29/03: Electronic water descaler
I just finished installing a DIY Magenta Electronics water descaler kit into my mains water pipe. The idea is that it should reduce the amount of limescale in the household water. This should make all the household appliances run longer and there should not be any need for manual descaling. Lets see what happens I am going to monitor this now for 3 months and see if it will reduce the amount of limescale in our shower - the shower curtain is always full of limescale so its a good reference point.
The kit took few hours to build and install - it came with excellent instructions and everything needed. Winding the coils was a bit tricky (never done that before!) and it has been years since I last time had to read resistor colour codes. Luckily nowadays you can google anything - no need for reference books. Soldering was also fun and the device seemed to work from the first try. Funnily enough I had some problems with the piezo electric loudspeaker but the coils seem to make noise anyway so I can hear it working (it should not really make that noise - its a bit bizarre).
Essentially the idea behind this neat little device is that it creates a high frequency magnetic field around the water-pipe and this impacts the chemical structure of the water making it more soft so it can carry more limescale and not to leave it in our shower curtain. Well lets see what happens now - will report back in few months...
The kit took few hours to build and install - it came with excellent instructions and everything needed. Winding the coils was a bit tricky (never done that before!) and it has been years since I last time had to read resistor colour codes. Luckily nowadays you can google anything - no need for reference books. Soldering was also fun and the device seemed to work from the first try. Funnily enough I had some problems with the piezo electric loudspeaker but the coils seem to make noise anyway so I can hear it working (it should not really make that noise - its a bit bizarre).
Essentially the idea behind this neat little device is that it creates a high frequency magnetic field around the water-pipe and this impacts the chemical structure of the water making it more soft so it can carry more limescale and not to leave it in our shower curtain. Well lets see what happens now - will report back in few months...
08/03: Hubble images
This is nothing new but does amaze me every time. The Hubble photos are just plan amazing. Visit The Hubble site too see hundreds of totally amazing photos of the universe. Like the one below. Wow.
PREPARATION TIME: 6-10 MINS.
As part of the natural diet I am following (see my previous blog here) I am eating more eggs since they are a natural source of protein and yummy for breakfast. However I have been mostly boiling my eggs and that gets a bit boring over time. A few weeks ago I ended up in a bookshop and there was a cooking book for "idiots" and it started with a whole chapter on how to cook your eggs. I did not realise there was so much you can do with eggs and perfecting an egg can be a form of art. I got excited. But then I forgot the whole thing.
Yesterday evening I was searching things online and stumbled upon on several recipes for how to poach an egg. Eggs again! There was even this one guy how had done a comparison of the different recipes claiming most of them do not work. His idea is to use microwave proof plastic cling film and just drop the egg in there. For me this sounded too messy, not natural enough (being a perfectionist here!) - so I searched more. Then I found the following recipe and tried it this morning - and it actually works.
OK you need a big pot (several litres) so you have enough room for your eggs to float in there. I was using about 2.7 litres of water - the exact amount is not important but use plenty. The water needs to boil properly (called rolling boil) - just before poaching bring down the heat so the boiling is not so intense and the water is almost still. Then add two teaspoons of white wine vinegar into the water.
Take the eggs out of the fridge few hours before so they are room at temperature. Use as fresh eggs as possible. Use a small container (like a small tea-cup) and break each egg into a container - so they are ready to be dropped into the water.
The magic is to use a large spoon and make a nice small whirlpool thing into the pot by rotating the spoon in the water(not super rapid just fast-ish). Whilst the whirlpool is in action literally drop the egg rapidly into the middle (do not slowly pour). Wait maybe 10 secs before adding the next egg and you may want to speed the rotation a bit in between. Once you have added the desired amount of eggs then just wait for about 3 minutes. The eggs actually start floating towards the end of the three minute cycle (at least this happened for me!) which seems to indicate they are ready. Magical eggs.
Then just take the egg out of the pot and drain it a bit before you serve it on a plate.
Just add a bit salt and perhaps black pepper (freshly ground) and enjoy. Perfectly poached eggs.
I simply add a collection of fruits on the table. Natural and healthy - guaranteed to loose weight.
If it is Sunday brunch time and you do not want to eat just eggs why not to fry some organic mushrooms (10-15 mins on a pan with just a bit of olive oil) and add fresh spinach for the last few minutes. This is a nice and healthy and goes well with poached eggs (not bacon or muffins or anything fatty or processed here!).
