Update - Eating Out in Feb Part 1

Well, this is a rarity! I am actually able to sit down at my PC tonight and write to my blog! Sorry it's taken me so bloody long but life has definitely gotten in the way lately!

Although, it also transpires that I might be able to repeat the phenomena that is blogging tomorrow night also!

But we shall wait for that, shan't we, no promises, I'm pretty rubbish at this web logging lark!

Anyway, I thought I'd do my best to collate the events of the past month and a half (sorry, it's actually not been *that* exciting but I have taken a few pics, as per ;-) ) into a few posts...

As we all know I'm a bit of a foodie... although only in the sense that I enjoy eating and cooking, I don't really know much about techniques, styles, presentation etc, I just know what tastes good to me and that I like to experiment and sample other people's efforts - anything to avoid doing the dishes!! ;-)

So, by way of catchup No. 1 - Here's a selection of some of the eateries I visited in the Month of Feb :-)

3rd Feb - The Ebury
11 Pimlico Road
London
SW1W 8NA



I was hugely excited about visiting this pub as I have ridden past it on my bike or the bus for the past 12 years!

I'd lived down the road in Chelsea for about 10 years and have also worked in Victoria for the past 5 years but have never once been to this place despite always thinking how nice it looked.

So, my friend Jenny and I were meeting up for a bite to eat (we used to be drinking buddies in my 20's, now we're dinner, drink and a chat buddies... am I getting old?!).

Anyway, along to the restaurant I happily trotted (actually I took the bus, quite lazy actually as it's less than a mile's walk from where I work!) armed with my Taste London Card and with that the knowledge our meals would be 2 for 1 - hurrah!

Although the company was ace - and I've been convinced to borrow one of Joe's squash racquets and bash a few balls at the Queen Mother Sports Centre when my ankle gets better (more about that in another post)... unfortunately the food wasn't up to expectations, which is such a shame!

I guess when you place a venue up high on a pedestal you're really only setting yourself up for a fall...

The starter was reasonable but not memorable, in fact, so much so that I've forgotten what I ordered (didn't photograph it). I've studied the menu but I just can't put my finger on it - I'm sure it was some sort of salad, and it would have either been the goats cheese or the smoked chicken, but I couldn't swear on it!

I really fancied a nice bit of beef so I ordered the Grilled bavette steak (with rosti potato, spinach and peppercorn jus) for my main and asked for it to be served rare.

Unfortunately, although it looked rather nice, it both smelled and tasted like a raw slab of meat and was really chewy to boot!



(like an old boot!)

The green beans were quite oily and the rosti potato was massively salty - although not as bad as our experience last month when we went with a couple of friends to Mela in Shaftesbury Avenue, the food was very tasty but we could tell it was rather salty... so drank plenty of water and I wasn't even drinking alcohol... however, by the time we got out the tube station we were gasping for water and downed a litre between us of the stuff as soon as we were able to buy it!

Ahh well, we only paid for half of the food and now at least I can say that I've finally been there!!


5th Feb Maxwell's Bar & Grill- Covent Garden
8 James Street
Covent Garden
WC2E 8BH

A couple of days later I met up some friends for dinner in Soho. My lovely friend Lorna organised a big group of us girlies to go and eat, which is pretty impressive, I think there were about 18 of us - I wouldn't have had the patience!!

Maxwells is one of those places where you know you're going to get good sized portions of tasty non-fussy food. It's usually one featured by companies like Lastminute.com in their 'Dinner and Theatre' packages.

As there were so many of us we had to choose from the the party menu where we got a starter, main of our choice and a cocktail for a really decent price, can't remember exactly but I don't think it was even £25!

Unfortunately you weren't able to select which of the starters you wanted - they all came on a platter - and more unfortunately was the fact that the chicken wings were ridiculously tasty and moreish.... nom nom nom...

For my main course I chose the 'herbed chicken and mash' (Herb marinated breast of chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli florets and creamy wild mushroom sauce) and I have to say it was really rather good!

