Christmas Crumble

It's not as if there isn't enough naughty food to eat at this time of year, but still I love to come up with my own creations.  And after making my own stollen and after that, stollen bread and butter pudding, I still had marzipan in the fridge waiting to be used.
There's nothing I like more than challenging myself to a Ready, Steady, Cook challenge - what can I make from what I have in the kitchen.  So here it is -

Christmas Crumble
Serves 6-8

125 g coconut oil
125 g wholemeal plain flour
150 g rolled oats
pinch ground cinnamon
125 g dark muscovado sugar
50 g pumpkin seeds
2 oranges
3 apples, cored and sliced
3 pears, cored and sliced
100 g marzipan, diced
3 tbsp mincemeat

• Preheat the oven to 200C (400F) Gas Mark 6.
• Place the coconut oil, flour, oats, cinnamon, muscovado sugar and pumpkin seeds in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Grate the zest of the oranges and blend into the crumble.
• Place the apples and pears into a large oven-proof dish.  Segment the oranges over the dish to catch the juice, then stir in the orange segments with the marzipan and mincemeat.
• Spoon over the crumble and bake for 30 minutes, until the crumble is golden.
• Delicious served with creamy natural yoghurt.

Christmas Madness!

It's that time of year again when you are invited to so many parties, that a night in seems like a treat instead of the other way around.  And the choice of venue is not always one you may have chosen for yourself!
This was the case when I ate at Kitchen Italia in Covent Garden on Friday night.  I have always said that it's pretty impossible to spoil Italian food - they just use the best simple ingredients and cook them as simply as possible, right?  How wrong could I be.  Out of about twenty of us I would bet there were possibly only two or three plates that went back to the kitchen cleared of food (and these would have been the plates belonging to young strapping male rowers who, to be perfectly honest, will eat pretty much whatever you put in front of them!).  And on top of that the service was pretty appalling too.  Why do people eat in such places, especially in London where you have the choice of thousands of restaurants?
But then on to Monday night, when a friend and I choose to eat at The Glasshouse in Kew.  Wow, what a difference - neither of us can understand why this restaurant does not have a michelin star - the food was out of this world (but I do think the decor lets the place down).  My starter of smoked eel with beetroot and blinis, and desert of bread and ricotta pudding could not be faulted.  And best of all, it's local!

So now we have to start thinking about Christmas gifts, and with my allergy to shops, and really shopping in general,  the best option always is to make food gifts.  Up to date I've not had any complaints!
So, having just finished a photography shoot where we needed lots of limes, I thought I would test my lime curd recipe - it obviously won't last until it's time to give as a gift, but that means I get to eat this batch then make more again later!

Lime Curd 


Makes 2-3 jars (depending on size)


4 med eggs
zest and juice of 4 limes
350 g caster sugar
225 g unsalted butter, diced

• Place the eggs in a pan and whisk together.
• Add the remaining ingredients and place over a very low heat.  
• Whisk continuously until the curd starts to thicken - don't try to rush this over too much heat or you will have lime scrambled eggs on your hands.
• Pour into sterilised jars and leave to cool before covering.
• Keep chilled.

If you want to make lemon or orange curd, stick to the same principle, just be aware that oranges give more juice, so maybe use less of them.

Tea at Harrods

What a lovely start to the day - breakfast at Harrods!  But no ordinary breakfast, this was an invitation to sample what is on offer at the new Tea Room on the second floor, so cakes were available in abundance.  I had thought it far too early to be sampling these, but it didn't take long for me to crack.
Harrods' new novel idea is to have a kind if pick-and-mix with the cakes (this is after you have sampled their savories obviously) - you can decide what arrives on your three tiered cake-stand.  This is accompanied by the tea of your choice, from a 20 tea list, some of which we tasted this morning, made and poured by Yousef Serroukh, their tea and coffee buyer, who then gave us instruction on how to make the perfect cup of tea -

• always use well stored, top-quality loose tea
• a small china teapot will allow you to control the infusion of the tea much better than bigger pots -no large than 300ml
• be generous with the tea - around 5g for a 300ml teapot
• use filtered or bottled water for a better taste
• water temperature is crucial - white and yellow teas are best when infused at 40-60C, and black teas are better with near boiling water
• time your infusion - 3 minutes is the recommended optimum time

Yousef told us we should treat tea as a ritual, and in my mind this ritual should be accompanied by a big log fire, delicious cakes and close friends.

