Stuff I love! - Maria Runs

Baking with Tea India

Hey peeps,

I hope you are all OK and have been having a good week.

A while ago I was sent some lovely Tea India teas to try – you can see my review here. I loved them, especially the cardamom chai, so I was very excited when they contacted me again to try some different teas.

The masala chai was wonderful- the flavour of the strong spices comes through really well.

Good with breakfast pancakes 🙂

I have also used it in an iced chai latte- brew some lovely chai tea and leave to cool, then add to almond milk and a splash of chai syrup.

The black tea is lovely too- Andy loves strong breakfast tea so this is right up his street. But Tea India also sent me some recipe cards, so I did a spot of baking with the tea too. First up I tried this recipe for a simple tea loaf, which worked wonderfully.

It was delicious- nice and sticky.

I will be making it again for sure, but probably use less sugar as the dried fruit keeps it nice and sweet.

One of the recipe cards sent to me was for Spicy Black Tea Cookies, so I had to give them a go!

Simple ingredients:

125g butter (I used Pure spread)

100g soft brown sugar (I used half Sainsbury’s cinnamon sugar)

2 tea bags, leaves only

70g self raising flour

120g oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp mixed spice

First up, cream together the butter and sugar. Then add in the tea leaves, oats, flour and spices. Mix until combined. Preheat the oven to 160C.

Shape into a log and refrigerate to firm up, then slice into even sized pieces. The recipe said it would make 12, but mine made 15 I think.

Place on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes. I placed mine spaced well apart but they spread a lot, so I would say use 2 trays and leave them with big gaps between.

Leave to cool on the tray and then enjoy.

I always love it when my baking looks like the photo! Plus they are delicious- proper crunchy biscuits that go really well with a cup of tea. Funny that!

Do you love baking with tea (or coffee? I don’t like coffee cake!)- I love cupcakes flavoured with Earl grey or chai tea.

Lemon drizzle cake with lavender

Yes, I have been using more of that lovely lavender infused sugar. Although I made this a couple of weeks ago now, I am just getting around to posting it!

So tasty!

I used the lemon drizzle recipe from The British Bake Off book which is very similar to this Mary Berry one (but they are all pretty similar I find). I missed out about 50g of the sugar and added in the lavender sugar, and baked as usual.

I tried to colour the lemon drizzle, but that did not really work so well! The reason why I love these cakes so much is that you make this lovely soaking syrup (water + lemon juice) and pour it over the warm cake. This adds to the lemon flavour, but also makes the cake so moist.

I was sent these cute little daisies from Dr Oetker, so I used a few to decorate. They are basically rice paper, so they are edible.

Perfect for afternoon tea. Although the lavender flavour is not very strong. Every now and then you would get a bite which tasted a bit of lavender, but really this tasted like lemon cake. I am going to try some biscuits next and hope that it comes through more. Fingers crossed. I am worried that it will go all soapy if I add too much, but so far I don’t think I have added enough. I am having fun experimenting with it though.

This morning I had another gentle run- I feel so much better if I have been outside and had some fresh air, so I went on an out and back route (onto the fields for a bit)- out for about 1.85 miles, then turned around and straight back again. I could have stayed for much longer but I am conscious that I want to do a long run tomorrow and don’t want to be too tired.

My i-herb order arrived the other day- I used the last of my peanut flour the other week, and when I went on to look I saw they still had gingerbread tea in stock! How exciting! I then noticed that until the end of May they are doing an extra 5% off (I think you can get 10% off if your order is over $40, but seeing as the limit for importing to the UK is £15 I have not risked a more expensive order), so I have ended up ordering a few more things.

I watched the second episode of Eddie Izzard’s Mandela Marathon challenge this morning (if you follow my facebook page you might have seen I watched the first episode the other day)- I found it so interesting as I didn’t know much about the history of South Africa at all. Then I was off to The Waffle House to meet up with some friends- the weather was gorgeous so we had a little walk around the park after. Here’s hoping that we have plenty more days like this to come.

Any plans for the weekend? Anyone else enjoyed watching Eddie Izzard?

Afternoon tea blogger carnival

Sounds like my perfect afternoon out, right? If only it was a real event! In fact, Whittard are holding a virtual blogger event, where you can submit a post about afternoon tea (all the info is here) in the hope of winning some tea.

I love tea. I also love baking. I also love going to a tearoom for a tea and cake. I think it is just so civilised and relaxing. I sometimes get tempted by the full on tea (e.g. with the sandwiches) but my favourite part is the scone/cake, and of course the tea, so I usually just have that.

With that in mind, I am going to skip the sandwich part and go right to the scone and cake because these are the most important elements of afternoon tea!

You can have either part 1+2, part 1+3, or, if you are very hungry, 1+2+3. Just follow the steps for a lovely relaxing afternoon.

