party - AnnaTheApple

August 17, 2015

The day before the Cheddar Gorge Marathon

Well I survived the Cheddar Gorge Marathon! I am so glad I did it, it was truly a fantastic race. I’ll do a full recap of it in another post but I’ll just say that it was tough, hilly but good fun. Marathon number four done!

Saturday I was quite chilled out. It’s funny because I’ve never felt this way the day before a marathon. I was nervous, yes, but more excited and strangely looking forward to it. With a vague finishing time of 4.30-5 hours in mind there was a lot of give so no pressures. I knew the terrain would be technical, hilly and generally tough. But while this was psychologically good to be fairly relaxed, this meant I was probably a bit too blasé when it came to proper preparation.

I felt I had the miles on my legs (though perhaps not enough trail running experience but I have been doing lots of hill work). What I mean by preparation is the food the day before. But I’ll roll back to the start of Saturday first.

I headed to parkrun in the morning to help set-up. It was a bit rushed and stressful as the guy who had the key to the shed where we keep all the parkrun paraphernalia was 20 minutes late. This meant we really had to get a move on to set the course up in time. Surprisingly though we did and it made us wonder what takes us so long normally – all the chatting probably!

Obviously with the marathon the next day I wanted to keep the pace fairly easy. Some people don’t like running the day before a race but I prefer it. I like to give my legs a good shake out, especially as the last time I ran was Thursday. My running club friend, Mark, and me ran together and pretty much chatted the entire way round. I always love parkruns the day before races because I know I shouldn’t push it and feel justified in taking it easy.

After packing things away I had to dash off to get home and sorted as my friend, Bhuvana, was hosting a garden party. She’s a (very close) friend from work so my mum and dad were invited too (my dad works at the same company as me) so they were pleased they could have a couple of drinks and get a lift there and back. I don’t normally drink anyway and it was hardly likely I would before a marathon anyway!

I got to wear my new skirt again

There was a fantastic spread of Indian food (one of my favourite cuisines). Bhuvana knew I had a marathon the next day and was worried how the food would affect me so had made sure it wasn’t hugely spicy, bless her. I practically boasted that I had a stomach of steel and often had Indian takeaways the night before long runs. I’d be fine…!

There was chicken tikka (my favourite), chicken tikka masala, a chickpea curry, samosas, rice, naan bread, poppadoms, salad and dips. Well, I was in my element as you can imagine and went for pretty much everything.

I’m not a rice fan but knew I needed something a bit more carby so I had a naan bread, which I’m usually not a fan of either but the sauce required something to dip in so you gotta do what you gotta do 😉

I had another plate and a half and was lovely and full. Pudding was an Indian ice cream but I gave it a miss as I knew it’d push me over the edge and I can always give or take ice cream (unless it’s with a chocolate brownie).

And what do you do after eating a large load of Indian food? Jump on a trampoline of course!

I love trampolines! I used to be in the trampoline club at school. It was brilliant. Though my tummy didn’t quite agree afterwards.

I had the usual conversations with a few non-runners when I mentioned about the marathon the next day. One said “how far is that? 25 miles?” and another “Is that in London?” which is always amusing. One woman said “I’m just happy to do 20 minute son the cross trainer every day and stay fit that way”. Absolutely fair enough – but to me that sounds unbelievably dull!

Bhuvana’s adorable little dog, Rain, who shakes her foot when she’s scratched

After the party we headed back to my parent’s where I was spending the night. My mum and dad were coming to the marathon to support me so it made sense. [In the end my mum decided she would give it a miss as she wanted to stay with the dogs (three of theirs and my Alfie) so they wouldn’t be cooped up again all day and her back is still not 100% 🙁 I do jokingly call her a part-time supporter…anything more than 10k and she’ll flake on me (I am of course joking).]

As the evening drew in I knew I needed to eat something else, despite not feeling that hungry. I went for the safe option of porridge. We watched Still Alice (such a good film but prepare to cry for 80% of it) and then went to bed…

Do you run the day before a race?

What’s your favourite cuisine?

What’s your favourite curry?

December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

Secret Santa, Christmas cake and the re-balance of love

Three. More. Days. Then Christmas! I’m still at work for these days but I’m not too bothered. My commute is always a dream when the kids are off school and it’s very quiet in the office at the moment.

Our weekend was fairly low-key. I’ve been cleaning the house so it’s all nice and clean ready for Christmas. Not that we’re having Christmas at our house as we’re going to my parent’s house with Ben’s mum for Christmas day there. But I just like the house being clean around the holiday time, you know? I also borrowed my parent’s steam mop so I could give the kitchen and bathroom’s floor a good clean. Lovely.