Back to Baking, and the Blog

I can't believe a month has gone by since I last managed to fit in time for my lovely blog.  I don't like to complain about having too much work, but when it totally takes over your life, it can't be good!
And when it stops me from cooking things I want to cook, that's also very frustrating.  Having just completed a book of Italian recipes (all 360 of them), plus twenty recipes for The Dukan Diet, I was just itching to do some real baking at the weekend.  And just to ensure I did, I invited my lovely neighbours over for Sunday tea.

This recipe comes from a lovely lady in Devon, Isabel Tomlin who, with her husband, runs Northam House Bed and Breakfast in South Molton, Devon.  On our mammoth cycle ride from Lands End to John O' Groats back in May, Northam House was our second night stop.  We had no idea what we had let ourselves in for, but after 11 hours of cycling up the steepest hills I have ever seen, we finally reached the B&B and were met by Isabel and given a piece of cake to try to revive us.
Having failed to remember to take a piece with us the following day, my dear friend Liz then emailed to ask for the recipe, and finally it arrived last week!  I felt I had to make it to see if it really was as good as I remember, or was it just the 11 hours cycling that had heightened my taste-buds?!
This recipe also reminds me of one we all used to make as chalet maids when I worked the ski season a few years ago - having no scales in those remote alpine chalets, but having to cook a different cake every day, we all used a yoghurt pot to measure everything - it always worked a treat, and to vary it you would just use different flavouring and a different shape tin every day!

Boiled Apple Cake


1 mug sugar
1 mug dried fruit
1 mug water
125 g butter
1 des spn ground cinnamon
1 des spn ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 mug wholemeal self-raising flour
1 mug self-raising flour
1 egg, beaten


1.  Preheat the oven to 190C (375F) Gas Mark 5.  Grease and base line an 18 cm loose-bottomed cake tin.
2.  Place the sugar, dried fruit, water, butter, spices and apple in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted.
3.  Stir in the flours and egg, then pour the mixture into the tin and cook for around 1 hour.  The cake is ready when a knife inserted comes out clean.


This cake is really delicious and so easy to make and as Isabel told me, will come out different every time!

Needing my greens!

You'd think that being a nutritionist and sportswoman  that my diet would be the healthiest ever, and on the whole it is.  But for the past few weeks I've been in the throws of writing an Italian recipe book and, as I believe all recipes should be thoroughly tested, it does mean there's an awful lot of eating to be done.
Today is a prime example - I do try to plan the recipes around my mealtimes, but sometimes there is just too much.  For my mid-morning break today I had apple and Parmesan tartlets - delicious, but not my normal piece of fruit and a few nuts snack.  Lunch was broccoli orecchietta followed by Zabaglioni.  And now I feel like having a siesta!  Of course the other problem is that each recipe needs to serve 4, so then there are leftovers, but the next day I have to start all over again.  My fridge is bulging at the seams!
Yesterday I felt I had just not had enough of my favourite greens (weirdly I probably could live on broccoli and cabbage!), so decided I had to have a green pick-me-up to boost myself.
You can add pretty much anything you like, but first decide if you want it to be sweet or savoury and then either add a little more fruit and some honey for sweet, or garlic and seasoning for savoury.
These are my favourite ingredients - 1 avocado, 1/2 cucumber, 1 apple, 1 stick of celery, 1 clove of garlic, freshly milled black pepper, sea salt, a small handful of fresh parsley and mint and enough water to give the thickness you want (if you want to make it creamier add a little natural yoghurt).  Put everything in a blender (if you have a Vitamix you don't even have to peel or core the apple), and pulse until smooth.  Drink immediately and feel your body soak up the goodness!

