Skinny Latte Strikes Back

not to be sneezed at

2012-05-24T08:00:00.000+01:00

This post is sponsored by AXA PPP healthcare.

We didn’t quite make it to 40 days and 40 nights of rain over here, but it came very close! Now summer is well and truly on the way with this forecast for the rest of the week! Huzzah!

I have written before about what a joyous occasion the spring is here in the UK. Seeing gardens and parks turn from desolate grave-like patches of earth into flourishing, blossoming, green and sweet smelling Edens; bare tree branches gradually dressed with green again; for the air to be imbued with blossom scents and warmth; to feel the sun on bare skin again. It is such a stark contrast to the dark, bleak dampness of the winter. The changing of the seasons is something I now look forward to every year.

Except for one thing. When it starts getting warmer, I know the onset of hayfever season is upon me and I need to take an antihistamine every time I leave the house. Well not quite, but near enough!

I don’t remember it always being this way and I’m not sure whether it’s just getting older or having moved to a different country with a different eco-system (!) but certainly over the past six or seven years I’ve noticed it come and go with varying severity, particularly in the summer. When I was younger it wasn’t so much of an issue. I found my eyes sometimes watered when cuddling our family cat, but I never got the same reaction with the dog, interestingly enough. When I was in my early twenties I noticed I would have sneezing fits in warmer weather, which I’d remedy with a Clarinase. It took the edge off it but only slightly. It was never bad enough to really bother me and I was hardly self aware at that time in my life so didn’t really put two and two together on anything!

It was only when I moved to the UK that I started noticing how the change in the seasons affected the severity and regularity of these sneezing fits. Anytime I polished or vacuumed my flat, or cleaned under the bed, I would get a sneezing fit. If it was particularly dusty (our flat in Pimlico was the Dust Palace) I would sometimes get a tightness in my chest too. I am also allergic to my sister-in-law’s cat, who doesn’t like me anyway, so no love lost there!

Ah, Rusty. Forgive me for putting this picture of you on the internet.

Before leaving for my walk to work each morning in the summer, I would have to remember to take an antihistamine before heading out the door. If I didn’t take one, I would usually arrive at work with a streaming nose, eye makeup ruined and sometimes a rash on my chest! I remember one particularly bad day I walked home – it was warm but very windy, and I was walking down a street near the flat that was lined with trees. You could see the pollen thick in the air, as the wind had stirred up so much of it. I sneezed for the rest of the walk home, wheezing, spluttering. When I got in I could wipe traces of pollen dust from my hands and cheeks.

Oddly enough, since moving to the country, my hay fever hasn’t been too bad, despite being surrounded by nature, freshly mown lawns, fields, shedding trees, flowers and bees! I’ve read up on this and apparently hay fever is far more common in city dwellers than those who live in the country due to less pollutants in the atmosphere. And since cutting way, way back on our dairy consumption, I’ve noticed neither Tom nor I have needed antihistamines as much, which is interesting.

But I know the worst of it is probably yet to come with summer just around the corner now, and my sneezing fits do still occur, most commonly first thing in the morning when I’ve woken up. Unfortunately I have become quite reliant on antihistamines for fast relief, which I can imagine isn’t ideal. It's a very convenient solution but popping a pill every time I'm uncomfortable isn’t really how I like to live my life if I can help it. I’d prefer to manage it in a more natural way. Please don’t tell me I need to clean more often though! (shudder!)

Luckily, my wondering about how to manage my hayfever in a more natural, less dependent on antihistamines way has coincided with one of the latest AXA PPP healthcare live chats which is all about allergies. AXA PPP is putting on a dedicated allergies live chat next Wednesday, 30th May, from 3pm – 5pm UK time. If you have a question on an allergy of any sort, you can get it answered! Here are the details:

AXA PPP’s allergy expert Dr Michael Radcliffe will be answering questions about allergies of any sort. Dr Radcliffe is an NHS Specialist in Allergy Medicine in London and Clinical Research Fellow in Allergy in the School of Medicine at the University of Southampton. He is Chairman of the Medical Advisory Panel of the Anaphylaxis Campaign and an Advisor to Allergy UK. He has a particular interest in food allergy and intolerance, and assessing people who have suffered unexplained symptoms including anaphylaxis (allergic collapse) and allergy rashes.
Participants can ask questions on any sorts of allergy – including hay fever, asthma, rhinitis and skin allergies, or allergies to foods, pollens, animals, drugs, insects, rubber latex and chemical sensitivity.
After the live chat ends, there is plenty of more information and guidance for allergy sufferers on the brand new AXA PPP Allergies Centre which has practical information and support for allergy sufferers, as well as lifestyle and healthy living guides to help manage and minimise the effects of allergies.

You can ask questions live on the day or in advance via Twitter and Facebook.

So my question(s), unsurprisingly, is what advice would you give to a hayfever sufferer who wants to be less dependent on antihistamines? What natural remedies are effective in treating hayfever and are there any that are fast acting in the way an antihistamine is? Do antihistamines have a detrimental effect with prolonged/constant use?

Everyone I've spoken recommends local honey, preferably with some honeycomb still in it, as a good natural way to combat hayfever. Maybe I need to do an Ash and take up bee-keeping?

What about you? Are you a hay fever sufferer as well? How do you cope with it?

rainbows and shadows: or, what i've been up to lately

2012-05-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

It’s been a busy couple of months. I keep thinking that 2012 is still young, just begun, but no. It’s my birthday on Saturday and that has always served as a halfway mark for the year for me, more or less. I wonder what will happen between now and the finish line?

I know it's been mostly monday mantras, recipes, running and yoga on here for the last little while. To be honest it's been hard to find the mental space and energy to write about what else I've been up to. Thankfully a few hurdles have now been jumped over and I feel calmer and more relaxed than I've felt for months. So I thought, in my typical long winded rambling style, I would share, as I tend to write about things after they've happened rather than during. So, for the last little while, life has consisted mostly of….

Immigration red tape

Thankfully this situation is now sorted but my God it was a long, drawn out, complicated process I hope never to repeat. I’ve been through some stressful things in my time – divorce, redundancy, moving to another country – but applying for indefinite leave to remain was right up there! My situation didn’t fit neatly into Home Office guidelines so it took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and being told the wrong thing before things finally got sorted out – in fact, I had gone up to Glasgow especially, the day after the half marathon, to get my old visa renewed because I was told I didn’t qualify for indefinite leave to remain. I was going to have to renew the old visa first (and pay about £800 to do so) and then apply for indefinite leave to remain six weeks later! I did it in person for many reasons, mostly because I didn’t want to let my grandmother’s precious original 93 year old birth certificate, thin and delicate as a butterfly wing, out of my sight. Getting everything together for that interview was a nightmare, to put it politely. I was reminded once again that banks are useless in an emergency. But my husband is brilliant :)

So on that April Monday morning, with barely an ache from the previous day's half marathon, I was called up to the window at the Glasgow public office, handed over my forms and documents, and the man handling my case took a glance through my passport and said “why are you applying for a visa renewal? You qualify for indefinite leave to remain.” After being told twice on the phone that I did not qualify, I was flabbergasted and spent about an hour with this guy, going over every little detail, every guideline, every loophole, making absolutely sure. I did qualify. I couldn't apply for it there and then, annoyingly, as I didn't have the right form nor had I yet sat for and passed the Life in the UK test. It made sense (financially more than anything) to go home, do the final necessary paperwork, and then return to Glasgow to process it all.

So that’s what I did - I went home, filled in another giant set of forms (very glad I didn’t have to worry about the point scoring Tier 1 assessment, that looked scary!) and then studied for and took The Life in the UK test. The straight A student in me, suppressed for the past decade since I left university, relished her chance to shine again. I took nerd-dom and trying to impress the Home Office to a new level and even watched BBC Parliament a few times, which was much more entertaining than I thought it would be! We drove to Milton Keynes one grey and drizzly Saturday where I took the test and was the third to finish. One by one we the hopeful were taken into a private room to be given our results and then released with the precious piece of paper with the red “PASS” stamp on it. I was so happy!

The next week I took a train to Glasgow on the Bank Holiday Monday, walked to the same hotel we had stayed in the last time in the pouring rain, and stayed put, not leaving the room, working on the novel edits until bedtime. I didn’t realise my lip was swollen until I washed my face before bed. I had been biting down on it while working for about seven hours and hadn’t realised.

The next morning it was finally all over. My forms, passport and documents were taken away and checked. I had a biometrics assessment where I was fingerprinted and photographed. I forced myself not to think about the car, tickets to Australia or many bottles of Pol Roger I could have bought with the money I handed over! Finally my ticket number was called, my documents were handed back and the lady told me to expect my identity card in five to seven days.
“So, it was approved?” I asked, as she hadn’t actually said that.
“Oh yes, yes, all fine.”
It was strange. After months of feeling permanently on edge because of the looming expiry date in my passport and not knowing which hoops I need to jump through, higher phone bills because of hours spent talking to people on 0845 numbers, scary disclaimers on the web site and knowing that this was something so monumentally important that I couldn’t afford to screw up –to know that it was over and it hadn’t been that big a deal in the end was kind of…strange. I was glad I went to Glasgow to do it though. They were very friendly, patient and kind, and helped make me feel like less of a nutcase! I walked back into the city afterwards and waited for my train in the Caffe Nero, sipping chai and reading The Songwriter, still feeling strange. It was only five hours later when I got off my train in London and walked to another station to catch my last train home, seeing familiar streets and buildings and tube stations, that it started to hit me. And when Tom picked me up at the other end and we drove home through the country lanes now thick with the green leaves of late spring, I just felt a peace ripple through me. It was over. I was home.

My card arrived in the mail a few days later and so now I officially have indefinite leave to remain! With all the Jubilee flags and decorations that seem to be everywhere in England at the moment, it feels like the whole country is celebrating, ha ha. I couldn’t resist and got a Union Jack cushion for the sofa to mark the event. Even Tom, who is not all that patriotic, seems to like it!

And so, that is over. Breathe.

The book

Meanwhile, to take my mind off the stress of the visa red tape, I threw myself into first of all training for the half marathon, and then into the book. In February, I house sat for some friends for a few days where I basically wrote non stop. I completely re-wrote Part 2, took out the stuff that was too close to the bone and put in something else that was completely fictional. When I got home, I polished the first three chapters and wrote a synopsis, which took me about three weeks because I agonised over it so much. I got out all my favourite books and read the back covers to get inspiration. I must have googled “how to write a synopsis” a thousand times and everything I read told me a synopsis was something different to what I thought it was! Eventually I asked a writer friend of mine for help and she said that it wasn’t meant to be a marketing spiel, nor do you have to blandly recite the facts of your plot, but it should be a bit of both and most importantly make the reader excited about the story and champing at the bit to read it. So I did my best! I had no idea that writing a synopsis would be so difficult though. Writing the book as a whole seemed easy in comparison! I sent the chapters and synopsis to an agent who represents a friend of mine, who had put a good word in for me. That was the end of March.

I heard back from the agent about a week later. They passed, which didn’t surprise me because I wasn’t sure I was the right fit for them, but to my greatest surprise I got quite a lengthy email from them, telling me what they liked and where I might improve, and I was so delighted by the things they said. Getting feedback from people who don’t know you and are not obliged in any way to say nice things about your work is so very, very validating, even if it’s not the response you were hoping for.

