Skinny Latte Strikes Back

breaking news!

2015-03-25T21:15:00.000+00:00

Just in case any one is still checking in here....please go to philippamoore.net for a very special announcement! xx

skinny latte has struck back

2014-02-02T16:51:00.000+00:00

Skinny Latte has struck back! But Philippa Moore LIVES!

I may have brought this era in my online life to a close but I'm not disappearing - I hope you'll come and visit me at my new web site, philippamoore.net. This is where I'll be blogging from now on - when the mood takes me - about life, about the work I'm doing and the things that interest me and get me fired up.

I'm so excited about what the future holds, guys. This is a good thing and it's been a long time coming. So I hope you’ll join me as I start the next chapter.

To sign off, I extend my deepest gratitude to you, my friends, who've been reading all along the way. Thank you for your kind supportive words, your friendship and the sense of community you've given me in this space. It has made all of this possible and has meant more to me than you'll ever know.

Thank you for being such a special part of this journey. While there's been a few bumps and wrong turns, I'm glad the road led me here.

Whatever else you may have taken away from SLSB over the years, I hope you took this - that no matter what goals you want to achieve in your life, with a bit of hard work and self belief, you actually can do anything. Never give up. I believe in you.

Thank you for believing in me.

See you over at philippamoore.net!

xx

berry beetroot bliss

2014-01-25T16:35:00.000+00:00

You might be thinking...beetroot in a smoothie?! I know, me too, at first. I thought it might taste like borscht gone wrong but it tastes so delicious! Beetroot is naturally very sweet and is the perfect partner for tart berries. It tastes so....fresh, I guess is the word I'm looking for. And earthy, sweet, piquant and creamy.....all in one!

The little packs of 4-5 vacuum-packed cooked beetroot in their own juice you can get in the supermarket are ideal for this smoothie. It goes without saying that using beetroot in vinegar would be most unpleasant so double check the label!

You can add a teaspoon of coconut oil or almond butter for extra creaminess and fill factor - I put coconut oil in the pictured smoothie and it was delicious.

Berry beetroot bliss

Makes 1 pint, with a top-up :)

1 cup frozen mixed berries

1 large or 2 small cooked vacuum-packed beetroot

1 3/4 cups Alpro unsweetened almond milk

Sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)

1 teaspoon of coconut oil or almond butter (optional)

Place everything in a high speed blender and whizz until a perfect lurid bright pink.

Drink while listening to Crowded House, nibbling on some raw almonds and watching the rain.

banana cacao almond smoothie

2014-01-24T08:00:00.000+00:00

This one has a nutty, chocolate-milkshake vibe about it...but it tastes so healthy!

Banana cacao almond smoothie
Makes 1 pint

1 small frozen banana
1 large handful of kale
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups Alpro unsweetened almond milk

You could also add some vanilla flavoured protein powder if you want more fill factor.

Try and use a banana that has just ripened – I tend to avoid bananas that are overripe due to the increased sugar concentration.

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Then drink!

apple cinnamon green smoothie

2014-01-22T08:00:00.000+00:00

This is a divine green smoothie - tastes a bit like an apple Danish! And don't worry, you'll never taste the spinach!

Apple cinnamon green smoothie
Makes 1 pint

1 large eating apple (I used a Cox)
1 large handful baby spinach
A tiny piece of fresh ginger, peeled (optional)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon (or slightly less if you just want a hint, but I am a cinnamon fiend)
1 2/3 cups Alpro unsweetened almond milk

Blend the lot in a blender until smooth and green! Easy and delicious.

a week of smoothies: the alpro AM challenge

2014-01-20T08:00:00.000+00:00

This week I'm taking part in Alpro's ‘Almond Mornings’ Campaign, which is all about encouraging people to start their day with a healthy and delicious breakfast over the winter months. As part of the campaign, they're running a seven-day Alpro AM Challenge (#AlproAM on Twitter), which involves coming up with seven delicious smoothies using their unsweetened almond milk. I will be blogging my favourite recipes this week and today I’m kick-starting the campaign with what I call my Go To Smoothie - so called because it's easy to make at 6:30am when I need to run out the door to get my train!

To give you a bit more information* on unsweetened almond milk, it:

Contains just 26 calories per 200ml serving
Tastes absolutely divine
Is plant based and dairy free, making it ideal for vegans and those with lactose intolerances
Contains vitamins B2, B12, D and E as well as calcium (a 200ml serving provides 30 per cent of your RDA)
Is free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, which is always a bonus :)

The only slight downside to almond milk, and other non-dairy milks in general, is that in comparison to cow’s milk they are lower in protein....but if you’re getting enough protein from elsewhere in your diet (like lentils, yoghurt, quinoa, nuts) then this shouldn’t be an issue.

* nutritional info from dietician Nichola Whitehead of Nic's Nutrition - check her out!

Here's the Go To smoothie! This is my absolute favourite smoothie at the moment - low in sugar and high in all the good stuff, and easy to make while half asleep and then to transport on one's commute :)

Go To Smoothie
Makes 1 pint

1 cup mixed frozen berries
1 large handful of baby spinach
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or a little more if you like cinnamon)
1 scoop protein powder or chia seeds (optional)
1 2/3 cups Alpro unsweetened almond milk

Place all ingredients in a blender and blitz until thoroughly combined. Drink and enjoy!

crackers and nuts

2014-01-19T18:31:00.000+00:00

How is it over halfway through January already?! This is insane! Happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful holiday break, and that it was a time of renewal, fun and relaxation with your loved ones. I hope 2014 has started well for you all.

The main reason for this post is to (belatedly) share my rather triumphant Christmas dinner! I was in charge of the vegetarian main course on Christmas Day (there were four vegetarians, outnumbering the meat eaters for a change!) which was my own invention of a nut roast, spinach, red pepper and taleggio cheese stuffed pie shaped like a Christmas cracker. There have been numerous calls on Facebook for me to reveal the recipe, so here it is! While it's a lovely festive recipe, it's also a wonderful dish to serve any time of the year when you're having a traditional roast dinner and have some vegetarian guests. It's a little fiddly but well worth it. It was absolutely out of this world.

