Nothing like being busy

What an active weekend - I'm certainly starting to work my muscles and build a bit of stamina; my legs are a teensy bit sore today!

On Saturday there was more skiing. I'm trying to get lots of practise in so that I don't lose the skills my instructor taught me and continue to grow in confidence. I did lots and lots of runs. In fact, barring the short break for a cup of tea in the middle, I pretty much skied for two hours straight. And I got to wear my new ski jacket which I treated myself to after being signed off by my coach (up until now I've been skiing in my sailing jacket, which worked just fine but won't cut the mustard on a proper skiing trip).

At the top!

Sunday turned into skating day. We didn't join the London Friday Night Skate crew for their Sunday stroll because we wanted to take it gently, so instead we pottered up down and around Hyde Park for a couple if hours. The place was packed (well it was 27degC) so we had fun dodging pedestrians, cyclists, other skaters, skateboarders, scooters and other associated Sunday park goers. Sunshine, ice cream and selfies on-the-move. Glorious.

We topped off the weekend with homemade seafood paella (very loosely based on Jamie Oliver's recipe here), dining al fresco :) Long may the warm weather continue!

A spot of sunshine

Holidays, no matter how brief, have an amazing ability to relax you. It's as if the world resets for a while and all the stresses and worries dissipate. Last weekend we disappeared off to the southern coast of Spain for a few days, and it turned out to be just what I needed.

Here's a flavour of what I did:

I managed to pack a reasonable amount! For once my "write a list, ponder for a couple of days on it, pack in the shortest amount of time you can" method really worked for me. Hand luggage only, including several pairs of shoes, all under 10kg :)

I spoke Spanish lots. We went to an area that isn't very touristy (especially not for foreign visitors) and managed to get by with almost no English being spoken. I usually get very nervous about speaking French or Spanish, but I seem to be growing in confidence and actually remembering key language (sometimes even at the point were I needed it!)

I walked on the beach, paddled in the sea and swam in an outside pool.

There were lots of churches and parades (it was Holy Week after all), a couple of castles and a lighthouse.

Procession of the paso through the streets. This one was on Palm Sunday so it depicted Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem.

The amazing gardens at Real Alcázar in Sevilla. I have so many pictures of this beautiful place that you may get treated to another post all about it!

Breakfast was tostados con tomate; lunch and dinner were tapas. What else does a girl need?

I arrived home with a slight tan and a smile on my face, even though our flight was delayed. Six days later and the smile hasn't gone yet!

Ladies who brunch

I'm in the midst of a social whirlwind which isn't my normal way of doing things. It has been totally lovely to have time with friends and family :) And I've indulged  a bit  a lot too!

There was a yummy yummy brunch at my favourite cafe:

Fancy manicures:

Afternoon tea:

A long walk in the countryside with a borrowed dog:

Sushi:

All sorts of fun. It'll be back to work very, very soon and all this will be a pleasant dream!

A Christmas pie

Ok, I know this is super-late, but I really wanted to share this Christmas tradition and it's taken me a while to get the post written :) Enjoy

Christmas eve means fish and seafood in my house. My mum usually makes a rice creation featuring prawns, mussels and squid. I like to make fish pie...

Start with hardboiled eggs.

Add a selection of fish, which have been gently poached in milk, and some king prawns. This time I went for salmon and cod; sometimes I use a bit of smoked haddock too.

Cover in a white sauce (made from the poaching liquid).

And then smother in mashed potato and some grated cheddar. I try to be moderate with my cheese usage... I usually get carried away...

Baking time! Note the baking tray underneath to catch any minor eruptions around the edge :)

Oh, it was totally yummy. Not the prettiest of meals, but well worth the effort. This version was one of my best and a good contrast with the massive traditional turkey roast that we enjoyed the next day!

A mini Parisian adventure.

Having not managed a holiday during 2013 (except our 26 hours in France), Boxing Day saw us packing suitcases and jumping on a plane. It was a teeny thing that only seats 50 people and had propellers! Added excitement for me, especially as we experienced "the best turbulence we've had in ages"! I do enjoy flying :)

It looked super-teeny when we parked up next to a Boeing 777 at Paris!

The plan was three relaxing days in Paris: Christmas fairs, mulled wine and enjoying the sights. And it was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed wandering the streets, enjoying the architecture and exploring.

   

 

There was also sleeping in followed by ridiculously late breakfasts at local cafes or patisseries. We practised our French (mine is particularly dreadful), shopped and ate much too much.

I enjoyed a crêpe beurre sucre as we walked around Notre Dame.

We paused to admire the vast sea of padlocks on the bridge.

The last evening was particularly wonderful - a dinner cruise down the Seine. One very happy girl :)

I was sad to leave, but normal life must resume...

Marathon cooking

Two months ago I signed up to a fantastic sounding new company: Kitchen Nomad. The concept is very cool - every month they send you a box packed full of ingredients and recipes all based on the cuisine of a particular country.

