Category: General ramblings

Photos of food

Yup, an imaginative title indeed!

I have been taking pictures for ages, and not posting them. I was going to do it for WIAW but missed that, so here we go!

Breakfast:

(In my new cup and bowl)– peaches, muesli, almonds and coconut milk left overnight, along with mint tea.

Lunch:

I am having a bit of a crumpet obsession right now- one with pb and jam, and one with lime curd. Plus my lovely Whittards chocolate tea (black tea with coconut, cocoa beans and macadamia nuts). Soooo good!

Tea (who knows what kind it was) with a Hotel Chocolat penguin left over from Christmas. Pretty chocolate lasts a long time because I never want to eat it!

Bread making:

One lot of sourdough with hemp seeds (for a little loaf), and one lot with fruits soaked in lemon green tea (for mini loaves).

Yum!

Dinners:

I took this with me one day- spinach leaves, roasted sweet potato, red and yellow peppers, butternut squash (all roasted in hemp oil), sprinkled with hemp seeds and served with a little tub of hummus.

Spinach, balsamic, roasted squash, peppers, courgettes, baby corn, basil tofu, hemp seeds.

Wholemeal pasta with lovely zest pesto, peppers, courgettes, fresh basil and pine nuts. I am sure I added some cheese on the top too.

Mystery dinner! I defrosted something from the freezer which turned out to be sweet potato burgers/ patties, alongside a salad with cucumber, spinach, pepper, basil tofu and some hummus.

Snacks:

This is the best snack ever! 30g peanut flour, with a little coconut milk to make a sauce, then stirred together with a chocolate alpro pot, and sprinkled with some trail mix.

It is nice with the caramel or vanilla ones too, but the chocolate rules 🙂

Some baking:

I made some of the protein brownies I saw Laura make- as I have hemp protein powder and have not been that enamoured with the flavour. I had to use some raisins as I didn’t have all dates.

I sprinkled the top with some cherry raisins too, to add to the cherry flavour.

I weighed out the ingredients- mine came to:

120g raisins/dates

100g almonds (soaked)

30g dried cherries

30g cocoa powder

50g hemp protein powder

and a few tbs water.

I had one as a snack at work and it was nice- I can taste the hemp in there, but they do taste lovely and gave me energy for the afternoon. The rest are wrapped in cling film in the fridge and ready for other days.

And for fun, a new top:

It is a vest (from Threadless) but with this weather I have not worn it yet.

Running news:

This week I was feeling a bit worried about increasing the distance (this happened to me when I first started running too- I totally lose confidence in myself) but I went out for 5 min run, 1 min walk this week on Tuesday. All was good- but then later on that day I felt like my hip had popped out and needs to pop back in again, and have been limping since. It is not down to the running because I had it on Saturday when we were walking up some steps, but it went away again, and was fine when I got back from my run, it was only much later that it came on. I barely slept on Tuesday night because no position was comfy. I hobbled about all day Wednesday (it seems worse once I have been still for ages so I have tried to keep moving or standing at home) and looked up some stretches on the internet last night which seemed to help. But it is still a bit sore, and not normal, so not sure when I will get my next run in. Grrr. Any ideas how to get it to go back into place?

A lovely birthday (and a little more running)

Well I had a lovely day yesterday. It started with a trip to the post office on my way to work- I had missed a parcel on Tuesday, but I was not sure what it was.

I opened it on the way back to the car, and was so excited and surprised to find it was a birthday parcel from the lovely Lucy! Tea + chocolate = birthdays! Those chocolate pies are in the fridge and ready! I had the cinnamon, cardamom and ginger tea last night and it was delicious, and I tried the chocolate with stevia today (despite saying that when I was in the US last summer I had some iced tea with stevia and it had a funny aftertaste)- anyway the chocolate was yummy- I loved the little bits of freeze-dried berries in it. So thanks Lucy! 🙂

When I got to work I was so surprised to see a bag on my chair with some gifts in it too from some friends at work- how lovely.

I put all the macaroons and brownies in the staffroom and I think they got pretty positive reviews!

I left work pretty quickly, and decided to have a short run (as a birthday treat!)- this week I have done 4 min run, 1 min walk, and have upped the length of the route to about 3 miles now. It is still going OK, although I am a little paranoid about doing damage still. I keep getting stitches, which is unlike me, and the trouble is the stitch pain is right where my actual stitches were (where my scars are) but anyway I have my hospital scan too and I am sure everything will be fine. I did have a moment of sadness (or frustration, or something else) when I realised that last year for my birthday we went to the peak district, and I did that 20 mile race in preparation for the marathon. I mean running for half an hour non-stop is unattainable at the moment, yet one year ago I ran for 4 hours without stopping. But then the sensible voice told me to just get on with it.

