sky high

This weekend I was booking some flights for a conference I'm going too at the end of the month. Surfing the prices, not too bad, almost reasonable! So, I start the process of booking the tickets and when I get to the point I am actually paying for the tickets I realise it’s a heck of a lot higher than I expected!

It seems flight companies have started introducing, what I am going to call, a sneak tax. For example: my flight with easy jet from Basel to London S. should have cost £66.53 including air tax. Since I wanted to book using credit card we can nicely push that up to £71.48!!!

Ryan Air was worse though, on the reasonable fights to and from Cork an additional £10… that’s right, £10 was added for the pleasure of taking 1 bag in the hold! In case you missed that it was TEN BRITISH POUNDS!! Then to top it off approximately £5 extra was again added because I was paying by credit card.

Another reason not to fly.

running around

I feel like I should say something about my training… Basically, I am no good at following any kind of training plan and so, being the flexible person that I am (doesn't mean I can touch my toes) I approach the whole thing in a very casual way! There are two events that I have signed up to:

CCC Ultra marathon, August 2007
Tough Guy, February 2008

Even as I write this I am thinking "what have I got myself into" but as they say: what doesn't kill you, will at least make you think twice before entering certain events!

For the ultra marathon I have been training mostly by running! In May I ran my first marathon, the Three Forts Marathon. This entailed 1000m of ascent and was actually 27miles trail! So am currently trying to fit in 3-4 runs a week including 1 easy jog, 1 set of interval training, and 1 long run. Think I need to do a bit more about running up and down hills too. On top of this I do a couple of aerobics classes a week to work on core strength.

Yesterday I decided to do my interval training at lunch time in the full glare of the sun, what a plonker! I staggered around Hyde Park doing 6x30second sprints with jogging rests, next time will wait till its cooler!

souper dinner

Yesterday I had a massive craving for red food, and I'm not talking meat! So I decided to make roasted red pepper and tomato soup for dinner. By the time I had got home it was about 9ish but by 10ish I was sitting with a big bowl of satisfying red soup. Was the first time I have made it and so was making it up as I went, but it tasted ok. So in case you have a red food night and not sure what to make, here is the recipe (4 servings-ish):

6 juicy red tomatoes
3 plump red peppers
2 shiny white onions
1 or 2 cloves of garlic (depending on your love of the stinky stuff)
Olive oil for roasting and frying
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
Herb d provence
A sprinkle of salt
Corn flour to thicken

It's really simple to make (or I wouldn't be doing it) but here is a rough outline. De-seed the peppers and cut them into big chunks. Coat them with a little olive oil and whack them into the oven at 200ºC for 20mins. While they are getting a suntan, you can chop up the onions and garlic and get them gently frying in a little olive oil and peal and roughly chop up the tomatoes. Yesterday I was being really lazy and didn't take the seeds out of the tomatoes, but I think it would make it better if I had. When the onions are ready chuck in the tomatoes and let it reduce a bit (depending how hungry you are). When the peppers are done and the tomatoes are reduced, chuck the peppers in too. Top it up with some boiling water or some stock, add your spices and herbs, those are the ones I used but put in whatever you like it’s the creative part after all (if you can call soup creative). Let it simmer for a while (I was hungry last night so I only had the will power to leave it 10mins). Blend to the consistency you like then dissolve a heaped tea spoon of corn flour in some water and add. Let it simmer a bit more to thicken it up and it's done!

I've just noticed that out of four postings, 3 are about food… mmmm… food!

christmas once a week

This week marks the second in a fruit and veg box experiment! I love vegetables! I really and truly do (with the possible exception of parsnips, which I believe are just misguided carrots). I am a would-be vegetarian that can't quite give up the odd helping of fish.

As such, I was delighted, if a little surprised, when my meat lov'n boyfriend suggested we sign up to Abel & Cole for a weekly dose of locally (or at least mostly locally) organic grown friut and veg delivered straight to your door. As well as the fruit and veg they offer a large selection of organic meat, fish, and cheese, not to mention other essentials.

Last week curiosity drove me to run down the road to see what delights were in store and I was not disappointed, now it feels like Christmas comes every Thursday!