Author: Wattle

Auntie Joan’s Savoury is a perfect and delicious Mayndarin lunch, for some days (not every day!) to add some interest to what really is a very disciplined cullinary month. A modification will be needed to her recipe. We don’t really need a whole cup of cheese in it, one slice will be enough to contribute to the taste, not the waist.

“Joan’s Savoury”

Add the following ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix them well:

A generous amount of the herb thyme, real is better if you can get it, but the dried bottled thyme is also good. One large chopped tomatoe and one half of a chopped onion. Two chopped shortcut rashers of bacon (minimal, but some fat on it). One very finely chopped slice of tasty cheese. One raw egg.

Make four rounds of toast. Lightly butter them and place them on an oven tray. Distribute the mixture on the top of the four rounds of toast. Place in the oven which has been heated to 180 degrees and cook for 12 minutes. Check at ten minutes just in case it is ready. You will know it is ready by the beautiful aroma in the kitchen.

The amount to be eaten depends on what is usually eaten for lunch. Eat about that much equivalent and enjoy!

Freeze what is not eaten after it cools down. The difficult part is allowing it to stay in the freezer for long before having it another thyme.

Reminder to self: no Joan’s Savoury until after the walk is done.

Eating unlimited mandarins sounds too good to be true doesn’t it. A real “Bonus”. Today my collendar pairs an image of mandarins with an image of the word bonus.

In the first Mayndarin I ate an enormous amount of mandarins. Unlimited means exactly that, unlimited, as many as I wanted, and I wanted a lot. Lean chicken meals leave plenty of room for suppers and mandarins make great suppers. It is important to feel full, that is what leads to longer term success in reducing and managing weight.

I still want quite a lot of them so I enjoy my post prandial bonus.

The temperature is cooler today. It is a reminder that winter is just around the next corner. My walk was slightly brisker, and perhaps I aimed for slightly less than perfection with today’s photo.

I call this time of the year “Hibermation”. It is the prelude to a slump in outdoor activity. Even indoor activities seem somehow less active. Some years we have allowed the month of “Pearn” (Spoon!) to commence earlier than the calendar says it ought to. That means an increased amount of hours watching reruns of old favourite television programmes such as Star Trek and slurping lots and lots of favourite soups including some cream of: cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cream of you name it.

The question becomes how to make Hibermation a more positive experience? How to keep going on walks even when the weather turns nasty and how to keep on eating Mandarins for the rest of Mayndarin when other suppers would be, without any doubt, more delicious?

One thing I can do is prepare my backpack walking bag ready for the season. A few extra items do not weigh too much to carry and will have great comfort value such as a lightweight raincoat, a small foldup umbrella, a woollen hat and gloves. So! When I am out on a walk if it rains (when) and if it is cold (when) and if it is windy (when) I am ready for these inclemencies.

Another thing I can do is reward myself in a meaningful manner. I’d think that a walk done in rainy, stormy weather might be worth more dine out points than one done in pleasant weather. In fact I’d say it will be worth double the dine out points at least.

Whilst I am out walking, and whilst I am in eating mandarins I will also think of a good way to record the additional dine out points and think of other things I can do to make my Hibermation less long.

Today my hands not smoking, they are keeping busy cutting out word images from catalogues like “great” and “value”. I chose the word “gems” to pair up with an image of a mandarin. Mandarins are gems. It is now firmly in my mind after staring at the images whilst trying out different arrangements to place them onto my collendar page.

Tonight I plan to enjoy plenty of post prandial gems.