the daily plate

I found a link to The Daily Plate over at Wandering Coyote’s yesterday and then spent most of the morning setting it up and getting all obsessive about it (I love setting up new pages, blogs, websites,etc).

The Daily Plate is an online destination focused on all things food. Our mission is to help you eat smarter by allowing you to get quick and easy access to comprehensive nutritional information on the food that you eat. You can search for food items, view healthy alternatives and track what you eat on a daily basis.

Although I have avoided the “C-word” for years I’m beginning to realise and accept that, as I am now a woman of a certain age, in order to lose weight in a healthy way it isn’t going to be a spontaneous thing that just happens without a lot of work on my part. And so I am reacquainting myself with “Cals” and seeing what options are available to me.

The only thing I don’t understand is the amount of Cals burned per activity listed on the site - it seems very high to me. I thought the same thing about a similar online tool that daisyfae is using. Unless it is added to whatever one would be burning anyhow just from being alive. And for some reason one hour of pilates uses more Cals than an hour of yoga, which I don’t think is actually the case. But what the hell - it’s a fun guideline thingy that will help give me a better idea of what I eat and how that works with the amount of activity I do every day.

It even looks like it’s going to be fun!

cat dung coffee

Okay, this even ‘out-weirds’ the Germans…

Cat Dung Coffee For £50 A Cup

A gourmet coffee blended from cat droppings is being sold at a London department store for £50 per cup.

Jamaican Blue Mountain and the Kopi Luwak bean are used to create Caffe Raro which is thought to be the most expensive cup of coffee in the world.

The perfect beverage to go with the world’s most expensive sandwich.

robo-restaurant

Fast food, German style

Germany likes to call itself the “Land of Ideas” - and over the centuries it has certainly had plenty of them. It was Germans who invented the aspirin, the airship, the printing press and the diesel engine.

But Germany has surely never produced anything quite as weird as the automated restaurant.

Weird is right. Would you eat here?

(watch the video to see the place ‘in action’)

ladies who do more than lunch…

Some of you may recall that back in January I went to my first AWC luncheon - and last month to my second one - at which time I became an official AWC member.

Well, last night there was a ‘new members tapas night’ scheduled and so Pipocas and I thought we should drop in since we are, in fact, new members. We also decided it would be a good idea to meet for pre-drink drinks before the event just in case of … well, whatever. Then awhile later - where had the time gone? - I got a call from Rena (one of the AWC directors) while Pipocas and I were on our second pre-drink drink asking if we were still coming, so we high-tailed it over to the tapas bar that had been chosen for this event, just up the street…

fat is dead

New Nietzschean Diet Lets You Eat Whatever You Fear Most

NEW YORK—While dieters are accustomed to exercises of will, a new English translation of Germany’s most popular diet book takes the concept to a new philosophical level. The Nietzschean diet, which commands its adherents to eat superhuman amounts of whatever they most fear, is developing a strong following in America.

Fat Is Dead, proclaims the ambitious title of the dense, aphoristic nutrition plan, which was written by Friedrich Nietzsche in the late 1880s and unearthed three years ago. After reaching bestseller lists in Europe, the book was translated into English by R.J. Hollingdale and published by Avon last month.

“One must strive to eat dangerously as one comes into the Will to Power Oneself Thin,” Nietzsche wrote. “What do you fear? By this are you truly Fattened. You must embrace your Fears, as well as your Fat, and learn to Laugh as you consume them, along with Generous Portions of Simple Salad. Remember, as you stare into the lettuce, the lettuce stares also into you.”

I think this is fabulous! Way better than The Secret, which stupidly promotes staying away from fat people as a way of getting thin - like duh. I’ve been living with a stick insect for almost four years who actually eats more than I do and a big fat lot of good that’s done for me. But finally here is a no-nonsense diet I can really sink my teeth into.

Eating dangerously, eh? Sounds like fun to me.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Oh, and also click here…

yay! visitors!

My blog pal healingmagichands and her husband Jim are in Sevilla.

I first met hmh on h2g2 almost two years ago and she started her blog here on WordPress shortly after I did. Given her love of photography and writing, the blog format suits her much better than h2g2. I like it better too.

Anyhoo, they arrived in Lisbon early yesterday morning when their cruise boat landed and then drove to Sevilla … got here just in time for a late lunch at Modesto (those are post-lunch photos up there). Then a visit to casa az where they got to meet ‘da boyz’ and afterwards we took a short walk around the centre so that Ellie and Jim could work out where they were and how to get places (important stuff like the supermarket and where to find Mephisto sandals) …

Looking forward to a very nice week. It’s great when friends visit.

back on the wagon

The fruit wagon, that is.

I’d been doing so well, ever since I started eating my fruit purée and was getting my 2-3 servings of fruit a day. Then I went to Tavira, Portugal for a few days last week and somehow ended up substituting bread for fruit…

tavira

As I mentioned over here, this was quite the spontaneous trip, which was also suddenly extended from an overnight stay to three nights when I found a charming little inn that had a special 3-night offer going. Pipocas and her husband Chucky (not his real name ) really made this trip special by taking Nog & me out for lunch every day and also driving us to places near Tavira that we would have never seen otherwise.

As Chucky is Portuguese he ‘did the honours’ at mealtimes, ordering all the food and drink so that we often didn’t know what was coming until it showed up at the table. This was quite a refreshing change for me since I’m usually the one doing this for friends visiting Sevilla. It was nice to be on the receiving end for a change and be totally taken care of.

Muito obrigada, Pipocas & Chucky!

Here are some of my travel notes on what we saw and did. There are also a few small photos here - if you’d like to see the complete photo album just click here…

~ Tavira photos ~

 

japanese luncheon

I went to my second AWC luncheon yesterday.

Pipocas and I also paid our dues (man) and became official AWC members.

This was quite a different luncheon to the first one I went to at the kebab place in January. First of all, the restaurant is situated in the back gardens of the Alfonso XIII Hotel, which is the poshest place in town (even the outdoor toilets are posh!). And it turned out to be quite a pleasant Japanese restaurant, though I thought it could have done with a little more ‘ambientation’ and some of the food might have been a bit tastier (though it was very pretty). But a fine time was had by all and I might even start partaking of the book sales and clothing charity thangs.

After the luncheon Pipocas and I weren’t feeling too much like getting back to work so we went to sit outside for awhile at Catalina and drink cold water … very salty that Japanese food. We also did a book/dvd swap so yesterday evening I started watching Six Feet Under. Loved the pilot (also really like Rachel Griffiths) so I’m quite looking forward to the rest of the series. Ooooo, it’s fun having girlfriends again!

Anyhow, here are a few photos I took . . .

 

friday’s lunch…

. . . was very yummy

Went out with Pipocas again, this time to Modesto for a fabulous Friday afternoon lunch. Pipocas had never eaten there before and we eschewed the more touristy (though very pretty) outdoor terrace and upstairs dining room in favour of sitting at the bar, which is my favourite place to eat there. It’s so much cosier and you get to chat with the barmen and the guys in the kitchen. I love that.

We started off with a fritura, then had some grilled pork tenderloin in mushroom sauce and finally tried the razorback clams. Meanwhile, our neighbours were having some interesting looking things and they were very nice about letting me take some pics of their food too.

The new pics are here (photos 17-22)