As part of the natural diet I am following (see my previous blog here) I am eating more eggs since they are a natural source of protein and yummy for breakfast. However I have been mostly boiling my eggs and that gets a bit boring over time. A few weeks ago I ended up in a bookshop and there was a cooking book for "idiots" and it started with a whole chapter on how to cook your eggs. I did not realise there was so much you can do with eggs and perfecting an egg can be a form of art. I got excited. But then I forgot the whole thing.
Yesterday evening I was searching things online and stumbled upon on several recipes for how to poach an egg. Eggs again! There was even this one guy how had done a comparison of the different recipes claiming most of them do not work. His idea is to use microwave proof plastic cling film and just drop the egg in there. For me this sounded too messy, not natural enough (being a perfectionist here!) - so I searched more. Then I found the following recipe and tried it this morning - and it actually works.
OK you need a big pot (several litres) so you have enough room for your eggs to float in there. I was using about 2.7 litres of water - the exact amount is not important but use plenty. The water needs to boil properly (called rolling boil) - just before poaching bring down the heat so the boiling is not so intense and the water is almost still. Then add two teaspoons of white wine vinegar into the water.
Take the eggs out of the fridge few hours before so they are room at temperature. Use as fresh eggs as possible. Use a small container (like a small tea-cup) and break each egg into a container - so they are ready to be dropped into the water.
The magic is to use a large spoon and make a nice small whirlpool thing into the pot by rotating the spoon in the water(not super rapid just fast-ish). Whilst the whirlpool is in action literally drop the egg rapidly into the middle (do not slowly pour). Wait maybe 10 secs before adding the next egg and you may want to speed the rotation a bit in between. Once you have added the desired amount of eggs then just wait for about 3 minutes. The eggs actually start floating towards the end of the three minute cycle (at least this happened for me!) which seems to indicate they are ready. Magical eggs.
Then just take the egg out of the pot and drain it a bit before you serve it on a plate.
Just add a bit salt and perhaps black pepper (freshly ground) and enjoy. Perfectly poached eggs.
I simply add a collection of fruits on the table. Natural and healthy - guaranteed to loose weight.
If it is Sunday brunch time and you do not want to eat just eggs why not to fry some organic mushrooms (10-15 mins on a pan with just a bit of olive oil) and add fresh spinach for the last few minutes. This is a nice and healthy and goes well with poached eggs (not bacon or muffins or anything fatty or processed here!).
02/02: Baltic herring risotto
PREPARATION TIME: 30 MINS
I improvised this meal today and was quite pleased. In order to have the Baltic taste you need to use salt-cured and marinated whole herrings filets preferably Finnish (picture at the bottom). The Finnish church in London (address here) has a nice shop and you can usually buy marinated herrings from there (and other Finnish food things like reindeer and Finnish mustard). However also the lovely IKEA in the UK have some Swedish marinated herring available (pre-cut in a glass jar) which you can use also (take the one marinated with onion and herbs). Have a look also for this recipe.
Stuff that you need for this (this is for two, just multiply the amount of ingredients for more people):
- Risotto rice (half pack)
- Plenty of chicken stock (for best taste real stock - do not use cubes - and use free range chicken please)
- One onion
- Few garlic gloves (according to taste)
- Red chili (you only need to use 1/4)
- King prawns (pre-cooked) and clams (little white wine to cook the clams)
- 4-5 whole herring filets (salt-cured, marinated stored in a glass jar or a tin can) OR a small glass jar of pre-cut herrings
- Olive oil (extra virgin, I prefer spanish)
- Parmesan cheese (italian)
OK first have a large pot for the stock. Heat it and leave on the side (turn heat off when warm / hot) - if you do not have enough stock you can add water and one stock cube but ideally use home made fresh stock. Cut the onion into really small bits and put it into a large pre-heated frying pan (large enough to take all risotto in) and add a good amount of extra virgin olive oil (I really like Spanish). Keep the heat on a moderate setting so the onion does not burn and keep stirring it.
Meanwhile cut 1/4 of the chili into slices and do the same for few garlic gloves (crush them first to squeece the juice out). Add those into the pan with the onion - keep on moderate heat and fry until onion becomes slightly transparent (5-6 minutes). Then add the rice and keep stirring. Do not let the rice burn.
Now add half pint of stock and keep stirring the rice. The idea is to keep adding the stock (half pint each time when the water has evaporated and keep stirring the rice all the time. I learned how to cook risotto from the marvellous Jamie Oliver books - I really like the stuff he is doing. You need to keep stirring the rice / adding more stock until the rice is cooked - this process takes about 20 minutes but will produce excellent risotto.
