A Revelation

I found something quite a revelation yesterday when making myself a spot of lunch.

Baked sweet potatoes with tikka tuna.

You have to try it. It is quite simply delicious.

Hell on Earth

The local shops have failed when it comes to finding something to wear tomorrow evening so I have had to head to Meadowhall shopping centre. A place I hate with a passion. Too many people in one place at the same time.

Still I found the right outfit.

Hopefully I won't have to go again anytime soon.

Gathering

It is that time of year again where we start gathering together the list of items we need to give Naughty-Cal here winter spruce up.

We have had a couple of unexpected items to add to the list this year including bits to fix the diesel heater which unexpectedly broke down.

A Quiet Day

I have a nice quiet day today, which is just as well as yesterday's few drinks turned into several more. Liam is back at work so I have given myself the thankless task of cleaning the oven for today.

Deep joy!

Boxing Day Drinks

Today we are meeting up with Liams brother for a few drinks in Sheffield.  It will be the first time in a long time that we have had a drink in our home town.

Christmas Day Drive

We had a great day yesterday starting out with a big Christmas breakfast. Then we woke the Sierra up and had a drive to The White Hart in West Stockwith for a couple of dinnertime pints before heading home and preparing dinner.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you from Liam, Rachael and Naughty-Cal.

I hope you all have a lovely day.

An Almost Matching Pair

You may remember a couple of weeks ago we painted the sun  cover for the chart plotter but it didn't match the tridata cover. So we took the other one home and painted that also and treated it to some new transfers.

Well it is back on the boat at last. And it looks much better.

Now we just need to take the plotter cover home again to fit the transfers and give it a coat of satin lacquer.

The Final Visit

Tonight we will pay our final visit to Naughty-Cal of 2016. The next time we see her she will be high and dry, chocked up on the hardstanding for her two to three month break and fettle up.

We have enjoyed another great year afloat with Cal and it is time to repay her for the service.

We had not anticipated going to the boat this weekend but we left in somewhat of a hurry last weekend and forgot several items and didn't put some of the heaters in place so we are quickly heading across tonight. To save cooking we plan to have a few drinks and a meal in Harbour Lights opposite our mooring.

We won't be staying for long through. The plan is to do a few quick jobs on Saturday morning, including removing the sickly diesel heater before heading back to Sheffield to meet up with friends then head home to prepare for Sunday. I still have the Christmas soup to make yet.

More Progress

So I let you all into the secret last week that Liam and I are on a mission to lose some weight. Last night's weigh in was a little surprise as after yet another heavy week of drinking and parties we had both still lost weight, Liam 2lbs and me 3lbs. These small amounts each week are now starting to add up nicely.

Well aside from the better eating and alternative alcoholic drinks we have also cut out the caffeine due to Liam's continuing issues with his high blood pressure. Now cutting out caffeine isn't so easy as it sounds. It is in loads of stuff you never even consider. Chocolate for example. Now we are not eating chocolate as a rule anyway at the moment but Christmas is around the corner so we need a little sweet treat for the weekend. White chocolate is the answer to this it seems.

I have switched the coke in my Jack Daniels and diet coke to caffeine free diet coke, which is fine when we are on the boat or at home but does become an issue when we are out and about as we have found no pubs yet that sell it. In fact just buying any decaffeinated drink in some places has become a chore. 

Who would have thought that in this day and age you would struggle in some coffee shops to buy a decaff coffee?

All Sorted

We are now officially all sorted for Christmas.

We have the last of the gifts to deliver tonight on the way home from work but then we can sit back, chill out and relax as the work is finished.

We went and did the last of the food and beer shopping last night so we are now fully stocked up, with no need to venture to anymore busy shops. We have learnt from previous years that trying to barge your way around a busy supermarket a couple of days before Christmas is no laughing matter. So this year have been super organised and bought everything well in advance.