I really wanted the 10OZ sirloin steak but I didn't know if the quality would be that good after Ebury-gate the other day so decided not to risk it - plus the next day I would be having it anyway... more about that later :-)

However, some of our party ordered it and I had to endure *serious* steak envy throughout the whole of my main course - ha!!

Will definitely have to go back and try it one day :-)

6th FEb Café Rouge
30 Clifton Road
Maida Vale
London
Greater London
W9 1ST

I grew up in Maida Vale, ahh, lovely place to live actually though could never afford to now!

My Mum owns a lovely little flat there which I grew up in, we did have a larger flat but my abusive alcohol biological father didn't pay the rent so we had to move to a smaller place boo...

As house prices were so much lower when she took out the mortgage all those years ago she's paid it off now and owns it outright - which is awesome as properties round there, regardless of size, are worth a bomb!

I do wish they'd sell it and get a bigger place, or at least somewhere with a garden now my stepdad has retired, I reckon he deserves one!!

It's a nice flat, and in quite a nice block too, but way too small for a family, my bedroom was the size of a shoebox, I really don't know how I coped being cooped up in it, no wonder I was always trying to leg it out the window! My 'bedroom' is now being used as a storage cupboard ha! (It's a shame as I'd always hoped they might clear it out a bit and put a small bed in there so my son could stay over but nevermind...)

Anyway, so it's always odd to return to my old stomping ground but nice anyway, lovely area and with big old beautiful imposing buildings towering over you at every turn - very impressive!

Maida Vale is home to a Café Rouge which is my Mum's second home I think haha (apart from the Dojo that is!). They do steak, they do it well.

There's nothing else that needs to be said really ha! Seriously though the food is always good, although lacking in variation - but then if you know what you like and you know they do it well then why stray from the beaten path?!

I *always* have steak, there, I'm that unoriginal I know ;-)

I do differ my starters mind and I don't have the paté and french stick which I used to consume without fail on every visit (yes, I do go there a lot, it's like a tradition of ours I guess :-) )

So, for my starter I just ordered a little side salad, but it still looked rather good:



Next I had the "Entrecôte Rouge 10oz" (Prime rib-eye steak off the bone marinated in rosemary & garlic, with French fries and melted garlic beurre maison), which indicated my lack of willpower as I'd 'meant' to for the sirloin... ahh well, I chose potatoes instead of French fries and didn't eat the incredibly lush garlicky butter they provided (although that was because I was going out later for birthday drinks and didn't want to stink everyone out!!)

I had my steak rare, and it was perfect, my Mum had hers blue!

Look at this, how lush, loving the peppercorn sauce :-)



After that I went on for drinks with friends locally, will include some pics in another catchup post soon :-)

15th Feb Gourmet Burger Kitchen
121 Lordship Lane
East Dulwich
London SE228HU

Monday 15th was the day that we found out the seller had pulled out of the house sale... we were pretty gutted, I had to come home from work I was so devastated :-(

We ended up actually meeting with the guy and his son in an attempt to try and salvage something as he obviously still wants to sell the property but he realises that other places sell for a lot more.

However, that's because they've had the work put in to raise them up to a certain standard, this place needs sooooo much work!!

So basically we've been caught in a stalemate where he knows he could get more money for the property if he spent a lot on it, but he doesn't have the money - and we know we can't buy the 'finished article', not in that area at least, so we're looking for something we can fix up ourself...

Anyway, it's back on again now, with more money involved, so hopefully it'll be smoother sailing from this point on but I'm not pinning my hopes down again like last time!

In any case, after meeting with the estate agents (who knew nothing about the issue with the seller pulling out until *we* informed them after hearing from our solicitors when they refunded our fees!!) and the seller and his son we decided to all go and grab a bite to eat and found our way to GBK...

