lighterlife, chocolate brownies, lgbt and rambling...

Not that kind of rambling though, I hate the great outdoors.  It's cold and wet and sometimes muddy. 

 My weight loss goal is not going very well, due to a sloppy attitude and, well, the fact that I've eaten too many carbs to make my body happy (and my butt smaller) these last few weeks.

 Hmmph, I suck, I really do, I'm alright at dieting, I'm alright at sticking to it, but when I fall off the wagon I really lose it.  I feel like I've had enough of lighterlife, the total abstinence thing, I actually want to eat real food.  I'm thinner than I've ever been before and stand to lose around a stone through plastic surgery (eep! waiting for my appointment with the surgeon) so, yeah, I'm pretty happy.  Mostly I want to work on my fitness/shape.

 So... my new eating plan goes a bit like this
Breakfast ~ Porridge, the sort from the little premeasured packs
Lunch ~ protein bar (lighterlife)
Supper ~ weight watchers type ready meal
Bedtime ~ lighterlife hot chocolate
Snack ~ one pot natural, no sugar yoghurt

 We shall see, I'm freaked out about getting on the scales on Monday, but I had better just do it.

What else have I been up to? eh, not much... I went swimming, which is a huge deal for me! not been swimming for years, first because I was too fat (and feared a harpoon between my shoulder blades) and then because I was too self concious.  The local lgbt center has a swimming session at a nice (cold, icy cold) pool in Edinburgh so I went along.  Pool was icy (did I mention that?) but steam room was fabulous! I love it, when I become a millionaire I'd like one in my house!

I've been baking, a coffee cake for my aunties birthday... I love coffee cake and hardly ever get to make one!  The very nice girl from the cake shop made the bow for me, I'm not much with the fancy ribbon work! lol, shame girls in cake shops aren't all that nice, really, you'd think that cake and nice girls went together like,  well, I dunno, cake and nice girls! what's not to like?

Then a no reason whatsoever sort of cake, that I am employing poetic licence for and calling a silk road station cake.   Cherry/almond loaf cakes are commonly called station cakes, well this is a pistachio and cherry loaf with a rosewater glaze... it smelled every bit as good as it tasted, kind of a dense, moist pound cake type of thing...

I had the annual marmalade making session, during which I am horribly sticky and the house smells of a Spanish orange grove.  Two batches this year, a lighter orange and vanilla flecked version and  a darker, treacly type.

And finally! an entirely innapropriate tray of brownies, uh, it's for my B2/M2 project? I made them in my chicago metalware biscotti pan, and would say it's now my pan of choice for brownies/blondies, it's the right size for a 20cm square recipe (standard brownie size!) but makes sure everybody gets the chewy edge/gooey middle combo.  These were oreo brownies, from the bbc book Baking made Easy, it's a nice book, made two things from it now and they were both nice, the brownies are very tasty indeed.  Made them again today, no oreos though so I threw in some chocolate chips instead.