Day 156

In Charlotte’s absence I have been hoovering up all her snacks.

Figuratively I mean, in that I have been scoffing leftover Pringles (which I don’t even really like), gummy bears, Freddo chocolates and strawberry laces all week. With supplies dwindling, I raided the cupboards for something sweet and discovered an open bag of mini marshmallows. Hmmnn…

I microwaved them to a sticky, gooey, fluffy consistency and they were so delicious, I made myself another bowl (they’re only mini after all) and with a few left in the bag, I decided to make chocolate cornflake cakes stuffed with pink and white goodness.  Because, Heaven forbid I store them in an airtight container for another time.

Needless to say, I have fallen off the healthy eating wagon.

Oooh we have Wagon Wheels somewhere….

*****

In an effort to get me back on the straight and narrow (ha! Not with these hips) I convinced Darren to come foraging with me at the weekend.  We scoured the hedgerows for nutrient-rich foods and I absolutely revelled in the fact that it was all totally natural and free!  We picked blackberries, sloes, elderberries and even discovered a plum tree, pear tree and a variety of apples.  Darren was able to name about three of the types of apple tree, but to be honest, he could have made them all up, as I only know what they sell at Tesco: Jazz, Gala, Granny Smith and Pink Lady.

I spent Sunday night falling asleep to positive affirmations about becoming slim and rich.  Although I did not wake up on Monday morning clutching the winning Euromillions ticket and looking four sizes smaller, at least the sun was shining.  I was in a pretty good mood and pranced around the kitchen preparing a breakfast of granola and yogurt with fresh blackberries. The fuel was well needed, as time flew by in a whirlwind of emails and projects, and soon it was lunchtime. Hurrah!

But what to have for lunch?
I have this theory that if you keep trying something you will end up liking it.  I have had both positive and negative results, as illustrated below:

Tomatoes – yes

Spinach – yes

Olives – no (but not bad on pizza)

Gin – yes

Kale – nope, it tastes like garden mud

Coriander – heck no, it’s the food of the devil

(I don’t know where this leaves my theory, but let’s just say I won’t be winning any science awards).

Where is this story going, you ask? Well, a few years ago I made myself like smoked salmon – it’s tasty with cream cheese, or on a pile of buttery scrambled eggs and sourdough – and so I created a feast for my lunch:  toast, scrambled duck eggs with seasalt and black pepper and a few slices of smoked salmon.

However, it turns out that as well as learning to enjoy foods, I can also revert to disliking them.  I took a big bite and as the slimy, salty fish touched my tongue, I had to physically stop myself from spitting it straight out.

Oh salmon, with your multitude of health benefits, why must you taste like the Little Mermaids bath water. That’s £3 down the drain (pardon the pun)

Plan B was a salt and vinegar crisp and grated mozzarella sarnie, which I stuffed down in a matter of minutes. I rounded this off with an old school treat: an orange Club. Perfick.

The afternoon flew by and I felt very positive and productive by the time 4.30pm rolled around. Whilst waiting for Darren to finish work, I decided to try my first attempt at making flavoured gin from my foraged goodies.

The kitchen was a blood bath.

There was berry juice everywhere, staining my nails, clothes and leaving a sticky (tasty) residue across all the kitchen surfaces. Darren arrived home and caught me burgundy-lipped, and I couldn’t deny that I’d had a ration of 5 in the gin and 1 in my gob!  It was a messy job but I so enjoyed picking everything from the wild and then using it! I cannot wait to try my experiments in a few months: blackberry and lavender, Winter sloe and a nice festive elderberry gin.

Enjoying the fruits of my labour, if you will.

I felt like I needed some exercise, particularly after scoffing a pre-dinner share bag of Giant Buttons (leaving some in a pot for Darren, under the premise that I had only bought a small, individual bag) so we took our bikes out and hit the trailway.

We obviously rode to the pub.

It was such a nice evening, the sun was low and warm and there was a new gin flavour to try (Mediterranean orange – bloody lush!). We chatted for ages, putting the world to rights and talking about our upcoming Cornwall trip, then cycled home hand in hand.  We stopped at a bench to watch the sunset beyond the hills and it turned out to be quite a romantic little date.

Up until the moment I swallowed a fly and hacked it up mid-conversation (not to mention the strands of dried mozzarella that dropped out of my bra as I got ready for bed…)