Christmas Cabbage

So as you may all remember I started this blog with an image of my trainers and soon conversation about them tailed off. Well in a happy turn of events, the trainers have been worn and used. After an awful week of bus drivers diverting, getting lost, stopping early I finally conceded that it might be time to utilise my legs. So I walked the 2.4 miles from work home, stopping off at Co-op.

On my walk I had a sudden and unexpected craving for sausages and braised cabbage and after all that walking I was hank marvin! Incidentally, whilst I'm on the topic of Co-Op they also had an amazing gluten-free section with a crossed grain on their sausages meaning I didn't have to read the back of the packet!

Anyway back to my dinner. As I carried on my walk back, weighed down by sausages and red cabbage, I suddenly realised I'd never cooked braised cabbage before and that my well thought out plan was actually flawed!

Determined not to be beaten I put my caramelised onion sausages in the oven and set about preparing my cabbage and inventing my very own braised cabbage recipe which went something like this:

1. Hack Cabbage and heat deep saucepan with a little olive oil
2. Add cabbage to pan with a cup of water, quarter of a cup of cider vinegar and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
3. Add a cinnamon stick, bay leaves, sultanas, orange zest and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
4. Leave simmering away and should hopefully be done at the same time as the sausages

What I didn't bargain for is that in that saucepan I had created Christmas, not literally obviously, but the aroma was Christmas.

Dinner served.

Brownies

I know I often write about savoury meals and savoury adventures but today as I sat on the bus on my way home all I could think about was a warming cup of tea and a piece of brownie and as it happened thats exactly what I had as soon as I got in.

Fortunately, I had been home for the weekend and my lovely Mum sent me back with some brownie and yes its gluten-free and yes its delicious. For all of you that have the idea that gluten-free food is on the whole unpalatable, just one piece of this brownie will change your mind forever. I sort of wish some sort of tool was invented so I could send some brownie chunks into cyber space! As I am unaware of any technology like that you will just have to take my word for it.

Here's a picture (before they all go):

If you want to try these amazing bundles of heaven then I have included the recipe below:

Best Brownies in the World

Brownies + Tea = perfect winter afternoon combo

Cuisines

I was thinking a few days ago about cuisines as my boyfriend and I decided to treat ourselves to a mid-week dinner out but the questions always the same...where do we go, what do we feel like?

On this occasion, we were both thinking the same thing...Indian and it got me thinking about my relationship with different cuisines. Indian, for example, is my comfort food. I know that I don't even need to worry about the gluten aspect as they use very little, if any gluten in Indian cooking. I also like the flavours and the fact that there is a dish for whatever "spice mood" your in.

The Indian restaurant we went to was London Bridge Tandoori and it was delicious but it got me wondering, how many other cuisines there are in the world that are not as established as Indian or Chinese that we don't explore.

If I could, my exploration would include travel round the world but that is simply out of my reach for the moment so the next best thing is a cuisine exploration in the kitchen or in restaurants.

I have so far explored Indian (obviously), Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican, Thai, British, Ethiopian, Jamaican, Spanish. Most of these explorations have happened at Brick Lane market on a Sunday. I have to say, if you have never been, you should go, not only are there a multitude of food stalls there are also plenty of gift stalls and you can always pick up something unique.

Back to the food, cuisine exploration is a must for me but what about you? What cuisines have you eaten? Cuisines aren't just about the food but they are a journey into a different culture so I will continue my journey and let you know where I end up next.

Getting Serious

I started my blog as a way to keep my passion for writing alive but the more I have written on my blog the more I have realised that if I'm going to continue I need to get serious. I started thinking about my passions in life and how they connect to my blog so the first big one is food.

Its probably no surprise by now that most of my blogs are food related in some way because its something that has always interested me. From 5 years old, I was baking cakes, with assistance I hasten to add (for those of you who are visioning a health and safety disaster). The single biggest reason for this is of course the g-word, yes I mean gluten-free. When I was younger there was no free from range so I had to learn from an early age what I could and could not eat. Trust me there have been numerous occasions over the years of people who don't understand the concept of gluten-free convincing me as a small child that I could eat sausage rolls! Thankfully I had those early lessons from my Mum that prevented any serious disasters.

