Filed under: food | Tags: airline food, complaint, Richard Branson, virgin
Had to share this link, to what may be the funniest complaint letter ever written. It’s addressed to Richard Branson, and articulates a passenger’s thoughts on the quality of his Virgin on-board meal. As the daughter of a BA cabin crew veteran, it is extra amusing.
Ordinarily, I’m one of a small minority that actually likes airline food – probably because I like pretty much any food. Except liver. And soft-boiled eggs.
Filed under: British Military Fitness, food, gym, healthy eating, running | Tags: blood pressure, British Military Fitness, cholesterol test, doctor, food, gym, running, spinning, transient ischaemic attack
I seem to have been in and out of the doctor’s surgery a bit too much lately, which is annoying on many levels. I hate being ill: it slows me down, stops me from doing any exercise and therefore prevents me from eating what I want. And I get really annoyed that the old people can’t work the self check-in screen in reception. They really can’t cope with using the touchscreen to enter their sex and date of birth – sends them into a complete spin and causes a queue out the door while the receptionist sorts them out. It would be quicker to check them in the old-fashioned way.
Anyway, the good news is that I appear to be normal:
Height: 1.62m (5′4″ in old money)
Weight: 64kg (10 stone 2 – that’s three pounds lighter than at Christmas – yay)
BMI: 24 (ok, very top end of normal – but still normal)
Blood pressure: 120/70
Cholesterol: 2.56 (has to be under 4)
The blood pressure and cholesterol were pretty important – my Dad suffered two transient ischaemic attacks (mini strokes) a few years ago – one of which I witnessed, probably the scariest moment of my life. His blood pressure and cholesterol level turned out to be off the scale – and had never been checked. I had to go through a telephone grilling before the doctor would agree to me having one – despite the family history – and she gave me a lecture on eating properly, even if my level turned out to be below average. Obviously I sounded like the type of person that would get a good result, go off and eat only cheese for the rest of my life. I’m not entirely sure how to analyse the result, but I’m relieved that it is – well – normal.
I’m also a pretty normal January exerciser, as it turns out. After doing 14 “units”of exercise (British Military Fitness, running, gym, spinning) in the first 18 days of the year- I’ve done nothing for the last nine days. In my defence, I’m on antibiotics that have wiped me out and made me way more sleepy than usual, but it is time to get back in the saddle. I intend to start tomorrow morning by going back to the gym.
Filed under: food, recipes | Tags: dessert recipe, Hamlyn cook book, lemon flan
I was asked to do this for the umpteeth time by friends on Saturday. Despite its origins in the 1970s (I’ve adapted it from an old Hamlyn All Colour Cook Book which also contains the recipes for sherried kidneys, potted shrimps, aspic chicken and curried egg salad), it never seems to fail to impress. It’s dead easy, so have a go…
Lemon flan
- 5oz digestive biscuits
- 2 1/2 oz butter
- Tin of condensed milk (you can use the light version – every little helps)
- 1/2 pint of cream
- 3 lemons
- good quality white chocolate (Green and Blacks is perfect)
Crush the biscuits, ideally in a food processor – but putting them inside a plastic bag and battering them with a rolling pin will also work.
Melt the butter, and stir in the crushed biscuits. Press into the bottom of an 8″ flan dish or sponge tin – ideally one with a loose bottom. Refrigerate while you make the next bit.
Using a hand mixer, blend the condensed milk with cream and the grated zest of the lemons. Beat in the juice from the three lemons. Leave to set – a couple of hours is ample, but it will keep fine overnight too.
Before serving, turn out of the tin and grate over the white chocolate.
Eat.
Filed under: music to run to, running | Tags: music to run to, running power tracks
The Red Bucket has tagged me. I’m not exactly sure what this means – but it seems like some kind of online game of “It” played by bloggers – only harder. He wants me to publish my top ten running “power tracks” to go with his. He thinks his list is uncool, but he hasn’t seen mine yet…
Here you go then, in reverse order of greatness. I’m afraid some of them are the same as RB’s, but that’s because he copied me in the first place:
- New Shoes – Paolo Nutini (a good warm-up track, nothing too strenuous)
- Proud – Heather Small (good lyrics, reminds me of Kelly Holmes)
- Toxic – Britney Spears (I like the strings)
- Fighter – Christina Aguilera (good for generating some agression to hit a hill)
- Footloose – Kenny Loggins (at 174 bpm, it’s about the perfect beat to run to)
- Shut Up And Let Me Go – The Ting Tings (fun)
- I Like The Way You Move – Bodyrockers (good beat)
- Are You Gonna Be My Girl? – Jet (reminds me of the 2007 Great North Run, mile 9)
- Lose Yourself – Eminem (171 bpm so ideal pacing track, great lyrics)
- Insomnia (Monster Mix) – Faithless (just the best track to run to EVER)
When it comes to running, I’m more of a pop/dance fan then. Out of running shoes, I like my indie/rock stuff too. Just in case anyone thinks I’m totally uncool.
