I'm so nervous...

I've had a few beers tonight, so this might not be the most articulate post.. however it's important to post tonight, as I will be unavailable the next few nights.

After the gym yesterday I nipped up Tescos (not Asda, as Tesco is closer to the gym) and bought some bread, salad, philadelphia cheese spread, smoked salmon and some other essentials. Then I made some sandwiches.. ruddy lovely!

Today I had a cheese and pastrami roll from the canteen for lunch and then went up the pub for an hour and a few beers, then after work I went up the pub for some more beers again. Then I came home and had a tuna and salad sandwich (not pictured).

I then settled down to watch the evenings quarter finals with a few Stellas.

The reason I am nervous is that tomorrow England are playing Portugal in the quarter finals. So by my next post I will know if England have made the semis (top 4 in the world) or have again exited in the last 16. Only time will tell.

Come on England!!!!!!!

Post-gym creativity

So when I got home from the gym yesterday, quite hungry, I decided to cook myself another one of those "use-up-whats-in-the-freezer" meals. This consists mainly of leftover barbeque goods, much like yesterday.

So I chucked a pair of peppercorn quorn steaks, 3 sausages (meat or quorn, I have no idea), some bacon (definitely meat) and some potato wedges into the oven and then had a looksie in the fridge. I clocked half an onion, which was leftover from those cheese and onion rolls I made last week.

I chopped it up, thinking I would scatter them over my chips or "steaks". Then I had the idea to throw in loads of crushed chillies, some ground black pepper, some mixed herbs, some chilli vinegar and finally a squirt or two of brown sauce. I then mixed it all togethor.

Then, with 5 mins left to go, I opened the oven and threw my crazy mix over the potato wedges to warm up.

It certainly had the desired effect, it spiced things up a treat.

I will have to remember to buy some more onions, as I'm sure that mixture can be spread over anything !!

Well anyway, today is Thursday and the sun has been out pretty much all day. Early signs of a heatwave are being shown and the weather forecast is hot!! Will be 33°C on Monday!!!

For lunch today, I nipped to the canteen as I had heard whispers they were doing lasagne.. although I was mildly disappointed to see it was vegetable lasagne - still nice, but lacking a vital ingredient.

The cheesey bread was quite tasty too.

Didn't bother having a soup "dessert" as I decided to go to the pub and sit in the sun for the rest of my lunch hour (it was lentil soup anyway, whatever that is..)

Was going to go to a leaving party tonight, but have decided to save my money for more important piss ups this month (of which there are many.. and could be more if England progess on Saturday!!!) and go down the gym instead.

BBQ leftovers and other niceties

This rather blurry shot is of Monday's tea. I was quite knackered when I got home and couldn't be arsed with going to the gym, so I went in the freezer and cooked some quorn peppercorn steaks, a few vegetarian (I think, they were loose in the freezer from the recent barbeque) sausages and some proper beefburgers. I also cooked up some oven chips and then dressed with some leftover Dominos dip (garlic and herb).

I was actually rather pleased with my efforts in the end.

Tuesday lunch I had a rare trip to the pub. We went to the Bradley Stoke, they do 2 meals for a tenner - however there were 3 of us eating, so I got stitched up with the full price. This was mainly because the other 2 were eating expensive steaks, so had the most to gain from the discount - but even so, I had to fork out an extra quid on my lasagne than I would have liked!

Saying that, the lasagne was really nice - even if they did take about 45 mins to bring it out. Won't be going there again in a hurry (or rather, if I'm in a hurry).

After work I went up the gym with my old man, I had eaten a quick burger when I had gotten home and this must have given me some energy because I worked really hard. I was very surprised to weigh in at 102.4kg afterwards, which is defies logic given all the food I have eaten and beer I have drank recently.

After the gym, my Mum invited me in for tea and had cooked up some fish with roasted vegetables. This really went down a treat.

I went home and watched the France v Spain World Cup quarter final and then milled around on my PC for a while before going to bed. I haven't played Football Manager for absolutely ages, so I will have to get on that when I get some time. I can't even remember where I am on it now..