It got me thinking though, those early lessons have left a fascination and a passion for food. Just last night, my boyfriend and I made a stichelton, spinach and thyme tart with gluten-free walnut pastry and it was delicious. It also wasn't simple. The gluten-free pastry was hard to work when refrigerated it became brittle but we persevered and managed to create something delicious. It bucked the trend of gluten-free food being less than palatable.

So I guess you are all wondering the point of this blog, well when I first started out I said it would be eclectic and lots of differing things but from now on food will form a main focus. That's not to say you won't get the odd bit of my eclectic personality.

I also decided if I am to get serious I need to start making my blog consistent, no dipping in and out when I feel like it so I am going to start by trying to do 3 posts a week. The other thing about getting serious with my blog means starting to properly follow other bloggers and start commenting on their blogs. I love writing for whoever reads my blog but I also want to open up a conversation with other people with similar interests.

As I promised this would have a main focus on food, I will leave you with a picture of the soup I've got cooking. Jamie Oliver's sweet potato and chorizo, a uni favourite and one of my personal favourites:

Meat Feast

I expect many of you have been eagerly awaiting news of the meat banquet and I have to say only now have I felt able to write about this colossal meal.

The process started off with the below meats:

Bottom left: Pig's Trotters
Top left: Pork Hand
Top Right: Rabbit
Bottom Right: Lamb's Hearts

The Pork Hand was scored, rubbed and chucked in the oven to slow roast for a couple of hours, whilst the trotters were boiled, stripped and fried; the rabbit was casseroled and the hearts were stuffed. With so much in the oven it was hard to keep track of timings but we persevered in the quest for delicious food.

The veg was boiled, the mustard mash mashed and the meats were soon ready. The taste adventure began with everyone sampling each meat accompanied by a glass of red wine. Now I can be squeamish but every dish was delicious in its own way. I was most scared of the heart as I don't really like liver and had a feeling the texture would be the same but it wasn't it was rich and gamey and at times I forgot what I was eating and just enjoyed the flavours.

The best part of the meal was combining all the flavours for one mammoth taste sensation. I know for many of you this post won't turn you towards under used cuts of meat but the trotters, hearts and pork hand combined cost less than a tenner but also gave an added enjoyment for us as we pondered how to cook our meats. Lets just say that given the choice I would choose a meal like this over the supermarket meats any day!

Can't wait for my next culinary adventure!

My new temporary home

As many of you know I moved house yesterday and am very fortunate that some very lovely people have agreed I can stay with them for a bit until my house search begins. Its been a long, drawn out moving in process. For a start, I started moving stuff little and often but some things have to be done on the last day so my boyfriend and I made the final journey from South West London to East London armed with drying rack, bag full of condiments eg mustard, flour, sugar, food colouring etc and about 2 holdalls. We were a sight to behold!

However, on arrival at my new temporary home I felt very much at home. I unpacked all the bags, put the condiment bag away in the kitchen and put a washing load on. (The drying rack was immediately useful!) After this we decided the best course of action was to go to the pub as one of us wanted to watch the football so off we trotted to the pub.

What was to follow would blow all our minds...

After the pub, we went to the butchers and bought some unusual cuts of meat and decided on a banquet where we each cook and prepare our cut of meat. So the Banquet is for today but we needed something for dinner last night so someone had the inspired idea to make a meatloaf. I for one have never had meatloaf before so was excited at the prospect of trying something new.

We found a recipe (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/my-favorite-meatloaf/)
Definitely recommend it and went about preparing the most colossal meatloaf I have ever seen.

This was the meatloaf pic from the recipe but ours looked pretty similar just a bit bigger!

So having been in my new temporary home just 24 hours I am already having my eyes opened up to a whole world of food possibilities.

