Gone.

Maybe I’ll revive this blog one day when I have more to write about. For now, I’m concentrating on a few smaller writing projects. You can read my fashion&style blog here:

http://streats.tumblr.com

Food for Thought: Two Weeks, Too Weak

So I’m 2 weeks into my detox (or 3 weeks if you count the week I did before Easter weekend where I slipped) and despite my good intentions, I’ve decided to throw the towel in. Not because I can’t go on until the end of the month, but because I think my body is actually rejecting the changes. Towards the end of last week I was feeling thirsty all the time, drinking more than 2 litres of water a day; this sounds like a good thing, but I couldn’t usually do that if I tried, and I’m pretty sure this was due to low levels of potassium from not eating any bananas, oranges or tomatoes. This weekend I felt pretty weak and actually got pretty sick, which started to ring alarm bells that this challenge has had its 15 minutes (or 15 days) of fame and should take a bow.

Food for thought: Prunes are actually quite nice

Usually in the mornings, I’d be woken up by the relaxing classical tunes of Lyric FM at 7am, and I’d doze away until 8 before actually getting my lazy ass out of bed. This morning I got up straight away at 7 and got right on with my detox plan. Cold shower (only the last minute, mind, I’m not punishing myself that much!), hot water with lemon and moisturising/self-massage. Despite the snow outside (it’s nearly April, what’s up with that?!), I felt great already and headed out to work.

I don’t think I’ll have any problems with that part of the detox; pampering my skin and relaxing is so easy and wonderful, I’m wondering why I never did this before! But the food part is already proving to be more difficult than I’d anticipated. Along with no dairy, meat, or bread, there are a few other foods that are not recommended during detox. For example, bananas, peanuts and avocados contain too much starch and fat, tomatoes, spinach and oranges are too acidic (satsumas and clementines are fine; grapefruit, lemons and limes are actually alkaline producing fruits – apparently – so they’re fine too), mushrooms contain too much fungus (you’re kidding me…) and lentils contain too much gas. By deciding to also eliminate these items from my diet (if you’re going to do something, you may as well do it properly), I’ve become a picky eater. I’ve never been a picky eater. I hate picky eaters and now I’m one of them! It’s horrible, not to mention difficult; why do people bother being so fussy, everything takes twice as long! But, no pain no gain; the show must go on (I call it a show, but I sincerely hope that people aren’t getting entertainment from watching me do this)…

Breakfast today was not too different to what I usually have. Fruit salad, minus the bagel, plus some hazelnuts, and lots of water. Great start to the day! For lunch, I figured I’d just take the vegetarian option and lots of salads:

However, I’ve probably been a little naughty:
Sweet potato, goats cheese and caramelised red onion tart: Goats cheese is non-dairy (not cow’s milk) so that’s fine, but I’m not totally sure if ‘no bread’ also includes no pastry? Also, as tasty as sun-dried tomatoes are, they’re not allowed. Sadface.
Chickpea salad: Was actually chickpea & avocado salad. Oops.
Garlic potatoes: Contains a tiny bit of cream. Damnit.

It’s now 1.30pm and I have to resist the post-lunch vending machine temptation. I could have some fruit, but apparently fruit should only be eaten on an empty stomach, as letting it settle on a full stomach can cause it to go acidic, and we don’t want that. So, no dessert for me. Maybe some strawberry tea will satisfy my sweet tooth.

Despite my whining, I still think this is going to be great and that I’ll feel so much better once my body’s cleansed and more relaxed and more full of energy. I know I sound like a sadistic nutjob, but hopefully I’ll learn some things from this experience and might even pick up some habits that will continue after this is all over. Here’s hoping!

Food for Thought: Detox J-2

I’ve never been on a diet in my life. Like everyone, I try to maintain a balanced diet, and like everyone, I go through phases of promising myself I’ll eat more fruit and snack less often and do more exercise. I have never been too successful in keeping any of those promises, and so now I’ve decided to do something about it.

Photographic Memories

This weekend, while going through the last box of stuff to be unpacked after having moved into my new apartment, I came across a vast collection of yellow Kodak pouches. The photos inside spanned the past decade of my life and included many precious and unique moments captured on film; holidays with friends, family reunions, school parties and a whole range of other events which shaped my teens and led up to my early adult life.

Iz, Kerry, Me and Sara in London for my 14th birthday

New Year, New Start

So, it’s been six months since I last updated this blog, which I had originally intended to chronicle my every adventure and escapade in real time. However, they say that no news is good news, and in this case it’s true; I’ve been so busy settling in to my new life here in Ireland and having a great time, that I neglected my little blog.

But now I’m back (from outer space!) with the obligatory “here’s what I’ve been up to” entry.

1. Cooking up a storm: Having both a fully-equipped kitchen (and a boyfriend more than happy to be fed tasty treats) gave me the opportunity to get back into cooking and baking. Long gone are the days of quick fix macaroni cheese and ketchup; cooking for two is such a pleasure for me and forces me to try new recipes as well as show off my go-to dishes.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies make everything okay (recipe here). August ’09.

New Kids on the Block

So this weekend we officially moved into our new apartment in Tullamore. I hadn’t actually stepped foot in the place until Friday, and I’m pleased to say that Pete has done an amazing job in finding us a home. It’s an awesome flat; really spacious, modern, everything we need. I have a proper kitchen with an oven and a dishwasher and everything, so I’ll definitely be looking to get back into cooking and baking, a hobby of mine which was somewhat stunted by lack of any real facilities in my Paris apartment.

We don’t have internet in our place yet, so blog posts will be short and sans photo until we get that sorted out, which should be soon. But technology wise, our place is going to be so great. This weekend we watched Star Wars and then Darjeeling Limited projected onto our living room wall using a projector Pete has borrowed. I should think we’ll definitely be investing in one of those, as it takes up hardly any room to store, and we can just pull it out whenever we want to watch DVDs cinema-style! Pete’s also hooked up his huge studio speakers, so even the thumps coming from our friendly but techno-loving Polish neighbours downstairs will be thwarted by the sound of lightsabers!

More updates to come soon, watch this space!

Grafton Street buskers

During my last visit to Dublin back in May, I saw a wide variety of buskers on Grafton Street, the pedestrianised shopping street in the city centre. I’ll probably be adding to this post as and when I see more interesting performers.

Toucan play at that game

I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but what is it with the Irish and toucans? Ireland’s biggest brand, Guinness, has a toucan as its mascot, and the capital’s National Museum has one plastered all over its gates:

Perhaps it’s a longing for the type of tropical climate that toucans usually inhabit, perhaps it’s something to do with the colourful and eye-catching beaks, I don’t know, but it’s certainly something I’ll look out for more of.

Dublin doors

As mentioned in my post yesterday, one of the things I’ve noticed in Dublin is the doors. Today after work I went for a wander around Fitzwilliam Place with my Nikon: