Saturday without jet lag

[fenchurch]

Jet lag hit me like a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster, but thankfully I finally seem to be over it. I guess it's just easier to adjust going the other direction, because we really had no problems when we got to London. Since we got home, I've been waking up around 4:00am and getting sleepy around 8:00pm (forcing myself to stay up until 10:00 even though I was painfully tired). On Thursday I actually fell asleep, without realizing it, while sitting on the couch and woke up around two or three hours later very confused in an extremely dark house. I'm kinda glad I didn't have to drive anywhere that day.

By the time rackham got home from work that night, even with that unplanned nap, I was having trouble completing sentences in one go... with huge pauses in the middle while my brain rebooted or something. Rackham said it was a bit like listening to William Shatner on Valium. I have no idea how he managed to make it through a full day of work...

Friday was only marginally better, although I still only managed to stay up until 10:00 with a lot of effort. But this morning I woke up around 4:30, read for an hour and then slept for another three, finally getting up at 8:30. It's been *much* better today... I finally feel in sync again.

I went back to Curves this morning for the first time in about three weeks... I never did get a chance to go while we were in the UK, but that's really alright, considering the amount of walking we did. I was mostly anxious to do the whole weighing and measuring thing and see where I ended up after two weeks of vacation.

Right before we left, I'd found a stash of old jeans a size smaller than what I'd been wearing (okay, in women's sizes on my end of the spectrum, they only do even sizes, so would that really be two sizes smaller?). They were sort of "wishful thinking" clothes... you know, ones I hadn't actually been able to wear in nearly seven years but kept around anyway because someday they'd fit again? Well, I tried them on at the time, and while I could get them on, they were way too tight to wear in public. Not comfortable and they certainly didn't look good.

Flash forward two weeks and I'm hunting for something to wear on Thursday, since most of our clothes are in the wash... and all I can find are a pair a sweatpants, a pair of shorts and the stash of way too small jeans. I figured I'd give them a try again, because they were at least wearable, kind of, and maybe I could deal with wearing them until my others were dry... with a large shirt to cover the really bad parts. And they fit. Not only do they fit, they're a bit loose!!! In two weeks, I'd dropped a pants size (or two, depending on how you reckon it). That means, since I started going walking again toward the end of the summer, I've gone down three (or six) sizes!!!

Got the official score at Curves: In the last month I've lost four pounds and four inches (accumulated from all the measuring points). Altogether since I started there a few months ago? Four pounds and 14 inches. I'm really not that bugged about the pounds, since I'd much rather lose the inches!

It's really becoming obvious though, and I may even need to do a bit of clothes shopping soon. At least I won't need any jeans yet! But other articles of clothing are getting loose enough that they're just not working anymore. Yay!!!

On the ferry ride back from the Isle of Man, we had some Manx Broth for lunch and I've been wanting more ever since. However, I'm really not sure where to get a "scrag end of mutton" (or what it even is, for that matter) which is an ingredient from one of the recipes I've found – the other recipe calls for "a piece of shin beef" and a "marrow bone" (and I have no clue about those, either), so tomorrow we're planning to just make do with some homemade beef and barley soup (the cheater's method using some store-bought organic beef stock). We ran out to the one remaining Larry's store on the Eastside, down in Redmond, to get the beef at their butcher block... it just reminded me how much I miss having a Larry's Market nearby. It's so nice having people who actually know what they're doing when it comes to things like meat or seafood... and having fresh organically raised meats right at hand. Trader Joe's is good for a lot of stuff, but they do have a limited variety.

Comments

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Have no idea what a scrag end is, either (and mutton is so vile I don't know why you'd want to eat it -- won't lamb bones do?), but shin bones are literally beef leg bones, and marrow bones are sliced, cleaned beef bones made to be slow roasted in order to eat the marrow inside (bleah). I always see marrow bones in supermarket meat cases. I suppose you could use beef rib bones or even oxtails as a substitute for the shin bones (Americans don't use every bit of the animal, as the thrifty Manx, Scots and, well, French do -- I think a lot of meat parts Europeans use in their daily cooking go to dog food companies here).

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Mutton is hard to get anywhere; most sheep are fed out as lamb. I've got beef soup bones in my freezer- not certified organic, as we're not up to the paperwork, but sustainable and pretty much de facto organic.

Beef shin is usually sold as dog bones, although veal shin for oso buoco is around; there's at least one specialty butcher still in the Rainier Valley.

I feel as if I should come present you with soup bones, because I live with two guys who are so very uninterested in homemade soup as to make the considerable work it takes unattractive.

Julia, another example of the inadequacies of the internet; too bad I can't Email the meat to you!

[fishsanwitt]

Congratulations on the weight loss!

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

It's amazing what exercise does for body size! Congratulations!

[tenel.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh! that is fabulous. I am so glad those jeans fit you but I am even prouder that you tried them on! I would still be looking longingly at them. I could have warned you that you lose weight naturally in Europe if you do like the Europeans and walk. It is fantastic that way. :) I am glad you enjoyed your whirlwind tour of Great Britain. I should have told you to give Ewan a kiss for me.

[gillo]

Congratulations on the weight loss - walking is extremely good for you and it's hard not to walk in this country. Even I manage a mile or two in an average day, I would think, and I am seriously exercise-averse.

There's a Curves place newly-opened in Kenilworth - I pass it on my way home from work, but haven't summoned up the guts to go in yet. Hmmm.

As for the recipe, mutton is actually hard to come by. Any cheap piece of lamb meat would do just as well - I assume the recipe calls for skimming off the fat anyway.

Marrow bone is any of the long leg-bones - you might find them sold for dogs. While our continental cousins actually eat the marrow (think osso buco) we tend to use them to add a robust flavour to the stock. Shin beef is another very cheep cut intended for long, slow cooking. In the case of both meats I'd suggest talk to an actual real butcher if you can find one and ask for cheap cuts intended for slow cooking - you don't want anything that will dissolve completely after a couple of hours simmer!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Yay! for smaller jeans.

[dm-lunsford.livejournal.com]

Major congrats on the walking/Curves/weight loss success! Not only is it good to see the change in the numbers, but it's great when you can feel it and notice it in clothes. And you've encouraged me to get back into the discipline with my own exercise. : )

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Well done on the inches loss!

As for the Broth - The food on the boat isn't too bad is it?
When it comes to making broth honestly any meat stock will do - recipes say scrag end of mutton or beef bones because they were not going to be used in any other way and they like to give you the historically accurate version.

Plenty of pearl barley, potatoes, onions (and/or a leek), carrots and turnip (rutabaga?) with any scraps of meat that are available cooked gently for a couple of hours in a stock with salt, pepper and a few herbs if you like, will be a good pot of broth.

Some of the old recipes say boil the bones or the mutton with the other ingredients in water, others say make the stock first and then add the barley and veg - it is a matter of which is easier under the circumstances! I have been known to boil up the carcase of a chicken after we've had it roast to make stock, then any bits of meat that come off are left in, or are picked off the bones and thrown in. Any other vegetables can be thrown in to use them up, as well!

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the weight loss! I will use you as inspiration.

And keep getting into Curves. It'll help with the jet lag.

[knitress.livejournal.com]

Yay for smaller jeans!

[pmgoose.livejournal.com]

Jet lag hit me like a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster

Now, there's an image!

Rackham said it was a bit like listening to William Shatner on Valium.

I really laughed when I read this! Glad you're better from the jet lag now.

Super, major congrats on your skinny jeans being loose!!!! You ROCK!! :)