Going sugar free!

Having looked at my last post - from along time ago - this one is rather different.

I'm attempting to go sugar free, or as much as I can, and the advice I've read is that journalling or documenting it can be really helpful.

I've come to realise I'm really very dependent, and pretty much hooked, on sugar. Having to go a day without getting a sweet treat often makes me feel sad or like it's going to be a hard day. So I've been reading up and bought Sarah Wilson's 'I quit sugar'.

I've been putting it off for a couple of weeks, but thought I'd make a start on Week One - cutting down today. I've had a couple of ginger biscuits and a lowfat chocolate mousse for desert - but they way I've been going lately that's definitely cutting down!

Almonds were a good snack to get me through the day, and cashew butter on toast for breakfast was very fulfilling. I did have fruit as well - which gets cut out eventually in week three, thats going to be tricky!

So far feeling fine, but anticipating the sugar lows soon enough!

Bees!

A while back I'd seen this recipe for 'Bienenstich' cake, a traditional German cake that translates as Beesting cake. It sounded interesting and I wanted to give it a try, so had a go for my Dad's birthday.

Bienenstich is a yeasty cake, that needs rising time and doesn't have much sugar but does have an amazing honey and almond topping. I was pretty nervous as it was made quite differently to your average Victoria sponge, but the results were better than expected although I did have a little trouble with the filling.

Bee's my own addition (guess which one is Jimmy's!)

Cats and cake...ohhh Viennaaa!

Shortly after our visit to Prague, in fact the very next week, we spent 5 days in an amazing apartment in Vienna. It felt almost luxurious to not try to cram everything the city had to offer into 2 days!

Vienna was the ideal holiday due to the copious amounts of cats and cake! Vienna is home to a cat cafe...which is basically what it sounds like - a cafe with cats in. Probably our favourite was Moritz below.

We stayed in an apartment just above 'Grimm's Bakery', supposedly the oldest bakery in Vienna so it was important that we sampled some of their breakfast pastries. However, a rainy day was spent in search of the best Sachertorte in Vienna (the cake that was invented in the city), and we spent a silly amount of time queuing at 'Demels' for this. Jimmy unfortunately couldn't save his sachertorte in time for the photo!

We also found time for lots of statues of composers, palaces and the excellent Schonbrunn zoo in the grounds of the palace. Vienna didn't feel quite as 'Austrian' as I was expecting, although I feel that my many, many viewings of The Sound of Music may have influenced my views on this! Lots to do however in the city as well as schnitzel and strudel!

First stop...Prague!

We had rather a good May, with two holidays! First, a weekend in Prague! We travelled Friday night, finally arriving at the hostel around 2am Saturday morning and proceeded to pack as much into the weekend as we could!

 Prague has a lot more to do than I expected, as well as being far prettier and more picturesque than either of us had anticipated. I suppose we were stuck in Prague's past and expecting a very communist/eastern bloc type city. Prague is actually a beautiful city to walk around, and I would gladly go back just to spend more time taking in the scenery.

Apart from the usual castles and good views, we also visited the Staropramen brewery (cheesy but fun!) and a KGB museum complete with guided tour from a very nice man with a very strong Russian accent!

We also visited the Museum of Communism, where Jimmy met Stalin, as well as walking up a lot of steps to Prague's huge castle, including the beautiful St Vitus's Cathedral - home to some of the most spectacular stained glass windows I have ever seen.

A real highlight for me was getting to visit the Mucha museum and see some of the work of one of my favourite artists up close.

A few new London visits

One of the best things about living in London is that there's always something new to do, whether that's something new opening up or something that you haven't got round to yet.

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Olympic park in its' current state - having last been there in July for the Paralympic Games. The visit included a short tour around the park, and most excitingly the chance to go up the Arcelor Mittal tower - the massive, abstract red structure that gives views across the surrounding area. We visited with a Chinese friend, which was also very interesting as a chance to discuss our take on the Olympic Games compared to Beijing's.

The week before I visited Libertys department store, just off Regent Street. Although I had walked past several times and knew the name well, I had never actually been in. The building is beautiful, and the range of fabrics they have is stunning. They also do a good cup of tea and tasty cake!

Finally, we have been twice now to Surrey Docks City Farm. The farm is just round the corner from us (bearing in mind we live in Zone 2) and is home to cows, pigs, donkeys, goats, sheep etc and is so wonderful to visit for a bit of nature in the middle of the city. Yesterday they held a spring fair, we managed to show up in time to catch the last of the morris dancing!

A sophisticated evening out on the town

On Monday we went to Burger & Lobster, a tasty restaurant where we both tried lobster for the first time. The novelty was good and it tasted expensive but the difficulty eating it meant I would choose the lobster roll (basically a lobster hot-dog), which Vicki had, next time.

We then went to the Wydhams theatre in Soho to see Quartermaine's Terms which was very good. The best play I've seen and the first one I would pay to see again. Rowan Atkinson plays an eager but ultimately very lonely St John Quartermaine and the play covers a couple of years at the end of his career as a teacher of English to foreign students in Cambridge in the 1950s.

Reg would have enjoyed it too but he was too fat to fit in the box we had, as you can see from the photo.

Wriggly Tin

Wriggly Tin - 'a slang term for corrugated iron'

Otherwise known as the shepherds hut where we spent the first few days of the Easter break. Jimmy's birthday was Good Friday, and his birthday surprise beginning Easter Monday was two nights staying in a shepherds hut in the middle of a field in Hampshire! A bit risky, but luckily he says he loved it!

Wriggly Tin consists of two very cute and very cosy shepherds huts fully equipped with warm bed and wood burning stove (the bathroom is in another hut across the field!). Our hut, called Butser, was just big enough for the two of us to sleep and cook our breakfast before heading out for the day to enjoy the countryside around us.



We were able to hire bikes, which we made full use of by trying to visit as many villages in one day as we could (we managed 5). It really did make me want to pack up my bags and leave London for the countryside, all the villages so pretty, especially in the sunshine.

Alex, the owner, provided us with a lovely breakfast basket full of local produce which really did taste so much better! Another excellent foodie time was visiting the tearooms in the nearest village of Hambledon, all homemade and very quaint with their collection of over 100 different teapots!


It was a definite wake up call to how much we rely on the everyday mod-cons of electricity and plumbing! But also really peaceful to be completely away from it all, just the two of us. Plus we were blessed with some beautiful weather which always puts a smile on my face!

I found Wriggly Tin on Canopy and Stars, which has lots of 'unique' places to stay including yurts and treehouses - quite keen on trying one of these next!

More info on Wriggly Tin can be found at Alex's website