Easy Like Monday Morning

So lovely not to be at work on a Monday morning. I LOVE Christmas. Think it should be celebrated for at least a week. We really don't need shops to be open and people to be legging back to work. It's so nice to have time to spend with friends, relax and do the things that we are too busy to do at the rest of the year...such as start a blog.

I really wanted to write a foodie blog to see how easy it is for an ordinary person to stick to their foodie principles. I want to eat locally and seasonally, as much as possible. I want to come home from work and relax in the kitchen, but the reality is that most weekday cooking feels like an additional chore. My husband Ade is actually a much better cook than me - he cooks instinctively. However, he gets to do all the flashy, weekend stuff that involves a trip to the butchers, three trips to the greengrocers and half a bottle of Fairy to clean up the debris afterwards. I get to do the boring stuff - the Monday night chicken, Thursday night chops and trying to think of an interesting way with some lentils and a slightly past its best red cabbage. I am quite lucky in that I live near a proper street with proper shops which include a couple of good butchers, three greengrocers, three Asian shops and a fishmonger which means that if I plan properly I can get seasonal and local stuff on a Saturday morning. Despite my beloved Nigella, Nigel and Jamie telling me to shop in my lunch break (1. What lunch break? 2. I don’t drive and I work on the edge of a big council estate with no food shops in walking distance) I usually end up in Morrisons on a Sunday morning. Now, Morrisons in Hull is quite cosmopolitan, but is no Selfridges Food Hall. On Jamie’s Christmas, Jamie advised people to go to their local market and buy a box of figs. Great if your local market is Borough Market, but if your local market is anything like Hull Market you are more likely to get a good deal on a Vileda Super Mop and a bag of Terry’s All Gold mis-shapes. I think this is the reality for most of us. With my credit currently heading for the Casualty Dept, I want to make sure that I am spending my money wisely. We don’t have much food waste and we try to compost what we do have, but I love travel and I love clothes so every penny should count. If I know where I am wasting money I can get a grip on it – well, that’s the theory anyway, but I guess once it’s gone its gone!

Also, I used to be fat. Really fat, but since August 2006 I have been gradually losing it and I am now fairly slim. But, I am terrified of getting fat again. I love the new me. I love being able to buy whatever I want and know that I will look great. I am no longer an invisible fat girl. To stay this way, I have to manage what I eat…and that is where this comes in.