christmas - AnnaTheApple

December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

Berlin Christmas markets

Well that’s my second Berlin trip this year done and dusted. And I must say I don’t feel quite as in pieces as I did after my last one, having not run 26.2 miles this time!

Though I’m still shattered. I left for Gatwick Friday afternoon and met up with two of my friends before flying into Berlin to meet the other two. We were staying in my friend Charlotte’s parents house so the whole trip was very cheap (let’s not talk about how my taxi there and back from the airport cost more than the flight itself…). We got to her house late that evening.

The next day was a whirlwind of Christmas markets, Starbucks, SO much food and lots of girlie chatting, as you can imagine. It was cold but thankfully we had no rain so we wrapped up warm and did lots of walking so it was fine.

The first Christmas markets we went to were on the grounds of a beautiful German palace in Schloss Charlottenberg.

Charlotte is German so having someone there who can fluently speak the language is just perfect. She knew how to get everywhere and where was good to go. Like our own personal tour guide 😉

There were so many Christmas markets all over the city and they were all such good value for money. The food and drink was very well priced and not extortionate like it can be in the UK for this sort of thing.

The food on offer was just incredible. Chocolate covered fruit, gingerbread, stollen, marzipan everything, cookies, biscuits, bread, cheese, meat, chocolate, sweets…I could go on. I tried as much as my stomach would allow. I shared a skewer of chocolate grapes with one of my friends (surprisingly refreshing) and later had what I can only describe as a marzipan teacake (bottom left). It was marzipan-flavoured marshmallow fluff covered in dark chocolate. Lovely but messy! Top left was a big blob of sponge filled with plum jam (sauce?) and covered in vanilla custard. I shared that with two of my friends but I only had a couple of bites as, disappointingly, it did nothing for me. A bit bland and not that sweet for my tastes!

One of my friends had a waffle with Nutella on it and it looked AMAZING.

We then enjoyed a nice walk around the palace grounds and then hopped off to the Postdamer Platz area for a bit of normal shopping and sushi lunch.

Berlin has so many sushi restaurants and we all love it so it was the obvious place to go. I do love a conveyor belt as well – you can be very choosey! 😉

There were a few markets here as well to mooch around which were also very good.

As evening was drawing in we headed to our final market in Ku’Damm, where the broken church is (I ran past this in the marathon as well). It was beautiful with all the lights. It did get busier as it got darker but it was still very pleasant. My friend and I decided to share a ginormous cheese pretzel and a ginormous sweet pretzel (covered in sugar and chocolate – words cannot describe jut how bloody delicious this was).

Cheese pretzel heaven right there

We later also shared a meat skewer. She was my partner in crime in trying different foods. We managed to get lost from our other friends when we became distracted by large meat skewers. These things happen 😉

Though we did find the problem with wandering off… we lost our German translator and struggled to work out what kind of meat it actually was. Turns out the guy just didn’t understand the English word “pork”. It was very tasty though.

We then spent the evening in PJs with our duvets and hot chocolates watching Love Actually. I think I’m pretty set on Love Actually being my favourite Christmas film now. It’s just perfect.

The next morning we left before eating breakfast so we could have a late breakfast/brunch out. Though it turned out we didn’t actually start eating until about 1pm due to the length of time it took to get somewhere good for restaurants and then the service was so slow! But it was worth it in the end.

We then did some more shopping and moseying around the sights and then headed for an early dinner (we had to leave for the airport at around dinner time).

I think my favourite sushi are the ones with butternut squash (the dark brown filling ones) and the egg ones. SO good. With miso soup I was literally STUFFED.

Then we headed back to Charlotte’s to pack and get ready to go. But first Charlotte’s mum had made an epically amazing sticky toffee pudding (funny to eat such a British pudding considering how Germany everything else had been!)

Just to tide us over for the flight, you know? 😉 As you can probably tell, it was delicious.

A perfect weekend of fun, catching up with friends and indulgent food. I fully recommend Berlin for the Christmas markets. Very cheap, lovely atmosphere, lots of home-made items in stalls selling clothes, jewellery, decorations, etc. and all the food and drink was to die for!

Have you ever been to Berlin? Or Germany?

Do you enjoy Christmas markets? What do you look out for the most? For me it’s all about the sweet treats!