Okay so it's not exactly a top fancy restaurant but a gourmet eatery nevertheless and I *did* say this was about places I'd visited in my attempts to dodge cooking/washing-up :-D

I LOVE GBK!

They've always had fab offers but now they're on Taste London too!! I get 50% off ALL food with my card, result!

What I especially like about GBK is the fact that if you order a burger without the bun (which you might do if you're odd like me), instead of just giving you a burger without the bun... you also get a load of yummy extras added to your plate to fill the space like salad and coleslaw!

I ordered the Buffalo Burger, seriously, it's delish! They say it's "Exclusive to GBK from the world famous organic Laverstoke Park Farm"

They also do wild boar burgers too, as well as the various yummy combinations of beef and imaginative sauces :-)

As I wasn't having chips like the boys I opted for a Butternut Squash Salad which was "feta, oven roasted tomatoes, cashew nuts, mixed leaves & ginger dressing". Although I knew it would be a relatively decent size I wasn't prepared for how huge it was!

Just look!!



Jolly tasty it was too, and you can bet I ate the lot (well, obviously Joe and my son got a little but nothing comes between me and my butternut squash, I seriously love the stuff, I'm going to make healthy Moussaka again but use butternut squash instead of aubergine as my son's not a fan - weirdo!)

arghh, I've been typing for nearly 2 hours now, ridiculous!

Will have to call it a night, need to get up early tomorrow to get into work ASAP as have some gym inductions to carry out and then my boxercise class (more about both later!)

Part 2 tomorrow (there's actually not much more left but I'm pooped!)

TJx

Marvellous moussaka!

I was going to call this dish 'No Lasasgne Lasagna' as I thought I'd been very clever and invented a new dish in my quest for lower-carb healthy and yummy meals...

Alas I discovered that someone... actually quite a few people, make that a whole nation(!)... had beaten me to it and the dish actually already has a name - Moussaka... boo (probably less of a mouthful than mine but perhaps not as clever...? ;-) )

Hmm

Still, having looked at the other recipes out there I've realised that mine is a little different - lamb mince is usually used - but that still doesn't mean I can call this anything else, dammit!

Anyhoo, the recipe below makes 6 servings and comes out at:

Calories: 443
Carbohydrate: 24.8
Protein: 33.1g
Fat:23.9g
Fibre: 6.4g

For the more ravenous amongst you, it could split it into 4 servings, in which case each serving would be:

Calories: 665
Carbohydrate: 37.2g
Protein: 49.7g
Fat: 35.9g
Fibre: 9.6g

But we found that 1/6th was perfectly adequate - depends how hungry you're feeling really!

Ingredients

Okay, so for the filling you're gonna need:
* 500g Lean Steak Beef Mince
* 1 Beef Stock Cube (I use Knorr)
* 1 Tbsp/15ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (although the 'extra virgin' bit doesn't matter as you lose all the health benefits when you heat it up)
* Spray Olive Oil (small amount)
* 1 Medium Red Onion
* 3 Cloves of garlic (or 3 x Tsps/9g Garlic, Very Lazy, The English Provender Co. - which I use as I *am* that lazy!!)
* 2 large Aubergines
* 2 Lge Cans (800g) chopped Tomatoes
* 100g Tomato Puree
* 1 Yellow Pepper
* 1 Red Pepper
* 2 Courgettes
* 2 Stalks Celery
* 6 Large flat Mushrooms
* 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
* 1 Tsp Oregano
* 1 Tsp Basil
* 1 Tsp Thyme
* 1 Tsp Black Pepper


For the Cheese Sauce you'll want:
* 130g Sainsbury's Davidstow Reduced Fat Mature Cheese
(this is the ONLY reduced fat hard cheese I can stand, it's really yummy, you wouldn't realise it wasn't full fat! Use 100g for the sauce and retain 30g to sprinkle on top towards the end)
* 60g Olive Oil Spread
* 60g Plain Flour
* ½ Pint/284ml Semi-Skimmed Milk

Method

Slice the musrooms and aubergines into the largeest slices you can get. Chop up the rest of the veg into pretty chunks and keep separate in bowls like so:



Place the sliced aubergines in an oven dish and spray some olive oil over. Cover with foil and bung in the oven on a low heat to soften - keep them in there until the sauce is ready



Add the chopped onion, galic and olive oil to a pan and cook until browned and softened.