Now we just have to sit back and let the Christmas spirit flow.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Well it wasn't a wall that this Humpty Dumpty had a fall from but the stairs at home on Sunday evening.

Missed a stair at the top and landed on mu bum on the edge of a stair tread. Ouch!

Needless to say a day or so later it is still very sore. The transition from sitting to standing being the worst for the pain but hopefully in the next few days it should start to settle down. It must be getting a bit better because I have noticed this morning other aches and pains from the fall that yesterday I just couldn't recognise due to the pain in my coxis. 

What would we do without pain killers?

The Christmas Bash

Here are a selection of photos taken by a selection of people from our Christmas party on Saturday evening. I'm sure this was supposed to be a sensible dinner party!

Oh Dear

This was not what we expected to come back to on returning to the boat yesterday afternoon after having a couple of drinks in town!

One dead diesel heater.

Thankfully we managed to scrounge a couple of electric heaters to keep us warm last night!

Let The Festivities Begin

It is the day of the E Pontoon Christmas party. We have woken up to a misty scene here on an eerily quiet E Pontoon. There is barely a soul around.

This will all change shortly as the mob arrive.

Soon we are heading into town to get a bit of shopping in, mainly food this week and we will grab a bite to eat at lunch time.

The plan is to hopefully bag a mooring on the Woodcocks moorings so we don't have such a long walk home tonight.

A Busy Weekend

After a couple of busy evenings it is now time for a busy weekend ahead. It is the weekend of our E Pontoon Christmas party and this year the venue is the newly refurbished Woodcocks family pub on Burton Waters.

We have not used the Woodcocks for this annual event before so it will be a first for us. The newly opened function room being the venue for our three course Christmas lunch and then we have Paul the Pianist as our entertainment for after the dinner.

We have used Paul on several occasions now and he always puts on a good show. Excellent value for money when it comes to the effort he puts in and always guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

A Busy Evening

It was a busy evening in the Jennings-Broughton household last night. 

After a long day at work we arrived home to loads of washing and dinner to cook, twice. Yes twice. Once for last night and then with that finished, cleared away and washed up, I set too again making a curry to warm through again on Friday night.

And then as if that wasn't enough it was time to wrap up all of the Christmas gifts we have bought. One error we made here though was buying glittery wrapping paper. The living room looked like a glitter bomb had gone off by the time we had finished wrapping. Liam looked fit to head to a 1970's disco, covered head to toe in glitter. We will have to apologise in advance to anyone before they open them!

And then finally it was weigh in night. Neither of us held out much hope of having lost much given it was a hard weekend and we both had big Christmas meals to attend  in between weigh ins. But despite all of the naughtiness we both managed respectable losses. Liam losing 3lb and me losing 4lb. Quite a shock but a very pleasing result. At this rate it won't be long before we have both lost a stone.

Shedding the Pounds

Usually when we talk about shedding the pounds on this blog it relates to us taking weight off of Naughty-Cal, but not today. Today is another post about the crew shedding a few pounds.

It isn't easy, we are both food lovers but with a few simple changes we are making in roads into our target weights. It is helpful to have a target to aim for.

Here are just a few of our simple food swaps we have made which do seem to be making a difference:

One of our favourites curry. Usually we would have lamb but this was a homemade turkey jalfrezi served with wholewheat rice and a spicy vegetable bahji.

This is a Friday night favourite. Swapping the greasy kebab for cajun salmon and stir fried vegetables.

Stuffed peppers but unstead of stuffing them with steak mince they are stuffed with a chilli bean mixture and topped with reduced fat cheddar.

Cod topped with a garlic and herb crust. The swap here is the sweet potato wedges instead of chips made with bog standard white spuds.

Everyone loves a lasagne. This one is made with butternut squash and spinach in a spicy homemade tomato and chilli sauce.

And for when we are in a junk food mood these are homemade chicken kievs made with a reduced fat garlic butter and a homemade garlic and herb breadcrumb crust.

