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October 9, 2013October 9, 2013

What I Ate in Mexico

Hello! So for this post I thought I’d show some of my very tasty eats from my Mexican holiday.

And as it’s Wednesday, I’m linking up with Jenn’s WIAW post:

Thanks Jenn!

Ben and me stayed in a fabulous all-inclusive hotel. I’d never been to one before! I was a little worried that the food would be rubbish, bulk-made and the options would be limited. But I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was hugely surprised at the sheer volume of food and the amount of choice there was. There were several restaurants; some of them you had to book for, some you could just rock up to. We often went to the more casual one where we didn’t have to book. This was because it had the most choice and was a buffet rather than ordering off a menu.

Breakfast: I always get a bit worried about breakfast because I’m so particular about what I normally eat for breakfast (have you noticed??). I eat porridge (oatmeal) pretty much every single day. (Yes I know: snore!)

But on holiday I decided to push the boat out and go for something different. Seriously, I could have had anything. We’re talking cereals, yogurt, fruit, toast (huge variety of different breads!), crêpes, pancakes, doughnuts, smoothies, eggs in every way humanly possible, sausages, bacon, burritos, tortillas, guacamole, salad, cheese…honestly, it was quite overwhelming.

I often went for an onion omelette (you basically requested whatever flavour you wanted and the chef made it in front of you), with different ham, tomatoes and guacamole.

Some mornings though the lure would be too hard to stay away…

Not quite to my strict requirements of stodginess but good nonetheless!

And one morning Ben and me got up early, took a walk along the beach (40 minutes in the sun – this was quite hard work even at 7am!) and had breakfast at a lovely little restaurant called 100% Natural in the town.

It was amazing. They had all fresh ingredients and organic options. And on the menu they gave you the nutritional benefits of the different meals. I went for a spinach, beetroot, carrot and celery smoothie. Maybe a crazy choice but it was very refreshing.

For breakfast I chose oats with chopped banana, raisins, nuts and amaranth. Deeelicious!

And we may have gone back there for more smoothies another day…

This was apple, carrot and beetroot (I like my beetroot!).

Lunch: Lunch tended to be a less of an elaborate affair than dinner. Usually it involved taking a break from sunbathing and going into the nearby restaurant for some quick food from the different buffets.

Fish paella

Towards the end we preferred going to the Italian restaurant for lunch as it was a bit cooler (the other place was more open and not air conditioned as it was right next to the pool).

The Italian restaurant had a great salad selection.

Roasted vegetables, tomatoes with mozzarella, beef Carpaccio, smoked salmon, bruschettas, antipasti selections…and steak, buttered fish, chicken, meatloaf, pizza, pasta, soup… and you could still order of a menu as well for ‘mains’. We stuck to several trips to the salad bar as that was enough!

Dinner: This was by far my favourite meal of the day. The selection was phenomenal and some days they’d have themes. One night it was Japanese-inspired.

This was one part of the salad bar. Sushi! Honestly, this was like 1/10th of the options. They’d always have a range of salads, roast meat, Mexican selections (quesadillas, tortillas, fajitas, bean stews, guacamole, salsa…), fish, actual meals like curries and casseroles, pizza, chips, burgers, pasta… literally everything.

Basically I’d pile my plate high with salads and vegetables and then choose a few different ‘main’ pieces that I liked the look of. Mainly I’d go for one serving of many different things, work out what I really liked, then go back for more of that.

So much tasty food…fish casserole, fish fillet, ribs, chicken skewers, ham and pineapple cocktail sticks…loads of fresh vegetables and salad.

For our anniversary dinner we booked to go to the Steakhouse.

For starters I had prawn cocktail. This was very tasty. In fact I loved being able to eat so many prawns (shrimps?) during the holiday. For main I had spiced chicken with corn on the cob, broccoli and roasted wedges. So good. For pudding I went for mango ice cream (this was almost like mango soft serve or sorbet – so fresh tasting) and fruit salad.

After finishing this I still had a bit of space (I know, as Ben says, I’m a machine) and because it was a special occasion I persuaded Ben to go to the main restaurant and have a ~~second~~ few more puddings…just because we could!

