Simply Primal - Annie Tries Again

Wow what wonderful things to listen to and see. I’m always so amazed what some can do with any instrument, but it always seems like the piano can be made so much bigger than it is.

You’re doing great for being away.

The boy who won the tap contest has his own you tube channel, here he is dancing (not same routine I saw this weekend, but has some nice NZ scenery in background) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMVzGqkcPss .  

Monday

B: A banana.

L: A massive two scoop ice-cream in a cone - salted caramel/double chocolate.  That was the biggest and most delicious icecream I have had since I can remember.  While we ate it a rather good busker was playing guitar and singing Beatles and Abba hits.

S: Cashews and almonds, drink of peach tea. Mandarin.

D: Vegetable quiche with cheese and bacon topping.  

Also, now that I am home, ate some parsley and some celery fresh from the garden as I was watering it.  



No Monday tramp this week, but explored the riverside with my dh and dd.  I clambered over a dilapidated hundred-year-old structure for a bit, but that was tame compared to my usual efforts. We strolled mostly, then wandered round art galleries, so that was a fair bit of time on my feet but no real exercise to speak of, then three hours sitting in the car.


That's two weeks of recording my eating.  Clearly, something needs to improve as I have regained my weight and lost my primal groove.  The best thing I could probably do is get back to the gym.  That's not likely to happen just now so I will have to find alternatives.

I hear you on the something needs to improve part....

Thanks for sharing the dancing.  What fun that man is having.  

Nice to see you too!

Annie what a talented young man. Excellent and seeing some of NZ was cool too.

Nice seeing a pic of you as well.

You’ll get there with the eating. Now that you’re home and can have better control, I’m sure it will improve.

BTW that ice cream sounded so delish.

I added 15 push ups last night, they made me puff but I was a little surprised I can still do them.

Started today with a wander round my garden putting water on everything as it's been dry for a week and I was away for half of it. Glad I was up early as the clear skies have clouded over already, rain is forecast for Thursday.

Pre-breakfast was a fresh tangelo, they are becoming a bit sweeter now. Limes and grapefruit still falling and need dealing with.

I am mulling how to better use my chickens to weed my neglected areas - they have decimated their yard, but that's the only place my boundaries are properly secure.

My son's chickens stay in their pen all the time.  A friend had a moving coop at one point.  The good thing is that you can use the dirt in their pen as fertilizer but need to let it cool down first.  About that, I do not know for sure.  

The fresh fruit sounds awesome.

Way to go on the push ups Annie.

I'm having a lot of trouble here in Oz because canola oil is in EVERYTHING. No one here seems to have got the message that it is highly inflammatory and also that it makes my stomach hurt

I know, it's awful.  People still buy it in 2litre bottles!!!!!!!!  To add to the few ingredients that are not already contaminated.

Also, it even tastes bad.

I know, right! It's supposed to be tasteless...it tastes rancid.

Well yesterday started primally enough with 10 push ups, vege omelette and a fresh tangelo.  

The rest was hit or miss.  Very sweet homebaked slice for morning tea, no lunch to speak of (owing to not feeling hungry after said slice), an apple and a piece of cheese or other nibbles here and there to get me through to dinner.

This was cooked by my dh, mostly mince but also beans and nacho chips, cheese and sour cream and anything else he may have added.  Pretty ok overall.  

At supper I was offered two chocolate biscuits, and accepted them.

So, there we go, honesty if not primal-ness.

Annie you’re doing fine. Slow and steady wins the race. You’ll get back soon enough.

I too seem to be a bit hit or miss. Still, awareness is the key to getting fully back on track and you've got that.

Egg and veges for breakfast, slow cooker lamb and veges for dinner, and finished the day with a vigorous tap dancing class and then 10 pushups. Pity I deviated from plan in the middle, unfortunately with a salted caramel liquorice bar which sounded delicious but really wasn't.

Some rain came, and I took the opportunity to refill my outdoor tub for watering the garden later.

Annie you’ll get there. I’ve been struggling too.

Nice that you could collect some water for your garden.

My meat has arrived!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, we are set for months on end. The freezer is full of porterhouse, rump steak, beef roasts, rolled roasts, casserole and stewing steak, schnitzel and mince.

I also received two enormous bags of the trimmings, to render fat from.

The first batch went in the slow cooker last night and this morning I poured off two jars of clear yellow fat. It is already beginning to set and turn white/cream.

I did not even cut up the fat in advance, there are some lumps and bits of meat left over, the chickens will think it's Christmas!.

The next batch is already in the cooker, this time I trimmed off the meaty bits and cut the fat into chunks. We will see if this makes much difference to the result, not that I am unhappy with what I have.

Now I have some meaty/fatty chunks of beef for our first meal which I will be turning into a casserole. The flavour is really very strong and full, I will be adding lots and lots of veges to soak up both the fat and the flavour.

I can now see how we can be recommended to eat less meat. When it tastes this amazing you really don't need much of it.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Wow that sounds wonderful Annie. Did you get a whole cow?

I got half of this fellow here:

Wow, that did give you lots of good meat. He a big one.

We just bought half a cow as well! In fact, we pick it up on Saturday. But your picture made me laugh. I have always told hubby all it would take for me to be a vegetarian is to force me to have to go out to pasture, look at the cows and pick one. Yep, I would never eat meat again! I get it - it's a total cop-out - but it's true.

Enjoy alllll that beef! What's the first dish you're going to make?

Ontario, I choose to consider that he had an idyllic life with all the fresh air and green grass his humungous Angus heart could desire, right till the very end when he was humanely dispatched without ever knowing what was coming.  So we are eating supremely contented meat.  However, I am still glad that I didn't have to look at him out the window every day, as my sister has

Last night I did and beef and beer casserole, with the trimmings remaining from the fat that I have been rendering.  It had swede, mushroom, garlic, onion, brussells sprouts and a carrot  in it as well.  It didn't quite thicken properly, which was a pity.

Tonight, it will be a version of Mongolian beef - garlic and onion again, with broccoli and a yellow capsicum with a sweet and sour soy and ginger and brown sugar (or perhaps pineapple juice) sauce and perhaps a few sesame seeds.

Do you have lots of plans for yours?????  I will need plenty of ideas.

Husband and daughter declared the Mongolian beef delicious.  They would, it was sweet, haha.  True it was better than the previous meal, but I am feeling a little bit over beef already, the house smells of it.  I have about six jars of rendered fat sitting in the fridge and have frozen the rest to deal with when that runs out - could be a year.

Daughter is finishing the beer casserole for brekky so that leaves the last small portion of Mongolian for my lunch

Mince tonight.  I have tomato puree, and pastry, so it will likely become a pie.

Today's task is to build a chicken fence so I can put the girls to work weeding under the grapefruit tree, without scratching up my corn and rocket.

Sounds like some delish meals there Annie.

I don’t think I ever tire of beef. I can eat more of it than Chicken.