Day 61- Another 'All you can eat' success!

Its 1am and I have just sat down! Got home about 20 mins ago, had a little swim to cool down and here I am. I apologise for any spelling mistakes I may make, but a) its late and b) I'm watching a recording of Eastenders whilst I type this!

I spent the day upstairs in the restaurant kitchen preparing for tonights menu, but had a sneaky breakfast of scrambled egg and mushrooms on toast. See if you can tell from the picture how many calories!


After munching on my brekkie, I made some potato salad, coleslaw, soup and cous cous. Here's a piccy of the cous cous.........

I am a firm believer in using as few ingredients as possible and not overcomplicating a recipe, but all these ingredients work so well together that I allowed this recipe to sneak through! It consisted of cous cous, roasted red pepper, courgette, aubergine, spring onion, asparagus, chickpeas, pistachio nuts and lemon thyme! Delicious! I wont give all my recipe secrets away as I'd never sell a copy of my book, but I'll let you all have this one for free!

A pretty quiet day at work was followed by a stupidly busy evening! We had 2 booked at 7pm and 10 for 8.30. Another 6 turned up during the first hour and then all hell broke loose as 16, yes, 16 turned up 5 minutes before the 10. So, basically we had 26 people all turn up at the same time! Thought we did rather well though, (even though I cut my thumb right in the middle of it all!) ,and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves......... A couple of rather large tips confirmed that!

Well, its stupid o'clock AGAIN and I'm off to bed now. Should be a busy day tomorrow with it being 'Fish & Chip Friday', (it seems to come around so quickly), and we also have a couple of potential new houses to look at at 4pm so I'll keep you all informed how that goes.

Sleep tight all and speak to you all tomorrow. Sweet dreams.........

Slimbo!

Jimbo - The Fat Chef - My journey: Day 60 - The house hunting continues............

Jimbo - The Fat Chef - My journey: Day 60 - The house hunting continues............: The road works continued at work today..... My God was it noisy! Now that they have finished digging up our side of the road, they decide to...

Day 60 - The house hunting continues............

The road works continued at work today..... My God was it noisy! Now that they have finished digging up our side of the road, they decide to dig up the other! The JCB was outside ALL DAY.... Suffice to say it was a pretty 'quiet' day at work......

I've had a guilt head on today, after the events of yesterday evening, but I decided to have a hearty breakfast anyway! I settled for my old favourite of scrambled eggs on toast with mushrooms.....yum yum! As I stated earlier, not much happening at work, so that was probably the highlight!

Thursday again tomorrow, so I will be upstairs from 11am prepping for the 'all you can eat' menu.  At least it gives me something to do if the workmen spoil things again. I think this week I will create a cous cous and char grilled veg salad and take some photos for you to see in the next blog. I'm in a creative mood this week, but havent really had the chance to do much. I'm definately getting excited about this Sundays pork dish.............. Watch this space. We have a table of 10 booked in at 8.30pm, so at least we know we've got a few in. Who knows, we may even get a few book in the morning.....

Managed to swim for about 45 mins this evening, so I feel a little better about after lasts nights activities! Might try and have another few minutes before bed..... I havent eaten anything for dinner yet. Not too sure whether to get off my fat buttocks and make something, or just grab a little snack. Its 9pm now, so I need to hurry and make my mind up......

Okay, I've made my mind up! Gonna go and get snacking, so I'm off now

Sleep well all and I'll speak to you all again tomorrow with more details of my journey and news from the restaurant

Later dudes......

Day 59 - Again! I missed out 57!

Today is day 59 again as I missed out day 57!

An interesting day at work, or at least watching out of the window from work was! The workmen finally finished working on the road outside our place...Yipee! NOT! My yipee was short lived as they started work on the other side of the road! So more dust, drilling and noise.

Fortunately it didnt seem to bother the customers too much as we had a reasonably busy day. I also managed to sort out my tapas predicament as well! Last week I had been searching for some cranberry jelly to put with my brie and bacon tapas, but today just used a bit of initiative and used a little honey instead. They were yummy!

We were invited out tonight by our friends Ian and Victoria and I must confess to putting the 'journey' on hold for one night. To many of you my alcohol consumption tonight would be childs play, but for me 3 glasses of wine and a tinto de verano is loads! I dont even want to contemplate the calorie content..... Oh yes, then there was the small matter of dinner! I had a bacon dumpling soup (more out of curiosity than anything else) followed by a rump steak. I'm not gonna  beat myself up over it, its the first time in 59 days that I have had an evening meal out and I didn't have a pud!

Its late 2.15 am so I'm cutting this short and I will be back with you all tomorrow

Sleep well

Slimbo!

Day 59 - Monday and a day off!

Its Monday and that means  my 1 day off every 2 weeks, yipee!

Started the day as always by taking Harrison to school and then headed off to a seafront bar for a coffee and a think about our house hunting strategy. An hour and a half later we left the bar!

I think we pretty much went to every estate agent in Calpe and if we had wanted a 2 bedroomed appartment, we would have been laughing. Practically EVERYTHING was an appartment. The search continues.... There are a couple of possibilities from people who are getting back to us tomorrow, so all is not lost, but what a waste of a morning.

Managed to have a very nice Caesar salad and a cheeky beer at our favourite seafront bar (Cocos) , so there was some good that came of the day. Managed to head home for an hour, had a quick swim and before we knew it, it was time to collect Harrison from school!

Laura was cooking dinner tonight, so I just relaxed and farted around on the computer for a while and awaited my meal. She cooked up some lean mince with some jerk seasoning and topped some tortilla chips with it. Made a salsa and added that with some fat free yoghurt and put that on top too. It was really nice! I probably ate 1 or 2 tortillas more than I should have, but what the heck! I have to say that the combination of spicy mince, yoghurt, salsa and the odd tortilla chip tasted amazingly good inside a tortilla wrap!! Definately the most calorific meal I have had on the journey, but I'll be a good boy tomorrow to balance it out. Maybe a few extra lengths as well!

I said yesterday that I might do something interesting for dinner tonight, but it was cooked for me, so I'm thinking of doing it tomorrow instead. Might stuff a chicken breast with something.......Watch this space!

Nite all, sleep well and I will talk to you all again tomorrow ;0)

Ciao for now

Day 58 - Another busy Sunday service!

Day 58 and an early start in order to get in to work early in readiness for Sunday lunch. As the alarm went off this morning at 7.45, I wish I hadn't stayed up until 3.15am the night before! I'm definatelty feeling it now!

