Maria Runs

Hey peeps

Last night I was very excited (and also nervous!) because I was going to a blogger event. I was invited by nakd to attend an evening as part of them launching new products. When I got the email I decided right away not to go, because I find meting new people quite hard. I think once I get to know people I am very chatty, but I find it hard to meet new people, and I was worried that everyone would know each other already. But Andy encouraged me to go- he always has the attitude of what’s the worst that can happen, and I would probably enjoy it. Anyway, I am glad I went.

It was a bit of a rush to get into London after work, and I was also very worried about getting lost (seriously, I have an awful sense of direction- I even managed to come out of Kings Cross in order to go back down to the underground bit) but the little cafe was easy to find, in what seemed like a rather trendy area near to Farringdon.

The cafe was very cute, and filled with people in nakd t-shirts. They had some nice dips and nibbles, plus bowls of their new nakd bars to try.

One wall of the cafe was covered in CD shelves- reminds me of my youth!

I tried a bit of each new flavour- the rhubarb and custard was very sweet, like the berry bars. It really did taste like the sweets you used to get- very retro. Now I am not a fan of coffee, but I love the smell, and sometimes chocolate with coffee in it is OK, so I tried the mocha bar, and actually I think I prefer it to the rhubarb and custard one. It was like the cocoa ones (cocoa mint/ orange)- and it just had a hint of coffee flavour.

The founder (Jamie Combs) did a little talk about encouraging people to eat more whole foods (very Michael Pollan), and then Lucy-Ann Prideaux (the nutritionist who posts information on their facebook page) did a little talk (although I was hoping that she was going to talk for a bit longer).

Then, the best bit!

They put their “magic goo” in bowls on the tables (date paste) and then bowls of nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, dried fruits, spices, and little bottles of natural flavourings, and we got to make our own!

I was sharing with another blogger, and we decided to make a sort of Christmassy one. I love the nakd gingerbread bar, and gingerbread cookies are so lovely with a little dark chocolate, so we channelled that by adding some chopped nuts, a generous sprinkle of ginger, and some dark chocolate chips.

We mixed ours together, and then asked for some cling-film so make bar shapes.

I was quite pleased with my final effort. I did try a bit of it before I wrapped it up, and it was yummy.

We had some time to chat to the staff, and one of them told me that they were thinking of giving the Trek bars some love- updating the packaging and maybe introducing new flavours or changing them up a bit, which I think is really good news. I hardly ever have the trek bars now, but whenever I have them I really enjoy them. I suppose because they are much bigger I would not have them as a snack on a day-to-day basis like I do with the nakd bars.

During the evening the lovely Phil realised I was sat behind her, so we managed a little chat, and a photo!

(Me with my coat on as I was getting ready to leave!). It was lovely to meet someone that I “knew”, as a lot of the baking bloggers seemed to know each other very well- always nice to see a friendly face.

Then I had to run back to the station (partly because I was a bit late for the train, and partly because it was dark, and London in the dark scares me a little!)- by the time I got the underground I had missed the train, so had a half hour wait for the next one, but luckily I had packed a couple of running magazines in my bag, so I got to catch up on reading.

We were all given a goodie bag with bars and raisins (and badges!) and of course I got to take my home-made nakd bar back with me. I am still hoping that they make a peanut butter nakd bar 🙂

I am very proud of my home-made bar 🙂

They are doing 15 % off all online orders in September, so visit their website to have a look. Plus they do free delivery, and often the pixie puts in something extra too. I noticed that the mixed case has the new flavours in it, which is a good option if you wanted to try them but didn’t want a whole box.  I am still working my way through the massive box of cocoa mint bars which I ordered a while back.

Anyway, although I was a bit apprehensive about attending (getting lost/ meeting people I didn’t know) it was really good- I enjoyed making my own bar, and of course getting to try the new flavours. So, thanks nakd.

Today it was such a beautiful morning, but by the time I got home from work it was cloudy and super windy. I did have a run, so decided to make it a quick one- my first mile was 10.02! 3 miles in 30 mins so I kept pretty steady, although it felt so slow because of the wind.

I was planning on making some kind of roasted veggie lentil salad thing, but it was so cold that I wanted something warming (and also I was tired after being out all day yesterday and a long day today)- luckily in the freezer I had a lentil chilli, so I defrosted that, added some fresh veggies in, and served it with some butternut squash slices (I was lazy and bought them ready sliced)- I baked them with a little coconut oil and some cinnamon, and they were lovely.  Yum- am sure chilli is so much nicer after it has sat around- even in the freezer, it seems to make the flavours mingle much better.

It reminded me that I really loved having chickpea stew in the autumn/winter- I might have to make that again soon. What sort of meals will you be making now the weather is colder? And do you like the sound of the new nakd bars? What flavours would you like them to make?  Come on, vote with me for a peanut butter/ pb chocolate chip one!