My Favourite Restaurant in London

My boyfriend and I are sometimes hard to please when it comes to eating out. For a start, my other half doesn't like chain restaurants so sometimes when you are starving and just want some food, it is excruiatingly painful to have to walk past restaurant after restaurant that can satisfy my hunger. Secondly (as you all probably guessed) is the gluten-free issue and the killer question, 'is this gluten-free?' which leaves many staff running for the exits. Thirdly, is his height: let's just say he'd be at home in a basketball team! We always have to check that his legs will fit under the table, then which side is easier for him to sit in and where can he sit so he won't obstruct the staff and other diners. In small restaurants, it can be a bit of a mission.

Now last night, we booked a table at a restaurant Brawn that we had tried to go to before but got turned away as they were so busy. This time we booked ahead. Walked in and did the checklist: not a chain, height..fine and the gluten-free aspect taken care of with complete aplomb. The menu came back with the glutenous items crossed out and when we placed our orders they were quick to spot one of them contained gluten and checked whether that was ok (which it was as it was for him not me).

After the arrival of our bottle of red, came the starter of a platter of charcuterie with a brawn (pig's head) terrine, salami and a pork paté and of course some bread for the gluten one. Next came main courses, mine was a black brawn dish with braised red cabbage and a green caramelised apple and his was pig trotters with some salad. The plates looked quite small but even a quarter of the way through we were both struggling to finish our meals. Although we did manage to find space for a delicious chocolate ganache with nuts, cream and meringue which we shared because we were about to explode!

I cannot put into the words how delicious the food is here but having been to plenty of London restaurants we both decided that Brawn is by far the best.

My Perfect Sunday

As I already told you guys my weekend started off with a delightful girls night in raising money for breast cancer care and then Saturday saw the not so delightful task of cleaning the flat. Think deep clean, oven, carpets...you name it we cleaned it!

By Sunday I was in need of some relaxation so I headed to the East to see my other half. We wandered down Columbia Road looking at the beautiful flowers and then headed to Brick Lane to the market.

We still couldn't settle on what we wanted to do so we wandered on to Whitechapel and then down to Tower Bridge taking in the quietness of the city. It was so peaceful it felt like we were in a countryside of sorts. We wandered along to St Katherine's dock, stopping off at The Dickens Inn for a nice pub lunch. I had delicious cajun salmon and my other half had a pie (any chance to have something glutinous!)

It was the type of Sunday that I just love but it wasn't over. We wandered back home and had a nap for a couple of hours before being woken up to play Scrabble. With a roaring fire projected on the wall, mug of tea in hand and a game of Scrabble it felt like a wintery evening round the fire.

Scrabble was followed by a delicious meal of melt in the mouth gammon, kale and roast potatoes, a film and a glass of wine.

Now thats what I call a perfect Sunday!

When Charity should start at home

There's a well known saying that charity starts at home and sometimes I feel myself muttering it under my breath as I walk past the numerous volunteers collecting money for charity at the station. Its not that I'm anti charity but if I gave money to every single charity then I would become in need of charity. I also find that they have this magical ability to make me feel horrendously guilty as everyone in the station walks past them in a rush to get to work.

My guilt got the better of me when I walked past a retired man stood on a cold and windy Waterloo bridge collecting money for RNLI. Now I would happily donate to the RNLI but I was rushing for a train and couldn't stop but as soon as I got to the station I felt so guilty I considered walking back across the bridge to give my donation to that poor guy feeling the effects of a strong sidewind. In the end I did donate to the RNLI, did miss my train but felt relieved to know that if one day I or any of my friends or family needed the RNLI then my little donation would go towards helping them.

I guess thats the type of charity that makes me warm inside, the ones that can help the people I love and care about which is why I was honoured to be invited to a girls night in for Breast Cancer Care. This night was great fun, spent with great people raising money for a great cause and there is something so fulfilling about a night like that. There was no guilt for not donating as we had fun games that we paid money to join in with and paid to have manicures.

So I guess sometimes charity really should start at home.

