Bad weather, but great food

The great thing about bad weather (and boy have we had our share in the last few weeks) is that I don't feel guilty been inside.  I don't feel that I should be climbing another hill, cycling around another park or taking my boat out for another training session.
What I do feel like doing is cooking - for me a really comforting and relaxing thing to do, despite the fact that I do it pretty much every day for work.  But this is different , this is cooking for me, cooking food that I really want to eat.

And this week I have been spoilt in that the clients I have been working for and provided me with enough food to feed myself for the next week!  So all I had to do was decide how to cook it all.
The first client, Good Natured left me with crisp peppers, onions, gorgeous ripe vine tomatoes and herbs, so obviously my first meal was delicious roast peppers stuffed with other ingredient from my store-cupboard - garlic, onion, courgette slices, anchovies, olive oil and seasoning - slowly roasted for 45 minutes - scrummy.
As the oven was on (memories of my Father insisting that once the oven was on my mother had to fill it!), I roasted the tomatoes too, with just a sprinkling of olive oil and seasoning.  Meanwhile I cooked 1 chopped onion with 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp mustard seeds in coconut oil and then stirred in a drained can of butter beans.  When the tomatoes were slightly charred and really soft I poured them and all of their juices into the pan with the onion, added a little water and simmered for 5-6 minutes before blitzing with a hand blender until smooth - really delicious and nutritious soup, and so simple.

The second client Naturya, provided me with the whole range of their wonderful superfoods - enough to last me the next year, so I was in heaven!  Not only did I stir some barleygrass powder into my soup, I also made these great fruity oat squares, using dried mulberries, goji berries, cocoa nibs, hemp protein powder and lucuma powder. After eating a few of those I should be super human!

Fruity Oat Squares

Makes 9-12

25 g goji berries

25 g dried mulberries

juice of 1 pink grapefruit

100 g coconoil

90 g blackstrap molasses

20 g dark muscovado sugar

25 g agave syrup

235 g rolled oats

10 g Naturya Hemp Protein Powder

10 g Naturya Lucuma Powder

50 g Naturya Cocoa Nibs

grated rind of 1 lemon

Soak the goji berries and mulberries in the grapefruit juice for 30 minutes. Drain.

·          Preheat the oven to 180° (350°F) Gas Mark 4.  Grease an 18 cm square tin.

·          In a large pan, melt together the coconut oil, molasses, sugar and agave syrup.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

·         Pour in the remaining ingredients and mix together really well.

·         Pour into the prepared tin and level the top.

·         Bake for 18-20 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave for 2 minutes before cutting into squares.  Leave to cool completely in the tin.

Chocolate and ice-cream training camp!

It's that time of year again, when the young female members of Mortlake Rowing Club hit the waters of another country for a week of intense training.
For the past few years we have been travelling to Seville, to row on the Guadalquivir river.
This year we are in the thermal town of Aix Les Bains, in southern France, a very pretty town which, fortunately for us has an unusually large number of chocolate shops and an amazingly tasty ice-cream shop!
So, training is going well, although we are all tiring a little earlier than normal, possibly due to the 25 minute walk to and from the Lac du Bourget four times each day on top of the three training sessions.  So after around two hours of walking, four and a half hours of training on the lake, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a walk to the ice-cream shop, there's not much time for sleeping!
The food in the hotel is also proving to be a little dull, not only in taste but also presentation - white rice with white fish and a white sauce tasted as bland as it looked, so as usual the local supermarket and bakeries are doing quite well out of us.

Since our mad jaunt across India, I have been inspired to ride my bike as much as possible, not only to keep fit, but also to help the environment and reduce the huge number of cars that are travelling on our roads every day.
My thought was that, if I could survive cycling through the manic streets of Maduria (manic, is actually a bit of an understatement!), then I should be fine cycling anywhere around the UK.
We were told on our Indian trip to remember that we were the lowest of low with regards to our importance on the road - first came the sacred cow (this I believed most when we had to cycle around one that had decided to nap in the middle of a main junction, but no vehicle touched it!), followed by trucks, large buses, tractors, cars, motorbikes, goats, and finally us!  So London would be a dream for cycling.....I wrongly thought.
I have to admit I felt safer on the rough, ruleless roads of India that I do cycling around London - everybody that drives should be made to cycle through central London just once, just to know how it feels to have cars drive so close that you could almost touch them just by wiggling your toes!
But the positive side of cycling is that you get to stop whenever you feel like it, and see far more than when in a car - both of these pictures are of statues that I really love - do you know where they are?
The great thing about a blog (apart from spreading great tips and recipes to all your lovely followers), is that friends can keep up with what is going on in your life.  This is even more exciting when friends live on the other side of the world.  A great friend called Vanessa moved to Australia a few years ago, and I really miss her inspiring chats, but now, thanks to her wonderful blog, I can keep up with what is happening in her life, see her great house and also get some amazing tips for food and home!

