Things

[bunn]

Yesterday, I saw a huge black crow eating a similarly huge dead white gull. It looked very Ominous.

Today I went for a swim and didn't get stung by a jellyfish, though one of the people I was swimming with did.

Pp and I decided we didn't know enough about the history of  countries in Africa, so we're doing a blitz on African history doing a quick Wikipedia read-up/ Youtube whiz through on one country a day.  Yesterday was Ethiopia, today is Sudan. Tomorrow is Eritrea. 

I'm not sure how much of it will stick, but hopefully the odd bit? At a minimum I hope to more accurately be able to point to places on a map! 

Speaking of maps, the Shop on the Borderlands now has sold things to customers in 46 countries.  We've bought a map and some flag pins so we can see where they all are. 

I took Theo for a social walk at the amazingly named Wolf's Castle, where, supposedly, the last wolf in Wales was killed.  It seemed a pleasant spot for a stroll and Theo managed to not shout more than a token amount, even onlead and surrounded by other on-lead dogs (he finds leads hard!  He's so much happier greeting off the lead.) 

Pp has been diagnosed diabetic, which has come as a bit of a shock to him, given his usual diet of white bread cheese sandwiches, chocolate and (nearly) no veg.   But he has risen to the challenge and bought an under-desk cycle, for exercise.  He's eating a lot of boiled eggs now,but I need to work out some more low-carb recipes. 

Comments

[anerea]

ominous black crow
huge white seagull gives its flesh
jellyfish don't sting

(With apologies. I'm not a poet and although I totally know it, this just felt like it had a haiku in it somewhere.)

Whoop whoop — 46 countries is a lot! I like your map and flag pin idea! And of course I looked up the Shop on the Borderlands. (Just typing "shop on the" into DuckDuckGo, in South Africa, it was the second suggestion!) I've never played any RPG, but your goodies look enticing! (Naturally I gravitated to the M-E games!)

Very sorry about pp's diabetes diagnosis. That just plain sucks, although I do hope you discover some delicious dishes you might not have otherwise.

[bunn]

LOL, the Haiku of the Crow and Jellyfish feels very menacing!

[narya_flame]

Yesterday, I saw a huge black crow eating a similarly huge dead white gull. It looked very Ominous.

Goodness, that sounds extremely ominous.

Enjoy your virtual tour of Africa! And I love that the Shop on the Borderlands has such an international customer base :D

Theo managed to not shout more than a token amount, even onlead and surrounded by other on-lead dogs (he finds leads hard! He's so much happier greeting off the lead.)

Good boy! Balto managed to ignore a seal today. I was very proud.

Good luck with your recipe hunt for Pp. My typical low carb go-to recipes are things like veg curries and stir fries, which sound like they might not be his thing.

[bunn]

Congratulations to Balto's seal-ignoring! Was it a live seal or a dead one?

Yes, my problem with Pp specifically is that he really does only eat a limited number of things and now most of them are off the menu. Still, at least cheese, meat and potatoes seem to be more or less OK, which is a relief.

[chainmailmaiden]

So sorry to hear about Pp's diagnosis. At least cauliflower is low carb, so cauliflower cheese is still a possibility. Low carbing is my standard way of shifting a few pounds, I used Michael Mosley's 8-week Blood Sugar Diet as a starting point and his wife Clare Bailey has written an accompanying recipe book, though I'm not sure how many of the recipes would appeal. I don't generally bother with special recipes now though when I'm low carbing instead I cook the same meat thing I would have done, and I have vegetables with it, and do some rice, pasta or potatoes for Bacchus who claims not to feel full unless he has some with his meal.

I did get this book though recently Keto Lunches: Grab-and-Go, Make-Ahead Recipes for High-Power Low-Carb Midday Meals and there are some nice things in there, I can always bring it along with me later this year if you want to have a look to see if it might be useful for ideas.

Dark chocolate in small amounts is still ok too, so at least that's one treat he won't need to forgo :)

[bunn]

I did a low-carb/low-sugar thing for a couple years before we moved, and it was pretty good, but I lost it to the desire for fish and chips and doughnuts during the moving house stress. In a selfish way it will be good to get back to it without Pp filling the house with tempting sweets!

I'd be interested in a quick leaf through that book if it's not too much hassle - though really the big problem is that there are so many things he just won't eat that the usual 'more veg' thing is very hard to do. I got him to eat a teaspoon of white cabbage yesterday but he was very grumpy about it :-D

[chainmailmaiden]

Yeah, the problem is with most carbs, they're sooooo nice. I don't think I could ever completely give them up, especially as so many of the nice recipes I want to try have them in.

I can easily bring the various books I have with me, some of them are at Bethran's anyway so they're easy to throw in a bag to bring along. The Keto lunches one does have a recipe for some really nice sausage puffs (I think that's what they call them) they're a mixture of sausage and cheese, pretty much like a sausage meatball. They're great for snacks or as a main meal and I think there's a good chance Pp would like them.

There will definitely be a lot he won't like the idea of though. There are a lot of curry-type dishes for example. They also have a lot of swaps I don't agree with, such as cauli mash on top of Shepherd's pie. I'd probably favour a sweet potato mash over that, or just not make it. My usual potato/rice/pasta replacement to fill me up is roasted courgettes, but I doubt that would be a popular swap for Pp.

I can certainly come up with some lower carb options for November though, stews and soups are both pretty straightforward to lower the carbs in. As are roasts if you have fewer roasties with them :)