New to me: Avocado Oil

As you know I am back on a keto kick for the past while.  I decided to go back low carb after getting in to an awful habit of eating a massive pastry in Nick's, everytime I went for a coffee there (probably 4-5 times a week). There came a point where I realised that the only reason I was going to Nick's was for the pastry (they were pretty good!) and not the coffee that I decided I had to stop......and I needed to give up all other carbs too.

So it was back on to keto to get back in control.

One of the things that I do when I am on keto is to make homemade mayonaise. However, I generally make it with olive oil which can have such an overpowering taste. 

So as an alternative I tried to find some avocado oil for sale as I wanted to make mayo with it.

I found the avocado oil in Holland & Barrett......and guess what, it is delicious and it makes very tasty mayo. And it is especially nice drizzled over a potassium rich real avocado!

If you are interested in eating low carb, check out this lady. She wrote the book that I have on my shelf right now (I borrowed it from the library). I used to follow her on youtube years ago and her story is very inspirational as well as being a great keto cook!

And those great days just keep coming....

After a day in the office on Friday, I met PIGSY at the opening of the Ranelagh Arts Festival 2023. It was luanched by the Canadian Ambassador Nancy Smyth and there was a great crowd at the art exhibition launch. The sun was shining so everyone hung out on the street outside the gallery and chatted with the exhibitors.

And then Saturday was a day in the Ranelagh Arts Gallery where PIGSY was a guest invigilator. This was another fun day where we chatted to visitors all day about the art on show. But the day got really great when and offer came through at close to 5pm for a ticket to the Michael Bublé at 8pm in the 3 Arena. It really was all about Canada this weekend, eh!

After a fast turn around, leaving the gallery at 5.30pm, hopping in the shower and jumping on the bus and luas I got down to the Gibson Hotel for just after 7pm to meet my fellow concert goers.  

What an amazing concert. Michael Bublé is an incredible singer and performer and I love a big band!!

And then we really got lucky when Mr Bublé arrived to a "second stage" which was only 2 rows away from us and did a full Elvis medley of songs. Just incredible!!

This part was the highight of the show for me - and then he magically disappeared in a storm of ticker tape / paper confetti to reappear on the main stage.

All in all a great show!

And my great weekend is not over just yet. 

This morning we go to the Stella Theatre in the Devlin Hotel for the Ranelagh Arts Film Festival where we will watch the documentary "Castro's Spies". 

And then later in the day we will have a call with Amy and Patrick (another Canadian!) in Florida - 5pm our time, mid day there time. 

Hope your weekend is as good as mine - drop a line below to let me know what you got up to!

Cheese O's order!

As you saw from my previous post, my new favourite thing is "Cheese O's" which are tasty little puffed cheesy bites in a variety of flavours.

There was only regular cheese bites in Cheddar flavour and also Sweet Chilli flavour (we prefer the Sweet Chilli) in my local Supervalu so I decided to order a few of the other flavours directly from the supplier.

Well look at this - they have arrived!

I ordered 24 packets in total and they arrived all packed up in 2 boxes like this.....all the way from County CorK via the Tralee Post Office (I tracked it using the An Post number supplied by the company when they sent me confirmation of my order

The delivery arrived about 11am this morning just before I went to work so we only opened the boxes this evening. 

The first flavour we selected to taste was the Salt & Vinegar, which we both LOVED!

Unfortunately though I only bought 2 of this flavours........guess I will have to order again in the future!

If you are interested in tasting these delicions snacks you can order on their website here, or look out for them in your local Supervalu or other shops.

For me, they are a great low carb snack that fits in my keto lifestyle perfectly. There are not many keto friendly snacks available in my local shop so I am very happy to have found these, and I am looking forward to tasting the other flavours. 

You can check out the website below to see the nutritional info in order to see how this snack would fit in with your diet/lifestyle.

Well done to Dairy Concepts Irl on a great new Irish low carb product!

Edit - Tasted the Cheese & Pickeled Onion and they taste just like Monster Munch.

"Lost in Thought" is open!

Ranelagh is alive!

PIGSY's "Lost in Thought" is on show.  The exhibition opened with a bang on 21st of April and you can read all about the opening here on PIGSY's website.

Next up is the finissage event on closing night of 5th of May. 

And if you aren't able to get to see the show sometime this week before it close on Friday, you can check out this video below (starring moi (!), and PIGSY) all about the show.

Other than PIGSY art, my latest obsession are something that I found in my local Supervalu store.....they are an Irish product called "Cheese O's"

Made from Irish Cheddar cheese they are basically dried cheese puffs with some flavouring. I've tasted the plain version and the sweet chilli version and both are great. They are low carb (I'm back on keto) and high protein so they fit perfectly with my current lifestyle and diet.

