Getting back into the saddle...

This weekend was the big overnight cycle ride and despite really wanting to do it, for once I listened to my body and realised that just over two weeks from surgery is probably not the best time to cycle for nine to ten hours with no sleep.  I am constantly telling athletes that they should not train if they are not at the peak of health, and this was a prime example of that!
Luckily there are always other options that are less stressful to the healing process - a quick burst of dragon-boat racing last Sunday (each race only lasted 1 minute, so not too much strain on the body, and with a fairly novice crew I knew my stamina would not be put under too much pressure!).  It was a great event, organised by Dragon Boat Events, with 48 crews taking part and although it was for charity clearly we were all out to win it!
My other form of gentle cross-training has been to head out to the Chilterns and hike up and down the hills, which I find is not only great for the legs but also for the mind - escaping London is a great way to de-stress.  Luckily it's not a busy place for walkers, despite it being so close to London, not many people realise what a great area it is, with rolling hills, great little country pubs and hundreds of miles of well-marked footpaths.

Tempting your Taste-buds

I am constantly asked if, after a hard day of cooking for photography shoots, I cook myself dinner when I get home.  My answer is always the same - I want to eat good, tasty food, so that naturally involves cooking great ingredients from scratch, which thankfully I find extremely relaxing anyway.
But something else that struck me this week is how important making food look good actually is, not only for a photograph.  Your digestion starts by food being broken down in your mouth by chewing, and by the enzymes in your saliva.  So getting your salivary juices flowing is very important, and this will not happen if you quickly open the fridge, put the box in the microwave then shovel the food in your mouth whilst standing leaning against the kitchen door.
There has to be a build up to the event, and cooking can do this.  But also how you present the food may help.  Often on shoots we get caterers to provide lunch, and nine times out of ten they provide paper plates and plastic cutlery.....instantly I am put off eating the food.  Transfer that food to a beautiful serving dish or plate, and it is transformed....it's a bit like respecting the food by serving it on something special.
This was brought home to me even more this week when we were shooting on location in a house that was full of French antiques, including crockery and kitchenware (the photograph on the left was taken in the kitchen).  Serving food on the crockery felt like I was making a piece of art!
And the other delight of a photography shoot - an abundance of food!  This time beautiful red peppers, which are one of my favourite things to eat.  Such a simple ingredient and so easy to turn them into something delicious - halve the peppers and take out the seeds and stalk, lay in a roasting tin, sprinkle with sliced garlic, chopped parsley, seasoning and olive oil and cook for about 20-30 minutes until softened.  Delicious served with grilled fish or a salad and nearly as quick as placing the box in the microwave!!
For more beautiful French antiques, go to www.josephineryanantiques.co.uk - the owner of the stunning house we were shooting in.

An extremely quick recovery!

Well, if some of you are wondering why I haven't been on my travels, or up-dated my blog recently, it's because I had a few days away in sunny.............Hammersmith Hospital!  A little lump that I had known about for a few years, suddenly started to grow a little bigger than I liked, so it had to go.  Unfortunately it was in my neck, so I am now sporting a rather dashing 8cm scar across my throat - very attractive.
But what was so interesting is how quickly I have recovered - everybody is amazed (me included) and obviously I put it all down to a healthy diet and lifestyle.  Don't get me wrong, I am not a saint living on broth and water, never leaving the safety of my home.....far from it (ask anybody that knows me!).  BUT, I do believe in feeding my body everything it needs to support the lifestyle that I do want to live and, as I am constantly telling the athletes that I advise - you can't expect your body to perform if you don't give it what it needs!
So, now it's summer at last and I am feeding myself with lots of healthy herbs - the garden is full of them (if you don't have a garden they will grow perfectly well in a window box!).  Not only do herbs add great flavours to dishes, they also have health giving qualities, so incorporating them into your daily diet is a great idea.
The recipe I have cooked up today includes parsley (diuretic), oregano (anti-microbial), mint (soothing for the digestion), garlic (anti-microbial) and lemon balm (calming) - all of that in one dish!