Then add the beef mince with some water, the stock cube and the herbs and spices.

Once the meat has browned sufficiently add the tomato puree and then begin adding the firmer of the vegetables (e.g. celery and peppers), cook for a few mins, then add the courgettes and the tinned tomatoes, all the time stirring continously.

Next add the mushrooms, stir thoroughly and turn down the heat and allow to simmer slowly while you set about making the cheese sauce.

You might find that you've run out of room in the pan you're using... I did, I usually cook with a wok but it wasn't large enough so I transferred the mixture to a bigger pan!



The sauce is very simple to make. First you melt the butter/spread (I used Bertolli spread as we don't tend to keep real butter in the house anymore) in a non-stick saucepan over a low heat. Then you slowly add the milk and flour... bit by bit, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps.

Only use 80 - 100g of the cheese for the sauce as the rest you'll want to keep back to sprinkle over the top.

Once the sauce is ready turn off the heat, take the aubergines out of the oven and put to one side.

Take a large lasagna dish and spoon a layer of the mixture into it - use approx half the mixture though no more - basically just enough so you can't see any of the base of the dish.



Then take half of your aubergines and form a layer over the mixture - like you'd do with lasagne sheets, though obviously this more like Tetris as there are more pieces of varying shapes!



Now gently drizzle about half of the cheese sauce over this and then spread with the back of a spoon to even out



I used a wide but shallow dish - if you use a deeper narrower dish you can make more layers so you might want to split the sauce say into thirds instead.

Next spoon the remainder of the mixture over the aubergines and cheese sauce and press down with the back of a spoon.

Repeat the above using up the remaining aubergines and spread on the rest of the cheese sauce.

Finish off by sprinkling the cheese you set aside earlier over the top (you might want to add some chopped fresh parsley or basil at this point):



Now bake in the oven bake until gorgeous at 180C/350F/Gas4 for about 30 - 45 minutes:



When ready, leave to cool for about 5 mins or so.

Serve and enjoy! :-)



TJx

Fruit and nut bars - take 2!

I think I might have nailed it!

I decided to slightly rejig my first effort.

Joe was after more fruit and I figured I could do away with the sugar altogether...

There's more rice, honey, quinoa and peanut butter than last time so the Calories are slightly higher... but the fat is lower and they're a lot tastier too! :-)

Here's the nutritional Information Per Bar (1/16th)
Calories: 250
Carbohydrate: 31.3g
Protein: 6.2g
Fat: 11.2g
Fibre: 2.7g

And here's the all-natural ingredients that go into these yummy bars:

* 100g Organic Wholegrain Puffed Rice from Rude Health'
* 100g Quinoa
* 50g Dried chopped Dates
* 200g Pure Clear Acacia Honey
* 50g Whole Almonds
* 50g Whole Hazelnuts
* 25g Sunflower Seeds
* 200g Crunchy Peanut Butter (Waitrose make a lovely basic peanut butter that is very creamy which I'm sure helps!)
* 50g Raisins
* 50g Sultanas
* 50g Dried cranberries
* 45g Dried Strawberries from Urban Fresh Fruit

These dried strawberries are lush, look at them, they don't look like much but they're packed full of flavour which is 100% natural as they've had nothing added to them, no sugar, no sweeteners, nada! :-)



So, as with before:

1) Pre-heat the oven to about 140 degrees Celsius (Gas Mark 1/ 275 Degrees Fahrenheit)

2) Line a baking tin (I think the one I used was 20x30cm) with non-stick greaseproof paper (then no need for extra fat to prevent sticking).