The Absolutely Nuts Christmas Cracker

Serves 6 generously

2 x 320g sheets ready made puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol)

Nut roast filling:

Olive oil

200g (1 large bag) walnut pieces

100g (half a large bag) whole almonds

200g other mixed nuts (I used pinenuts and pecans)

1 cup sunflower seeds

2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

2 teaspoons mixed spice

Roughly 1½ cups breadcrumbs (add more if too wet)

1 egg

1 400g can chopped tomatoes, drained

2 large handfuls fresh flat leaf parsley

2 teaspoons Marmite

Juice of ½ a lemon

A little bit of grated strong Cheddar cheese (I like Davidstow, from Cornwall)

¾ of a medium red onion

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Spinach filling:

1 x 240g bag baby spinach

Freshly ground nutmeg

Organic butter or olive oil

1 garlic clove (optional)

Other fillings:

1 jar roasted red peppers (I used Cooks & Co brand)

200g taleggio cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan on medium to high heat. Once the pan is hot, toast the nuts, seeds and spices, tossing everything to coat well, until fragrant and starting to turn golden. Do not let it burn. Let the mixture cool slightly.

Add the cooled nuts and spices to the bowl of a food processor. Add all other nut roast ingredients. Blitz until thoroughly combined, or combined to your liking (it can be nice if left a little chunky). You might need to stop and scrape it down a few times. If it's too wet, add more breadcrumbs. If it's too dry, add a little water or even a dash of cooking wine.

Scoop out the nut roast mixture and set aside. You can make it a few days in advance - keep it in an airtight container in the fridge and bring out when you need it. Any leftover nut roast mixture can be used to make "meat"balls, "meat" loaf - anything you'd normally use vegetarian mince for. It's fantastic!

For the spinach filling, simply saute the spinach leaves in butter or olive oil (I would normally use cooking spray, but hey - this is for a special occasion!) and grate some fresh nutmeg over the top as you cook. You can add the garlic clove as well for extra flavour and then discard. Season to taste and set aside to cool.

If you have a baby in the house, as I did at Christmas, don't add salt to the spinach and put some of it aside for baby's Christmas dinner. My niece loved it mixed with some potato!

Drain the red peppers, slice up the taleggio cheese and set both aside.

Assemble your two sheets of ready made pastry. Cut one in half. Set aside one half for decorations and patch the other half to the other sheet. Roll it together with a rolling pin. You don't want the pastry too thin but you want roughly a 50cm long piece of pastry with enough at the sides to bunch up like the ends of a cracker. So remember to leave a roughly 5cm gap at each end when putting the filling on.

Now the fun starts!

I usually put the rolled out sheet of pastry on to a greased baking tray at this stage. Saves the stress of having to transfer the completed cracker afterwards! You can also make individual crackers but I think there's something rather special about bringing a giant one to the table and carving it.

So, put your rolled out pastry sheet on the baking tray. Then place a layer of sauteed spinach first, through the middle of the sheet, leaving 5cm on either side as stated. The filling should be a thick log roughly about 35cm long and 6cm wide smack bang in the middle of your pastry sheet (I hope this makes sense - this is why I'm not a cookery writer!)

Next, pile the nut roast mixture on top of the spinach. Then place a layer of taleggio cheese slices. Finally, cover the entire filling in a wrap of roasted red pepper. You'll find some of the whole peppers make a very convenient casing for the ends of the filling, like so:

This is a smaller one I made to "audition" the recipe for Christmas day!

Then, finally, you carefully fold and seal the pastry around the filling - bearing in mind you want it to look like a Christmas cracker! - by folding over the middle first and then pinching the ends together in little bunches. You can then have fun (and disguise the folds and seals and cracks) by getting out some biscuit cutters and making decorations for your cracker. I had an absolute ball, as you can see below:

Once you're happy with your decorations, brush the pastry with beaten egg and place in a hot oven (200 C) for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. I would check it after half an hour, depending on your oven.

Let it cool slightly before carving and serve with all the traditional Christmas dinner fixins' - in our case it was roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, sprouts, bread sauce and vegetarian gravy.

I don't have the words for how delicious this is. Nutty, spicy, rich, earthy, cheesy, buttery, sweet and savoury all in one. If you want to spoil the vegetarians in your life at a special dinner, this is the dish! Let me know if you try it.

****

Anyway, it's onwards and upwards in these parts for 2014 so far. Lots of changes, lots of exciting things ahead. A lot has been going on behind the scenes and I will reveal all soon!

However, this week I am continuing the nutty theme by taking part in Alpro's Almond Mornings smoothie challenge, so stay tuned for some more delicious recipes!

Have a great week :)

and so this is christmas.....

2013-12-24T07:27:00.000+00:00

This is my holiday wish for you, my friends, no matter what or how you celebrate:

Blessings and joy to you all this season xx

another winter salad

2013-12-13T13:46:00.000+00:00

"You post a lot of salad recipes," observed a colleague the other day. And so the tradition continues :)

I've made this salad nearly every weekend for the last month as it makes heaps and heaps, more than enough to keep two people of healthy appetite going through the week for their workaday lunch. That and it's easy to make, rather addictive and bizarrely comforting to eat.

The beauty of it is that you can, in theory, use any grain, vegetables and protein you wish but this particular combination is stellar. And while it might seem complicated to prepare, it really isn't - two components practically cook themselves and the only thing that requires a bit more attention is the cooking of the haloumi. For the ultimate lazy option you can put the cubes in with the squash but that resulted in rather crispy haloumi so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have better timekeeping skills than myself!

It's very easy to give in to the cravings for red wine and starchy comfort foods this time of year when it's bloody freezing and dark outside - not to mention all the Christmas parties where there's booze and mince pies aplenty - and this is a wonderful quick meal to have in the fridge on standby when you need a light meal to balance out all the seasonal indulgences.

As with all my recipes, it's more an idea than anything to be followed to the absolute letter - use what combinations you enjoy, what you need to use up, and if you have any other dressings you'd like to use other than plain old olive oil and lemon juice, go for it!

Enjoy!

Barley, wild rice, butternut squash and haloumi salad

Makes heaps and heaps

1 cup wild rice (uncooked)

1 cup pearl barley (uncooked)

1 butternut squash, cubed

A few cloves of garlic

Fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, any earthy herbs you have lying around (I like rosemary)

Dried chilli flakes (optional)

Olive oil

1 x 200g block haloumi cheese

Cooking spray

Lemon juice

NB: Vegans could add avocado, toasted nuts or grilled marinated tofu in place of the haloumi.

