Time to up the training

With only 6 weeks until we embark on Endto3PeaksEnd, I was very aware last week that I need to be training longer and harder.  And with Row Zambezi following on just 12 weeks after that, my fitness needs to be pretty good all round.  So this morning saw me peddling my heart out towards Windsor, doing a 45 mile round trip, aiming at an average 14 miles per hour.  As most days we are hoping to do an average of around 80 miles, it was good to test whether I thought we would be able to get 50 under our belts before lunch!  Food is obviously always uppermost in my mind, and planning anything has to take this into account.
Luckily Tim, who I do my cycle training with, is like-minded, so we tend to cycle towards a great cafe (about 25 miles away from home) then, after a cuppa and cake, cycle home a different route.  Last week we did the famous Box Hill climb - I was very amused to see all the 'bikers' (as in, those with motor bikes) stay at the bottom of the hill, yet those with only peddle power cycle to the top for their refreshment stop!
This week our pit-stop was Fairoaks Airport, a real find in the middle of no-where, but obviously known to a number of cyclists.  We decided the cakes were not up to the standard of Box Hill, but the fried breakfast looked amazing (or maybe it was just that we had just cycled 25 miles and were starving!).
Next week I will be training hard in Seville, Spain, so there will be no cakes at all (not sure I will last the week without sneaking into the centre between training sessions to buy something naughty!).
As the weekend has been so gorgeous weather-wise, I made a summery lunch of Panzanella, and for the first time this year, ate in the garden.

I had this in Italy last year when I was visiting the Italian boy - but his mother made it with soft bread and it was all quite soggy.  I prefer to have a little 'bite' to mine, so use wholemeal or granary bread instead.

Panzanella 

 

Serves 4

300g tomatoes

125g wholemeal or granary bread

16 olives, stoned

3 tsp capers

½ red onion, finely sliced

300g red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1.     Place the tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl, using the back of a spoon, squash them well to release all the juice into the bowl.

2.     Roughly break up the bread and put into the tomato juice and leave to stand for 15 minutes before transferring to a serving dish.

3.     Scatter the remaining ingredients over the bread, drizzling over the red wine vinegar and olive oil at the end to serve.

Dreaming of Summer

At last the mornings and evenings are getting lighter, and for the past few days it has even felt quite warm (although if you are reading this in Scotland you may not agree!).
And the best thing about lighter mornings is that I can get out on the river for longer each day before going to work.  Today I was out at 6.30am, and for the second time this week was treated to the sound of a couple of woodpeckers busily pecking away.  The herons too are very busy right now, building their nests at the highest point in the spindliest of trees - seems like madness for such large birds!  And finally the ducks - they appear to be mating quite well, so in only around 28 days there will be gorgeous little chicks floating around (yes, I did have to check the gestation period of ducks for that info!).
And with all the extra training (now training for cycling Lands End to John O'Groats in May, plus 1000km row down Zambezi river in August), I need to get a few more calories in, and what better way than great home-made cakes.

Lemon and Raspberry Summer Cake

 Serves 8-10

225g  unsalted butter, softened

225g  caster sugar

zest of 3 lemons

4 egg, beaten

200g  self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g  ground almonds

juice of 2 lemons

2 tsp caster sugar

250g  crème friache

150g  raspberries

1.     Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 5.  Grease and base line a 20cm loose-bottomed tin.

2.     Cream together the butter, sugar and lemon rind, until they are light and fluffy.  Slowly beat in the eggs, a little at a time.

3.     Sift in the flour and baking powder and carefully fold in with the ground almonds and 2 tbsp of the lemon juice.

4.     Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes – checking that a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean to confirm it is cooked.

5.     Whilst the cake is cooking place the remaining lemon juice in a small pan with the 2 tsp of caster sugar and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.  Leave to cool.

6.    When the cake comes out of the oven, pierce the top with a small skewer then drizzle over half the lemon syrup.  Leave to cool in the tin.

7.     When cool, remove from the tin, slice in half and fill with the crème fraiche and raspberries.  Drizzle over the remaining lemon syrup before serving.

Country v City

Last weekend I travelled back to my home county, Norfolk, to race in the head of the river Yare with my great mixed doubles' partner Anthony.  Anthony and I tried to break the record for the Boston Marathon two years ago and, after 3 hours and 57 minutes we missed it by around one and a half minutes - very painful and very frustrating!  But since then if there is a chance to race together we do, as we seem to work well as a partnership.  The other great thing about racing on the Yare is the gorgeous flat water - last weekend a few of the boys were complaining that it was a bit windy - take a look on the left - that was it!!!  Compared to the Tideway where I train, this was nothing.
The following day I spent with friends, mountain biking through Thetford Forest - another wonderful place that is totally unspoilt and not known to a huge number of people, so doesn't tend to get too crowded - but you do need to know your way around, as it is huge.  Travelling back to London is always hard after such a great weekend away playing outside - I think I am a country girl at heart!

But then back to work on Monday I experienced Exmouth Market and its' wonderful food stalls - if you need a healthy, delicious lunch this is certainly the place to go, and if you don't want healthy they have got that too - salt beef sandwiches, traditional vegetarian Indian thalis and samosas, a seed salad bar, risotto stall, gourmet burritos, and Moorish food from Moro - the choice is amazing.  So suddenly the country didn't seem quite so exciting after all!

The Spirit of Tanzania

When I started the charity Community Projects Africa over ten years ago I never dreamt that one day I would be giving a speech at our very own photography exhibition, alongside the Tanzanian High Commissioner, at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf - what an amazing experience.  Giving speeches is not something I am a natural at, but this one was very important for the charity and for once I managed to hold it together until the end!
And not only did we have photographs that had been donated by our own fantastic creative volunteers (people who have travelled out to Tanzania to work on our projects), we also had the most stunning images by photographer Alwyn R Coates who takes photographs on behalf of the Born Free Foundation.