I had decided that I would do a slow roasted leg of lamb this week (along with the traditional Roast beef, Loin of Pork & Honey roasted Gammon), so had to get in by 9 am to get it to room temperature before shoving it in the oven. Got in at 9.10, not too bad!

Managed to get it all done by the start of play at 1pm and I have to say, the lamb was pretty amazing!! It had been slow roasted with sage, rosemary and red wine and after 2 1/2 hours it came out perfectly. Stupidly tender and melt in the mouth. ! 18 of the first 24 customers had it and we sold out before 2 o'clock! The feedback was really good and a lot of people asked why we didnt have it on every week. Simple, its bloody expensive!! We could do down the 'surcharge for lamb' route, but to be honest, I don't want to. I think also that sometimes its not a bad thing for people to want something they can't have! (At least not every week anyway!)

Managed to get home before 5pm as well and have a decent swim. Nothing better than launching yourself into the pool after a really hot and sweaty 9 hours in a 40 degree kitchen. Sheer bliss. Its what I think about doing from the moment I start to sweat!

Had a relaxing evening, (currently playing online poker), and looking forward to a day off tomorrow which will be spent searching for rental property agents as we need to move out by July 31st as our lease expires. Looking forward to it as I love looking around properties. Think I should have been an estate agent! Will try and relax and have a drink or 2 on the seafront as well methinks. Maybe even a cheeky spot of lunch (low calorie of course!)

On that note, I will sign off for now and update you all on my progress tomorrow. Might even make something 'interesting' for dinner.....

Sleep well peeps, hasta manana!

Day 56 - The 8th weigh in......

Day 56, the 8th weigh in. I headed for the scales this morning hoping for at least a 3 pound loss to take me to the 2 stone mark. I was a little apprehensive as always and had my fingers crossed.............

I climbed on the scales, eyes fixed firmly on the wall in front of me, and waited for the verdict. As soon as I heard Heathers voice say 18 stone 5 lbs, I let out a little 'get in there'! I had broken the 2 stone mark! Yipee! Really chuffed. So a 2 stone 1 lb loss in exactly 8 weeks. So far, so good, but I know there is still a very long way to go and I know that the weight loss will become less and less the further along the journey I go. Very much on course though......

Didn't have to go in to work until about 4 pm today, so went for a coffe this morning in a local cafe, did a little shopping and for the first time in ages, just went home, had a little swim with Harrison and then did absolutely nothing until it was time for work.

Had to get in early for work as there is always a lot of prep to do on a Saturday evening, not only for the night ahead, but also for Sunday lunch. Just had to show you a little piccy of our rib eye steak as it looked so good! 90 seconds each side for me and pure food heaven!



We had two tables of 2 booked in, so again, more bookings than we used to get on a Saturday night before we introduced the 'all you can eat' menu. We actually ended up with 16 covers , which we cannot complain about, except for the fact that 14 all turned up at the same time!!

As is always the case, whenever you have a few people in, they all seem to turn up together! So we actually had 6 tables all turn up at the same time! It certainly increases the pressure, but one of the reasons for the change of menu was to speed up the way in which we could get the food out quickly when busy. It worked pretty well. If that scenario had occurred with our full A la Carte menu, we would have struggled. So all in all, another decent night.

I will be cutting this post short in a minute as it is already 1.45 am and I have to be up at 8am for work!Just wanted to thank you all for reading the tripe and drivel that I write daily and I will be back again tomorrow evening after a long Sunday Lunch service to enlighten you as to my days events.

Take care peeps, sleep well and talk to you tomorrow

Slimbo!

Day 55 - The 8th weigh in tomorrow morning........

Well, a much easier and quieter day today! Work was okish, (or should that be okayish)?, it was busyish (lots of ishes already) and without drama. In fact the only drama came when I was experimenting with a little tapas and couldn't find the cranberry jelly! I had done a little bit of crispy bacon & brie on a slice of baguette, but felt that it needed a little sweetness, so was devastated that I couldnt find any! It seemed to go down quite well even without the jelly any way....

Had a busy night, (31), in for fish & chips and a couple of them have booked for tomorrow's 'All you can eat' menu, so we may be able to pay some bills next week.......

Not much more to say really, except to remind you all that tomorrow is weigh day again. I can't believe it has been 8 weeks already!! Its flown by. I am hoping to have lost 3 more pounds to make it a 2 stone loss. We shall see.

I have just had a swim, (thats 2 today!), in the vein hope that it may push me to my target and I am about to eat dinner, (a Bifidus Activo yoghurt) and then I'm off to bed. Wish me luck and I will update you all tomorrow. If you cant wait until tomorrow nights blog, tune in to my food page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/185455448234743/) from around 9.30 and news should filter through...

Nite nite all, speak to you all tomorrow

Day 54 - The day from hell!

Arrived at work in a positive frame of mind today............... Should have known better! What a day....

First of all, the plumber was 4 hours late. YES, 4 HOURS LATE! I wouldn't have cared too much normally, as I'm pretty laid back, but unfortunately there were members of the property managemant company waiting outside from the moment we arrived at work, constantly asking where our plumber was. I felt like a criminal. I actually started to doubt whether or not I had actually called the plumber in the first place. Not only were they asking in person, but we were receiving phone calls from the management company as well. I knew that they were all thinking that we had palmed them off by pretending that a plumber was turning up. We rang his mobile, his non work mobile, his home number, but to no avail. No answer. What were we supposed to do? All this while trying to run a business........ Oh, forgot to mention, just to compound things, the workmen working on the road outside decided to be extra noisy today

Finally, at 1pm, Matt the plumber arrived. Yeeha! Well, actually not yeeha....... He set about his work in shall we say a 'no nonsense' fashion. What I mean by that is, he pulled out a drilling tool reminiscent of something Arnie would have used in 'Terminator'! Without so much as a ' sorry, there might be a little noise for a moment or two' he rammed it into the wall to attempt to locate where the leak was coming from. What a noise!! The whole building shook! The look on the customers faces spoke volumes. Suffice to say that we didnt have a particularly profitable day! The drilling and 'leak finding' continued for most of the day until the source of the problem was found. We had to completely remove the fittings, work top and all the plates, cups, saucers etc from the prep room behind the kitchen while Matt knocked hole after hole up the wall. Eventually, I heard the cry I've found it', coming from the kitchen. Guess what...............? The split in the pipe was not caused by us! According to the plumber it was a 20 year old soil pipe that had been cracked for years. He'd even found a crack that someone had tried to 'bodge up' in the past.  So we were in the clear! NO, WE WEREN'T! The management company have said that when we took on the lease, we took on any problems that came with it. How on earth were we supposed to know that there was a split pipe behind a wall?????????????????????? Our only move at this stage is to pay the plumber and attempt to get the money back by contesting the decision. Problem, we're in Spain...Say no more.........