I mean, seriously, check out the selections! Mini puddings!

It was different every night

So I went for a mini selection

I have no idea what I ate (I’m pretty sure the right-hand square was a brownie?) but it all tasted good! Hey, if you can’t be indulgent on holiday when can you be!?

Other puddings that were enjoyed…

That is a carrot on top of the cake!! Phallic-shaped puddings ahoy!

I had two of those churros in chocolate one night. I would have had three but Ben managed to drag me out in time. It was touch and go though. SO GOOD.

They always had a chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows to dip. AND an ice cream bar. Oh I miss Mexico!! The first night I felt very saintly just having fruit for pudding…then the floodgates opened when I tried my first marshmallow with chocolate. Every night then involved melted chocolate and mini puddings haha.

Though the fruit selection was excellent. I ate a lot of fresh watermelon and pineapple!

I enjoyed some other tasty treats and drinks as well throughout.

From left to right: my first ever snow cone (lemon flavoured – I loved this), a Baileys coffee, first ever pina colada, blue lagoon cocktail and ice coffee.

So I definitely had my culinary treats this holiday! These all fuelled some hot and taxing runs (OK, the cocktails didn’t obviously…).

I tried not to get despondent when I was running at least one minute slower than normal and still finding it really tough. Here’s a typical run:

[Please don’t be offended by me getting a bit miffed about these times – this is purely comparing against my normal times. It’s all relative. I’m not saying that people are ‘slow’ if they run this speed!]

Sweaty, mid-run selfie

Despite finding it hard and typically running an average of 9 mins/mile, I enjoyed getting out there and being active. I can’t lie on a beach all day. That’s not me. I ran a few 7 miles as there was a perfect 7 mile route, one day I did a 4 mile with Ben and the first day I ran 10 miles because I got lost!! (This involved a panicked text to Ben and several awkward conversations with locals who had no idea what I was saying).

What I’m most pleased about is that I maintained my usual 30ish miles/week. I didn’t want to lose that on holiday. But speed was a different story!

Seriously, with views like that in the morning, it was so worth it.

I could go on… but I’ll stop! Basically, the food was amazing. The puddings were outstanding. And the running was sweaty.

Buffets or ‘proper’ restaurants on holiday? I would never normally say buffets, but when the selections are that good I’m definitely swayed!

On holiday do you usually stick to your usual breakfast or do you try something new?

What’s your favourite holiday treat? I loved the puddings. I dream about churros at night. It’s that crunch and the soft doughy insides…and the sugar

July 22, 2013

A little slice of a great weekend

Ahhh what an amazing weekend! I love weekends where you know the memories will last forever I’ll have to split it into two because honestly this will be a beast of a post otherwise!!

Starting off on Friday, I enjoyed a ‘lovely’ hot and sweaty 10 mile run in the morning. I was so pleased with how this went as it was niggle free! I literally felt normal running; no discomfort, no slight twinges…perfect. The only thing hard about it was the heat. I can live with that! I even randomly decided to make the second to last mile a speedy one. I just felt the urge!

Then I ate a nice big bowl of oatmeal, showered and set out on my bike for a very leisurely 7 mile cycle to a local coffee shop/garden centre/farm shop to meet up with my mum, sister and little niece, Megan for a lovely coffee.

How cool do I look? I am rocking that helmet!

We nattered and caught up and I even got to hold Megan for a little bit.

That, my friends, is the look of sheer panic. I’m not very good with babies or small children…or children in general. Megan is absolutely adorable…but I’m just terrified of doing something wrong. She did fall asleep on me which was lovely.

Anyway we moseyed about and I bought some more kangaroo burgers and also some wild board burgers. Love trying new food!

There were loads of baking, cooking and crockery bits and pieces in the shop and I couldn’t help but take a photo of this cool tea pot.

So true

Then we parted ways and I cycled back a slightly extended route to avoid all the hills I coasted down on the way there. In the end it was a 16.9mile cycle in total! I tell you what, I was pooped.

My lovely sister drove round a bit later and dropped the burgers off (as I had no proper bag on my bike) and she also had made an AMAZING red velvet cake for Ben and me….maybe because I’d pestered her obsessively for ages as she’s strangely got really into baking lately.

