What the Fruitcake?!

A bit about me...

My name is Mandy and I'm a South African living in Ireland with my husband, Andrew. (Technically, we're both Irish now!)

Clearly I love cooking and baking, I wouldn't go to the trouble of writing a blog about food if I wasn't! (I'm also quite cheeky...)

By day I'm a video editor for one of the major broadcasters in Ireland (it pays the baking bills!) and I also enjoy photography as a hobby (although, it's gone beyond hobby at this stage). All the pictures on this site have been taken by myself unless otherwise specified.

A bit about my blog...

My blog started out all cakes and sweets, which you can still indulge in over on the Decadent side of things, but it has since had a "Jekyll and Hyde" makeover. 

No surprise here, but all that baking made me fat. Shocker, I know. Anyway, after years of slowly expanding and just hating what I was becoming, I found the motivation to put a stop to it. 

The tricky part was finding the eating plan/exercise regime that I'd actually stick to.

Finally, I signed up with a personal trainer and I've discovered that I'm addicted to strength training. There's something about waking up with sore muscles that makes me feel like I've actually done something with my body. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of conditioning, but it's almost two years into it and I'm still going back. Oh, and yes, and I have actually slimmed down a bit (I really should put up a new profile pic...).

But, as any fitness freak will tell you, it's not only down to doing squats or increasing the weights on your bench press. You've got to back everything up with the right eating. 

And this is how the Disciplined half of my blog was born. 

To help me keep on track, I've decided I need to start blogging recipes that my trainer would (mostly) approve of. So Disciplined is all about good sources of protein, clean eating, occasional Paleo, mostly organic, always from scratch cooking and baking.

Oh yeah, on that note. I'm not a diet specialist. I'm not a fitness expert. You need to get advice from your own trainer or coach or doctor or whoever you're working with. I'm not promoting any particular diet, I'm just putting up recipes that fit into my own personal health and fitness regime. Some of these may work for you, some may not. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the more civilised side of my blog.

Photography & Writing... 

You like what you see and you want more? No problem! I'm always happy to spread the food love.

Whether it's for online or print media use of my photos, recipes or combination of the two - either use the "Contact me..." form below, or send an e-mail to whatthefruitcake (at) gmail (dot) com for a chat :)

You can also have a look at my online photography portfolio.

Anyway, enough waffle.

If your idea of putting on the kettle is to swing it, enjoy browsing the Disciplined side of What the Fruitcake?!

- MandyM