3) Weigh out the puffed wholegrain rice and quinoa into a bowl, chop up your dates into little pieces and add them to the bowl together with the mixed nuts, dried fruit and seeds.




4) Mix the honey and peanut butter into a bowl and stick in the microwave for about a minute (can't remember exact time) until the peanut butter and honey have mixed into one lovely gooey runny mess (if you don't have a microwave you could heat it all in a pan on the stove for a bit until it all runs together).

5) Mix the *whole* lot together in a big bowl, vigorously! Tip the mixture into the lined pan and press down really really firmly with the back of a spoon until it's all evenly distributed and nicely compacted.



6) Bake in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes keeping an eye to ensure that the edges don't burn

7) Take out the oven and leave in the tin to cool *completely* (this is very important, you need to leave it for as long as possible, you want it to be rock hard before you cut into it!)

8) When complete cooled, lift out onto a large chopping board and cut into rectangles (cut mine into 1/2's then 1/4's then 1/16ths)



9) Serve! Or do what I did and wrap them into individual portions and then hide them round the house so my son has one-a-day to take with him (he'd seriously scoff the lot if I left them out in his sight!!)



10) I also took a few of the bars and cut them further into 25g-30g portions (half the usual) which are only 125 Cals each - very handy tasty nutrition energy snack :-)



The best thing about these bars (other than the taste of course and the money you save from not buying cereal bars!!) is that because you don't use butter, eggs, milk etc they last for ages and you can just keep them in a box in the cupboard (albeit hidden away from the hungry hollow-legged teenager in our case!!)

So there you go, my second effort and I'm very pleased too. I'm thinking next time I'll add less honey but more fruit, perhaps blueberries?

Mmmm love blueberries :-)

I also might experiment with oats for their low-GI, slow-releasing energy properties...

I also want to do a high-protein one just for moi!

The possiblities are endless, cooking is such fun :-)

In any case, I'll keep you posted with how I get on!

Enjoy!

TJx

My pages!

Ooooh, hasn't blogger gotten swish, can now add up to 10 'standalone' pages full of whatever crap you like now and they don't get lost as your posts build up - neat!

So, have finally started to get my act together and document what it is that I do in the gym and I've added an upper body workout page (see tab above!) and will soon be adding some more, e.g. lower body, core, food & recipes and also a weekly schedule/diary (haven't decided which - depends how organised I make myself) which I will be updating - promise!

Anyway, must dash now as it's late and I'm up early for spin so speak soon and hope you're well

TJx

Content Theft

I was intrigued the other day to find a link to my site from Tesco.com so I went to check it out and saw that Tesco has a search facility for internet content. Cool...

However, visitng the search section which was already populated with the results I noticed that one of my blog entries was there, but that the address wasn't my own website - it was one called Health Fitness Support!

At first I thought "ahh that's nice, somebody like what I wrote and decided to quote me" on some other healthy resource, and then I found that, not only was it the ENTIRE post, there was no mention of where it came from and, worst still, there were others!!

I was horrified to discover that whoever runs "Health Fitness Support" has been stealing my blog entries and posting them on their own site - without any mention of where they came from and who wrote them - for about 4 months!!

LOOK!!

These are all MY posts!

http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/quick-update-on-short-term-goal
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/its-0340am
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/fruit-and-nut-bars-take-1
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/official-maxitone-launch-party-wednesday-27th-january-2010
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/product-review-maxitone-sculptress-bar-plus-some-thoughts-on-long-term-health-and-happiness
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/a-list-hollywood-party
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/product-review-9-bar
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/to-the-person
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/introducing-maxitone
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/snacktastic
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/weekly-roundup
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/christmas-in-the-wood
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/january-detox-tasty-trade-offs
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/a-tasty-mess
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/most-of-december-in-pictures
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/festively-plump-2
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/festively-plump
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/seasons-greetings
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/merry-christmas-2
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/would-you-like-to-see-some-pictures
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/catch-up-part-1-gigs-performances-and-concerts
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/still-here
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/charity-week-cycle-challenge
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/training-labels
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/mmm-new-protein-bar
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/wow
http://www.healthfitnesssupport.com/happy-friday

And these are just the ones that I know of, how many more this spineless person (or people?!) has taken from my site I don't know.