Unfortunately I had to wait until Ben got home from work until I could slice and dice that baby. It was tough. A real stretch of willpower I assure you. I can now report though that it was delicious. I’m not even embarrassed to say I went back for seconds.

The next morning, Saturday, we got up early and caught the train to London to meet up with my university friends for a little social gathering.

I love seeing my friends but I’m really not a big fan of London. I find catching trains and tubes really stressful so I was glad Ben was there with me. We even had to buy and work the Oyster card machine. Hard times.

After meeting up with them all and catching up we headed to a lovely quirky pub for a drink and food.

The pub was really vintagey with bunting hanging from the ceiling and random old chairs and ornaments everywhere. It was cool! And the food was pretty darn tasty.

I had chicken with roasted vegetables, couscous and a sour cream dressing. And for pudding? Well, let me just tell you. It was immense. It was a tough decision because there was a semi-freddo honeycomb dessert with ore cookie crumble. I was tide. I had a lengthy discussion with the waiter and in the end deciding on the dark chocolate tart with clotted cream ice cream. What pushed me over? He said the tart was bigger. Haha. What am I like??

Then we chilled out on the grass in a lovely park and just enjoyed each other’s company and the sunshine.

There did end up a massive grass fight as there was all this dried hay-like grass around where we were sat. Luckily I avoided being targeted!

I’m sure there was a lot of grass in unwanted places by the end!! Haha.

Then after another drink in a pub, a few of my friends headed back to their respective train stations to head home. Ben and me were staying over at the flat of one of my friends and her partner as we were off to Stratford the next day for the Olympic Stadium 5 mile race.

We enjoyed a nice easy pizza, watched some Friends, ate some home-made cheesecake (hey, it’s carbo loading!) and went to bed at a reasonable time as we were up early the next morning. More on that in my next post

Such a good weekend – and it’s not even finished yet!

What did you get up to this weekend?

What do you prefer: pubs/bars or cafes/coffee shops? I much prefer cafes or coffee shops as I’m not a big drinker. I like to have a nice cup of coffee of fragrant tea and maybe a sneaky slice of cake. But a pub is nice too when it’s hot and you can sit outside with a nice cold Coke!

Are you a baby person? Or a mum/dad already? I know I want to have a baby at some point but I am so clueless with kids that it really scares me!

What’s your perfect pre-race meal? I like a good pizza with not too much cheese as I find the cheese sits heavy on my tummy.

June 3, 2013

Just Running

Howdy howdy! Ahh happy days: the sun is back and the weekend has been great!

On Friday night I rushed home from work to go out for dinner with our couple friends. I was a little bit later than I’d hoped but I thought I still had time. Wrong. Ben opened the door for me and I found my friends had already arrived! I dashed in to say hi and then headed upstairs, noting that my girlfriend, who was just chilling on the sofa, was wearing a really pretty dress. Ah ha! Dress time it is then However, when I came down in my dress looking quite posh (if I do say so myself) I found, when my friend stood up, the dress I thought she was wearing was actually a top and she was wearing quite casual cut-off jeans. So back upstairs I ran to change. They thought it was a hilarious.

We went to the Brazilian all-you-can-eat ‘Rodízio’ restaurant again. This is where they bring round skewers of meat and carve it there and then at the table for you.

Why yes that is a glass of sangria you can see

And this time, I had a food strategy. This time I was not going to be foolish and try everything. This time I knew the food I wanted to eat. Why waste valuable food space on meat I’d had last time and wasn’t massively fussed about? Not me!

I made careful selections at the salad bar buffet; nothing too heavy to fill me up. There were a couple of meats that I was dying to have again and wanted to fully enjoy without feeling so uncomfortably full like I did last time.

Some meatballs (which I remembered were amazing), corn on the cob, Greek salad, veggies and some random prawns. And BBQ sauce of course.

I turned down a lot of meat (sausages, steaks & lamb) in my patience to get what I wanted. I did however try wild boar which I didn’t get last time. And I am so glad I did because it was amazing and now one of my favourites. I had lots of gammon as well.

