The training schedule falls apart!

The week in SA continued in the same vein, with food and wine being consumed at an alarming rate! My training schedule was not doing well - I had to do two 4.5 mile runs plus cross-training on the days I wasn't running. I'm not sure strolling around an apple orchard or sauntering amongst the grapevines carrying a camera could really be classed as cross-training? If you think travelling to a warm country will be good for training think again - the great thing about being in Britain at this time of year is that you have to go out running to stay warm!

And how could I possibly not eat the amazing food that was put infront of me? Even the typical South African braai (that is normally a complete meat-fest), was impossible to resist, with large flat mushrooms stuffed with cheese, chargrilled nectarines with feta cheese, and a wonderful home-made cheesecake that our host Johan insisted we ate the South African way, with a little red wine poured over the top - it was unusual, but delicious.

But the whole purpose of this trip was to learn about great South African fruit, so we did spend time wandering the vast apple, pear and plum orchards, and learnt about the varieties that are sent over to us in the UK. Interestingly the research showed that a lot of people don't buy South African fruit because they think it is grown artificially. Having visited at least three farms I can assure you there is nothing artificial about the glorious orchards that spread out for miles, with the fruit ripening naturally under the intense African sun.

We did manage to fit in a quick visit to Aquila Private Game Reserve near Touws River, with time for a safari to see the wildlife of Africa - they have giraffe, zebra, elephants, rhino, leapoard, cheetah and lions - and you will get to see them all - the reserve is not that large and there are fences to ensure they don't leave! The highlight of the safari was the stop for fizzy wine as the sun went down - we couldn't escape the alcohol even there!

On our final day we visited Langa Township, something I would highly recommend if you visit Cape Town. It's hard to say how it made me feel so I will leave it up to you to visit and judge for yourself. After this the plan was to drive up the West Coast Road towards Langebaan for a ten course lunch at Die Strandloper Seafood Restaurant. This was the final straw and we all voted against it! There really is only so much food that can be eaten, and for me, with no exercise taking place, my body was starting to rebel! The thought of returning to cold, grey England was a depressing one, but if I am to make the Paris half-marathon I need to get myself back in shape pretty quickly - only two weeks to go!

A fruity South African experience

Life is always full of such extremes, and this certainly is one of those - from the freezing sand dunes of the Kent coast I have travelled to the Western Cape in South Africa, and it is HOT!

I have been invited by South African fruit growers, to find out why their fruit is good and to help promote it back home in the UK. but not only do they want to promote their fruit, they are also very keen to show us how proud they are of their beautiful country, and they have every reason to be - it is stunning.

We arrived this morning, slightly tired after an all-night flight, but were revived by lunch at The Mount Nelson Hotel, the most iconic luxury hotel in Cape Town. It is famed for it's afternoon tea, but after the huge buffet lunch we were served there was no room left, plus we had lots more to fit into the day.

A quick trip to the top of Table Mountain by cable car and then we are driven out to Stellenbosch, one of the Western Cape's wineland areas, set at the head of the Eerste River Valley. Not only do they make great wine here, but the area also contains finely preserved examples of the Cape-Dutch style of architecture. We are lucky enough to be staying in the Lanzerac Hotel, a distinguished Cape-Dutch house on a 300-year old country estate over-looking lush vineyards and the Helderburg Mountains.

So on to dinner, and again I find there is no shortage of food! This week is going to be tough if I intend to keep up my training schedule for the Paris half-marathon in only 3 weeks - I am not just carbo-loading here, I will be over-loading pretty much every nutrient available to man if today is anything to go by! We eat at Moyo, an African Themed restaurant on the Spier Wine Estate and the buffet is vast! Even our group of nine carnivores, two vegetarians and one serious nut allergy sufferer did not struggle to over-eat.

Summer picnics in Kent

Most of you will know that when I'm not talking about healthy food, I'm styling it for photography for magazines and newspapers. And if you think the life of a food stylist is glamorous, think again!

The last two days were spent in the beautiful Kent countryside, we had rented a beach house to shoot a summer catalogue of kitchen and house-ware with the idea of showing picnic baskets in sand dunes, and tea parties in the garden.

Great plan........................until it snowed.............and

snowed.......and snowed! How to make summer in one foot of snow??!! Pretty impossible but luckily the house was very pretty inside so we got some great shots and you would never know the difference - I challenge you to find the shots!

The early bird catches the freshest fish!

If, like me, you are a lover of fish, then this is an experience you should not miss. I have just spend the most inspirational day at Billingsgate Fish Market in East London - what an experience.

We started the day at 6.15am (I realise to most of you this may actually be the middle of the night! But for us rowers, it's half way through the day, so was no hardship for me), and it was so worth getting up for. We started with a tour of the market with Brian, who told us everything we wanted to know about the market itself and all the types of fish and

seafood that were on offer - you will have never seen such fresh and wonderful fish!