Anyway, today is Wednesday - and the canteen at work was, of course, offering up a roast dinner. This week's roasted meat was beef (I very nearly typed beer then.. wouldn't that be great? Beer in the work canteen!)

The vegetables available today were carrots, swede and red cabbage (always a strange addition).

The fine dinner was finished off with a bowl of mushroom and leek soup with a brown roll. Lovely job!

Right, off home and to the gym now!

Football Fanatic

Updating of this thing seems to have turned into a weekly affair. Partly due to blogger's lameness and partly my own lazyness. Also, I seem to have been out drinking an awful lot during this world cup.

So last Monday I went to the gym after work and then my parents' invited me in for tea so I ate half a broccholi quiche, salad and potatoes. This meant that I had to chop up the sausages that were leftover from the barbeque and mixed them in with the leftover pasta to put in some tuppaware to eat at work the next day.

So on the Tuesday, I ate the pasta in the morning and went to the pub for lunch. I had a few beers and got a bit excited, as England were playing in the evening. So after work I think I just ate a nice big bowl of all-bran to fill me up and then got to the Patchway Sports and Social with ample time. England drew 2-2 with Sweden to secure a top place finish in the group stages and set them up with a 2nd round tie against Ecuador.

I came into work on Wednesday morning feeling more than a little ill, so I went down to the canteen and ate a bowl of beans on toast (with a sausage and rasher of bacon). This obviously made me feel a bit better.

A few hours later, at lunchtime, I went down again and enjoyed some pasta in a mushroom sauce, with salad and some cheesey bread. Not bad, although strange not to be eating a roast on a Wednesday (I wasn't that hungry after my breakfast). I then had a bowl of carrot and orange soup (even tho I wasn't particularly hungry, but I had to try it).

I went down the gym after work again and weighed in at 102.6kg - my lowest yet! We'll see tonight whether that is still my weight after all my eating and drinking this week!!

When I got home I chopped up some apple and put it in my all bran and then poured milk all over it.. only to discover that the milk was off and I had to throw it all away! I hate waste, especially when I'm hungry. Instead of this, I had some leftover rolls from the BBQ and had cheese, onion and branston rolls. Very nice.

Thursday lunchtime I had some vegetarian chilli with rice, carrots and cauliflower cheese. I then had a bowl of mushroom and leek soup. After work I went round my Nan's to sort out their internet connection and then went to the gym for an hour and then home for some more all bran!!

Friday was Poj's birthday, so I went to the pub for lunch to load up on beers and then straight back there after work. I was really hungry by the time I got home, so I opened a tin of pilchards and ate them in some leftover rolls (surely out of date by this point). Then I went down town and got slaughtered, as is the procedure. Not sure if I ate, there are no pics on my phone - but Mike reckons there may have been some falafel involved.

Saturday I woke up bright and early, but just lounged around all day doing nothing except watching TV. I ate the rest of the pilchards for dinner, but they were rank - I doubt I will be getting any of them again. Too boney - not what you want from a tin.

In the evening, Lee came over to watch some footy and drink some beer. I ordered in some pizza from Dominos. I had heard good things about their "football fanatic" pizza, so I had one of those on a double decadence base. Very, very tasty - but, as the advert states, unashamedly indulgant!!

Yesterday I got up early to go to the Patchway Sports and Social to watch the England v Ecuador match. I had some all bran before I left and then drank an enormous amount of lager down the Soc. Beckham scored a freekick to secure our place in the Quarter final and later Portugal beat Holland meaning we will play them in the next round (dare we believe?)

So today I came into work with the now familiar hangover. Resisted the temptation of a fried breakfast and instead bought myself a roll.

Later this afternoon, I went to the canteen again and had stuffed peppers with rice. Basic and cheap, but did the job.

I'll be heading down the gym after work and no idea what I will be having for tea, but check back soon and find out - right here on Through the Piehole!

Barbeques, beer and football. Great stuff.