So all that mess, noise, uncertainty, stress and strain cost us the princely sum of 325€. The chances of getting it back are incredibly slim, but I wont lie down........

 On to tonight and week 3 of 'All you can eat' Thursday & Saturday. We had 12 in tonight, 6 of whom had come on Saturday night and enjoyed it so much that they wanted to come back and have  a last meal before returning to the UK. That was nice to know. They and the other 6 seemed to really enjoy their food and we got some more excellent comments. Most heartening was the fact that 4 of them were locals! I didnt really eat tonight, just picked at some excess chicken and had 2 or 3 chips coated in home made BBQ sauce and when I got home I hade a fat free yoghurt and a handful of nuts!! I managed to swim for about 20 mins, but came inside when I realised it had gone midnight!

So that was my day! Lets hope tomorrow is a better one. Can it get any worse.......

Sleep well and I will speak to you all again tomorrow ;0)

Day 53 - Wednesday and a scortchingly beautiful day!

Well 'Bob and his mob' (the road workers) have started to block pave the road outside the cafe, so lotsa noise today and probably lots more noise tomorrow! Just to compound our dismay, the company in charge of the upkeep of the block of flats we are part of, have told us today that if we do not sort out a problem with a leaky pipe, (behind a wall in our upstairs kitchen, and its been there since before we took over the lease), they will 'denounce us'. That would mean that the Town Hall would close us down until we sorted the problem. We had been disputing it as they have admitted that the problem was not caused by us, but we still have to sort the problem. It is apparently our responsibility! In their eyes we should have checked these things out before we took over the lease. HOW CAN YOU CHECK  A LEAKY PIPE THAT YOU CANT SEE AS IT IS BEHIND A WALL? If there were signs of a leak anywhere in the restaurant, we would have checked it out........ Welcome to Spain. Another story for the book.........

Anyway, enough of work today, I'm fed up of thinking about it!

Got home and had a little swim and play with Harrison this evening before knocking up a quick pasta dish made with sundried tomatoes, basil, sunflower seeds, Parmesan and a little olive oil. Tasted pretty good, filled a hole, so did its job! Here it is.....


Its just hit midnight and I am seriously contemplating going for a swim. My immediate problem is that I am in the middle of an online poker tournament and doing quite well, so I cant get up!

I'm gonna go now so I can concentrate a little harder, but I'll keep you up to date with what happened tomorrow.....

Sleep well and thanks for reading. Remember to leave a comment if you wish, as it would be nice to know your thoughts.............

Ciao for now!

Day 52 - Things back to normal at work!

Well, as quick as they all turned up out of the blue, they left! Maybe it was just more like a 'normal' day or maybe they'll all be back tomorrow! Time will tell

So, as you can gather from above, work was pretty slow, apart from the usual lunchtime rush. I didnt eat much either except for a boiled egg with a little piece of grannary baguette for 'brunch'.

At home later in the day, I used up some week old asparagus and made a soup. From start to finish it took less than 10 minutes and that included chopping the onion. Oh yes, the onion....... I made my first 'cookery' video today......'How to dice an onion'!! I know its a bit basic, but it earned Delia millions and I had to start somewhere! I'm not too sure how to post the video on here, but if you want to watch it, just go to my Food page on Facebook and have a look! https://www.facebook.com/groups/185455448234743/  You'll have to excuse my son whinging in the background at not wanting to do his homework


Moving on to my book! Its in its VERY early developmental stage, but I've got 5 definate recipes so far. I'm still not sure if the book is going to be primarily recipe orientated with a little bit of my journey thrown in, or whether I will go down a slightly different route, but I'll get there one day! Its very difficult to work out why someone would buy a recipe book written by me, over one written by Gordon ramsey, Jamie Oliver or similar. I need a different angle. Something that hasnt been done before. Something that makes you want to buy my book, whether it be in ebook form or traditional.  I have never been a writer, nor professed to be any good at it and if there are any writers out there reading this, I'm sure you could tear my grammar to pieces, but I firmly believe the important thing that this book needs to be is interesting. Unlike a best selling thriller, I don't feel that imperfect grammar will be important in determining whether or not people will buy my book. In fact, to the contrary, I feel that its possible that people may possibly even 'warm' to the fact that I am not the greatest wordsmith and that I am just writing what comes naturally. I can but hope!!

Feel free to leave me your thoughts, I really will digest all your suggestions. It would also be nice to get a few more 'comments' at the end of this blog. I know from the stats how many people read the blog, but I have no idea what your thoughts are, or what you think of it...................................I'm good with criticism by the way so dont be shy!

I'm off to piece together a little more of my book, so I will bid you farewell and speak to you all again tomorrow

Nite !

Day 51 - Busy morning at Hospital (nothing serious) and busy day at work....

It's day 51, Monday, and another week begins..........

Had to pop to hospital this morning for Harrisons routine eye check and all ok. We dont have to go back for a year though. Alas, the same can not be said for our friend Sharon, who we took to the dental hospital at the same time to have 2 teeth removed that have been causing her a lot of pain. After being referred there by her dentist and waiting 6 weeks for this appointment, she was told to make an appointment to come back and see them after she'd had an xray. The earliest appointment was October!! Madness, she's already taking pain killers every day. Time to go private Sharon............................

Arrived at work just before lunch to find that Kathy and her daughter Brittany had done an excellent job of holding the fort for us in our absence. Had a very busy morning and it continued right through the day until we closed in the afternoon. Not sure why there has been a massive upturn in customers, but we will enjoy it while it lasts...

One of those days where I hadn't eaten much, so  made myself a little snack of asparagus, Parmesan, balsamic syrup and olive oil. Yummy! (Might put this one in the book....)


Gonna try and have an early night tonight as I havent slept much for the last few days, so I'm off to watch 'Eastenders' and 'Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares'!

Sleep well all and I will speak to you again tomorrow

Days 49 & 50- Sorry, no blog yesterday, but completely shattered!

May 19th 2012, what a day! It started off quite well with a trip to the 'Beauty Box' to have my official weekly weigh in. I managed to lose another 3 lbs last week for a total weight loss in 7 weeks of 1 stone 11 lbs 9 (or 11.33 kilos). Very happy with that, especially as I have done very little excercise this week due to a niggling sore throat and head cold.

