Hey all!
Hope everyone has had a good few days. I had a lovely time in Bristol with some girly friends.
I had a run before we left, and then topped up on fruit by having a Moma pot with blueberries and strawberries. Yum.
We hired a little apartment which ended up being right in the city centre (although I was driving and finding it involved getting lost in the one way system several times and then seeing it but it being no right turn etc). It involved a meal out as ASK (I am getting over my mushroom issues and had a mushroom sandwich thing), Starbucks chai tea (and I was impressed as they did not try to make me a latte, as is what always happens here when I ask for a hot chai tea), carrot cake in a coffee shop, a trip to Wales, walks in a little welsh town (and up a very steep hill), shopping for pretty summer dresses, hunting for frozen yoghurt (failed at this), a trip to Highclere caste (and of course the tearoom there), playing games in the apartment late at night, early mornings (thanks to the seagulls and the fact the bedroom had no curtains) and so many laughs. It was such fun. I did not take any pics and one of my friends put some on facebook but I have no idea if I can get them off there?
Anyway, I was intending on going for a run when I got home yesterday, but we decided to go to Highclere castle (fans of Downton Abbey may be excited to hear that they film it there, and I was interested to know that it used to be home of the man who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb) on the way home (kind of on the way) and when we came to drive from there the M4 was shut so we had to go up to Oxford. Anyway, my car does not have air conditioning so for the entire 3.5 hour journey I was baking, and had only had tea at the tearoom (no water in the car), and had a scone for lunch. I was so hot and sticky that I decided a run would probably make me ill, so I had a shower instead (and a walk to the allotments- you will be glad to hear that the lady has dug up her potatoes, but not the shed, and also took a little blackberry bush (I say bush, it has 3 leaves) which I found while digging up all the weeds and I do not believe she knew it was there- this annoyed me a little as I think if I had left all the weeds then she would not have known about it!). Gosh I am rambling today.
So, this morning it was magic mile time! I got up, changed and drank some water and headed out. It was raining hard. I had mapped out the route, which was a loop and a half, no road crossing needed which would make it more accurate. Anyway, I set off and after a few mins realised I was going too fast- I had to slow a little and then after that got into a bit of a rhythm. I could see the lampost that marked the end I sprinted towards it (imagining the crowd cheering me on) and I was SHOCKED to see that my time was 7.53. Crazy! My best 5k time is 28.10, so I was hoping for a little under a 9 min mile (as this is shorter I should run is faster), but I also feel like I have slowed down a bit recently, so I was not going to be upset if I was slower. But that was amazing! I had no idea I could run that fast! But then I had to walk home as I was gasping for breath.
I had my last Moma pot for breakfast after that, and it was much needed!
Now I have started packing for our holiday 🙂 Some of you may remember that at Christmas Andy and myself were supposed to be going to Florida and a few other places, but our plans were scuppered by the great British winter weather (see here). Anyway, we are off on Saturday for a slightly longer holiday (we added on a few more places as we can go for longer in the summer) so off to Miami, Key West, Orlando (and Discovery Cove- my surprise Christmas present), Savannah and Charleston 🙂 So our bed is now covered in neat piles of tops, cropped trousers, swim stuff etc. Pretty sure I won’t need jeans! I want to leave some space for some Old Navy, Gap and Skechers shopping.
But I will also be tempted by all the clif bars and peanut butter! So, I am after recommendations for stuff like that! What should I try to bring back with me??
And my last post had a lot of questions about the basil tofu! I get Taifun tofu, which comes in a 200g pack, in the chiller section (usually in the veggie section of that with all the cauldron stuff etc). It says on the pack you can eat it cold, so I usually have it in sandwiches and stuff. They also do almond and sesame flavour, which I tried but found a bit smokey for me. I think they do an olive one too, but I don’t like olives. I have bought it from Waitrose before, and from Ocado.  Hope that helps 🙂
After my shower I had half a lunch;
Rude Health Oaty thins with pb and raspberry spread, a pear and strawberries. (Half because I was meeting a friend for lunch but too hungry after my run to wait!)
Some of the quinoa salad I made the other day (quinoa cooked with tin of tomatoes, spinach and red pesto, then mixed with roasted beetroot, peppers and courgette) and cooked it in the oven topped with sliced basil tofu. I have never cooked tofu like this before- I have always had the flavoured stuff cold, but this was lovely. I cannot wait to eat it like that again!
Some I topped with coconut, and some was plain, and all very yummy!
An evening snack was some blueberries and a berry crumble bar (heated in the microwave) with a bit of cinnamon ice cream. Yum 🙂
See this bed at the bottom? Well it goes the whole length of the allotment and that was what I spent a lot of the 3 hours digging up! And that pile of rubbish is what the lady left behind- after clearing 8 tubs of the stuff I dug up I could not be bothered to move her stuff. Plus I was a bit worried that there might be a frog or a hedgehog living in it.
This is it from the other side- I was not going to attempt digging up the potatoes (they cover about 1/3 of it I think) and apparently the lady is coming this weekend to take away her shed and dig up the potatoes. This picture makes it look like there is loads to do, but honestly it is just the potatoes now!
Watermelon just looks so refreshing 🙂 Love it!
Verdict? Delicious. It is ready made bircher muesli- this one is made with yoghurt, apple juice, oats, apples, peaches, agave nectar, rice starch and lemon juice. It was lovely and very filling. Yum.
This one was a blueberry one. Then I was off for a 10 mile run (I have a family wedding this weekend so would not be able to go out tomorrow or Sunday morning)- this was hard as my legs were getting stiff from body pump last night (I also drank a lot of water before I left so I had to stop at the toilets in the park!). It took me longer than last time, 1hr50 something, but with the stop that is not too bad.
Woo hoo!!!! I mean, perhaps they have for ages, but I have not looked/ noticed them before. After resisting ordering Teapigs for ages, I am yet again adding to my tea collection.
Let it bubble away (stir regularly) until it gets to the soft ball stage. I use a sugar thermometer, which has it marked on there, but you can do the test yourself.
Then turn off the heat and whisk away. (Taking this photo was very hard!)
Whisk a little more,
See how thick it is now? That is the look you want, where you can see the trails left by the whisk.
Then pour the rest over the top (the chocolate will start to melt very quickly, but that is good!).
It will look very messy! So flatten it down. I love this part- basically bash it really hard until it goes smooth!
Then leave for a while to cool. I generally put it in the fridge for a bit, but then take it out before slicing, otherwise it will be very hard to cut.
I cannot slice evenly ever!
Final step- try not to eat it all at once!
Then I layered it up in a dish (I used coconut oil to grease the pan too).
Then after it was baked:
I have to say that it smells amazing, and I was worried about getting them out of the dish, but they came out perfectly!
Wow, look at that crumble bar. Seriously, it is amazing! I had one after my dinner and it was amazing. Katie- the coconut oil works perfectly in the crumble mix too! 🙂
