creme fraiche
150g cucumber, cut into 1cm slices
1 teaspoon curry powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
25g basmati rice
25g peas

1. Slice the turkey breast into slices vertically and season with salt and pepper. Heat up the low fat frying spray in a non stick pan (you should only need a couple of squirts), and add the turkey breast. Cook until golden.

2. Meanwhile, cook the rice as per packet instructions.

3. Place the cucumbers in a bowl and add the creme fraiche and curry powder. Mix it all together well.

4. By now the turkey should be cooked. Add the lemon juice to the pan and deglaze it. Then add the cucumber mixture and cook for a few minutes until al dente.

5. Cook the peas quickly by pouring boiling water over them and add to the drained rice. Serve alongside the turkey-cucumber curry mixture.

It only takes about 20 minutes in total and it's really delicious. I think it would be even better with a little bit of freshly sliced chilli and a sprinkling of coriander on top.

5:2 diet: Harissa chicken and courgette cous cous

Here's a quick, simple and tasty recipe suitable for those following the 5:2 (or any low calorie) diet. 
By making a few simple changes, such as using half fat creme fraiche, bulking up the cous cous with courgettes and getting flavour from herbs and spices instead of butter/oil, it's quite easy to cook healthy dinners for under 300 calories. This one comes in at around 267 calories  (see individual calories below).

Ingredients

(serves two)
1 chicken breast
1 heaped tbsp half fat creme fraiche
2 tsp harissa paste
1 courgette
75g cous cous
chicken stock (from a cube)
1 spray flora frying oil
1 lemon
20g mint chiffonade (sliced into strips)

1. Horizontally slice the chicken in half. Place between two sheets of cling film and hammer with a rolling pin, mallet (or in my case, a wine bottle!) until its nice and thin.

2. Place the creme fraiche and harrisa paste in a bowl and mix together. Add the chicken to the bowl and cover. Place in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least a few hours.

3. Grate the courgette and put aside. Make up the cous cous according to packet instructions (I use a chicken stock cube) - do NOT add any butter or oil. 

4. Put the chicken on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes, or until cooked. Meanwhile fry the courgette in the oil until starting to crisp up.

5. Add the courgette to the cous cous, along with the mint, and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

6. Serve the chicken on top of a bed of cous cous, with wedges of lemon on the side.

Recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com

Calorie content:

1 chicken breast (139 calories)
1 heaped tbsp half fat creme fraiche (51 calories)
2 tsp harissa paste (32 calories)
1 courgette (18 calories)
75g cous cous (275 calories)
chicken stock cube (15 calories)
1 spray flora frying oil (3 calories)
1 lemon (negligible as juice only)
10g mint chiffonade (negligible)

So, I make that a grand total of 533 calories, or about 267 calories per serving. The cous cous is the big contributor to the calorie total here, so if you are really trying to cut back, either have a smaller serving or try to skip altogether. I think here it helps fill you up, and the grated courgette makes a big difference too.

5:2 diet - A week's worth of food

I've been reading up a lot on the 5:2 diet recently, and I'm always curious to see what other people are eating, and whether they truly do 'feast' on the non-fasting days. 

To date, I've lost 2.9 kg in 2 weeks. I've still been trying to eat relatively healthily on the non-fast days, although this weekend I did blow it a bit, having a considerable amount of alcohol and a big scone! Although, to my amazement, I didn't put on any weight - not even 100g. So something must be working. 

I think that's the secret to success of this diet really, that you can still have 'naughty' days and yet it's still effective. The flexibility of choosing when to fast is great - if you're invited out to dinner you can just start it the following day. Of course, a certain degree of discipline is required, you can't continually defer your fast days!

Below is a week's worth of food for me, along with my weight, on the days I weighed myself. I  generally fast for a whole day, but I've colour coded the meals that were as part of a fast day as I have done it from 2pm to 2pm before.

