Category: Blog

Most months have a theme that is well defined. Over a year, or a few years this approach will make it possible to discover which themes work the best for slow, sustainable weight loss and to practice some maintenance of the sightly smaller body shape.

There are a few reasons to rotate the meats, vegetables and sauces this month. Variety for our taste buds will be very welcome after such a lot of disciplined eating. The variety also allows some learning of how to maintain the current body shape eating all sorts of meals.

This is the month for some dining out, eating exactly what sort of cuisine is desired. It is the time to zero the stash of meals at restaurants in return for walks done.

The first law of dining out does apply. Eat exactly how much you want to of what you want to. This is a thoroughly earned escape from home cooking and needs to be experienced without any thought given to the composition of the food on the plate. It is unlikely that the restaurant will have decreased the portion size since last year so what we do is choose places that provide a take home container.

Thank goodness there is no need to endure any brisk, sweat inducing exercise to lose weight.

Phrases like a stroll or an amble bring to mind the slower pace of some gentle walking. That is all that is required for an outing. It is an activity, like any other, to be enjoyed.

We have a tendency to repeat what we enjoy. If we repeat the gentle walking activity enough it may become a routine. The sort of routine which regularly removes us from incorrect eating opportunities both at home and whilst out, so long as we choose streets that lack food fragrances, or have just had a meal.

In Mangober I like to find streets that have gardens with jasmine growing in them. A charming, delicate floral perfume to experience.

Any day of the year is good for a soup lunch. I like to add onions and some hand fulls of dry pasta to commercial preparation packet soups and boil them for 25 minutes. If I want a lazy day and detect that lunch might linger on and turn into lunch part two, I just place a few extra hand fulls of dry pasta in to the brew.

Spring is the time to exercise my nose, far from my kitchen, far from any fast food shop or bakery. In particular I try to find the perfume of freshly mown grass. On some fine day this month I will pack my water, a generous amount of apples and a book and go on an outing to a garden park. Spending an afternoon under a gracious tree in the dappled sunlight sounds quite idyllic, I am sure it would be, just so long as the ants and their friends are spending their afternoon under a different tree. As well as reading some book I will inspect some likely plants which will enhance my sense of smell. I could tickle my nostrils with lavenders, a new rose or an early scented geranium.

Mangober’s task is to look for three different items of interest for the warm weather wardrobe. They may be brand new, or be bought economically from an opportunity shop. An element of daring is actively encouraged to influence the choice, so that the tops are more tighter fitting than would be the usually favoured flowing styles. Do not stop to hesitate, gleefully flow those three oldest, largest ones into the rag bag, just as soon as ever it is possible to do so.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to invest in some green serviettes, large serviceable ones that are well able to mop up all the mango juice that is also going to flow. Some will flow down the tunnel as hoped, much will flow elsewhere. Down the nose, over the lips, down the chin and hence onto the serviette. If fresh ones are not available, try some frozen mango on the pancake.

The evening meals feature variety. Each evening we have a different lean meat with different vegetables.

This is the month when we like to have some accounting mathematics. A sufficient amount of walks done over the previous year equals four Mangober Saturday nights chasing Indian cuisine, in particular some Tandoori chicken with salad followed by mango icecream.

It is very pleasing to report that the weight for the end of Septnana is 73.5 kg. That is a fluctuation of 0.5 kilograms for the entire month which is well inside the shape maintaining range.

The guessing of how much custard was required to balance the amount of walks was about right and the portion of meat has been successfully reduced. Each day a collendar page was made which kept my mind concentrating on the Septnana eating theme of beef steak, commercial brand Hollandaise sauce, oven fries potatoes, mushrooms, green beans and cauliflower. A magnificent amount of bananas were munched at all sorts of times of the day and night. For breakfast on cereal, for lunch, for evening meal with pancakes and custard, for supper with other fruits, and if wanted, for snacks as well.

The height of the catalogue stack has also been reduced, although I must admit only by a smallish amount. I do so love that word, “smallish”, don’t you? Its so good to complete the tasks set, even if it is only in a smallish way.

Celebrating the grand final of the sports season? A few less, or even one less alcoholic drink than last year would be tolerable. Hardly even noticeable.

