I had my grandsons birthday in Sydney on the Friday night held at The Pinnacle Restaurant  at the South Hurstville RSL Club. My diet calls for a soup, however I didn’t find a soup I liked, so I went for a simple small rump with veggies (quite nice) but next came the first big divergence from the diet with a thin slither of the beautiful chocolate mouse birthday cake, but I did share a little of it with Aniko.

Oreo Mousse Tart

As it turns out this cake was originally a tart designed by Aniko for Planet Hollywood‘s original Sydney opening 20 years ago, back in 1996. It now has a slightly different top on it, but its the same seriously rich Oreo Mousse Tart still made for Sydney cafes and restaurants by Epicurean Kitchen Handmade Cakes, which business we sold to my daughter and son-in-law in 2002 .

As I am in Sydney, Saturday is soccer day with my 3 grandsons playing at three different fields locally, so I did a fair bit of walking to and from the car and a lot of standing watching them play. It was great to see them go around but it was hard on the sore heel, so on Saturday & Sunday I did no biking or treadmill exercise.

Overall I have started out well with the exercise plan, also the biking immediately before the treadmill seems to warm up the muscles and reduce stress on the feet. Also I have discovered that if I turn it down to a slow pace, then its helps keep the weight on the ball of the foot and off the sore heel.

I made a couple of exercise time increases, and have now done 10 minutes of each, total 20 minutes, for 2 days in a row. I didn’t really intend to increase the level so quickly because I was afraid of getting back to a level where I couldn’t walk on it, but watching TV whilst doing it lets the minutes slip by. So once I realised I could do it, I have kept it up. I am still treating the ankle and heel area with anti inflammatory cream and still have a soreness but its certainly no worse, and yet I am now getting the benefit of some exercise.

Soup of the Week
My soup of the week was a beautiful curry and coconut soup that Aniko made. She says I can eat as much of it as I like in my diet plan as it contains only no nasty’s. I was starving by dinner time last night and had already cheated with a handful of salted peanuts, so I was really ready for the soup. I found her Coconut & Curry soup very tasty and satisfying with the curry giving it a little bit of zip that takes care of cravings. She finished me off with a bonus handful of black grapes.

Recipe: Coconut Curry Soup.
Ingredients: Ground Almonds, chopped Cauliflower, onions, curry powder, Spices: cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, 250ml coconut milk,

Heat some olive oil and drop in onions to brown them lightly, then add the spices, water, cauliflower, ground nuts, simmer and add 2-3 teaspoons of curry powder and 250ml of coconut milk. Serve Hot with salt & pepper to taste.