Meanwhile cook the clams in small amount of white wine (for 3-4 minutes) and water until they pop open. Discard all clams which did not open. You know the drill. Also cut the herring filets into thin / narrow strips ready to be mixed into the rice. Rinse the herrings once with cold water to remove some of the salt.
Once the rice is almost cooked add clams, prawns and rinsed herring strips. At this point you can pour in some white wine (optional) too. Let the seafood mix to be in for few minutes (and let the white wine evaporate if added) then add lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese (according to taste). Do not add any salt at any stage - the herring is usually heavily salted!
Voila then just wait the cheese melts in and you are in business! Serve immediatly with black pepper and additional parmesan cheese. I really love this stuff with good Italian chablis white wine (well chilled). This is a nice and salty variation of the basic risotto - it has a bit of rustic or a real baltic taste in it! Yummy.
Bon appetit.
(I will add picture of this meal here later on when I cook it next time)
Anyway here is a picture of pre-cut baltic herring - when preparing this risotto cut it into even smaller thinner stripes (Note: this is not a picture of the meal just the herring!)
Here is the herring in a glass jar, you can find something like this from IKEA in the UK (do not use the herring in mustard sauce for this recipe you need a basic herring marinated with onions and herbs. It has high salt content so rinsing the herring is important).
I improvised this meal today and was quite pleased. In order to have the Baltic taste you need to use salt-cured and marinated whole herrings filets preferably Finnish (picture at the bottom). The Finnish church in London (address here) has a nice shop and you can usually buy marinated herrings from there (and other Finnish food things like reindeer and Finnish mustard). However also the lovely IKEA in the UK have some Swedish marinated herring available (pre-cut in a glass jar) which you can use also (take the one marinated with onion and herbs). Have a look also for this recipe.
Stuff that you need for this (this is for two, just multiply the amount of ingredients for more people):
- Risotto rice (half pack)
- Plenty of chicken stock (for best taste real stock - do not use cubes - and use free range chicken please)
- One onion
- Few garlic gloves (according to taste)
- Red chili (you only need to use 1/4)
- King prawns (pre-cooked) and clams (little white wine to cook the clams)
- 4-5 whole herring filets (salt-cured, marinated stored in a glass jar or a tin can) OR a small glass jar of pre-cut herrings
- Olive oil (extra virgin, I prefer spanish)
- Parmesan cheese (italian)
OK first have a large pot for the stock. Heat it and leave on the side (turn heat off when warm / hot) - if you do not have enough stock you can add water and one stock cube but ideally use home made fresh stock. Cut the onion into really small bits and put it into a large pre-heated frying pan (large enough to take all risotto in) and add a good amount of extra virgin olive oil (I really like Spanish). Keep the heat on a moderate setting so the onion does not burn and keep stirring it.
Meanwhile cut 1/4 of the chili into slices and do the same for few garlic gloves (crush them first to squeece the juice out). Add those into the pan with the onion - keep on moderate heat and fry until onion becomes slightly transparent (5-6 minutes). Then add the rice and keep stirring. Do not let the rice burn.
Now add half pint of stock and keep stirring the rice. The idea is to keep adding the stock (half pint each time when the water has evaporated and keep stirring the rice all the time. I learned how to cook risotto from the marvellous Jamie Oliver books - I really like the stuff he is doing. You need to keep stirring the rice / adding more stock until the rice is cooked - this process takes about 20 minutes but will produce excellent risotto.
Meanwhile cook the clams in small amount of white wine (for 3-4 minutes) and water until they pop open. Discard all clams which did not open. You know the drill. Also cut the herring filets into thin / narrow strips ready to be mixed into the rice. Rinse the herrings once with cold water to remove some of the salt.
Once the rice is almost cooked add clams, prawns and rinsed herring strips. At this point you can pour in some white wine (optional) too. Let the seafood mix to be in for few minutes (and let the white wine evaporate if added) then add lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese (according to taste). Do not add any salt at any stage - the herring is usually heavily salted!
Voila then just wait the cheese melts in and you are in business! Serve immediatly with black pepper and additional parmesan cheese. I really love this stuff with good Italian chablis white wine (well chilled). This is a nice and salty variation of the basic risotto - it has a bit of rustic or a real baltic taste in it! Yummy.
Bon appetit.
(I will add picture of this meal here later on when I cook it next time)
Anyway here is a picture of pre-cut baltic herring - when preparing this risotto cut it into even smaller thinner stripes (Note: this is not a picture of the meal just the herring!)