Week 1: 2nd January - 8th January

Week 2: 9th January - 15th January

What do you think? I think I eat relatively healthily, although I was shocked to see how much alcohol I drank on Saturday night - probably a week's worth of units, and more calories than I care to think about! I think I probably need to think about finding a low calorie alternative to hummus too - and try to crack my habit of needed something sweet everyday.

One week in

So far, the resolutions are still firmly in place. Or at least, if not firmly in place, not quite broken yet.

There was a moment on Friday evening when red wine nearly won the battle against diet coke. There was another close call on Saturday in Waitrose, when wine needed for cooking (that's allowed!) nearly turned into buy-a-full-bottle-and-drink-the-rest. Sparkling grape juice just about came out on top. Did I feel virtuous afterwards? Not really - not after looking at the calorie content of a drink that's basically just sugar. Oh well.

The intermittent fasting diet has been going well too; unlike many others following the diet, I've adopted a strategy of not eating during the day so that I can have a normal(ish) dinner. The first time was very hard; the second time, not so bad (although I was asleep for most of the day), and the third time (today), it was almost easy! Although having a manic day at work might have had something to do with that.

However, having seen the 5:2 diet recipes on blogs such as London Unattached, I'm tempted to have a go at cooking something low calorie. This in particular looks very good. I suppose when you make the effort, cooking something low calorie isn't too difficult - just don't put great big chunks of butter in the pan you're cooking in and stick to white meat and vegetables. Hopefully I'll have some recipes to share with you soon.

In the meantime, these chocolate mousse pots have been my diet saviour:

Quite simply, they are amazing. 60 kcal a pot, good chocolate taste, nice texture. Yes, I'm sure they're loaded with artificial sugars and other bad guys. But as an occasional (every fast day...) treat they're pretty ideal. I did try having a square of dark chocolate, but that made me crave more. At least with this, I can convince myself there's a reasonable amount of food.

Anyway, I am off to sleep now to dream of all the wonderful normal foods I can eat tomorrow, starting with Magical Breakfast Cream...

The intermittent fasting diet (5:2 diet)

Like the rest of the world, it seems, I'm following the 5:2 diet. I won't go into the detail as there's already plenty of that around, here and here, but for the uninitiated, you eat normally for 5 days a week, and then fast for 2. Although on the fasting days, you are allowed up to 500 calories as a woman, 600 for a man.

Sound easy? Well, on the positive side:

1. You can eat normally most of the time, so you don't need to feel guilty if you go out for dinner one evening, or fancy a glass of wine.
2. As well as weight loss, there are additional health benefits (such as living longer) that the diet brings.
3. 500 calories is a surprisingly large amount of vegetables.

As always however, there are some negatives:

1. Settling into a routine of only eating 500 calories is hard, and the hunger pangs are difficult to deal with at first.
2. It won't work if you spend your 'off' days downing wine and eating chocolate fondants, so self control is still required.
3. 500 calories pretty much means no alcohol, no sweet things, no bread and no butter.

What are my thoughts so far? Well, right now I'm pretty hungry (I had 70g of broccoli for dinner, along with a little garlic, red chilli and soy sauce. Approx 50kcal), but I do feel 'light' and 'cleansed'. Plus, knowing that I only have to fast until mid afternoon tomorrow, is good motivation to keep going. You can split the 500 kcal any way you want, I think I'm going to use mine on breakfast, to make the magical breakfast cream from French Women Don't Get Fat.

Anyway, here is a quick recipe for something I had last night, not on a fast day, but something that would probably be suitable, especially if you switched the salmon for a white fish.

As usual, my picture is less than appetising, but here's what it is:

Chilli Salmon with cous cous stuffed pepper
Ingredients:

1 small salmon fillet
1/2 pepper
4 mushrooms, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 shallots, sliced
1/4 chilli, diced
25g cous cous
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp chopped parsley
Lemon juice

Heat the oven to 200 degrees and put the pepper in a baking dish. Do not add any oil. Put in to bake for 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, make a little foil parcel containing the salmon fillet, and top with the chopped chilli and a garlic clove. Seal, and add to the oven.

