Back to the diet

Now that my colds have concluded, I'm back to dieting to lose weight. Unfortunately, I think I put on a few pounds during my illnesses, as I barely exercised, had no loss of appetite, comfort ate somewhat and drank a lot of sugary teas. That weight now needs to be lost.

Having my wheat-based cereal, salad, fish and a few other low-to-medium calorie foods, plus returning to exercise, should be enough to drop the excess weight and what I was trying to lose before. It's also not a particularly expensive diet and should lower my weekly expenses somewhat, too.

The pizza night

The housing manager for my accommodation paid for a pizza night; this is what he did last year except back then it was held in the first week rather than this far into October. Nevertheless, the effect was still the same: We had the chance to meet other residents of the student village and ate pizza for dinner.

In addition to being a pizza night, the event doubled as the occasion where we handed in our inventory forms to the housing manager; however, I did not need to do this because I gave it to him last week when he was here briefly for another reason.

Tinned fish and salad

I've become hooked on a dish that I should have eaten more at the beginning of my university year: Tinned fish and salad. Last night, I had two bags of salad and some tinned tuna, which I combined and also mixed with Worcestershire sauce. The result? A super tasty meal that's also easy to prepare and healthful for me, as well as cheap.

People often complain that salad is bland on its own and so they add salad dressing to it; the trouble is, salad dressing is fattening because of its sugar content. Fish and Worcestershire sauce have little to no sugar or artificial sweeteners in them and are thus better for a person than salad dressing.

This evening, I had tinned mackerel with salad and Worcestershire sauce. I can lose weight with this!

The mouldy egg

Scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat and breadcrumbs. The first time I recall having one was when my family and I were living with my grandparents' in 2010; ever since then, I have liked them - well, "ever since" until today.

I bought a pack of Scotch eggs this afternoon. When I opened the breaded shell of one of them, the egg inside was partially covered with mould. I had no choice but to throw the egg away, as it wasn't safe for consumption. Fortunately, the other eggs were all okay but it took me awhile to eat them, as I had little appetite for them after seeing the mouldy egg.

Needless to say, after this incident it will be awhile before I have Scotch eggs again! That might not be a bad thing, however, as it means it's one less fatty food for me to eat.

Any 2017 Easter chocolate

I received as well as bought to share some Easter chocolates this year. Rather than leave them hanging around, I decided to eat mine almost immediately (not all at once, of course). The room I have in my accommodation can be warm when the Sun is over - warm enough to soften chocolate.

In addition, I am currently reducing the amount of desserts I consume, as I wrote in a recent post, and so I wanted to eat and enjoy the chocolate straightaway, then go back onto the sugar reduction.

Justified in not going there

My family has a long-standing policy of not purchasing food from McDonald's on the basis that the food is of poor quality. Yesterday afternoon, I went with a friend to the cinema but first we went to a McDonald's in the city centre at her request; we only went there for her to eat, as I had made clear that I had no intention of ordering anything.

In my view, the long-standing policy was justified. I was unimpressed by the general filthiness of the venue as well as the cafeteria-like nature of the main eating area. While a cafeteria seems appropriate in an educational facility, I didn't think it worked in a restaurant - not even a fast food one. As if this all wasn't enough, my friend ended up finding some "gross" in her food, which not only put her off her meal but also from going to McDonald's again, at least for the short term.

To be fair to McDonald's, this is only one venue and it's more than possible that due to my long-term negative view of the company, I was looking for problems. That being said, the experience has not encouraged me to take up eating there anytime soon.

A college evening meal

I went out this evening with college friends for for a meal. We all had a delightful time and enjoyed ourselves. I'm on my bus back now and thought I'd type this up before midnight.

Kasich eats!

One of the more bizarre parts of the 2016 presidential election in the United States (well, "bizarre" by this election's standards) was the recorded eating habits of Ohio Governor John Kasich:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QONaNnya5UQ

The video is narrated by speeches from Donald Trump about Kasich's insatiable appetite but the commentary actually fits in that it turns the eating clips into a comedy; Trump almost sounds like an unfiltered Jay Leno performing a roast. Kasich eating during a large portion (pun intended) of his media appearances was strange, to say the least; on the other hand, perhaps it was a hidden sign that he would have been a tame president - he'd have spent much of his presidency eating his way around the world!

And as an aside, I think "Kasich eat!" falls into my list of my "oddest and most unlikely blog titles".

The nights out (2)

I'll soon be heading out for my second night out in a row. I shall be going, with my college friends, to a new buffet restaurant for dinner. If the charity night and the class trip to Poland aren't counted, this will be the first time we've been out together since just before Christmas. I'm looking forward to it!

I was treated to a pleasant surprise on my way home after last night: the card payment scanner on the bus I rode back was broken. As a result, the driver told me to just "take a seat" and, thus, my return journey was free!

The nights out

Well, this is an interesting development: I am going not for one but two nights out, tonight and tomorrow night. I'm going to a meetup at a pub for this night while tomorow my college class and I will all be going out for dinner together.

A year ago, the thought of me having even one night out was unthinkable. Two? Shows how much I've changed since I've been at college.

The pubs

Yesterday, I visited my family back in Northamptonshire (I've visited there a few times recently). My brother and I went for a walk in the afternoon; he had already eaten by then but I hadn't and was hungry. As such, we agreed to go to one of the pubs in the town (he would just have a drink).

Until yesterday, we hadn't been to either of the two pubs before but we ended up visiting both. In the first one, I was told that they weren't serving food that day and recommended that we try the other one, which is just next door. In the second, they were serving food; I ate a cheeseburger with chips/fries.

I travelled to Northamptonshire with my Nottingham aunt. We stayed for a few hours before returning home to here in the early evening.