I’m back on diet. I exceeded 57kg, my waistline does not exist, bread, cheese, pasta, wine, cakes, sweet stuff- I welcome it all, no limits. Having just turned 45 I think it’s far too early to let myself go and stop caring, so I went back to Choda’s team. Last time I managed to shed about 3,5 kg, but to be honest I treated the diet quite loosely. This time I accept the fact I must eat less. I opted for a “mediterranean diet” for 2 months, started last Monday and this morning realized it works. After 5 days I’m only 0,5 lighter, but it’s early days. Again, I don’t follow the script religiously, more like a guidance. Diet or not, I need my food to look attractive and taste well, otherwise it won’t work.

So this evening I made myself a plate of food which turned out to be the best meal I have eaten all week. Truth be told, I doubled the amount of prawns (50 g of prawns?……!!), but weighed my orzo, chucked in as much spinach as I fancied and made it delicious. What helped, was a delicious, proper tomato sauce bubbling away in a separate pan for Florek and Izzie, I borrowed 3 tbps of it and mixed it through my orzo and spinach, which was already wilted on olive oil with some garlic and seasoned with salt. Prawns were lightly marinated in garlic, chili, salt and olive oil, I grilled them quickly and ended up with a lovely, light supper, full of flavour, good for me and roughly according to the diet. And I’ll be keeping this recipe.

One of the lunch options I loved and had twice this week was a crunchy salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives,sweetcorn, torn mozzarella and freshly toasted croutons made with brown bread with a little olive oil and garlic. It was supposed to be dressed with vinaigrette, but I just drizzled some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, a sprinkle of sea salt and I enjoyed it a lot. A keeper, too.

I can do it, I think. I have a better idea this time how things work, I’m more determined and if I do manage to shed 5kg by mid March, I will be treating myself to a pair of Levi’s jeans again. 🙂

This type of dish is my favourite option when it comes to lunch. I love rice in general and tossing it on the wok with some chicken and crunchy veggies, soy sauce and drizzled with sesame oil is a lovely way of treating it. This plate was inspired by Marion’s method, but none of it was a major discovery for me, just a confirmation of heading in the very right direction. 🙂

So I had some leftover cooked rice from the other day. I had some cooked chicken, which needed to be eaten. I mixed some soy sauce, shaoxing vinegar and some sugar in a bowl. Whisked an egg. Chopped my veggies ready to go; some garlic, quite chunky, a small onion. Sugar snap peas, delicious in any stir fry. A carrot, just for some colour.

First fried the garlic until fragrant and crispy, onion in, carrots and peas. The chicken. Moved it all to one side of the wok, added the egg, once cooked broke it into pieces. Rice in, the sauces. Finished with some salt, sesame oil, white pepper and spring onions. Very satisfying and very moreish.

And to finish off, my remaining birthday cake, rather pretty in a round tin. 🙂

From Marion’s. I saw this on youtube the other day and actually (I know, I am sick!) dreamed of them last night. There was no other way to it, a bag of Iceland prawns was defrosted this morning and the recipe was made around lunch time. Once the isolation period is over, I will have to top up my prawn stock in the freezer, as well as some spices.

So, the prawns were deveined, all I had to do was to lose the shells and butterfly them. Then a simple marinade was made; about a tsp each of mild, sweet paprika and turmeric, a good squeeze of lemon juice, fresh grated ginger and garlic, salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil to make it all into a paste. The prawns all got a nice coating of it, I got my seasoned flour, egg and crushed cornflakes ready; the cornflakes idea is genius. They need a good crush to resemble breadcrumbs and once deep fried they not only taste great, they stay lovely and crunchy, unlike tempura. Once out of the oil a quick sprinkling of salt and job was done.

Marion’s dipping sauce was different from mine, as I had no tamarind and stuff, so I mixed some sweet chili sauce with a drizzle of soy, sesame oil and yuzu juice. Unbelievable, I know, but Florek had 2….! 🙂

Took me a while to sit down and mention a few highlights from last Christmas. It was months in planning, not knowing if my family will be able to overcome all covid restrictions and hurdles. They did manage and so all my efforts were not in vain, the freezer packed full of goodies ended up well enjoyed. We had traditional Polish carp at Christmas eve, the next day we had ox cheeks and turkey. My main cake was a lovely New York cheesecake with a topping made of fresh cranberries, the recipe from Bake Off book. An excellent cheesecake, apart from the base made with digestive biscuits, which refused to come off the bottom. Maybe a sponge next time.

I have to add, it tasted much better than it looked!

We also had a delicious pate that my mum makes a couple of times a year. Mum and her lovely man Gienek did all the work, I just brought the meat home from the butchers. The whole thing was made out of some pork shoulder, half a chicken, some pork belly and some liver. It took hours to make, then bake, but the result, on a crusty cracker, topped with fresh horseradish is hard to beat. I will be making it myself one day, but for now I still have one of these beauties frozen. 🙂

As usual, we have been eating too much, but I simply had to treat mum to some wonderful Cotswold lamb, we all loved it. Took her out to Cote for some mussels too.

And all this finished with most of us now having caught covid and having to self isolate. Happy New Year!