Fry the onions, mushrooms and tomatoes in a pan with low-cal spray (I use flora, which is only 5kcal per spray. 2 sprays is enough in a non-stick pan). While they are cooking, make the cous cous according to packet instructions but with water only (no stock, butter etc).

When the cous cous is ready, add to the pan and lightly fry. Add the spices, followed by the parsley and mix. Take the pepper out of the oven and add the mixture to the middle of the pepper. 

Place the stuffed pepper back in the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes. Serve!

As you can see I had a lot of filling but I served that on the side of the plate and it was delicious. I'm not entirely sure about the calorie content, but I estimate it to be around 350kcal (170 for the small portion of salmon, 90 for the cous cous, and the rest for veggies). If I made it again for a fast day, I would probably skip the cous cous altogether.

The Magistrate and the Mezzanine restaurant

After booking the tickets seemingly years ago, last night was finally the night to see the Magistrate.

"With his louche air and a developed taste for smoking, gambling, port and women, it’s hard to believe Cis Farringdon is only fourteen. And that’s because he isn’t. Agatha his mother lopped five years from her true age and his when she married the amiable Posket.

Well, when I heard the new dad was a police magistrate, I was scared. Said I to myself, “If I don’t mind my Ps and Qs, the Guv’nor – from force of habit – will fine me all my pocket-money.”

The imminent arrival of Cis’ godfather sends Agatha incognito to the Hôtel des Princes to warn him of her deception. But it’s also where her son has cajoled his otherwise staid stepfather into joining him for a binge. High-spirited carousing leads to a police raid and a night of outrageous mishap as the trapped guests make desperate attempts to conceal themselves from the law and from each other. Indignities escalate at court the next day where Posket, the police magistrate, must preside."

This was a truly outstanding performance from the National Theatre, and I think it may have earned its place as my favourite play ever. 

I was particularly impressed for the following reasons:

1. The characters were all very likeable. Usually, I have one favourite character, but here I was torn between Posket, Cis' and smaller roles too - such as the waiter in the Hotel des Princes. I think it takes a lot of skill for the audience to be so engaged with comparatively minor roles.

2. The singing. The songs were well interspersed between the scenes, and actually added something to the play, rather than detracted as can be the case. The Singing Dandys did a great job and the lyrics were well composed and witty.

3. The scenery and costumes. I'd say the National Theatre always has great sets, but I thought this was truly exceptional. But it wasn't just the look of the set that impressed me - the way the set moved between scenes was really quite something to watch.

After the play, Harry and I went to the Mezzanine Restaurant at the National Theatre for the post-theatre dining deal. For £15, you got a flat-iron steak with frites, bearnaise sauce, a small tomato salad, bread, and a blackberry bellini. An absolute steal. The steak surpassed my expectations, being a good inch or so thick, and nicely pink in the middle. The portion was generous too.

All round, a great evening at the National Theatre. I can't recommend it enough.

Marrakech, Mountains, tagines and table tennis

This blog was supposed to be a joint endeavour, a way for my boyfriend and I to have some kind of outlet outside of work. As you can probably tell that hasn't happened!

Even though I enjoy writing, having a blog is harder than I expected. It's a commitment and can weigh heavily on you at times. I also don't really take photos, and so getting in to the mindset of taking them all the time is a bit of a drag. I hate being one of those people who photographs their food before they eat it or spends time composing photos to look like they're having fun, when actually they're not - they are posing for a photograph. Unless you have paparazzi stalking you and catching those 'natural' moments that so many bloggers love to share, you have to continually interrupt your day to capture those pictures. Without photos, blog posts are dull and people tend to skip them (at least, I do), so luckily, although Harry may be a lousy blogger, he loves photography, and enabled me to do a great post on our latest trip..

Last weekend, we went to Marrakech for four days for some sun and relaxation. My first tip would be: do not go to Marrakech for sun in November. The weather forecasts may look inviting, but we actually had a mixture of rain and cloud, with a sprinkling of sun thrown in. At night it was actually really cold too. However, I can thoroughly recommend going for some relaxation and adventure.