When I turned down consecutive meats in a row, the waiter looked at me and said “Is there something in particular you want?” I nodded and said “Ribs”. He smiled and said “I’ll be right back”.

And back he came with the pièce de résistance.

I made Ben get a couple of ribs as well so I could steal his! I am not ashamed to admit that I ate five large ribs. Finger-lickin’ good.

Unfortunately my food strategy wasn’t as good as I hoped as I still left feeling stuffed. But not as stuffed as last time. Progress.

Saturday morning Ben and me woke up feeling a little worse for wear. A few too many sangrias and a lot too many platefuls of food. I was not feeling particular ready for a 5k Parkrun. But we got ourselves together and headed out. The sun was shining and it looked to be a beautiful day.

I definitely was not feeling that it would be a good run. I started getting worried and stressed. I know, stupid pressure. Ben could tell I was getting nervous and he said “Just run with me. Help pace me to get a good time.” And I thought: do you know what, that’s a great idea.

Instantly I was less stressed and ready to enjoy the run. We got to the start line and instead of moving straight to the front like I always do in races, I headed to the middle with Ben. We had discussed the ‘best case scenario’ (around 8mins/mile) and ‘worse case scenario’ (9mins/mile) paces if he wasn’t feeling it. I’ve never paced before so I was quite excited.

Ben did amazingly. He kept his pace up. I tried to take his mind of it by talking rubbish to him and tried to encourage him where I could. He didn’t quite get a PB (6 seconds off! 25.16) but he finished the race on a sprint. I mean, seriously, this is the guy who ate just as much, if not more, than me last night and had an extra beer to the jug of sangria we shared. Massive props to him!

I enjoyed my easier run so much so I even decided to run home. I was just really enjoying running without care for pace. I said goodbye to Ben, popped a podcast on and ran home (4 miles) at a lovely relaxed pace just enjoying the sunshine.

I’ve realised that with all the races I’ve been doing I’m missing out on my long runs at the weekend. And they’re my favourite runs. A completely chilled out, no care for pace, run. I loved it! All my runs lately are all about the times and pace and it’s been hard-going. So mentally, this was so refreshing.

I mean, I do love races. I love the adrenaline. I love pushing through when it’s tough. I love the stretch on my brain as I try and work out what times I need to do for a certain pace (this is a lie, I’m rubbish at maths). I love the sense of achievement.

But that’s not everything. Running to me is also a time to switch off and just run. When I’m racing I’m constantly thinking about the race, my strategy, and the people around me. Sometimes it’s just nice to put your trainers on and get outside and run without a target. Get lost in great music or a podcast. And come back physically and mentally fresh for the day.

For the rest of the day Ben and me got the jobs done around the house. Then my granddad came over (he’s staying with my parents while he’s down from Stoke-on-Trent). We don’t get to see him that often so it was nice to catch up.

My granddad is an amazing man. He goes up to Scotland twice a year to help with The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre as a volunteer. He takes his caravan and then spends his time helping out with any jobs they need doing. He built them a shed while he was up last! He used to be carpenter so he has a lot of skills to offer. My granddad is in his late seventies!!

So he popped over to talk to Ben about doing some work in our garden (like extending our patio). He’s just brilliant! For our wedding present he floored our loft (attic) and made shelves so we could use the space as storage as there was nothing up there when we moved in.

So I let the men discuss things like levelling and paving slabs…

My granddad also brought over some delicious treats for us that he’d whipped up.

Meringues with melted dark chocolate and strawberries. This is clearly a man of many talents!

So I had one of these bad boys after dinner. And let me tell you, it went down a treat

Sunday was another race day, this time a 5mile race. I’ll do a recap on that soon but for now I’ll say it was a great race. And cake at the finish line!!

After the race, we came home and chilled. We walked Alfie in the lovely sunshine (we ambled along very slowly) and did not much else!

Hope you’ve been enjoying your weekend

Meat-eaters: what meat would you choose out of all the meats in the world? I love chicken but nothing beats ribs for me. And I really enjoy gammon as well. I love the saltiness.

Vegetarians/vegans (or meat-eaters!): what non-meat protein-based food would you choose over everything else? I love chickpeas – hummus wins my heart as a dip every type.