Wednesday last week was, as ever, roast dinner day in the canteen. I was delighted that the meat of choice was roast ham. I unintentionally covered the meat with veg and gravy, so I was not charged for it. I was aware it was cheaper than I expected, but it wasn't until later that I realised what had happened - still, free food is free food.

In the evening I went to the gym and when I weighed myself there, I was my lightest recorded weight since I have began going there.. 103.0kg - I started at 111kg and peaked at 103.2kg (just before going on holiday to Florida), so progress is being made.

Although things will have changed since then, as Thursday was football day.

England were playing Trinidad and Tobago in the World Cup, so I came in to work at 8:30 in the morning and worked through my lunch hour so I could leave around 3.30pm. I still grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the canteen to tidy me over. I opted for one roasted vegetable sandwich and one cheese and onion.

I got to the Patchway Sports and Social club way before 4pm (thanks to a lift from Higz) and the heavy drinking began. England beat T&T to qualify for the next round, but we will be playing Sweden tomorrow to decide whether we qualify top of the group. I will be going up the Social again for this.

It is unknown if I ate anything at the sports and social, as I was too drunk - but there has been mention of bowls of chips being ordered and even a whisper that there was some La Cuisine take away ordered back at Lee's afterwards.

At any rate, I woke up on Carla and Lee's sofa at what must have been around 5am. I somehow got it into my head that I was late for work, so I rushed home and got changed and came into the office.

The carpark was very empty, so I realised I had got in too early (it was around 5.45am, I don't normally get in the office until 4 hours after this). I went up to the office and as it was quiet I had a sleep under my desk for a few hours.

I got up when people started arriving and around 08:30am I went down and got a fry up from the canteen. This seemed to wake me up a fair bit and I almost started to feel normal again.

A few hours later I had myself a bacon, egg and sausage sandwich from the canteen so that I could go up the pub during my lunch hour.

I also went to the pub after work and I think we all ended up at Carla and Lee's again in the evening.

Saturday morning I woke up early and Higz and I worked hard in the garden to try and make it habitable again, the weeds had really taken over. The sun was really strong and we both sweated lots as we struggled to get the garden looking right again.

Once we had decided we had done as much as we could, we went to Asda and bought some barbeque food and then to Argos to get a cheap patio set. The barbeque food was mainly vegetarian burgers/sausages and fish, as both Higz and I are trying to eat healthier.

In the end we had Mike, Michelle, Carla and Lee round for the feast - and Higz was doing a bang up job of cooking up the grub too, until he realised he was supposed to be at work and left!!

The fish I had bought was whole trout. I had put some garlic butter into the fish, wrapped it in silver foil and cooked it on the barbeque. I had bought 4 trouts, but only Mike was interested in having one - so I ended up eating 3 trouts. I have to say they were absolutely lovely, but 3 may have been a bit too much..

I guess I will be dining on the leftovers for a while, as Higz is on his "Lost" diet and thereforerestricted to fruit, vegetables and one piece of meat or fish per day.

Sunday was, of course, Father's Day and it was also my Dad's 51st birthday. So I went round my parents' house in the early afternoon (after I had eaten some barbeque leftovers.. sausages, burgers, chops, bacon) and gave him his cards and presents.

After a few hours it was time to go round my Aunty and Uncles, as they were having a Fathers Day party. So we went to this and they barbequed up a banquet. I had some sausages and chops with roasted vegetables, salad, breaded mushrooms, potato wedges and quiche. Washed down with lots of stella, naturally.

Today might very well be my first sober day for a while, as I am on second line support on-call. I should be going to the gym after work too, which will be interesting after all of the barbequed food and stella I consumed over the weekend!

At least I didn't have any meat for lunch, just macoroni cheese with carrots, green beans and sweetcorn. Tasty.

I know for tea I will probably have some leftover pasta from the bbq and some leftover sausages.. that is unless my parents invite me in for tea after the gym?

World Cup 2006 begins!!

Didn't manage to get to the gym at all last week. Was either without car (MOT) or out and about.