Basically, the book is too long (as I suspected! Any of my old English teachers reading this I’m sure will be nodding their heads) and they weren’t entirely sure what genre it fitted into (again, this is something deliberate on my part, in an attempt to be original I’ve placed myself on the spectrum between two genres so I’m not sure what to do about this). Their advice to me was to think about what published authors out there I would consider myself similar to (ie: who would I be placed next to in the bookshop?), look at how those authors market themselves and redraft my submission along those lines. The synopsis, despite the blood, sweat and tears I had shed over it, also needed work. But all in all it was very encouraging and there was a great deal to think about, so I put my head down again for another edit.

I actually drafted a post around this time called “my novel needs to go to weight watchers” because it certainly needs to shift some excess flab! I managed to trim about 5000 words during this edit but I still need to do more. Having read it again closely I can see where the gaps are. I can see where my attention has wandered and where I have gone off on tangents. I need to trim all that back and make it tighter.

A cup of tea and an Anzac biscuit sometimes help

This is not easy work, I have to say. I had fantasies of how much fun it would be to work on my book full time. I had dreamed of it for so long. And it is fun. I wake up every day grateful to be able to do it and I never take it for granted. But it’s far less glamorous and much, much more demanding than I thought. I have never worked so hard in my life. And it’s not just the writing and re-writing and editing that’s tough. Putting yourself out there is tough. Self promotion is tough. Getting enough nerve to press “send” on an email to another agent is tough. Fighting your demons, who appear every time you sit down at your laptop, is tough.

Thank goodness for The War of Art. It has seriously been my saving grace for the last couple of months. I highly recommend reading it – it is relevant in so many ways, no matter what your goals are!

The hours melt away when I work though. Sometimes I look at the clock and realise I forgot to have lunch and Tom will be home soon and I have no idea where the day has gone, only that I did yoga, went for a run and then got down to work. But on other days it’s like pulling teeth and I wonder why on earth I’m doing this. Nights where Tom comes home from work to find the house spotless, an elaborate dinner cooking and home-made bread and anzac biscuits cooling on the counter, he knows I didn’t have a very good day, writing wise. Nights where he comes home and it’s veggie burgers, beans on toast or instant miso soup for dinner, he knows it’s been a really, really good day!

But with all the ups and downs, I still feel very excited every time I open up the latest version and dive in. Despite everything, I am very proud of it. I hope it will find a home soon.

Running

Tom seems to think long distance running is a procrastination tool for me – only to some degree, I argue. It keeps me fit and sane as well! Since doing the half last month I have cut back to smaller runs a few times a week, with intervals thrown in for variety. Yoga has been a big part of my routine lately too, as I spoke about in this post. I have another half marathon in October, but I’m not sure what else I will do between now and then. I enter competitions a lot – it’s my thing! – and even though perhaps I’ve had my fair share of wins this year (I did win the place in the Rock and Roll half, and the lucky door prize at the Yakult Little Book of Fitness launch last week!) I’m still hopeful one might come through. You never know!

In the meantime I am wearing in my new running shoes which Sports Direct very kindly sent me:

Oh, these are like slippers….but supportive slippers! I went with Asics Gel Nimbus 13 which I read about in Runner’s World as an excellent all rounder for heel strikers (I haven’t yet cured myself of that) and great for long distances. Many of the positive reviews were from marathon runners, so I was sold! So far I’ve been wearing them in with 5ks and interval training (strides, etc) and I appreciate now how worn out the cushioning was on my old pair, that I had worn for every race (including the marathon!) since last year! The Nimbus's are proving to be an excellent shoe so far, very supportive and comfortable. As I am a large footed girl, I got a men’s size 9 which is the perfect size for me….the same size as my husband, I hasten to add! At least I can wear his shoes in an emergency...but he doesn't wear mine ;)

Seeing cool things

Tower Bridge, 8am.

I spent most of last week in London. I miss living there sometimes. I went to some launches, networked and hobnobbed, and ran (well, walked!) a mile with Jamie Oliver (!!); got my hair cut for the first time since December; stayed with my friend Lisa and cooked her dinner; saw some lovely friends and my auntie; went to the theatre; walked everywhere; browsed through shops; sat in cafes and wrote and people watched. And heard some interesting conversations! A man in a suit at Marble Arch tube station, talking to another man in a suit: "now I know Emma feels a lot of gratitude for what we've done and I'm not saying we should exploit that, but..." (didn't hear the rest of it! Poor Emma!)

Jamie Oliver and Victoria Pendleton launching Samsung's Hope Relay

Coffee while in line for day tickets at the National Theatre

Leicester Square/Piccadilly all decked out for the Jubilee

Thursday: a day of theatre

Loot from the Japan Centre in Piccadilly, one of my favourite places

Sourdough toast and honey at St John Bread & Wine

But I also really love living out here, in the country. The move out here has proved to be a very, very good thing. We live quite close to Oxford and Henley-on-Thames, so we're always popping somewhere on the weekend for a day trip. I particularly loved our Henley visit a while ago where we walked along the river watching people row, and then went and found Friar Park (George Harrison's house):

The gates at Friar Park

Me on the bridge

The front door of a local bookshop

Cooking yummy things

I’m always thinking about food. It’s why I have to keep up the whole running and yoga thing ;)

Hazelnut and cinnamon meringues

Mushroom and kale lasagne

Jersey Royal, asparagus, pea and toasted hazelnut salad

Leek, courgette and butter bean soup (with crumpets)

Smoothie in a bowl!

Reading

Reading has always been my escape. These have been some of my favourites over the past few months:

I loved hearing your favourite books of last year in the comments on this post and it got me on to some new authors I would never have tried otherwise! Please do share if you’ve read anything really good lately, I always love getting another book recommendation!

Thinking too much

I think I’m guilty of this no matter what else I’ve got going on in my life! That’s why running is so good – it gets me out of the house and into the fresh air for long periods of time to physically exhaust the body in the hope that my mind will follow suit. Yoga is also excellent, but I need to work on the whole quietening the mind thing with that too. Maybe I need to work on quietening the mind full stop.

The last few months have been a huge learning curve, with lots of ups and downs fairly evenly spread. I’m learning a lot about how to structure my time better, how I work best, at what times of the day I am most productive and efficient, and keeping myself motivated with all my various goals. It’s been a bit of a wake up call really, to realise that the buck now well and truly stops with me in every area of my life. I know without a doubt that this is what I want to do – I just have to keep proving it.

Being a freelancer has taught me a great deal about the importance of good communication, having high standards, getting everything (and I mean everything!) in writing, and standing up for myself when I need to (which still makes me very uncomfortable, I hate confrontation!). I’m learning to be more selective, to put my energy into my strengths and less into things that drain my energy. I don't get it right every time but I’m getting there.

I’m trying to keep the freaking out and “oh my God I can’t do this” days to a minimum but I know I can be very hard on myself, always expecting more. Sometimes I just need to remind myself of how far I’ve come over the past seven years. In many ways I am still piecing it all together and am still unravelling some of the knots. Because discovering who you are, what you want to do with your life and what matters most to you is, I have found, a lifelong journey. It never ends. But with a good attitude you can usually turn the bad days around so they're not so bad after all – in fact the bad days are often what make the good days so good. If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain, as they say.

And I do want that rainbow. So I'll keep going, until I'm drenched to my skin.

Thanks for being here and for reading xx

monday mantra

2012-05-21T07:00:00.001+01:00

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hungry thursday: a hungry salad

2012-05-17T14:07:00.001+01:00

Kale was on special at my local Tesco last week so I stocked up. It’s one of my favourite vegetables, one I hope to grow this summer. It’s such a pretty plant and is barely recognisable when chopped up in a sealed supermarket salad bag. I love that it’s so readily available in all the supermarkets though. It’s seriously SO good for you! It can be used anywhere you would use spinach or cabbage. You can even make pesto with it (which I have done, and recommend!). I even put it in my smoothies.

Lately I have started eating kale raw in salads, which works very well! Kale tends to keep longer than salad leaves too, so it's a win win situation for my grocery budget :)

A lovely partner for kale is this delicious curried quinoa mixture. I discovered Jemma’s excellent Curried Quinoa recipe a few months ago and have made it so many times and put my own stamp on it. The nuttiness of quinoa works so well with a curry flavour, and I love experimenting with the vegetables and other condiments I add to it - it tends to be whatever is in the cupboard or fridge but it's a really good recipe like that. The concept of this lunch is a bit similar to the Buddha Bowl I shared a few weeks ago, just a nice combination of flavours with whatever you have handy but that work harmoniously together. The fresh crunchiness of the kale and the creamy tang of the hummus also goes beautifully with it. It’s hard to believe that something so delicious is so healthy!

The curried quinoa keeps very well so I normally cook the whole package at once to make heaps leftover for lunches. It is wonderful on its own but you could also use it as a side dish; it goes very well alongside veggie burgers, braised tofu, a baked potato or a slice of beetroot tarte tatin.

Curried quinoa and kale salad
Originally inspired by Celery and Cupcakes
Makes about 6 servings

300g quinoa
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 tablespoons medium curry powder (or more or less depending on how hot you like it)
Dash of turmeric
Dash of cumin
Juice of 1 lemon, plus a bit of zest
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup walnuts or cashews (I prefer cashews but walnuts were all I had, it was still lovely!)
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
Fresh parsley, dill, mint or basil (if you have it)
Tiny, tiny bit of your favourite oil (I used oak smoked rapeseed – you only need a teaspoon, if that)

To serve:
Fresh raw kale, as much as you like
Homemade hummus (I use this recipe)
Olives
Sunflower seeds or omega seed mix, to sprinkle

Boil the kettle. In a large saucepan place the quinoa and frozen vegetables and then pour boiling water over them, just enough to cover. I do this by sight, but I think it might be about 3 cups, maybe slightly less. You can use vegetable stock for extra flavour if you like.

Place the saucepan on a medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to low, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Return to check how it’s going, stir and distribute the grains and then replace the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes if it needs it. Taste the quinoa to see if it’s cooked. It will still have some bite but will have a softness to it. All the liquid should be absorbed. Keep checking it, it can dry out and burn if you forget about it!

Once cooked, leave to cool slightly and then add the curry powder and turmeric. Mix thoroughly until the grain is coloured with the spices. Leave for a minute or two to cool and let the flavours out a little.

Add the lemon juice and zest, cranberries, nuts, grated carrot, fresh herbs and oil. Mix through until everything is combined. Taste for seasoning.

In a bowl place a handful or two of kale, then a portion of the curried quinoa on top. Place a generous dollop of hummus on top of that, then a handful of sunflower seeds. Finally, scatter some delicious olives over the top.

Quinoa is a wonderful thing to eat when you're really hungry (hence the title of this post) - it is a protein rich grain and keeps you full for hours!

What's your favourite way to eat quinoa? And are you a kale fan?

my favourite yoga DVDs

2012-05-16T14:24:00.000+01:00

I was asked this question in the comments a few weeks ago and I thought it might be nice to share with you all because I’ve recently got back into yoga in a big way, practicing almost daily. I felt I had neglected it somewhat while training for the half marathon over the past few months. Balance is something I continue to strive for and I don’t always succeed. When I come back to a dynamic regular yoga practice after a period of almost nothing (well, nothing, if I’m honest!) I’m always reminded of how essential it is to my well-being and making time for it needs to be a priority.

The past couple of months have been a huge learning curve for me in so many ways and I know I feel better when I make the time to practice yoga regularly. Classes haven’t really been an option financially so I have made the most of my DVD collection, dragging out purchases made many years ago that I never really had the time to use properly and as a result thought they had been a bit of a waste of money – not so!

