Chat Thread: Tokyo Drift

@Balla: I am determined that whatever choices I make regarding my diet, I will never press my choices on other people. If they ask why, I will answer, of course.

@Muss: I don't rate myself as a cook either, but I've decided to just go for it. Tonight, as it happens, I cooked mushrooms for the first time in a mushroom crostini recipe from one of my oldest cookbooks. It was fun... and slightly tasty, even!

Fair play. It is the only correct choice, as we are on a dying world, but I'm weak and love chicken. Also, I quit my own dalliance with vegetarianism when I returned home as I didn't want to be a nuisance to my family. I still try to pick non-meat options when I have an opportunity myself.

I wish I could do even that, but I find most vegetables 'orrible.

I may - may - have completely forgotten to ring my Mum on her birthday yesterday.

Eek! Did she get a card?

I went over to visit that day (I may even have written that post on the bus on the way over) with presents and humility in tow. I think it was alright.

Much like Ness calling his dad, nice save.

Any of you got any advice with this veggie stuff, I'm kinda thinking about trying to go pretty much vegetarian or pescetarian part from maybe when out with mates etc as I dread to think what a fish in McDonald's taste like

Good on you. For the record, the Filet-O-Fish is not bad but Burger King usually have a better range for pescetarians. Quorn mince is good for chillies and spaghetti bologneses, though there is a lot of it in one pack. Linda McCartney sausages have gotten better and more varied over the years. Also, if you haven't already, find a fish or two (or more!) that you like - try different ones in restaurants, curries, home cooking, etc. The main thing is to make sure you enjoy it.

The easiest way of starting off is to buy a variety of meat substitutes, Quorn or Linda McCartney things (I think her burgers are the best, but she can do no wrong), and use those any time you're thinking of using meat. Quorn products vary quite a lot in terms of taste from product to product. The Quorn lasagna ready meal is fine, the sausages are fine, but some of it tastes a bit funky. Always best to have a healthy supply of tasty sauces ready to alleviate that issue.

I'd also recommend taking it easy. Like if you pretty much eat meat daily then don't go cold turkey right away. Ease yourself in, find veggie alternatives you like and build on those. If you feel like you can live meat free once you've built up a big enough stable of alternative dishes then that's when you go veggie full-time. Even if you never find yourself with enough alternatives that would work for you full time, you'll hopefully find a few dishes that you could eat on occasion instead of meat, and that's something. And, even if you don't find much at all to your liking, substituting chicken/turkey for beef/pork reduces your carbon footprint significantly while also being much healthier for you as poultry is a lean meat. I also spent a while being full-time veggie but for allowing myself to order a meat dish if I was eating out, reducing that intake to zero gradually.

I also "cheated" when I was veggie. I never eat beef/pork/lamb anymore but even if I was on my veggie diet I'd eat leftover poultry or fish that would otherwise be wasted. I was always in it for reducing my carbon footprint, but once the emissions have been spent by someone else there's no moral dilemma for me. The purchase happened and it'd be worse to waste it. I never felt like Veggies had much more of a moral leg to stand on than meat eaters when it came to animal rights arguments - as long as one still eats dairy they're supporting an industry which separates mother from child, artificially inseminates, abuses antibiotics and (potentially) supports battery farmed chickens too. Simply not partaking in the animal's slaughter isn't good enough. So tuck into leftovers I say.

Diets are really hard to change so don't charge into it at 100mph, your body and mind won't be used to it and that's the same sort of approach that has people working out hard for a week at the gym before never showing up again.

Thanks guys

I mainly just want to try to eat healthier but like Drunka said recently he doesn't want to be a bother at home and that has always been the case for me, as my father and I work full-time, he's always done the shopping on his day off and it's crap but spoke to him and I'm just going to buy my own food from payday (he's bought stuff already with what I give towards rent).

Which lead to me thinking well if I'm having sausages for dinner, why not Quorn or Linda McCartney (less likely due to not having a freezer and they're sold frozen a work, meaning I'll have to eat a whole pack rather quick after defrosting them out) alternatives instead but are they really healthy? what goes in them for instance?

On the chicken/turkey for beef/pork/lamb, this is an odd one as I don't really eat beef normally only ever in burgers at a spoons or maccys or when I go to my grandparents for Sunday dinner and it's steak for a treat (I don't like steak, but I just eat it anyway), with pork it is only ever in sausages or again Sunday dinner and I hate lamb.

Only other times would be things like pepperoni on pizza (you can make your own at work and I've already thought about having one with pineapple, peppers, jalapeños and chilli cheese) that most of my diet meat-wise is chicken but it's processed breaded goujons which even if replace with actual chicken would be better for me.

I do love fish and have started eating more of it in recent weeks along with a mixture of cod, haddock, lemon sole, plaice and hake that I think that along with a sausage or chicken like replacement as well, has to be better.

I don't know if Quorn/LM sausages are healthy, as such, but the main content of Quorn sausages is mycoprotein (mushroom protein, basically) but LM ones are soya-based (and slightly tastier, to be honest). I missed pepperoni to begin with but soon adapted. Pleased to see that you're already a bit of a fish man! Lastly, big 'yes' to the ASDA select your own pizza service - never less than delicious.

Dontcha just love it when you go to sleep on a saturday and awake on monday?  24 hour sleeps are the best, always wake up feeling so fresh and ready to take on anything.  


Can't comment on the vegetarian stuff, I like my meat and you'll never get me swearing off my occasional beef lasagna and creamy chicken pizza.  I'll happily go vegetarian when I'm dead though!     I actually don't eat much traditional meat, I get most of my protean from tuna thrown in cesar salad.

Sir, that is amazing. I am too sensitive a sleeper to last for twenty four hours: I wake up as soon as it's light outside.

The most I've ever slept for is something like 14 hours and I honestly felt like complete shit when I woke up. So I don't know how you could sleep a whole day & feel OK afterwards.

I managed to lie in until around 11 today, which was still only 9 hours sleep, and that felt like a lot. Needed it though. I almost always wake up at 6, 7 or 8 every day now.

I slept for 17 hours once because of jetlag, and couldn't work out how I could fall asleep at 7PM and wake up at noon. I think if I slept for 24 hours and lost a weekend day, it'd be like the end of the world. Also, the obvious point, which is: I'm pretty sure sleeping 24 hours in a row under "normal" conditions is a sign that something bad is happening... - You alright Athers?

I stayed awake for 32 hours and then slept for 16.  I think that's me record. On the back of which: very much what Jimbob said, Athers, hope all's well!

why is it still only Tuesday

Balladeer wrote:

why is it still only Tuesday

No, it's Wednesday.


I don't really understand how all this works

Today's life lessons:

1) Always measure up everything that could impact on the space needed to install white goods.
2) Always pay the extra for the team to take away the old one. I've done some damage to the back of the car (only inside, fortunately).

I would say something about that but as one of those plebeians that uses public transport or their two legs to get everywhere I can't relate, other than the fact that I'd probably die a little inside if I damaged a car.



On the sleep stuff thanks everyone, I'm probably fine, I've always had a thing for sleeping longer than most people normally do and my schedule is ridiculously out of whack right now.

I had a dream this morning. The only thing I can remember from it was near the end when a voice came over the tannoy to say there was only two minutes until the end of the dream... and it was about right.

That's your internal body clock working in fine form then!

Thought - there are two people who say "Let's cook" a lot on telly: MasterChef's John Torode, and Walter White.

I can't imagine Walter White talking about how he wants to cook without him snarling "Jesse..." before saying so.