Val de Loire

How can you possibly not like the Loire Valley? A place that has more castles that have been written about in Disney stories, where a salad involves rillons (pork belly cooked in lard and browned with caramel), lardons and ham accompanied by a few lettuce leaves (but at least it comes with a decent dressing, which is more than can be said for most salads you get in London....), where anything that isn't a salad is served with frites, where trying to get an outdoor table for lunch invites dramatic remonstrations from a waitress complaining "Mais c'est impossible! Voyez! C'est complet!", where turning up for dinner at a restaurant without a reservation is met with looks of disapproval from a dour-faced waitress and replies of "Vous n'avez pas reservé? Je ne sais pas, hein?", where you can have dinner in a troglodyte cave, where a quick lunch ends up taking hours, where it takes at least three hours to have dinner in a half-empty restaurant that will serve no more than five tables on a Saturday night?

Château at Saumur, where a castle has existed since the 12th Century

The Special K Challenge

It's been a while since I've had a good rant. I feel like one is coming on. I could bore you with a dissin' review of 'Wanted', which is a really dumb movie (a fraternity of weaving assassins who get their kill orders from a loom of fate?!? Gimme a break....... who thinks up this stuff?), but in this time of rising fuel prices and the escalating cost of grains, I feel like I should pick on Special K instead. Listen carefully now, here comes the science bit.... here is what Kellogg's thinks you should do for the summer:

• First calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index) which is a calculation related to your height and weight. In order to take part in the challenge it should be 25 or over.
• Eat up to a 45g serving of any Special K cereal with 125ml semi-skimmed milk for breakfast, have another for lunch OR dinner, with a third nutritionally-balanced meal for two weeks.
• Snack on fruit, vegetables and Special K bars and Special K Mini Breaks.
• Ensure a regular and adequate intake of alcohol free drinks.

So basically, you have to be classified as 'overweight' and eat 90g of Special K a day for two weeks, which clearly can't be that good for you, because if you look at what Kellogg's considers to be a 'nutritionally-balanced meal', roast beef should apparently be on your menu. I'm guessing that means there are a few things missing from your nutritionally dubious bowls of Special K. Not to mention that according to their nutritional information, Special K, Special K bars and Special K Mini Breaks are 17%, 35% and 27% sugar respectively. Three out of four people might be slimmer after two weeks, but they're probably well on their way to renal failure and diabetes......