Quick PR - we stayed at Kasbah Igoudar which was fabulous. It's about 45km outside of Marrakech, so more suitable if you plan on visiting the Atlas Mountains (or, if the weather is nice, for total relaxation as their pool area is lovely), but the people are really friendly, the rooms are comfortable and food, cooked by a local Berber is really tasty. We travelled with Voyage Prive, which gave us a great deal on accommodation and easyjet flights.

Here's a few snapshots of our visit.

Much colder than it looks - see the snow in the background

Final day, after becoming table tennis champions

The hotel and grounds were beautiful. The Kasbah, although new, has been built in the traditional style and has rooms coming off a central courtyard, like a Riad. In Summer. the roof can be opened. We spent a lot of our time in the snug, where the kind hotel employees built us a fire and served us dinner. Dinner was mostly tagines, but also a delicious pastilla, which is a sweet-savoury pigeon pie. Delicious. Word of warning - alcohol is comparatively expensive to food and everything else in Morocco, at around £16 a bottle. It's also not widely available due to Muslim law, so stock up in duty free if you plan on having wine with dinner. 
We also played a lot of table tennis, winning some Moroccan tea (very sweet mint tea) after beating the other couples. A very proud moment!

Marrakech, and indeed any where you visit, is a shoppers delight. Not only will the locals do their best to persuade you to buy anything and everything, you'll probably want a fair bit of it too. Generally aim  to pay about 60% of the price in the souks. While we were there, we bought a shisha pipe, a small trinket box made from coral, a bracelet, a reflexology session (inadvertent purchase), some nuts and some fruit. If I'd had more money and luggage allowance, I'd have loved a tagine and a traditional rug.

At the Royal Palace

Lunch at Tangier

There's plenty to do in the centre of Marrakech; we only visited for one day but would have liked longer. The Royal Palace is definitely worth a visit, and at 10 Dhs (less than £1) for entry, it's definitely worth it. I would also recommend visiting a local hammam (only for the brave!) and la Jardin Majorelle, a beautiful garden designed by Yves St Laurent and full of some unusual plants. We had lunch at Tangier, a traditional restaurant specialising in.. tagines! The honey and almond chicken was sweet and moist, and the couscous with caramelised onions and chicken was also delicious. If it's warmer, it's worth eating in the main square, the Djemaa el fna, which has lots of food stalls where you can eat with locals. Be warned though, sheep's head is highly regarded here!

Cycling on the road to nowhere

Abandoned village

The Kasbah had bikes available to use for free, so we spent a morning cycling around. We had no idea where we were heading, and followed a pretty remote road for an hour or so, passing plenty of donkeys, shepherds and sheep. We ended up at an abandoned village which was pretty cool. By this time, the sun had also decided to come out and play so it was a pleasant morning that resulted in sunburnt faces.

Finally, I cannot recommend a trip to the Atlas Mountains enough. I would love to go back and spend a few days there hiking and exploring, and you can even ski there. The highest mountain, Mount Toubkal, is over 4,000m.

Climbing up a waterfall

Berber village in the Mountains

We had a day trip to the Mountains, and a local guide took us on a two hour walk which involved scrambling up a waterfall and visiting a few Berber villages. We then had a traditional meal of tagine (of course) in a Berber house, followed by the requisite Moroccan tea. The place we visited was called Imlil, and was about 90 minutes drive from Kasbah Igoudar (~ 2 hours from Marrakech). The drive itself was spectacular, with views for miles. Imlil is a relatively big village and had a thriving back-packing scene, with plenty of walkers. Ironically, there were more restaurants / bars / shops in the 'remote' mountains than near our hotel!

So all in all it was a great trip. The culture is really like no other, and although you will inevitably get fleeced by the locals, that's all part of the fun. It was my second visit, and I'm so glad I made it to the Mountains this time, it was my favourite part of the trip and one I am keen to repeat. So if you need a walking partner Dad, let me know!