Saturday morning I went to Spin. I’ve mainly been focusing on strength-based classes (such as pump and circuits) but I want to get my fitness going again. I had been dreading going but I went to a class on Friday morning and actually it wasn’t too bad. I mean, it was hell but it was less hell than I originally thought. Saturday’s morning class went the same way and I’m slowly getting addicted to it again. After that I did 20 minutes of strength work on my own. Bits and pieces like single leg squats, single leg decline squats, resistance band work such as clams, crab walk and monster walk. All good work on the glutes!

Then I dashed off to parkrun to meet up with my running club who were doing Secret Santa. I am really quite pleased with the present I was able to come up with for my person. I used a shoe box and put a load of tissue paper and shredded paper in it.

I then filled it with lots of running bits and bobs. I labelled the box “Runner’s Survival Box” (inspired by lots of the subscription boxes around at the moment).

In no particular order, it contained:

Little packets of Haribo – for quick release energy
Salted peanuts – for salt and protein (muscle repair)
Bottle of Powerade
High5 gel
Ibuprofen (always a necessity…)
Blister plasters (aka nipple guards)
OTE sachet (review HERE)
PowerBar Wafers (review HERE)
Cake

I had quite a few of the items anyway at home but what I had to buy was all under £5 so it was a really cheap and easy gift! When it was given to the man in question I sneakily watched him open it and he looked really chuffed and found it quite amusing. I was really pleased!

For me I was given a few bits and bobs that all around a certain theme.

Shower gel, shampoo, apples and a notepad inside an apple

I think they were aware that I’m an apple fan 😉 I was quite pleased I must say.

After that I zoomed home and we spent the day cleaning and tidying. And maybe watched an episode of Gogglebox that we missed (hilarious). We also marzipan’ed our Christmas cake (yes I’m well aware of how close we’re cutting this!)

We had to carve the top bit off to get a nice straight finish and then got down to the fun part. Rolling out the marzipan and layering it on top of the cake (after coating it in apricot jam – for the recipe we used for the cake go HERE). Not to shabs, eh? Excess marzipan was put to good use of course.

We always hope to have a bit left over so we can make a few marzipan treats that can be nibbled on over the next few hours days.

Then we got ready to go out for a Christmas meal with some friends.

I haven’t worn heels in so long… It was nice to get all dressed up for once!

After being really excited about my impending turkey dinner, I was aghast to find out that I’d actually ordered salmon earlier in the month when we RSVP’d. I mean, what was I thinking?? I did not fancy salmon at all. My loving husband, who had the sense to have ordered turkey, decided to swap his meal with mine though. Now THIS is love. He said his motivation behind it was because a few Christmases ago I had asked for his last parsnip and he refused to give it to me and ate it quickly himself. I told him that that just showed the limits of his love for me. I always hold this against him saying that he loves me, but not enough to give me his last parsnip. But now the balance has been readdressed. Though he did look rather self-satisfied and smug about the whole affair. I think I was happier before having this one-up on him 😉 (Though the turkey was delicious…).

I wasn’t drinking as I was driving but Ben was having a merry time, and with one of the other guys had decided to make it their mission to acquire free shots from the manager. From my and the other guy’s other half’s perspective this was all rather mortifying. After a few rather lame failed attempts they decided to work harder. The other guy was able to make origami swans and he kept making them and giving them to the (female) manager, each time the swan was getting smaller and smaller and the manager was getting more and more exasperated (but in a fun way, she wasn’t genuinely annoyed I don’t think). But then the piece de résistance:

I mean that is TINY. And when you put the tail the wings flap. Incredible. After that she did indeed get them a free shot each. Well played, boys!

Sunday was a nice chilled day. I went to Spin and then Legs, Bums and Tums in the morning (I’m becoming a rather obnoxious gym addict now sadly). Then spent the rest of the day not doing too much other than walking Alfie, wrapping presents and helping Ben make a stollen (more on that in another post as this has gone on far too long now).

Are you off of work/school now for Christmas?

Do you make or buy a Christmas cake? Or forgo it completely (scandalous!)?

Are you a fan of Secret Santa?

October 18, 2013

Mexico – Part 2

Hi guys, so I thought I’d do Part 2 of my Mexican holiday. (Catch up HERE for Part I)

Ben and me did a few excursions while we were out there. I’m not one for just lying on the beach the entire time and this was a great way to see a bit more of Mexico. One of the things we decided to do was go parasailing.

That’s not us, but it’s what we did!