I want to look at the food on my plate and before I commence eating, it needs to look the right amount. This month is all about having a slightly smaller amount of beef steak on the plate and yet it does look the right amount because it is only a small reduction in size compared to the previous Septnana. After the meal I feel quite alright. What our minds quite easily forget is what the right amount of meat looked like a few years ago, or even that it is twice or three times less than it used to be six years ago.

In the first Septnana’s eating theme it is enough to trim all the fat off the meat. Substitute a bit more meat to cook instead of the fat. Because it is fat in our bodies that we want to lose, eating less of that white fat off the meat will assist the goal. This is a difficult first step for anyone who loves the taste of the fat. Try trimming just some of the fat off to start with. The following year try trimming all the fat off the meat. Each year’s Septnana is all about working on the reduction of the beef steak portion in such a way that our brains will accept the change.

The amount of mushrooms, cauliflower and beans remains the same, very large portions.

The last taste of cheese was several kilograms ago. This month presents an opportunity to have some with mushrooms and fresh pasta. An enjoyable lunch idea is to have fresh egg fettuccine with commercial brand creamy mushroom sauce. Plenty of added mushrooms will give the sauce some substance, and some added real cream makes it a luxury bowl of lunch. I find a generous portion of fruits afterwards assists me to keep the portion size of the pasta to be smaller than this time last year. The strong desire to follow this lunch with a chocolate ripe or biscuit has been overcome.

The usual Septnana lunch of toast and peanut butter followed by bananas seems to be better sustaining value, and is much easier to prepare.

Tonight Wattle’s Port and Cream mushroom sauce is on the plate again. I believe this could be charitably called “Quality Control”. Clearly there is a need to ensure that it really does taste as good as think it will be, upon reheating.

Tonight Wattle’s Port and Cream mushroom sauce is on the plate. I think one of the reasons it is so delightful is that the tongue has an experience of silky, deliciousness. There is almost zero water in the sauce. The flavours all seem to go together wonderfully well to form a combined, different, happy taste. Even if people dislike mushrooms, they can be removed at serving time and the sauce is still an enjoyable cullinary adventure for them as well. The same applies to persons who do not like alcohol. All the alcohol is removed from the sauce in the first stage of its cooking. Only a hint of the port taste remains in the end product. The real difficulty is to only have a modest sized portion of it. The guideline is just as it is for other foods, have slightly less than this time last year.

I need to add a few words about cooking the mushrooms. It is quite important to remove most of the water from them before they join the other ingredients of the sauce. I like to cook them in a non-stick skillet frying pan, at about half the temperature dial, moving them around frequently because even “non-stick” has its limitations. When there is a bit of mushroom water in the pan I place the lid on and let them stew so more water leaves the mushrooms for about ten minutes. It might take less, they need careful watching. I remove the lid, stirring all the time so that the water evaporates out of the pan. That happens quickly. A nice brown forms on the mushrooms. Turn the pan off if you have to leave it for any reason at all.

It is possible to send ourselves a message into the future. Today my collendar page is informing me that I “Will love Cauliflower”. This time next year I will look back and see if my message has come true. I would be quite happy if it was even partially true but for now, today I think that “Love” sounds so much better than “Like”.

Hello this is Wattle, reporting to you from the Shining White Plate.

The venue looks fabulous, really its just amazing with all the shining stainless steel reflecting hundreds of knives, forks and spoons at tables covered in many different types of material cloths, all the shades of green you can ever imagine.

This year’s Septnana Spring Vegelogies are being co-hosted by Meet Beef and by Potato, who I must say is looking distinctly less than he was at last year’s Vegelogies.

Dressed in a beautiful light salmon pink sheen coating, a blushing Mushroom is now thanking its mentors, Cream and Port after receiving The Best Sauce Vegelogie. It came as a great surprise to everyone, including Mushroom itself, because this is the first year that a Funghi has won a Vegelogie.

Bean, looking very tall and slender in a shining, silky, sheath outfit has taken out the Best Green Vegelogie.

As expected, a very confident Cauliflower has accepted the Vegelogie for the category of Best Steamed. She looks stunning in a green cape with a white velvet dappled frock. During that advertising break she said that she would like to thank her Cullinary BFF (Best Friend Forever) for cooking her in such an attractive way, night after night for a whole month, giving her such maximum exposure and placing her strongly in the running to win the award.

Well viewers, that just about sums it all up for this year’s Septnana Spring Vegelogies.

This is Wattle signing off now, from the Shining White Plate.

