Do You Know What the Coming of the Dragon Means?

Well? Do you?

The Man's copy of Skyrim arrived today - hurrah! I stupidly and rather shamefully failed to get him a birthday present on time this year - I blame my mental health and lack of...oh, bollocks, I just forgot okay? - and got him Skyrim as a late present/make-up gift. Unsurprisingly he's spent most of the day playing it but now claims he "needs a new graphics card" to properly appreciate it. Bless him. I suspect not even a schoolgirl outfit and the promise of oral sex could drag him away from it.

As a consequence though I've had a lot of time to myself, and would love to say I've been productive and all that jazz, but mainly I have been asleep, trying to trounce my horrible chest infection before it really gets started. I want to get rid of it so I can get back to the gym and start getting my body back under control. I don't want to get back to the point I was at where I buried my head in the sand and got fatter and fatter and less and less fit until even I couldn't pretend any more. The modeling shoots I'm doing are really helping me to feel better about myself, as are the wonderful compliments I get on my shots from the delightful perverts on Fetlife. God love 'em! So by next year I'd like to be a couple of stones lighter and a whole lot fitter. I know I can do it - I've done it before and it really can't be that hard. It just takes motivation and desire and at the moment I have desire in spades. Motivation, however...

Part of that motivation has to be that next summer I want to show off my tattoos and my (hopefully healed) navel piercing. At the moment it's giving me some gyp - very red and angry-looking and was discharging a bit this morning, but I've been doing SSS all day (these are sea salt soaks, for the uninitiated) and trying to leave it alone for as much as possible. I never realised how much I touch my belly button or use my stomach for things until I got some metal stuck in it! The bruising is now an ugly yellow but that means it should be gone soon - hooray! - just leaving the redness. Luckily it isn't particularly sore unless I knock it, but when I compare it to my VCH it's certainly a hell of a lot more trouble! It's now about two months (I think!) since I had that one done and it's completely healed and is no trouble at all. The only thing I'd like to do is maybe change it for a longer bar, but even that isn't a particular challenge, and I don't notice it's there 90% of the time. It's a pleasant surprise when I'm getting self-amorous sometimes and ooh! there it is. Saying that I knew the navel was a harder place to heal, particularly for us rather chunkier ladies! Time to get back to the salads (no dissing, I actually really like salad, and used to make the most amazing ones for work when I had a Real Job. Feta cheese and beetroot was one of my faves), and cut down on the takeaways and convenience crap. As a positive shoutout to the universe for my intentions, here's my favourite recipe for a lovely winter soup. 


Spicy Sunset Soup (serves about six ish)

1 smallish butternut squash
2 parsnips
2/3 carrots
2 sweet potatoes
1 regular potato
3 cloves of garlic
1 large white onion
1 litre of vegetable stock (I like Kallo Organic)


Cinnamon
Smoked Paprika
Chili powder (I used mild because I am a wuss)
Cayenne Pepper
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt 
Olive Oil


The process itself is piss easy. Peel and chop all the veggies into cubes, with the exception of the onion. Pop them in water to stop them discolouring in the air and taking on a weird flavour. 


Then dice your onion nice and fine. I soften mine in the olive oil with the crushed garlic and a little of the smoked paprika until it's almost browning, then add about a third of the veggies and cook them off with a pinch of each spice and a grind of pepper. After they start to colour or soften around the edges I repeat with some more veggies and then the rest...you get the idea. When they're all starting to soften I add about a third of the stock and cook off for ten minutes or so, or until reduced, then add the rest of the stock bit by bit. When it's all in, cook for 20 minutes or so and taste. This is the point where you add more spice and any salt you need. I rarely add any as I find the stock salty enough as it is. 


When your veggies are soft, you can either leave the soup chunky, perhaps adding some rice or pearl barley for extra filling power, or blend using a hand blender. I usually decant half the soup and blend and then add it back into the main pot to get the best of both worlds. 


Enjoy!