On The Down Side

Well, I didn't quite get to bed as early as I'd planned last night, but it was still well before midnight when I finally got there. I didn't even get to see the entire first set of the Andy Murray final.

I decided last night that I was going to make a concerted effort to quit coffee and alcohol for the duration of my second attempt at the Paleo 10 week program. So, this morning, I heated up a nice big mug of chicken bone broth and after drinking some lemon water, I sat up in bed sipping my broth while watching a movie length video "Ethos Time to Unslave Humanity" .

It was a nice slow and comfortable way to start the day.

Soon, I realised that I hadn't made up this fortnight's dog food, and I had no pumpkin, so off I pedalled in search of the vegetable.

There are two farmers in town who sell their pumpkins from home. One usually has a timber box full of pumpkins and pineapples, stationed on his front lawn, but of course, it was nowhere to be seen today. The other has a wheel barrow full of pumpkins on his front porch, but it appears that he is away indefinitely .. he has a hessian bag covering his sign.

This meant the local supermarket was my only option. I was in luck! Quite reasonably priced too.

By the time I'd finished making the dog food, filling the containers and cleaning up the mess, I had a headache that would kill an elephant!! I'd only made it to 3pm and I pleaded with Adoring Husband to fetch me a coffee. I would prefer to drink a coffee to ease the pain, than take a pain killer.

Funnily enough, I could physically feel my body responding to the caffeine with the first mouthful and by the second mouthful, the pain had eased significantly. It was a very strange feeling.

I still plan on quitting coffee, but I won't go cold turkey, as I did the last two times. I'll increase the time between coffees a little each day, over the period of a week, and see if that makes it easier.

Recently, I saved a recipe from my Facebook feed, called 'Gluten Free Brazilian Chicken with Coconut Milk Reduction'. It came from the Inspired Eats website, but the site is having problems and the recipe cannot be accessed through any link or even directly from the site.

I found the same recipe in Pinterest, but the site could still not be accessed. The photo in Pinterest had the ingredients listed below it, but no method or instructions ... so I had to make it up, using the photo, the ingredients and my imagination.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
4 boneless chicken thighs
2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
1 onion chopped
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chopped broccoli

So ... I mixed the first 5 ingredients to make a rub for the chicken, coated each piece and rubbed it into the flesh. I heated the oil and browned the chicken on both sides, partially cooking it.

I removed the chicken from the pan and gently fried the onion, garlic and ginger, then poured in the coconut milk and simmered it gently for about 20 minutes until it reduced somewhat. I added the chicken to the coconut milk and simmered for another 10 minutes until the chicken was cooked through.

I steamed the broccoli separately and then stirred it through the sauce at the end.

It was nice, but I think it needed more heat, so I'll add some chilli and maybe cayenne pepper next time. Adoring Husband seems to think that it would be nice with duck, so I'll try that too.

I'll also keep trying to get into the site to see how this dish should be cooked. Hopefully,  they will iron out their problems soon.

I forgot to mention that I made chicken liver pate on Sunday after everybody had left. I'd taken the chicken livers out of the freezer on Friday, but didn't have time to make it for the party. I didn't want to waste 1kg of organic chicken livers.

It's the first time I've made it and it's quite delicious! I added some white port to the mix. It was supposed to be Brandy, but I didn't have any, so I improvised!

I'm disappointed that Murray defeated Raonic in the Wimbledon final last night, but I'm glad that the tournament is finished. Two weeks on minimal sleep is quite enough for me.

The US Open starts at the end of August and goes til the 11th September, but I'll be babysitting, so I won't be watching any of that one. My sleep will be valuable and I will need my wits about me! I'll definitely watch the results with interest.

I wonder how successful I will be, in getting to bed early tonight? Two of my favourite shows are on tonight 'Love Child' and 'Grey's Anatomy'. I guess I could try that modern idea of 'recording' the shows and watching them tomorrow. Just a thought.

A couple of bad Dad jokes ...

So what if I can't spell Armageddon? It's not the end of the world.

What sort of exercises do lazy people do? Diddly Squats.

Sorry :)

Nite all.