Hey peeps

Gosh it is getting chilly now- might be time for a hot water bottle soon! Before it gets too cold, I am going to reminisce a little more about my holiday. We had lots of yummy food on holiday, and I took quite a few photos.

This was the best breakfast ever! I think it might be the third time I have posted the photo?? Ha ha. First up, iced chai lattes with soya milk- they blended them up which was sooooo good. (After that we realised it was much cheaper to share a big one!). Plus the yummy acai bowls- whizzd up frozen fruits including acai berries, served with fruit, granola and local honey. From Island Vintage Coffee.

Following a friends’ recommendation we went to

We had a few visits to Yoghurtland– my fave flavour was frozen strawberry lemonade, and a coconut one. Plus pb chips because I was excited to see them (plus some fruit under there for good measure, or to try to cancel out the HFCS).

We bought dinner from a little health supermarket one evening, and as well as dinner we picked up a few goodies- coconut peanut butter, peanut butter filled pretzels, a papaya and a vegan (there was quite a lot of things like that) coconut and banana cookie to share as it was humongous.

Shave ice (I want to call it “shaved ice” but no, it was shave). They basically scrape off ice, then pour syrup all over it. It was nicer than I thought, quite refreshing, but when the ice melted it went very syrupy, and I much preferred ice cream. The place had the biggest queue out of the door, so we knew it must be worth a try, plus they had very cool t-shirts on sale.

In Volcano there was a wonderful vegetarian cafe, and we went there for lunch twice. Once I had a chilli (yum), and another day we sat outside in the garden (with the goat) and had a delicious hummus and veggie sandwich, served with corn and potato soup and a salad.  The iced tea was lovely too- they made it fresh and it had things like hibiscus flowers in it too.

That was the garden although the goat isn’t in the picture, oh well.

Another acai bowl from another coffee shop- I had this and the guy at the next table went to me so loudly “wow you gotta take a photo of that”, so I did! Lovely, but not as good as the top one.

Our place on Maui had a little kitchen, so we took advantage of that with breakfasts at home- bought some puffins (how tasty!) after seeing them on various blogs before, and some lovely creamy almond milk, plus banana and a little bit of Andy’s smoothie.

I don’t think there are any puffins in that bowl! Not sure why it is there. Maybe I had some after. Anyway, that is fresh papaya and watermelon. The papaya was just amazing.

We also bought some banana bread when we drove the road to Hana- the little stand had a big queue, and we had to wait for them to take it out of the oven- don’t mind if I do! We had a few slices for lunch, but it was a small loaf really, so we had slices for breakfast/ snacks some days too. I think the bananas are in the photo so I remember what it is!

On our last night we went back to The Cheesecake factory (the menu is so huge so it had a lot of options for me)- we saved some space for a slice of cheesecake. This was a peanut butter one, of course (and luckily one of their smaller slices- some of the cakes are quite gross really with 5 or 6 layers to them)- we needed a walk after sharing that!

Ah, seems so long ago now! Once you are home and back into a routine it feels a world apart. I have some papayas in the fridge so I must try to remind myself of holiday by having one.

Night 🙂

Hey

I hope everyone is having a lovely day- yet again I am not organised for WIAW, but I have enjoyed seeing what other people have been eating.

A while ago I was sent some lovely little snacks to review for my blog, from Something from Sarah.

Some raw superfood energy balls. These are lovely little balls made with dates, cashews, hemp protein, chia seeds, coconut butter and other lovely ingredients.

The Raw Cacao ones were delicious- they have a short of chewy texture- softer than the CKK’s fudge babies- I think the addition of the coconut butter helps. They are about 10% protein, from the nuts and also from the chia seeds and hemp protein.

The Peruvian Maca ones were lovely too- I liked the slightly unusual flavour- fairly sweet but not too much. Plus the texture was lovely yet again. They recommend one ball per serving, but I had both as the pack was 40g, and I think I had one as a pre run snack, and another as a post run one.

They also make some lovely looking breakfast blends (ground up seeds and nuts to sprinkle on cereal etc) which look tasty, and also very pretty in the little tins. Worth a look anyway.

I went to see my Mum and Dad yesterday, so I am now well stocked with eggs, and I am looking forward to doing some baking this weekend. I saw (on the Pink Whisk blog) that some people are starting to make their Christmas cakes though! I won’t be doing that just yet- I’ll save that for October half term I think.

After work I went out on a short run- I decided to miss the Sweatshop run because it ends up being about 4.5 miles with the run there and back, so I did 3 miles on my own, and my legs felt fine. So I have signed up to do the Brighton Half Marathon next spring 🙂 Fingers crossed I make it this time.

Any races or events coming up? Anyone thinking about Christmas just yet??