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Monday 3 May 2010

Green fingers!

I don’t really have many readers, but for the sake of recording it, I haven’t been blogging for the following reasons:

I’ve been lacking in inspiration for post ideas

I’ve been spending (deliberately) less time in the evenings glued to computer and TV. And I’ve been going to bed early to get up early to run so my evenings are shorter anyway.


Roasted lemon cauliflower, mashed turnip and quinoa (sprinkled with some toasted seeds)

Pea "barlotto" (pea shoots and pot barley)

Roasted vegetables (courgette, aubergine, red onion and peppers) with quinoa and tahini lemon sauce and nooch

Not only has my writing not been very inspired, neither has my cooking, I’ve just been doing some routine dishes, or just cooking up a grain or lentils and cooking whatever vegetables I have to hand. Breakfasts have usually been bran cereal or oats and fruit, the occasional oat/fruit shake. Lunch is usually salad or hummus or leftover dinner and I bring fruit, nuts, fruit-sweetened oatcakes or toast in to snack on. Not so good habits have been not enough water and too much coffee, and too much snacking on biscuits and chocolate after dinner. All these combined have contributed to a few skin breakouts, although I’ve been doing a major tidy out in work so my hands are always dusty. I’ve been much hungrier recently, because:

Exercise-wise, I’ve been doing a fair bit, I’ve been running most days (~3 miles) and walking everyday (at least 3.5 miles) as well as a bit of resistance stuff.


Veg patch at my parent's house


Big rhubarb patch at my parent's


Polytunnel at the allotment (pre-weeding)

Moi


HB getting stuck in

Gardening is also starting to take up a significant amount of my time as the days gets longer. I’ve been working both at my allotment and my parent’s garden. I’ve still some seeds to sow for the summer crops, and then I can sow things like greens and salad leaves every couple of weeks. HB, as you can see, is getting into it, although this took some getting used to (he was shocked to see worms- "omg a worm!"). Do you get your SO involved in your hobbies?

I’m going on holiday soon too, so there’ll be another quiet slot for my blog; I’m going to the Aveyron/Lot region in France, staying in Toulouse on either side of a couple of day’s walking. We are moving through a few villages with one two night stopover in Conques, so we are carrying all our gear in a backpack. I’m planning this weekend to do a mock pack to see what I can manage to squeeze in! It will be nice to live with minimal things for a couple of days, but holidays should be enjoyable too, so I need to find a good balance. Luckily I’ve done this kind of thing before and for longer so I have a fair idea of what I can do without and what I didn’t take last time but would have been useful/nice. Another part of the prep will be a nice long hike this weekend in my favourite mountains, the Mournes, just 20 off miles south of Belfast. While we won’t be carrying as much weight as we will be in France, the Mournes have some fairly tough sections so the walking alone will be a good enough prep. We still have some stuff to get for going away, which we’ll get on Saturday as it’s supposed to be raining, and then it’s off to the mountains on Sunday.

By the way, I discovered oat milk makes good lattes (very foamy and perfectly neutral unlike other non dairy milks):

Mountain and running update coming soon!

4 comments:

  1. What's up VeganDukes??? Good to see you're back! Man you have been running around like CRAZY!!! I am so happy to hear that you are busy and happy and enjoying the workouts. I don't think your meals are uninspired at all. An uninspired meal would be anything out of the freezer at your local supermarket! :)

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  2. Hey (not so) Farty! I'm doing great, this running lark is great fun. It makes me hungry, and I'm definitely feeling the benefits of eating plenty of (wholesome) carbs, you can feel the performance difference. I'm so busy right now though, getting tidied up at work for week and a half off, walking holiday in the south of France! Can't wait:)

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  3. Oat milk?! Never heard of or tried it... but now I want to! I'm enjoying your blog, btw ;-)

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  4. I'm not sure where you live, but Oatly oat milk is fairly easy to find in the UK, they also make a great oat cream. Not sure what US options are, but I think it can be made at home pretty easily:)

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