A Cornish Weekend

And there was I thinking I was going away for a relaxing weekend.  I should have known by the way it started - on the night train from Paddington to Penzance.  The great thing about the sleeper train is that you can get on it up to an hour and a quarter before it actually leaves, thus getting more sleeping time in.  Unfortunately for me this little plan backfired, as I was then woken at 5am due to works on the line and had to get off to travel on a different, much smaller and bed-less train to St Austell, a bus to Truro and yet another small train finally to Penzance - next time I will check for engineering works before I book!
Once there though the madness didn't stop.  Staying with a friend who is a keen sea swimmer throughout the year meant I obviously had to be included.  I can honestly say that if it wasn't for the 82 year old man going in ahead of me (and not screeching and complaining) I would never have got in the freezing water.  I admit it did make me feel pretty amazing afterwards, but only once I had got the feeling back in all my bits!
After that it was over to Porthleven, to the Porthleven Gig Club where I had been promised an outing in a gig.  Luckily for me the sea was calm, but even so the rise and fall of the boat did have me thinking that I was glad I hadn't finished off my swim with a fry-up!  What I thought would be relatively easy as a river rower, proved to be more difficult than I had imagined - different hand holds, really long lean back (great for the stomach muscles), and just such a different position to how I normally row.  It was a great experience and the girls were really friendly and seemed please to have me on board - what a shame it would be a 14 hour round trip for training sessions!
After that the eating started, Cornish Cream teas obviously had to be sampled, as did the famous Jelberts ice-cream - thick creamy vanilla ice-cream, topped with a huge helping of clotted cream - pure heaven!
So now it's back to training and healthy eating - only 2 weeks to the Norfolk Long Distance Sculls and 6 weeks to The Scullers Head - I can't believe they come around so quickly.
As an internal cleanser I really fancied some fennel yesterday, but unfortunately also had some Gorgonzola cheese in the fridge from the recipes I am writing for an Italian recipe book, so my healthy plan was not as good as it could have been.  After lightly frying off slices of fennel in olive oil, I layered them in an ovenproof dish and crumbled the Gorgonzola over the top.  After 30 minutes in the oven the cheese had melted into the tender but still slightly crunchy fennel - delicious.

How could I forget it's Chocolate Week?

I can't believe it's Thursday of Chocolate Week and I've not yet had chocolate.  This obviously had to be remedied, but not with a boring bar of chocolate.... oh no.


Salame di Cioccolato

200g caster sugar
175g walnut pieces
200g dates, pitted
120g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
165g candied peel, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
200g dried figs

• Place the sugar in a small pan with 2 tbsp water and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.  Continue to cook until the syrup starts to turn golden.
• Place 100g of the walnuts in a pestle and mortar and lightly crush.  Place in a large bowl.
• Place the dates in a food processor and blitz until broken down.  
• Add the dates to the walnuts with all the remaining ingredients.
• Pour the hot syrup into the bowl and mix together really well.
• Divide the mixture into two and roll each halve into a sausage.  Wrap each one in greaseproof or wax paper and leave cool.
• When set hard slice the salame and serve.

Not letting-go of summer

We may have had a few chilly days, but it stills feels pretty warm to me, and I'm loving it!
Yesterday a friend and I took part in the Cycling Weekly Sportive, over the gorgeous Surrey Hills - it was a fantastic route, with rain only at the beginning and hills all the way through!  But having booked for the 77 miler, we decided early on that the 'Fun' ride was more our style, so after 30 miles we headed off to one of the pubs we had passed earlier for a spot of lunch.
The Dolphin in Betchworth turned out to be a real find - their fish pie was the best I have had in a long time, and was served with great fresh vegetables.  We had intended to finish off with bread & butter pudding, but alas were both too full!
Obviously by the time I got home I was hungry again, and was still in summer mood, as by then the sun had well and truly come out.  And what I really fancied was a summery dish of peppers - basic good ingredients simply cooked - delicious.



Peperonata 

Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

2 medium onions, peeled and sliced

4 red peppers, deseeded and cut into 1 cm slices

350g ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

small handful basil leaves, torn

·      1.  Heat the oil in a medium pan and sauté the onion and garlic for 1 -2 minutes.

·      2.  Add the red peppers and cook for a further 10 minutes before stirring in the chopped tomatoes.