Work was pretty productive too. I managed to work downstairs in the cafe until just after lunch and then fled upstairs to prep for Saturday nights 'All you can eat' menu and for Sunday lunch. Managed to get all that done by about 4pm and then headed home for a couple of hours rest before heading back to work for the evening service.

Another decent nights work. We had 16 customers last night, which for a Saturday night when the Champions League final was on, was a pretty good turn out. As I have said before, we are always busy on Friday nights and Sunday lunches, but Thursdays and Saturdays are not so great, so for us to have had a good Thursday, Friday AND Saturday is very promising.

Talking of the Champions League...........! Some of you may be aware by now that I have been a loyal supporter of Chelsea FC now for about 35 years. I have seen them at the bottom of the old second division, I have been to Wrexham on a snowy winters night and seen us get beat 6-0. I have felt all the heartache that football has to offer. I have watched us get relegated and promoted. I went to my first FA Cup final in 1997 and watched us lift the trophy. I remember going to Stamford Bridge on the night of our very first game in the Champions League. I remember the numbness I felt when John Terry slipped as he was taking what would have been the 'winning penalty' in the final 3 years ago............... That numbness has finally left now and all the 'pain' I have felt over those years is gone. The most amazing feeling I have felt as a Chelsea fan! Amazing, incredible, emotional. My vocabulary is not refined enough to use any more, or any better words to describe the feeling as Didier Drogbas penalty hit the corner of the net. This picture will sum it up better than I ever could...............


I managed not to listen to any info on the game until I arrived home at approximately 11.45pm and so settled down to watch the game blissfully unaware of the drama that was to unfold. What a few hours! I managed to get to bed at about 2.45 am and was far too excited to sleep straight away. God knows what time I eventually dozed off! All I know is that when the alarm went off at 7.45 am this morning, I'd felt better! So off to work I went for the Sunday Lunch service.........

A usual busy Sunday service with 37 covers. Some new faces along with some die hards again this week, which was encouraging and they all seemed to like the roasted tomato and pepper risotto. I did!

 Lunch went well, (although it seemed like more than 37), and finally I managed to clean up and get home for about 5pm. Absolutely knackered! Sat and watched some recorded TV and wrote this. I'm off to bed now as its yet another early start tomorrow. Got to take Harrison to 'Denia Hospital', just for an eye check, nothing serious, so need some sleep........

Nite nite all, speak to you all tomorrow!

Day 48 - The night before the 7th weigh in....

Its coming up to 1am as I type this and as usual, I am very apprehensive about my 7th weigh in in about 9 hours time. I've been a 'good boy' all week as usual and have swum regularly, but there's still that doubt that I will not have lost any weight. More worryingly, its possible that I may have even gained weight! Stay tuned and all will be revealed tomorrow early am on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/185455448234743/ or on this blog later on tonight.

Not much to say about today really. I didnt eat much, just grazed now and again during work and that was about it. I have just had a little swim and I am intending to get in the pool again in the morning just before the weigh in, but it depends if I can get out of bed in time! I have felt pretty rough over the last couple of days with a bit of a head cold, so motivating myself to swim first thing in the morning has been difficult. We will see what happens later this morning.

On to work...... a pretty busy day both upstairs and down today, so the positivity continues. We have bookings for tomorrow night and our usual Sunday lunch barrage,...... things are looking up, or are they? Its 'All you can eat night' again tomorrow night so I am going to have to do stupid amounts of prep during the day, not only for Saturday night, but also for Sunday lunch..... You may not see much activity on line from me tomorrow........

I'll fill you all in tomorrow. Its now 1.10 am and I'm off to bed

Sleep well and watch this space for the results of the weigh in!

Nite nite all xx

Day 47 - We had 30 in!

Thursday, day 47, only 3 more days until the big 50! I think I've done okay weight loss wise this week, but until I step on those 'Beauty Box' scales on Saturday, I wont know for sure.

I forgot my skimmed milk this morning, so no muesli again! I know that traditionally in Switzerland they eat it with orange juice etc, but not for me! At least not yet........ So breakfast was the usual piece of toast with some form of egg on it. This morning I chose to slice up a cold boiled one! As I've said before, I know how to live! Still, 200 calories is not a bad start to the day..............

We then had a visit from 'Sanidad', Spains answer to environmental health, and no matter how clean you think your place is, you always have that feeling of 'Oh shit, whats she gonna find?' ! To my deepest joy, she found nothing untoward, apart from slapping my wrist and telling me not to put till receipts on top of the beer pump! If thats all they can find, I'm a happy man.

As is now becomming usual, lunch did not happen, well at least not if you dont class tasting the food I was preparing for tonights salad bar!

 I managed a little frolic in the pool this afternoon with Harrison, but no real swimming was done. I may have made up for this by playing football with him for about 20 mins though. I must also confess to having not swum this morning!

So, on to tonight. I was very excited by the fact  that we already had 16 bookings and that was added to by a further 6 bookings before the start of play! By the end of play we had done 30 covers! To many, this may not seem alot, but for us on a Thursday its unheard of. Not sure whether its complete fluke, or word is finally getting around, but only time will tell. Here are some piccies of the contents of the salad bar.......

Potato salad with chives and bacon.....


Some coleslaw...


Cous cous with aubergine, courgette, red pepper, apricot, coriander, mint and lemon


Got some really good comments tonight and 2 customers actually asked if I'd come out of the kitchen so they could shake my hand! Oooooooooooh, hark at me! Sometimes on nights like tonight, you actually feel a sense of achievement. It doesnt happen often so I make sure I remember when it does!

Back home at about 11.30pm, watched the recording of Eastenders, had a 'bifidus activia' yoghurt, finished typing this at about 1.20 am and I'm off to bed now! I will be aiming to rise early this morning for a swim, so I really do have to go.

See ya! Speak to you all again tomorrow.....

Day 46 - Having a 'light day today....'

Its Wednesday, Day 46 and today I'm having a 'light' day. Had a couple of days last week where I was having fat days, but feel better today. Not sure if its the swimming, or just less food, but something seems to be kicking in. I'll probably have put on weight at Saturdays weigh in now I've said that! I got up early this morning for my swim, so that is now becoming part of my daily routine...

Another fairly quiet day at work, (yes, you guessed it, Bob the builder and his gang are still at it), but good news on the horizon....... We have 16 booked for tomorrow nights 'all you can eat' menu, so that's heartening..... There were also another 6 people who came in today and sounded very interested in coming, so I'm pretty excited about that. We've always been busy on Friday nights and Sundays, but never seem to have cracked Thursday and Saturday. Is this a turning point, or just a fluke.......? Time will tell...... I will keep you all updated with tomorrows news tomorrow!

