Night Of The Living Veg. . . .(10/10 club star in 3D Terror Vision. All welcome)

[fullmOOOOOWHOOOOOnfiend]

For anyone who wants a boost to their general health. The suggested goals are:

EAT 10 PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY - if you don't usually eat much fruit and veg I would build up gradually or you could upset your digestion.

DO (AT LEAST) 10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE EVERY DAY - can be yoga, stretching or something more energetic. The plan is that the idea of doing 10 minutes is not too daunting, and having started you may well find you want to do more.

There are no restrictions on what you eat so long as you get your 10 fruit and veg as well. The focus is not on weight loss but on improving our energy levels and hopefully our general mood and well-being. Sign up below and post here to tell us how you're getting on and how you are feeling.

Basic guidance on what constitutes a portion of fruit and veg here and you can download more detailed information by following the link at the very bottom of the page.

Wow Pink, that is a splendid castle

I'm worried about mou - is she ok?

I'm back from Wisconsin. Was fab. No bears but snow.

Green beans
Apple pie
Pumpkin cake
mushrooms, spinach
Lemon curd

10

That's a mighty fine castle.

DS has this castle - he made my mum sit in it all week when she was here!

Castles are fun, aren't they?

I'm v. jealous of your trip to Wisconsin
Is it not a long way from where you live? My knowledge of American geography is pretty poor.

Yes, I'm worried about Mou too.

Mou, come back! If you're miserable, come and be miserable with us and we will roll mangoes at you.

I saw your concern as I was lurking...thank-you here
Please don't worry, I will be ok but need to get my head straight.

Good morning. I am 31 today. I have just eaten a lovely smoked salmon champagne breakfast and we are going to Holkham to walk on the beach then we are coming home for afternoon tea. Ds1 is making scones. We will see what they like.

Lostatsea - No advice I'm afraid but try and be kind to yourself. Things sound very hard.

Happy Birthday Guad, you young thing you!!
I googled "Guadalupe cake" just for fun, and found...Lovingly prepared by the Trappist monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe
On a website called MonasteryGifts.com, would you believe!

Lostatsea, I am so sorry!!
I wish I could help. Look, if you're not too far from Wiltshire, do you want to meet up?

That looks very wholesome thank you, Toot!

It was bitterly cold on the beach, the wind was so strong it was like a sandstorm and ds2 cried and cried and refused to walk and wouldn't let dh carry him so we didn't stop long.

There were no venison pies in the deli so we rushed along the coast road to Walsingham and the farm shop there was closed but luckily a lovely deli in Cley was just closing it's door and I said please can I come in as it's my birthday and they were very nice and now I have lots of delicious things for tea.

We are about to have the first fire of the season too. We have tons of wood but there's so much crap in the way you can't get to it.

Er, no fruit or veg as yet.

I live about 30 minutes from Indiana, 90 minutes from Wisconcisn and Michigan and 3 hours to Ohio and Iowa. So Wisc.isn't far. Was a 3 hr drive to the place we went, we stayed for 6 hours then drove 3 hours home. Was fun though.

I like the trappistmonk cake. And also that you can buy a cell phone from the same site. How odd.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Guadalupe.

at the deli in Cley. I LOVE that shop. Enjoy your fire.

Off to read LAS's thread

Ooh, we are having our first fire too
Having excavated the fireguard area, we found we still had a few logs

SB, I sort of thought you were down near Texas somewhere and Wisconsin was top righthand corner.

oh chuffing nora, I didn't realise it weas your birthday Guad

Hope you have had a simplay splendid day x

Nope, I'm in the middle, near the top-ish. At the bottom of Lake Michigan. Texas is a 3 hour flight or 1200 miles southwest of me.

My US geography was appalling when I first arrived but I have travelled a bit so know where most places are now and am generally better able to say where places are/ name capitals of States than most Americans. They don't seem to learn much geography here.

Happy Birthday Guad! Didn't realise it was today. I've put banners up round my dining room for you!

Courgettes for dinner, leek in soup. Lots of toast today and chocolate cake

DD's party was lovely Castle is very popular!