·      3.  Continue to cook for 20 minutes, until the peppers have softened.

·      4.  Stir in the basil and serve, sprinkled with lots of freshly milled black pepper.

Back to Britain

It seems like I have been away for the whole summer, although according to most people I speak to I really didn't miss the summer at all, and luckily enough for me we seem to be having it now!
One of the things I really do miss when I am travelling is not getting the opportunity to cook, especially if I visit good markets full of great ingredients.  I do get inspired, but often the inspiration wears off by the time I have returned to a (normally) cold, wet England.
Before leaving Turkey this time a friend gave me a big bag of fresh walnuts from some of his many trees, so these wonderful nuts were brought home to be used in my first batch of baking.

Walnut and Celery Scones

Makes 6-8

225g self-raising flour
40g butter
1 stick celery, diced
15g walnuts, finely chopped
10g Stilton, crumbled, plus more to serve
150ml milk

Pre-heat the oven to 220C/Gas mark 7.
Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the celery, walnuts and crumbled stilton, then pour in the milk and mix gently with a palette knife until the mixture comes together.
Turn out onto a floured work surface and gently roll out (or you can just pat it down with your fingers), to a thickness of about 2cm.
Cut into scones with a pastry cutter and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they are light golden.
Serve warm, cut open and topped with a slice of Stilton.

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.

I spoke too soon!

There I was boasting about the fact that I had remained healthy throughout the whole Zambezi trip, and then I started to feel a little 'odd'.  A few days later the 'oddness' had changed to downright illness and my body size was getting smaller due to me not fancying anything to eat at all - and that's when I knew I was just not right!
Another member of the team emailed to say he had been diagnosed with the parasite Giardia lamblia, so I headed off to get tested, and low and behold I had also managed to smuggle some little bugs back with me too.
Giardia lamblia is associated with the consumption of contaminated water and, as we had been drinking The Zambezi it is probably safe to say that that's where we got it from.  If you need to see what it looks like just Google it - I wish I hadn't, as now I can imagine all those little bugs running around inside me!
So, with only ten days to go before I fly out to Poznan, Poland for the World Masters Rowing Championships, I needed to do some exercise but couldn't actually get my breath if I exerted myself.  Luckily I have just found an area of hills that I have not explored before, so out came the walking boots and a friend and I headed off to the North Downs for a bit of hill walking.  What a great walk we had too - hardly anybody around (on a Bank Holiday weekend I suspect they were all packed into the Lake District!), and we found a great pub for lunch in the beautiful village of Shere - The William Bray.

Now the antibiotics have done their job (I hope), I am back to getting real food down me again, and have a craving for natural yoghurt, which is not only great for the probiotics I need to help get my healthy bacteria up to speed, but also can be used in so many things, not only sweet - yesterday I made a delicious dhal with lentils and coconut oil and lots of great spices and topped it with natural yoghurt sprinkled with cumin seed fried onions.  Today I was in the mood for creamy sweet citrus, so gently stirred homemade lemon curd into creamy natural yoghurt and served it over strawberries, with lemon zest on top - heavenly.
I don't think it's going to take long to replace the weight I lost!

Please take me back.....!

What a culture shock, to return from the banks of the Zambezi back to London - it really highlights the differences between our two countries.
But what an amazing trip - to start in Lusaka, drive all the way up to Angola and then paddle just under 1000km down the great Zambezi river to finish just above Victoria Falls.
There were obviously some bits that were not so amazing - not being able to wash for up to five days, or having to get up at 5.30am, pack up sleeping bag, tent and all kit for a 6.30am  breakfast, still in the dark and very much in the cold.  But the upside was sculling down the middle of a beautiful river, surrounded by wildlife (crocs, hippos, stunning birdlife), knowing that I was seeing something that not many people would ever get the chance to see, including most of the people who live in Zambia.
And meeting those people was such a pleasure - they are the happiest, calmest people I think I have ever met.  I was told by a friend who lives there that the Zambians never shout - it wasn't until I returned to London that I realised I had not heard a raised voice for over 3 weeks!
Needless to say I have returned a little lighter than before - we had great food cooked by our support team, but it was hard to fit in time to eat enough to sustain the exercise we were doing.  A few of the team came down with stomach issues - we were having to drink the Zambezi as well as row on it, as there is no other water in a lot of places.  We used sterilising tabs and also filter bottles, but for some this was not enough.  I had recommended Bio-Kult probiotics for everyone before we left, so some of us were better at dealing with the strange bacteria.  A couple of us also took Higher Nature Oregano oil capsules which are anti-bacterial, and I think this helped too.
Being vegetarian wasn't really a problem, as meat was not so easy to store anyway, so lots of great veggie dishes were cooked - gem squash stuffed with cheese and sweetcorn, green beans cooked in Coconoil and spices.  We were even treated to freshly made bread and, on special occasions, chocolate cake or apple crumble - I was amazed and delight at the inventiveness of Jana our great support girl.