1 x 85g bag of watercress

6 radishes, thinly sliced

1 small bulb of fennel, thinly sliced

1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), thinly sliced into strips

Fresh parsley, as much as you like, chopped

Fresh dill, as much as you like, chopped (including the stalks)

Sunflower seeds, as much as you like

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

1 large lemon

Hummus to serve, if desired

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Cook the barley and wild rice according to packet instructions. Or, if you're me, put both grains in your rice cooker with enough water, flick the switch to cook and get on with the rest! Once cooked, allow the grains to cool slightly. I usually spread the cooked grains out on a baking tray. They don't have to be completely cold but shouldn't be boiling hot either.

Either coat a baking tray with cooking spray or drizzle a little olive oil in it and tilt it around to coat the bottom. Add the cubes of butternut squash, peeled garlic cloves, herbs, chilli flakes if using, salt and pepper, and drizzle a little more oil on the top if desired. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the cubes are golden and cooked through. Set aside.

Cut the block of haloumi into bite-sized cubes, similar to the squash. Heat a non-stick pan on the stove on medium-high heat, coat with cooking spray and fry the haloumi cubes until golden brown all over. Put on a plate or in a bowl and squeeze some lemon juice over the top. Set aside.

In a giant bowl (I use one of those big biscuit-coloured earthenware mixing bowls), combine the cooled grains, the roasted squash (remove the rosemary but pour the oil in with the squash, it's yummy), the browned haloumi cubes, watercress, radishes, fennel, pepper strips, chopped herbs and sunflower seeds. Mix thoroughly together either with clean hands or with two salad scoops. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle a little more olive oil, grate in a little lemon zest from the fresh lemon and squeeze in some lemon juice to taste. Then toss the salad again.

Serve in bowls with a dollop of hummus on top, if desired.

I think it's even nicer a day or two later. Leftovers keep well in the fridge for up to a week...if they last that long!

to thine own self - reverb 13, day 7

2013-12-07T12:44:00.000+00:00

Joining in with #reverb13 on katmcnally.com - Please post your favourite picture of yourself from 2013, self-portrait or otherwise!

This is probably my favourite self-taken picture of me this year....well, it's the most flattering in any case...I don't tend to take brilliant pictures of myself ;) It was in June, in a changing room in Melbourne. Tom had no interest in browsing through Quick Brown Fox with me so he had gone back to the hotel room for a lie-down. I sent him this picture to ask for his opinion on the dress, which I duly bought.

But this was taken by the professional photographer at my sister's wedding a few days earlier and I like this one too:

Photo by Alexandra Grimshaw

Man I wish it were easy to recreate that hairstyle at 6:30am before I head out the door!

Do you have a favourite picture taken of yourself this year? Why not share it and join in the reverb fun? :)

reverb 13

2013-12-02T18:56:00.000+00:00

Despite the madness of the holiday season, December is a great time to take stock of your year and what you're hoping for in the next. My friend Kat is hosting a writing challenge over at her web site to encourage people to reflect on these very things. It's called Reverb!

Reverb is a reflective writing challenge held in December every year. It provides a sacred space for participants to celebrate the successes and honour the challenges of the year that’s passing, as well as plant the seeds for a rich and rewarding new year.

Reverb was started by Gwen Bell in 2009 as a writing challenge for bloggers to consider the reverberations they sent out into the universe. Gwen passed the challenge on to individuals to host in 2011 and a number of bloggers around the world have since taken up the baton. This makes for a pretty exciting and festive time. Find out more over at Kat's official Reverb13 page.

You can sign up to get the reverb prompts by email each day between now and 21 December. There's even one written by me so keep an eye out for it!

I'm doing all the reverb reflections in my private journal - I'm finding them great starting points for my Morning Pages - but if you want to share your thoughts publicly, Kat also has a linkup on her web site each day where you can share a link to each reverb response on your own blog.

I hope you'll join us!

amazing face: my daily skincare essentials

2013-11-18T18:35:00.000+00:00

I don't know about you guys but I love posts like this! I always enjoy hearing about what products other people use, particularly if they look healthy and glowing and have lovely skin...I'm always keen to hear other people's secrets! I was tagged by a friend on instagram to share my daily beauty essentials and obviously there's only so much detail you can go into on there (!) so I thought I'd share on here. Lucky you :)

I can't remember if I've ever mentioned on here in any great detail but for the longest time, pretty much from my late teens to my late twenties, I didn't really have a skincare regime at all other than avoiding pretty much all oils and moisturisers because my skin broke out very easily, and then avoiding anything that would sting or irritate when my skin became incredibly sensitive while I was on Roaccutane in 2005-06.

Roaccutane is a very strong treatment for acne and has been a bit controversial over the years because of the adverse side effects. I got the standard side effects - dry lips, dry skin, eyesight affected at night - but very little else. It was one of the best things I ever did.

Anyway, prior to being cured of acne, my beauty regime was limited to say the least because there was very little that wouldn't aggravate my skin. Cetaphil (a very light cleanser) and sunscreen was the extent of my skincare, for the longest time. But once I was off the medication and "cured", all of a sudden...I could use moisturiser! I could wear foundation! I could enjoy face masks! Such joys I no longer had to miss out on.

Of course, moving to a new hemisphere where the winters are far more brutal but by contrast the summers are not as fierce, changed the skincare regime too. All of a sudden I needed moisturiser.

So, this is the extent of my skincare regime these days:

Cleansing

I use a gentle cream cleanser on my face - apparently after age 30 you should use cream cleansers, rather than gel cleansers, interestingly! - and I alternate between Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish and Sukin's Cream Cleanser, pictured. I love both of them, not just because they smell beautiful (Sukin has a slight edge over Liz Earle, it does smell really lovely) but because they remove make-up while cleansing too. Nothing annoys me more than when I've just washed my face, I look in the mirror and see panda eyes looking back.

I discovered Sukin on a trip back to Australia in May this year - I bought the rosehip oil (see later) which had a sample of the cleanser with it. It was a nice handy travel size so I started using it and ended up loving it so much I bought more to take home. Turns out it's available in the UK now too! Yay!

Toning

Toning is something relatively new to my regime - I'd always written it off as an unnecessary step. But a few weeks ago, a friend from Oz was visiting and she generously treated me to a day at the Sanctuary in Covent Garden (also highly recommended) where we had a skin consultation. I put my face into a machine and then the therapist walked me through the detailed scans that resulted. It turned out there was a bit of bacteria on my skin! I was horrified. She said it was often the result of living in a city like London, or even just catching the tube in the mornings. Toning can sort all that out because it closes the pores after you've cleansed. If your pores are still open and then you get on to a crowded bacteria-factory like the London Underground (!) it's all going to seep right in! I have toned religiously ever since.