And even better is that she has mentioned me in her blog for the Liebster Blog Award - more to come on this next time.

Memories of India

So hard to imagine that this time last week we were in searing temperatures, fighting our way through the crazy traffic of Southern India.
I had originally intended to keep a journal of the trip, but after two days of cycling for 6-7 hours, I lacked the energy to do anything except indulge in my favourite drink at the end of every day - a gorgeous cold (not always!), velvety, sweet lassi - perfect for refuelling the body with a little protein and carbs.  Easy enough to make by blending natural yoghurt, ice, water, a little sugar, and for me the addition of roughly ground cardamom just adds the perfect flavour.  Mint or mango are also delicious additions.

So my journal entries became bullet points, and these just sum-up what I experienced each day -
Smells - jasmine, garlic, tea, coconut, hot tar, exhaust fumes, cardamom.
Feelings - elation, exhaustion, thirst, humbleness, happiness, relief.
Reactions to us - laughter (lots - we were wearing lycra after all!), hand-slapping, intrigue, staring.
New experiences - cycling 100km+ in searing heat, dining in broken-down shacks, eating jack fruit, eating rice and curry off banana leaves with hands, sharing restaurant with a rat!


Interestingly I really thought I would start to go off curry after the first week, but it didn't happen.  And even more amazingly, I have craved it since returning home, so have already cooked myself a couple of curries, dhals, and this, my favourite Kerelan cabbage dish.

Kerelan Coconut Cabbage

Serves 4

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 garlic clove, diced
10-12 curry leaves
1 red chilli, deseeded and diced
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and diced
4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp turmeric
1 medium cabbage, shredded
3 tbsp desiccated coconut
small handful coriander leave, roughly torn

Heat the coconut oil and cook the mustard seeds, garlic, curry leaves, chilli, ginger, spring onion and turmeric, until the mustard seeds begin to 'pop'.
Stir in the cabbage and coconut and toss to coat with the spices.  Add a couple of tablespoons of water and continue to steam-fry, tossing from time to time, for 5-6 minutes.
Stir in the coriander, season to taste and serve.

Cycling Coast to Coast, Southern India

Wow, what a trip - cycling 800km from Channia to Cochin, in Southern India, and all with only a few hours of training on a bike as preparation!
The lack of training would not have been so bad had our itinerary been honest.  However, it appears it was just 'guidelines' to what may, or may not take place.  What I didn't know was that we were acting as guinea pigs for a new trip to be tested out for a travel company in the future.  This is what happens when you travel with mates who know mates in the industry - there is always a reason when the trip is such a good price!  
However, I have lived to tell the tale, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  Luckily my fitness level is pretty good most of the time, so the 100km every day for the first five was not too tricky.
Before even leaving British soil however, I had prepared my body for what could be a dodgy trip on the digestive front - not only did we eat strong curry for every meal (yes, it was offered for breakfast too, although I declined for that meal at least), as we were cycling through pretty remote areas there was no choice but to eat in the tiny road-side shacks with the locals.  And to me, this was the best bit, I wouldn't have missed that for the world.  Obviously, if you tried to serve from a similar standard of establishment in this country you would be closed down by health and safely officers before you had even poured your first cup of chai!

For the month leading up to the trip I took probiotics to help build up the gut flora against any invading pathogens, plus I took oregano oil capsules daily - oregano oil is known to be an anti bacterial and anti fungal, so useful for when you know you may come into contact with lots of unusual bacteria!  Despite cycling hard every day and pushing ourselves hard in the 40 degree heat, only one of the team came down with 'Delhi Belly' - at this point I upped my intake of oregano oil and managed to avoid joining her behind a bush every 10km.