I think the first time you use a yoga DVD, as with most things, it won’t necessarily be the most relaxing or easy experience – you’re often trying to do the pose, follow what’s on screen and listen at the same time! But I’ve found the more you use them and can pre-empt what is coming next you relax far more and get more out of it.

That’s certainly been the case with my new favourite yoga DVD, Shiva Rea’s Daily Energy Vinyasa Flow Yoga.

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I got this about 18 months ago and the first few times I used it I didn’t enjoy it. I was so used to her other DVD (which had been played so much it was unusable!) that I think I was a bit resistant to anything new! But now that I’ve made the effort to do it most days I love it and think it’s one of her best.

Shiva Rea does two strands of vinyasa practice in this DVD: a solar flow and a lunar flow. She even wears different clothes so you can differentiate between them! If she comes up on the screen wearing a white top and red capris, I know it’s going to be more of an intense and dynamic (solar) practice. If she’s wearing blue and green I know it’s going to be a more intuitive and meditative flow.

The thing I like about all Shiva Rea’s DVDs is the feature of the yoga matrix. Each of the individual workouts is a separate file, so you can select which ones you want to do and which order, so you really can customise it to suit yourself. This one has 7 different practices in total, each going for about 20 minutes, so you can get through one pretty quickly or if you have a bit more time, you can mix and match. There’s also two meditations to start, a core/abs section, a forward bends section and of course, shavasana. If you’d rather do a preset practice there are also a few of those to choose from, with a meditation, a particular flow combination, then ending with shavasana.

My favourites are the more meditative practices (where Shiva wears blue and green!) mostly because I love the music being played in them but I love how both sequences are very intuitive, where you're encouraged to really get into the poses, and they also work the parts of the body I need stretched out as a runner. If I’m in the mood for an intense workout, I choose “Fire” which involves a sequence of pushups. Not for the faint hearted - it gets you sweating and breathing heavily, no doubt about it! I also really like “Fire and Water” which is a mixture of balancing, forward bends and standing postures.

My more usual choices are the “Water” or “Shanti” practices, which have a lot of forward bends, squats, downward dogs and backbends. As I mentioned I really like the music in those two, lots of flutes and quiet melodies which helps my mind drift away a little! I follow these with the core or the forward bends sequences (about 6 minutes each), then shavasana.

After a run, I like to put the core or forward bends on and do that as a cool down. As I mentioned, I really enjoy the music in this DVD, so much so that I sometimes switch on the "music only" option and then play the DVD as I would a CD while I'm working ;)

All in all I’m really enjoying this one!

Yoga Shakti

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This is probably my favourite yoga DVD of all time! In fact I have worn my copy out, it doesn’t play any more!!

This is a much older DVD than the one above but I still think it's amazing. It also has a yoga matrix, where you can mix and match the various practices to suit you. There is a basic flow which is perfect for beginners, or if you just feel like being gentle. My favourite sequence is the salute to the sun. I also really liked the supine sequences as well.

This is the DVD that made me really love yoga and want to learn more and make it a really big part of my life. Honour the sun within!

Louise Solomon’s Yogalates 8

This has been a recent discovery, as mentioned in a post a few months ago, and I’ve really enjoyed the variation in my practice with this DVD. It has three workouts – an upper body, a lower body and a cardio-ed up Salute to the Sun workout. I tend to do the lower body and Salute to the Sun most often. The lower body workout is excellent for runners, with heaps of lunges and downward dogs to stretch out those legs!

I really like the balancing element this DVD has too – being able to hold tree or arrow pose is a somewhat of a challenge for me as I’m not the most physically graceful person (I don’t think!) but also part of the challenge is getting the mind to quieten as well and I think that’s the bigger obstacle for me rather than the physical one. Also I often find I’m stronger on one side than the other, or that I’ll be able to do the balancing poses well one day and not so well the next!

Each workout is about 20 minutes long, so a very nice quick option if you don’t have a lot of time. It’s a calming and meditative experience, doing this DVD, yet intense in the right way at the same time. I particularly love the guided body relaxation at the end. If you really want to switch off for 10 minutes, I recommend it!

And even though I don't have this one any more (I think it's in a box in my parents garage somewhere!) I still have a soft spot for it. For absolute beginners I recommend getting a copy of Yolanda Pettinato’s Simply Yoga. That was what got me started in the first place and even though it was a slow, awkward beginning I found the more I did it the more I improved, which gave me the confidence to branch out and try more challenging yoga DVDs. Back then I had always liked the idea of yoga but didn't think it was for people like me...whatever that meant. I remember the feeling of wellbeing I got from it was quite profound but very simple – it was just feeling better than before, if that makes sense.

And perhaps that is why I’ve embraced it again at this point in my life. Every day, my goal is simply to be better than I was yesterday. I have moments of feeling incredibly overwhelmed and unfocused, like I’m floundering, as well as moments of intense clarity and productivity (!) and being back in the zone with my yoga has really helped me to feel centred again, to better balance these two sides of the coin that gets flipped over and over.

I’m also reading The Heart of Yoga and have been reminded of when I went to some acting classes in Australia, a few years ago now, just before I left. I used to think that acting was all about pretending, creating an illusion. I learned in my studies that it wasn’t; it was actually all about being real. In learning more about yoga, I’ve learned a similar lesson - that far from being an escape from the world, it’s a way to be more present.

So here’s to keeping yoga in my life more so than I have been, and hopefully conquering lolasana as I boldly resolved to do at the start of the year!

Maybe one day I’ll get back to classes but for now I’m happy with my my DVDs. There are so many others I’d love to try though! Here’s a few that are on my wish list – I’d love to know if anyone has tried these and what they think.

yogAttitude
The debut DVD from my pal Nadine Fawell – it looks awesome!!

Shiva Rea Creative Core and Upper Body
I'm keen to improve my upper body strength - maybe this DVD will help me with my lolasana goal?!

Shiva Rea More Daily Energy
A follow up to my current favourite, which looks fantastic.

And a new copy of Yoga Shakti!

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Do you do yoga DVDs at home? Do you enjoy it? What DVDs are on your wish list?

Note: this is not a sponsored post as I already owned these products but some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links, which means if you click through and purchase something I receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting me in this way, I do appreciate it :)

monday mantra

2012-05-14T07:00:00.001+01:00

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hungry thursday: my favourite soup

2012-05-10T17:17:00.000+01:00

Whenever I think about comfort food, this soup is probably in my top 3. I was first introduced to it by a workmate when I lived in Melbourne six years ago, just as the icy breath of winter was starting to blow all over the city. We used to go to the Queen Victoria markets on Tuesdays at lunchtime, brave the crowds for a spinach and fetta burek and then do our fresh produce shopping. It's still one of my favourite places to go in Melbourne, particularly in the summer when the smell of ripe fruit is intoxicating.

I remember my friend picking up a bunch of English spinach and I asked her what she was going to make with it. She told me about the soup, called chicken, spinach and risoni soup, and gave me the recipe. I made it a few days later and I've never looked back. It's one of my most favourite things to eat in the world. I have made a few variations to it over the years, resulting in the recipe I'm about to share with you now. I use Quorn in place of the chicken, and because I've never seen risoni in a supermarket over here, I use orzo (which is a little larger) or sometimes even "stellette", which is little star shaped pasta and, weirdly enough, very easy to find! I've grown more liberal with the use of fresh dill, because I adore it. When fending off a cold, I add more lemon juice and garlic for flu-flighting power!

I actually mentioned this soup in an email yesterday, as the recipient was feeling poorly and I recommended this as a sure-fire way to feel better as it always works for me when I'm under the weather. But after writing the recipe out for her and going about my day, I couldn't get it out of my mind and so made it for dinner last night and it went down a treat. You don't have to be poorly to enjoy this soup! It's perfect if it's raining outside or just a little chilly and you want to feel warm and nourished.

It's an absolute winner. Do try it, it's glorious.

Spinach, orzo and lemon soup
Makes heaps

1 tablespoon olive oil (or you could use cooking spray)
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin (you can have less if you want it less spicy, I like it spicy!)
1.5-2 litres vegetable stock
1 bag quorn fillets OR 3 chicken breast fillets
250g orzo or any other short pasta
250g spinach leaves, washed (and chopped if they are large)
Chopped fresh dill, as much as you like
Juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons, plus zest if you like

Heat the oil in a large pan on low heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the cumin, saute for 1 minute and pour in the stock. Bring to the boil and then add the Quorn or chicken. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until the chicken/Quorn is cooked. Remove from the broth, allow to cool slightly and then shred or cut into small pieces.

Stir the orzo into the broth, bring back to the boil and allow to cook for about 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Return the Quorn/chicken to the broth, together with the spinach leaves, dill and lemon juice. Simmer for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper (and more lemon juice if you like) and then serve.

You can of course put the Quorn/chicken and pasta in at the same time and then just remove the Quorn/chicken after 15 minutes or so, shred, then return to the pan. I also love dill so I am very liberal with the amount I use. I also sometimes put some stalks in with the broth to cook the Quorn/chicken and pasta in. If you don't like dill you can use parsley. You can also add other green vegetables you might need to use up, like celery or green beans.

For a vegan version, don't use Quorn or chicken. It will be lovely just on its own!

Despite being filled with pasta and protein, it's wonderfully light and nourishing. You can feel it doing you good as you spoon it up.

What's your favourite soup?

monday mantra

2012-05-07T07:00:00.001+01:00

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hungry thursday: carrot, date and chia seed muffins

2012-05-03T23:28:00.001+01:00

Good evening! I'm getting in just in the nick of time for Hungry Thursday! ;)

I can't really believe it's May already. 2012 has been going way too fast for my liking! The past few weeks since the half marathon have been a bit crazy, in good and not so good ways, but thankfully I think the worst of it is over, for the time being :) I'm glad it's May. I've always looked forward to it because it's my birthday month (!) but May has become one of my favourite months season-wise since moving to the UK nearly five years ago. I think it must be because the winters are so incredibly dark, cold and bleak, so you literally do see everything coming back to life at this time of year. The countryside, the parks and the trees shed the last of their winter clothes, everything suddenly bursts into bloom and is green and fragrant, and the air is infused with warmth again. Going out in the fresh air and sunshine without a coat on is such a joy after months of layering. Since living here I've come to appreciate what a magical season spring is. Apart from the last week, when it rained pretty much every day! April showers indeed. I'm hoping for lots of May flowers!

A perfect rainbow on a walk last week - in a break between showers!

I had to abandon most of my planned runs last week and do lots of yoga instead! After a few months of concentrating solely on running I've now rekindled my love affair with yoga and have started doing it every morning. I'd forgotten what a wonderful way it is to start the day. And I'm finally mastering the art of moving from upward dog to downward dog without having to go back up on my knees - I'm doing it from the toes!

This morning after yoga I defrosted a few of these muffins I made a few weeks ago and then stashed in the freezer for a rainy day....I looked out the window this morning and what did I see? :) I thought they would be a nice cheery breakfast to accompany my smoothie. The muffins don't have any butter or extra sugar in them so they are a wholesome and healthy baked breakfast item rather than a cake-like muffin. I had some cinnamon in my banana/berry/apple smoothie so the two together made a rather heavenly breakfast match indeed!

