A serious start to winter training

It's when I hear the expression 'the nights are drawing in' that I start to dread the coming months.  Knowing that it's going to get darker and colder each day and that despite this, I will still have to get out on the river or in the cold boathouse gym, and train.
With this in mind, I booked myself a flight to Turkey!  Back to my much loved house in Foca, to be able to stay warm for just a few days longer.
But I didn't intend putting off training, so asked a friend who lives close if he could lend me a bike (I had borrowed one in the past from him, but couldn't quite remember what it was like).
He is such a good friend that when I turned up at my house on Saturday evening and opened the door, there was my trusty steed waiting in the kitchen!  What I had failed to remembered is that it's a small framed mountain bike, with big thick tyres and a lovely basket on the front!!  Not quite what I will be using in the Cycling Weekly Surrey Hills sportive in a few weeks time, but hopefully it may make it feel a whole lot easier when I get on a real bike!
Foca also has only one road that runs through it, so there is no choice as far as my daily training goes - and no avoiding all the huge hills that a coastal road inevitably has.  Before leaving home I had roughly mapped out a route on the internet and thought I could cover a round trip of about 25 miles.  So far I haven't even made it to the first village 23km away!  The heat and hills are exhausting.  But the views at the top of each hill are absolute heaven - which is obviously why it's taking me so long to get anywhere, as I have to keep stopping to appreciate the amazing place I am in.  I'm sure I won't be doing that in the wet and soggy Surrey Hills.

Chocolate Unwrapped

I am lucky enough to be a member of The Guild of Food Writers, and even luckier to be invited to regular tastings and workshops run by experts in their field from the guild.  This week was a great treat - a chocolate tasting run by Sarah Jane Evans, who has recently published 'Chocolate Unwrapped', a book that covers the history of chocolate, how to taste it, how ethical your bar of chocolate is, and so much more, including a listing of some of the tastiest chocolates of the world.
I am a great lover of good, dark chocolate (although that did happen quite late in life, a bit like my passion for olives!), so to have the opportunity to try a number of different chocolates from producers all over the world and, more importantly, to be able to detect the subtle differences, was fascinating.
Sarah explained how the 19 processes that go into making the chocolate, could all vary the flavour and texture of the end result.  One of the processes is called conching, a bit like putting your chocolate into a large cement mixer with rollers inside - the idea is to refine and develop the flavour and texture and remove unwanted acidity.  Tasting bars that had been conched for different lengths of time was really interesting - the longer the time the smoother and more refined the chocolate (and presumably the more expensive).  I actually found myself liking the less conched - a bit of roughness and grittiness is clearly what I like (no comments from close friends please!).  Some chocolate bars now state conching time on the wrapper, so do always take a good look at what you buy.
It was also confirmed and agreed by all that using good chocolate for cooking is certainly not a waste - the results are so much better, as they would be with any good quality ingredient against not so good.
So throw away that cheap baking chocolate you have in the cupboard, and treat yourself to something special.

Raspberry and Chocolate Fridge Cake


Serves 10-12


400g dark chocolate
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
310g unsalted butter
75g caster sugar
250g digestive biscuits
300g raspberries


Line a 2 lb loaf tin with cling film.
Place the chocolate, Golden Syrup, butter and sugar in a pan and gently melt over a low heat, stirring from time to time.
Roughly break the digestive biscuits by placing in a plastic bag and bashing with a rolling pin.  Don't break them down too much, leave some large chunks.
When the chocolate mixture is totally melted, take off the heat and gently stir in the broken biscuits and raspberries.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top level.
Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before turning out and slicing to serve.

World Masters, Poznan

What a pleasant surprise Poznan turned out to be.  I had assumed as a vegetarian that I would really struggle on the food front - heavy dumplings, lots of meat and potatoes and nothing else!  But instead I found myself not having time to fit in all the gorgeous looking restaurants that were on offer.  A visit to one of the small markets showed the wonderful produce on offer, with lots of locally grown fruits and vegetables, and amazing wild mushrooms also recently picked.
What is so lovely in Poznan is the cafe culture - there are probably more cafes than restaurants, and people will happily stroll from one to the other, having different courses in each.
Cafe Bordo was one of my favourites, with a beautiful garden setting for the balmy evenings (of which we had a few), plus a cosy interior for the cooler nights.  The food was light and fresh, with local produce and regional specialities on offer wherever possible.  Pickled herrings in camelina oil were delicious - served with crisp lettuce leaves, tart apples, capers and warm homemade bread.  Camelina oil is a traditional oil used in Poland and is sometimes known as wild flax - it is high in omega 3 fatty acids, so a healthy addition to the diet, as well as being extremely tasty.

To finish my evening I was often tempted to stroll past (and into!) Cacao Republika - a cafe that included chocolate in most of its' offerings.  In my view if you are going to have hot chocolate it has to be thick, rich and full of flavour (one of those sachet that you pour hot water over is just nonsense!), and Cacao Republika delivered this with style, with the addition of cherries marinated in brandy, or a glug of Amaretto  - again I ran out of time to try them all, although did manage to fit in a slice of chocolate cake to accompany it!
And if beer is your thing there are a number of local breweries offering good tasting beer.  I was trying to take my racing seriously (!), but a number of my team mates did sample a few varieties, including honey beer in Brovaria, a great hotel, restaurant and lively bar, where you could also sample a large variety of  vodkas - I will have to return when I finish my rowing career!

Fighting fit again - I hope!

Wow, you have no idea how good it feels to be able to eat again - and now I am finding it hard to stop!  Weeks without even seeing the foods I loved, then another two weeks of being able to look at them but not eat them was torture.  So now I am making up for lost time.  And on top of that tomorrow I fly out to Poznan, Poland to race in the FISA World Masters Rowing Championships - so I have been needing to build myself up for the last few days (or is that an excuse I just gave myself?!) - no food is safe!

Interestingly, although I work with food all day, people  constantly suggest that I must hate having to cook for myself when I get home each night?  It intrigues me that they may think I would pick up a ready-meal, or maybe , horror of horrors, a take-away.  Why would I do that when I love great food, care what I put into my body and most of all, find cooking the best way to relax at the end of the day?  Creating something from simple ingredients that looks and tastes amazing and then having the pleasure of eating it, cannot be beaten in my book.

And nothing could be simpler than placing halves of peaches in an ovenproof dish, sprinkling them with crumbled Amaretti biscuits, honey and dots of butter, then cooking for 15-18 minutes.  Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt of creme fraiche - absolutely yummy.

I always recommend a diet that is 80% good and 20% naughty, so here is the good bit -

Butter Bean and Broccoli Salad


Serves 2


250g sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped + 1 tbsp of the oil
pinch chilli flakes
seasoning
100g broccoli, cut into florets and steamed 
3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 x 400g butter beans, drained
1 roasted red pepper, cut into strips
sprig thyme, leaves only, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp olive oil


1.  Place the sweet potatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, oil and chilli flakes into a roasting tin and cook for 15 minutes at 200C, until the sweet potato is soft.
2.  Place the remaining ingredients into a large bowl, pour in the sweet potatoes and all the lovely juices,  mix well and serve.