yesterday i had spicy cabbage porridge again. this time with added chopped up sausages.

not as good as with egg, is my opinion.

***

no porridge today, i shall be eating lovingly prepared leftover fajitas. nom!

well, no one managed to guess my porridgey delight today, but there are some tempting suggestions for future experiments!

today, i had DA DA DAAAAH:

porridge with hardboiled eggs, spicy cabbage and 1x cherry tomato.

verdict?

cherry tomato unnecessary, i knew this, but it was the last in the pack and NEEDED EATING.

very tasty indeed.

probably because cabbage and egg are not completely unknown curry-esque bedfellows, and the porridge is vaguely similar to rice.

i will most likely eat this again.

WIN!

well, do you know, i couldn't be bothered to get up early enough to make myself a sarnie for lunch this morning.

i *could* be bothered, however, to grab an egg, some cherry tomatoes and a couple of sachets of brown sauce.

PORRIDGE!

a bit of a failure, actually. i 'cooked' (read microwaved) the porridge until it was done. i beat the egg, and then added it and the tomatoes, hoping the heat of the porridge would cook it through. which *kind of* seemed to happen. so i whacked it back in the machine for some more seconds.

verdict?

hmmmm. very hmmmmm. egg and porridge is not hugely flavoursome. it does make the porridge taste lighter and fluffier. tomatoes are nice, but more flavour is needed. perhaps if i had some crispy bacon, or frazzles, it would have worked better.

i threw in the brown sauce to make it more palatable.

i'm not sure i'll be trying this one again. at least not in the same fashion.

[insert pic of kanye somewhere here]

look away if you don't like porridge.

porridge is BACK!!!!

i didn't know what to do for today's experiment. until i ran into d, about to do the shopping i was going to do, and saw crabsticks for a quid. uh huh, i went there.

laydeezungennulmen, i give you: crabstick and courgette porridge.

no real thought behind this apart from aforementioned purchase, and veg in the fridge that needed eating up.

verdict? i like the crabsticks and porridge. not sure about the courgettes. it needed something with a bit more PUNCH. (i threw in a bit of sachet ketchup, which worked, but then when does ketchup *not* work?)

i will be trying this further next week. i have to. i have to eat up the fishcrabsticks. yes, i like them in my mouth.

***

my colleague came into the kitchen as i was preparing my feast. "mmmm, that smells good, what is it?" were his words. i told him he didn't want to know. he pressed the issue. i confessed. he was NOT disgusted, reckoned it was more like risotto than anything else. VINDICATED.

***

no carb crash / desk snooze so far. WIN.

***

i am still working my way through stef's cast off books.

haruki murakami - after dark. liked this a lot. nothing much seems to happen, it isn't going anywhere, but instead of frustrating me it left me feeling sated, i'd grasped that moment in time completely.

kurt vonnegut - god bless you, mr rosewater. meh, quite good. that's all.

i'm currently reading invisible monsters (palahniuk) and absolutely blinking loving it.

RIGHT.

it has come to that point.

bit skint, spending TOO MUCH on daily luncheon.

ridiculously embarrassing CARB CRASH = sleeping on my keyboard. every time.

chill in the air.

yep, i think it's time to resurrect the great porridge experiment.

you thought you'd managed to escape it, didn't you? you thought i'd forgotten all about it. WELL.

today for lunch, i ate some porridge. THE EXPERIMENT LIVES! the work cupboards were pretty bare, and i had no cash for the shops. what to do, what to do?

as (i think) 1423 suggested: porridge and cuppasoup.

mixed veg cuppasoup, to be precise. there was a leek an potato option, but it sounded too stodgy.

results? it tastes alright, yes. consistency-wise, though, ugh. baby food.

***

are you on facebook? are you my facebook friend? do you like wasting your life away? why not join MAFIA WARS so i can get a bigger mafia and subsequently manage to buy property and DECENT GUNS. i am being held back! pls be helping me out.

***

it's funny how the day goes so much faster when i'm actually working, and not just loafing about. hilarious.

a chap who came to sell me cleaning advised me on the best way to get rid of my cough o'doom.

apparently, what i need to do is heat up some 7up in a saucepan. then add honey and lemon. i may try this later.

***

in other culinary weirdness news, porridge is back! today i tried porridge with wholegrain mustard and spam. you may vomit now. it was rather nice, and the spam was mainly becuase this is BUDGET based experiment. and also because i rather like spam. it could be subsituted for some decent actual ham, if one chose.

anyway, quite nice, but missing something. i had an urge for a veg, but didn't know which. not the carrots i have in the fridge, though. i put in a bit too much mustard as well, but seeing as i have nothing else to eat for the rest of the week at work i can refine this over the next 3 days.

oh, the sacrifices i make for the internet! i was SO HUNGRY it is unbelievable, and could really have done with a tasty warm panini of some description. but for YOU, and the sake of SCIENCE!! i have persevered with the Great Savoury Porridge Experiment.

today: cheese, marmite and scallions spring onions. this works in a sandwich incredibly well (you should try it!)

as a porridge? pretty damned good, actually. i think i slightly overdid the marmite, but the combination is a winner. having a different texture in there is clearly the trick. possibly.

***

in other news, there is no other news. body has kicked well and truly into sleepy hibernation mode. i have managed to watch ghost town, which is a lot better than expected and i didn't try and punch ricky gervais through the screen. i also had a bit of a weep at one point. though it is unsatisfactory at the end.

i have also managed to watch changeling, which is an intriguing little film during which i was mostly mesmerised by angelina jolie's lips. it's a horrible, horrible story. these things really happened! what is wrong with people? hmm? serial killers and police alike. meh.

***

in other non-news, i am FAILING at christmas. still need to get most of my family presents. wah. this means oxford street on saturday, i imagine. this will NOT be fun.

(i have, however, found my photos of the crystal palace dinosaurs, so all is not lost.)

after a few days off the wagon (and goodness, i don't put myself through this at the weekends) i am eating savoury porridge for lunch.

today?

mackerel fillets in hot chilli sauce.

well. a bit of a fail. the mackerel and sauce thing is, i think, still a goer. this i do believe. however, this particular sauce was:

1. too oily.
2. not chilli-y enough.

today's porridge, therefore, = fail. and i have to eat it again thurs or fri.

***

banana time.

porridge for today: marmite with kale.

verdict for today: not as good as the fishy version, but still not bad.

i think the combination of a strong flavour and a thing of substance is probably a winner.

***

in other news, to stop this being a journal of nothing but porridge, i shall be wailing in a padded room later. any suggestions for karaoke larks?

***

and with that, i shall depart for the blimmin' post office. and to sneakily run some of my own errands while i'm at it

for the sake of completeness, i feel i should record today's porridge experiment, even though it wasn't very different from yesterday's.

so! porridge. mackerel fillet in tomato sauce. kale.

verdict? even better than yesterday. rather tasty, in fact.