They are so good that I went on to the Cheese O's website to check out the other flavours and ordered a variety box. I'll report back on the different flavours when I get that delivery!

You can check out the Cheese O's website here for info.

Made by a company called Dairy Concepts and based in County Cork I expect my Cheese O's will arrive quickly in a few days. I ordered them yesterday but today was a Bank Holiday in Ireland so the order probably won't even get processed until tomorrow........either way I don't mind when they arrive but I am looking forward to tasting all of the varieties.

April Showers brings May Flowers

 It's bucketing rain here in Ireland.  

We had a lovely Easter but it started to rain on Easter Monday and now today, after a dry morning, it is raining again.

After working from home all day, I needed to get out for a walk. So after work we set off with an umbrella up to Ranelagh to buy the makings of dinner in Supervalu. It was fine on the way to the shop but started rain a little heavier on the way back. We are now home and the rain is really HEAVY!

But as the saying goes, "April Showers brings May Flowers" so we should see lots of blooms very soon.

I took a few pics of what are weeds really, growing on my street. And even through they are weeds they do brighten the area and they will probably provide food for bees and butterflies, so it's all good.

Musings...

There has been a lot of talk recently about the concept of the "15 Minute City". My understanding of the concept is that services are offered to citizens through improved public transport and active travel initiatives that allow for most people to walk or cycle less than 15 minutes in order use resources such as doctors, shops, restaurants and other community services.

Yesterday after working from home, I set off walking to Ranelagh Village which is only about 5 minutes from my house where I first visited the hardware store to buy some surface cleaner. I then walked on down the main street to Leech's Pharmacy where I dropped in a prescription to be filled.  After that I continued on through Ranelagh and went to The Hill pub to see what was going on there as I had heard that a Hallmark movie was being filmed at this location. When I got to The Hill I could see lots of crew and equipment but no movie stars.  

I didn't stay long at The Hill and then meandered through Ranelagh Park to Supervalu where I bought something for my dinner and then headed home.

All in all doing these little chores while strolling from my house and back took about 50 mins in total. It made me consider that I am probably living in a 15 minute area and there are probably only a few tweaks needed by the local authority to make it a better place for all to live in. It felt healthy being able to walk around rather than driving and searching for parking spaces and all that malarkey. It is to be recommended, I think!

In other news, I planted some flower seeds yesterday. I went for a Butterfly & Bee "Shake & Rake" pack. So watch this space as I will post pics when the flowers come up.  You can click here to see pics from last year in my garden.

"Lost in Thought" by PIGSY

Over the weekend I helped PIGSY hang his new solo exhibition "Lost in Thought" which opens on 21st of April in Ranelagh Arts. Bones came with us - but he didn't last long as he was whiney and bored so I dropped him home and then cycled back to the arts center.

You can read more about the PIGSY exhibition on the PIGSY website - I'd love you to see the art (with added augmented reality) so do come to either the opening night or anytime over the 2 weeks that the exhibition is on show.

Back at Bikram in '23!

If you read back my blog you'll see lots of posts like this about my return to Bikram Yoga as I've been practising on and off for probably close on 15 years now.  

After a break for awhile there is nothing like getting back to it.

This may have been my longest break with my last class being in November 2019 which of course was leading up to the Covid lockdown in March 2020.  If I had known what was going to happen in March 2020, I would have made damn sure I practised more in the months of November to March.

And then the months turned to years and suddenly it was over 3 years since I practised in a studio (I did a bit at home on my own from time to time).

But......I'm now back at it!

I went to a Sunday 4pm class yesterday and have now signed up for a month. I intend to go 3 or 4 times per week if I can make it.

It was a fantastic class and it felt so good to be back!!  

There is nothing like Bikram.....I'm already dreaming of my next class.

I had to rent a mat at the studio as I couldn't fine my old one.  At lunch today I then went to Elverys and got myself a nice mat. So I am all set for tomorrow's class.

The class is at 6.30pm and with I'm working from home so it is perfect time (if I was working in the office it would be a big rush to get there on time).

I can't wait!

I signed up for a month in the Harolds Cross Bikram Yoga studio. It's about a 10 minute cycle from my house to the studio which is just perfect. There is bike lanes most of the way (thankfully as it fairly hostile cycling with the rushiong-home-from-work motorists) and best of all is that it is downhill on the way home with only a gentle incline on the way there.

Along with doing yoga I am trying to get back in to intermittent fasting. I was wondering how this would go but in fairness I've always liked to do bikram on an empty stomach with 10am morning classes being my favourite. 

Come back to me in a month to hear how it all went.....