One of the greatest treats was fresh fish, caught by one of our guides - I have never seen anybody catch fish so easily as this guy - he just seemed to know exactly where the fish were, and he reeled them in, one after the other.  Local bream was certainly very tasty, but the most impressive to look at was tiger fish, although eating them was tricky as they have lots of bones, and when eating by torchlight this becomes even more of a problem!
Typically conversation around the campfire always turned to what we would eat if we could, with everyone recalling their favourite meal, or dreaming about what their first meal would be on returning home.  It was like torture!
And now I am home, what I would really like is to be sitting around a campfire listening to all those great dishes all over again.

A break from blogging

Well, this is it, tomorrow I fly to Lusaka and will return once I have completed 1000km row down the Zambezi, from Angola to Victoria Falls.  I can't believe after all the preparation that it is finally here - and I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!
I know all my friends think I am mad, but I can't think of a better way to spend a month, than being in the heart of Africa, with nothing but a boat for transport, a fire to cook on and a river to wash in, drink and generally have fun in (ignoring the crocodile and hippo bit of fun!).
You can follow our progress at www.rowzambezi.com, where a map will give you our 'live' position - we have GPS on the boats - so if the technology works we should be easy to spot.
I'm sure I will come back with some interesting recipes you'll all want to try - like what to do with a live goat, or how to cook tiger fish (if Dan does actually catch any!).  Until then, keep eating well.

An overhaul before I go!

Packing and getting organised for a 'normal' trip abroad is bad enough, packing and preparing myself for this wild adventure is daunting - what if I forget the most important bit of kit required i.e. my machete, or even my electrical insulation tape?  Yes, both of these things are on my kit list!  I have decided to go for the dagger option for fighting off crocs though - I figure my fellow rowers would be in more danger if I carried a machete.  And the electrical insulation tape?  For taping up blistered hands, or prevention there of.  
That is the answer to all of this really - planning for prevention of anything untoward.
And to that end I have spent numerous evenings (and lots of cash) getting jabs, having my teeth checked, making sure my back is in order (osteopath), and generally buying lots of weird medical stuff that I normally wouldn't touch.
I am obviously trying to go for the most natural way of preventing anything, so have also been taking supplements that have been shown to help support the immune system against dodgy bacteria, and this week have been consuming a delicious cranberry smoothie that I am hoping may help along the same lines (cranberry has been shown in studies to decrease some bacterias adhering to the urinary tract lining).  So with only 7 days left I feel I have done everything possible to ensure I am ready.  It struck me this morning that surely this is how I should treat my body all the time?  It feels a little like before you sell your house you renovate it for the next person moving in - I have given my body a complete overhaul, now I just hope the croc doesn't want to take possession!


Cranberry and Strawberry Smoothie

Handful of strawberries*
Handful of frozen cranberries
1/2 mango, peeled
1 tsp honey
200ml oat or soya milk


Place everything into a blender and blend until smooth.


*If you have a good blender like a Vitamix, you can even leave the tops on the strawberries for added fibre.

Time to bulk up!