Moving swiftly on to breakfast.... I'm getting a bit bored of toast, eggs, mushroom etc, so this morning I had a mushroom omelete with toast!! Lmao! I added a little home cooked ham and a little onion and it was rather tasty and very filling too. If I remember to take my skimmed milk in to work tomorrow, I'll be having some muesli! Here's a piccy of breakfast.....


I managed to have my second swim of the day this afternon, so pleased that in total I've probably swum for an hour today. That in mind, I knew that a slightly higher calorie dinner than normal would not be disastrous, especially as it was only 700 anyway.

I had bought some mushroom infused pasta the other week and thought it was about time I tried it. What a disappointment! It just tasted like any old ordinary pasta! I therefore needed to 'pimp it up' a little, so I added some olive oil, a few shavings of Parmesan, basil leaves and salt & pepper. I've had worse.......


Pudding! There's a word you've NEVER heard me use before........... I have never really been one for puddings, but I have found a new 'friend'. Its a fat free 'Bifidus activo' yoghurt. Don't know too much about the whole bifidus thang, but I know its good for you! It tastes great and only 56 calories. The flavour I have chosen is 'cereals and fibres'.....Yummy, and 4 will only cost you 1 €


Thats my lot for now, except to say that I am currently exploring the various avenues I can head down to get my recipe book published asap. Watch this space! Remeber I will also be letting you know how 'All you can eat night went'....

Ciao for now!

Day 45 - I've finally got my waist down to less than the day!

Tuesday, day 45 and my waist is no longer bigger than the amount of days I've been on the journey!

I managed to get my fat bottom out of bed early this morning so I could have a swim before work. I suppose I managed about 20 minutes before being told it was nearly time to leave! Think I need to get up even earlier tomorrow morning...........

Back to work today after my day off, but alas the JCB and the dump truck were still doing their thing outside. Not good for business................

I decided that as we were not busy early on, I would make some breakfast. I decided on scrambled egg on wholemeal toast (no butter) mixed with some chopped mushrooms, a few baked beans and a grilled tomato. I made this last week and cooked the mushrooms with the egg, and although it tasted great, it looked awful as the eggs turned grey! I learnt my lesson though, and here is todays result



At approximately 400 calories, its a very filling and pretty well balanced start to the day.......

The day progressed, the workmen dug and shovelled and the punters came and went and before I knew it, it was time to collect the little man from school.

He was treated on the way home to a  take away 'Burger King' childs meal. I enviously sat and watched him eat it! Normally it would not be one of the things I missed that much, but seeing the cheese oozing out of his burger definately struck a weak nerve. I stayed strong, only pinched one chip and headed off to make my dinner!

I had some asparagus and tuna left over from the other day, so set about preparing a salad to which I added some little gem lettuce, radish, boiled eggs and some cherry tomatoes. I have to confess to drizzling a tiny bit of caesar dressing over it, just to give it a little something. I had a couple of crisp bready things to go with it too!



Thats about all my news for the day. As I type this, I am sitting by the computer nibbling on a few mixed nuts, a glass of wine and a quick game of on line poker. I was quite successful last night, lets hope I am tonight! Better not go to bed too late as I have to be up early in the morning for my now compulsory swim. The pool is about 25 degrees at that time in the morning, so not too cold.

Sleep well all, I will be back tomorrow for the next installment.................

Laters

Day 44 and a day off work!

Had day off work today, yipee! Guess what I did? Absolutely nothing!

After returning from the school run, I sat my fat carcass on the sofa and watched some daytime TV! 'The Jeremy Kyle Show', now there's an experience! Are these people for real? It must be staged , surely. People like this really dont exist, do they? I sound such a judgemental snob, but I just find it hard to accept!

During one of the adverts, I decided to make some scrambled egg and mushrooms on toast for brekkie. On my return to the living room, I witnesses a 62 year old man with no teeth crying his eyes out because the 18 year old mother of 'his' child had just told him it wasnt his and the DNA test proved that to be the case. This is amazing in itself, but we were then informed that she had dumped the child with him and left for 6 months while she decided she didnt want it! CRAZY!

Back to reality. Dinner was a simple affair of Caesar salad (without croutons or Parmesan) and a 'Bifidus Activo' yoghurt. I'm not exactly sure what the health benefits are, but they're low in fat and calories and I know they do you good, so thats my new pud option.


I have written this early tonight as I intend to get a reasonably early night, (the norm is about 2am and its catching up with me), as I am going to start swimming every morning before work. Sleep well all and I will return tomorrow

Nite Nite...

Day 42 &43 - The 6th weigh in and work etc

First of all I must apologise for not blogging last night, no excuses, I was just knackered!

My day began with a trip to the 'Beauty Box' for my official weigh in. I had a feeling all week that I hadnt lost weight, I can kind of tell. I was right, the scales hadn't moved and I remain 18 stone 12 pounds! I am not disheartened though, I will simply step up the regime and try and swim a little more, drink more water etc. I have still lost 1 stone 8 pounds in 6 weeks , so that is still an achievement. I have also lost more size around my waist (a total of 14 cm) so that encourages me too. Roll on next weigh in! I still find it strange that certain people dont understand that you cant lose weight every week, no matter how well your doing. They think your 'cheating' because you stayed the same weight. My mum said to me ' but you did have 2 slices of pizza the other day'. Yeah, I did, but I also ate less than 1500 calories that day and swam for an hour!!!!!

Had a half day off work yesterday, (if you can call going to the cash and carry and doing the shopping for work a half day off), and then arrived at work in confident mood about tonight's 'All you can eat' menu.

After producing a rather sexy looking salad bar filled with home made coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad and the usual lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber etc, we opened the doors and waited for the public to arrive in their droves. And waited, and waited, and waited.

Finally at about 8.30pm our first (and only) customers arrived! A very nice couple who had just arrived in Calpe for a couple of months and had been recommended by one of our 'regulars'. They chose to have the 'All you can eat menu' and I was filled with joy! They chose to share some ribs and steak (see below) and left very pleased, promising to visit us again soon. I was also very chuffed as the steak was ordered medium rare, which in my opinion, is how it should be served. I don't understand why people pay good money for a steak and have it well done. Why? Just order a burger instead...................... I think that too many people are put off having it cooked a little less because they think its going to be 'bloody'. NONSENSE! If a steak is rested properly, there will be NO BLOOD! It tastes better and is more moist when cooked medium rare, so why cremate all the flavour and moisture out of it! I am still amazed by the amount of people I discuss this with who still wont try it! They dont know what they're missing.......