Quinoa and Feta Salad
Serves 4-6


450g sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
seasoning
2 tbsp olive oil
120g brown basmati rice
150g quinoa
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp chopped oregano
1/2 tbsp chopped lemon balm
175g feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp flaked almonds


1.  Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ Gas mark 6.
2.  Place the sweet potato into a roasting tin and season well before sprinkling with 1 tbsp of the olive oil.  Roast for 15-18 minutes, until tender.
3.  Cook the Basmati rice and quinoa according to the pack instructions then drain and place in a large bowl.
4.  Heat the remaining olive oil and over a gently heat cook the garlic and cumin seeds, just enough to give a good aroma.  Take off the heat and squeeze in the lime juice and stir in the herbs.
5.  Spoon the herb mixture into the bowl with the rice and quinoa, then add the sweet potato with any oil from the roasting pan.
6.  Finally, add the crumbled feta and flaked almonds and gently stir to mix well together.
7.  This salad is great served warm or cold.


Happy Eating!  Jx

Summer Madness

It's that crazy time of year again when all the summer sports are competing with each other for our attention - the social calendar is in full swing!  And on top of that we now have World Cup fever in the middle of all of it too.  I'm finding it very difficult to decide what to focus on right now, and work is way down on the list!
But on Friday afternoon there was no question where I wanted to be - Henley Qualifiers.  For the uninitiated these are time trials that are held on the Henley Royal Regatta course, to decide who goes through to race at Henley Royal Regatta the following week.
There is no dress code (having to wear a skirt or dress that covers your knees!), expensive Pimms, or exclusive member's enclosures to worry about, this is purely about rowing and everybody there is either racing, or supporting somebody else that is, and the atmosphere of anticipation is great.

I was supporting a number of girls from my club, Mortlake Anglian and Alpha as well as some great, slightly older, girls I row with who were also attempting to get through!  As the stroke girl  Hilary said "If we get through I will possibly be the oldest, lightest and smallest competitor ever to row at Henley Royal - she is 51!  Unfortunately they were pipped at the post, but did put on a great performance.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Increased need for ice-cream!

So now I've increased my training I obviously need to increase my intake of antioxidants to counteract the damage I am doing to my body.
Antioxidants are alright on their own (berries, peppers etc.), but why not have a treat at the same time?!  It is summer after all!

Cherry Active Ice-Cream


100g Cherry Active dried cherries
50ml Cherry Active Concentrate
300ml double cream
300ml milk
6 egg yolks
175g caster sugar

1.  Leave CA cherries to soak in the concentrate while you make the ice-cream.
2.  Mix together the milk and cream in a pan then bring to the boil.
3.  While they are heating whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until they are pale and light.
4.  Pour in the cream, whisking all the time, then transfer back to the pan and cook for another five minutes, stirring constantly.  Pour into a bowl and leave to cool.
5.  Place in an ice-cream maker and churn until nearly set.  Gently stir in the soaked cherries and concentrate. then freeze.

My New Toy!

