Monthly Archives: January 2012

A couple of weeks ago my friend Vanessa and I went for a drink at a tea shop pop-up in Manchester called Drink Tea Eat Cake. I didn’t know it was a pop-up at the time, but facebook tells me that it’s actually already closed!

It was really pretty, though, and there was even a little hut in the shop. Not being much of a tea drinker myself (I have my moments) I opted for a mocha which was served in a cute enamel camping mug.

Vanessa had a tea, which looked very pretty in its clear clinical teapot. It came with a timer, too, so that it had the correct brewing time! ah!

The cakes looked spectacular, too, especially the blue meringues!

They have a full time shop in the Northern Quarter which I’ll definitely be popping in next time I’m in Manchester!

So, it’s been 14 days since I started the 30 day shred. I moved onto level 2 after 9 days of level 1, and boy, it gets harder. Level 1 already seemed to improve my strength, I upped my weights after day 2 to the green weights (1.5kg). I still couldn’t do a proper press-up by the end of it BUT I felt like I was getting nearer..! I can’t remember that much about level 1 now, only that it got progressively easier each day which is why by day 9 I felt the need to up my game and try level 2. The scales at the gym (massive, fancy, tell you your fortune, scales) told me that within the first 7 days I’d lost 2.4kg of body fat, that’s crazy right? That’s like a decent sized ham.

Level 2 is full of planks, planks are hard, and my shoulders are weak. The two don’t mix very well. I’m improving, though, and can see some shoulder muscles coming through! Day 2 of level 2 was killer, the pain in my upper body from the first day was definitely noticable, but I carried on regardless (and by regardless I mean whimpering and saying fuck a lot). My planks are improving now, and I can almost do a full set of this awful exercise called plank jacks without collapsing. Wahey!

In other news, Adam and I are having a few days in Lake Garda (Italy) next month, and by a few days I mean fly out on a Friday (for me, anyway) and return the following Monday. The only reason we’re going is because Adam has a work thing out there, and I’ve never been to Italy at all! We’re planning on taking a trip to Venice (I mean, I’d like to see it before it sinks or something), doing some walking around, eating some pizza and generally just having a break. I get to fly out on my own which always excites me, the last time I did it was to Australia. I have a silly 4/5hr layover in Frankfurt though, I guess I’ll get some work done?!

If you follow me on twitter you’ll already know all the dramaz that occurred last Friday, if not, here’s the low down.

Friday morning I woke up with an annoying ear ache and distorted hearing (like, really tinny sounds), and because it was Friday and I didn’t want to go into the weekend with an ear infection I decided to head straight to the doctors. Diagnosis was ‘unconfirmed ear infection’ because he couldn’t see it properly or something, but he still gave me antibiotics (something which I’ve been trying to avoid throughout this ridiculously prolonged illness).

At lunch, I did my 30 day shred workout (I went on the fancy scales at the gym last week, too, they tell me that whilst I’ve only lost 1lb of mass, I’ve actually lost 2.5kg of body fat.. meaning I must have switched in some muscles – yay, strength!) and got showered & dressed (this is important for the end of the tale). I set about my afternoon’s work, made lunch, packaged parcels etc. etc. It got to 3pm and I decided it was time to head to the post office.

Our cats are indoor cats, and when we leave the house we shut them in the lounge/kitchen area to create a cat-airlock when we’re leaving through the front door. Usually, we just shake their biscuits and they both come running into the lounge at a sprint. Pumpkin was already in the lounge and I started shaking the biscuits for Bramble, who didn’t come running. I headed upstairs and checked out her usual hiding spots (under the sofa bed in the office, the wardrobe in out bedroom, under the duvet on our bed…) but she wasn’t ANYWHERE to be found. I started pulling the place apart trying to find here but nada. Zilch.

Then it started running through my head that I’d answered the door to the post woman earlier on, and even though I was sure that Bramble hadn’t dashed out (they never come near the open front door) it was fast becoming the only explanation left. I went outside, checked under the car, under the bushes… still shaking the packet of dreamies all the time, but couldn’t see her. I started to panic then and phoned my Mum to come up and help.

I ran around to the street whose houses back onto ours and started knocking on doors, no one had seen her. I’m not ashamed to say I was crying by this point – it was getting dark, the school run had started (and our street is used as a rat-run), and it was raining. Bramble isn’t used to the outside at all. I’d called Adam to come home from work, too, and he made a massive dash from Manchester Uni to home in the fastest time ever.

