So, as the title says, we are now down 2 weeks (10 days) and start on day 11 (week 3) tomorrow (Monday).
It has been easier the last week from the first, as I'm not as achey as the first week. Even though it has been "easier" in the sense of less achey muscles it has still been vigorous and rather fun. My fitness has already gotten better, which is good. As has my mum and sister's fitness.
I log all the food I eat on a site called My Fitness Pal and I think that really helps keep my eating habits in check. I wear a HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) to calculate the amount of calories I actually burn. This I love, I use a Polar FT4 which I swear by. Let's hope I have lost a bit of weight this week! So far since starting I have only lost .2lbs! So I would like a bigger loss this week, however I don't think it's going to happen as this weekend has been a bit hectic and going out for dinner celebrating my husbands birthday.
So, let's hope for a nice hard week of boot camp and a nice loss on the scales!
V xx
Monday 12 March 2012
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Boot Camp
Slightly different from my other posts all about cake, but I do watch my weight and fitness too.
Myself, my sister and our mum decided to take part in a Boot Camp for 6 weeks. It's Monday to Friday for one hour and weekends off, but you can do extra exercise if you wish.
Well, today (Tuesday day 2) was our second session and let's just say it's VERY hard but also really enjoyable. It's so nice and also lots of fun when you exercise in a group. The camaraderie is lovely, as we are all there for the exact same thing, to lose weight and get fit and healthy!
The Boot Camp sessions consist (so far) of a run/jog around 4 tennis courts (school grounds) twice and then a vigorous warm up of jumping jacks, running/jogging on the spot butt kicks etc and then the trainer has set up stations in which you have rotate every 1-2 minutes but always moving and jogging on the spot. Nearing the end of the hour she gets us to run/jog around the courts again then we do a nice cool down of the muscles and a few stretches.
I'll keep you updated as to how I/we get on. So here's to day 3 tomorrow! 28 days left!
V x
Myself, my sister and our mum decided to take part in a Boot Camp for 6 weeks. It's Monday to Friday for one hour and weekends off, but you can do extra exercise if you wish.
Well, today (Tuesday day 2) was our second session and let's just say it's VERY hard but also really enjoyable. It's so nice and also lots of fun when you exercise in a group. The camaraderie is lovely, as we are all there for the exact same thing, to lose weight and get fit and healthy!
The Boot Camp sessions consist (so far) of a run/jog around 4 tennis courts (school grounds) twice and then a vigorous warm up of jumping jacks, running/jogging on the spot butt kicks etc and then the trainer has set up stations in which you have rotate every 1-2 minutes but always moving and jogging on the spot. Nearing the end of the hour she gets us to run/jog around the courts again then we do a nice cool down of the muscles and a few stretches.
I'll keep you updated as to how I/we get on. So here's to day 3 tomorrow! 28 days left!
V x
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Cake Course
Well, Saturday just gone (18th February) I went to Pipedreams Cake shop (in Eton Wick, Windsor, Berkshire) to do a beginner course in cake covering and decorating. I know I can cover cakes etc, but I just wanted to make sure I was doing the basics right before I moved on to other things.
The beginning of the day was relatively "easy" as it was just covering a simple 6" round cake with marzipan and icing. Don't get me wrong, I did learn a few tricks that I will keep with me. It was the afternoon session I was most looking forward to, DECORATING!
We started off by learning how "organise" and measure the cake out into sections so as to make sure it's all even. We learnt how crimp to make various patterns with the icing. And to make our flowers look more delicate rather than just cut out and plonked on the cake. The best skill I learnt was the "garret frill" and this simple skill makes cakes look elegant, especially cakes for weddings or wedding anniversaries, which is what I'm making this week.
The piping was fantastic, I learnt how to make my own icing bag! (saves me lots of money!) and most importantly how to control my piping and write more smoothly and fluidly.
At the end of the day you get to take home your masterpiece. I have included a picture below of the cake I made and decorated.
I took my skills home and couldn't wait to get started. So I was very pleased that I had also made some fruit cupcakes with the left over mix, and I put marzipan and then iced them and the decorated them using my new piping skills - getting in much practice. I can definitely say I'm getting better!
The beginning of the day was relatively "easy" as it was just covering a simple 6" round cake with marzipan and icing. Don't get me wrong, I did learn a few tricks that I will keep with me. It was the afternoon session I was most looking forward to, DECORATING!