Part 1=Tea

First up, you need a teapot. Or at least a tea infuser, because honestly the best tea is loose leaf tea. Go for whatever tea you like. I love Earl Grey as I think it is delicate but also the tea counteracts some of the sweetness in the cake/scone. But peppermint is good too, especially if you fancy something caffeine free.

Warm the teapot with a little water, add the leaves to the infuser, and then fill it up and leave to brew. Of course, choose your nicest (biggest?) cups for the occasion.

Part 2 = Scones

Don’t worry, they were not all for me!

I think the violet icing on these lavender and lemon scones just makes it look so feminine – perfect for afternoon tea. They can just go on a plate, but what is the point of a cake stand if you never use it?

Part 3 = Cake

This is lemon drizzle cake, which again goes perfectly with the Earl Grey tea. Optional flower decorations (edible) but they make it even prettier.

Again, it was tea for two!

What tea/ cake combination would you choose for afternoon tea?

Wheathampstead 10K done!

Hey peeps!

Thanks for all the well wishes from yesterday. I was ready this morning to aim high and push for a sub 60 min 10k. My fastest time (from 2010, and on an easier course) was 1.01.28, so I wanted to beat that. I went to the lucozade website and copied down the split times I needed per mile (9.29 per mile basically) and then I wrote down the km splits too as it suddenly occured to me that there would be km markers and not mile markers. They ended up being 5.54 per km, but seeing as I never pay attention to km times it was just for me to check at each marker.

The course starts off on a small country lane (I lined up at the back of the 55-60 mins time section, along with my brother who was also running), and then right after you cross the start mat you go along an old railway line (basically a muddy and stony path), a very steep uphill section, and then through a lot of fields, some woods, and finally back along some of the first section, across some playing fields to the finish. It has always been seen as a tough course, and they had changed the route this year to make it a little easier. There were supposedly no bottle necks (there used to be a style, and a few cow gates, steep downhill steps and a few other countryside things), but there was one where you had to go through a narrow gap in a hedge row to get onto some fields.

I kept checking my watch, and I kept the little bit of paper in my hand so I could check it at each km marker. For the first few kms, I was ahead by about a minute, but then I lost that time as I had to queue to get through the gap in the hedge (I met one of the Sweatshop runners there, and she said she had seen my brother a bit further back too). After that there was a long uphill section through some fields and I found that very tough indeed- the sun came out and it suddenly got very hot (I only had on a t-shirt and capris, but no visor or anything)- there was no shade and the mud was hard and rutted which seemed to make it tougher still. I was still doing OK for the times, although I am not sure that the markers were in the exact right places (which I am not complaining about, but the 5k marker for example was before I got to 3 miles on my watch- even allowing for a bit of weaving they are probably out by a bit)- I think I had around 30 seconds of leeway. I gave the water station a miss at around 7 kms as by that point I decided I would just wait until the end. There were some very narrow sections across fields and I could feel myself being very put off by the people overtaking as they were breathing very hard and sounded so close! I tried to move over when I could, but at some points the path was barely wide enough for one person to run across. At one point we ran across a field (of wheat perhaps?) and I found that off putting as the leaves kept brushing on my legs and I was convinced I was going to tread on one long leaf with one leg, and then trip over it with the other foot. Anyway, one thing I find hard at races is controlling the adrenaline. When we got to the 8km marker there were a few more people out, and I get that surge, which then leaves my legs feeling a bit wobbly. I am not sure how to deal with that really. There was a very steep downhill section (very stony too!!) and I did try to speed up, as I think my then I was cutting it fine, but I think I was being a bit cautious still.

Finally we reached the path near the fields, ran over a little bridge and then I could see the end! Just the edge of the playing fields to go. I think I had a minute to go on my watch and didn’t think I could make it, but I pushed as hard as I could!

Photo: Wheato 10K !

I stopped my watch as I crossed the chip mats, and I was amazed to see I had made it in one hour (and about 30 seconds I think it says- very blurry pic!). I walked around for a bit, put on my medal and had some water, and waited for my brother as I knew he was a bit behind me.

There is the finish line! Excuse my finger in the way- I didn’t notice that when I took it! I really like the race as they have a 2k kids race earlier on, and a few stalls on the field and a bouncy castle too! A nice family morning out.

The medal has the race name and year engraved on the back. My Mum picked us up (Andy had dropped us off) and dropped me off at home as the parking can be very busy there.

Yes, I am awful at taking my own photo, but Andy has gone to the football today (otherwise he would have run the race too) so no-one around to do it for me. My face was all salty- I have not had that feeling in a while. I think it is actually quite warm out there, despite the cloudy weather.

I had some mango coconut water (my fave), a cereal bar and a little chocolate (we brought this back from Nice last May- I had forgotten all about it!) before a shower, and then had some lovely sourdough toast and an apple.