With only 14 days left before I fly out to Lusaka and join the other members of the Row Zambezi team, I have to really work hard now at keeping fit and healthy, so I can start the trip at the peak of fitness.
Luckily the team have been helped along with sponsorship from a few supplement companies, so we will all be taking probiotics and multi-vitamins prior to and during the expedition, in the hope that this may give us a good base of nutrition, especially for the days when we are surviving on army rations (which I have been told will cause constipation, so I will also be sneaking a little pot of ground linseeds into my bag, to help me in that situation!).
But what also sprang to mind was that I will certainly be losing weight whilst on the trip (rowing for 4-7 hours a day for 17 days does have some benefits!), so could allow myself a few treats before I go!  So as well as taking in my normal healthy day to day nutritional foods, I have been allowing myself a bit of free rein on everything else.  Pudding for me (I have a very sweet tooth) would normally be fresh fruit and natural yoghurt, which I do adore, but this week I found a little banoffee pudding to be equally satisfying!
Getting away from my normal diet also gives me more inspiration to try new recipes, and this soup was served to me in a restaurant when I was on a press trip in Germany many years ago and I had always wanted to try to recreate it - I think I've just got it right!
I have also recently acquired a fantastic machine called a Vitamix - an amazingly serious blender that can blend almost anything, and it makes this soup taste extra creamy and light.

Salmon and Horseradish Soup

Serves 4

Prep time: 8 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek, trimmed and sliced

500g potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 ltr fish stock

260g salmon fillets, cut into chunks

1 ½ tbsp creamed horseradish

100g double cream

snipped chives to serve

1.     Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the sliced leeks for 6 minutes.

2.     Add the chopped potatoes and stock and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 16-18 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

3.     Add half the salmon and cook for a further 2 minutes.

4.     Process in a blender or food processor with the creamed horseradish and cream until smooth.

5.     Return to the pan, add the remaining chunks of salmon and reheat until the salmon is cooked – about 2-3 minutes.

6.     Serve garnished with snipped chives.

A Diverse Day

I love that my life is so mad, with so many things going on at the same time, sometimes I get very confused as to where I am supposed to be and with whom!
Thursday was a prime example - firstly an invitation to join the Row Zambezi team for lunch at Henley Royal Regatta, hosting His Excellency the High Commissioner of Zambia.  As always, I arrived very early, to give myself a chance to wander along the 2 km course and watch some racing (most people don't move from the first Pimms bar they come across, but for me it's all about the rowing!).  After my walk I strolled to Leander, one of the most prestigious rowing clubs in the country, and treated myself to brunch (possibly the worst hot chocolate I have ever tasted!) and then reclined in a deckchair to watch more racing.
Lunch was taken at the Mile & 1/8th Restaurant, named due to it's position along the course, and again the food and service was really disappointing - it's not as if they don't do this every year, and at £36 for three courses, it is not exactly cheap.
But what was good fun was talking to His Excellency about the foods we may be able to acquire whilst paddling down the Zambezi.  I was concerned that we would not be able to find much fresh food, but he assured me that there are lots of fresh fruits growing along the river and villagers would be happy to sell food to us.  One of the highlights is that avocado grow wild there, and taste amazing.  Another tip was that there may be 'village chicken' available - this is the Zambian's name for free-range, as the chickens really do run around the village!

Leaving Henley before afternoon tea started was tough (I can never resist cake!), but I was attending a Guild of Food Writers workshop in Central London, which took place in The Scandinavian Kitchen and was to enlighten us on the Scandinavian diet.
Ask most people what the Scandinavians eat and the answer would probably be pickled herring and meat balls, and this is certainly part of their diet, but there are other equally interesting foods on offer.  But what I love is that they have a name for traditional, home comfort food - husmanskost, which literally means 'house owner's food'.  Smorgasbord is another great staple for breakfast and lunch - open sandwiches, normally on rye bread (which is why they are open, as chewing two layers of rye bread is quite hard work!).  And then there is the oder in which foods are eaten (and we were told it would be frowned upon if we strayed from this order!) - fish, meats, cheese and sweets.  And pickled herring must be accompanied by schnapps!
There is a study presently being undertaken that is hoping to show that the Scandinavian diet is as healthy as the Mediterranean diet.  Much as I love the pickled herring, I would rather be eating them on a sunny Mediterranean beach than the banks of an icy Fjord!