I have tried to find contact information for whoever runs the site but there is none, I have left numerous messages in the comments section but these are yet to be answered and my content is STILL there! >:-(

The thing that pisses me off the most is that this site is run by someone who is using it for financial gain. Every entry is littered with adverts. I don't get paid a penny for what I write. I know I talk about Maxitone and Maximuscle a lot but that's because I both like and USE their products - but they don't pay me to write about that fact!!

So some scumbag is using MY words, MY pictures and MY experiences to line their pockets! And they don't even have the BALLS to reply to me?!

Has this happened to anyone else before? Am I the only one?

Clearly I'm not the only one targetted by this creep as there are numerous other blog entries from other people that are being siphoned away from the rightful source. I think I might contact those people and ask them if they're aware that another person is using THEIR words to make them money!

I've written to wordpress so hopefully will hear back from them soon, but the cowardly criminal has hidden their details, I can find out the IP address: 85.17.239.36 but that's it... I don't know how they're getting my posts or what I can do about it.

I'm so upset, I put my heart and soul into this site and some faceless bastard has been stealing my words and passing them off as their own - all to make a quick buck?!

GET A JOB YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!

So upset :'-(

TJx

Product Review: Maxitone Definity Crisp

Promax Crisp bars are the bomb, seriously, they are like a lifeline for me, a saving grace, the perfect panacea for any mid/late afternoon slump/sweet craving and they help me avoid the multitude of sweet and/or fat-laden treats that adorn every available surface area in my office!!



Nom nom nom...

Guess what I've just found out?!

I'm gonna have a bit of a rant here so sorry but bear with me as this is pretty horrific...

You know Cocoa Pops, or chocolate rice, or whatever other incarnation of these evil chocolate puffs of stripped-down rice you might have tried (I say 'tried' in the hope that this nutritionally devoid cereal doesn't feature in your kitchen cupboard), well did you know that their cereal bar equivalent, Coco Pops Cereal & Milk Bars contains 42g of sugar per 100g!!

Of course, This is hardly surprising when you consider that the word 'sugar' features FIVE times in the ingredients listing, and I've not even counted the glucose syrup - and the sorbitol... (why put a sugar substitute in if you've got so much already?!)

It really made me feel ill to read the 'enticing description' for the Coco Pops bars:

Kellogg’s have packed your kids’ favourite cereal into a soft and chewy cereal bar with a delicious milky layer on the bottom, making it a real anytime treat. Fortified with vitamins, iron and calcium, now you can give your kids a great tasting snack that you can be sure won’t come back from school in the lunchbox!

Who the hell would send their child to school with one of those in their lunch box after checking out the back of the packet for the nutritional info - each bar contains 2g of fat, which doesn't sound huge or bad at all until you read on and see that all of that is saturated fat!

I can't believe Kellogg's market it as a healthy anytime treat to send your child to school with, fume!

Anyway, rant over... but just as a contrasting comparison, Promax Crisp Bars have 20g less sugar per 100g, almost half the salt, less than half of the fat comes from saturates and there's 6 times more fibre!

And now.... cue fanfare... we have another addition to the yummy snack-tastic high protein, low calorie offerings from the Maximuscle/Maxitone company in the form of Definity Crisp Bars!!



I must admit to being a little worried in case these tasted like Special K bars... which are okay at first but soon get sickly as hell!

Thankfully they're not, in fact they're really tangy and very tasty indeed! They definitely beat Special K hands down on taste alone.

With 4g less sugar and over a third less salt they are definitely a healthier choice for those who watch what they put in their bodies.