Happily my car passed it's MOT first time with no problems, so now it has 12 months MOT and tax.

I may have mentioned last week that I bought a few tins of fish (tuna, pilchards, mackeral) for some reason, so the first meal featured is tinned mackeral in tomato sauce on toast with a salad garnish which I had last Tuesday night. It was alright to begin with, but got a bit heavy going half way through.

On Wednesday I was taken on a bit of a jolly by one of our vendor's at work. They took us to shoot some arrows at an archery event in Coalpit Heath. I did alright in the end and my team won both events, with me shooting a bullseye to win the final event.

The jolly didn't finish there, because afterwards we were taken to the Riverside restaurant at The Grove in the town centre. The vendor picked up the tab and encouraged us to order whatever we wanted to eat or drink.

I started with a delicious chargrilled squid on a bed of guacomole, it was very tasty and I washed this down with some Hoegarden (white beer).

The main course I ordered was duck. This came out with some green stuff and berries. I do know that they also brought out some carrots and potatoes as well (not pictured).

The duck was very tender and moist and was complimented by the sweet, fruity sauce. Not to mention I washed this down with a bottle of white wine (shared with my mate, Gibson).

I had some kind of apricot sponge for dessert, I have a pic but it was quite blurred (by this point I had moved on to drinking Nastro Azzurro).

The meal ended with an Irish coffee and a mini bus ride back to Aztec, where I walked home (to compensate for all I had eaten and drunk?)

Thursday lunch I had beef and ale pie and veg, look how thick the gravy is in the canteen nowadays.. crazy!

In the evening, I had a quick sandwich and went to a mate's leaving do. I was only intending to have a few quiet beers and go, but after a few quiet beers I fancied a few louder ones. Didn't stay out too late though.

On Friday, the directorate I work for (technical) were taken to the Bawa Club in Southmead to watch England v Germany in a mock 1966 world cup replay. The players were people from technical. I had a few beers in a bar before watching the game (with a few cans, naturally) in the scorching sunlight (several of my team got quite burnt, in fact). The final score was 4-3 to "England".

After work I watched the last few minutes of the opening World Cup match (Germany beating Costa Rica 4-2) and then had some mates over for a few beers and watched Ecuador beat Poland 2-0.

Saturday was England's first game in the World Cup. I went to Roobar with Scofield to watch the game. I was there at midday and the match didn't even kick off until 2pm!

England beat Paraguay 1-0 and after the match I went round Mike and Michelle's new gaff in Bradley Stoke, as it was Michelle's birthday. I had a fair few more drinks and ate some barbeque food and everything seems a bit vague after that..

On Sunday, my parents took Sarah and I too the Fox Denn in Filton where we met up with my Auntie and Uncle and had a Sunday dinner.

I had mussels to start, which had chorizo and stuff in a sauce. Spicy and nice. I love mussels.

For my main course I opted for roast turkey.

This was a very filling meal and in the end I didn't even require any tea after that.

On Monday, I was very happy because they served a really nice lasagne in the canteen!

I wish, like roast dinner day, they had a lasagne day every week at work. That would be an idea I will have to put forward!!

I went to the gym after work and then back to my parents' house for tea.

My Mum made a nice healthy salad with ham, eggs and balsalmic vinegar dressing and some honey and mustard relish.

For dessert, she had made a fresh strawberry and custard type flan type thing. It was very tasty indeed!! I might have to make one myself.

Tuesday's canteen offering didn't look any good at first, but was actually quite tasty in the end.

It was a spinach and cream cheese pancake wrap. The veg was nice too, but I selected some potato wedges - but they were quite hard and crispy.. so wasn't all that impressed.

Bit of a backlog

So last Tuesday I got home from work and quickly ate my way through the pasta and cous cous I had blagged from my parents' house a few nights previous. Then I picked Lee up and we went to Asda, bought some Stella and then went round a mate's gaff to watch England beat Hungary in a World Cup warm-up match. I had a fair bit to drink and then I was taught how to play poker (doubt I can remember now tho, I was quite drunk).