This month's box was based on Mexico, which was particularly great because I love Mexican food (it's definitely in my top ten of world foods). I often make Mexican-inspired food (e.g. fajitas or chilli) and frequently choose Mexican streetfood or restaurants when dining out. Fab.

So the box arrived, I got excited and headed straight out to buy the added ingredients that I needed for the taco recipe:

Doesn't it look exciting?!

I was ready to roll!

First to make the dough for the tortilla:

This wasn't too tricky, just a bit time consuming to get the dough to come together and then kneed it.

The difficult bit was still to come...

The recipe said:

"Dust the board and your rolling pin with a little flour. Press a ball of dough firmly on the board with two fingers to flatten it into a fat pancake, then roll out to about 2mm thick."

Oh. My. Life. I nearly cried. The dough stuck to the rolling pin. I tried adding more masa harina flour. The dough fell apart when I tried to pick it up, even when I rolled it thicker than the 2mm suggested. Nothing was working. I gave up on the rolling pin and just pushed the dough out with my fingers - better but still couldn't lift it off the work surface.

In the end, I found a recipe on the masa harina packet which said:

"Use a taco press or flatten betwee two pieces of plastic."

Hurrah! Something that worked. Two pieces of clingfilm, a mixture of fingers and rolling pin and finally I was creating flattish, roundish tortillas that I could actually pick up!

I took lots of photos of my attempts to get the dough rolled out, but it's quite a depressing sequence so I will spare you!

I cooked the tortillas and got started on the filling, which consisted mostly of onions, ancho chillies (which are an amazing ingredient - love these!), crème fraîche and chicken. The chicken was optional, but there wouldn't have been much to the filling if I hadn't used it. As it was I only had enough filling for less than half of the tacos that I slaved over!

The final product:

(with added cherry tomatoes for some fresh zing)

I have one particular niggle with Kitchen Nomad: I'm not convinced that they test out the recipes before sending them out. I have tried at least four now and all had an ingredient that wasn't mentioned on the actual steps (on this one it was the garlic for the filling. I guessed and added it five mins after the onions). On top of that, there were the portioning problems (not enough filling for the tortillas), and the fact that rolling out the dough the way the recipe says to is basically impossible.

In total, this recipe (which was rated 2/3 for difficulty) took me almost two and a half hours. I know I'm not exactly a chef, but I do cook regularly and felt quite deflated by this experience.

However, there are lots of pros to the Kitchen Nomad system:

• It is very exciting to get a new box every month in the post and wonder about what might be in the next one.
• It gives you the chance to try a range of recipes that you may never have eaten, or that you've only ever eaten in restaurants.
• You find ingredients that you love and want to use in other cooking (ancho chillies - my new favourite!).
• It definitely shakes up your usual cooking regime - I have particular meals that I churn out on a weekly or monthly basis. I find that having a box of recipes and ingredients encourages me to experiment more and try new things.

Overall, I'm not ready to cancel my subscription yet, but I do hope the recipes come a bit more "tried and tested" in future so that the experience is more fun and less frustrating!

Am looking forward to trying the chilli honey crumble (doesn't it sound amazing?) and the baked feta (well, it is cheese after all!).

The green addition to my shopping basket

Would you believe that I've never bought an avocado before? Crazy.

Mashed avocado, juice of half a lime, half a finely chopped chilli and a small amount of finely chopped red onion. Guacamole the healthier and yummier way :)

Yes, there really were nachos somewhere under the salsa, grated cheese, soured cream and guacamole!

Whistle-stop adventure

(Alternative title: France for 26 hours)

What a weekend! It's been ages since I've had a real adventure (apart from the wedding of course), and this was a good one.

Some friends were getting married in the South of France, very close to the Biarritz/Henday coast which is one of my most favourite places in the world. Our original plan was a slightly more leisurely two night stay, but timings of flights put paid to that. Up at 5:30am on Saturday. Train. Coach. Aeroplane. 

By the way, have I told you about my love of flying? I get so excited when we're waiting at the gate, again when we're taking off and again when we land. I'm like the little kid staring out of the window. There was a very cute little French girl sat in front of me on the flight who did exactly that. When we had landed and everyone was preparing to disembark, she started saying "au revoir avion" which was incredibly cute!

By 11:30am I stepped onto the Tarmac, into lovely sunshine. I was one happy bunny.

We managed a stroll by the beach and a spot of delightfully French lunch before changing into wedding gear and driving up into the hills.

Goats cheese salad and prawns cooked in something amazing - can't remember what it was but it was yummy!

It was a bilingual, bi-denominational ceremony with comedic French minister who went rather off-script - fabulously crazy and totally lovely service.

Champagne, bands, tons of amazing hor d'oeuvres and surrounded by French people (my circulating and new-friend making was rather hampered by my extremely poor French speaking!).

Dinner was multiple courses of beautiful food and we sat with one of the bands which was very entertaining!

Next morning we managed to meet up with our Hendaye-based friends for a breakfast of pastries on the cliff top before jumping back on a plane and making it home in time for dinner. I was thrilled to return to the British wind and rain...   :(

Two sets of friends (including a wedding) - pretty good going I think.