However, that isn't all Definity Crisp bars have to their benefit, they also contain the teeniest amount of Calories (only 83 - plus only 1.6g of saturated fat!!) and are also deceptively filling to boot! This is probably due to the fact that they are enriched with whey protein and so have over 6g of protein per bar the perfect afternoon/mid-morning snack, take it from me!

So, just think, if you're surrounded by kids eating sweet treats, or colleagues tucking into Calorie and saturated-fat-laden chocs, cakes and pastries, you can feel smug in the knowledge that are you helping to abate, and hopefully eliminate, any sweet cravings with a guilt-free bar of fruity yoghurt smothered yumminess.

Delish!

TJx

Quick update on short term goal...!

I don't have time to update properly as I'd like to get an early night for once and get up early to go to the gym...

You see, I have a short-term goal to work towards, and scarily short it is too!!

In 13 weeks from today I will be attending the FAME UK Champs in my hometown of London.

Gulp

In my usual impulsive style I thought about this a bit yesterday before going out and drinking too much for the 3rd time in the space of 5 days and woke up this morning thinking "that's it, I need a new challenge"

So I've entered! And now I'm scared.

I first heard about this a little while ago on facebook from Jay Benedetti who won the Maximuscle Body of 2009 Cover Model category, he has entered and will be blogging about his progress.

However, it wasn't until I looked in my latest copy of ultra-FIT (which does seem to get better and better with each issue I read :-) ) that I paid it much attention as they've dedicated most of the magazine to training for, and competing in, bodybuilding and fitness shows!

The mag featured the lovely Eleni Plakitsi who won the Fitness Model category and came 2nd in the Bikini Model too!

Her victory was facilitated by the equally lovely and very wise Audrey Kaipio, herself a FAME UK Fitness Model winner, 2 years earlier back in 2007, and who now trains and models and will be heading up the 'FAME Camp' that I'm hoping to attend next month as it's also, very handily, being held in London! :-)

So, it's good to have a new challenge but I'm a bit terrified in that it's only 13 weeks away!

The good news is that I've gotten back into my weight training and I think I've got a decent amount of muscle mass already in place.

The bad news is that I have a lot of fat covering these fabulous muscles, especially round my mid-section, which might be thanks to all the boozing, hmm

Basically, I need to sort it out, and fast, otherwise I'm just going to make a prat out of myself in front of a lot of people!

The alcohol is going to go out of the window (though not literally!), I'm going to try and not drink at all but my birthday is the week before the FAME champs so I'm going to be realistic and say that I'm going to reduce it quite a bit.

I've been reading a lot about alcohol for my Open University course and the effects of ethanol on the body, it's not great, especially if you're trying to lose weight!

You know that our body has no way of storing alcohol so it uses it for energy. Great you may think? However, that means that your body is not calling on its fat reserves for fuel and, worse still, if you've eaten a big meal while drinking (or grabbed a bite to eat while out because you've had alcohol-induced munchies), that food will just be stored. Great... not!!

So yeah, alcohol is bad news if you're trying to lose weight and, to be honest, it's something I could do without for a while as I'm going to try and make every calorie count, and that means avoiding any empty or frivolous calories... basically, if it's not going towards muscle repair, recovery and rebuild - or providing me with a good source of long-lasting energy, it's not going to get consumed. Fact.

So, tomorrow will be the first day of my new training regime. I'm going to sit down at lunch tomorrow and plan everything out for the next 12 weeks and really try and nail it! I'm also going to do some research into what's expected in these shows, I'll need to get a bikini, some fake tan and some ridiculously high transparent-heeled shoes too I think!!

Excited, but scared, more excited though, I think this is just what I need to spur me into action, I've been getting complaisant, it's time to kick ass!!

So, the only thing left is to ask who's going to join me in this little escapade?! JAG, Gym Ninja, Lucie...anyone?! :-)

TJx