I was so excited about this. We got to go on a jet ski as well! We were escorted at top speed to the boat where we’d be launched from. I jokingly said to Ben as we were whizzing along “We’re going to have to jump onto the boat while it’s still moving like James Bond, ha ha ha”. Yeah, we actually did. We had to stand up and jump onto the speeding boat and be grabbed by the guys on board. James Bond I was not.

After getting all harnessed up and sorted, three seconds before we were launched up the guy goes “if you want to come down move your arms like this…” and whoosh! we were up. I was left wondering what the hell the arm movement was!!

It was amazing. Looking out at the ocean, the hotels and beach. Incredible. But then I looked down. Jeeze I was scared. I remember saying to Ben “If we fall we’re going to break our legs and die!!” It was so high up. I thoroughly enjoyed it; it was so exhilarating, but I was terrified.

But we survived. Thankfully we didn’t die or break our legs. Hurrah.

One night we decided to go out and boogie a bit We went on a crazy night out to a club called Coco Bongo.

Basically it was a nightclub with a show that went on from 11pm to 3am. And what a show it was! So many different acts and performances by all these dancers. They did songs from Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge…they did recreations of the Batman and Tron fight scenes…songs from Madonna, Beyoncé, Elvis…

It was crazy! And we had our own bar waiter who supplied us with never-ending drinks all night!

Pina colada

We got home at 3am…I was shattered. It was very good though. A feast for the eyes!

Another excursion was going for a romantic dinner on a boat from Cancun.

We both got all dressed up and set off in the afternoon. In retrospect, a longer maxi dress would have been more suitable. Damn it is windy on boats.

There was a saxophone player on board to set the mood

The ladies were given a flower, drinks were on tap and the music was beautiful. But yes it did feel somewhat cheesy!But the sunset was perfect.

And so was the food!

For starters it was Caesar salad. I love Caesar salads so this was perfect. Yum.

For mains, we had the surf and turf: lobster and steak. I’ve never had lobster proper before (I’ve had lobster bisque and lobster in things, but never on its own) so I was quite excited. This came with a jacket potato (in the foil), vegetables and a random bread roll. I ate everything but the bread roll. Though I must admit I finished off Ben’s steak (and vegetable). Amazing. Like I said previously, I am a machine when it comes to food. And for pudding it was cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

All in all, fabulous. And the best part was we saw it cooking on the boat!

Such a lovely night out. If not a little windy!

And some random photos that I just had to share:

The free booze in our room//Elephant towel//Furry friends around the hotel//More towel fun

A truly brilliant holiday with lots of memories made I’d definitely recommend it!

Now business as usual…the holidays (or ‘vacations’– I’m not giving up Christmas!) are officially done and dusted for this year!

What makes a holiday special for you?

What day-trips do you like to do on holiday? We had a bit of everything: thrill-seeking, cultural, bit of partying, food and romance

What’s does romance mean to you? Ben and me are simple people. I don’t need flowers and candles (though that is nice, don’t get me wrong). I just need Ben ~~to listen to me talk running for hours on end~~ and me together, relaxed and having a giggle at something stupid, coming up with our own in-jokes and sayings.

February 17, 2013

Cake, cake, and, er, more cake?

Oh I do love Sundays. Once all the housework is done and everything sorted, it is just nice to put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and just relax. And the weather is beautiful today! The sun is shining and it’s not absolutely freezing.

So this week has been fairly tough in terms of running. Getting back into it after skiing was hard. But after the first run it eventually got back to normal.

Monday – 6 miles with an average pace 8mins20sec. Normally I find running at this speed quite easy but it was really tough.

Tuesday – 4 mile interval run. I did several intervals throughout this run and then ran slowly after each one so average pace doesn’t really mean much.

Wednesday – 3mile lunchtime run with a guy at work. I saw this as my easy recovery run as we were chatting and just enjoying the fresh air. Average pace of 8mins26sec.

Thursday – 5 mile tempo run. Between miles 2 to 4.5 I maintained a steady 7mins50sec (total time of 39mins56sec, which I think is my best 5 mile yet!).

Friday – rest day, and boy did I need it!

Saturday – this was my 10 mile long run. I got up early on Saturday, walked Alfie and then set off. During the first mile I wanted to go home as I just couldn’t be bothered. But I persevered and got into it as I hit the second mile. Here are my average paces for each mile:

I’m over the moon with this. The run was hard, don’t get me wrong, but not impossible and I wasn’t dead by the end (I was ready for home though!) This has really made me consider running the half marathon faster than 8mins/mile.