Early mornings at this time of the year are just the best - there is nothing to beat being on the river, paddling under all the bridges whist on top of them the traffic is building up and people are getting frustrated at being delayed.  And meanwhile I'm just gently floating on by....
But now another challenge has been set and I've had to treat myself to a new toy to enable me to take part (well, that's my excuse!  On July 24th a crowd of us are taking part in the Dunwich Dynamo!  Described as "A turn-up-and-go, challenging, slightly-scary, free-entry, overnight- on-tarmac, just under 120 mile bicycle ride to the lovely lonely Suffolk sea at Dunwich".  As usual the friends that are not taking part have told us we are crazy......... and they are possibly right (I will confirm this, if and when I ever return)!
But in preparation I realised my trusty, and rusty, old mountain bike was not going to be fit enough for the job and a road bike was what was needed - I had always wanted one, and now here was my perfect excuse.
So, I picked the brains of my mate Charlie who is experienced in these things and he came up with the perfect bike for me, which I duly then ordered from Evans.  On Friday the call came through that the bike had arrived and was awaiting my inspection.  So off I went to try out my new wheels.  Interesting taking a bike for a test ride when you have no idea what it should feel like.  Even more interesting when you get about a mile away from the shop and realise you have no idea how to change gear!  So there I was in Syon Park flagging down any cyclist who I thought looked like he might know a thing to two about bikes (as it turned out I realised this was  pretty good way of pulling a fit bloke - must mention it to Liz!).  So I was off, at speed, and happy with my choice.  Only other decision was whether to have SPDs fitted - they're the clippy things that stop you getting your feet out quickly, just before you fall over.   Thought I should go for it big time and really look the part, so told them to fit those too and I would pick it up on Monday.
Not quite so confident today - called them early this morning to suggest maybe normal peddles whilst I get used to the bike (I shall probably be falling off enough without the clippy things).  While I was waiting for my bike a young guy was being given instructions on his new purchase - a £2500 full suspension mountain bike.  While this was going on a little old man was waiting to be served, watching in bewilderment.  Finally it was his turn to be served and he asked to see their range of bicycle clips for his trousers!  Isn't life so full of extremes.
On leaving the shop I decided I would head straight for Richmond Park (where all the serious cyclists do their time-trials) and have myself some fun.  What I actually did was scare myself quite considerably - hills that seem perfectly fine in a car suddenly seemed like a skiing black run, with no snow-ploughing allowed!  And although I knew how to change gear I didn't really understand when!
So, having scared myself one final time on the last hill going down to the river to head home, I bump into my neighbour Tim, a keen cyclist with Twickenham Cycling Club.  He is so impressed with the new bike he insists we take it around Richmond Park for a spin - telling him I've just done that does not put him off.  So finally I get to ride it with an instructor at my side, and at last I feel like I might be on the way to knowing how to ride a bike!  Which is lucky really, with only about 7 weeks training to go!

Walking The Ridgeway

It is a while since I've done a long walk, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy exploring England by foot. It is the only way to really get to see all the hidden away special places that are so easily missed.

A few years ago I was invited on a walk by a friend who was meeting up with her old university friends. We were to walk the Coleridge way in the Quantock Hills and the walk was partly a reunion, so turned out to be a bit of a party. I assumed this was a one-off, but the following year when the walk moved to

North Devon, the partying continued. So now I try to join them every year - it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'a walking party'!

This year we walked the northern end of The Ridgeway, about the last 25 miles of it, starting just outside of West Wickham and joining the path by Princes Risborough. The only unfortunate side to this day was the constant rain, but luckily most of the walk is wooded so prevented us from getting totally soaked through. It also gave a good excuse for the 'party' of walkers to stop and take regular breaks, with quick nips of tequila to keep their spirits up!

Navigation also became a bit of a game, with Simone, one of the walkers, trying out her new toy - a GPS, against Tim, our organiser, with map. I was totally against the whole idea of the GPS, being a lover of maps, but when at one point we appeared to be lost in a very large wood, the GPS saved the day, and possibly a few miles walked in the wrong direction, by pointing us in the correct direction.

The other important part of great walks is of course great food along the way. Lunch on the first day was at the Red Lion in Great Hampden, a cosy traditional little pub, with very friendly owners who even took pity on the soggy looking dogs and let them sneak inside to dry out for a

while. Great sandwiches were served, with rare roast beef or tasty Cheddar and pickle. But it has to be said that the bread and butter pudding was possibly the worst I have ever tasted - layers of 'pappy' white bread with either lard or margarine used to glue it together, with the odd sultana showing it's face. This was served with a jug of custard to pour over the top. This was not bread and butter pudding - what a disappointment.

Saturday night in Wendover was also interesting - another Red Lion, but this one is an old coaching Inn in the centre of town, and buzzing on a Saturday night (there is possibly nowhere else to go?). Food as you would expect - disappointing.

Sunday turned out to be sunny which was a great relief to all - the thought of being damp for another eight hours of walking was not a good prospect.

The Ridgeway lived up to be everything I had hope for, with changing scenery, quaint churches, stunning country houses (including a view of Chequers), and the perfect amount of small hills to climb.

Our final lunch at The Greyhound in Wiggington was also pretty good, and gave us energy for the final push to Ivinghoe Beacon, with the most amazing views for miles.