Carrot, date and chia seed muffins
Based on an Abel and Cole recipe
Makes 12

250g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
A pinch of salt
5 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey)
2 medium carrots, grated
3 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
A bit of freshly grated nutmeg (optional - I just really like spices!)
A handful of chopped dates (you can use any dried fruit you like, I would have used cranberries or apricots but didn't have any!)
A handful of chia seeds
A handful of sunflower seeds (you can use any nuts or seeds that you like)
275ml coconut milk
1 orange, juice and zest
Cooking spray to grease muffin tin
Pinch of oats and/or seeds to scatter on the top

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt. Then add the maple syrup, grated carrot, spices, dates and seeds. Mix together well. Then add the orange juice, zest and coconut milk. Gently stir until just combined. Do not over do it otherwise the muffins will be tough!

Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin tin. You can top them with a sprinkle of oats or seeds if you like.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Eat fresh from the oven or you can freeze them and then defrost when you want them. I don't have a microwave so I defrosted mine (still foil wrapped from the freezer) in a 160 C oven for about 20 minutes. It was as though they were freshly baked :)

Enjoy with jam or spread if you like, but I think they are delicious plain. And I can attest that a muffin defrosted four weeks later is still scrumptious!

Do you freeze muffins/cakes/baked goods? I nearly always do. Are there any recipes you think are particularly good to freeze?

monday mantra

2012-04-30T07:00:00.000+01:00

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hungry thursday, mega edition: buddha bowl

2012-04-26T11:08:00.000+01:00

Good morning! I have a mega edition of Hungry Thursday for you this week - not one, not two, but four things I've cooked up recently that I'd like to share :)

The first one is this Buddha Bowl.

I've seen versions of this dish all over the place and the way I interpret the concept is putting a variety of cooked and raw complementary but contrasting healthy vegetable dishes or ingredients together in the one bowl! I made it after feeling very inspired after watching River Cottage Veg Heroes last week. Now, I have to say that I have never really watched River Cottage before primarily because I thought it was a meat based cookery show and therefore I didn't think I would get much out of it but the latest series follows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as he decides to spend one whole summer being vegetarian and see how it improves his cooking repertoire and appreciation for the diversity of vegetables and vegetarian food in general. This is right up my alley and I am loving this series!!

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I really like how Hugh is presenting it; it's not preachy at all, just a very conscious and thoughtful challenge he's set for himself as a guy who clearly enjoys eating meat but who also cares about animals and about the planet. So far we've seen an Indian wedding where Hugh cooks dosas for the guests, a meal prepared for a Buddhist monk in training, fuel for cross country swimmers, vegetarian sushi made while on a fishing boat, recipes that make the most of homegrown seasonal vegetables from the garden and experimenting with vegetarian offerings in the River Cottage canteen. I watch it with my notebook at the ready because there have been some fantastic dishes and ideas so far!

In one episode I caught, Hugh and his vegetarian gurus David and Charlotte Bailey, who run a London vegetarian catering company, serve up a Buddha Bowl to a hoard of hungry construction workers in Kings Cross at lunchtime and the response is quite fantastic. Hugh observes that we often live up to our own cliches and daily expectations and habits by eating meat simply because it's there or because it's what we've always done, and that you don't need to be vegetarian to enjoy vegetarian food. Everyone who got a serving of the Buddha Bowl looked like they'd won the lottery and I was sitting in front of my TV, salivating, knowing what was going to be on the dinner menu later!

I had some leftover curried quinoa from lunch that day, so I whipped up my own version of their Buddha Bowl for Tom and I to enjoy in the evening. The version I saw on the show had things like pickled cucumbers and grilled haloumi in it, but I just made variations with what I had in the fridge and cupboard. It's a great dish for doing that sort of thing!

Buddha Bowl
Based on an idea seen on River Cottage Veg Heroes
Serves 4

This is built on four main components - a grain, vegetables, protein and a garnish. What follows is what I made but there are endless variations, I'm already imagining different things to do with it next time! Use what you like to eat and what you have available and experiment! I think getting a combination of different tastes and textures that all somehow work together is the idea.

Grain

I used leftovers from a batch of Jemma's Curried Quinoa - my version includes cashews and dried cranberries. You could use brown rice, couscous, millet, barley or any other grain - use between 1-2 cups cooked grain per person, depending on how hungry you are!

Cook the grain according to packet instructions. Add any seasoning you might like (lemon juice, turmeric, etc), set aside and keep warm.

Vegetables

Sweet and sour crunchy carrots
4 small carrots, peeled and cut into batons
Splash of apple balsamic vinegar
Tiny bit of honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
Japanese "nanami togarashi" seasoning (optional, or you could use chilli powder or hot paprika)
Sesame seeds

Place carrot batons in a small bowl. Combine balsamic vinegar, honey and seasoning. Pour over the carrots and toss to combine thoroughly. Leave for the flavours to develop for about half an hour. Sprinkle with sesame seeds when serving.

Garlic kale
4 large handfuls kale
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
Olive oil

Heat olive oil in a small saucepan and add the garlic (do not allow to burn). When soft, add the kale and place a lid on top. Shake the pan a few times and leave for one minute or until kale is wilted. Turn off the heat, set aside and keep warm.

You could use any other vegetables (cooked or raw) that you like. I'd recommend having a combination of raw and cooked if possible, it really adds to the texture! They had pickled cucumbers and kimchi (fermented cabbage) in the River Cottage version instead of kale (which was all I had!).

Protein

Maple soy Quorn or tofu

6 Quorn fillets or 1 small block tofu, cut into strips
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce, to taste
1 red onion, cut into smallish chunks
A little fresh ginger, grated (optional)

Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir to coat. Leave to marinate for about half an hour. Then heat some cooking spray or oil in a large frypan and stirfry the quorn or tofu pieces until they are cooked through and a little crispy. You can also do this in the oven if you prefer. Set aside and keep warm.

You could vary the flavours of this to be Indian, Thai, or Middle Eastern (I have a huge jar of za'taar in my cupboard that needs using!). You could use any kind of tofu you want, or you could use grilled haloumi cheese, or a veggie burger cut into chunks.

Garnish

Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Chia seeds

You can buy an Omega 3 seed mix or a salad seed mix from health food stores that have the three mentioned seeds in them plus a few more goodies. You could also toast some walnuts, pine nuts, almonds or cashews if you haven't already got some nuts in your grain or other dishes.

Get yourself a large bowl and layer the dishes up in it like so: grain, vegetables, protein and seed garnish.

It's such a delicious, healthy meal - everything tasted so good! We were both bowled over (no pun intended there!) by how good it was :)

Enjoy!!

Have you made a Buddha Bowl before? What are your favourite combinations?

hungry thursday, mega edition: anzac biscuits

2012-04-26T11:07:00.000+01:00

It was ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand yesterday and it felt like my patriotic duty to break out a mixing bowl and make these :)

I don't make biscuits very often - I'm more of a cake girl - so when I do I usually stuff it up because I bake them for too long! This time I followed a recipe to the letter...and what do you know, it worked :P

I consulted about three recipes but the one I ended up making was my Nan's version, where she used half plain flour and half self raising flour. I didn't have any coconut so I made up the volume with more oats. These make ANZACS just the way I like them and remember them from childhood - slightly soft and chewy! Tom loves them too because they taste like his childhood favourite, flapjack!

Nan's ANZAC biscuits
Makes about 30

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
3/4 cup coconut [if you don't have this use an extra 3/4 cup oats]
3/4 cup sugar (brown, raw or white) [I used light brown]
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 tablespoons boiling water
125g butter, melted [or dairy free spread]
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Mix all dry ingredients. Dissolve bicarb soda in boiling water and add to melted butter and golden syrup. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place in teaspoonfuls on a greased tray.

I rolled them into balls in my hands first. It really did remind me of making these as a kid :)

Bake in a moderately slow oven (160 C, 325 F) for 15 minutes. If you want harder biscuits cook for a few minutes longer. Let them cool and then store in an airtight container.

They last a long time - they were originally designed to be sent to troops overseas so they had to travel well and not go off for months and months - but in this house they last as long as my and Tom's willpower allows!

Happy (belated) ANZAC Day! :)

hungry thursday, mega edition: avocado, banana and lime smoothie

2012-04-26T11:06:00.000+01:00

I was overwhelmed with yearning for a clean, green, refreshing breakfast this morning, despite the relentless rain outside!

I saw this recipe on Crazy Sexy Life a little while ago and thought seeing I had most of the ingredients I would give it a try. I had to modify it slightly for my tastes but I appreciate that the point is that it isn't supposed to taste like a milkshake! I wouldn't say I need everything to be sweet but I do notice when things aren't....it was probably the overly generous squeeze of lime that initially made this a bit tart for me but as I drank it the clean, pure flavour of it really grew on me. If I had had any coconut milk handy I would have added that rather than filtered water, just for some added creaminess. But overall this smoothie gave me exactly what I was after - some pure, super power nourishment to get me through a morning of studying and writing!

Avocado, banana and lime smoothie
Based on Creamy Green Smoothie at Crazy Sexy Life
Makes 1 breakfast

1 cup filtered water or coconut milk (or half and half!)
Handful of ice
Handful of baby spinach or other greens (washed first)
1 small ripe avocado
1 large frozen banana
The juice of 1/2 a small lime (I would only add a squeeze to start with and taste as you go, it can be quite tart!)

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process until it is smooth and brilliant green colour!

Taste and add more lime if you want it tarter, some more banana if you want it sweeter.

Pour into a glass and enjoy!

I love smoothies to drink - especially for a breakfast on the go when you need a spare hand for other things! - but I think my absolute favourite way to eat them is in a bowl with muesli/granola/dried fruit/nuts/seeds on top.

How do you like your smoothies?

hungry thursday, mega edition: curry in a hurry

2012-04-26T11:05:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite store-cupboard dinners is a curry. They are fab for using up any vegetables that are past their prime and you can literally have one ready in about 30 minutes. Get your rice cooker on the go too and everything will be ready at the same time!

Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetables to use in a curry. If you have more time, I'd recommend dusting the raw cauliflower with turmeric and cumin and then roast it in the oven, serving it alongside the chickpeas and rice - it takes on such a lovely depth of flavour.

I've recently become a convert to buying dried chickpeas and cooking them up in giant batches to freeze. It is SO much cheaper - a 500g bag of dried chickpeas costs about 72p in my local supermarket, which is about the same price as a can of cooked chickpeas that yields maybe 2 cups if you're lucky. It's a bit of a fiddle, and the scum that comes off the top is a bit scary (!), but if you have the time it is really worth the effort. And they really do taste so much nicer than the canned ones! I bought three 500g bags, soaked them on Saturday and cooked them all up on Sunday - I made hummus, a soup, a curry and then froze the rest which I've been able to just grab out as I need them to make more hummus and curries. Brilliant!

Quick cauliflower and chickpea curry
Makes 4 decent servings

Olive oil or cooking spray
1 large onion (or leek), finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
A bit of fresh ginger, grated
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
4 cups cooked chickpeas
3 tablespoons Indian korma curry paste
Vegetable stock and/or coconut milk to cover
Kale, spinach or any leafy green vegetable
Fresh lemon juice, to garnish
Cooked brown rice or quinoa, to serve

Heat the olive oil or cooking spray in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and ground turmeric. Cook until soft and the spices are fragrant. You could also add a diced green chilli here if you like it really hot!

Add the cauliflower, chickpeas and curry paste; stir until everything is evenly coated and combined. Add enough vegetable stock and/or coconut milk to cover - about 4 cups, but judge this for yourself - you don't want it to be like a soup, just enough liquid to cover the chickpeas and to cook the cauliflower. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender. Add kale/spinach and replace the lid. Cook for a few more minutes until the green vegetables are wilted. Stir and taste for seasoning.

Spoon into bowls with rice and squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the top (this really makes it!).