The Lifestyle diet (currently in testing)

I am on a diet. 7 - 10 pound weight loss, asap, but while still being (relatively) healthy and being able to enjoy food. 
I've never been able to stick to a diet plan before, too restrictive, too boring, too expensive.. my main problem has always been how often I eat out; I don't want to be the person in the restaurant asking if their soup has double or single cream in it.
So, I have devised my own plan, taking bits of well-known advice, some less well-known (respected) advice, and a few things I'm doing because they suit me. Hey, maybe it will be the key to weight loss and I'll end up writing a diet book. You heard it here first.

Basic Principles

• Your weight is mostly determined by how many calories you eat. Exercise helps, but unless you have time to spend three hours a day exercising, you are going to have to watch what you eat. Some people may disagree with this, but from personal experience, my body shape stays pretty much the same irrespective of the gym
• Caffeine is not necessarily bad for you. A few cups of tea or coffee, or cans of diet coke, a day are not going to kill you. They might help you control your appetite and caffeine can have a fat burning effect. So just don't overdo it
• Fruit is only good for you when consumed with something less sweet. Apples, oranges, berries.. they all make my blood sugar spike and rapidly fall, leaving me hungrier than before. I find apples are the worst. Fruit is touted as healthy when actually, it is full of sugar and acid that erodes the enamel on your teeth. Far better to have more vegetables and have fruit as a healthy dessert
• Snacking between meals is also bad. For someone like me, it's easier to completely forgo the snacks and just deal with the hunger. Have a cup of tea. Drink a glass of water. Chew some gum. The snacks will likely make you hungrier
• Wine is not all bad. Some days I really want a drink with dinner. Most diets cut out alcohol entirely but I think this is unnecessary. Instead, have a glass with dinner, but have at least a couple of days a week with no alcohol
• Allow yourself a small, low calorie treat a day. This could be a few squares of chocolate, a nibble of cake (if you have the willpower to keep it to a nibble!), or for me, Shapers chocolate or caramel yoghurts. They're around 120 calories but super sweet. Mini Milks are also a good option and only 30 calories each
• Know when to make sacrifices. If you know you are going for a big dinner, try and skip lunch to save on the calories. This is easier on the weekend when you can also breakfast later. Initially skipping meals may not sound sensible but emerging advice about the benefits of short-term fasting suggest this may not be completely crazy
• Don't overdo it on the weekend. It's easy to be strict and ordered during the week when you're at work, only to blow it all on the weekend. Don't adopt an 'all or nothing' approach at the weekend, try and keep your diet healthy for at least two out of the three meals a day, and know when to cut back (see above)

Now, I'm not saying this is the perfect diet and that you should follow it. I'm only just testing it myself. I've listed some standard week day meal options below. On the weekends, I tend to eat whatever I fancy, but in smaller portions.

Breakfast

• Greek yoghurt with mixed berries, a small handful of nuts and a squeeze of honey (Greek yoghurt is thicker than natural yoghurt and has more protein, so helps keep you feel fuller for longer. Nuts are also good for protein. Berries provide one of your five a day and make this feel like more of a treat. Honey is good for warding off colds and takes the edge off the berries)
• Healthy carrot cake muffins (I'll try and get round to posting the recipe at some point. But basically, they're made with whole wheat flour, dessicated coconut and yoghurt. Whole wheat flour keeps your blood sugar levels more stable than white flour, the dessicated coconut adds sweetness and fat and the yoghurt provides moisture and fat. There is still some butter and oil in this recipe but less than in traditional carrot cakes)
• Microwave scrambled eggs (super quick and easy, crack two eggs into a bowl, add a splash of milk and whisk with a fork. Season with salt and pepper, and add some seasoning if you like. I usually go for paprika or cayenne pepper. Stick in the microwave and zap on high for about a minute and a half, pausing halfway to give them a quick stir with your fork)