We ate some amazing meals, and some of the best were those served in the least expected places - normally the most run-down.  In Tiruchiirapalli (otherwise know as Trichy) we stayed in the Grand Gardenia hotel.  When we booked to eat in the local's restaurant in the hotel we were warned to change to the Westerners style restaurant upstairs instead, as they thought the food would be far too much for us (they clearly didn't know how far we had just cycled!).  We insisted on staying put, and ate some of the best, albeit pretty hot, food, we had had on the trip.  Other memorable meals included the creamy fish curry we had for lunch at Le Club in Pondicherry, which is a territory that was under French rule for nearly 281 years and still has the French flavour with beautiful grand colonial mansions and boulevards.
For once being a vegetarian was not an issue, in fact for once I was in the majority, with the local people favouring vegetarian food - great dahls, amazing vegetable curries and lots of great rice dishes - pilau is different in every place you eat.
One of the most traditional places we stayed in was Chettinadu Mansion, a heritage home tucked away in Chettinadu, a village that appears to be deserted, but has some of the most beautiful architecture that we experience throughout the whole two weeks.  I would point out that despite the promise of great Chettinad food, we were pretty disappointed at being served very mild and uninspiring curry, even though the setting was pretty stunning.
One other recommendation has to be Vanilla County, a plantation home-stay in Kerela, near the origin of the Meenachil river at Vagamon.  This gorgeous home-stay is run by 'Baby' Matthew and his wife Mrs Rani, and they make you feel like you are really a guest in their beautiful home.  The house has been in the family for a number of generations and dinner is served in their dining room which instantly makes you feel at home.  Both Matthew and Rani are passionate about good food and will tell you exactly how it should be eaten and which foods are to be eaten together.  A highlight for me was banana jam that was served at breakfast and tasted like banana flavoured molasses.  I spooned it over rice pancakes with sliced banana - heavenly.  Watch this space for my attempt at the recipe that Rani loosely gave me!

The great thing about cycling from coast to coast is the variety of food you encounter - starting with fish on the east coast then travelling through paddy files, tea plantations, cardamom plantations, and finally on to the west coast for more great fish.  Our final meal was at Oceanos in Cochin - a great little restaurant that specialised in fish and seafood and just served you what was available (at this stage I was happy just to be fed and not having to decide which great dish to choose).  After fish soup and then a tuna salad and a pineapple , onion and tomato salad (unusual but surprisingly tasty!) we had red mullet in a spicy tomato sauce and great tiger prawns in a korma sauce.  Even better is that for once the kitchen is open to view, so you can tell that this one really is clean!

Variety in my day

I do love that my days are filled with such random things to do.
Take this week for instance, not only am I testing recipes for a bread company (which are delicious, and include lots of sticky buns!), I am also writing healthy recipes for a new company called Naturya.  Their products include things such as Wheatgrass Powder, Maca Powder, Acai Powder and Hemp Protein Powder, plus lots more you've probably never heard of!  But you should, so do go to their website soon where you will find all of my delicious recipes using these great healthy ingredients.  The Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms shown here include both the Wheatgrass Powder and Hemp Protein Powder - and taste amazing!
Then on to my other job as photographer and I have been asked for pictures that represent the Diamond Jubilee or The Olympics - in other words, lots of Union Jacks on anything you can think of!  Actually it has turned out to be quite a bit of fun - lot of cupcakes (obviously), but I have also tried to be a little more adventurous, and have attempted the Union Jack in fruit!  Let me know what you think - and any other ideas that you think would be fun to do (and not too difficult please!).

Sorting out the men....

It's weekends like this one that really sort out 'the men from the boys' on the rowing front (I've just realised there is no female equivalent to this saying that would really have the same meaning!).  In my case, we are an all female squad and did our best at training in pretty chilly conditions, especially as we start at 7.30am. The thing about rowing is that there are only so many layers you can put on, before you are unable to bend in the middle - pretty important!  The best bit of all though is coming off the water and into a warm club-house for a satisfying breakfast, when you know that most people have not yet even surfaced - job done.
Of course one of the things about doing exercise in the cold is that you use up even more nutrients and calories than normal, making it doubly important to have a good feed to keep up the strength and to support the immune system from all the circulating bugs at this time of year.
One of my favourite warming foods has to be risotto - not only because I love Italian food, but also because it is easy to throw together, can be flavoured with pretty much anything you have in the store cupboard, and even tastes great as left-overs!  And despite some of the recipe books you may have read, it does not have to be stirred continuously - I made all three of these risottos at the same time, and obviously only have two arms!