I checked the official results- 1 hour and 34 seconds! I will take that! It is a pb for me, and as Rose pointed out to me on facebook, it was an off road course so it was tougher than the same distance on roads. The last time I did that course was back in 2010 where I finished in 1.03.55, and my most recent 10K was the one in Nottingham in 2011 (1.01.33- that was on a gentler course too), so I am really pleased to beat all those times and get myself a new 10k pb!

I need to pop to the shops now, and then I have some work to do but at least I can do that sat down! Happy Sunday folks! 🙂

parkrun, pb’s and popcorn!

Hey everyone! So I braved the weather on Saturday morning and went for my first parkrun. My Dad and brother have been going to it quite regularly, so I picked them up and we all went together.

I loved it!

I had to register on-line first, and they emailed me a barcode, which I kept in a sandwich bag in my running top as it needed to be waterproof. It really was pouring down. The run started on the edge of the park, right by the car park, so we stayed in the car until about 5 to 9. There were loads of people (131 to be exact)! I saw a few people from the Sweatshop run, so we had a chat before it started (right on the bells of the church- I like a run that starts on time).

I thought my Dad would run ahead, as he is faster, but he stayed with me which was fab- we had a nice chat. We had to run along a path into the wind and rain, down to the lake, 3 laps of the lake, then back up to the path. At least the wind would be behind us on the final stretch, we thought. The wind was tough, and I felt like I was going slow, but each time I glanced at my watch I could see 8- something for the mile pace- very fast for me! At least with the laps of the lake we had the wind behind us for a bit, and could catch our breath before heading back into the wind again.

The whole system is so clever- at the end my Dad went a bit ahead, and you had to run through a little chute (well basically 2 mini temporary fences) and you were handed a little plastic chip. I stopped my Garmin on 27.10, although I was not sure if I had started it as exactly the right time. I was super pleased with that, but wanted to find my official time. Then we joined another queue (and cheered home my brother who was only minutes behind)- then someone scanned your barcode and chip- it is just so clever.

Later I got an email with all sorts of stats- my time, age grading, position, gender position, number of parkruns completed etc. I was 82nd, but only the 16th female. My official time was 27.12, which is a new pb for me. For Jantastic the March part was to choose a distance and predict your time- you get 100% if you predict it exactly, and lose if you are too slow or too fast- it is all about predicting your fitness. Anyway, I rashly put down a 27 min 5k (although I just checked and actually I put down 27 hours!), as that was what I was hoping for, without really working it out. Pretty close indeed!

After we had a quite chat to the Sweatshop people, clapped home a few more runners, and then wimped out and went back to the car- it was raining hard, very windy, and we were all getting very cold once we had stopped.

My mum had offered to make us pancakes for breakfast (she came home from hospital in the week but is meant to be taking it easy!)- pancakes and Earl Grey tea was a welcome breakfast indeed.

I am hoping to go next week too. They ask you to volunteer 3 times a year (the volunteers were great- cheering runners on and honestly standing about in that weather must be worse than running in it) so I will have to make sure I do that at some point too. There was a huge range of people- there were club runners with their vests on (I think the winner did it in about 16 mins something), but there were people run/ walking, kids running, people with buggies- it seemed very inclusive.

Onto the popcorn- a while ago Sainsbury’s sent me some popcorn to trial. I have to say that salt and vinegar is my favourite crisp flavour (really the only flavour I like) and this popcorn did not disappoint. I loved it- the vinegar flavour was nice and strong- good to nibble on (or to top up the salt levels after a run). I was not such a fan of the cheese and chive- it was not too cheesy, but I just don’t like that flavour so much. I did see that they do apple and cinnamon, which I think sounds amazing! Although I think it was maybe a festive flavour? Will have to have a look next time I am there.

This morning Andy and I had planned a run together- as the weather was awful, and I was a bit tired after yesterday, we chose a slightly shorter route. It was really enjoyable going out together again- nice to have time to chat (or gasp, as we were charging up hills)- it was strange as my legs were not that tired, but I was finding breathing harder than usual. Anyway, at the 10k point I looked at my watch, and it was on 58.58 (easy to remember)- woohoo a proper sub 60 min 10k! We did 7 miles, and just as we were coming to the roads by home it started raining lightly, and as we got in the front door it bucketed down- jammy with our timing!

I think Andy has decided that he wants to get me to do our next half in under 2 hours (I suppose that is the next time bracket to aim for) and he knows I run faster with him (or with anyone basically) so he is quite keen to plan the weekend runs in. After that I was starving, but we were going out for breakfast, so I had an apple and persimmon before we went to (where else?) The Waffle House (and again, it was not even my idea!). The trouble was, we ended up there over lunch time, so I think despite being awake since about 7am, running 7 miles, I didn’t eat a meal until about 1pm. I paid for that later with a headache while we were out shopping- I didn’t want to not be hungry for a waffle, but I think I could have eaten 2!

Ah well, overall it has been a fab weekend- 2 pb’s to boot 🙂

How was your weekend? Anyone tempted to sign up for a parkrun?