Here is the herring in a glass jar, you can find something like this from IKEA in the UK (do not use the herring in mustard sauce for this recipe you need a basic herring marinated with onions and herbs. It has high salt content so rinsing the herring is important).
Hi all. Its time to go organic or free range at least on meat and chicken. The recent documentary Hugh's Chicken Run made by the UK celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver regarding chicken farming was a real eyeopener at least for me. I have known that the conditions in intensive farming are bad - but I could not believe my eyes when I saw the real conditions. How anyone can eat meat treated like that - I simply cannot. It changed my life.
Lot of people obviously cannot afford organic chicken or free range since the price is high at least £12 per chicken. The standard intensive farmed chicken is £1.99 in Tesco's - a whopping £10 cheaper. So for many people the choice is obvious. It is tough of course and there is no clear answer for the problem. I would still challenge people to think twice and eat chicken / meat less often and when you eat go free range at least (bit cheaper than organic). I am eating meat / chicken once a week currently - most of the week I am eating fish and vegetarian food. This does not break the bank - my food bill is the same as it was before so it can be done but you need to change your lifestyle.
The national food standrards agency says there is no nutritional difference between organic and standard food. Yes I think its clear and thats not the point. The big question is more about the ethics - how can we farm our food in such poor conditions? Also its a bit about taste - free range chicken does indeed taste better and is more enjoyable as food.
Anyway the celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver deserve a big applaud here for doing the hard work to promote free range chicken. The sales of free range chicken are up currently - lets see how permanent effect that is.
Lot of people obviously cannot afford organic chicken or free range since the price is high at least £12 per chicken. The standard intensive farmed chicken is £1.99 in Tesco's - a whopping £10 cheaper. So for many people the choice is obvious. It is tough of course and there is no clear answer for the problem. I would still challenge people to think twice and eat chicken / meat less often and when you eat go free range at least (bit cheaper than organic). I am eating meat / chicken once a week currently - most of the week I am eating fish and vegetarian food. This does not break the bank - my food bill is the same as it was before so it can be done but you need to change your lifestyle.
The national food standrards agency says there is no nutritional difference between organic and standard food. Yes I think its clear and thats not the point. The big question is more about the ethics - how can we farm our food in such poor conditions? Also its a bit about taste - free range chicken does indeed taste better and is more enjoyable as food.
Anyway the celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver deserve a big applaud here for doing the hard work to promote free range chicken. The sales of free range chicken are up currently - lets see how permanent effect that is.
07/01: Diets, diets and diets
This time of the year is the golden time of diets. TV is full of dieting and gym commercials and everyone wants to loose weight - however rarely people succeed. Why? I think there are many things that prevent change, typically we usually want to change too many things at the same time. One golden rule I have found is to change only one thing at a time (like one thing a month max.) - I really like the Boots "Change one thing" campaign - I think that is a very rare example of a really good advice from a commercial corporation.
Going to a diet usually involves changing too many things, the diets are complex to follow - your life is too busy anyway and usually we drop out only after a week. Familiar? Yes this is unfortunately the usual pattern - this kept happening to me too but this year I have managed to make a difference. The secret has been that I spend most of last year changing one thing in my eating habits every month. First I dropped carbonated drinks mostly coca-cola - this was the biggest step. Then later on I dropped chocolate - this was the hardest thing for me. Then finally I moved into fully home cooked food (no ready made meals or mac-donalds).
However after all hard work last year I still did not loose any weight. This was weird, I was eating more healthy but every time I weighed myself - the bathroom scale still pointing to a rather disappointing value. I almost dropped out of the whole thing and went back to eating chocolate all the time.
I was looking around reading about different diets - I really did not know what to do since there was too many programmes around and they all sounded very complex - by my nature I do not like anything that is complex. If something is complex it usually does not work. I like simple things, simple rules and simple advice. This is what I was searching.
My rescue came suddenly out-of-blue when I invited few friends over for a dinner. One of my friends is an ex-athlete. I asked him what does he eat to control his weight. His answer was simple: only eat unprocessed food. Do not put anything that is processed / factory made into your mouth. Bread is processed. Cheese is processed. These are bad for your system - good things are as natural as possible.
Wow I thought this is a simple advice, simple rule to follow. It makes sense that our body will accept most easily unprocessed food since its most natural - it is in the shape nature created it.
This is not a diet this is a lifestyle. And it is a big change since you only eat fresh, natural stuff and nothing else. Period. I can feel the difference eating unprocessed food only for few weeks and I have lost already some weight (combined with going to the gym regularly). This thing really works. Professional advice is always the best!
