Scabby TGI...

Can I just say TGI Fridays is ridiculously expensive for the type of food they serve. I was looking at the menu and I though WOW- pricey. Then when the bill came I was even more horrified! It was 71euro for THREE people! The prices listed on the menu which were already extortionate didn't include VAT or the service charge. To be honest the food wasn't even that nice. I will NEVER go there again!

We went to the cinema last night aswell. We saw The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past starring Matthew McCona-whatever and Jennifer Garner. It was alright- had some funny moments but I don't know- it was missing something.

Hmmm... last night didn't really go that well did it?

I'm grumpy!

Laters

Sal

Exams, Stupid Planes, Books etc!!!

As usual I have left an awful long time since I last posted. I just lose track of time with all college work and that. Speaking of which, I'm finished my first year of college, how mad is that? I'm in the middle of the dreaded exams at the moment- more on that later.

I must inform you of the dreadfulness that surrounded our trip to London to go and see Strictly Come Dancing the Live Tour- it will haunt me for the rest of my life. The Monday before we were supposed to fly out (which was the Friday) it started to snow. I just got this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach but I tried to ignore it. By Thursday, the snow storm had intensified and we heard on the radio that several flights from the airport had been cancelled. The next morning my Uncle K, came along with his Range Rover to bring us to the airport. It was looking good, the runway was clear and several flights to London had already gone out. We were waiting and waiting. Then that horrible voice came over the intercom to tell us our flight had been delayed. So we sat down and just waited and waited. Until about 10 minutes later that horrible voice came on the intercom again to say the flight had been cancelled. Well, I cried my eyes out- I was so looking forward to it. We went to the Aer Lingus desk to try get a flight with them but they had nothing. So we ended up missing the show. HOWEVER, at the beginning of March, Ticketmaster UK contacted the Father. They are giving us six complementary tickets to the show next year!!! So it's not all doom and gloom!

On the crohn's front amazing things have happened. I appear to be able to eat almost everything- except acidic fruit and spicy stuff. But I can eat peaches and plums! I can also eat peppers and RAW carrot... It's amazing! I never thought I'd see the day. I have yet to try out popcorn again- I'm waiting until I see my Dietician (which won't be until June) to seek her permission for it! Fingers crossed she won't see any probem with it. Before I was diagnosed I ate popcorn every night! And none of that microwave crap- we done the proper stuff in the saucepan! YUMMY!

Onto results and such. I was very happy with my first set of results from college. I got 5 first-class honours in Financial Accounting 1, Business Law 1, Research Methods 1, Business Communications and Computer Applications and 1 second class honour in Organisational Behaviour. This semester I'm quite happy with the way things are going! Going into the exams I have:

27/30% in Economics

15/15% in Financial Accounting 2

22.8/30% in Business Law 2

22.5/30% in Introduction to Business

28.5/30% in Business Information Systems

18/30% in Human Resource Management

This mornings exam was Business Information Systems, arguably one of the most boring subjects on the face of the earth. I wrote for 2 hours solid, all the questions I had practiced came up so it went really well. What I find kind of odd is my right hand started getting cramps in it. Why is this odd when you were writing for 2 hours solid I hear you ask- well, I'm left handed, that's why! Strange!

I've read so many books since I last posted so I'm only going to talk about a select few. But here's some pictures:

Ok, Falling for a Dancer by Deirdre Purcell has been my favourite book for a long long time but I finally have a new favourite book! The Thornbirds by Colleen McLoughlin- oh my god- the sadness of it! Curse you Ralph de Bricassart, I was crying my little heart out reading this book! It's pure amazing, if you haven't read it I suggest you go find yourself a copy because it is the EPIC of all epics!

Speaking of Deirdre Purcell, I read her follow-up to Falling for a Dancer, which is called Francey. I was expecting it to be amazing... so I was very disappointed with what I read!

Another epic which I decided to read was Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, now it didn't let me down but it was very sad! I was nearly crying but not quite! Not saying it wasn't good, just think I wasn't in a particularly emotive mood that night!

Anyway, I'm supposed to be studying for my Business Law 2 exam tomorrow! Chat to y'all again!

