Wash and rinse, wash and rinse

Hi there. It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Sorry about that but nothing new or different has really happened.

Life is pretty much work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, wash and rinse, and repeat.

The best example of the periodicity of life is in my weight chart for this this year. You can see every weekend my weight rises as I cook and eat more. During the week because of a lack of time and motivation, the food I’m eating is more plain and less voluminous and my weight goes down.

Weight Chart Sunday 2020-07-26
Continue reading “Wash and rinse, wash and rinse”

Losing weight the wrong way

I’ll get to losing weight the wrong way soon. This week, I was in Manila for work. When I landed the air was warm, humid, and polluted. I can deal with the pollution when the air is warm and moist.

WHO WPRO Manila

Warm, humid, and polluted

The area outside of the border control region in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is not air conditioned. It’s open to the outside and it was gloriously warm and moist. It was drizzling and about 30 °C (86 °F). While the air is polluted and has a distinct odour, my skin reacted well to the humidity.

Continue reading “Losing weight the wrong way”

Four (4) kilograms in twelve (12) months

Weight chart

Four 4 kilograms in twelve 12 months

Well, there’s not a lot to show for restarting a low carb lifestyle again.

I had a good start but then my love of a flat white coffee and hot chips got the better of me.

I’m toying with the idea of going hard again and getting below 80 kilograms. I’d love to get to 75 kilograms and stabilising at around 77 kilograms.

I’m hoping more salads, less meat, and smaller portions as summer approaches will help me.

I’m happy to take advice from readers. Please don’t tempt me to eat more chips and cheeseburgers.

Continue reading “Four (4) kilograms in twelve (12) months”

Canberra Day 2018

New bedside clock after the old clock radio died.

Canberra Day Long Weekend

It’s the Canberra Day Long Weekend. I love a long weekend, especially a Monday public holiday after I’ve enjoyed a Friday working at Canberra Hospital and Health Services.

It probably comes as no surprise that I’ve never attended any of the Canberra Day events despite living here for >10 years. At the moment, the Enlighten Festival and Night Noodle Markets are on. While seeing colourful lights being used to create murals on government buildings would be an interesting spectacle it’s not really that interesting when I’d prefer to be in my warm bed rather than out on a cool Autumn night with crowds of people.

The noodle market would be more appealing if I wasn’t trying to lose weight at the moment. Noodles aren’t going to help me lose weight especially when I’m trying to control the size of food portions I consume. I’d be wanting to try all the different types of noodle dishes. It’s better I focus on cooking for myself than going out and being tempted by noodles 😂 🤤 😋

Oh, and there’s also lots of hot air balloons in the air every morning. The weather at the moment is perfect for hot air balloons. The air is dry and the sky is blue, they take off soon after sunrise so the photography would be awesome. Too cold for me though.

I’m a tad annoyed that Kmart is yet to have jumpers out. I need a new jumper to wear to work.

New clock

On the subject of Kmart, my bedside table clock radio died this week. Since I no longer listen to the radio I needed a replacement clock. All I need in a clock is for the time to be visible when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I bought this battery operated clock for $AUD7. What I like about it is I can have a 24-hour time readout and a temperature readout. It’s good to know just how cold it is in my bedroom.

New bedside clock after the old clock radio died.
New bedside clock after the old clock radio died.

New subscribers

I’ve noticed a few new subscribers over the last couple of weeks. Thanks for joining me here. I hope you don’t find it too boring. This blog is essentially a weekly diary brain dump.

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Weight loss progress

Check out the graph. I started making a conscious effort to lose weight in October last year (2017). I’ve managed to lose about eight kilograms (about 16 pounds or one stone) and while I’d like to lose more, I seem to have well and truly plateaued at about 78+ kilograms. I would really like to stabilise around 75 kilograms (165 pounds 5 ounces). I still have a good ‘handful’ of adipose tissue on my belly that I’d love to see gone.

We’ll see. The last week or so has seen some travel and meetings and attending meetings and travel always makes a routine difficult.

If you’ve been successful in shedding some resistant weight please let me know how you did it.