The Turkish way

I am writing my blog whilst sitting on the patio in the morning sun, having had the first swim of the day around 7.30am, when it is cool and the sea is silky smooth.  Returning to England tomorrow is going to be tough!

Last night I had dinner with my Turkish neighbours (so had to go armed with a phrase book!), and was amazed at how much fun you can have with people when you can only exchange a few words – sign language and throwing in the odd bit of French also helped!  Previously I had invited them to my house for dinner, and was corrected when I told them the time to arrive – I said 7pm and they told me that they would normally arrive between 7.30 – 8pm!  They also asked for salt to put onto their grilled fish and, as I didn’t have a salt-cellar I gave it to them in a little dish.  The next day a cruet set was presented as a gift – nothing goes unnoticed!

The order of food is always meze (lots of great tasting dishes such as stuffed peppers, stuffed vine leaves, fresh anchovies, aubergine cooked in a tomato sauce, yoghurt with aubergine and garlic, samphire, chillied yoghurt, plus many more depending on the restaurant or the season), followed by a large chunky salad and freshly cooked fish or seafood.

I spent the morning yesterday in the restaurant of a friend, learning how they cook some of their meze.  Fava, a broad bean dip made with dried broad beans, is cooked like a lentil soup them mashed, literally by hand, with huge amounts of chopped dill, before being served, drizzled with olive oil - it's delicious.  But the main thing I wanted to learn was how they made their famous Halva, a very sweet hot dish that is served for dessert sprinkled with chopped nuts.  Grated pistachio halva is mixed with milk and a little oil which is then poured into a shallow oven-proof dish and grilled – it’s like spooning hot caramel into your mouth – if you don’t have a sweet tooth please be warned! 

Behind with Blogging!

 I can't believe where the time goes - so much for keeping this up to date through the summer months.  When I am not working (and at the moment it is busier than ever), I want to be outside playing on the river, on a bike or just sitting in the sun and chilling out.  So blog-writing gets put to the back of my mind.  Then a few friends mention how much they enjoy reading about my adventures, and I feel guilty for not sitting at my computer for a little while longer.

Today I am sitting at my laptop outside a cafe, overlooking the Aegean Sea in the beautiful town of Foca, where I have a little town house.  The more I come here, the more I believe I could stay forever - the food is amazing, the sea is warm and silky smooth, and the locals make you feel as if you are one of them instantly.
I normally start my day with a run around the harbour, then into the sea for the first swim of the day before breakfast.  On this visit I have friends staying, Katie and Maddie, and Katie is an artist, so every other day we have been having painting lessons - starting with a bowl of cherries on day one, then a still-life in the garden, and finally we hope to stretch to a sea-scape.  At the moment we are still trying to figure out where to paint where we will not be over-looked - I am not yet ready to show my very simple artistic attempts to the world!
When we are not painting we have been out on the sea, firstly on an organised boat trip, and then on a private yacht belonging to a friend - so good to escape the world completely and sail away to a deserted bay for a swim.
And the food?  Every time I come here I think I will treat it like a spa break - exercise lots and eat really healthy food, as the local restaurants all serve amazing meze and fresh fish cooked really simply.  What I forget each time is the Raki that is served with food (an aniseed drink very similar to Ouzo, but is drunk throughout the meal and is quite strong), and the late- night dancing that has to be done!

Operation Hungry Hippo!

And there was me thinking that the Row Zambezi madness would not start until we left for Zambia at the end of July.  How wrong I was!
Operation Hungry Hippo was to be a team building, survival training weekend, and it certainly turned out to be just that.  Despite the fact that we were in the most beautiful part of West Sussex, there was no time for relaxing and enjoying the scenery.
The day started with a 'small' run to the camp area, followed obviously by a few exercises and stretches, before setting up camp and being shown the 'facilities' (and very plush they were too!!).
Things we may find useful when out in Zambia included the importance of team work, how to build a good camp, fire-lighting and general first aid.  I certainly learnt a few new things, for instance, how easy it is to start a fire with a Pringle!  Or a mobile phone!
On top of that there was the more physical stuff, like running up and down hills carrying heavy logs, wading across a river to fetch the previously mentioned log (now I know how a dog feels!), and obviously lots of press-ups for any reason that our PT guy could think of.

