Thursday, 16 February 2012

Sprung a leek?

Leek and green bean soup

1/2 a leek
Handful of fine green beans
A few pinches of chopped parsley
1 tsp dried herbs (not great but I had to use tarragon)
1 vegetable stock cube 
Bowl of water
Pepper to taste

Chop up the vegetables and add to a pan of boiling stock-cube water. Simmer until green beans start to soften then add parsely, herbs and pepper to taste. Keep it simmering until it's boiled up a treat and serve. (Disclaimer: not recommended for dinner parties, or anybody else other than yourself for that matter)




Less than 100 calories, mmmm...

My 'Beggars can't be Choosers' recipe project

The non-committal nature of my job hunting tactics renders me indefinitely (and not surprisingly) unemployed. Now, when I say I have no money, I mean it in a very literal sense - less than 50p on my card AFTER my 1000 squid student overdraft, 30p mocks my sad, sad purse and a pint glass full of coppers (totalling just over £3) which I am saving in case of an 'emergency'. Despite the implied derision of myself, packed into those two little apostrophes, the word maybe carries a little more weight considering that I ran out of tobacco days ago and have had to make do with leeching the odd death stick off of my boyfriend or sister (who will be home from work in less than one hour...). Those who smoke and don't eat can surely empathise with me there.
By the by, I am left with no choice but to sift through the butter and cheese, part the fields of bread and wilfully push aside the boxes of fish fingers and other such dubiously coloured delights, in order to reach my destination - the predominately empty salad tray. Now, I have no right to complain but big sis can't really cook - she and her boyfriend work full time and thus are fast-food advocates, when funds permit. So in a defence against scurvy, I have started cooking supper and stressing the importance of vegetables. Behold, the staple of my 'Beggars can't be Choosers' recipe colletion. And the neccessity of lowering my taste-buds' standards. 

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

...And every sentence that I spoke began and ended in ellipses...

More than ever before, in the mere twenty years that I have inhabited this sad planet, do I feel suspended between two particular, though familiar, states of mind. After one term at uni I'm intermitting and going back in September having persuaded myself, my friends and family that I need the time to sort things out in my silly little head, thereby forging some kind of stabilty. So I got put on the happy happy pills and, dread it as I might, intend to get some kind of counselling. And I'm desperate for a job so that I can get my own flat and stop leeching off my sister and her boyfriend. But counter-progressively, I have no intention of kicking my unhealthy eating habits. Warped as this may sound, I envy those depression sufferers who, as a result, lose their appetite: for me, weeks of melancholia and self-inflicted 'house arrest' equal perpetual cupboard raiding. Jesus fucking Christ, do I miss the feeling of a truly empty stomach.That incomparable elation, the secret smugness produced by the knowledge that the majority of the population who actually have free and abundant access to food are too weak to deny it themselves. Of course, I am aware that this view deems myself inherently weak and flawed in the eyes of society. But the wonderful paradox that serves as a self-justification is that with every pound I lose, I will look that fraction more desirable to those very same eyes. And though I generalise here, it is fruitless to argue against the paradigmatic nature of the follwing statement: fat people are aesthetically less pleasing than their thin counterparts. If the world's mass media isn't proof enough of that then, hell, I'll be prepared to repudiate all faith in the power of rational argument! Oh, how I regress.

So the moral of this tiresomely convoluted story is that you just cannot teach an old pony new tricks - even if you move it to a flatter, more spacious field and hand it a shiny new twirling baton.

Monday, 2 January 2012

HOW

did I get to 120lbs?!
Of course, this question is entirely rhetorical considering my unabated binging over the past couple of weeks.
I cannot describe how naseous that makes me feel but that's exactly what motivated me to bite the bullet and haul my fat ass onto those scales. 
It's now quarter past two and all I've had is an apple so I'm determined not to cave and raid the kitchen.
I'm studying Jane Eyre next term and it's doing a pretty good job keeping me engrossed. And reading about such a destitute, melancholy character suppresses my appetite somehow.
Onwards and upwards!

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Gettin' ink dun.

My much beloved Wind-Up Bird tattoo - courtesy of a very talented stranger! Thank you, 'pokedyoureyeout.'


Monday, 13 June 2011

Knee-Literature.

I definitely should have spent the evening revising, or at least doing something mentally progressive. As it stands, I drew 1920s-esque faces on my knees and found a suitable F. Scott Fitzgerald quote to accompany them.

"I hope something happens. I'm restless as the devil and have a horror of getting fat or falling in love and growing domestic."

Saturday, 4 June 2011

"But it's on you for life!",,,

... My mother's reaction to my first two tattoos. So, of course I'm getting another! Although this one is going to be pretty well hidden so I won't get any grief about it and she'll be none the wiser. Since Murakami is one of my favourite authors and I never want to forget the beauty of his novels, I figured that having the Wind-Up Bird permanently inked onto my skin should make for a pretty obvious reminder! I'm not a huge fan of most tattoos but I think they can look particulrly good on the ribs. For example...

Of course, I would love to have her figure too but I guess the more meat on my bones, the less excruciating it will be.
It's a good enough excuse for now at least.