Will this coursework never end?

I wrote this yesterday.


I've been in the library all morning, using the nutritional analysis software to work out how much energy, fat, carbohydrate and protein are in the 24-hour menus I've arranged for my three fictional subjects - the Diabetic, the Coeliac and the Undernourished. I also have to work out these figures for the single dish I've cooked in its original and adapted form (Corned Beef Hash, Chicken Pie and Macaroni Cheese), and how much they cost.

This is complicated by the way the assignment has been set up. I have recipes with amounts for 4 people, I have to cook for 2 people but the analysis is for the one individual. Nutritional information is based on weight so portion sizes have to be estimated - how much do you think the milk in your coffee weighs? Or a quarter of an average carrot? I have set up a spreadsheet to work out the weights and the costs for the three single dishes, and I'm using the online package to work out the whole day's intake. I can double check between the two to highlight errors.

There's more than this, but that's probably enough to convey the worst of it. Thankfully, I've now finished the bulk of the nutritional analysis and printed the comparison with Daily Reference Values, so all that's left is to cook the macaroni cheese (tomorrow) and finish the write-up (over the holidays). That will take another few hours.

I hardly left the house at the weekend, which was a shame, because the weather was lovely. Mr A and I walked up to the greengrocer and back via Tesco, Mr A threaded the rose through his newly strengthened trellis, and we both looked at the newly rendered wall that is meant to stop the damp penetrating the wall of the shower room. It looks very nice; I hope it works. Other than that, I finished my computing coursework and set up the nutritional analysis so I could finish it today.

Only one more week until the end of term, and I'm looking forward to a bit of a break.