We started off by learning how "organise" and measure the cake out into sections so as to make sure it's all even. We learnt how crimp to make various patterns with the icing. And to make our flowers look more delicate rather than just cut out and plonked on the cake. The best skill I learnt was the "garret frill" and this simple skill makes cakes look elegant, especially cakes for weddings or wedding anniversaries, which is what I'm making this week.
The piping was fantastic, I learnt how to make my own icing bag! (saves me lots of money!) and most importantly how to control my piping and write more smoothly and fluidly.
At the end of the day you get to take home your masterpiece. I have included a picture below of the cake I made and decorated.
I took my skills home and couldn't wait to get started. So I was very pleased that I had also made some fruit cupcakes with the left over mix, and I put marzipan and then iced them and the decorated them using my new piping skills - getting in much practice. I can definitely say I'm getting better!
Tuesday 14 February 2012
My Birthday
Well it was my birthday on 27th January and I had a few things lined up. First I had a party at home on the 21st, where I made my own birthday cake! Im pleased to say the party was a success, including the cake!
My actual birthday arrived the following Friday and I had to go to work (for the first time in many years on my birthday!) After which I went to my parents house for games and a Chinese Takeaway (not good for the diet). One of the games was cards. Now, we're not gamblers but we do like to play black jack and other card games at home and bet 20p - £1.00 which always makes it fun!
The following day (28th) my husband had treated me with dinner at Asia De Cuba in Covent Garden, which was absolutely lovely, great restaurant and amazing food. After, we went on to my next treat to Aldwych Theatre to see Midnight Tango which is by Vincent and Flavia from Strictly Come Dancing, and I must say, it was beautiful, such a wonderful story and so beautifully told through dance. I would recommend it to anyone.
Ok, back to the cake. As I made it for myself I thought I could go all out and make it as whacky and "gay" looking as possible. So I started off with baking 4 20" round cakes in different colours (blue, green, pinky/red and yellow). I then made chocolate buttercream for the filling and iced it in yellow icing with the cake board being iced in pink. I did little daisies and butterflies in green, with glitter and I piped "happy birthday Victoria" in blue - yes I piped that for myself!! So, I suppose you might want to see some pictures too, here goes...
My actual birthday arrived the following Friday and I had to go to work (for the first time in many years on my birthday!) After which I went to my parents house for games and a Chinese Takeaway (not good for the diet). One of the games was cards. Now, we're not gamblers but we do like to play black jack and other card games at home and bet 20p - £1.00 which always makes it fun!
The following day (28th) my husband had treated me with dinner at Asia De Cuba in Covent Garden, which was absolutely lovely, great restaurant and amazing food. After, we went on to my next treat to Aldwych Theatre to see Midnight Tango which is by Vincent and Flavia from Strictly Come Dancing, and I must say, it was beautiful, such a wonderful story and so beautifully told through dance. I would recommend it to anyone.
Ok, back to the cake. As I made it for myself I thought I could go all out and make it as whacky and "gay" looking as possible. So I started off with baking 4 20" round cakes in different colours (blue, green, pinky/red and yellow). I then made chocolate buttercream for the filling and iced it in yellow icing with the cake board being iced in pink. I did little daisies and butterflies in green, with glitter and I piped "happy birthday Victoria" in blue - yes I piped that for myself!! So, I suppose you might want to see some pictures too, here goes...
Saturday 5 November 2011
Pig Cake
I have just made a cake for my auntie's birthday this weekend. Her favourite thing are pigs. So I decided to make a pigs head cake for her. The actual cake is chocolate and I used a recipe from Lorraine Pascale's book 'Baking made easy' I did the 'Just don't give a damn chocolate cake' recipe as its easy to make and tastes yummy. I then iced my cake board green and left both cake and board over night. I then coloured some icing pink and then left that whilst I made the chocolate buttercream and levelled and shaped the cake. I then iced it and left over night. I then decorated the cake with the finishing touches.
Here's the cake... Let me know what you think.
Thank you V xxx
Here's the cake... Let me know what you think.
Thank you V xxx
Friday 14 October 2011
Testing from iPhone
Just testing to see if I can post from my iPhone and to see if I can post a picture.
This is a picture of a cake I made for my friends son's 1st birthday
V x
This is a picture of a cake I made for my friends son's 1st birthday
V x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)