And there you are - a healthy, filling and tasty dinner in hardly any time at all :)

what the water gave me

2012-04-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

This post has been sponsored by BRITA.

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Do you know what I used to miss the most about working in an office? I know this might sound weird, but I really missed the filtered water from the watercooler. The water that came out of it just tasted so much nicer than my tap water at home. I had my little Sigg bottle which I’d faithfully take to work every day and fill up once I arrived and got started for the day, and return many times to refill. It’s recommended you drink at least 2 litres (or roughly 8 glasses) of water a day and I never, ever had trouble doing this during the working day! In fact, my bottle held 500ml and on average I would fill it up 6 times a day, and then one final time for the walk home….so I was having about 3.5 litres a day! My water consumption during the working week meant that I didn’t worry so much if I didn’t have a lot of water at home during the weekends….because the tap water didn’t taste that nice. It had a faint chlorine taste and sometimes, if I put it in a clean clear pint glass, you could see bits floating in it!! The limescale in our kettle was a bit terrifying as well!

Before I moved to the UK I didn’t really appreciate what hard water was. The drinking water in the cities I lived in in Australia was pretty good, and the only water issue I was concerned with was not wasting it! In a massive metropolis like London, the water is never going to taste like it does at the foothills of Mt Wellington (!) but I wasn’t prepared for how different the taste actually was. Basically, hard water is water with a high mineral content (mostly calcium and magnesium but there are others) and the hardness can be measured/tested in various ways - a common measurement is ppm, which is the parts per million of the calcium carbonate equivalent. BTW I'm so not a science brain and this is the simplest way I could explain it! Maybe I need Hard Water for Dummies?!

According to the British DWI, most areas of the UK, with the exception of Wales, Cornwall, Devon and parts of the North West and Scotland, are hard water areas. There's even a tea you can buy in the supermarket especially for hard water! Most areas of England measure above 200ppm. To give you an idea of comparison, my hometown’s water ppm is between 5.8 and 34.4, with Melbourne being very similar. So I wasn't imagining the difference in taste :)

This is not to say that hard water is unsafe to drink, in the same way fruit and vegetables grown with pesticides are not unsafe to eat. But is it ideal? Perhaps not. And it’s not just a question of whether you’re in a hard water area either, sometimes plumbing and chemicals used to treat water impurities (like fluoride) can contribute to the taste and effects of your tap water too. There are no shortage of reports that espouse the benefits of drinking and using filtered water instead of tap water, from ingesting less impurities to food tasting better to less mineral build up in your electrical appliances. My husband Tom has long been a home water filter fan, and we had some jugs for a while but I found them very cumbersome and would always forget to fill them up! When we moved to our new home in the country last year we had grand plans to do up the kitchen….and still do…..but one of the things we agreed we would do was get a filter tap when we got eventually round to the home renos.

So when I was asked by BRITA if I would like to try out one of their new three-way dispenser filter taps for the Skinny Latte kitchen, I couldn’t have been more delighted! Filtered water and a new look for my old kitchen at the same time!

We picked the Kelda Chrome which is a lovely traditional look with ceramic taps that goes well with our kitchen. We only have a small kitchen and this tap really is now one of the star attractions! (the bread maker is the other!)

It was installed by a BRITA approved plumber and it was a very simple job; they also called afterwards to make sure we were happy with the service and everything was performing as expected (top marks for that!).

How the three way dispenser works is that we have separate levers for hot, cold and filtered water – and all the water is dispensed from the one central tap. It’s very easy to use. You can use “normal” water from the hot and cold levers for washing up or for watering the plants, etc and use the filter lever as and when you want it. The hot and cold water is not filtered and the filtered water is cold water that goes through the special BRITA filter that is now installed under our sink. BRITA recommend replacing the filters every 3 months or every 500 litres (which is a lot more convenient than the jugs!). We even got a little buzzer that counts down the days so it will set off an alarm when we need to get a new filter! You may be able to get a bit more use per filter depending on the quality of the water in your area. So far, 51 days and counting (thank you cartridge exchange buzzer!), we’re going well!

To say this tap has transformed our lives is a bit of an understatement! I really wanted to use it for a good length of time before writing about it to discern just how much of a difference (or not) it had made but I noticed the difference in the taste of the tap water immediately. The chlorine taste is gone and it just tastes pure and clean. Prior to getting the tap and now working at home I was really forcing myself to drink 3 pints (1.7 litres) a day which was never a pleasure (!) and I never felt like it was enough. Now I'm back to drinking about 6 pints (3.4 litres) a day with no problems at all. In fact, I’ve had 3 pints while writing this! :P …….. loo break ……....

I also love to bake bread (no surprises there) and a lot of the recipes I use call for filtered water. Not thinking it would make much of a difference, I always used to use tap water but since acquiring the filter tap I’ve used filtered water in my breadmaker loaves and sourdough and I have found the bread has improved in both texture and taste. The crumb seems lighter and the bread would normally go stale very quickly but now I’ve found it is still soft a few days after I make it rather than being only fit for breadcrumbs! I also use the filtered water for tea and coffee, and any time I need boiling water to make stock or gravy. I haven’t yet graduated to cooking pasta in the filtered water (just because you need such a lot of it!) but have for rice, quinoa and other grains. Overall, everything just tastes nicer. And drinking water is definitely not a chore any more!

When you think about it, our bodies are the best filters we have. They have the ability to process and flush out a plethora of toxins. And what’s the best way for our bodies to do that? With water :) I am a big believer in putting the best you can into your body and “the best” doesn’t mean expensive, just pure, clean and as close to nature as possible. I think sadly in this day and age the purity of our environment has been sacrificed for modern conveniences and if we can help redress that balance, starting in our own homes, then all well and good!

As I mentioned, we were planning to get a filter tap for our kitchen anyway so were very grateful to BRITA for providing us with this one to get started. If you are renovating your kitchen sometime soon I really would recommend getting one. It has made our kitchen so much nicer – in fact, some of the other modifications we were considering (new tiles, etc) might not now be necessary as the tap has given it all such a lift. I never would have thought the sink would be a stand-out feature of the kitchen, but there you go!

The Kelda model we chose retails for £330 on the BRITA web site, plus a small delivery charge. The replacement filters are £36.60. They have lots of other styles of taps available, some of which are on special offer at the moment. You can also book installation through them as well. Obviously this is a considerable amount of money and everyone has to weigh up the benefits versus the costs for themselves. I personally think it’s more than worth it if you drink a lot of water and live in an area where the tap water doesn’t taste fantastic. We have used it so much since we had it installed, I don’t really know how we got by without it!

Do you have a filter tap, or would you consider getting one? How do you make sure you get your 2 litres a day?

monday mantra

2012-04-23T07:00:00.001+01:00

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race report: rock and roll half marathon, edinburgh

2012-04-20T20:21:00.000+01:00

Well, hello there! Where has this week gone?! I thought it was Wednesday when I woke up this morning....but oh no, it's Friday! I've been a bit of a headless chook this week, to say the least! I've had so much to catch up on and I still haven't done it all!

Well, we are back from our whirlwind long weekend in Scotland, where I ran the inaugural Rock and Roll half marathon in Edinburgh on Sunday. Having not run a half marathon for over a year I wasn't sure how it would go and having had my mind occupied by many other things these past two months, I had trained as hard as I could but felt, as race day drew nearer, I could have done more. But as I have always been a last minute crammer, whether it was university exams or training for a long distance race, a few weeks of all out dedication seems to work well for me rather than a prolonged effort over double the time. I knocked out two 18k runs in the weeks before and was still standing (!) so I was confident I would definitely get through this race, albeit probably a lot slower than I've done them previously. But PBs can always wait. Sometimes just showing up and doing it is the most important thing.

I was lucky enough to win a place in this race thanks to Women's Running magazine, back in January. I got the email while we were still in Australia, bloated from Christmas, and I figured training for a half would be a fantastic thing to do once we got back to the UK to keep me focused! Never underestimate the power of a looming race day to get you motivated and out the door!

Hubby and I decided to drive to Scotland for the race rather than take the train like we usually do on a jaunt up north. We've recently acquired a car of our very own, for the first time in years - in London we never needed a car, but out in the sticks it's proven to be more of a necessity than I first thought. Christened Daphne after my grandmother, who kindly gave me the money to buy her, our little car has had outings to Milton Keynes, Henley and Bath but this was our first proper road trip. Tom was very excited! He took endless trouble putting together a road trip CD collection for the car :)

It took about 9 hours to drive the 372 miles to Edinburgh in the end - Aussie readers, it's about the same distance between Melbourne and Canberra - and we had a few stops on the way, plus bad traffic around Birmingham and Manchester as we expected. But once we hit the Lake District it was a lot more relaxing and the scenery was quite stunning; enormous green hills dotted with sheep and lined with ancient stone walls; sprawling farms, country cottages and farmhouses. I wish I could have taken a photo for you but my shots taken from a moving car are always a bit crap :P It was well and truly dark by the time we got to Edinburgh, and we collapsed and slept the sleep of the truly weary once we hit the Premier Inn!

We had a lovely day on Saturday looking around Edinburgh - the last time I had visited (apart from passing through on my way to Inverness two years ago) was for the Fringe in 2007, so I was keen to see everything again. We started the day with brunch at a place I remembered from last time, called Spoon:

We both had the full vegetarian breakfast, which included veggie haggis!

And then we went along to the Rock and Roll half marathon expo which was being held at Holyrood Park, the site of the race taking place the next day, so it was good to familiarise myself with where everything was. I collected my race number, chip and commemorative t-shirt!

It was freezing and I was starting to regret not bringing a long sleeved running top!

We went in search of a running shop so I could stock up on sports beans (!) and explored the lovely city on foot until I started to flag a little. Then we happened upon this bar where we settled in and carb loaded:

Tom and I (well, Tom especially!) love the movie The Big Lebowski, so when we saw this place we couldn't resist! What a find! The dude abides. We really enjoyed the couple of hours we spent there; the staff were very friendly and welcoming, the food was great (but the portions were so huge, even Tom couldn't finish!) and we just really enjoyed the atmosphere, throwing lines from the movie back and forth at each other, it was great fun!

We had a vegetarian sharing plate, which had bread with a selection of dipping oils - basil, chilli and I think one of them had heather honey in it, it was a very sweet flavour - vegetarian haggis samosas, chunky oven roasted wedges, mixed winter mushrooms, oatcakes and Scottish cheeses. I mostly ate the bread and potatoes (!), but the mushrooms were my favourite and Tom loved the samosas. We ended up leaving most of the cheese - I found it so rich and could only have a slice or two. Man! What's happened to me?!

And Tom had his favourite Innis & Gunn beer and I had....ginger beer :P There was also a menu which had 20 different varieties of White Russians......if only I had been able to drink! As delicious as they sounded I didn't want to risk it.

We decided to try and have an early night at the hotel. I continued the carb load with a bagel and banana while we laid back and indulged in my favourite night-before-a-big-race ritual, watching Run Fatboy Run! Although if we'd had The Big Lebowski we probably would have watched that first ;)

Then I laid out my kit for the next day:

And we went to sleep, having set alarms, feeling very organised.

We were woken up at about 5:30 the next morning by someone banging constantly on our door. It was the stag party a few doors down the hall.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I screeched at them when I opened the door and (somewhat satisfyingly) watched their faces freeze with terror. Trust me, when I have bed hair I look scary! The idiots mumbled apologies and shifted off, but someone else a few doors down came out and started tearing into them, so I shut the door and got back into bed, shaking with rage!

