Thursday 8 February 2007

Booze and Cake

Last night's wine tasting was Bordeaux under £20. Frenchy cabs, April! A couple of unexpected stunners; I particularly liked two - one with 30% malbec in the blend (pretty unusual) and one with 2% carmenere. For the most part though, they were too thin and bitter for my taste, and although I am assured that in 10 years or so, some would be delicious, I like my wine to be good right now thank you very much.

You might have noticed I have little patience. :-)

Also didn't manage to do so badly with food - one small piece of bread, some aubergine dip, one small pumpkin pasty, and 6 black olives at the tasting; slice of rye toast and some cottage cheese and some red grapes when we got home. I couldn't be bothered to cook, and my nutrition was already acceptable-to-good.

This just has to be the cold weather.... today I have a yen for something carby and cakey; heavy on seeds and nuts and sultanas and good things. Raisin-Rye bread from Borough Market, mmmm. (I won't be indulging it).

So I decided to look up the megamuffin recipe. I googled it, and the first hit (from calorierestriction.org) was spot on. Now, why did I think it was so difficult? Why do I remember postings about endive and mango and green slime and chaos in the kitchen? I think with a bit of online ordering I should be able to manage them. And then, when I find I am having a low calorie day and can't face the idea of piles more broccoli, I can grab one from the freezer and problem sorted. If they taste good, that is. I wonder what adding cocoa would do to the recipe... I will wait until payday, because some of the ingredient, esp the flaxmeal (which I presume translates to ground flax?), are quite pricey online.

But I love the idea on Aaron's blog of making some kind of mega-cereal from the dry ingredients. That's definitely something to play around with on CoM. I had oatmeal this morning: it was cold, I needed hot food, and I forgot to bring blueberries with me. I ate my brazil and almonds with it, but it would be nice to know there are more "nutritionals" there. And plus, if I made a Sara cereal, I could package it up and bring it to London and that would be London breakfasts sorted. If I could fit it into my calorie day, of course.

I am also toying with the idea of getting another electronic scale to keep at P's. He could do with one...

I clearly have too little work to do. I want to go home and cook and experiment now!

I have also hit upon a working lunch for a London day that is reasonably easy to get hold of and - from a quick look at CoM - nutritious,if oddball. One 240g package raw broccoli, one 250g package of organic mushrooms, 170g salsa, approx 100g yoghurt. Bless M&S. Not sure I will be able to move for the rest of the afternoon now though... and I still have 5 mushrooms lined up on my desk staring at me. :-)

10 comments:

Deborah said...

Sounds like a good plan. I love reading your posts in the a.m. cause you are already through your day and posting about it. You did well at that wine tasting truly. It's the palette cleansing between wines that always gets me.

Cheers!
D

Anonymous said...

M&S is indeed a lifesaver and in so many train stations now, although since I go to the one by work all the time am finding that you get tired of it quick enough! (and v annoyed when they're out of certain things)

Sara said...

They are building a new Whole Foods just a few minuts walk away that opens in the summer. I wonder how empty M&S will be then!

Deborah said...

Oh you will LOVE Whole Foods..actually you obviously know it if you're from Colorado. I'm in an area that doesn't have one right now and it's one of the things I look forward to when I move this summer. There will be four Whole foods stores (one of them is brand new and AMAZING) within a 10-12 mile radius of my house! YAH!!

Sara said...

I'm not from Colorado, I lived there for a while a way back. But we already have mini versions in London and Bristol called Fresh and Wild, for those days when nothing but an overpriced tofu salad and a hemp smoothie will do. :-)

HkGrace said...

The megamuffin recipe you found is just one of several floating out there. The one with guava was posted on April's blog a while back. Check with her before you order flaxseeds, though-- they're somehow bad for you. So I doubt they'd be called for in an MR-approved recipe.
On the topic of megamuffin recipes, does anyone have the savory recipe that April eats?

Sara said...

If you google megamuffin recipe, the version April eats comes up second or third hit.

I remember something about flax seeds being toxic in quantity but maybe that's something to do with the husk?

I was going to order something called Forti-Flax.

Anonymous said...

Sadly I think M&S is about as good as it will get for some time in Newcastle... haven't been to a Whole Foods since New Mexico circa 1998, is it the same chain coming to the UK?

Deborah said...

Sorry, I saw you mention it a while back..good place live for a while too..can't wait to go back myself.
D

Emi at Project Swatch said...

Flaxmeal is ground flax, and I've found it pretty cheaply in health food stores in England, and slightly-more-expensive (but not bad) in Tesco, actually.

And congrats on the engagement!