I got this toner from Sephora in Balzano when I was there in July and it's really lovely. Sadly, according to the link, it looks like it might be discontinued now! I might go for nice simple rosewater when it runs out.

Moisturising

Since coming off Roaccutane, my skin has been lapping up moisture and rosehip oil has been a favourite for many years now. I find it really helps with the harsh winters. I also really like the mattifying skin serum in the picture, from Aromatherapy Associates who do beautiful stuff. I've been using it for a few months and my skin is noticeably smoother after a nightly bedtime application.

During the day, it's still sunscreen all the way. I've used lots of different brands over the years but I really like the Garnier Sensitive because 1) it doesn't sting my face like so many other sunscreens do and 2) it has an extra high protection factor of 50+. Apparently it's hard to find that level of protection over here so I really lucked out that random night I found myself in Sainsbury's in need of sunscreen!

So, that's my current regime. What's yours?

This is not a sponsored post and any links are not affiliate links - these are just products I bought and use and love :)

raw rainbow rad-ness

2013-10-30T18:15:00.000+00:00

Before you think I'm crazy for putting salad recipes up when the clocks have gone back, the sun starts taking a bow around 4:30pm, there's an extra quilt on the bed and Tom has asked me to check our supplies of de-icer for the car.....I'm just clinging on to salads for as long as I can! These kinds of meals always satisfy but in such a wholesome, delicious and refreshing way.

These have been two of my recent favourites:

"Rainbow salad" sounds so much nicer than "cleaning out the fridge" doesn't it?

I had some beetroot, watercress, radishes and dressing from last night's delicious salad (made to go with butternut squash pasta bake), so I put all that together with some other things I found lying around. The aim was to soak up the late autumn sunshine and make my plate as colourful as possible. This was the combination:

Two cooked beetroot (not in vinegar), diced
Watercress
Red and orange pepper, diced
4-5 radishes, sliced
Green and black olives
Leftover quinoa and buckwheat mix
Dressing made from organic olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, smoked sea salt, black pepper and a little lemon juice and zest

Toss it all together, either in a separate bowl or in the bowl you're going to eat from to save washing up. Either eat as it is or do as I did today and top with a veggie burger and some hummus.

Oh quinoa, what did I ever do without you?

The second salad that's rocked my world recently - and Tom loved it too - is:

This is a bit more of a recipe. After seeing a market-bought version on a friend's instagram feed, I knew I had to give it a try and it's absolutely divine. If your perception of raw food tends to feature the images "lawn in a bowl" or "kindergarten paste", give this a whirl. And if you've not yet bought yourself some coconut oil, I must urge you to most certainly get some right now. Even the Tesco in my town stocks it - no excuses! The coconut oil is a non-negotiable part of this raw pad thai and you'll find yourself using it for all sorts of things, it's worth the investment.

You could add some lemongrass to the dressing - I would have if I had some - and some chilli too, but as I was being a nice wife I thought I'd leave the chilli out this time....Tom isn't as big a fan as I am!

Raw pad thai

Makes 4 average servings (with something else, like tofu, veggie burgers, etc) or 2 "this is all we're having" servings

2 medium courgettes (zucchini), julienned or spiraled

2 large carrots, julienned

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 a medium-small red cabbage, thinly sliced

3 spring onions, thinly sliced

2 handfuls basil, shredded

Sunflower seeds

Sesame seeds

For the dressing:

1 garlic clove

1 inch fresh ginger

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup cashew butter

Fresh juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons raw coconut oil

1 teaspoon basil oil (or other oil that will complement the flavours of the salad, I just used basil because I had it - not olive oil)

Prepare the vegetables - I use a blade on my food processor that turns the veggies into long strips - and then place the courgette, carrots, pepper, spring onions, basil and cabbage into a large bowl. Toss with your hands to combine.

Prepare the dressing by processing all the ingredients in a food processor (or just whisk it by hand). You can add more water if you want a thinner dressing, but it will thicken as it stands.

Divide the shredded vegetables between bowls, top with sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. Pour on the dressing. Devour!

****

I've been looking at ideas for warm salads for the next grocery shop - I saw a yummy looking recipe with wild rice, butternut squash and haloumi. Do you have a favourite colder weather salad?

forget about forgetti: best ever veggie bolognese

2013-10-14T14:46:00.000+01:00

After bragging that I may have made the best ever veggie bolognese on Twitter a few weeks ago, calls for the recipe ensued, so here it is!

I don't miss meat very often. Occasionally I wonder what it might be like to eat a thick, medium-rare charcoal-grilled steak again but those moments are few and far between. I do miss spaghetti bolognese though. Even though my lentil and walnut version got very close to perfection, it still wasn't quite the same. Which, you know, you accept. This is a conscious choice you've made, etc.

Enter, Quorn mince and...weirdly...Chinese cooking wine. I added this because I didn't have any spare red or white wine lurking around anywhere and as my bottle of shao xing was right there (!) I just thought I'd try it as an experiment. It really worked! It gave the sauce a richer fruitier flavour that I've been unable to achieve with other veggie bologneses.

So, if you're a vegetarian who occasionally longs for the richness and unctuousness of a real spaghetti bolognese, try this. I will await your bunches of flowers and various other shows of gratitude :)

Forgetti bolognese
Makes heaps - enough for 5 or 6 hungry people

1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 x 500g bag frozen Quorn vegetarian mince*
2 teaspoons plain flour
1/2 cup Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry)**
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups vegetable stock or tomato juice
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 x 375g can chopped tomatoes or equal amount of passata (get an organic one with less sugar)
2 tablespoons sundried tomato paste
Fresh thyme and oregano (or dried if you don't have fresh)
Fresh basil, for serving

Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan until soft. Add the Quorn mince from frozen and stir until the mince breaks down from large lumps into smaller, grainy ones. Sprinkle in the flour, stir well, then add the Chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Increase heat and stir until liquid has evaporated.

Add stock, tomatoes, tomato paste and the thyme and oregano (reserve basil for the end). Reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 hours, tasting from time to time. Taste for seasoning. Add fresh basil leaves and stir until slightly wilted.

Serve with your favourite pasta and lots of veggie-friendly Parmesan (Sainsbury's and Tesco do a vegetarian Italian hard cheese which tastes very good). You can also use this sauce in a lasagne, which is also divine.