Why, why, why am I cursed when it comes to trying to get a good night's sleep the night before a half marathon?!

I tried to get back to sleep as our alarm wasn't due to go off for another hour and a half but it was a fruitless exercise. I felt very grumpy and disoriented when I finally got up and started getting ready. I had a bagel, banana, a few pieces of liquorice, some chocolate coconut chia seed pudding I had made at home and brought with me, and some water, chamomile tea and Lucozade Body Fuel. Eventually I snapped out of my grumpiness and just had to accept that as nice as it would have been to have had uninterrupted sleep, it hadn't happened so I had to get on with it!

After having to dash back to the room to get my timing chip (ALWAYS attach it the night before, why did I forget that?), we were eventually on our way and marched the mile and half through the city down to Holyrood Park for the start. I lined up for the loo (at first I mistakenly joined the men's only queue, whoops!) and then got into my corral.

The start gun went off at 9am and then the corrals went in 60 second waves. My corral was eventually split into two, so I missed the wave with the 2:15 pacer in it. But I was right at the front of my wave, which has never happened to me before. That meant I couldn't be slow!! Finally the buzzer went and we were on our way.

This was the course - we went out into Meadowbank, along the Portobello Promenade (it was wonderful to get some ocean air!), back up through Duddingston to Holyrood Park and around Arthur's Seat, back to Cowgate, Grassmarket, the Meadows and the university, back through Old Town and down Canongate to the end. Edinburgh is a very picturesque city so it was wonderful to get to know it in this way, and to have new surroundings to look at while you run....as opposed to seeing the same stuff all the time when you're training!

How did I find the run?

Well, the old adage that you do all the hard work in training so that race day will be easy in comparison rang true for me here. I had worked hard in the last few weeks so I was confident it would be a good race. I didn't put any pressures on myself in terms of finishing time, as I knew I wasn't as fast as I was when I was training for the marathon last year and doing a half marathon every weekend! I just wanted to have a good run.

On one of my last training runs I had some twinges in my ankles and right knee which I felt was more to do with the fact that I need new running shoes than anything(!), but I wanted to be on the safe side and not go full throttle. It was important that I kept a comfortable pace. Originally I thought I would take a walking break every 5km, as per my race plan, but I ended up relaxing into a good pace and thought I would hold out until 10km to take a small walking break. I found the first 10km very comfortable, apart from having to be a bit quicker off the starting block than I normally would be. I took in the sights and sounds, tried to think about other things other than how much further we had to go, and felt rather proud of myself that I can still do these kind of distances. I spotted a runner near me who was going about the same pace as me, so I used her as my unofficial pacer - I figured if I could stay with her I would be doing all right!

The weather was beautiful - after expecting a freezing rainy day, we were all surprised to see the sun was out! In fact, it got quite hot around mile 4 and I could feel sweat stinging my eyes. I was going to grab a cup of water to dump over my head but thankfully I managed to blink it away. The run along Portobello Promenade by the ocean and getting a gust of cool air was most welcome!

The streets were lined with spectators - one family had a little orchestra going with saucepans and wooden spoons - and, as is the trademark Rock and Roll tradition, there was music at every mile. It varied between live bands and DJs, and the band playing 1950s rock and roll at Mile 3 were my favourite at the beginning. We all cheered and clapped as we went past the bands! There was sports drink and water at alternating miles, but I didn't need them as I had my own trusty bottle of Lucozade in my right hand the entire time and took sips when I needed it.

It was when we hit mile 7, back in the park and going up Queen's Drive around Arthur's Seat that I stopped for a brief walk. We had passed the 10km marker, had a brief downhill spell, and then it was all uphill after the gel station! I was trying to get my bag of sports beans open but the bugger just wouldn't rip with me on the move (!), so I stopped to get it open and then decided to walk up the hill and eat as many beans as I could while doing so. Once I felt I had enough sustenance, I started running again - still on an incline, but not as bad. My pacer had left me for dust now but I hoped I would be able to catch her again!

The first half of mile 8 was downhill! Whoo hoo! Everyone around me looked so relieved! I picked up the pace here and started scanning the crowd for Tom as we left the park and headed along Holyrood Road up to Cowgate and the main arteries of the city.....which was uphill again! I kept going but slowed the pace right down. I felt myself start to struggle a little. A technique I employ when I start thinking "I can't do this, when will this be over?!" is to start naming all the people in my life who I know believe in me and think I can do this. I just do this in my head and list as many people as I can think of. I know it sounds strange but once I'm on a roll it feels like this crowd of invisible supporters is somehow there with me, behind me, pushing me up the hill! And as I was doing this, approaching the mile 9 marker, I looked to my right and there was Tom! :)

We had a quick hug, he took my nearly empty Lucozade off me, gave me a new one and then I was on my way again!

Grassmarket was mostly downhill so a very welcome relief from the uphill last half of mile 8, and then just before the mile 10 marker it went uphill again. I stopped and had a short walk until the worst of the uphill was over!

Then we were in the Meadows, a part of Edinburgh I'd never seen, which is an expanse of beautiful parks. There were lots of spectators here cheering us on. I was glad I wore my VLM shirt from last year with my name on it - it's so nice when people call out your name! But I didn't see anyone else with their name on their shirt so I did feel a bit conspicuous! Right before the Mile 11 marker there was a fantastic drumming band with dancing girls, Notting Hill carnival style! The beat and rhythm was so motivating and you could see the faces of all the runners lighting up with smiles as they passed them. They were definitely my favourite act on the course, by far! And I caught up to my original pacer and passed her! Oh yeah!

Then, by stark contrast, we were on a very lonely stretch of road by the university where there was hardly anyone around. I was starting to feel very tired! I had to really push myself and kept repeating a mantra in my head. I'm a marathoner! Nothing can break me, nothing can beat me! I kept saying this to myself over and over. It did help. Running is such a mind game! And then it started to go uphill.....again!! I started to pass two runners, one of whom was flagging and saying how she didn't think she could go up another hill! Her companion, in a lovely Scottish accent, said "it's only uphill until we get to that corner, then it's all downhill! You've got ten seconds left!" and then he started counting them down as we approached the corner. It made me go faster, desperate for a stretch of downhill! Thanks mate, whoever you were!

This was when the race really turned around for me and I felt a surge of energy and strength. It definitely helped that it wasn't uphill any more (!) and I felt myself picking up the pace and lifting my legs a lot more rather than shuffling along. I don't know where it came from but I wasn't complaining. I started passing people with swift and careless abandon! Blink and you'd miss me!

I had forgotten what mile we were on and I was convinced it was mile 11 I would see at the next marker. I was delighted when it said 12 and that gave me even more adrenalin, knowing it was nearly over! I ploughed ahead, past Waverley station, up a slight hill and then along Market Street. A DJ was playing music around this spot and was cheering us on, saying "it's all downhill to the finish line!" Oh what bliss it was to hear that! I was starting to see runners who had finished and were walking back up Canongate with their medals around their necks, so I knew it wasn't far. "Keep going, not long now!" they called out to us. Canongate was a brilliant downhill run to the finish, I felt like my legs were independent of the rest of me at one point. I have never had a finish like this, it was fantastic!

Finally we got to the bottom, went around the Scottish Parliament building and past the Queen's Palace, and then it was a flat dash to the finish line. I slowed down slightly once the road was flat again, but once I saw the finish line I picked up the pace again. I felt so strong! The only thing that nearly caused a kerfuffle was the finish line announcer coming out on to the middle of the track to high five runners on their way to the finish line - I was the only one sprinting for it and I nearly ran into her! But apart from that I was so happy with the last mile and a half and the finish as a whole, it was amazing! I crossed the line and went to get my hard earned medal!

I had finished! Another half marathon, done and dusted!

My official time was 2:20:47 which wasn't my fastest time but I was very pleased with it nonetheless. If it had been a flat course I reckon I would have been a few minutes faster, but I was so stoked with how I ran the final mile and a half. Performance wise, I think it was my best ever.

Phone camera photo - hence the blurriness! ;)

After collecting my medal, I found Tom and we headed back to the hotel where I was able to have a quick shower before we checked out and headed back into town again to meet my old pal Shauna for a celebratory lunch at David Bann, Edinburgh's best vegetarian restaurant. We had a fabulous time!

A Scottish beer to celebrate my race:

It went straight to my head!!

And then we shared some starters:

Smoked and marinated tofu with mango chutney

Chunky rosemary and thyme chips with apple and tomato ketchup

Thai broccoli and tofu fritters

And then we all had a very hard time choosing what to have for main! As I was so in the mood for smoked tofu, I ended up having this rice dish with tofu, ginger, tomato, green vegetables and shiitake mushrooms:

So good! And I felt I had definitely earned a dessert, so:

While Tom and Shauna went for the chocolate souffle, I had the orange cake with ginger and lime ice-cream in a chocolate basket. I'm sure you can tell from the photo how delicious it was :) If you're going to be in Edinburgh soon, check out David Bann, even if you aren't vegetarian - you'll love it!

We so enjoyed the food and the company that lunch stretched on for many hours....but eventually Shauna went to get her train and Tom and I paid a visit to one of my favourite shops in Edinburgh, Demijohn, just before they closed. If you've ever been there I'm sure you'll remember it - Demijohn is a shop that sells predominantly British liqueurs, whiskies and spirits (as well as oils and vinegars) which you can taste and then have a bottle filled with your selection. They call themselves a "liquid deli" and that's a pretty apt description!

We came away with some ginger wine and organic rhubarb vodka. Oh my!

Finally we made our way back to Daphne who was waiting patiently in the hotel car park......and headed off on the motorway to Glasgow with my Rock and Roll medal still around my neck, glinting proudly in the twilight.

All in all, I really enjoyed this half - after some struggles midway through, I was proud I got through them and toughed it out. And I was so, so proud of my finish! I don't think I've ever felt so strong in my life. And running around a beautiful city like Edinburgh was so much fun. It wasn't quite the 13 mile long party I was expecting - there were lulls every now and then - but when you got to the livelier sections of the course the atmosphere was fantastic.

I'm not sure what my next challenge will be. After hearing about how well my old housemate Ironman did in, aptly, Ironman Melbourne a few weeks ago, I was toying with the idea of giving a half ironman a go...and then the idea of an ultra marathon came up.....so right now, I'm still undecided! So much for it being a quiet year, huh? ;)

But I've so enjoyed the last few weeks of really stepping up my training and getting some long runs under my belt. It felt fantastic to be that focused again and to know that even when I take a bit of a break, I can train my body to run those distances again. Apart from my ankles being a little sore, I have bounced back very quickly and headed out for a lazy 5k this morning, which went pretty well. I really want to keep going with the focused training I've been doing and not let it slide like I usually do after an event with nothing else on the horizon. I suppose I just have to decide on my next challenge and then hop to it!

What's your next challenge going to be? :)

Hope you have a happy weekend and thanks, as always, for reading! xx

monday mantra

2012-04-16T07:00:00.001+01:00

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ready to rock and roll!

2012-04-13T10:55:00.000+01:00

Me a few weeks ago, wearing my official Rock and Roll t-shirt!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, and those who are tapering and winding down before the London Marathon next weekend! I'll be in Edinburgh for the Rock and Roll half marathon.....maybe I'll see you there?!

I did my last run yesterday - 12.2km all up - and today feel like I need a good stretch, but that's about it! I was a bit worried midweek when I was doing a recovery/speed session and could feel my right ankle giving a bit. I think that is just because I need new shoes more than anything!

