23 March - Carluccio's and a picnic tea

It was my last day at the conference and after coming out of my last session around midday, I decided to walk back into the city centre from the conference centre along the river. The sun was shining and it was a lovely walk, but by the time I got back into town, my feet were getting achy and I was distinctly hungry! So rather than trog around looking for somewhere to eat, I headed straight to an easy favourite; Carluccio's. I had a really nice saffron risotto with Italian sausage - sounds an odd combination, but went down really well with a nice glass of wine :)

I couldn't be bothered with another microwave dinner, so just had a bit of a picnic supper; walnut bread, humus, beetroot salad and crisps while I caught up on some bits and pieces of work.

20 March - a skinny burger and a long evening

It was the first day of the conference today and after a morning of sessions and meetings, I realised that I had two publishers' "do's" to go to in the evening and decided to take a tactical afternoon break. Typical conference evening do's tend to involve drinks and a few tiny nibbles, so I used my break to have a good solid lunch to carry me through the rest of the day. The conference centre food options were pretty limited so I headed back into Glasgow city centre and just went for one of the first restaurants I came across - Darcy's in the Prince's Square shopping centre. I went for a "skinny burger" - not as healthy as it sounds, just a burger served without a bun, perfect for me as I never eat the bun anyway. It came with chips and salad and I had a side order of beetroot and humus to go with it. The burger was a little bit 'plastic' and unexciting, but the chips were good and the beetroot (roast with thyme, I think) was really delicious. So all round it did the job pretty well. I'd arrived fairly late and by the time I'd finished, it was getting on for 3pm, by which time it seemed that most of the staff had knocked off!! I'd intended to follow up with a coffee, but after nearly 20 mins of trying to get someone's attention, I gave up and had to go up to the bar to ask for my bill - needless to say, I didn't leave a tip!

As predicted, my evening of schmoozing involved drinks but little in the way of nibbles, so I was glad I'd stocked up earlier. By the time I headed back to the apartment around midnight, it was too late to think about eating, but I did pick up some eggs from a late-night corner shop ready for a decent breakfast to satisfy my grumbling stomach when I woke up!

29 January - roast chicken and homegrown cavalo nero

I'd bought some humus to go with last night's tapas which we didn't eat, so that made a simple lunch today with a bit of pitta bread and some chopped carrot.

I was back on the painkillers today and not feeling much like cooking or eating, so it was a simple roast chicken for dinner with garlic, some roast new potatoes and home-grown cavalo nero still growing on the terrace. All delicious and comforting and just what was needed.