After some Earl Grey tea (made my Andy while I had a shower) I opened my cards- I had a lovely message from my parents which summed up how I was feeling- my Mum had written than I have had a year of ups and downs, but it was a fantastic achievement that myself and Andy ran a marathon last summer, and even though I have been unwell I am finally on the mend now. I also had a card from some relatives who mentioned that they will see me on the start line of the Great North Run (I have a charity place for a charity that they are very involved in- they run it for the charity each year)- that made me panic a bit about getting up to the distance. But again I am telling myself off and just taking it a week at a time.

I got to open some presents too- some lovely baking tins (which I am going to use to store my baking equipment in as they are too nice to use), cupcake cases, cookery books, a lovely address book, plus a bag of Lush goodies and a posh chopping board set. I have to wait until the weekend for my present from Andy- and keep the days free so I am quite excited to find out what we are doing 🙂 (Fingers crossed for a tea room visit 😉 )

Also, I treated myself this week to some running tops from Thoosa. I got a racer back vest and also a couple of scoop vests. Anyway I got an email and as they were voted best women’s running clothes by Runners World, if you enter the code RW before 7th May you get 30% off, which is not to be sniffed at. The fabric is sweat wicking, but they are cut in a looser style, so I think they will be lovely in the heat of the summer, plus they are more flattering. And the vest does not have an “inbuilt bra” (which what is the point of anyway? Who would just have that and not an exercise bra???)- so easier to put on! Anyway, it did say to share the email, so I have 🙂

Have you treated yourself to anything recently? 

And thanks again Lucy- that was so kind of you 🙂

First attempt at macaroons

Hey! After watching a demo at the cake show on Saturday, I was inspired to have a go at making macaroons. As it is my birthday tomorrow I normally make cakes/cookies for work, so it was good timing too. Although I found loads of internet recipes, in the end I chose one from Home Bake by Eric Lanlard.

Preparation seemed to be the key- I made two lots and the second lot seemed better. The egg whites had to be at room temperature, and I weighed out all the other ingredients, lined the baking trays and got the piping bag ready. Whipping up those egg whites made my arm ache- I used an electric whisk but it took ages.

A tip I picked up during the demo was to put the piping bag (end snipped off) in a glass- made for much easier filling. Then if it is dripping you can put the end back in the glass whilst piping, so it does not go everywhere. Optional- have icing sugar and ground almonds all over your worktop.

My first attempt was pink ones, which I flavoured with a little almond extract (they have ground almonds in them anyway), and yes I need to practise my piping skills!

Once they cooled I sandwiched them together with a little dark chocolate spread.

The second batch were lemon flavoured (although the yellow colouring was hard to mix in).

I sandwiched the lemon ones together with lemon curd.

All ready to take to work 🙂

I also made some chocolate orange brownies (my usual brownie recipe with some orange extract and some chocolate orange buttons mixed in) just in case the macaroons didn’t work out! I put them in the cake cases once they were cooked to make them easier for people to eat.

Personally, although they look pretty, I can’t see the appeal particularly- they seem like posh coloured meringues really. But they are fun to do because I get to use my food colourings! I much prefer the taste of the brownies.

Cake show!

Hey peeps

Last week a friend asked if I fancied going with her to a cake decorating show in London- of course I said yes! It was this show (still on tomorrow if anyone is interested).

When we first arrived we had a little wander, just to see where everything was. There were demonstrations, classes (but you had to book those in advance and pay, so we didn’t do any of those) and loads of stalls selling all sorts of cake decorating paraphernalia.

There were also competitions, so we had a wander around to see some of the winning cakes.

This was my favourite- so cute!

I also loved the panda- so sweet. There were loads of amazing cakes though- there was a section for flower art (or called something similar- basically flowers made with sugar paste) and they were amazing- they were so delicate and looked real. There was also a 4ft high warrior cake.

I stole this off my friends’ facebook page as I didn’t take a photo- I am sure she won’t mind.

I then saw a cake with spots and a bow (a bit like my Christmas cakes) but then I realised that was for the age 12-18 category! More my level I think!

We then went back to the start and bought a show guide, which we then got signed by Jo Wheatley (she won the Great British Bake Off and had a blog). She was presenting a demonstration a bit later on, so after buying a few bits we each bought a muffin for lunch (I was going to get a sandwich, but none of them looked that nice and then I saw the price- £4.30!!!) and went to watch the demo. Apologies for the photos- I have no idea how to zoom on my phone!

She was so sweet- she got kids up to help her, and gave all the things she made to the children in the audience too. She made some macaroons (something that I have never attempted but looked like they would not be as hard as I thought), some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and some chocolate lolly’s.

We also watched another demo, and this was rather weird. The chef made a chocolate cake, and got a child to help him decorate it with chocolate ganache and raspberries, but then he passed the bowl of left over chocolate ganache around the audience, and was encouraging people to dip their fingers in and have a try! Some people think I am a bit funny about things like that, but I do think that it was very unhygienic.