I'm really excited about this race, it's the longest distance I've done for nearly a year now. It's made me think about what I might do next too :)

Have a good weekend, and I'll catch you on the flipside!

food what i ate, the final instalment!: sunday

2012-04-09T18:37:00.000+01:00

And so my latest series of food what I ate is at an end! I didn't update yesterday as I felt a bit ill after the overindulgence that was Easter Sunday and had an early night :) So here is the final day, in all its glory:

Pre training: 1/2 bottle Lucozade Body Fuel in orange flavour, 8 almonds (I was feeling a bit empty, and cursing myself for not making more chia seed pudding!)

Training: The rest of the Lucozade, which I had diluted with water to make a full bottle again before I headed out.

The training today was 2 x 40 minute run with a walking/stretching break in between. I ended up covering 12.6km and it felt strong and comfortable. I feel very ready for next week's half!

After training: 1/2 bottle Lucozade Body Fuel in raspberry (I think that one is my favourite flavour...but it all tastes wonderful after a big run and you're very thirsty!)

Breakfast: I tried to have this quickly for a change!

I had 1 and a half of my hot cross buns I had made on Friday with dairy free spread, accompanied by another smoothie in a bowl. This one was frozen banana, frozen mixed berries, 1 scoop Good Hemp Chocolate Gym Shake and Kara chocolate coconut milk. I topped it with roasted almonds, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and chia seeds. So good!

Lunch: We had a delicious Easter Sunday roast dinner of Quorn Family Roast, roast rosemary potatoes, carrots, broccoli and a Bisto roasted winter vegetables gravy. I used to get their roast onion one but the winter vegetables one is much lighter and (I think) tastier!

To accompany lunch we shared a bottle of red wine, so I had about 2.5 glasses. That was more than enough, as it turned out!

Dessert: Rather than make an apple crumble with the granny smiths I had lying around in the fridge, I made Coach Julia's baked apples and served with some Swedish Glace vanilla vegan ice cream.

This is fast becoming my favourite way to use up apples for dessert - you just hollow them out with a corer, sprinkle with cinnamon, put a bit of water in the dish and off you go. The inside becomes so soft and delicious, it's just like eating apple pie. The skin goes a bit crispy but I quite like that :)

Chocolate: Yes, it gets a mention all of its own! Easter Bunny got me a few blocks of Lindt and I managed a few squares of the Coconut, then the Sea Salt. I was still sipping on my red wine from lunch. Then I felt a bit sick.....[despite the coconut chocolate being so delicious]....

Evening/dinner: Basically there's no pictures (!) but we went for a long walk in the fresh air and then after we came back we had a Crabbies ginger beer and a few pieces of chocolate, which kind of finished me off! I haven't been indulging much over the past few weeks since I stepped up training, and I've laid off alcohol since we got back from Oz (where we had perhaps 2 dry days in the entire six weeks!) so it doesn't take much to get me tipsy these days! Easter Sunday was my last day of indulgence before the half this coming Sunday so I wanted to make the most of it.....but I didn't have as much of a stomach for indulgence as I thought! So I had what I wanted but stopped when I felt I'd had enough. Which was very quickly ;)

For dinner, we had lunch leftovers. There were not many vegetables left so I made more broccoli and carrots, and some peas. It was just as delicious as lunch! I really enjoy having a vegetarian roast, it's always a nice treat. I enjoyed the rosemary potatoes in particular.

But I had well and truly eaten enough, so I picked at my leftovers, drank a stack of water and then it was a herbal tea and off to bed with my book!

I hope you had an abundance of all these things this Easter :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. It's back to training for me tomorrow, with a recovery and stamina session, then my final long run will be Thursday before heading off to Edinburgh. I'm really excited! It's been ages since I did a half marathon! About a month ago I was starting to think I had really lost my edge when it came to long distances but it's amazing how, with a bit of focus and sticking to my old training plan, it's come back. I've been thinking a lot about how to maintain the training I've been doing for the long term without another event immediately on the horizon. I've never managed it before, as I tend to train for an event and if I don't have another one to do straight away, I let it drop off a bit. Having this level of fitness back is a fantastic feeling though so I'm sure I can maintain it if I make it a priority.

I've enjoyed tracking my food and drink for you over the past week - although remembering to take decent photos of everything that passed my lips was a bit of a challenge at times! - and it forced me to try a few different things rather than show you the same lunch every day, ha ha. I mentioned that I sometimes don't quite get the balance right when it comes to reading my hunger signals after a long run, and tracking this week has shown me where I might improve things a little, particularly eating after a long run, as I've noticed I was very tired after them this week. I think eating something as soon as possible after coming back and then a protein-heavy meal afterwards is the key. Putting it into practice is another thing, as the shower tends to be my first port of call when coming back rather than the kitchen! ;)

So there you have it - food what I ate, the half marathon edition! I hope you liked it :)

I hope you have a great week ahead - it's hopefully going to be a lean, mean week of focus for me ahead of Sunday's race! Have a good one :)

monday mantra

2012-04-09T07:00:00.001+01:00

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food what i ate: saturday

2012-04-07T23:32:00.000+01:00

On waking: A cup of T2 Melbourne Breakfast tea with soy milk, in bed :) That's our Saturday tradition. We ration our Melbourne Breakfast and the way to make it last is to enjoy it once a week!

Breakfast: Avocado on pumpkin and sunflower seed toast with salt and pepper, and a smoothie made with frozen banana, frozen berries, chia seeds and oat milk. Fruity!

Snack: An apple, cinnamon and cranberry hot cross bun from yesterday, with some dairy free spread, and another cup of Melbourne Breakfast.

Lunch: We were heading out for the afternoon and wanted something quick and easy, so just reheated last night's "pumpkin and pesto" lasagne. I think it tasted even nicer the next day, which is often the way isn't it? :)

Snack: We did a bit of shopping and came across these Pop Chips. I had heard other bloggers mention them recently and being curious, and swayed by the fact they were on special, we got a bag for the car journey home. They were more like rice crackers (or prawn crackers even) than crisps to me and even though we ate most of them (!) they weren't really my cup of tea. Oh well, they filled a gap!

Tea time: A mug of Twinings Lady Grey with soy milk when we got in. Just what I needed, I felt very weary this afternoon for some reason. Pre-empting tomorrow's training, perhaps?!

Dinner: I made a portobello mushroom stuffed with Thursday's leftover risotto, which I baked alongside some roast potatoes (I make them the way my good friend the GP makes them - cook the potatoes in water on the stove until fluffy and then roast for about 20 minutes, yum!) and then made another salad of chicory, mixed leaves, raw fennel, sunflower seeds and vinaigrette. I topped my baked mushroom with some of Leonie's beetroot and chilli chutney.

Rice and potatoes in one meal - there's carb loading with a vengeance :)

Dessert: The last 1/2 cup of my chia seed pudding. Topped with my now classic combination of frozen raspberries, fresh strawberries, a scoop of Swedish Glace vanilla, and for an Easter treat, a square of Lindt Dark with a touch of Sea Salt.

This has been my favourite food discovery lately! So yum! Here's the recipe written out properly for you:

Chocolate coconut chia seed pudding
Makes 3 decent serves

1/2 cup chia seeds
1 1/2 cups chocolate coconut milk OR plain coconut milk with some cacao powder mixed in
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Dash of vanilla extract

Place the chia seeds in a bowl. Add the coconut milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir to combine and make sure the seeds are submerged under the liquid. You might have to stir it, then come back in a few minutes and stir it again as they tend to rise to the top at first.

Leave at room temperature for about 30 minutes if you want to eat it straight away, or put in the fridge overnight. It keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.....if it lasts that long!!

You can eat the pudding as is, unadorned, as a snack before exercise or you can dress it up with berries, vanilla ice cream or yoghurt, or some grated dark chocolate for a decadent but still good for you dessert.

****

See you tomorrow for Easter Sunday eats....where there will no doubt be lots of chocolate :)
Happy Easter!

food what i ate: friday

2012-04-06T23:28:00.001+01:00

Happy Friday!

We started the day with a much needed sleep in and as soon as I was up and dressed, I had a little pre fuel for my long run:

Pre training: 1/2 bottle of Lucozade Body Fuel in orange flavour, plus about 8 spoonfuls of the chia seed pudding I had made last night but never got around to eating!

It's not a great picture of the pudding, I know (it looks like mud...or worse!) but it was actually really nice - not too sweet - and easy to eat just before a run. I was curious to see whether it would be good fuel for me.

I took the rest of the bottle of Lucozade with me on the run, I had a feeling I would need it!

Training: 15 minutes warm up run, 3 minutes stretching and then 8 x 1km slow/1km medium. All up I did 18.1km!!

I did the same training regime last Friday and I thought I had pulled a muscle around 12km so found the last 6km very difficult. This week it was a bit easier, although 6km to 9km is all uphill! I turned around when I hit 9km, so 9km to 12km was a bit of a breeze :) All up, I was 4 minutes faster than last Friday, covering the same distance. Stoked!! Chia seed pudding for the win!

But I ran out of Lucozade when I still had 5km to go :( Agony!

After training and during ice bath (!): Another bottle of Lucozade Body Fuel, raspberry flavour this time!

Brunch: Omelette made with 2 organic local eggs, mushrooms and spinach; 2 pieces of sunflower and pumpkin seed toast; organic baked beans. Also had a coffee with soy milk (not pictured).

I have got to get better at eating something quickly when I come in from a long run. By the time I had ice bathed, showered, dressed, dried my hair, cooked this and sat down to eat it a good hour had passed - no wonder I was feeling a bit light headed!

Snack 1: With it being Good Friday and all, I made some hot cross buns. I made them with some apple and cinnamon bread flour (a brand called Wessex Mill) I found in a local farm shop a couple of weeks ago. Swapping traditional raisins for my favourite dried cranberries and upping the cinnamon factor quite a bit, these were delicious. The flour and water crosses were a bit dodgy in the end (!) and I had planned to glaze them before putting them in the oven but forgot! If I made them again I would definitely glaze them. But they were delicious anyway, with a nice layer of dairy free spread on top :)

Here's how I made them:

Apple, cinnamon and cranberry hot cross buns

Made 9 rather nice sized buns

500g apple cinnamon bread flour (or you could use normal bread flour and put some pieces of dried apple in with the cranberries)

2.5 teaspoons dried yeast

1.5 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons butter or dairy free spread

280-320ml water

1 cup dried cranberries

Extra cinnamon and mixed spice, as much as you want

For the crosses, 1/2 cup plain flour and water as needed (about 5 tablespoons)

Put the ingredients in your bread maker and put on the "raisin dough" setting. Press button and go to bed. Or, mix all the dough ingredients together thoroughly, knead for about 10 minutes, then rest in a bowl for 2 hours until doubled in size. Then shape into buns and follow the rest of the instructions. Apart from the 18km run, unless you really want to :)

In the morning, get the dough out of the breadmaker, add extra flour if "knead" be (!) and then shape into desired size buns. Place them close together in a cake pan that you've sprayed with cooking spray.

Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise while you go on an 18km run (approx 2 hours).

Return and make a thick paste with plain flour and water. Put mixture into a plastic bag, gathering it all in one corner. Snip a small hole in the corner. Pipe crosses on to the buns. Try to do it a bit more elegantly than this :P [my cross mixture was too wet! Whoops!]

Place in a pre heated 180 C oven for 30 minutes or until golden and they sound hollow when tapped. I would recommend making a glaze of water and caster sugar to brush over them while they're still warm.