Winter Wear

Last time I wrote I asked the universe to give us a summer or at least some warmer weather, unfortunately it never arrived but in a roundabout way the universe did deliver on my other wish...to have a reason to go shopping.

Now I love to shop at the best of times but when living is so expensive, it can often be hard to find time and funds to go shopping. Luckily for me, this all happened to come together one rather quiet Monday evening when a friend had the genius idea of going to buy knitwear.

We all moan about how we hate winter and how miserable the weather is but we do enjoy the plus sides of the weather getting colder. For instance, in the summer you can't get excited about chunky knit or cable knit but in winter you can but more than shopping Autumn/Winter allows you to be a big kid.

Kicking your feet through the fallen leaves is allowed and strongly advised. Making snowmen, throwing snowballs and sledging is actively encouraged. Drinking mulled wine and eating certain foods is only acceptable in the winter.

So in readiness for Autumn/Winter, I purchased my Christmas knitwear and am embracing the changing weather because somehow the world looks a little more beautiful at this time of year.

So, when it starts getting chilly lets not complain, lets embrace our winter wardrobe.

Where did the Summer go...

Can you believe that Autumn is setting in already? I had noticed the temperature slightly dropping but today I woke up to the leaves falling off the trees, rain pounding town and the realisation that I needed to put my winter duvet on my bed. So much for the late summer we were supposed to have!

However Autumn has presented me with another problem that I have every year but never seem to plan far enough ahead to rectify. I never seem to have warm enough clothes. I have looked at my winter wardrobe with the terrfying realisation that it appears to be much the same as my summer wardrobe suggesting that either I didn't notice the summer come and go or in winter I am never warm enough.

This will ultimately lead to a trip lane to get some cosy vintage knitwear but I have to say as much as I love shopping, it does not make up for the mediocre summer we have suffered so my hope is that the sun will make a late comeback and give us all some much deserved sun.

Someone once told me that if you want something bad enough the universe listens so here I go: Sun please come back and give us some warmth before winter sets in.

The Power of the E-Book

My holiday in Tuscany left me questioning how I ever coped before my e-book. My Kindle became a lifesaver on holiday as it uses no data and I was able to search a travel guide that I had already downloaded to find information quick and easily. My Kindle soon became a fixture of everyday and when we weren't sure we would stop off and check what the Kindle said. Now to be perfectly honest the travel guide wasn't the best and my Kindle would have been even more useful if I downloaded a better one but it left me pondering a very serious question: Is the traditional book on its way out?

I'm torn as having been a keen reader of English Literature I always pictured my house (when I own one) as having a study with bookshelves filled with books but now my Kindle fulfils that function and takes up virtually no space. I have all my Kindle books filed by genre so that its easy to find the book I want, making me wonder if the idea of a book filled study is just a waste of space and time?

The other problem for the traditional book is that the wave of iPad's, ebooks and smart phones is attracting more followers and leaving the paper book in their wake but is this necessarily a bad thing? For years we have been told that as a nation we don't read enough so is it not heartening that many of those iPad's, ebooks and smart phones are being used to read books, just not in the traditional way.

Perhaps then it is the publishing world that has to provide hard copies as well as digital copies, they have to forsee the need to have digital copies and give people the opportunity to buy it. Also a digital copy will never go out of print and there will never be the problem that not enough books were printed.

My Kindle is now a staple in my handbag along with phone, purse etc and I now wouldn't have it any other way. I guess its a perfect example of how we have evolved and made an Ipod for books!

I'm back

First things first, I must apologise for not writing since my paralmypic adventure but I have a good reason as I have been away in Tuscany and have only just got back. It also means that this post will have a flavour of Italy running through it.

My first step on Italian soil saw us being ushered onto a bus for a 2 second bus journey. It was the most ridiculous journey ever but I suppose in Britain we are quite organised and have solutions. For example, we were waiting for a train, watching copious amounts of people crossing live tracks and there was an announcement telling us that one of the trains was an hour delayed. As much as us Brits love to complain about the transport system, you have to admit that on a whole its pretty good. The other transport we took was a bus, now in most countries you buy a ticket for where you are going but not in Italy; in Italy you buy a ticket for how many kilometres you are travelling!

