Update

So, I still haven't had a cigarette - last one was Friday night.  Yay for me.  I even stood with a guy at work today while he had one & didn't buckle.  It was my first day back at work, and there were times I really had the urge to go out & have one (well, would have had to buy some or bludge one first) ... but I resisted.  However, I did get a second coffee & a piece of cake for morning tea.  I never do this & am annoyed with myself for doing it.  Definitely not making a habit of it!

The reason I've had the last 2 days off work is not such great news, I'm afraid.  So, as I mentioned in my last post, I had an appointment on Saturday for a general check-up to get the go ahead for trying to conceive.  The things I was worried about & dreading were the thought of her lecturing me on: a) being a bit old, and b) could do with losing a few kgs.  She didn't say either of those - but what did happen was something that never occurred to me!  She felt an "abdominal mass" that was quite large, and seemed very concerned about it.  In her opinion, it was most likely a large fibroid but could also potentially be something more sinister on either my ovaries or bowel.  She rang an imaging place to book me in first thing Monday for a CT Scan, then back to see her ... and insisted that I couldn't go to work.  So I did that, and she seemed very relieved that it was in fact a fibroid.  I guess she was more worried about the possibility of something else than she let on. 

But she wasn't satisfied with the images, as they couldn't get a view of my ovaries.  So then she rang an ultrasound place & got me in urgently that afternoon.  So back to the same building I was in that morning!  The ultrasound was good - better than the CT Scan, that's for sure.  The Dr rang me afterwards to see how I went & was pleased they'd said the ovaries were fine.  She then rang me again on Tuesday, satisfied it was definitely uterine fibroids (one of them is 12cm x 10cm - that's massive!).  She has referred me to a specialist - I'm pleased with how much urgency she has treated this.  She clearly feels strongly that she wants us to be able to try for babies & there isn't time to muck around.  So anyway, it's been a bit of a whirlwind, but I managed to get an appointment with the specialist for Friday morning as there was a cancellation.

Will see what happens.  I was debating whether to blog about this, but decided I needed to tell somebody.  But no pretty pictures for this blog.  :-(

Operation Quit

This is it - the first day of my life as a non smoker.  I have just read Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking.  He instructs the reader to keep smoking whilst reading the book, and kind of implies all the way through that there will be some magical instructions at the end that will make it all seem so easy & it will be no problem when you get to the end.  To be honest, I was a bit disappointed.  These "instructions" that he keeps referring to are just a repetition of points he has made during the book, and is of course all stuff I already know.

The key is the difference between knowing it and really knowing it .... consciously feeling it.  I can't say for sure if I do, but I know I need to stop.  So that was it, I smoked last night and said whatever was left would be thrown out this morning.  There was one left and Ant (my husband) threw it out, with my lighter, this morning.  I know when I have real drive and determination to do something, I can.  After all, it is a conscious decision whether to smoke or not - just as it is a conscious decision whether to go to the gym or not, or what you put in your mouth, etc.  So, in accordance with Mr Carr's instructions, I have not "given up" anything.  I am now a non smoker, and will rejoice in that fact!



Source

 In other news, I am off to the GP later this morning.  This is the visit where I say, we want to start trying for a baby so what tests do I need, etc?  Silly I know, but I am a bit nervous just about this visit!  haha  I had planned to stop smoking well before this visit (it had been booked for a few weeks), so I could confidently tell the doctor that I no longer smoke.  Just took me longer to get through the book than I thought it would.  I definitely want to be well shot of smoking before potentially becoming pregnant, of course.  I suppose it is not a lie to walk in there today and say, no I no longer smoke ... don't have to mention that this is only since about 11pm last night!  haha  Anyway, will see how I go at the quack - hopefully it will be all on for next month.

Butterflied Lamb with Pesto Mayo & Roasted Tomato Salad

Yes, I'm alive!  Sorry for the silence people - no excuses, but have just been a bit busy.  So, last weekend (the one before the one just gone) I made an absolutely delicious Sunday night dinner, if I say so myself. 

I had a lovely butterflied leg of lamb from Drover's Choice (beautiful meat), which I marinated in red wine, garlic, rosemary, parsley, bit of olive oil, cumin & chilli flakes.




This looked clearer on the camera

 While the lamb was marinating, I decided to roast the cherry tomatoes produced in my garden - yay!  Mainly because I'm not a big lover of cherry tomatoes.  Some might ask why I grew them ... because I wanted to see if I could, ok?  However, I am a big fan of semi-dried tomatoes, so I thought if I roasted them in the oven then let them cool down, they'd be lovely in a salad.  So I halved them & put them on an oven tray, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkle of salt & pepper & some thyme sprigs (also from the garden). 

Then into a hot oven.  They came out like this.

So, while all this was going on I realised I didn't have anything to serve on the side with the lamb ... some kind of sauce.  Of course not strictly necessary, but I still prefer something.  Normally when I do lamb like this I make up a tzatziki kind of thing, but I did not have any yohgurt.  Hmmm, what to do.  We did have mayonnaise though - proper whole egg mayo.  So, while I was pondering this, Jamie Oliver was on TV in the background & he started talking about making pesto.  This gave me a sudden flash of inspiration - Pesto Mayo it is!  I failed to take any photos of this, but rest assured we were both super-impressed with how well this went with the lamb.



Salad of mixed baby leaves, spanish onion, parmesan shavings & my oven-roasted cherry tomatoes

 So, I'm not going to tell you how long to cook the lamb on the BBQ as it totally depends on how big the piece of lamb is, your personal taste & your BBQ.  And also I can't remember now how long I cooked it for.  However, I did sear it for a few minutes on each side, then turned the heat right down (and turned the burners off directly underneath the meat) and closed the lid.  This creates a nice combination BBQ grill plate/oven effect.



Lot of juice-pooling going on while it rested!

 

Serve with a lovely bottle of red.  This was one of the wines from our wedding.  No, there's none left over (although we do still have some champagne!) - I saw it in the bottle shop & bought it to have with this lamb.

Mmmm, I just love lamb.  What's your favourite way of cooking lamb?