My current weightloss chart which show a plateauing of my weight loss to around 78 to 79 kilograms. The x-axis extends from October 2017 to now.
My current weight loss chart

Sharing some blogger and podcasting love

It’s been a while since I shared some link love. I really love the blogging community and the friendly nature of people who share bits and pieces or their life. I’ve made so many friends as a result of blogging. While my main blog, viz., Yummy Lummy, is focussed on food and recipes, I know a few other food bloggers who also have second diary blogs like this one.

Diabetes Diet

Emma Baird and Dr Katharine Morrison write for Diabetes Diet. Emma, reblogged my whisky-flavoured chicken casserole recipe this weekend. I’m so grateful to have a recipe shared.

Emma is also a writer and book author. Her other blog is High Heels and Pink Glitter. Please visit these blogs and check out the posts there.

Travelling Tim

Tim is a Canberra resident who loves travelling and photography.

Scruff and Steph

Andrew and Steph are Canberra food bloggers. Sadly, despite being Brisbane born, Andrew is a cockroach lover. Check out the comments of this Facebook status update from Wednesday.

Joy Passion Desire

Ann-Christin writes short posts a few times a day and each one is an uplifting message to help her readers improve their self-esteem.

 

Meet the Microbiologist

While I’m very keen to see the Australian Society for Microbiology (ASM) grow and get better known, I’ve also been a long time member of the American Society for Microbiology. The American Society has a very popular podcast named “Meet the Microbiologist”. The most recent show coincidentally dropped on International Women’s Day and it was an awesome show. The guest was Italian scientist and politician Ilaria Capua who now works in the USA after she was wrongly maligned by malicious journalism aimed at discrediting her. She is an amazing example of a scientist who won’t let stupidity and ignorance get her down.

Brining

On Saturday night I did my first sous vide salmon dish. Apparently, to cook salmon by sous vide it’s important to first brine the salmon otherwise an unsightly white membrane forms on the salmon flesh. While it doesn’t affect the flavour it does look ugly. Brining is the preserving or seasoning of food with salt water.

So on Saturday, I bought three salmon fillets and when I got them home I put them into some iced salt water and let them brine for about an hour before vacuum sealing them with a little dill and a little olive oil massage.

You can check out how the meal turned out at this link http://YummyLummy.com/20180310

Chifley’s Bar and Grill

On Tuesday night I went to dinner with an old work friend from Darwin. He was in Canberra to do some teaching at the Australian National University. He offered to buy me dinner so long as it was somewhere that served decent steak.

I suggested Chifley’s Bar and Grill in the Hotel Kurrajong in Barton. Read my review.

We both asked for the Wagyu rump steak which came with a cauliflower purée. I asked for my steak to be cooked rare. My steak was perfectly cooked. The cauliflower purée though was a little thin and I didn’t think it had much flavour.

What I ate this week

Rather than embed all the images in this post I created a gallery. Click on a photograph and scroll through them all.

Canberra Day 2018

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What I nearly ate this week 🤤

Dobinsons Belconnen cake display case
Dobinsons Belconnen cake display case

Final thoughts

I love a long weekend. Will I do anything special tomorrow (Monday aka Canberra Day)? My aim is to complete my tax return for 2016–2017. I still have an accountant from my Darwin days and so I have until May to get this together. In Australia, without an accountant or taxation agent, taxpayers have to have their returns in by 31 October.

If the weather is good I also hope to go for a walk.

Catch you next week.

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Disclosure

I’m a fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology, the registrar for the National Examination and Qualifications Committee and on the editorial board of Microbiology Australia.

Oops I ate too much

This is a weight chart showing my daily weigh in since the beginning of 2018. I've marked the weight I recorded this morning 79.5 kg.

Oops I ate too much

I’ve been relatively well behaved this week in terms of my food consumption but the end of the week saw me blow out a lot.

This is a weight chart showing my daily weigh in since the beginning of 2018. I've marked the weight I recorded this morning 79.5 kg.

It started on Friday when I chose the staff special chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy for $10.50. That evening I went a little further and enjoyed a crispy Balsamic Brussels sprouts and Spam dish with fennel salad.

This is a photograph of the staff special chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy.