* You can get Quorn in Australia! I've seen it at Coles and Woolies :)
**I bought my bottle of shao xing at Woolworths when I visited Australia a few months ago, so in Oz you should be able to get it pretty much anywhere. In the UK you can get shao xing online, or from a Chinese grocery store or any food store in London's Chinatown.

~ ~ ~

On another note, I'm sorry the posts have not been regular on here of late. As I alluded to in my last post, the past few months have been an interesting and revealing time. Non-SLSB projects have needed my attention and energy, but also I'm honouring my need to evolve from this space and just write when I feel I have something worth sharing (this sauce definitely fell into that category!).

I'm definitely heading in a new direction and I'm excited to share it all with you very soon. xx

quietly determinedly searching

2013-09-16T18:03:00.000+01:00

Re-emerging from a period of quiet can be difficult. Silence is of course quite easy to break but the longer you go without saying anything, the more you consider the things you do choose to say. You ponder their significance and worth a bit more. You realise the value in speaking (or writing) only when you have something to say, rather than rehashing old words, old experiences, old beliefs, old versions of yourself.

For the past little while, I've been overwhelmed by work but also quietly searching. I wasn't sure what for at first, but have realised that it was truth, about my life and my work. A clear understanding of what has been missing and what there has been too much of. In order to do this, I've had to go quiet, be open and, of course, face a few uncomfortable things. Things that are so embedded in my psyche I'm not even aware of them half the time. I've spent so much of the last decade fighting and pushing and reaching and striving and smashing down walls that sitting in a state of acceptance, as I vowed to do more of at the beginning of 2013, has been far more difficult for me than I thought.

Every day, I remain strong in my belief that everything is unfolding in my journey just as it should. I can't rush or force things, no matter how ready I might feel for them. I'm accepting that there is great beauty and wisdom (not to mention less pressure) in allowing things to evolve naturally, in art and in life, whether it's a beginning or an ending.

I love autumn. It always feels like a relief after the intensity of the summer, particularly the year I arrived here. In fact, I met Tom on the first day of my first autumn here - and it was the day we were married, three years later. It has always been a time of new beginnings for me but also a reminder of how inevitable the arrival of every season is. The wheel keeps turning. And the next time it turns I hope to have evolved, to have moved on from this in-between space. So while I cultivate acceptance, less of an attachment to outcomes and a more solid devotion to the bigger picture in general, I am also equally determined to crack on with what is within my power to change, changes I know I need to make.

And so the bookcases are full, the heating is on, the winter duvet is back on the bed and the tea is hot in the pot. Autumn is here. I keep quietly but determinedly searching.

my latest cosmo article: adventures in south tyrol

2013-09-04T15:59:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone! Just catching up and backdating a few things :)

My article about my trip to South Tyrol at the end of July is up on Cosmopolitan now!

It was such a magical couple of days and gave me such a different window into Italy - into Europe, really. It was a really bizarre but wonderful combination of two cultures, so rich with traditions and stories and friendly people. And the food, of course, was to die for :)

An apricot dumpling, our guide Silvia's favourite dessert

Nuns enjoying an ice-cream at the mining museum - photo by my friend Donna Dailey

Me with a life size model of Maria Faßnauer, the tallest woman of her time. She was 7.5 feet tall!
She lived in Ridnaun in the late 1800s and her father worked at the mine.
She eventually became a travelling freak show and lived a life of solitude as her "employers" did not allow her to be seen in public outside of her official freak show appearances. A very sad story.
Our guide kindly gave me some books (in German) about her as I was so taken with her story.
You think you have trouble fitting in sometimes...nothing compared to Maria!

Stuffed zucchini (courgette) flowers....heavenly!

A sign for fresh milk in the Alpe di Suisi....you could hear the cow bells jangling in the breeze.

A South Tyrolean speciality - dumplings and schultzkrapfen (ravioli).

If you ever get the chance to go to South Tyrol, and see another side of Italy, I thoroughly recommend it! See my Cosmo article for my other South Tyrolean recommendations.

the day i cooked with theo randall

2013-08-15T15:26:00.000+01:00

Photo by Soolin Cottle

A few weeks ago I went along to a "Be a Protege for a Day" cooking class at Theo Randall's restaurant at the Intercontinental in London. It was fantastic! Myself and a small group of food lovers were shown how to create some beautiful Italian dishes. Pasta and risotto are quite simple dishes, you might think, but it's amazing how just being taught a few tips and tricks (not using a colander to drain pasta, for example) can absolutely lift the dish. I have not made risotto the lazy way ever since.

Read all about my day making pasta like a pro over at Cosmopolitan, with more gorgeous photos taken by my very talented friend Soolin Cottle.

Have you ever done a cooking class at a restaurant before?

review: samsung galaxy s4 and s health app

2013-08-02T14:29:00.000+01:00

Things have changed a great deal since 2005, when I used to scribble down the day's points and activities in my little paper notebook I used for a tracker. I'm consistently amazed at the apps and devices that are available now to track and motivate you in keeping up a healthy and active lifestyle. There's so much to choose from!

I was asked recently by Samsung if I would like to trial the latest Samsung Galaxy S4 (one of the most sought after phones in the UK right now!) particularly because this new improved version of the Galaxy has a fitness tracking app they thought I might like. So I've been happily playing away with this device for a few weeks and thought I'd share how I've been finding it.

source

S Health is Samsung's fitness app, launched last year with the S3 but now it has some new and improved features for the S4 which transform the phone into a fully-fledged fitness tracker. The phone features a built-in pedometer for tracking the number of steps you take - or run - during the day, as well as general exercise tracking too. Diet tracking is integrated as well - the app is able to pull nutritional information from a database of common food items. You can also take pictures of your food (which you know I love to do) and add it to your daily diary so you have a visual record as well. You can even monitor the temperature and humidity as you workout and share your successes and tracking via social media if you're so inclined.

Basically, it can be as simple or as high tech as you like - I didn't go into for the blood pressure, blood glucose or sleep quality monitoring (these are all separate third-party monitors that the app is compatible with) but it was nice to have them as options!

But I've always been a big fan of tracking food and exercise when it comes to reaching a fitness or weight loss goal. It was what worked for me all those years ago - I had a record of what I'd done in the weeks where I felt particularly good or saw some great progress, and if things weren't going so well I had a record of what I'd done so I could look back over it and figure out perhaps where I was going wrong.

I'm not much of a tech head but S Health was really easy to set up and use:

I loved the box it came in....almost blended in with my table!