All that being said, there are a number of things that the Italians do extremely well like Gelato and also gluten-free cones. Now to most people a gluten-free cone doesn't sound that exciting but picture yourself at a tender young age having your first Flake 99,' well in many ways that memory you had probably a decade or longer ago I had just last week. It wasn't just the novelty of having an ice cream in a cone but the fact my ice cream cost the same as my travel companions. There was no extra charge just because it was gluten-free so that got my vote.

After dinner, my travel companion and I would often take a walk up and down the Arno river and stop off on for a glass of wine or an ice cream and it made me realise how little we use what we have around us. The Italian transport system is a reflection of their laid back approach to life and that extends to their evenings so I have decided that I am going to try and be more Italian and use my evenings to go out for walks and see the world in a different light.

Finally the day has arrived...

Today is the day that my running partner and I go the Paralympics. I am so excited to see the amazing athletes who are an inspiration. Some people are saying we shouldn't treat the Paralympians any different to the Olympians but I think that is quite short-sighted. As someone said to me a few days ago, the Paralympians are just a few seconds behind the Olympians, training as hard as the Olympians despite having to overcome lots of hurdles on their way to the Paralympics.

The Paralympians could have turned around and said 'I've had enough happen in my life that I don't want the stress and pressure of the Paralympics particularly on home turf' but they didn't. So maybe the Paralympics should be seen as Channel 4 are presenting it as an Olympics for superhumans because they truly are incredible human beings.

I always hated sport at school. I was never any good and always picked to be in the team playing the 1st team so of course we always lost. Dance, I was no good at that as I had no timing or coordination. Tennis, I got demoted to the low density balls. Hockey... I just ended up being tackled and giving the ball away every time. Netball,Rounders, Athletics... the list goes on. Every year I would get the same grade and comments: 'C- She tries hard and shows some signs of improvement.' Year after year, I swear they photocopied the same comments into my report so as any child would I became demotivated and stopped trying which was when I won the rounders improvement shield. Oh the irony!

The only event at school I enjoyed was Sports Day when I was House Captain as I didn't actually have to participate. My role was supporting the house and keeping up a good moral. However, I may jest about my school days but in reality they are nothing to what some people go through and I'm going to see some of those people on the athletics track today, winning Paralympic medals for their country.

If that's not inspiring I don't know what is!

Expect the unexpected

I warned you to expect the unexpected from this blog so I thought that today rather than talk about my day, because lets face it nothing interesting has happened, but share a poem that I wrote a long time ago.

It was one of the things I kept private and hidden away but its about friendship and I think all of us have had times in our life that let us relate to this poem. So here it is:


These People

As I sit crying these tears, feeling lost and alone, feeling like my world has ended; I see the faces of those I count so dear to me and as the tears begin to wane, I no longer see faces but people. There’s the one holding my hand not saying a word just offering comfort, there’s the one wiping away the tears that are stinging my eyes, there’s the one begging me to fight this and there’s the one holding me together.

I can see my light flickering as this monster chokes me. I see my body convulsing in front of me and those people don’t move. I want to shield their selfless eyes from the horror my body is inflicting on them. Instead they sit in a circle, holding hands, silenced by my cries of agony, forcing me to keep fighting and they’re pulling me back from the brink. Their power is guiding me back to a body I had left redundant. Their power puts the beat back in my heart.



Friendship is one of the most powerful things we have and I know I take my friends for granted so this is for you all.

Fire, Flames and Funrides

I have to admit that I slightly failed in my mission this weekend. I had the romantic notion of my inaugural run in the beautiful Sussex countryside with only sheep and cows as viewers of my first foray into exercise. It was all going well, both my running partner and I had our gym kits and were discussing our run until he realised he had left his trainers behind. Unfortunately, being a outsider I really did need my running guide. I feel awful to have let myself and you all down but I knew this running thing was never going to be easy so I made a point of wearing my trainers in and now they are ready...