What can you eat then? Anything which is not processed and is coming straing from the mother earth which obviously include:
- vegetables (use organic if you can)
- fruits (fresh - juice is ok if freshly prepared)
- fresh meat (use organic or free range if you can)
- fresh fish (fresh - not frozen)
- eggs
- nuts
- rice
- beans
- anything that comes straight from nature (nothing addedd, nothing removed)
That't it. No more bread, cheese, muesli, health youghurts, chocolate, coca-cola, hamburgers, ice-cream, tv dinners, soya-milk, peanut butter, etc...
This is a simple rule to follow, changing is still difficult. If you want to change - change one thing a month and stick with it, have a goal and do things gradually - keep moving forward... you will need willpower and family support. Things like this are best done within the family / group of people you spend your time with.
Good luck with your change and diet. Once you have made the change you will not go back since it feels so much better eating naturally.
UPDATE: Not all the recipes on this site follow strickly this advice, I myself give one day a week to eat a bit outside the diet (like parmesan cheese). I have anyway lost 5kg already - so the diet combined with going to the Gym really works.
Going to a diet usually involves changing too many things, the diets are complex to follow - your life is too busy anyway and usually we drop out only after a week. Familiar? Yes this is unfortunately the usual pattern - this kept happening to me too but this year I have managed to make a difference. The secret has been that I spend most of last year changing one thing in my eating habits every month. First I dropped carbonated drinks mostly coca-cola - this was the biggest step. Then later on I dropped chocolate - this was the hardest thing for me. Then finally I moved into fully home cooked food (no ready made meals or mac-donalds).
However after all hard work last year I still did not loose any weight. This was weird, I was eating more healthy but every time I weighed myself - the bathroom scale still pointing to a rather disappointing value. I almost dropped out of the whole thing and went back to eating chocolate all the time.
I was looking around reading about different diets - I really did not know what to do since there was too many programmes around and they all sounded very complex - by my nature I do not like anything that is complex. If something is complex it usually does not work. I like simple things, simple rules and simple advice. This is what I was searching.
My rescue came suddenly out-of-blue when I invited few friends over for a dinner. One of my friends is an ex-athlete. I asked him what does he eat to control his weight. His answer was simple: only eat unprocessed food. Do not put anything that is processed / factory made into your mouth. Bread is processed. Cheese is processed. These are bad for your system - good things are as natural as possible.
Wow I thought this is a simple advice, simple rule to follow. It makes sense that our body will accept most easily unprocessed food since its most natural - it is in the shape nature created it.
This is not a diet this is a lifestyle. And it is a big change since you only eat fresh, natural stuff and nothing else. Period. I can feel the difference eating unprocessed food only for few weeks and I have lost already some weight (combined with going to the gym regularly). This thing really works. Professional advice is always the best!
What can you eat then? Anything which is not processed and is coming straing from the mother earth which obviously include:
- vegetables (use organic if you can)
- fruits (fresh - juice is ok if freshly prepared)
- fresh meat (use organic or free range if you can)
- fresh fish (fresh - not frozen)
- eggs
- nuts
- rice
- beans
- anything that comes straight from nature (nothing addedd, nothing removed)
That't it. No more bread, cheese, muesli, health youghurts, chocolate, coca-cola, hamburgers, ice-cream, tv dinners, soya-milk, peanut butter, etc...
This is a simple rule to follow, changing is still difficult. If you want to change - change one thing a month and stick with it, have a goal and do things gradually - keep moving forward... you will need willpower and family support. Things like this are best done within the family / group of people you spend your time with.
Good luck with your change and diet. Once you have made the change you will not go back since it feels so much better eating naturally.
UPDATE: Not all the recipes on this site follow strickly this advice, I myself give one day a week to eat a bit outside the diet (like parmesan cheese). I have anyway lost 5kg already - so the diet combined with going to the Gym really works.
16/12: Going to the gym!!!
Hoo-Ha I started going to the gym. It has been long overdue and finally I did it and amazingly I do like going to the gym now (unlike before). Gyms nowadays have changed a lot they offer anything from Yoga to personal health screening and they even offer machines which do all the hard work for you. Ha ha - powerplates are great. And even better I am buying a my gym via my private health insurance and I get subsidiced gym membership - I pay less the more I go. It is a new life for me!
I do like commercial things which help you to make change, Pruhealth insurance is really helping!!! Why pay for the gym?
I do like commercial things which help you to make change, Pruhealth insurance is really helping!!! Why pay for the gym?