Kenyon Hall Farm

We’re all about strawberries here at Casa de Squidge. Yesterday we went to Kenyon Hall Farm to pick our own strawberries. I can’t remember the last time I did this and had sooo much fun. It took Squidge a little while to understand the concept and she didn’t eat too many at first. Then a light bulb went off and she went caaaaaahrazy!

I came home with sooo many strawberries but that’s OK. I’m sure we’ll be able to get through them all.

Squidge has eaten soo many that she had a tummy ache this afternoon. She was soo uncomfortable she couldn’t eat her lunch and kept crying and rubbing her tummy. After a little tummy rubbing (by maman) and ‘bicycle’ legs she let out a HUMONGOUS burp. She immediately smiled and went off to finish her lunch.

Tonight Wal and I enjoyed some of the strawberries (or strumberries as my mother calls them) - yum!

750g fresh strawberries, hulled and
sliced in half
2 tbsp icing sugar
125g mascarpone cheese
2 vanilla pods, split, seeds removed
Coarsely ground black pepper

1 Place the strawberries in a fruit bowl and dust with icing sugar. Leave to stand for 30 minutes to allow the juices to bleed.
2 Mix the mascarpone with the vanilla seeds and season with a pinch of pepper.
3 Divide the strawberries between four serving plates and place a generous spoonful of the mascarpone on top. Season with more black pepper to taste and serve.

Sorry no photo- we were too busy eating- nom nom!

I also came home with this little bit of yummyness-

Ooooh mein gott!! It’s sooooo yummy and it’s not doing a damn thing for my diet. Speaking of diet- I lost 1 lb so far, Yippee!! Of course now I have to worry about the strumberries and the jelly and the walnut shortbread I ate yesterday. Self-control? No I don’t have any.

Kenyon Hall Farm has a great farm shop. So many delicious looking cakes and biscuits/cookies. Loads of veg. If you’re in the Manchester area they deliver veg boxes but call themselves Northern Harvest

Victoria mentioned that there are about 25 weeks ’til xmas. We have decided that the goal of losing 1lb a week is the healthy way. So we’re calling it 25lbs in 25 weeks. Anyone care to join us??

Anti-squirrel device

I know you’ve all been wondering about my strawberries. Have I foiled the dratted squirrels? Did I manage to find something to kill stun stop them from nibbling at my berries?

Ladies and gentlemen I present you a Chronicles of Squidgyboo original. The top-of-the-line state of the art anti-squirrel device.

Squidge and I had a strawberry on Monday and two today. It’s not the prettiest thing but it really has done the job, we haven’t had any strawberries go missing since we put it up.

Three Corners- June

Circle in a Square. Sounds simple enough and it was the theme I chose for June’s Three Corners Project. Whenever I drive Wal to work we drive by Southern Cemetery.

I always admire the wrought iron fence and that is where I got my inspiration. I thought it was a really challenging theme. Hooooo boy was I right. It was frecking hard ya’ll!! I looked for circles in squares everywhere. I got so fed up looking for circles in squares that I posted in our flickr group that maybe we should expand it to just circles. A bit dejected Wal and I went for a walk yesterday to Southern Cemetery so I could photograph my fence. I was a bit sad that I would only have one photograph that would follow the original theme.

Well folks a cemetery is a gold mine when it comes to circles in squares!! I’m pleased with how it turned out and hope you do to. Don’t forget to go over and check our Corey and Jenty’s pics- they did a fantastic job as usual. I love how different our photographs are and how our approach to the themes are dictated by where we live.

A Strawberry Story: The good. The bad. The nibbled.

My strawberries are really coming along. Squidge and I water them together and talk about how they’re growing and how they’ll soon turn red and juicy. Squidge is a bit of a strawberry-aholic. The girl will eat herself sick if I let her. I find this pretty funny as my mother will also eat herself sick on strawberries so I think she gets this from my Mom.

The other day we found one that was almost ready for picking. Oooh it was exciting thinking we would be nibbling on a strawberry we grew ourselves- nom nom!

Yesterday we went outside to check on our strawberries and we found this. NIBBLED and not by us!! We think the squirrels got to it. I’m a bit bummed out at this turn of events. BAH! I won’t let those Squirrels win *shaking my fist in the air*.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m also growing these bad boys and I’m keen on actually eating these. damn you SQUIRRELS!!

This afternoon after a quick internet search I’ll be going to the garden center to find some anti-squirrel devices.

Also THANK YOU so much for the love on my last post. I don’t know if I’m just hormonal but I got a tad bit weepy reading the comments. I’ve stuck to tracking everything I eat and that has been an eye opener. Snack and nibble hoooo boy do did I do that a lot. I’m hoping the key is just being aware what I put in my gob! I’m also trying to eat more protein and cut down on my carbs, not surprising I’m a big carb junkie! I will keep you all posted on how that goes. I’m also off to a local cemetery a bit later to take some photographs for this months Three Corners project.

Squidge’s strawberry addiction.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

40 & Fat

*deep breath*

I don’t want to be that ↑up there ↑ (don’t make me type it again). If I don’t make some major changes now I will be and that scares the living daylights out of me. My inactactivity is shocking, even to me and I MUST make some changes. I’ve only managed to go for a walk once this week. The rest of the week? Well lets just say me and my chair, we’re good buddies. Can anyone tell me how they find the motivation because I’m at a loss. I’m either the laziest person in the entire world or there is something else. The psych major in me thinks there must be something preventing me. I know what I need to do. I know how I need to do it and still I don’t.

In order to get myself to stick to something I’m going to keep a food journal and count my calories. I’m first going to count what I normally eat. I keep telling myself (and Wal) that we eat healthy- no fried foods, no going out to dinner and we eat our 5 fruit and veg a day (usually more). Where I must be going wrong is on portion size, I must snack/graze more than I realize, I need to drink more water and I don’t exercise enough.  I’m also going to continue my aqua aerobics class 2 days a week. I’m hoping to work my way up to kickboxing. I don’t think I can do that now but hopefully by January I’ll be fit enough to attempt it.

I’m sorry for those that come here looking for the cuteness which is Squidge and have found me wallowing in self pity. This blog is about all things Squidge but if maman ain’t happy, ain’t nooooobody happy.

And because I need bullet points or else I wont have it organized in my head.

*keep food journal
*drink more water
*go for daily walks (30 minutes)

I’ve signed up for an on-line site called Spark People.  I found them when I did a search for calorie counters.  So far I’m happy with it- it allows you to set up a meal plan, count calories, track water intake and exercise.  The best part is that it’s free and as you know I likes me some free stuff!