This is a photograph of a plate of crispy Balsamic Brussels sprouts with Spam and a limey fennel salad 💚

On Saturday morning I weighed in at 78.5 kg/173 pounds and enjoyed a Coon cheese® omelet with sesame and poppy seeds. The real weekend splurging started at lunch when I bought a plate of roast pork, applesauce, potato bake and roast vegetables from Fancy Fillings at Westfield Belconnen. I asked for a small plate. A big plate must be huge.

This is a photograph of Saturday lunch. Small pork and vegetables plate from Fancy Fillings at Westfield Belconnen..

Saturday dinner was huge with a 300 gram/10.6 once piece of scotch fillet steak plus cheesy horseradish cream roasted vegetables. Not to mention the bags of almonds and cashews I ate in the afternoon.

This is a photograph of rare scotch fillet steak served with cheesy creamy horseradish roasted vegetables.

When I weighed myself this morning (Sunday, 11 February 2018) I was 79.5 kilograms/175.3 pounds. An ordinary bloke would look at that and think he should refocus and be more careful with what I ate today. Not me though, I had a special date to keep.

Dobinsons has recently opened at Westfield Belconnen and I’ve been enjoying a coffee every Saturday and Sunday. Today I was due to claim my free coffee and cake 😃💚👍😋🍰 Of course what cake would I choose but a vanilla slice.

This is a photograph of the coffee I bought on Saturday with my Dobinsons coffee card showing the next coffee would be free and I'd also get a piece of cake.

This is a photograph of a cup of coffee and a vanilla slice from Dobinsons Westfield Belconnen.

What else has been happening?

I’ve been missing podcasting. I have been planning a regular weekly show which will be called the Yummy Lummy Cooking for one Podcast. I’ve been prevaricating though, I’ve been busy and the planning has been placed on the back burner. The feeling to do something hasn’t gone away though and I thought I needed something short sharp and random. Hence, the Random Yummy.

I’ve recorded two episodes and dropped them Friday and Saturday night. The first was on cooking Balsamic Brussels sprouts and the second was on cooking a cheese omelet with seeds. These shows will drop randomly and you can listen to them in your favourite podcatcher. Just search for Yummy Lummy and hopefully you’ll find them. If you like them, please subscribe.

MEATER® review

Last night I released a review on my MEATER® meat thermometer. I really like using it. It’s so easy, the iOS app works well, and so far, the meat has been perfect. I’m cooking a lump of lamb with it tonight.

What I’ve eaten this week

Monday

Lunch

Leftover chicken thigh and a recipe

This is a photograph of Monday lunch. Leftover chicken thigh seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I’m reading a recipe.

Dinner

Baked salmon and fennel salad

Tuesday

Lunch

Leftover salmon

Dinner

Pork chop and stir-fried kale slaw

Wednesday

Lunch

Leftover chicken thigh and reading about date formats

Wednesday lunch. Leftover chicken thigh while reading about formatting dates. I prefer YYYYMMDD.

Dinner

Bacon and cheese wrapped chicken maryland with fennel salad

Thursday

Lunch

Leftover chicken thigh and dreaming of Spam

This is a photograph of Thursday lunch. Leftover chicken thigh with sugar-free creaming soda, while reading my Hawaiian Spam cookbook.

Dinner

Chicken maryland and more fennel salad

Friday

Lunch

Chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy

This is a photograph of the staff special chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy.

Dinner

Crispy Balsamic Brussels sprouts with Spam and fennel salad

This is a photograph of a plate of crispy Balsamic Brussels sprouts with Spam and a limey fennel salad 💚

Saturday

Breakfast

Coon cheese® omelet with sesame and poppy seeds

Lunch

Roast pork with apple sauce, potato bake and roast vegetables

This is a photograph of Saturday lunch. Small pork and vegetables plate from Fancy Fillings at Westfield Belconnen..

Dinner

Rare scotch fillet steak with cheesy creamy horseradish roasted vegetables

This is a photograph of rare scotch fillet steak served with cheesy creamy horseradish roasted vegetables.

Sunday

Morning tea

Coffee and vanilla slice from Dobinsons at Westfield Belconnen

This is a photograph of a cup of coffee and a vanilla slice from Dobinsons Westfield Belconnen.

Final words

So, I ate too much this weekend. It’s not the end of the world and my goals are still clear. I’m still headed in the right direction.

I hope you have a good week.