December 3, 2014January 14, 2015

Rants and Raves #4

Do you know, I think I have a lot more raves than rants today. Surely this can’t be right, I’m British after all 😉 We do love a good moan! But what can be done, eh.

Rave: I’m working from home today which is always nice. Easy access to a fridge full of lovely food, warm house, comfy clothes (dare I say PJs? There’s something so wonderful about showering and then getting into clean, fresh PJs), Alfie and my very own makeshift standing desk.

As I type this I’m standing, not slouching over my computer. I wish I had the nerve to create my own standing desk in the office but it really would look odd with no one else doing it. Ho hum!

Rave: And as you can see above, Ben bought a very jazzy looking Kenwood KMix. This is a very good sign for the possible baking ahead…I am EVER HOPEFUL!

And helps with my standing desk as well obviously 😉

Rave: Coming in to work on Monday to find an advent calendar from my boss! You just can’t beat a chocolate advent calendar. And my lovely mum bought me a new mug as well. But after the drama with my last mug, this one will be safely stowed at home in case it gets snagged.

Rant: Do you know what beats chocolate advent calendars? Better quality ones! Clearly the Hello Kitty was not breaking the bank and consequentially the chocolate is indicative of this.

Rave: Christmas! And Christmas parties and gatherings.

I have quite a few exciting events coming up which I’m looking forward to. Sadly not going to my work’s Christmas do as it’s midweek in London (actually it’s tonight) and it just seemed a bit of a faff. It’s sad because a lot of people have thought the same so not many are going. It’s so different from the other year’s AMAZING trip to Bruges. Well anyway I’m going to Berlin (again) this weekend to meet up with friends and visit the Christmas markets, Ben and me have a few different meals and evenings to go to and well it’s Christmas! Christmas music, food, cheer and festivities! I love it all 🙂

Rave: coconut oil! Having this big tub of it makes me a very happy Anna. This, along with a few other products, were sent to me to review from MyProtein (which will be in a future post).

And spoiler alert: I love it! But then you can’t go much wrong with coconut oil, can you?

Rave: Freebies from friends at work. A guy at work does a lot of cycling and his wife is starting to get into it too. They got some cycling shoes (the special clip-on ones) and they haven’t been working out for her so he gave them to me for free! I have no idea if they’re any good or not but at least they were free.

Just need to get the special pedals (can you tell how much of a cycling dunce/newbie I am? All the gear and no idea…).

And that’s my lot. Obviously I could rant until the cows come home about still not running but I’m in an OK place. I have strength training to be getting on with and with going to Berlin this weekend it’s sort of good timing anyway (can anyone say that an injury is good timing???).

What are your rants and raves this week?

January 8, 2014January 16, 2014

A late Christmas recap and running update

Hello! How hard is this week? I was back at work Thursday and Friday last week but it didn’t feel ‘proper’ if you know what I mean… What with the horrendous weather, RUBBISH commutes and just general fog of depression hanging over everyone it really does feel a bit gloomy round these parts.

I missed out on doing my Christmas recap due to not blogging over the festive period. And if I’m honest, I don’t really fancy doing such a late recap now. It’s a bit depressing. But I’ll do a quick version…

Ben holding the bean bag looking like Father Christmas

My parents and Ben’s parents came to ours. We had a traditional British Christmas dinner. My parents cooked the turkey that we’d bought from M&S as our oven was too small. So all we had to cover were snacks, drinks and all the trimmings and carving.

Nothing too crazy. Honey roasted carrots and parsnips, sprouts, broad beans (my favourite!), runner beans, sausage stuffing, apple and sage stuffing, roasted potatoes, red cabbage, cranberry sauce, gravy. Heaven.

Afterwards there were profiteroles, Christmas pudding and mince pies. I enjoyed a lovely heated mince pie. I forgot to take a photo but it was an unusual puff pastry one. I quite liked the change from the usual thick pastry ones. I love Christmas cake but I find Christmas pudding very rich.

Obviously I had Christmas cake later for supper 😉 It’s my favourite part of Christmas (well, favourite food part).

We spent time opening presents, listening to Christmas music and playing board games. Good fun all round. Apart from my dad not feeling well and then subsequently passing it to Ben and me. Merry Christmas to us.

Lovely little photo of me ill in bed. Thanks Ben!

Anywho, despite being ill we had a lovely Christmas and had lots of lovely presents. I must mention these as I am SO excited to try them.