After prepping the lamb for Sunday's roast.....

....we cleared up and headed home. I must sadly confess to watching 'Britains got Talent' and 'The Voice' until about 2 am, so there is the reason for my lack of blog last night!

Moving swiftly on to today..............

An early start in the restaurant as we had to get ready for Sunday lunch so no time for a swim this morning, but I am aiming to do it every morning before work from now on.

So, 28 people (could have been more, but we cant complain) sat down and feasted upon our wares. They were treated to some great food, including minestrone soup, brie and caramelised onion tart with balsamic reduction, Topside of beef, Honey glazed ham, Loin of pork and slow roasted lamb. For pudding there was Apple Pie, Lemon Cheesecake & Creme Catalan. I have put a little piccy of the ham & lamb for you to see......., oh and the crackling!



I have a story to tell about the apple pie.......... When asked if they would like fresh cream or ice cream with their apple pie, a customer said 'as I have an intolerance to dairy products, I'd like some cheddar cheese with it'. !!!!! Just when you think you'd heard it all in the restaurant game, another pearl pops up! On a positive note, they got their cheese and booked a table for 10 for next Sunday!

A day off tomorrow, so need to do some food shopping to stock up for 'the journey' and have a looooong swim. I'm off to watch Chelsea on Match of the Day for the last time this season, so I bid you all a good nights sleep and we shall speak again tomorrow!

Bon soir!

Day 41 - Friday (aka Fish & Chip day)!

A slightly better day in the cafe bar today.... The road works continued to drive many away, but our regulars did us proud!  I was also able to play my own music today as Laura was upstairs, so Ed Sheeran and Jamie Cullum both had a good airing! Not too busy in the restaurant this lunchtime, but already have 28 booked for tonight (all between 7 & 8), so should be mad for an hour or so!

Breakfast was incredibly simple, incredibly tasty and pretty low on those nasty calories. However, I have not posted a picture because it looked a bit insipid! As nice as scrambled eggs mixed with mushrooms are, I now realise its far better to cook them seperately and then add them together at the end. DO NOT ADD THEM ANY EARLIER or you will end up with curdled cement! I repeat though, it was really tasty. I'll make it again one day next week and take a photo!

Just had my afternoon swim and returning back to work now so I will have to leave this again for a few hours and finish it later..............

Wow, what an hour at work. 30 booked in for Fish & Chips and all between 7 and 8pm! Managed to serve them all pretty efficiently and lots of happy faces left the restaurant, so all in all, a good night. I wonder how many will turn up tomorrow for the 'All you can eat' menu..... Watch this space!

Its midnight and I've just returned from work and munched on 2 small wholemeal toasts with low fat cheese and Branston Pickle on 1 and cheese and ham on the other. Exciting stuff huh! Didnt really want to eat this late before the weigh in tomorrow morning, but what the heck!

I have a day off tomorrow, (only a day, I still have to work tomorrow night), so a trip to Benidorm is on the cards to visit Macro and the pet shop! Yipee, what an exciting life I lead.

I will furnish you all tomorrow with details of my day and the weigh in!

Bon soir!

Day 40 - Soon the day will have caught up with my waist!

Hello all. I'm back! I have started writing this at 6pm and will be going to work in a mo, so will finish it later. Not that any of you would have known if I hadnt told you, so I dont know why I did really!

Arrived at work after the school run with ideas in my head about breakfast. Not that I eat, breathe, sleep and think food or anything, but I need to do it for you! Thats my excuse anyway! So here's brekkie.....

Might not look particularly amazing, but tasted good and only 400 calories! I used a little of the frittata I cooked yesterday and had it with some baked beans (Heinz of course), the part of a rasher of bacon with no fat on it and some dry fried mushrooms on a slice of wholemeal toast. Filling, tasty and low in calories. Perhaps I can be a 'God amongst men' now as well as women!!

Soon after breakfast I left the downstairs cafe to head upstairs to the restaurant and prepare food for tonight. I didnt have chance to eat lunch at work as I had so much to do in so little time, but I managed to grab a quick low fat cheese and lettuce tortilla wrap. 200 calories. I'm going to work now, so will continue soon.....!

I'm back! Not as soon as I would have liked, but I'm back none the less. Its now 11.45pm and I've just returned from work.

Work was an interesting excercise tonight. Things have been very quiet recently, (apart from Friday nights and Sunday afternoons when the whole ex pat population of Calpe descend upon us for fish and chips and Sunday roast), so we decided to change the menu. I really didnt want to go down the 'All you can eat and salad bar' road, but we had to try something...


As well as this rather luxurious salad bar, we served rib eye steak, char grilled chicken and ribs with home made Bar-B-Q sauce. Ooops, nearly forgot the minestrone soup!........


...8 people managed to show. Don't think they intended to come for the above reason, but at least we had some customers. Already 26 booked for fish and chips tomorrow night, but thats pretty expected anyway............... I wonder what Saturday will bring......... I think we've tried everything to get people in, so this is the last idea.... Apart from doing fish & chips everyday or a Sunday roast everyday, nothing else seems to work. We are still doing a set menu, so I can still be a little 'creative', but this type of cooking is not what I want, its not my passion, but its what we have to do to pay the bills.....

I'm still very disheartened at the work situation, but hey, there are people far worse off than me. It stands to reason that my dinner tonight was a little 'flat'. Here it is.................................................

Couldnt be arsed to make anything so just ate what was left of the soup!

Right, I've snapped out of the doom and gloom and Sunday is approaching, so I will have a good think about 'pimping up' the Sunday roast Jimbo style tomorrow and let you know my thoughts.

Sleep well blog readers and I'll speak to you all again tomorrow.....

Day 39 - Potential food writing jobs in the pipline, and the journey moves on....

So, its Wednesday, day 39 of the journey, the sun is shining and its the night before we try something a little different at work....

Gosh, day 39, it doesnt seem anything like that..... I must be enjoying it! I've just read this back and realise that I've just used the word 'gosh'! Do people who aren't educated at Eton actually use those words?!!

Went to work in a positive frame of mind today even though they are digging up the road right outside our door and scaring off all our customers! We are doing something a little different on our Thursday and Saturday menu so I am a little apprehensive about it and constantly thinking about the best way to oragnise it etc. I did manage to stop thinking about it for long enough to think about what to have for breakfast though! As I am such a tight git when it comes to throwing away food, I decided to do something with yesterdays left over chargrilled veg, so I set about making a frittata. See below....