Erm, right, so now I tag some other people. I’m going to get in before JogBlog and tag Iliketocount, Sorelimbs and Warrior Women.
Filed under: British Military Fitness | Tags: British Military Fitness, Mini Cooper, mud
British Military Fitness tonight – back to the normal soggy mudfest after a few nights where the ground was hardened with ice. In many ways I prefer it icy because, once you get all wet and muddy, you feel the cold more. It doesn’t help when you are required to “leopard crawl” across the football pitches, narrowly avoiding dog poo.
Once again, I was glad I invested in a car seat cover to protect the Mini from any nasty dirt particles.
Shame my flat isn't this clean
Filed under: Uncategorized
Feeling better his morning, so went for a (albeit fairly easy) session at the gym this morning: 30 mins on the treadmill (5.13k); followed by some weights to work hamstrings, glutes and quads; then some stretching. Tell you what, it’s a darn sight quieter at 7am, than at 6pm in your average gym in January. I had the changing room all to myself by the time I got to the hairdryer – though I was almost late for work due to faffing for far too long with the hair straightners.
No matter what the no-music fans say, I struggle to run without my trusty iPod Shuffle, especially at the gym. My never-fail-to-get-me-through-an-energy-crisis power tracks are still Faithless (Insomnia) and Eminem (Lose Yourself), but I’ve also got some new Ting Tings and Little Boots tracks which kept me bouncing along quite happily today. Any new music recommendations welcome as always.
Feeling a bit under the weather today, so decided to give British Military Fitness a miss tonight. It might be a few degrees warmer today, but doesn’t it feel dark and gloomy without the clear skies that we’ve had over the past couple of weeks? I think I preferred it when it was colder, which is saying something because I do feel the cold more than most (or I’m just a more of a wimp).
Having booked a ski holiday this weekend, I really should toughen up a bit. Or buy lots of Icebreaker kit, as seen in Snow and Rock on Saturday. I managed to restrain myself from spending any more than £15 on a lovely pair of purple and pink gloves. I wasn’t at all tempted by the very pretty matching stripy scarf, various tops and slobby jogging bottoms. Honest.
If you like doing anything outdoorsy, this kit is bloody brilliant – you can wear it for days without it getting stinky. I’ve got one of the lightweight vest tops for summer hiking and a long-sleeve 260 which is great as a base layer for skiing. You literally don’t need to wash them even if you’re away for a week, they’re not scratchy like other types of wool, they’re super warm in cold conditions and dry quickly if you’re a bit of a sweaty betty.
Also worth a visit inside Snow and Rock is Bullet, the Kiwi cafe – which makes a decent cup of coffee and some exceedingly good cakes. You have to clamber up to the top floor (go on, earn those calories) but it’s well worth the effort to get to a little oasis away from the hustle and bustle of Covent Garden. Try the carrot cake…
Filed under: Uncategorized
I was pleasantly baffled when I logged in today to discover my traffic had gone through the roof over the weekend. Turns out my humble blog was featured in Saturday’s Guardian. Not sure how that happened. Apart from the fact that I’m not a man, it’s all good.
Welcome new readers…hope you enjoy my ramblings.
Spinning on Friday with Matt – featuring an eclectic selection of music including the Fratellis, The Ting Tings and Maroon 5. All good, and much more motivating that last week’s experience with the lethargic Lewis.
A freezing run on Saturday on the fringes of Hampstead Heath where single-men-minus-dogs hang out. Though not on a chilly Saturday morning in January where you wouldn’t want anything hanging out for more than a couple of minutes. Just about four miles, or maybe even less because the gardens were shut. Health and safety or something.
And DIY Circuits this morning, featuring a football. I’m working on my ball-handling skills, but it’s going to be a fairly long-term project.
Filed under: British Military Fitness, running | Tags: interval training, running
Wednesday, so it must be British Military Fitness day. At 2°C, the night air felt positively balmy compared to Monday night’s session. Only eight of us were out to enjoy it though, compared to 19 on Monday – the class numbers are very variable.
The warm up consisted of some kind of handball game using a rugby ball. I was just embarrassing to be honest.
Then the rest of the session, we were mostly doing interval training – sprints, with jog recoveries and the odd set of star jumps (the explosive kind, where you crouch down then leap up in a star shape – I was congratulated on my technique, yee-hah).
I don’t like interval training, and actually thought I was going to vomit half way through. But I made it to the end of the class without chundering, and resolved to do more with the aid of some lamp posts outside of BMF classes. Basically you sprint to one lamp post, jog to the next, sprint to the third…and so on.