You may have noticed our tendency to include “Commercial brand Hollandaise sauce” with our evening meals. Tonight is an exception. We are having home made gravy. The main reason for this is to have some available to use in the recipe for port and cream mushroom sauce.

This is how I make the gravy. Add three teaspoons of plain flour to about 3 centimeters of cold water in a cup and mix it really well. Meanwhile, add about one centimeter of cold water to the pan the beef steaks and mushrooms have been cooked in. The main reason for this addition is to cool the pan’s base down. Pour in the flour and water mix and stir it so it forms one mixture, incorporating all the meaty brown goodness from the bottom of the pan. Gradually stir in some of the vegetable water from the steamer and bring it to the boil. Keep stirring, as it boils for a small time it thickens.

It isn’t quite as flavoursome home made gravy as boiled vegetable water would give, but it is fine for our purpose, which is to set aside one cup. Allow it to cool and then freeze it. If the gravy making is not a success, there are still several meals to practise making it before it is needed for the port and cream mushroom sauce. If the gravy making turns out to be disastrous, fear not because “Commercial brand gravy” may be used in the recipe.

It is time to start using some green items in the kitchen and pack away the blue ones. I have several green tea towels, and a few coffee mugs but other than that the spring seasonal box is relatively empty. It will be an enjoyable task to look around some shops for a few more green items this month.

We may still anticipate some windy, cold and rainy days so the main task for Septnana is to reduce the amount of catalogues that have found their way to our place. As you can imagine it is really easy to bring them home and let them sit around, or in a box, thinking now I must cut out that really great image of grapes (or whatevers) for next year, and what actually happens is that not a thing happens. The stack just gets higher. So this month the stack gets lower again.

Pleasant days are great to do some gardening so I go outdoors and in particular look after the herb plants. An outing to the nursery to find a tarragon plant, or at least to find out when one may be found will also be on the activity list. Of course these days things like that can be found out “online”, but I like to admire all the plants they have growing there, in person.

One half a kilogram of weight has been lost in the month of Augrapes, which is just about in the land of maintenance. I am not going to complain about it too much. My current weight is 73 kilograms.

The eating theme for Septnana is just as it sounds. Bananas. The aim will be to eat plenty of them. Bananas go particularly well on pancakes with a generous serve of custard for dessert. Some days will see vanilla slice on the plate instead. For the evening meal we mostly have beef steak with commercial brand Bearnaise finishing sauce, oven fries potatoes, mushrooms, beans and the starring vegetable of the month is cauliflower.

Later in the month I will tell you about my recipe for port and cream mushroom sauce, which we love but do not have very often. Sadly, it doesn’t love us back.

The Wattle’s Weight Warrior for Septnana is tarragon. It is the wrong time of the year to get fresh tarragon. Instead, we use large amounts of dried tarragon which is almost as good, just about smothering the steaks with it. It also goes very well sprinkled on fresh tomatoes on toast for lunch.

I anticipate that the portion size of steak will be slightly less compared to last years, just as the portion size of pork was last month compared to one of the year before. Getting used to less protein on the plate is not trivial so the plate still gets heaped with large amounts of steamed beans and cauliflower.

Breakfast is usually an egg and shortcut piece of bacon on a round of toast, followed with an orange. This is the breakfast which suits me best. However, some days in Septnana a bowl of cereal with a banana might be tried.

I do not want my weight to keep reducing too much. It would be very nice to learn how to maintain this shape for six months or so. I will make sure that I eat a few extra custard tarts this month to stop the downward trend.

Today was special because I met the gardener of some of the flowers I take photos of. I was given permission to get closer to the daphodills to take their photograph. You will see in the archives section of the site a photo of some very special weight warriors, a present from the gardener to bring home.

I have taken some pictures of some more street art today. You will find them posted in the archives section of the site. At least one of them was located nearby the bakery and it was just before lunchtime. I did notice all the delightful aromas but thankfully they did not tempt me.

When I have any spare time I still like to continue cutting out images from catalogues. Most of them will never get used but that is not a problem.

The good thing about the activity is that it keeps my hands away from my mouth, or keeps them away from a spoon which might have ice cream on it and be headed straight towards my mouth. I am not even near the kitchen, let alone the fridge and I am certainly not outside any food shop, about to walk in and buy you know whats or some of those other thingamees.

Some of the images might even get used on future collendar pages. I somehow doubt that a person could have too many images of strawberries and broccoli.