When you first open the app, you input some basic information like height and weight and your current exercise levels. Once you've done that, the side menu appears which offers shortcuts to all the areas of the app - walking mate, exercise mate and food tracker.

Now you can get playing!

I've enjoyed the food tracker aspect of the app. I don't tend to count calories or track my progress regularly these days but on the occasions that I have, just to keep myself in check, it's always been a bit of an eye opener. Particularly when it comes to food consumption, it's amazing how quickly it all adds up! It does me no harm to either a) be reassured I'm on the right track or b) reinforce the need to be a bit more mindful.....most of the time I'm somewhere in between!

I'll freely admit I didn't pay close attention to the calories that S Health tracked on my behalf but I enjoyed using it as a visual food diary. If I ever wanted to keep track of how many calories I was consuming it would be incredibly useful. The database it pulls information from is quite extensive but you also have the option of adding your own food items and their values as well. It also keeps track of the calories you've burned through exercise that day and adjusts your calorie allowance accordingly. Saves you having to figure it out!

I think what it also reminded me of was the importance of planning ahead if you have a weight loss or fitness goal. I remember in my WW days I used to have the bare bones of the day, food wise, planned out - I knew what I was going to have for dinner and usually lunch each day, so everything else could fit in around that. It's good to be reminded of these things :)

I love having a visual record of what I've eaten too and rather than turn my poor blog into a permanent food diary, the visual food tracker aspect of S Health is a great option for someone like me who doesn't necessarily want to show the entire world yet another soy latte or plate of avocado on toast but who enjoys having these little details of life recorded somewhere, somehow.

My favourite feature of S Health by far is the walking mate or built-in pedometer. 10,000 steps a day is what we should aim for for good health; this includes incidental activity and walking as well as planned exercise like a run or power walk. I got such a kick out of meeting my 10,000 steps goal each day - one night we had come back from a walk and it was sitting on 9700 or something and I went around the block again to tip it over!! I found having this really motivating. Tom did too - we deliberately structured our Saturdays with a walk into town, around the shops and home again to meet the target :)

I found having this very motivating to be more active during the day. The photo below is four days in a row, the days I was in South Tyrol last week. That was one active holiday!

As I mentioned, the app can be as interactive as you want it to be - I personally preferred it as a nice way to keep track for myself and to keep things simple as far as the actual tracking was concerned. For those who prefer something more interactive you can certainly take it up a notch as the app can do a lot of interesting things with your stats - do comparison graphs, show you the times of day you're most active....it's a clever thing!

So, to sum up:

Pros

Excellent battery life - I only had to charge it every three days, on average
Clear big screen with a bright display
13 megapixel camera
Being able to keep a visual food diary
A very motivating way to keep active - the pedometer/walking mate aspect especially
As a phone it's excellent to use as well - all the features you would expect from a smart phone (email, internet, music, video, maps)

Cons

My only complaint about the Galaxy S4 as a fitness tool is that I found it a bit bulky to take on a long run or workout. I took it for short runs only and had to hold it in my hand which in this weather became a bit sticky and slippery quite quickly! I would probably invest in the S Band, a pedometer bracelet, which you use to track your steps when you don't want to carry the Galaxy S4 around with you; you then sync the data from your run or particular activity back to the phone when you're done. That would make it perfect for me!

I was provided with a Samsung Galaxy S4 in exchange for writing a review about it. I received no other compensation and what is written above is my honest opinion.

Have you tried the Samsung Galaxy S4? What other fitness trackers do you use? How do you find them, do you think they're useful?

south tyrol: bellissimo und wunderbar!

2013-07-29T14:25:00.001+01:00

Alpe di Siusi

I got back from South Tyrol last night - it was fabulous! I have never really been anywhere like it, a wonderful combination of Mediterranean landscape and the Alps. South Tyrol was originally part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and then annexed to Italy at the end of World War I. Today it is an autonomous province of Italy but remains a fascinating blend of two cultures that, as the South Tyroleans I met pointed out, is actually a culture all of its own. It was weird yet so wonderful to be in this truly breathtaking part of Italy, drinking great wine and stocking up on the aceto balsamico again, and yet eating dumplings and speaking German!

I'm writing about the trip for Cosmo and will put a link up here when the article is live. But while I do that and sift through the thousands of pics I took, here are a few to show you. And yes, mostly of food (hello, it is me! If you love food and wine you will be in paradise in South Tyrol!):

Not a gluten-free weekend ;)

Dumplings I made in a cooking class at one of the mountain farms

Beautiful wine - this was chilled to perfection on a 39 degree day!

Hydrangeas at Trauttmansdorff gardens

The view from the Witches Benches on Bullaccia/Puflatsch mountain

Aperol Spritz!

Pizza!

Enjoying locally made prosecco at a mountain farm

We made our own herbal tea at the Pflegerhof herb farm

There are more pics of my South Tyrol trip on my instagram - @travelling_philbury

Have you ever been to South Tyrol?

get inspired this summer

2013-07-15T14:31:00.001+01:00

source

I'm really stoked to be one of the official ambassadors for Alpro‘s summer campaign, #inspiremyday.

Over the next month I'll be tweeting and pinning tips and ideas to help inspire you to embrace this gorgeous summer we've been having so far and get motivated to take on a new challenge, visit new places, try new foods or drinks, make a change in your life or simply make more time to treat yourself and make yourself feel special....you deserve it after all!

I've put together a list here of my 10 favourite ways to inspire your day:

1. Go somewhere you have never been.

source

Travel and going somewhere new is top of my list in ways to feel inspired. You could go all out and finally book that ticket to NYC, or you could stay close to home and make a little list of the places in your own city that you've always wanted to go to but never had the time.

I'm actually doing this next week - I'm off to South Tyrol, which is in the Alps, where Austria and Italy collide. I'm so excited!

2. Do something that makes you feel like a kid again.

For me, this was getting on a flying fox at my local playground on Saturday...thankfully the park was deserted but I'm sure my whoops of joy could be heard a few streets away. It's amazing what just dropping your inhibitions, even just temporarily, will do.

3. Treat yourself to a movie.

My latest cinema visit! It was wonderful.

In the cinema. With air conditioning....need I say more?! There's something really nice about seeing a film on the big screen. I don't do it nearly enough. Bonus points for taking a like-minded companion along, so you can bounce ideas and inspiration off each other afterwards!

4. Embrace summer food.

Summer is the best time to start reaping the benefits of a plant-based diet. Salads, dips, barbecues, raw veggies galore - I love making the most of the abundance of summer in my cooking. Any excuse to have salad for every meal, really! Even if I can't quite get to the markets in Bologna (as pictured above). I've got loads of summer recipes coming up for you in the next few weeks too.