Allow to cool slightly, but not too long. A hot cross bun warm from the oven is one of life's great joys :)

I originally made a cup of rose flavoured tea to go with my bun, but I think I left the bag in too long and it was too strong! So I made myself a mug of Twinings Lady Grey with soy milk instead. It's been all about Earl Grey and his various relations this week :D You can get all the Earl Greys I've mentioned (plus many more delicious teas) at the Twining's Tea Shop online or find out more on their Facebook page, where you can also get some free samples if you "like" their page. Perfect if you're a tea lover like me :)

Snack 2: No picture, as it was the same as Snack 1!

Dinner: I had a butternut squash and some fresh lasagne sheets to use up, so I made a "pumpkin and pesto" lasagne. The layers were made up of tomato passata, the butternut squash and some carrots steamed until tender and mashed, last night's parsley and walnut pesto, and some garlic and herb Tofutti. The final layer was passata and then it was baked in a hot oven for half an hour and scattered with toasted sunflower seeds and fresh parsley before serving.

If you wanted to use cheese in this, you could use ricotta or a log of goat's cheese in place of the Tofutti - that would be delicious! I made a salad of mixed leaves, beetroot, chicory and fennel dressed with vinaigrette to go alongside.

All together now:

Liquid refreshment was once again in the form of Crabbies! If we had had some white wine in the house I might have had a glass of that, but we only have reds in the rack at the moment which I wasn't in the mood for.

Dessert: Finally I had some chia seed pudding! It was made the same way I described the other day, but I doubled the recipe! I put about 1/4 of a cup of pudding in a bowl with a scoop of Swedish Glace vanilla, some crushed frozen raspberries and sliced fresh strawberries.

It's a lot thicker when it's been in the fridge for 24 hours. I like it both ways :)

I'll probably have a herbal tea to finish off things - we're out of chamomile so I might have to dip into a box of fennel/mint/basil that I brought back from India last year. I might also have another hot cross bun!

Reflections: The run was very good - arduous but good - but for the rest of the day I was very tired and didn't do a great deal! I was very satisfied by brunch but suspect I should have had a protein shake with it too. I didn't have much of an appetite over the afternoon but was very tired, so maybe if I had eaten a bit more I wouldn't have been as tired. But I have trained myself over the years to only eat when hungry so it's a constant balancing act really, making sure that I've eaten enough to compensate for the long run but also not using it as an excuse to eat everything in sight either. When you're training for a big event, do you find this hard to balance?

I really enjoyed today's food, especially dinner, considering it was an improvisation :) And those hot cross buns were good too. It was a rather successful day for making up recipes as I went along!

Hope you're enjoying your Easter weekend so far :)

food what i ate: thursday

2012-04-05T23:28:00.000+01:00

I can't believe Thursday has come and gone already.....and tomorrow is Good Friday! Has Easter crept up on everyone else this year?! I have to get my hot cross bun dough rising before I go to bed so I had better make this quick ;)

Today was a rest day so there was no training to battle through this morning, but it was a bit of rushed day because I had a few errands to run before everything shuts for Easter tomorrow. Unfortunately the rest of the town had the same idea :P

Breakfast: Smoothie in a bowl! Even though it was still cold, I really felt like this. I'm loving these thick luscious smoothies at the moment!

This was frozen banana, frozen mixed summer berries, a bit of spinach, 1 scoop Good Hemp Chocolate Gym Shake protein powder and a splash of Kara chocolate coconut milk. I topped it with fresh strawberries, a handful of Dorset Cereals Super High Fibre muesli, chia seeds and sunflower seeds.

No tea this morning, just water. I kept boiling the kettle, but then kept forgetting to make anything :P

Snack: Before I headed out on my walk into town, I had this little bowl of goodies.

This is a handful of roasted almonds, a handful of dried cranberries, and 1 piece of Lindt Dark with a touch of Sea Salt chocolate. The little glass ramekin is from a Gu chocolate pudding that we sometimes used to buy - they are very handy for putting a snack for one in :)

Lunch: After a long walk around town, and back home, I was just in the mood for something quick and easy so I just heated up last night's leftover laksa. I originally had in mind something a bit more interesting but just wanted to eat something and get on with my afternoon as I'd been a lot longer in town than I thought I would be!

The laksa was just as yummy the next day. I added fresh coriander and just a bit of boiling water to the pan as it heated up, as the noodles had absorbed a lot of the broth overnight.

Afternoon snack: I had a bit of a moment this afternoon where I just wanted chocolate. As in, heaps of it. Just felt so compelled to lay my hands on and eat every skerrick of chocolate I had in the house. I'm not really sure why - probably just thinking about things too much! Fortunately, I took a few seconds to think about this and decided what I actually wanted was a warm sweet drink. So I made another chocolate coconut chai latte (I'm out of Drink Me Chai now, boo!) using the biggest mug I could find:

You can see I've put my iPod shuffle there for size comparison! This is one of my favourite mugs actually, bought when I first moved to London from a Starbucks on the fringe of Notting Hill where I was dossing with a friend at the time. Ah, memories :) But I don't use this mug very often because it does make rather a lot of tea/chai/whatever you're drinking. It's a mug I pull out when I just want to drink something nice, read a good book and escape for a little while.

The longing for chocolate hadn't quite gone away though. So I opened a packet of these:

It's always dangerous when you see these on special for £1 each :) And I realise these aren't dairy free, despite us trying to eat that way for the time being, but as I said in a comment on one of the other posts, we all have to draw our lines somewhere. The motive behind going dairy free, or as near to it as possible, was to give my body a bit of a detox after the various overindulgences of Australia (!) and also to wean myself off the need to have cheese at nearly every meal. I'm not obsessive about avoiding it all together. But cutting back the way we have has definitely been beneficial so that's why we're sticking with it for the time being. And it's really nice to have these sorts of things every now and then and truly feel like they are a treat, as the definition of a treat is something you don't have very often :)

We actually used to have a packet of these constantly on rotation when we lived in London, as they're Tom's favourites. I prefer HobNobs to digestives, and nothing has ever quite compared to my beloved Mint Slices, but these are pretty wonderful. Particularly on a cold afternoon with a warm drink.

I put this little pile of 4 next to me while I read. I ate 2 and then felt a bit sick, bearing in mind I still had my giant mug of chai to get through. So I put the other 2 back. Tom ate them, and more besides, when he got home! ;)

Dinner: To hopefully help me get through tomorrow's long run, I decided on risotto for tonight's dinner. A sufficient amount of time had passed since my giant mug of chai and biscuits, so I was quite hungry for this. Onion, garlic, courgette, red pepper and mushrooms were softened in a pan, then I added arborio rice and stock. In the meantime, I roasted some chunks of butternut squash with rosemary in the oven, and made a delicious parsley and walnut pesto. When the rice was ready, I stirred a few tablespoons of the pesto through and then put the squash chunks and a little more pesto on top.

Rather delicious, if I do say so myself! I hadn't had risotto for ages. It's such a lovely comforting dish. And the pesto made another 3 jars which I'll be using in tomorrow nights dinner too :)

I made another chia pudding for dessert but ended up spending an hour on the phone after dinner, so now that it's so late I've decided to skip dessert. But I think I might have a few spoonfuls of it in the morning, as it's soft and easily digested, before I head out for the long run. We'll see how that goes!!

We're having a rather sedate Easter weekend as the following weekend is the big road trip to Edinburgh for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon!! So apart from my training and a little day trip to one of our favourite nearby towns, I think we're going to lay pretty low and veg out. What are you getting up to?

Hope you have a happy and safe Easter, wherever you may be. I hope my hot cross bun experiment goes well....stay tuned for that report tomorrow!! :)

food what i ate: wednesday

2012-04-04T22:47:00.000+01:00

Happy Wednesday!

Today I was up bright and early but felt a bit sick and yucky before heading out for my training. It didn't help that it had dropped to 4 degrees outside!!

Pre training: a mouthful of raspberry Lucozade Body Fuel and the final stick of my Darrell Lea liquorice (unpictured)

During training: the rest of the Lucozade Body Fuel - keys in one hand, bottle in the other!

Once I adjusted to the cold, training wasn't too hard - the plan said 5 x 15 minutes of running in progression, which means you start slow and progressively get faster so by 14 minutes you should be going pretty fast. Mostly I just tried to keep moving to keep warm (!) and sped up intermittently and by the fourth set I felt pretty good. I was a bit annoyed that the GPS had stuffed up and it only recorded 6.38km for the session! It's quite demoralising to see that on your screen when you've slogged it out, even though you know what distance you've really done :P It was actually 11km that I covered in total. Not a bad effort.

Breakfast: I needed something warm after being out there in the cold! I had scrambled eggs with spinach and 1/2 a small avocado, on pumpkin and sunflower seed toast, washed down with a big mug of Twinings Earl Grey tea.

This was very yummy, the avocado really worked well with it. And, unlike my last three meals, I finished the whole thing! Eggs are my favourite breakfast because they keep me full for hours.

I had another cup of Earl Grey tea after breakfast before getting down to work.

Lunch: Full from breakfast and putting my head down to some serious work, I didn't realise how late it was! I threw this together pretty quickly.

An open sandwich of pumpkin and sunflower seed bread, some homemade hummus from yesterday, veggie burger, salad, the rest of the avocado and some sweet chilli sauce.

Followed by two squares of my favourite chocolate:

Afternoon snack: Well, drink! A chocolate coconut chai latte with DrinkMe Chai spiced powder, a splash of Kara chocolate coconut milk and boiling water.

Dinner: Spicy, protein packed laksa. Made with garlic, ginger, chilli, fresh coriander, vegetable stock, coconut milk, curry paste, Quorn fillets, noodles and loads of fresh veggies.

Did you know that coconut milk is a good source of medium-chain triglycerides, which are fats that are more easily converted to energy, which is perfect for runners! (I learned that today, thanks to Women's Running). That's good, because I had lots of coconut milk today!

As tomorrow is a rest day, a Crabbie's ginger beer was the perfect partner for the spicy laksa :)

Dessert: My appetite is back to normal today (!) so I made dessert! It seems to be the day of coconut milk because I made a bowl of chocolate coconut chia seed pudding with 1/4 cup chia seeds, 3/4 cup of the chocolate coconut milk, a pinch of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla extract. Once it was set, I put a spoonful of Swedish Glace vanilla, 2 fresh strawberries and a handful of frozen berries on top.

When you soak chia seeds in liquid they become soft and jelly-like, like tapioca. The result is a rather moreish pudding which is also very, very good for you. Chia is the richest plant source of omega 3s and also high in protein, magnesium and calcium. I've got to say it was the most delicious bowl of omega 3 I've had for a long time :) I'll definitely make this pudding again. The chocolate coconut milk was a great liquid to use but I'd be curious to try other flavours with almond or hazelnut milk too. You can also just use water to soak the seeds in so they become gelatinous. And it didn't take long, about half an hour for it to get nice and thick and pudding-like! Have you tried chia seed pudding before? What did you think?

Had about 4 pints of water today, and will have a Twinings Chamomile and Spearmint tea before heading to bed.

Reflections: A much more satisfying day than yesterday food wise, I think. I might have overdone it on the coconut milk but it wasn't a conscious thing ;)

When I woke up I felt a bit off, like I hadn't eaten enough, and wasn't sure if running was even a good idea but when you've been doing this for a while you know that once you've had some Lucozade and got out the door you'll be fine...which I was. The longer you do this, the fewer excuses you have too :P

Lunch was fine but a bit boring, so I'll try and think of something a bit more exciting to have tomorrow! The highlight of the day was definitely that pudding though. Oh my! What have I started?!

See you all tomorrow :)