It is weigh in night tonight and as I said yesterday we don't anticipate any weight loss this week what with prior arrangements and meals out. Whilst we have tried to pick healthy choices it isn't always easy when eating out, especially when the meals are the whole three courses!

The Wrong Time Of Year

It really is the wrong time of year for this but we are both on with the task of shedding a few pounds. No not from the wallet buying Christmas presents, although that is proving to be a good way of shedding the other type of pounds. We are shedding the weight, or attempting too anyway. 

We have both decided that we would feel a little better if we did try and lose not masses of weight but just a stone or so each. 

No this had been going well, with us both steadily losing the pounds until the festive period began. Wednesday is our own little fat club weigh in at home and last week we had both made good progress, Liam losing four pounds and me losing three. However this last week has been a difficult one with Liam having his works Christmas party, me on client lunches and dinners and then this coming weekend our moorers Christmas party!

Our guess is that tomorrow evenings weigh in might not be a good one!

It is certainly the wrong time of year for this!

Donna Nook

A selection of pictures we took yesterday at Donna Nook.

Sunny Day

It is a bright and sunny day so we have decided to head back to the marina and are about to jump into the car to head to Donna Nook.

That's Better

The painted sun cover for the chart plotter looks much better.  Next job is to take the Tridata cover home and do the same with that and get some Raymarine transfers made up for them.

No Lion or Witch.

It is the night of Liam's works Christmas party tonight so we are having this evening in Sheffield, unusual for us with the boat still in the water, but sometimes these things happen. We will head to the marina tomorrow morning after a hearty breakfast at home. So we won't really lose any boating time. 

While Liam was hunting a shirt down in his wardrobe with limited success he decided it was fine time we both pulled our fingers out and sorted out our wardrobes. A dull job if ever there was one. But a job which is strangely satisfying once completed and you can find all of your clothing again. The clothing to be gotten rid of was bagged up to be recycled and we now both have clean and tidy wardrobes with acres of space in them.

I tell you. It's all rock and roll in our household!

Four Seasons

Well we really have been treated to four seasons in one week this week.

It started out bitterly cold and frosty yet sunny and bright, switched to mild yet windy and just now has switched again to wet and miserable and dismal. All we have missed is a bit of snow. Mind you the frost was so heavy on Monday it could have been mistaken for snow in places!

For a small island nation we do get our fair variety of weather in one week.

Looking ahead though if the forecasts are right we look set to have a mild weekend. Not bad for the middle of December and approaching Christmas for temperatures to be in double digits.

Simple Grub

We always favour a simple meal after a long day at work. I mean who really wants to be spending hour slaving over the hob after spending 12 (or often more) hours out of the house at work and commuting?

Well we certainly don't!

Yesterdays evening meal was a simple homemade chicken kiev, simplicity on a plate. A chicken breast scored down the top, stuffed with some homemade reduced fat garlic butter and coasted in homemade garlic and herb crouton crust. Bake for 25 minutes and there you have a simple easy meal.

I served this with stuffed sweet potatoes which I had baked the evening before so they simply needed scooping out, mixing with some cheese and then spooning back in again and baking with the chicken. The selection of vegetables speaks for itself really. A winter selection of sprouts, kale, broccoli and carrot.

Cold

It was a cold and frosty start to the day yesterday morning and for the first time this year we awoke to ice on the surface of the water, not only in the marina but also on the Fossdyke from the glimpses that we caught as we drove home.

It will be short lived though as temperatures are set to rise as of today and by the weekend will be positively mild for the time of year.

Switched Over

Yesterday we tackled the job of changing the dashboard switches for the new ones we had bought. It may only be a small job but it has already made such a difference to how the dashboard looks. 

Before:

And after:

We have brought the sun cover home for the chart plotter this morning and this will get painted in the week with some paint designed for plastics. So the dashboard should hopefully be looking as good as new by the beginning of next weekend.

One set of small jobs crossed off the list.