Anyway enough of the trainers. I don't want to bore you all senseless with the travels of my trainers but instead I wanted to share my Sussex weekend with you. My running partner lives in Sussex so we went back to see his family and that weekend happily coincided with his local town's carnival. I was told that the carnival would be a spectacle that I had never seen before but having been to carnvial's before I took this with a pinch of salt. How wrong I was...

I didn't realise Sussex was so full of pyromaniacs! Hailing from Oxfordshire all our carnvials are classic cars and floats but this carnival was something to behold with a prayer from the local reverend and all local bonfire socieities parading through the town under their crests with flaming torches. Any Health and Safety nut's worst nightmare particularly when a car drove over a flaming torch!

It was a site that sent shivers down my spine as I felt transported back to a bygone age. It was something that I will never forget.

And I haven't got over the hurdle yet...

After feeling particularly upbeat about my trainer purchase and my running partner's assitance, he had to go and have a birthday, which equalled copious amounts of food and limited movements. Actually he had 5 birthday cakes (6 if you count the one he bought himself), a mexican meal and some tequila!

4 of the 5 were giant size snacks and I'll give you a hint, they are all the ones with chocolate on. Full marks if you can guess them all....

The odd one out is the gluten-free victoria sponge, slightly selfishly made by me to ensure I could partake in some cake. I didn't really need to worry about that because my gluten-free needs were taken care of by my running partner's amazing housemates who had also booked a table at Boho Mexica (Highly recommend it, its on Commercial Street http://www.bohomexica.co.uk/)  and checked I could eat something on the menu, saving me that awkward moment of being the fussy one in the restaurant.

Needless to say after a hearty mexican, tequila (1800 Anejo to be exact), wine, some cider and some cake, the trainers seemed like a distant memory, almost a dream. However, I have two things that will spur me on: the paralympics next week, where amazing atheletes are competing and here I am whinging about putting my trainers on and running in them and my holiday in just over a week, not that I have left much time to get a bikini body! On second thoughts maybe the trainers will have to come with me. If they follow me around everywhere, I have no choice but to wear them!

So I will not be defeated, although I have failed at the first hurdle, I will be in the trainers and running before the week is out. Thats a promise! I've put it on here so I have to keep to it as I can't let you all down.

So it begins...

The weekend was pretty momentous as I willingly purchased my first pair of trainers! Now I have had trainers before but these had always been bought by my parents in the hope that it might encourage me to exercise...it didn't!

Only this year has my phobia and hatred of any type of exercise started to dissipate, mainly due to the volume of snacks on offer at work and my limited movements during the day, causing some rather unwanted wobbly bits and guilt over how active everyone around me seems to be!

The weight is a consideration because one day I will wake up and those wobbly bits would have multiplied and it will be too late as my phobia of exercise and gyms would prevent me from doing anything  about it. So I'm starting now...taking baby steps and am lucky enough to have a running partner who will help encourage me to exercise.

So I'll leave you with a picture of my brand new shiny trainers:

It may look like my blog has been started on a whim of restlessness but its more of a long held project that has only now come into fruition. In many ways I've been writing my own personal blog for as long as I can remember, taking time to jot things down and using writing as my own personal release. The thing is I don't want the things I write about to be shrouded in mystery anymore because I figure if you take the time to write something then why not share it, maybe it will catch someones eye and strike a chord, maybe it won't but at least its out there for someone to make a choice on.

So what I found today in a moment of clarity was that I am restless, restless because I want to do so much more. I want to explore new places, meet new people and be more adventurous than I am but something always stops me and  that something is fear. So today in front of you all I'm making a resolution, albeit 8 months late, to do so much more.

I don't know how its going to go but it will require some staying power, something I don't always have. I will keep you posted on the latest developments. In the meantime, I will share this with you:

Dormancy re-awoken.