You will see that there is a piece missing........, thats because I ate it for breakfast! After nibbling the corner, I decided that's what I wanted. Thought about incorporating it with a full English (for 1 hundredth of a second), but decided just to adorn a peice of baguette with it!.......


Gonna have a good think and see how I can use the rest of it for brekkie tomorrow!

For lunch I just munched on a few peanuts and half a glass of wine. Don't listen to all those diet 'experts' out there,..... this is dieting baby!

Finished work and headed off to the supermarket to stock up for work and home and then collected Harrison from school. Knew I had to get in the pool today as I hadnt been in for a couple of days and I've been feeling a little 'fat' for the last couple of days. (Actually, I've been feeling fat for about 25 years!)

Got home, stripped off, (calm down ladies!), donned my Chelsea swimming shorts and put in a decent shift. It was disturbed a couple of times by Harrison shouting 'watch me Daddy' approximately 138 times, but in the end I probably managed about a 45 min swim.

My thoughts whilst swimming were about eating as early as possible so a) I didnt eat too late and b) I was working on the theory that my metabolism should start burning off my din dins a little quicker than normal.....

As stated earlier, I had been feeling a little fat recently, so thought it prudent to have something fairly light. I decided upon a tuna salad.......................

 Simply made with just tuna, green beans, basil, tomatoes, some of the guinea pigs little gem lettuce! and balsamic vinegar. I do have to confess to having 2 SMALL slices of wholemeal toast with it.. I know I'm probably eating too much bread, but for now while the weight keeps falling off, I'm just gonna carry on doing what I do. When the time comes for the next push, I know what I have to do.......

On a slightly different note, I have been applying for some freelance food writing jobs and had some very good feed back about the work I have submitted so far, so watch this space! Would love to do it as a full time job................

Gotta go now peeps as I have menus to type for tomorrow, so I shall bid you all a very good night and will speak to you tomorow, hopefully with positive news about the new menu!

Nite nite

Day 38

Well, day 38 has come and gone, but not much has happened. Work was a little boring today and I found it hard to inspire myself to create anything interesting. The closest I got to interesting was putting some grated tomato, mayo, crispy bacon and avocado on a bit of toasted baguette and serving it as tapas. It unmoved me so much that I even forgot to take a picture for you all to see!

In fact, I was so bored this morning that I actually made myself some breakfast! I didnt really know what to have until I opened the fridge and saw these babies.......

Really ripe and smelt amazing so I grated them and mixed them with a little low fat sugar, salt, pepper and olive oil and spread on some toasted baguette. I had some asparagus that needed using up, so grilled them and dropped a poached egg on top. When I say dropped, I mean dropped!, as you can see below!

So breakfast was approximately 400 calories. As is becomming the norm now, lunch didnt really happen again, so I'll move straight on to dinner.

I was in the mood for a mozzarella and tomato salad, (as I still had those yummy tomatoes left over from breakfast), but wanted to give it a little twist while still keeping it calorie friendly. I used low fat mazzarella cheese, chargrilled a slice of aubergine and sort of made an 's' shape with the aubergine and wrapped the tomato and mozzarella in it. I then made a little basil oil and pretentiously drizzled it around the plate! Thats a terrible description I know, so here's a photo!

It looked a little pathetic on the plate, so I quickly grabbed a slice of bread, toasted it and topped with the remaining cheese and tomato......


I then ate it!


Told you my day was boring! Thats all for now, I will speak to you all again tomorrow.........

Day 37 - The start of a new week

Felt a bit disappointed this morning after my weak moment with the pizza last night and wasnt in the mood for breakfast. I wasnt denying or punishing myself , I just wasnt in the mood to eat........ So here's a piccy of my breakfast....





Lol!


On to lunch... Well actually it didnt happen, unless you count the bowl of olives we received at the sea front bar this afternnon with my small beer! Sorry to the 'you must eat sensibly on a diet brigade', but I wasnt hungery, so I didnt eat.......

Dinner was a Thai broth, with chicken and prawns left over from the restaurant. I wouldnt call it authentic as I used french beans etc, but by jove it tasted good! (I've always wanted to use the phrase 'by jove' and now I can die peacefully! Calorie wise the whole soup would have been about 1200 and there well over half of it left...........


This is why I think this is working. Its not a diet, I'm not following any rules, (apart from my own habit changes) and I'm eating when I'm hungry. So far, so good.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I'm hoping to hit 2000 views ..............

See ya!

Day 36- Another full service for Sunday lunch (and no picking!)

Kept the Sunday lunch pretty traditional today, the only thing I 'pimped up' was the stuffing! Rather than filling the pork loin with apricot, sage & rosemary, I decided just to make a stuffing incorporating those ingredients. It seemed to go down very well and I got some good feedback. Also saw a few new faces, so that was good to see. I also managed not to dive in and pick at all the offerings!

Breakfast was just 2 scrambled egg on 1 dry toast and an OJ. 380 calories. No picture, sorry was prepping Sunday lunch and didnt have time!

Lunch was nothing short of pathetic ( 2 crisp bread things with home made hummusy stuff made with sundried tomato), 150 calories. I was pleased with the hummus as I wasnt too sure if the sundried tomato addition would work, but it gave it a nice.......... something! Sorry, again no picture as phone battery had died by this point and I was too hungry to wait.

I know it is not advisable to swim after eating, but it was hardly a meal, so I 'launched' myself into the pool and had a bit of a swim for half an hour (occasionally interrupted by Harrison shouting 'get the ball daddy!)

Dinner was a strange affair! I had gone to get Laura and Harrison a Pizza (I had abstained like a good boy) and when I got home I decided to create something with the 4 left over sausages I had not used the oher night. That was until I opened the fridge door and found they werent there! I asked if anyone knew of their whereabouts and was horrified to find out that they had been 'binned'! Gutted! Harrison was unable to finish his pizza, so I had his 2 remaining slices for my din dins. Naughty, but better than ordering my own one! A little extra swim tomorrow should knock off a few calories methinks.

Will try and add some pictures tomorrow to make things a little more interesting and possibly spend some time thinking of some interesting low calorie things to eat.

sleep well all and I will return tomorrow...................

Dat 34 & 35- I forgot to blog last night!!!!! We've had this weeks weigh in!

I don't remember much about yesterday to be honest! I know that I had 2 swims because I knew that the weigh in was imminent, but apart from that and a very busy dinner service, not much happened really. Not that I can remember anyway! Now I know why I blog everday! I know I was a good boy in the food department as I was very concious of the weigh in, but I honestly don't remember what I ate!................. (five minutes have just passed). I have just checked yesterdays Facebook page and I have been enlightened as to yesterdays breakfast. Bacon and egg muffin Jimbo style at just 220 calories! Excuse the poncey splodges of ketchup, I only did them to make it look a little more cheffy!