Laters

Sal

Get-a-Booty Mission

Well, the Christmas holidays have finally drawn to a close and I have returned to college. This means that I have also returned to feeding myself i.e., making breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t mind really. I quite enjoy cooking. I actually find it kind of relaxing. So I’ve been planning ahead by trying to decide what I’m going to have for lunch and dinner. Breakfast isn’t all that hard- a bowl of weetabix and 2 slices of toast, there’s not a lot of planning needed for that.
But lunch and dinner? They are extremely important because as I’ve discussed many times before I have crohn’s disease. This means that I need a very balanced meal. It also means I need red meat AT LEAST three times a week and I also have to find other iron sources on days when I’m not having red meat. So let’s say I decide I want gammon steak for dinner. There is virtually no iron in that, so I’ve created something so extraordinary and tasty that my dietician was glowing with pride- Black Pudding Mash. It’s quite simple really. It’s mashed potatoes with black pudding broken up and mixed through it. Now I’m first to admit that it looks absolutely awful but God it tastes GOOD!
On other days when I have say, chicken, I don’t bother with a source of iron with my dinner. Instead, I have chicken liver pâté on toast later on in the evening. Oh- it is so good. I know it sounds absolutely rank but trust me, it’s not!
In order for me to be able to absorb all this wonderful Iron, it is also essential that I drink Ribena with my dinner which is packed full of Vitamin C. I can’t eat ANY fruit or fruit juices so this is my only source of that particular vitamin. And let me tell you it works wonders because the last time I had a blood test my iron was up 2 points!
Speaking of blood tests and things, I have a hospital appointment 3 weeks after I return to college. This means that I am going to be on what I like to call the “Get-a-Booty Mission”. Last time I was at the hospital I got on really well. Normally when that happens my next hospital visit doesn’t go so well because I think I have a tendency to get complacent. Well, let me tell you, I am full of grit and determination to never let that happen again. My targets are to get my weight to 51.85kg or over (preferably to 52kg), my protein to 20 and my Iron to 12. They are huge targets, I know. But as my old biology teacher used to say, if you don’t aim for it, you can’t achieve it! They were all so happy for me in the hospital the last day that I just really feel I’ll be letting them down if all those levels were to drop again!
So over the past few days I have been busy typing up menu plans and searching for iron rich recipes and just some tasty recipes too to help me on my way to a big booty. One that I found was a Beef Stir-Fry. Naturally, I had to alter it because I can’t eat chillies or peppers (although I’m not altogether convinced about the latter) but it still sounds so so so tasty. The beef is marinated in dry sherry beforehand, so what could be wrong with it? Also, I’ve recently discovered that there is very few cooked vegetables that I can’t eat so I want to try stir-fried vegetables in Soya sauce when I’m cooking something like roast chicken.
Maybe that’s enough talk about food for now... the mother thinks that I’m becoming slightly obsessed with it... but I can’t help it... it’s just so tasty. But you can see that there is a lot of planning involved in a crohn’s sufferer’s diet!
Laters
Sal

Strictly Between Us!

Well, so far 2009 has been interesting to say the least. The wonderful father surprised us with something... there will be more on that later on. Also, I had a hospital appointment yesterday and I got the all clear. However, that is as much detail as I’m going into on that subject- kind of personal! Also, I went out for a meal with the family on New Year’s Day. Oh my God- Yummy! The only word to describe it!

Now, normally I don’t talk about books until the end of the blog but I only have the one so I thought I would get it out of the way. So the latest book that I have finished is “Bleachers” by John Grisham. It was quite boring to be frank. Nothing happens except some dude it dying and they’re thinking about memories of him. I’m surprised at you Mr. Grisham! You’re books are usually really good!

On to more interesting things- the New Year’s Day meal! For starters I had Mussels in a creamy garlic and white wine sauce! This was very adventurous for me and I have to admit when they were put on the plate in front of me I was horrified because they’re kind of orange- to me that is not a very appetising colour. But I pretended that I didn’t see the colour of them and marched on and popped one in my gob. Now, I wouldn’t go bonkers about them or anything but they were quite nice, the sauce was lover-ly! The father had chicken and vegetable soup and the sister and the mother had skewered Thai chicken. There was no complaints from them about their. On to the mains, I had braised lamb shank with roast carrots. It was by far the BEST lamb I have ever had. The lamb literally fell off the bone! Succulent, I think is the word all them posh critics would use! The mother had the lamb special which was chops with a herb crust. I tasted it- it was good but not near as good as mine. The sister had barbery Duck with a hoi sin sauce. She ate it ALL! So it must have been good because the sister very rarely clears a plate! I couldn’t taste it because of the sauce (stupid crohn’s). The father had Sea Bass with a Lemon and Dill sauce. Now, I’m not a fan of white fish but it was absolutely gorgeous. The mother, the sister and I all had shortbread with berries and cream. Tracy loved hers. I liked it well enough but because I can’t eat fruit it was a bit bland because I could only eat the shortbread and the cream. "Well then why did you order it? I hear you ask?" That’s simple, their dessert menu was rubbish! So all in all, it was quite a good meal. Although, the more I think about the mussels, the less I EVER want to eat them again!

Now on to the father’s surprise. On Monday evening, the mother came home from work and she hid a little note under my place mate. It read:

“Guess where I’m going on the 6th Feb
Would you like to join me?
Strictly between us!”

I know, very cryptic altogether. I hadn’t a clue what she meant. We begged her to tell us and eventually she told us we were going on a trip to London and then, the real bombshell was dropped- We’re going to see Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour in the O2 arena! As you can imagine, we were gobsmacked and also VERY happy. I was extremely giddy for the rest of the night. So giddy, in fact, that I was unable to eat my dinner. I still get a bubble in my tummy when I think about it!

Laters

Sal