5. Read an amazing book.

When it's gloriously sunny there's no better time to set yourself up in your backyard or under a tree in the park with a rug, cushion, cold drink and a fabulous read.

The photo above is my current reading pile....I am resisting adding to it, but have not had much success so far!

6. Go to a gig.

source

Maybe music isn't your thing, and if so feel free to skip this tip, but if you enjoy your tunes make an effort to get to a live gig this summer. I always come away with a new appreciation for an artist after seeing them live, it adds another dimension to their work. And if you know the lyrics, nothing beats singing along!

7. Treat yourself to a new shower gel.

Something zingy and summery and gorgeous. This L'Occitane gel has been my favourite for ages - it reminds me of training for my first ever half marathon four years ago, and the mint, pine and rosemary scents are perfect for summer - but I've just got into the Sanctuary's shower oil....my skin feels so soft! I also love anything from Lush, Pure Nuff Stuff or Origins, they have wonderful fresh scents that sing of the summer.

8. Declutter.

source

Decluttering is one of the best motivators I know. Why not revitalise your work space and/or a room in your home where you spend a lot of time? It's so easy for pesky piles of receipts, old magazines and "we're making changes to your account" letters to add up! I bought a filing box to keep my important papers and receipts in, and a shredder for everything else. Yes, there is a shredding pile too but I'm working on it!

9. Expand your herbal tea collection.

source

Herbal teas are utterly divine to drink iced in the summer and the perfect alternative to all those sugary fizzy drinks. I regularly make a pitcher of green tea to drink iced through the afternoon. Anything peppermint, citrus, jasmine or green tea based usually works very well cold. You can even blend your favourites together - I like plain green tea with either peppermint and nettle or with mint, jasmine or pomegranate. You can add some lemon, lime or cucumber slices to plain green tea bags too. If you're lucky enough to have a herb garden, fresh mint, lemon balm or rosemary from your garden make a lovely home-made herbal tea.

10. Embrace flower power.

I love the energy that comes from having plants or flowers in my home and work space. Treat yourself to a flowering plant for your home, grow some herbs on your window sill or pick some vibrant summer blooms from your garden. I love having plants around. The smell of a basil plant or just-picked roses is utter heaven!

What are your tips for feeling inspired this summer? I’d love to hear, so do get involved and share your ideas through the #inspiremyday hashtag on Twitter and Pinterest.

weekendiness

2013-07-08T18:55:00.000+01:00

scrumpy jack cider + 27 degree days, every day + early morning runs, every day + asparagus "fries" + salad with or for every meal + sleep ins + a movie date + a long twilight walk in sprawling fresh-smelling fields + wonderful books + making cream cheese + using the leftover whey to make bread (possibly crazy as it turned the house into an oven but it was so delicious) + following our movie date with delicious chilled wine and another movie, point break + a novel structure breakthrough, at long last (!) + sunbathing and reading on a quilt on the front lawn + running out of ice + the smell of sunscreen + longing for the ocean.

That was my weekend. Active yet restful. And loving this summer weather!

How was yours?

[joining in the weekend that was with leonie and amanda]

an interview with gemma burgess, author of brooklyn girls

2013-07-04T09:30:00.000+01:00

Today is the UK publication day of Brooklyn Girls, the new book from one of my favourite writers, Gemma Burgess.

She's going to be a guest in a future an upcoming episode of my writing podcast Book Ends, but over there today there is a written interview with her, just to whet your appetite for what's coming up! Do go and check it out :)

home-made passionfruit and coconut yoghurt ice cream

2013-07-03T17:08:00.000+01:00

I scream, you scream, you know the next line!

My lovely hubby got me an ice cream maker for Easter and I've only been able to use it a handful of times so far...mostly because the weather has been a bit rubbish! But now it seems that summer has finally arrived so I dusted it off over the weekend and made this utterly delightful concoction.

That's what I love about having an ice cream machine....you can choose whatever flavour you like :)

I used passionfruit curd because that was what I happened to have around but you could easily use lemon curd or even raspberry jam.

Passionfruit and coconut yoghurt ice cream

1 x 500g tub Greek yoghurt (I used TOTAL Classic, the full fat version, but it would be just as nice with 0%)
1 x 284ml carton double cream
Approximately 5 tablespoons passionfruit curd (add more or less depending how tart it is)
Approximately 3 tablespoons dessicated coconut

Whip double cream until soft peaks form. Add yoghurt and stir well to mix. Finally, add the passionfruit curd and dessicated coconut and fold very gently together until just combined.

Place mixture in your ice cream machine and start churning. Add spoonfuls of passionfruit curd into the machine as it churns if you would like some nice tangy bursts of paradise through the ice cream!

My ice cream was ready in about half an hour. It had the consistency of soft-serve (more on the soft side!) but it was thick, cold and delicious. I chose to freeze it straight away and after an hour in the freezer I'd say the consistency was perfect. I served it with a little more passionfruit curd and some Lindt Passionfruit Intense dark chocolate from Australia crumbled over the top.

My machine is a pretty basic one - the mixing bowl is kept permanently in the freezer so when you want to make ice cream you add the mixture, affix the churning paddle to the lid, put it all on, plug it in and press go! If you don't have a machine, simply place the mixture in a tupperware container and freeze for an hour or so. Then whip the mixture again with electric mixers to break up any ice particles and get creamy again, put back in the freezer for another hour or two, then repeat and freeze again until firm.

Home-made ice cream is harder than commercial stuff and takes longer to thaw, so I would allow at least 30 minutes for it soften if you've made it in advance.

I really loved using yoghurt as a base for home-made ice cream - I'll definitely be making this, or a variation thereof, again!

Do you have an ice cream machine?

This is a vegan chocolate sorbet, the first thing I made in my ice cream machine.
It was SO rich and I haven't made it since!

race report: the zest 10k challenge with team alpro

2013-07-02T13:08:00.000+01:00

Muddy, sweaty and rain-soaked but happy!

A few Saturdays ago (June 15), I took part in the Zest Challenge at Hambledon Estate in Henley-on-Thames. This was a 10k with a difference - not just a running race, or even a trail race, but a whole heap of obstacles to get through over the 10k distance. The terrain was similar to the Helly Hansen Beauty and the Beast trail half marathon last year - hills, knotty tracks littered with rocks, branches, rabbit holes, mud, twists and turns. But this time there was a swamp, balancing beams, a hay bale mountain, tunnels and loads more!