I genuinely dont remember what I had for dinner! Oh well, on to today...................................................

Big day for me today. It was weigh in number 5 and Chelsea were playing in the final of the FA Cup. I have to say, I was very pleased with the outcome of both results!

I weighed in today at 18 stone 12 pounds, that is a loss of four pounds this week, making a total weight loss in 5 weeks of 1 stone 8 pounds. Chelsea won the FA Cup as well, so all in all it was a good day results wise for me.

For breakfast I just toasted a little stale baguette and dipped it in a dry fried egg, nothing exciting, but it served its purpose. 200 calories. Lunch was a couple of crispbread thingys with low fat, no taste cheese, and a little branston pickle. 200 calories...

I managed to make myself, (my sous chef Gemma was on strike tonight), a quick dinner at work using up some food that needed to be eaten. It consisted of spaghetti, prawns, tomatoes, rocket leaves and chicken stock. wasn't bad either.......... Approx 700 calories. Approx total calories today...1100


Didnt manage to swim today, but will be back in the pool tomorrow after I get home from Sunday lunch. Will speak to you all then as its 2am and I'm up at 8........

Sleep well x

Day 33 continued! Ooops forgot the tapas pictures!!!!!!

Roasted courgette, spring onion, red pepper and Serrano Ham......




Prawns, garlic & rocket in a little olive oil and lemon juice........

Good night!

Day 33- Experimented with tapas today as work was slow.....

Day 33 and I thought I'd start the day more hungry than I was after the exertions of my midnight swim! I'm usually famished after a swim, but this morning I felt no hungrier than normal. (Is hungrier a word?) I think more hungry sounds better.................. So I had a coffee when I got to work and waited until about 11 am to have brekkie. Another uninspiring affair of a dry fried egg and a bit of seeded, wholemeal baguette. 250 calories. I was intending to have muesli, but forgot the milk! This also stopped me from having the smoothie I was thinking about as well!

Guess what,...... lunch didnt happen again. Wasn't hungry, so didnt eat. Simples!

On to dinner..... Spaghetti Marinara cooked for me by Gemma, my friend and new kitchen helper twice a week!


If we could have shifted the couple sitting in front of the window where my fresh herbs were, Gemma would have used some fresh oregano, but we didnt have the cojones to ask them to move!!
Calorie wise approx 400 for the pasta and 100 for the sauce and scraps of Parmesan! Goodness, I forgot the 1/2 breast of chicken I chucked in so stick another 100 cals on!

Well under 1000 calories today and I swam for 20 mins earlier as well.......... So far, so good

Until next time, take care & sleep well. I will try and be a little more interesting tomorrow!

Day 32- Started with a splash!

Day 32 and I was determined to get my fat arse in the pool this morning. My theory was that if I was changing my eating habits so that they became the norm, it was time I changed my lazy habits so that the new regime became the norm as well. So last night I set my alarm for 7.45 am and guess what........................................................................................................................................................ I actually got up!

So there I am at 8am this morning, freezing my knackers off on the side of the pool wondering what the heck I am doing! The outside temperature was about 18 degrees and the pool was a tropical 20! I tentatively slid in and then with an almighty gasp, I lowered my vast frame into the water. Once in I decided the best option was just to swim like a lunatic in the hope of warmimg up a little. Boy oh boy did I burn some calories in 20 mins! I will be trying to up it to about 30 mins tomorrow morning (providing that is it doesnt take me 10 mins to pluck up the courage to actually get in!) That reminds me,.....must set my alarm!

I must say that it certainly woke me up and I felt refreshed as I drove to work. I think 'refreshed' is just another word for 'frozen'.

On to breakfast, which in fact was lunch as it was eaten at about 12.30. A simple affair of dry fried egg, tomato, mushrooms and a little seeded, wholemeal baguette..........


It seemed to do the trick as I wasnt really hungry again until after the rest of the household had PIZZA for their dinner!
I had some leftovers from last nights meal and some chicken sausages, but I didnt just want to cook sausages. So I came up with the idea of taking the sausage meat out of its skin and adding some curry powder, cumin and cayenne pepper, a little salt and pepper and lemon juice. I then fried it until crispy (or burned if you look closely at the photos!) and added it to a tortilla wrap topped with home made coriander hummus, some tomato, cucumber and onion and a tiny bit of feta. I have to say that it has been the tastiest meal I have eaten yet on the juorney! Pretty darn scrumptious if I do say so myself. here are some photos of before and after!
   

   

Calorie wise, each wrap was 120 and I had 3, so 360 there. 200 calories of chicken and the rest was less than 100, so all in all approximately 650. Added to breakfast, approx 400, today's total calorie intake was approximately 1050. Easy peasy! Bring on tomorrow

Nite peeps. I hope you all sleep well. Until tomorrow........

Day 31- The first Day of May

What an absolutely beautiful day! The sun shone for the whole day and I didnt have to go to work!

I made myself some boiled eggs for breakfast....


and then spent a couple of hours at the beach!

Decided whilst at the beach that I would do a BBQ for dinner. I got some chicken and veggies on the way home, (oh and burgers for the people in my household NOT DIETING) and lit the barbie as soon as we got back as we hadnt had lunch.

Whilst waiting for the flames to settle, I marinaded the chicken in some lemon juice and oregano and prepped the veg....

When the flames had settled and the embers were grey, (sounds like the start of a childrens night time story!), I whacked the chicken and veg on the grill. While they were cooking I rustled up a Greek salad consisting of tomato, cucumber, mint, oregano, lemon juice, Feta cheese, onion and spinach. I wouldnt usually use spinach, but I had it, so used it. Although not a classic ingredient it worked ok. I am a big believer in the fact the recipes are a guideline and NOT SET IN STONE. Put in what YOU want and what YOU like to eat, not things that perhaps you're not oo keen on just because the recipe calls for it. Here are the finished dishes.....

Sorry about the pictures being all over the place, but I'm struggling to upload them the proper way because my internet signal is not great............. So that was din dins!

Ooooooh, I just wanted to upload 1 more piccy for you all, it was the starter I made on Sunday for lunch at the restaurant and forgot to puit it on then.... Here it is......

Sometimes as 'chefs' we look for ideas from other chefs / sources, but this is entirely my own creation and I'm very proud of it!

I'm off to bed soon as I aim to get up early and go for a swim! Who knows, I might actually do it!

Nite peeps, old and new, sleep well and sweet dreams....