Going to read Mou's thread.

Happy Birthday Guad!!

I also ddn;t realize

Hope you have a lvoely evening with your deli fayre and the fire.

SB gald you neojyed Wisconsin.

Castle looks great Pink! Is it for Christmas or birthday or something special?

I didn;t need glasses this time. Optometrist (or whatever they're called) said probably will do in 2-3 years.

The christmas cake is in the oven and I am deperaltey trying not to peek for at least 4 hours.

By the time is cooked, cooled and I have fed it I reckon it will be about midnight didn;t plan it awfully well.

I have also made some mincemeat which is very full of brandy

Oh dear sorry about typos.

Haven;t really had any brandy, honest!!

Happy Birthday Guad.
at fires.
Mou, I've read yout other thread . Keep posting and

Love the castle, Pink, it is great.

Still got the ILs here. I ma really enjoying having them here. we so rarely have any family here, it is a treat. And they play with dds loads and loads, and wash up and dry up, nad did 2 supermarker trips for us. They leave on Tuesday and i will miss them.

Lots of nice food, includsing a fair bit of F&V. (and cakes and scones )

I always make that mistake with christmas cake cooking, FK. I managed to do it right this year for the first time ever. Which mincemeat recipe did you use? Is it veggie? Does it contain suet? Will it keep til xmas?

FK the castle is for her bday (but would've done it anyway cause the box appeared at work!) which is tomorrow. We had a little party this afternoon and saw family this morning. Tomorrow it's just us 3 and we're having a day out

(I say a party - only 3 friends and thier little ones round to play but it was lovely and we had cake and blew candles and I gave them all bubbles and stickers to take home.)

It seems to be done...it was done after 3 hours. Delia said 4!!!

SB mincemeat is using vegetarian suet, and according to Delia (have you spotted a theme going on here?) it should last up to a year! Am planning to use in about a month's time.

I can't get suet here so need to fin a suet-free recipe. Delia is the best for xmas stuff. I am going to make fake-sausage rolls next weekend, I think. I love all this festive baking.

Party sounds lovely.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow to little Pink!

SB what kind of a country is it that has no suet and no satsumas

But you do have bears

Hmm...the cake is rather flat and a little overdone round the edges. I am crap at cakes.

Have chucked anotehr half bottle of brandy at it and wrapped it up.

Am hopeful.

It's a very odd country, that's what!

Cake will be fine. Throw booze at it and the burnt stuff won't be noticable

I have a situation. I have been short of bowls for a week or so. I found a piece of one today. Under a shelf in the kitchen. Now, if I had broken it, I think I would remember. But I don't. I am wondering if it happened when my babysitter was here and she didn't tell me.But why wouldn't she? I don't care about it, it's only a bowl but you'd think she'd have said. I have 2 babysitters so don't know who it was.

One took DS out last week, didn't lock the front door properly, wasn't home by the time I got back (and she knew what time I would be home) and, when she did come back, had lost the keys (but found them again) and left the house a mess. And she emailed me yesterday to say she couldn't watch DS on Monday. But she had really good references. I'm a bit

That sounds a little worrying SB. I mean, a little scatterbrainedness is understandable, but I think she needs to pull herself together!!

You can make mincemeat without suet - just apple and dried fruit and sugar I think (tries to remember). It's lovely but won't keep ages.

FK, you could always strategically shave the edges. Christmas cakes are unpredictable things.

Pink, that sounds lovely

LittleRach, your ILs sound fantastic.

How are you, Toot?

The babysitter is quite young (18, maybe) but had lots of expereince. I think we need to have a bit of a talk. Thankfully my other babysitter can cover tomorrow. She seems less scatty.

Will look for mincemeat recipe. I thought I had bookmarked one but can't find it and it's almost time to make pies.

I have been invited to odd friend for Thanksgiving (the one who's kids I sometimes look after and who has been very odd recently and a bit mean) - we usually go to her but things are so awkward this year I am not sure I want to go but it might help toward peacekeeping? My BF wants me to spend it with him and his family but I can't do both. And I have no idea if I will have DS with me or not. I hate this bit of the holidays.