There was also a competition going on (a bit like the Food Network Challenge)- there were two teams of three, and they had to make a cake to show the four seasons. It had to be a certain height, and I think altogether they had about three and a half hours of time- during the day we kept popping by to see how it was going on.

They are the Easter themed ones from Friday.

The scariest bit to watch was when they had to transport their cakes from where they were working to the final table (again like those challenges).

You can’t see them that clearly, which is a shame. The really tall one (on the left) had a later for each season. The top one was my favourite- it was a little house with snow on the roof, decorated with candy canes- so pretty.

The one on the right was done by a group of friends (whereas the other team were professional) and the skill on parts of their cake was just amazing.

We bought a few more bits, then headed back to the car for a sit down! We had been walking around for hours.

Here are my goodies! I was quite restrained. In the end I bought a Fancy magazine (which came with jelly beans and some random oat bran!), a set of cake decorating tools (a bargain as they are usually about £4 each but the whole set was £6), some flavourings for icing/cakes (almond, coconut, lime and peppermint), some foil cupcake cases and a really smooth roll up mat to roll out icing on.

I got home at about 5 in the end, and was pretty tired from walking around all day. I had a little rest, and then headed out for a run/walk. I have been out twice this week already, and each time this week I have done 3 min run, 1 min walk (last week was 2 min walk)- my route is only just over 2 miles, but I have coped with it so far. It’s weird because at first I feel like I struggle to get my breathing under control, and my legs feel fine, but then towards the end my calves get more stiff, and my breathing seems fine. It rained a bit, but not too hard, so I didn’t mind- although I should have worn my visor as my glasses get hard to see through!

I had grand plans to make some bean/chickpea burgers, and roast some veggies, but I was tired and hungry (and Andy is out at the football all day so no-one to cook for me!) so in the end I toasted some left over sourdough bread (I made some on Friday) and had it with pesto, hummus, spinach and an Early grey tea. Perfect.

Right- Andy won’t be back for a few hours so I might have time for some baking now 🙂

A restful weekend

Hello all

I hope you all had lovely weekends.

Friday for me included this:

When I got home from work I had some lunch, did some work and then headed out for another walk with some running interspersed. I did the same route again, and pretty much the same as the other day- 3 mins of jogging and 2 mins of walking. It chucked it down with rain, but I never mind that when running because I will get in the shower once home anyway (so really it gets my hair washing started sooner). I even got to wear my Bondi Band- and it did keep all my hair out of my face- shame it could not keep the rain off!

Once I got home the skies opened and it poured down- I did try to take a photo (the rain was beating against the window) but it does not do the heavy rain justice. My trainers would have been squelching in all that water.

Then after my shower I had a lovely dinner (cooked by Andy)- pasta with veggies, pesto and fresh basil (and then some cheese). After that we packed a bag each and headed to the train station. Andy had managed to book us a weekend in York (train tickets + hotel) and although I was a bit concerned about going away when I was tired after work, actually it was great because I couldn’t take any work with me (I could have been tempted to take loads home and work all weekend) and also could not do any housework either.

We got the train up on Friday evening, and then had a lovely weekend wandering around York. We went to another National Trust place (good timing as it tipped with rain), went out for lunch (again good timing as we were stuck in a hail-storm), and enjoyed some time walking around the town, looking at the impressive buildings and little streets. On Sunday morning we lounged around the hotel watching the London marathon (Well done everyone!!!!!!) and popped out for breakfast (I had a scone- yummy) before checking out at the last possible moment! We then paid a visit to the railway museum (and saw all the Scouts and Brownies out for the St George’s Day parade in the town centre).

And I even treated myself to some bargains: some Whittards chocolate tea which sounds divine- chocolate truffle tea which has black tea, cocoa beans, coconut and macadamia nuts in it, some Hotel Chocolat Easter goodies (reduced) and also some chocolate peanut “smudge” (spread) which I could not resist!

We did have a little bit of a hard time getting home on Sunday- we had to get two trains on the way home (which I don’t mind) and they were running late, and then the second one terminated early because of a train blocking the line, so it was a bit chaotic and we had to get a rail replacement coach, which took ages. Ah well, we got home in the end.

Having a break at the weekend is always nice, and I feel like my batteries were well and truly recharged ready for this week. This week I have a few afternoons where I won’t be in, but today and also Wednesday I will be in all day. I am taking Lara’s advice and making myself a little plan to say when I will be doing housework, when I will do work, and when I will fit in exercise, so that I don’t do it all at once. I do like a good plan.

What did you get up to this weekend? I am trying to catch up on blogs but the new Blogger dashboard is not as easy to use and I think I have missed ones out. So update me 🙂

Anyone else love watching marathons on TV? Andy thinks I am a bit strange to like it so much- last weekend I was watching the Paris marathon too- but I love seeing all the people out there running, all the people raising money for charity is so inspiring, and the elite runners are so fast!