Meal Planning Monday

Last week went well, although I got a bit of a shock. I thought as I was doing a WeightWatchers week I should probably go back and get myself weighed at a meeting. So I went back for the first time since November. Although it should not have been a shock, I had put on 10lbs, and it was a shock. I knew my clothes hadn't been fitting so great (read half don't fit anymore), and although I'd been trying to cut back and had in fact succeeded in losing about 6lbs, I was under the impression, because my scales at home hugely underweigh, that I was still at least somewhere near my goal weight, oh no, I was 8lbs over! So I had to pay. And although I'm still almost 2 stone lighter than I was when I started in 2012, it still feels like a bit of failure. I hate that there are pictures and adverts of cake and chocolate everywhere, that I have to walk past the sweets/crisps/chocolate aisle to get to the fruit in the supermarket, that I'm now 7 weeks into term and don't get a break till July, and I'm knackered and because the weather has been beautiful, everyone's eating ice cream and I want them all. It makes this so much harder!

So I guess it's a good thing that I started this WeightWatchers week and I have to remember that this is a lifestyle change and not a diet. So now I'm stood in the supermarket with the app trying to work out the points of things!

As a bit of an ironic twist to that I went on a Cupcake and Macaron tour on Saturday with a friend. I went on the same tour last year with my Mum and because some of the places we originally visited had closed this was a slightly different tour. So, both Lorraine Pascal's Bakehouse and Sweet Couture have closed in the intervening year and instead we went to BB Bakery and Crumbs and Doillies. We had mini cupcakes in both. I had a raspberry cupcake from BB Bakery, which came with a whole raspberry in the middle of the cake, the icing however, wasn't anything to write home about.

I had a Cookie Dough cupcake from Crumbs and Doillies, which was delicious, my friend had biscoff and said that was very good. That's Ruth modeling the cupcake in the photo above. She gave us a little bit of background to the bakery and said that they change their flavours every day and although the company has been in business for 9 years, they've only had the shop in Kingly Court since December. Patisserie Valerie seems to have been dropped from their route, so there were 6 tastings instead of 7. We still went to La Duree, Hummingbird, Yauatcha and finished at Fortnum and Mason where this time we had a cupcake rather than a macaron. In Yauatcha I had Yuzu macaron and a Pandan one, going for their more exotic flavours. All in all I didn't think the tour was as good as last time, the guide wasn't as good and they were definitely less generous although there was still a fair amount of food.

I then spent Sunday being crazily productive, making soup, doing housework, going grocery shopping and I decided at 6pm to start defrosting the freezers!

This week is busier, I have not one but two pilates classes, I am off to see Buckets at The Orange Tree theatre on Wednesday and then I am going to Sunset Safari at London Zoo on Friday evening with my sister. I am also going out for lunch with some old work colleagues on Saturday to Chinatown. So there's a lot of soup being had this week, it's a good job I made more yesterday!

Monday
Smoked Mackerel, Spinach and Potato Dauphinois with Salad

Butter Beans with Sweet Chilli (Ottolenghi)

Tuesday
Fattoush

Creamy Beef Pasanda with Rice (WW Nice N Spicy)

Wednesday
Ham and Pea Soup with Bread
Out before the theatre

Thursday
Multi Veg Paella
Salmon Sandwich Pie with Crisps

Friday
Asparagus and Farro Soup with Bread
Out at the Zoo

Saturday
Out for lunch with friends


Sunday

Lamb and Flageolet Bean Salad (Salads)

North African Stuffed Sole (WW Nice N Spicy)