We were given the odd taster - hot smoked salmon at 6.45am on a freezing cold winter morning tastes heavenly! After the tour we moved upstairs to the Seafood Training School and were served a delicious plate of kedgeree (one of my favourite fish dishes) and a hot drink to thaw us all out.

After that it was over to us - we were all shown to our work stations, and from then on followed the wonderful Adam who talked us through dressing a crab, skinning monkfish, filleting a mackerel, and loads more tips on how to prepare the fish that is available to us in the UK.

Finally, all our hard work was rewarded with a delicious bowl of fish soup, made with the results of our filleting, peeling and chopping!

So impressed by the whole day, I offered to run a healthy eating workshop along the same lines and CJ who runs the school agreed - so watch this space for more details of workshops taking place in June and October this year.

For details of other workshops available go to www.seafoodtraining.org.

Beautiful Bracciano

How lucky am I, to have a wonderful Italian boy living in Rome, who insists I visit on a regular basis! What a hardship! And this time we spend a glorious 3 days at the family house in Bracciano, a small town about 40km outside Rome, in the beautiful Italian countryside.

And obviously being in Italy meant having to eat copious amounts of pasta and bruschetta, but what I love is that the Italians will eat pasta with the minimum amount of sauce, unlike us English! So lunch one day was purely spaghetti with the grated rind and juice of a lemon picked fresh from the tree and a slurp of their own pressed olive oil - heaven!

As food writers we always say the simplest things are the best. So why then are we bombarded by dozens of 'celebrity chefs' travelling the world to show us all the complicated foods of each country? I didn't need a chef to show me how to make the tastiest bruschetta I've had in a long time - toast freshly sliced local bread over an open fire, rub with garlic and top with home-grown ripe chopped tomatoes and a sprinkling of olive oil. Eat infront of the aforementioned open fire with a bottle of smooth red wine and a gorgeous Italian by your side (maybe the last bit had something to do with my enjoyment?!).

Luckily for my body (it wasn't too sure about all those carbs when it's normally used to lots of veggies!), I was having to train most days - I have been talked into running the Paris half-marathon on Sunday March 7th, and this date appears to be looming up way too fast. But a training schedule has been set and no matter where I am it has to be stuck to (or I may die on the day!). And I have to admit that running in the Italian countryside beats the streets of London any day.

Back to reality and training!

Oh my God, I'd heard it was cold back here in the UK, but had no idea it could get this cold! And still I have to train - no training through the winter generally equates to no wins in the summer months, which is not something I want to experience!

Training inside sounds like a good option, but unfortunately you can't beat miles on the river. So at minus 4 degrees I attempted an outing this morning. The results - bits of my boat gradually started to freeze up and cease working - very scary. And, amazingly enough, I had the whole river to myself - nobody else had ventured out - that is pretty unusual, although I could see why!

A Costa Rican Start to 2010

Well, everybody else is doing it so I thought I should join in (I've never been one to miss out on anything). Let's hope it's not like most of the diaries I have started in the past that haven't made it past Pancake Day!

What a way to start a healthy new year. Costa Rica promised great food and I was not disappointed, but what a shock - some of the biggest women I have ever seen! Or maybe they just all buy clothes that are 3-4 sizes too small, then squeeze their enormous bodies into them? Either way it was a constant reminder to eat healthily at all times.

But as it was Christmas and New Year I had to have a couple of little treats, otherwise what's the point of being alive?! My advice to all my clients is to be 80% good and 20% naughty - this seems a good balance and prevents craving things you think you can't have! Just have them and get over it!

So what treats did we experience? Well the highlight has to be dessert for dinner on Christmas Eve. In a hotel resembling something from The Shining, high on a hill with a view of Volcan Barva, we were served fried banana with grated cheese!

A few of us were brave enough to sample it, thinking this could be the next big thing and why had nobody thought of it before? One mouthful was enough to realise why nobody had thought of it before!

What else was on offer to test our taste-buds? Quite a lot of great food

actually, and some of it not to bad on the health front, if only they didn't fry everything. They certainly have one of the best breakfasts ever - rice and beans with scrambled eggs. Really quite healthy - full of protein and a great way to start the day. A few of the athletes I advise would do well to have this as a second breakfast after their first training session. Of course the Ticos (locals in Costa Rica) add fried plantain, soured cream and a tortilla which then takes it a little over the top!

Another favourite breakfast was banana pancakes, again pretty healthy and nutritious, but then along came the best bit - the richest, creamiest cream cheese you have ever tasted - like a cross between cream cheese and clotted cream - pure heaven, but also heart attack on a plate!

But we did have some great healthy food and luckily we were extremely active for the whole two weeks, so I did return to the UK a little lighter!