Lunch

• Low carb salad (basically, any fresh vegetables you have lying around the kitchen and some protein. I usually include some kind of lettuce, chicken / prawns / chorizo [please note: higher fat than other options] / tuna, along with cucumber, peppers, onion, spring onion, shredded carrots, avocado, quartered tomatoes... Also experiment with adding fruit for a sweet touch, such as grapefruit, pears, apples, mango. To dress, either use lemon juice, mustard, red/white wine / balsamic vinegar. Steer clear of shop bought dressings and anything using oil. That includes mayonnaise)

Dinner

• Omelette (two egg omelette, jazzed up with a filling such as chorizo, mushrooms, peppers or onions. Serve with a large green salad and balsamic vinegar)
• Grilled fish / meat with salsa (try to get used to eating your regular meals but without the serving of carbs. For me, that means a piece of grilled fish wish a bit of garlic and chilli, along with a simple salsa made from quartered cherry tomatoes, avocado, spring onions and sweet corn. I would usually have rice with this, but instead make more salsa or have a green salad)
• Soup (soup can be quite high in carbs however as this is primarily about eating lower calorie foods, I think soup fits the bill perfectly. I usually have it with some carrot sticks and low fat hummus on the side)
• 'Spaghetti' Bolognaise (this doesn't have to be really high in calories. I use finely sliced courgette for the pasta, boiled briefly in salted water. Make sure you drain it well. For the bolognaise, use extra lean mince and tip out the fat as you brown it. Bulk up the sauce with lots of vegetables, such as fresh tomatoes, small pieces of pepper, celery, carrot)

So, that's a brief look at what I eat during the week. Weekends are far more varied - last weekend included pancakes, croissants and lobster. It's all about knowing when to make sacrifices, food-wise, to make up for calorie consumption later that day.

Anyway, if all goes to plan you will be seeing pictures of a newly svelte me... I'll keep you posted.

The Great British Bake Off

I have some good advice for the workplace. Do not bake a cake to bring into work. Your colleagues will then expect you to do this on a regular basis. You might find yourself being made the 'designated baker'. You might even find that you are entered into a baking competition without your knowledge.

I have the dubious pleasure of representing my project team in the client's version of "The Great British Bake Off". I have been told to bring the biggest, fanciest, best cake I possibly can. After much deliberation, I settled for the Konditor and Cook "Curly Whirly" cake, which I made earlier in the year for a friend's birthday.

Unfortunately, it has just dawned on me that due to the cream cheese frosting, this is a cake that needs refrigerating. I need to get the cake to Glasgow on Monday morning, via a BA flight. Hmmm, possibly not the best choice of cake although a bit late now as I've already made it! I do feel that this competition is not on level pegging, given my offering has to travel 500 miles and hopefully come out the other side intact. The airport security people at London City had better be gentle with this!

The actual recipe is here. It's a little bit more complicated than my usual attitude of "stick everything in a bowl and whisk it", but don't let the steps put you off as it's actually quite easy. I won't repeat the recipe here but show some pictures instead:

Ingredients all lined up

Mixture before the melted chocolate, sugar and milk is added

Mixture afterwards - the batter is very runny, but it's supposed to be like that

Cake just after baking. I found they needed closer to 30 - 35 minutes

The iced cake

Finished cake, complete with swirls and "Deloitte" on top

Duck and kiwi Thai curry

Sorry for the absence, I disappeared for a week to sunny Cyprus. The holiday itself was great fun, although the destination left a lot to be desired (over run with cats, run down shops, terrible food). On the plus side I've come back tanned and thinner!

For the week I was away, I mostly ate plain chicken and chips. Apparently in Limassol, if you order "chicken souvlaki", what you have actually ordered is overcooked chicken on a skewer, with a big side of fries. So, when I did finally get back, I was desperate for some cooking.

As always, the Times proved to be an inspiration, with an unusual recipe for "Duck and kiwi thai green curry" (original recipe here).

The finished dish, it tastes better than it looks!