On top of that we had the very glamorous Jasmine Harman to act as auctioneer, and a host of great guests that really made the evening a huge success.

Watch this space for the next exciting event!

Definitely time to bake a cake!

Is there really a time when you shouldn't bake a cake?  Not that I can think of.
But today I felt like celebrating, just a little (hence the little cakes!). In my madness a few days ago I signed up to join a crazy expedition to attempt (the very first attempt I may add) to row 1000km of the Zambezi River in Zambia (http://rowzambezi.com).  Why crazy I hear you ask, you train all the time so should be a doddle?  But what I have not trained for, in my little sculling boat on the Thames, is crocs, hippos and rapids.  That's before we even think about  elephants, snakes and scorpions.....sounds like a fun trip eh?
Needless to say I have been put in charge of making sure we all remain fit and healthy (I can do nothing about being a croc's lunch) before and throughout the trip, so have been asking a few favours with regards to products and ingredients that I swear by for my own fitness.
Today I have had a great response from both Cherry Active (which will help our sore muscles each day), and Coconoil (which may help us against bugs and also tastes great!), who have both offered to give us their product to take along.
These delicious little cakes contain Coconoil, but I'm not sure we will be carrying bun tins on the Zambezi, so I have to enjoy as many of them as possible before we leave!

Coconut & Peach Fairy Cakes


Makes 12


140g Coconoil
140g caster sugar
3 eggs
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
small can peaches in juice, drained
35g unsalted butter
100g cream cheese
80g icing sugar
25g dessicated coconut




1.  Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. Place 12 paper cases into a bun tin.
2.  Grate the Coconoil into a bowl and add the sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder.  Mix well with a wooden spoon.
3.  Dice one peach and slice the other.  Add the diced peach to the cake mixture and mix well.
4.  Spoon into the paper cases then bake for 12-13 minutes, until they are just springy to touch.
5.  Leave the cakes to cool on a cooling rack.
6.  For the icing, beat together the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and coconut.
7.  Top each cake with a little of the creamy icing and a slice of peach.

Technical Issues and Tofu!

Oh the delights of technology.  First the computer decides it will go on a complete go-slow, then the Wi-Fi packs up completely!  Huge thanks to Apple in Kingston, who talked me through deleting my whole hard-drive (very scary!), and boo-hiss to Netgear who are no help whatsoever!  Having spent an afternoon doing my work from Starbucks, I have finally had enough and decided to change my system to somebody more reliable - is there such a thing I hear you ask?!

Anyway, on to more interesting things...whilst all this mayhem was occurring I was invited to a tofu-making demonstration in a Korean supermarket - Korea Foods.  And what was even more surprising is that it was not too far from my where I live.  Previously unknown to me, there is a huge Korean community in New Malden, just a 10 minute drive away - much handier than driving into Chinatown for those illusive ingredients I am often asked to buy.

Tofu is made in a similar way to cheese where, after the milk has been made by steaming and pressing the beans, a coagulant is added, the solids and liquid separated, then the solids pressed and lightly cooked in a big block before being cut, cooled and packaged.  In all the process only took about 30 minutes from start to finish - amazing.
But what was more amazing was the supermarket itself - I love to shop in a place where there are so many ingredients that I have no idea what they are!  Luckily there are lots of very friendly staff on hand to help advise.

Tofu is a great source of protein and calcium and is a great ingredient for vegetarians.  Although it is fairly bland on its' own, when cooked with other flavours tofu becomes a very versatile ingredient.

I wrote this recipe for a company that provides me with wonderful coconut oil.  If you want to know more about this delicious ingredient, and find more of my recipes, go to their website - www.coconoil.co.uk.

Vegetable and Tofu Stir-fry

Serves 4
Prep/cooking time: 30 minutes

25g Coconoil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into julienne strips
150g broccoli spears
1/4 savoy cabbage, shredded
250g tofu, cut into cubes
dash of soy sauce to serve

1. Melt the Coconoil in a wok over a medium heat and add the spices.  When the mustard seeds start to ‘pop’ add the onion and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining vegetables and stir-fry for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables are ‘al dente’ – just beginning to soften.
3. Add the tofu and a dash of soy and stir-fry for another 4-5 minutes until the tofu is hot.
4. Serve immediately.

Pop-Up Afternoon Tea

What an amazing weekend - full-on food for 48 hours! Firstly it was Colin my Scottish neighbours' 50th on Saturday, so it had to be a Burns Night celebration, with haggis, clapshot (neeps and tatties together), and a recipe that came from Colin's family that consisted of cabbage with oatmeal.  We followed with one of my favourite desserts, cranachan - oats toasted with honey, double cream whisked with whisky, and fresh raspberries, all gently stirred together and drizzled with a little more honey.
Sunday was the culmination of lots of hard work, by lots of great friends, and it was a huge success - a Pop-Up Afternoon Tea at Mortlake Boathouse on the Thames.  I have never seen so much bunting and so much cake!  Sloe Gin Fruit & Nut Cake (recipe in an earlier blog), Florentines, Lemon Drizzle Cake, spiced Bread Pudding, Peach Cup Cakes, Lemon & Mascarpone Victoria Sponge. fruit scones with clotted cream........and much, much more.
Everybody was so generous too - the beautiful tablecloths and bunting were supplied by Sarah Frost, flowers by Flourish & Green, and delicious clotted cream by Robert Wiseman Dairies.
The sun was shining, the tea was flowing, and the guests were happily munching - it was perfect.
If you are thinking of having a celebration and would a Vintage Afternoon Tea, get in touch - I have the best Tea Team!