Me and my Mum continued looking, she drove around the block to see if she could see her, and I did some more door knocking and checking of gardens. We kept going back in the house because Mum and I were both adamant that she wouldn’t have run out, especially in the rain, even though it seemed like the only explanation. We checked wardrobes again, under the sofa, behind sofas, basically everywhere we could think of. There was no meowing, no scratching, nothing.

I phoned the local vets and asked if they’d had any tortoiseshell cats brought in (they hadn’t), and explained that she was chipped, gave my name and number etc. I was on the phone to the last local vet when Adam got home, so my Mum decided to go at that point and leave us both to look.

Adam started on a quick sweep of the house before we both headed out to trawl the streets. Like we’d already done, he checked the usual spots and any other nooks and crannys. By chance, complete chance, he heard a tiny scratch from the chest of drawers. Not a meow, howl, or massive scratch, just a tiny noise… so he started opening the drawers. Lo, and behold! Bramble cat! snuggled down in the second to top drawer, in between a bunch of t-shirts. She’d been in there for over 5 hours not making a peep.

When I’d gotten dressed after my shred, she must have jumped in the drawer. The drawer must have only been half open for her to sneak under and into the back, otherwise she couldn’t have done it as I wouldn’t have been able to close the drawer. The drawer was then shut, and she hung out in there for the rest of the day not making a sound.

So yes, to say I was fraught is an understatement! Adam made me a double G+T and we had a take-away for tea as a treat.

Stupid fucking cats!

I’d never heard of the 30 day shred before I saw a couple of people talking about it on twitter, one quick google later and I was stocking my amazon basket with the DVD and a set of weights. It’s basically a fitness DVD with a 20 minute circuit workout, spanning 3 levels of difficulty/effort, and holds the promise of being as good as a long session at the gym.

My weights & dvd arrived this morning and I couldn’t wait to give it a try. I’d psyched myself and was prepared to feel like I was going to die like all the reviews told me I would  - “You’ll feel like you’re being killed, but that’s a good thing”.

So I just got finished on day 1, level 1, and I loved it! It’s pretty relentless.

I didn’t find it too challenging (I probably will tomorrow when the aches set in, if not, I’ll up my weights) but then I do go to zumba (lots of cardio, stretches and recently squats/lunges) three times a week so it’s not like I’m starting from scratch. The hardest part for me was the jumping jacks and bicycle crunches. I decided to do some extra warming up and cooling down, too (the 20 minutes includes a 1 minute warm up & cool down, I don’t think my muscles would’ve liked that… they’re already screaming at me from some squats at zumba yesterday).

My main hope from doing this for the next 30 days is to gain some upper body strength, I’m weaker than a kitten in the arms! It’s quite fun to do the workout with weights, I’ve never done one like that before and I can definitely feel that my arms have had a good workout from it.

I would say, though, that I do find the Nike fitness club workouts more of a challenge, but they include burpees and planks from the get go (which I think appear in level 2 or 3 of 30 day shred).

I’ll keep you updated! :)

Thanks for your comments & tweets about my video yesterday, it’s always scary doing something completely new. I think I’ll be making that pronunciation one soon :)

Our meal yesterday at Southern 11 was amazing. Like, amazing amazing. Even before the starters came out we were saying that we’d go again, we hadn’t even tasted the food!

The decor is fabulous, but I didn’t get a photo of it… er… fail. We supped on Blue Moon (if you’ve never had it before, it’s a USA equivalent of Hoegaarden I’d say) and checked out the menu, opting for deep fried pickle spears (definitely going to try and make these at home, oh pickles, I love you) and sausage links to start.

It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone that you tried to lick your screen…

Originally we wanted to try the tasting platter, but on finding that it was for 1 person only and not a sharing platter, we decided to try a couple of the main dishes instead. We went for pulled pork (we’re both obsessed with good pulled pork, ever since we were introduced to it in Memphis) and beef short ribs.

The pulled pork was awesome, tender, moist, sticky and delicious. It was served with jalepeño cornbread & homemade coleslaw (served in a cute little kilner jar). The pork & cornbread was equal to what we’ve had in America before, very impressed.

The beef short ribs were another winner, falling straight off the bone. Yum. They were served with a tiny pot of creamy mash.

And because it was my birthday we decided to get dessert, especially seeing as I’d already said “If there’s a brownie on the dessert menu then I’m having the fucker”. Alas, there was, and a grand brownie it was at that! Perfectly crispy around the edges, with a gooey centre and punctuated with hazelnuts and walnuts. Proper good.

Adam had the New York baked cheesecake, and whilst it wasn’t equal to any cheesecake we’ve had in the US (is it ever?), it was one of the best we’ve had in the UK. Other delights on the dessert menu included cookies with milk (!!), I was sorely tempted.