It was a real hit with my housemate and I, and if it wasn't for the fact duck is so expensive it would be added to be regular meal rota. The kiwi adds a sour tang to the dish, which complements the fatty duck. It tastes more savoury than a usual thai curry too, although that could have been because I was a little heavy on the fish sauce.

Ingredients

2 shallots, about 125g
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 Gressingham duck breasts
1 tbsp Thai green curry paste
1 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
160ml can coconut cream
250ml chicken stock or cube and water
1 lemongrass stalk
2 kaffir lime leaves
50g coriander
200g fine French beans
3 firm kiwi fruit
1 lime
Rice or rice noodles to serve

Method

Chop the shallots and crush the garlic, then add to a frying pan and cook until soft. Keep stirring to make sure the garlic doesn't burn. 

Meanwhile, skin the duck and slice into thick strips, across the grain. Add to the frying pan and brown the duck on all sides.

Next, add the curry paste, fish sauce and a dollop of coconut cream. Stir thoroughly to make a thick sauce. Then, bash the lemongrass to crush the root end (but keep in one piece) and add to the pan. Also add the rest of the coconut cream, stock and lime leaves.

Chop some coriander and add to the pan. Turn the heat on the pan down so that the mixture is simmering gently. The pan can be left for about 25 minutes now while the sauce reduces. Give it the occasional stir, but it should be fine.

Top and tail the beans, then halve them. Peel the kiwi and chop into chunky pieces. Add the beans to the mix and cook for 5 minutes, then add the kiwi and cook for another minute or two to warm through.

Add the lime juice to the curry (to your taste), along with salt and maybe a little sugar if, like me, you were a bit liberal with the fish sauce.

Chop a red chilli (if you have one to hand), and use as a garnish, along with some coriander leaves. I served it with plain basmati rice and it was delicious. I think next time I would serve it alongside a Vietnamese papaya salad, to make the most of the sweet / sour / savoury mixture.

Easy peasy chinese chicken

One thing that really annoys me about being in Glasgow during the week is not being able to get Stylist magazine. Not that they don't have it in Glasgow, just that I don't go anywhere that I'm able to grab a copy before they've all gone.

This week, fate was in my favour and I found a copy at the airport, with this great recipe in it: Chicken with plums and soy. So not only was I entertained on the plane home, I also had something to cook on Saturday night. Staying in a hotel all week might sound like fun, but actually I miss choosing exactly what to eat (Glasgow isn't exactly a restaurant mecca), and I also find the process of cooking very relaxing, and ultimately, very rewarding.

Photo from Stylist.. scroll down for my poor photography!

A taste of Morocco

In a moment of madness, I accidentally let slip to Harry that we were going here for his birthday in November. So, it seemed only fitting to make something Moroccan for dinner this evening.

This is another one of Lindsey Bareham's "Dinner tonight" recipes, and as usual I've borrowed the photo for my post. I completely forgot to photograph the finished dish until I'd already eaten half, and it was looking less than photogenic then!

"Posh" Marble Cake

Also known as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cake.

I made this cake earlier today for a colleague's birthday after seeing the recipe in the Times Saturday magazine. It's a recipe from Lorraine Pascale, one of my favourite 'celebrity' chefs. Lorraine used to be a model and was the first black British model to grace the cover of American Elle. After modelling, she tried a number of new careers including as a car mechanic, before professionally training as a chef. She now runs a cake shop, the Cupcake Bakehouse, as well as presenting a series on BBC.

Anyway, on with the recipe.. (slightly adapted from the Times)

Magenta chicken

Another great recipe from Lindsey Bareham for the Times. I've adapted it slightly, to take into account my slap dash measuring, but it still tastes the delicious.
The dish, 'magenta chicken' looks like curry but is more of a creamy beetroot sauce. The beetroot makes the whole dish look gloriously pink, even in my ropey picture, and the taste is quite unlike anything I've eaten before.

Picture courtesy of Claire Mallison for Times2