And did I mention the hills?!

Like my friend Katherine (who I met on the Up and Running spring 10k course) who was also running the race, I got to about the 2km mark and knew I wasn't going to run the whole thing. I had to be wise about how I used my energy, especially in the first 5km. The terrain was very uneven with a lot of inclines and I wanted to be able to get through the whole race - and I certainly didn't want to get injured. With this kind of race you really have to watch where you're going, you can't just put your music on and switch off, so my mental concentration had to be super sharp as well.

I wasn't feeling particularly energetic that morning. I'd only got back from Australia one week earlier, was recovering from a head cold and hadn't been for a proper run for about three weeks. I'd done three training runs over the week since my return and while they hadn't been disasters I wasn't on top of my game, so to speak. I knew I couldn't expect miracles.

image courtesy of alpro

So, the aim of this race was to finish, not get injured and have fun! I'm happy to say I achieved that :)

image courtesy of zest magazine

My plan was to complete every obstacle, walk up every hill and run on the downhill and flat terrain. Surprisingly, when I ran I ran quite quickly! My glute activation techniques and attempts on increasing footfall seem to be working.

image courtesy of alpro

image courtesy of zest magazine

Water slides, tyre crawls, poly tunnels, jumping over trenches, crawling under rope, climbing over hay bales.....that was just the first 5km!

image courtesy of zest magazine

After the "hay bale mountain", which I actually really enjoyed and scrambled over quite quickly, the 5k runners headed to their finish whereas I and my fellow 10kers headed back into the woods for more.

I ran for a while and then found myself at the end of a rather large queue for the "slippery wall" which you had to run up and over. Thankfully there were people at the top to help us over if we got stuck...and when I say "we" I of course mean "me"!

It was kind of weird, having the race come to a standstill like that, but I really liked the non-competitive atmosphere of this race. Everyone was there to have fun and the etiquette seemed to be that you joined the queue for the obstacle and went when there was an opening. Nobody seemed to mind waiting their turn. I liked that; it made the whole experience a lot more fun and less stressful. But if you were taking it a bit more seriously, the marshalls told us we didn't have to stop for the obstacles, or wait our turn necessarily, it was a race after all.

image courtesy of zest magazine

There was an absolute killer of a hill around 6km - thankfully I wasn't alone in having to walk (and huff and puff) my way up it!

The next obstacle was....a swamp! Lots of floating slats that we had to jump across to get to the other side. But these were incredibly wobbly and you ended up with wet feet no matter what you did! I ended up falling in as I had a foot on two different slats that were slowly growing further apart, forcing me to do some strange kind of splits that I just couldn't hold! I did swear, very loudly. I hope no one minded!

image courtesy of zest magazine
(this runner was far more graceful than I was!)

Finally there seemed to be a stretch of terrain that wasn't too bumpy where I could get into a good rhythm. I picked up the pace and ran as hard as I could, trying to ignore my wet socks and the squelch in my shoes. I was SO glad I had worn my hard-core tough-as-nails Helly Hansen trail running shoes. Another swamp/creek to cross at 8km, but this was a bit easier and did not involve me falling in.

image courtesy of zest magazine

Balance beams next....which looked a bit wobbly, but I summoned my inner Tadasana and went, shakily, across.

Finally, the spider's web. Not that tricky, in the end! Then it seemed we were finally on the home stretch. Another mountain of dirt to climb over...and another damn balancing beam to cross on the other side...I was a bit wobbly at this stage and asked one of the women running next to me to hold my hand as I got on and stabilised myself, which she kindly did.

It was now raining and they had closed the bouncy castle finale at the finish line for safety reasons, so I was spared...but a little crushed as I'd been really looking forward to it. I haven't been on a bouncy castle since I was about 12. Never mind! Safety first!

And then there was the finish line and I had done it. Woop woop!

image courtesy of alpro

Despite it being a real challenge (well, the clue was in the title!) and quite gruelling in parts, I really enjoyed myself. I would have liked to have felt better physically going into it on the day but I did my best with what I had. Sometimes life just gets in the way and your preparation for an event might not be ideal but if you know you have the core fitness to pull it off, don't chicken out, just swallow your pride and do whatever you need to do to make it to the finish. I've never regretted showing up for a race even if my preparation could have been better. You'd be surprised what you can do - never give up!

There were women of all ages and abilities doing this race and everyone seemed to be having a great time. That was what made this race for me, really. Running through the woods with heaps of other women, looking around and grinning at each other, as if to say "hey! We do this for FUN! We do this because we CAN!"

image courtesy of alpro

My finish time was 1:31, only 25 minutes slower than my very satisfying 10.5k race in Bologna a month earlier. Considering all the walking, hills, stopping and starting as I waited my turn at the various obstacles, swamp dramas and wet shoes, I think I did OK! But time really was the least of my concerns on the way around the course - I just put it out of my mind and concentrated on getting to the end.

It was enough to have finished and be on the other side, with a medal and a goody bag. And what a goody bag. It was probably the best one I've ever received!

image courtesy of fellow team alpro runner Nichola of nicsnutrition.com

There was a little bit of chatting to camera with the Alpro team too, which was fun!

Being interviewed for Alpro TV prior to the start, wearing my now quite famous hot pink Lorna Jane jacket!

Thank you Zest for a great day and of course to Alpro for putting me in their team of bloggers to take on the challenge. It was brilliant :)

And the runner's reward afterwards.....BEER! :D

What's been your biggest fitness challenge lately?

weekendiness

2013-07-01T11:48:00.001+01:00

a cold chilean chardonnay to celebrate the end of a week + a favourite film that had us in stitches + a cherished summer dress pulled out of storage + one of my recipes in saturday's guardian + driving up to london and parking in our old old neighbourhood, a place we hadn't been back to for nearly five years + thinking about how the years roll on and everything changes and yet nothing changes + trains and tubes + getting our wedding rings cleaned in hatton garden + coffee, cocktails and walks with lovely sydney friends + glastonbury + hats + sunshine + almond-flecked spicy rice made by our friend simon + laughter + oz lit discussions + patting baby bumps (not mine!) + driving home at 1am + our new aeropress + homemade granola + peonies picked from the garden + a long walk in the wheat field near our place + haloumi burgers + pimm's + piles of new books to read

I really needed a weekend like this.

How was yours?

[joining in the weekend that was with leonie and amanda]