Best thing about this run? I got beeped by someone. TWICE. Once at the start of the run and then at mile 9! I mean seriously, I’m wearing glasses, looking sweaty, dishevelled and basically about to keel over. Fairly chuffed with that haha. There are some weird men in the world!

After the run I showered and then shovelled about a kilo of oatmeal into me (long run = Anna the Hungry Beast). Then Ben and me had to dash around to his mum’s house where we were helping to prepare for her birthday open house celebration.

Ben helped with sorting the drinks out and I took charge of the food (let’s stick with what we’re good at!) It was quite a casual affair to be held in the afternoon in her house with drinks and nibbles so there wasn’t masses to prepare but there was enough to keep us busy before 1pm! Ben’s mum and me had previously gotten together the week before to decide on what nibbles to go for and I think in the end we were very happy with our selection!

I made tomato mozzarella sticks:

These were basically mozzarella balls, a sliced cherry tomato and a bit of basil on a cocktail stick with salt and pepper. Simple! Thankfully simple considered I had to assemble a million of them haha.

Then there were smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis:

Again very easy. We bought pre-made blinis, put them in the oven for 5 minutes. Then smeared cream cheese on top, added a torn piece of smoked salmon and then sprinkled a garnish of dill on top.

I made hummus the night before so we had that with crudités and bread sticks:

I don’t think this was my best hummus ever. Because I made twice as much as usual it wasn’t as lemony and garlicky as before. But it was still OK!

The most tricky thing to prepare were the cheesey garlic mushrooms:

I used THIS recipe. It was quite fiddly cutting out stalks and preparing the filling. This was the most time-consuming nibble to make, but luckily we had enough time.

Along with these home-made pieces, we also had garlic bread, Doritos and salsa, cocktail sausages, and sausage rolls:

It went down very well I think. Almost all the garlic mushrooms went. They were so good – totally recommend! It was really relaxed and lovely with Ben’s mum’s friends milling around enjoying the food and drink and chatting with everyone. Ben and me tried to make sure that his mum had nothing to worry about, which meant we were dashing about a lot! But I loved it. I love doing things like this (like when we had the Boxing Day buffet round ours).

My parents also came and my dad shocked me once again by bringing round a home-made apple tart that HE had made. Well, that’s TWO baking adventures he’s had in one week.

French custard, home-made pastry…oh my goodness. The guests at the party went crazy for this. Luckily Ben and I even got to take a couple of slices home with us. Amazing! And yes, it tastes pretty darn good.

As much as I wanted to try the tart I thought I’d save myself for the birthday cake though (I have since munched on the tart at home though obviously).

The cake was made by the same lady who made our wedding cake. The cake is perfect because Ben’s mum loves the gym and goes all the time. I just love the dumbbells and towel! So cute. And it tasted AMAZING. It was vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream.

While the cake was being cut I luckily managed to reserve a corner piece (well, I had worked hard all day!) – losing out on the first corner to Ben’s uncle who got in there quicker (mental note: must improve my speed on these things). Corner piece = more icing. Then as there happened to be another normal piece floating about I had that too. Can I just clarify that they were little pieces? Like the size of an IPhone (and that is an official cake measurement just so you know ).

However, the third piece was just plain greedy, even I will admit. Ben and me were haggling over sharing this third piece but couldn’t find a fair enough way to split it so that both of us a) got enough icing and b) got enough buttercream. In the end Ben just said “Oh for goodness sake, I’m having my own piece”. Well…if I’m pushed to it!

I felt I had very successfully rewarded myself after my long run after all

Then after all too soon Ben and me quickly tidied up so his mum didn’t have to and then collapsed onto the sofa to chill and reflect on such a good day before going home (with some leftovers in tow – hurrah!)

Such a good day and everyone looked like the had a good time. We were shattered in the evening and had a nice early night. So today we had a nice lie-in, did the housework and now we’re just relaxing. Perfect.

How has your weekend been?

What nibbles would you/have you made for a party? I think the best advice I can give is, don’t make everything. Make a few really nice things and then do more simple crowd pleasers alongside (i.e. cocktail sausages).

What do you hone in on at buffets? The savoury stuff or the sweet?

October 31, 2012

Murder mystery, skiing and good food – WIAW

Hello! Refreshed from the weekend and ready to go? Yep me neither. I’m manically busy at work and wanted to do a post on Monday but time just disappeared…

This weekend was good fun. I went to Pilates on Saturday morning again. It was once again brilliant. It’s tough but in a completely different way, you know? I tried out the Hundred move this week so I was chuffed as that’s the only Pilates move I’d heard of! And it was tough. I think I struggle mostly with the technical aspects of inhaling/exhaling at the appropriate moments and making sure my spine is where it should be while tensing my stomach…It hurts my muscles and my head!