My parents got me these popcorn flavour toppers. I have popcorn every day with my lunch at work that I pop myself from plain kernels. I sprinkle salt and pepper over it. My dad found these in Lakeland and got them for me as a stocking filler. AMAZING.

And, though I do say so myself, I love this present I got Ben.

Along the side it has markers and half way says “13.1” and then at the top it says “26.2” and along the markings “Pacing yourself is everything”. Ben loves his wine and I just thought this was a perfect way to mark his achievement. Especially because he gave up alcohol for a portion of his training!

I did my first workout at the gym on New Year’s Day as we had a quiet evening in the night before. I felt raring to go and ready to get back into things. My physio had OK’ed spin so I was happy to not have to motivate myself on a machine! Honestly though it was hard work.

In terms of running – ahh the saga of my life. I’m up to 2 miles. Good Lord, I’ll have to start carb loading and properly fuelling myself soon 😉 I’m not trying to belittle anyone’s running efforts but personally for me this is such a change from the mileage of last year. I just hope I won’t have lost too much when I’m fully back into it. But at this point, as long as I can run without issue I DON’T CARE.

My knee seems to be calming down with the intense ultra sounding that’s going on and the little runs are helping in a weird way to ‘break it down’ to build it back up again stronger. It’s a cautious and slow approach but it’s what I need.

My decision about the Paris marathon will happen in about two weeks. My ultra sound will have ended and I hope the runs increased a bit. If I’m still struggling with the knee and it needs longer time off (come on, seriously??) then Paris is a no-go. Ben has agreed he won’t do it either (bless his socks). But if all things are OK…then I’ll have 10 weeks to train. Obviously this is not enough in the ideal marathon training world BUT I think I can do something with it. I won’t pre-empt things by going into more detail yet though!

What’s your on your plate at Christmas?

What’s your favourite Christmas dessert/treat? It’s all about the Christmas cake for me.

What was your favourite Christmas pressie?

December 27, 2012

Christmas and Boxing Day

Well, doesn’t Christmas just zoom by? It’s sad how quickly it’s flies by. But I had such a lovely time! I feel so much better than I did thankfully. I still have a cough but my body no longer hates me!

Christmas morning I woke up early, got my running stuff on and went for a run. Hurrah! It had been far too long. And it definitely felt that way – it was really tough, like I hadn’t been running for months! How depressing. Also Christmas day was absolutely tipping it down so I only ran 2 miles – and definitely not a fast 2 miles! I started to get worried I was going to make myself ill again because I was soaked through. Luckily though I was fine.

Then I had a steaming hot shower and got dressed ready to face the day! Because I am quite boring and predictable, I just had my usual porridge for breakfast (sorry re-used photo).

The only sad thing is that I haven’t been eating my usual amount as I my stomach isn’t quite back to normal yet in terms of quantity food in the morning. So I had a smaller bowl, which I guess is a good thing considering there would be a lot of food later!

Then Ben’s mum came over to spend the day and my parents dropped by to give us some gifts. I got some brilliant presents. From my parents:

I am so pleased about the waffle maker!! I can’t wait to make some yummy fluffy waffles. And the Game of Thrones book is amazing. So many beautiful photos and behind the scenes information from the series. I am 75% of the way through the fifth book. It is EPIC. I need to read something lighter afterwards I think, it’s quite intense.

Then when my parents left I got into the kitchen and got things going. I put the two turkey joints that we were having in the oven, peeled carrots, washed parsnips, prepared the stuffing…and then when everything was in the oven I prepared our starter. I didn’t take a photo but we had little bite-sized cream cheeses wrapped in smoked salmon.

Because I had a fair amount to do I bought them ready made – don’t kill me!

Then the main event. My favourite meal of the year. I was so worried when I was ill that wouldn’t fancy it or have an appetite for it, but there was no issue hehe.

Absolute heaven! I roasted the parsnips and carrots in a little oil, salt and pepper and a tiny bit of treacle to make them sticky. Devine!

Because we were all stuffed and Alfie was antsy, it seemed liked a perfect time for a post-Christmas meal walk! OK, maybe I was the only one excited about this. I just love being nosey and seeing through people’s windows and what they’re up to [OK, to clarify, I don’t actually go up to the windows and peer through like a stalker!!].

