Day 38

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat. Toast with Butter and Honey. Hot Apple and Blackcurrant juice.
Lunch: Sandwiches with egg and cheese and lettuce. Drinks: water and milk.
Tea Time: Stir Fried Veg and potatoes.
Snack: Homemade biscuits. Gaymers Cider.
I was at a conference during the day- and it had rubbish sandwiches for which I shall pay a forfeit.

How long is Lent?
As I have usually been writing my posts and counting the days as I went I started to realise that it wouldn't last till Easter Sunday. In all the previous years when I gave up stuff for Lent I had always assumed there were 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. But guess what- it's 46. So I should always have been finishing a 40 day Lent at after Palm Sunday. I must be owed some days from previous years!
There are various rationales given for the difference in dates- maybe that you can take all the Sunday's off from your fast (?) or that nobody said it should actually be 40 days. Wikipedia lists different lengths of Lent and ways of calculating it. When I started I was convinced it was 40 days long- because I always thought it was supposed to reflect the time that Jesus fasted in the desert before he began his ministry. So 40 days- that's how long mine is going to last- so til Monday morning then.


Forfeit £1

Day 37

Breakfast- shredded wheat, toast butter and honey.
Lunch- omlette and chips.
Tea time- stir fried veg and potatoes.
Snack home made biscuits.

Almost there!

Day 36

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat, Toast and butter and honey. Apple and Blackcurrant juice.
Lunch: Oatcakes and Butter, Apples.
Tea Time: Home made Vegetable Pasty, potatoes and coleslaw.
Snack: Home made biscuits.

Lunch time at work can be a bit hectic really as a group starts before 1pm- if I've not planned well then I end up not eating anything, or getting a sandwich out the cafe or eating rubbish. I do feel a genuine need to eat- I get properly hungry -so I just finished some Cumniestown Oatcakes with butter, and some apples.

At night I was out at the pictures to see Shutter Island. There was no way I thought the pictures would have any UK food or drink so I took some home made biscuits and juice in with me.

For my birthday I got some edible things. A fair bit of whisky, all of which fits in the criteria of my diet, but at my rate of one bottle a year I should be okay until I am in my mid to late 40's! I also have chocolates and a Thornton's Chocolate Bottle and a packet of Tayto Crisps awaiting me on Palm Sunday. More about Lent soon.

Day 35

Breakfast: Porridge, Bread and Butter and Honey, Apple and Blackcurrant juice.
Lunch: Sandwiches on Cheese and egg mayo, Apple, Apple Juice.
Tea Time: Cheese and onion pasty (home made), Coleslaw (home made), Potatoes. Biscuits.
Drinks: 80/. , John Smiths, monkey shoulder whisky.

I was at a training course so I ate the sandwiches provided- and will pay the forfeit for that.

Monkey Shoulder is a blended whisky. They like to call it a triple malt, but that's trying to have your cake and eat it. It's a blend really. Its quite nice for that. They are trying to make it cool and hip. Don't try looking at their website because the amount of cool hip graphics will probably slow your computer down a bit. More info here.

Day 34

Breakfast- porridge, bread and honey. Apple and blackcurrant juice.
Lunch- carrot and parsnip soup, cheese sandwich.
Teatime souffle omlette and stovies. Birthday cake. Homemade biscuits.

It was my actual birthday today. Yvonne had bought a cake out mathiesons. Birthday cake must be exempt from forfeits!

Had a go at a different type of omlette. You whisk the egg whites first. Its like eating air. Nice air though.

Day 33

Breakfast: Porridge, Oatcakes and Butter and honey, Apple and Blackcurrant Juice.
Lunch: Roast Vegetable Tart, Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Snack: Rock Buns.
Tea Time: Soup and Bread.

Yvonne and I went out for our lunch to the Amarillo at Falkirk Stadium. We were the only two people in the whole time. The food was nice- but the choice that was closest to my diet still involved Peppers and some other unseasonal "seasonal leaves". I think you often find that although places will say they would use locally sourced ingredients they probably don't do it most of the time. If they did I would want to see evidence of it. I also went for a sweet. It was nice again probably technically able to be produced with UK ingredients. But I'm paying the forfeit anyway. just to be on the safe side:

Forfeit: £9.95- two course lunch at Amarrillo.

Day 32

Breakfast: Porridge, Oatcakes and Butter and Honey and hot water.
Lunch: Oatcakes with beetroot pickle and cheese. Apple and Blackcurrant juice.
Tea-Time: Toast and butter, half pint of 70 shilling, Omelette (cheese and onion) and chips, scone, meringue, traybake*, Duechars IPA, Talisker Whisky.

Its almost my Birthday so Yvonne had organised a High Tea at the Leapark in Grangemouth for my family. I love a high tea and The Leapark is one of the best places in the area for it- they still do it properly. Toast first, then your main course. And the tea as well- should come with a pot of tea on the table. I was severely tempted by Macaroni Cheese until I noticed they actually had an omelette on the menu. After your main course you can take a scone and a cake. Classic. All enhanced by the waiting staff particularly the lady with the beehive who has been there since time immemorial (quite literally time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary).

I was all prepared to have a day off from the diet- I think the tradition with Lent is that you can have a day off on your Birthday (and St Patrick's Day and your saints day) if it falls in the season of Lent. So while it isn't actually my birthday I was willing to take a day in leui. But when it came to it I think most of the things are technically possible to eat under my diet regulations. I didn't ask for details though.

My Sister (who I miss very much- I am obliged to note) and Brother in Law gave me a very old and limited edition of Talisker, which I immediately cracked open. Lovely.

Forfiets: Bread £1, Traybake (looked like tablet but had peanuts in) £1, Scone £1

Day 31

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat, Toast and Butter, Apple Juice.
Lunch: Baked Potato with egg mayo, Sparkling Water.
TeaTime: Spelt Risotto with carrot and broccoli.
Evening Snack: Homemade Rock Cakes. Gaymers Cider.

I had the Spelt in a risotto again- its actually very nice. I managed to pick out most of the husks in advance this time knowing what I was looking for. I must try using it for something else.

Forfeits: £1 for egg mayo- technically this would be possible on the diet I just doubt that this one actually was all UK.