Wednesday was luckily roast dinner day and the meat was roast beef (quite generous portions too). I went to the gym in the evening and went round my parents' afterwards for tea.

I had cheese and onion quiche with salad (with balsamic vinegar dressing) and boiled potatoes. Not bad at all.

Thursday lunchtime I had some vegetable pie with some carrots, brocholli and roast potatoes in the canteen. It was OK, filled the gap.

In the evening I went to the gym again for an hour or so, afterwards I went round Mike's new gaff so he could shave his head again. Then I went to Asda and bought a few essentials (cereal, tinned fish, apples and lemonade..) and when I got home I had a small tin of pilchards in a curry sauce followed by a bowl of fruit and fibre. For dessert, a golden delicious apple.

On Friday I had a quick sandwich for lunch (it was labelled chicken and stuffing, but was actually chicken korma - result!!) from the canteen and then went to the pub to enjoy the sunshine and drink some coke.

After work I had some more fruit and fibre and watched a little bit of Big Brother before going to the gym for a bit. Shortly after I got home, Sarah arrived from Surrey. She came down so that we could visit my parents who were on holiday in Dawlish.

We set off on Saturday morning and, after a fair bit of traffic on the M5, we arrived in time for me and Dad to hit the pub to watch another World Cup warm up match (a 6-0 drubbing of Jamaica). I got quite drunk so memory a bit fuzzy, but I think we walked down to Dawlish Warren for a meal at a pub called Mount Pleasant. I had a smoked salmon starter and duck l'orange for my main course. I forgot to take a pic of my starter and wolfed it down, the duck I pictured (and probably ate) before the veg arrived.. I'm sure it was all lovely, but I had continued my drinking since watching the footy at the pub and therefore can't recall.

Sunday I woke up early (having gone to bed early, drunk) in an annex attached to my parents' caravan awning. The sun was out very early and it was pretty warm, my Mum decided to cook us breakfast outside. A very tasty English breakfast to prepare us for a very active day. We walked into Dawlish and let the dogs swim in the sea, had a clotted cream ice cream (from Gay's Creamery - quality name! Sarah bought some fudge, I asked who packed it - nobody understood..) and then sat in a pub garden for a drink in the sun.

When we had walked back I had a bit of a nap in the sun (I think I have burnt) and then went to a local footy pitch for a kick about with my Dad. Didn't last too long as we kept spooning the ball into the nearby trees. I need some more practise, I think.

In the evening we all went to a restaurant called the Blue Ball which is just by Junction 30 on the M5. I have had a Sunday lunch there before which was absolutely amazing, but we didn't realise they don't do Sunday roasts in the evening. The menu was pretty small, but everyone's meals looked great. I had mackeral for starters.

My main course was venison (deer?), rabbit and wild mushroom pie (again pictured without veg, that arrived shortly after). This was absolutely amazing. Very tasty indeed. I couldn't tell you which bits were rabbit and which were deer, though - but both were very tasty!

Then Sarah and I got on the motorway and cruised home, well almost. 20 miles from Bristol we hit heavy traffic and we went about a mile an hour (quite literally) and travelled one mile. We got off on junction 20 (Clevedon / Nailsea) and drove traffic-free to Portishead where we rejoined the (now empty) motorway. Sarah dropped me off at my gaff and then drove another 100 miles home to Surrey. Quite a trip.

On Monday I had a really nice meal in the canteen. Some kind of turkey dish with noodles, it was very tasty and I was left wishing it wasn't 2.75 per portion as I fancied another plate.

I was still hungry so I had a bowl of vegetable soup with a brown roll for dessert.

I didn't go to the gym in the evening, though, as I was far too tired from the night before.

So instead I made myself some tuna and salad sandwiches and stayed in and configured linux on one of my spare PCs (webserver at old webcam address).

Tuesday lunch was a rather tasty sausage hotpot in the canteen, which means that's 2 decent canteen meals in a row - which is not something that happens very often!!

Took the car in for it's MOT after work, so could be an expensive month!