The bit I was not so keen on was how to skin and joint a rabbit - the main reason I turned vegetarian was when my father fed me a rabbit I had previously cuddled each day (not realising the concept of a small holding being that you eat everything you produce!).  I watched with interest whilst everybody else got very hands-on.  I did manage to add a little finesse to the day by finding fresh water mint for a nice cup of mint tea after our meal!
It was interesting to see what they cooked for us (disappointing too that they didn't make us do it, as I was dying to get cooking over an open fire).  I am hoping to be a little more adventurous once out in Zambia - we have a long, hard trip ahead of us, and I think moral will need to be kept high with as much good food as we can muster.

Chocolate Heaven

So, having worked liked a demon for two weeks to cycle the length of the country and get myself toned, slimmer and fitter, I then return to a week of forced chocolate intake!  OK, so maybe it wasn't forced exactly, but some people just have no willpower where chocolate is concerned, and when it's some of the best chocolate money can buy my willpower definitely goes out of the window!
The first chocolate obstacle was a day of photography for the front cover of Observer Food Monthly magazine.  The feature we were to show covered small food producers and included The London Honey Company and Duffy's chocolate - my sweet tooth went into overdrive!  What a fun day, 'playing' with such great ingredients - be sure not the miss the mag when it comes out next month.
Last night I organised for a few friends to join me in a chocolate tasting at the very innovative Artisan du Chocolat in west London - what an experience.  If you want to be cured of eating chocolate for a while this is the event to attend - every single one of us reached a point of being unable to taste more chocolate, despite the amazing morsels being offered!  Not only did we learn about the varieties of cocoa, chocolate flavours and how Artisan make their chocolates (they conche and refine their own beans), we were also treated to cocktails (bellinis, made with pulp of the cocoa pods, and gin fizz made with matcha white chocolate  - these recipes can be found on their website).  If that wasn't enough, we were given a 'break' from chocolate eating, which involved us eating a chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice-cream!
I think it may be a while before I reach for the delicious chocolate covered stem ginger I bought just before we left!

LEJOG

Wow, what an adventure, I can't believe we've made it back in one piece!  967 miles of peddling, with only a couple of wrong turns and one puncture - how lucky were we.
But a bit of advice for those intending to attempt this madness - the prevailing winds from Cornwall to Scotland did not exist.....at all!  We pretty much had a head wind for 75% of the trip.  And to be honest, finishing in John O Groats is not that great - there is nothing there, not even a pub within free-wheeling distance.  So my advice would be start at the top and cycle down - that way you will also avoid all the obvious comments of 'why are you doing it uphill?' - very annoying!

As for food along the way - for the first couple of days we ate constantly.  I think our bodies went into shock with all the exercise and we craved everything.  Luckily that started to wear off after around 4-5 days and we settled into a more sensible eating plan - good breakfasts (with eggs for much needed protein), then snacking every hour before stopping for a good lunch.  And we did find some great places too.  One that has to be mentioned is The Wellington, an award winning pub in the village of Wellington in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside - well worth a diversion.
Our snacks consisted of Mule Bars, Trek Bars and other similar healthy bars, but we soon got pretty bored with those every hour, and on reaching Scotland switched to wonderfully sweet Scottish tablet and shortbread!
Once our support vehicle joined us in Oswestry things became much easier on the catering front and with the catering being done by our support man Dave, we could control much more what we ate (i.e. we could cut down on chips!).  We were hoping to try a few regional foods along the way, but did struggle to find them - we passed many oyster beds along the Scottish Lochs, but didn't spot a restaurant along the route where we could sample them.  Cullen Skink soup at the Kilmartin Hotel was creamy and delicious, but perhaps not the most sensible choice when having to cycle another 30 miles over steep hills into Oban directly after eating it!
My favourite part of the whole trip has to be the stunning Isle of Arran, which is lucky really, as the sea conditions were so bad we got stuck on it for longer than anticipated!
I would definitely recommend the trip to anybody who wants to really see our great country - there is no better way.