I decided to run there as it’s only 1.5 miles away. Well, it’s only 1.5 miles if you don’t get lost that is. I thought I was being all cunning by taking a short-cut. I was so sure of where I would end up after going down this long, long road. Only to find I’d added another mile on to my journey! It meant my lovely leisurely paced run turned into a fast dash as I was in danger of being late. Whoops.

On Saturday evening we went round our friend’s house for a murder mystery evening. It was brilliant. Everyone got into their character that they’d been set and we just had such a good laugh. It was a 1920s theme which was brilliant.

All the girls in their flapper dresses and all the guys in there suspenders and hats.

I wasn’t the murderer but I guessed correctly

Then on Sunday Ben and I went skiing at our local dry sky-slope with some friends.

I was nervous as I haven’t been for a year and I’m still very much a beginner. I can snow plough and that’s pretty much it. But we’re kicking it off again as we’re planning on going skiing next year so I need to be able to not fall over all the time (I’ve never actually been properly skiing before!)

It was great fun as I’m beginning to learn parallel turns. OK not very well but I’m getting there! And I didn’t fall over which, considering I’m the most clumsy person known to man, is a great accomplishment.

So it’s the last WIAW for October. Thank you Jenn for hosting (check out her blog for more information). This is my what I ate Sunday as it’s probably my most exciting eats.

Breakfast: Sundays are pancakes day. It just seems like such a perfect day to spend that extra effort into creating something that is quite magical.

Pumpkin pancakes! I know, I know, how original. Almost getting as boring as my green porridge… But I made my own pumpkin puree from a mammoth of a pumpkin so I’m really chuffed with these (on a slightly related note – I now have so much pumpkin I’m set for the next few years! Ben thinks I’m ~~more~~ crazy).

It was amazing. I used 3 tbs rolled oats, 1 heaped tbs of wholemeal flour, 1/2 cup of egg whites, 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp pumpkin spice, few drops of Stevia. I got three chunky pancakes out of that. Then some peanut butter thrown on top.

Lunch: after skiing we were famished and wanted to grab something quick. So I made a three egg omelette with more peanut butter inside. And some avocado alongside.

OK it does look like the omelette and avocado aren’t speaking at the moment. Maybe a smaller plate would have been better… Regardless though I love this. Why haven’t I ever had this combination before? The avocado addition I could take or leave to be honest but the omelette itself was so good. And very filling. A nice change from my usual tuna omelette.

Dinner: as you know, I love my salads. They rock my world. And this was a new combination.

My usual salad of leaves, cucumber, beets but with some fabulous added extras. I added some roasted pumpkin (like I said, I have so much pumpkin at the moment it’s laughable). I also finely chopped some red onion, sliced cherry tomatoes and pomegranate seeds and mixed them with diced garlic and lemon juice. Then I topped it all with a chunk of grilled halloumi. I’m new to this cheese and though it’s verrrry rubbery it really is very tasty. The sweet (pomegranate, tomatoes) and salty (cheese) of this salad were perfect.

Oh and I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top too. Mega variety salad. Definitely going to happen again some time!

Snacks: Completely out of the ordinary, I did some baking on Monday night. Usually anything I bake turns out rubbish or looks nothing like the recipe picture. In some shape or form I do something wrong. I’m better at throwing things together randomly rather than accurately following a recipe…HOWEVER! These cookies turned out exactly like the photo.

Pumpkin cookies! [OK yes I might have a bit of an obsession. It’ll pass one I’ve gotten through my twenty container-fulls of pumpkin puree.] I’ll post the recipe soon! The cookies are for any trick or treaters who come knocking tonight. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Fingers crossed no one will knock…

Fitness: Obviously Pilates on Saturday. And I’ve been sticking to my new strength routine which has been really good but quite tough. I did the upper body routine on Thursday and the lower body on Friday and basically woke up feeling verrry achy on Saturday morning. Perfect for Pilates…whoops. And I’ve been running three times a week as usual. I’m enjoying running at lunchtimes far more than dragging myself out of bed in the morning. Though it’s harder to motivate myself when my lunch is sat there waiting for me…but no quitting yet! And it feels great coming back into the office after a run. I don’t feel the afternoon dip.

And here’s my outfit of the day:

Scarf from mum, jeans from Top Shop, top from Dorothy Perkins, necklace from Mango.

That’s all from me! Hope you’re having a great Wednesday.

How are you celebrating Halloween? Any scary treats to enjoy?

Have you been skiing before?