Ben wasn’t too keen on leaving his new Xbox games for a walk, but what can I say? We’re married and he ~~is scared of~~ loves his wife.

Then we came back and had some pudding. I had my standard apples as I’m not a fan of Christmas pudding. Listen to this, Ben had brandy butter, brandy cream and Courvoisier cream with his. He said he felt quite sick afterwards haha.

However, later I did treat myself to my most favourite cake in the world.

Christmas cake!! And a corner piece of course (most icing and marzipan! Ben and I fight over these pieces).

It’s soo rich and delicious. That was supper!

Throughout the day we opened presents of course. I got some amazing gifts. Lots of running gear from Ben’s mum which I’m so pleased about as I never buy running stuff and it’s nice to have some brand new clothes!

I got a beautiful necklace stand, a couple of scarves and necklaces, some Next vouchers (amazing), DVDs and Jamie Oliver’s new cook book…and more!

I really am very lucky and very grateful. One of the best presents? ONESIES!!!

And then we played some cards and just chilled. It was perfect! Time well spent with the family.

Oh and Alfie for a few presents too

Boxing day was a bit more mad. I had invited everyone over to ours for a Boxing Day buffet. I had set myself the task of making lots of bits and pieces for people to eat. So I spent the morning cooking and preparing for everyone (Ben’s mum, my parents, my granddad, my sister, brother-in-law, niece and obviously Ben & Ben’s dad who were already over).

I made hummus, tomato salsa, smoked mackerel pate, chopped some veg for crudités, sticky chicken bites, broad bean and courgette salad, normal salad, garlic bread, prawns with lemon mayo dip, and then some bits we bought like ham and sausage rolls. Ben was Mr Drinks when everyone arrived – which he does so well, bless him. So attentive! I just ran around like a headless chicken getting food together.

Nick, my brother-in-law, kindly made his very tasty pulled pork as well!

Then everyone got stuck in.

I was starving by the time we began eating. I guess cooking for like 5 hours does that to you!!

And obviously there was pudding. My parents brought over several things, bless them.

We obviously had the Christmas cake to share and I had made stollen on Christmas eve (the right photo).

And then we watched Ellie, my niece, open all her presents from my parents, Ben and I.

And obviously brought out the big kid in us all…

It was madness with so many people in our tiny house but it was such a lovely day. And I think everyone liked the food, which was such a relief as I was so worried.

And then after everyone had left, we washed up and hoovered, and then flopped on the couch.

Shattered! But a brilliant couple of days. And now we’re living off leftovers – which I personally think is the best thing ever.

How was your Christmas?

What did you eat?

Did you have a fun family-filled time?

December 23, 2012

Chicken Soup and Christmas

Hi all, thought I’d do a very quick post before taking a break for Christmas.

I’m feeling miles better than I did but still not a hundred per cent which is still driving me crazy. But I’m able to get on and do stuff so it’s fine. This weekend has been all about cleaning and getting things ready.

Ben’s dad will be down tomorrow to stay until Boxing Day, which will be lovely. The three of us will go over to my parent’s house for tomorrow evening to celebrate Christmas eve. And then Ben’s mum will be over on Christmas day to spend the day with us. My parents and granddad will pop over on Christmas morning briefly I think as they’re then off to have a Christmas meal out.

I really want to run on Christmas morning but I’m still not certain if I’ll be able to yet. I think I’ll be fine I just don’t want to push myself too soon after getting better, you know? But I really really want to go out for a lovely early Christmas morning run and just enjoy that time. Otherwise it will be a walk with Alfie instead!

Then Boxing Day everyone is over ours (including my sister, brother-in-law and niece) for a buffet that I’m rustling up. All this cooking is feeling a bit daunting at the moment as I’m still not 100% but I’m hoping it will run smoothly. I love cooking so it should be fine.

And that’s us! I don’t have much else to add. Unfortunately I’ve not been doing any Christmas baking (apart from marzipanning the Christmas cake) though I have been eating some really yummy home-made chicken soup in the spirit of getting healthy.

Really simple. Just chicken or vegetable broth with garlic and ginger, and a small chopped onion, carrot, diced chicken breast and some peas. Then simmer for like 15 mins and add some pepper and coriander. I’ve been living on this stuff!

So have a great Christmas everyone! Enjoy the food, the time with your family and friends and relax!

xx Merry Christmas! xx