What do you prefer: running/working out for a target in mind or just enjoying it without any goals? I need a balance in my life. I love the races but I need to have those ‘just running’ times too.

Do you see your grandparents as often as you’d like? I don’t get to see my grandparents nearly as much as I’d like as my granddad lives in Stoke and my other granddad and step-gran live in North Wales. So it’s always nice when they’re here.

May 29, 2013

Bank Holiday Weekend – Part 2

Howdy! My last post covered Saturday of the long weekend – catch it HERE if you missed it I’m going to miss WIAW as I wanted to carry on with the rest of the long weekend recap. Hope you don’t mind!

So carrying on with Sunday and the 10k race…

Ben and me woke up early again, had breakfast and prepared for the race ahead. It looked warmed and sunny which is great if you’re not running 10km…I started to feel really nervous as my legs felt tired from the Parkrun the day before and I didn’t know what the course would be like or anything. It was in the New Forest in an area that it being improved (planting trees etc.) and isn’t usually open to the public. The 10k was an event to raise money for the improvements.

Ben’s mum (Di), my parents and me all piled into Di’s lovely shiny BMW and headed off. When we arrived we realised that it was going to a be a bit of a bumpy parking situation…

The ground was basically just peat and random chippings and branches with lots of mounds. I felt very bad as Di had offered to drive and had only washed her car the day before…it got very dusty

The course was stony underfoot and basically all out in the open. In the sun.

I always have about three pees before a race. I’m sorry if this is too much information but it’s true. I get nervous that I’ll need to pee during the race. So I used the porter-loo (my worst nightmare) three times before we began.

There were about 100 people and we all crowded up to the start just before beginning. And then we were off! There was a guy right at the front with his dog attached to him by a lead and as soon as we all started running the dog just went mental. He wouldn’t stop barking. It was quite off-putting to be honest and I think a lot of people were annoyed.

I think the first mile was downhill because we were all zooming along. It felt great! I saw the girl in green ahead of me and decided to try and overtake her at some point. I kept her in my sights and it motivated me to keep my pace up.

Then on mile two I was still feeling strong and managed to just gradually overtake her. I think she slowed down though so that helped!

Look how happy we look there…we didn’t know what was coming

The parents got a good spot to spectate as there were several loops that came back to where they were so they got lots of times to cheer us on and take photos. We would definitely need that cheering later on!

As we got to mile 3 I had slowed down form my first zippy mile and was really feeling the heat, the undulating course and the pain. It was the first time in a race I genuinely considered stopping. Or at least stopping to walk. It was so tough.

No more smiles now!

The photo above of me is on the last mile. When my parents and Di cheered me on I just shook my head and gasped “it’s so hard”. There was only one water station half way through and I can never run and drink very well so in the end I just threw it on myself.

I kept looking at my watch. I elatedly thought as I got to around 5.6miles I’m almost there. Ha. My watch beeped 6 miles and I saw what was ahead of me. A MAMMOTH hill.

The photo doesn’t quite do it justice, but I assure you that hill felt like a mountain after 6 miles of hot running. I finished and as I crossed the line and stopped I felt a little bit dizzy with heat. I quickly headed to the drinks stand and only then realised to turn off my Garmin. That’s how shattered I was!

My official time was 45:47 and I was the first female, 14th overall (out of 90). Quite pleased considering how painful I found the race. Mentally and physically tough to keep going and not give up on that last hill as well.

When I saw Ben in the distance about to start the uphill I headed down with some water for him as I could tell he was finding it just as hard as I had. He pushed through it and finished in 58.32min. Not a PB for either of us but I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment.

The race organisers had a good spread of post-race snacks as well.

I had one of the orange slices and honestly it made me feel terrible. Note to self: don’t eat fruit post-run. I got really bad cramps.

Being first female I got a prize: £30 off of a running website!!

Of which I have already put towards a new sports bra and a pair of running gloves (with a cool thumb but that allows me to work my Iphone screen).

After dying for a little bit we decided to head off and find a nice coffee shop to have a bit of tea and refreshments.

We went to a little coffee shop/garden centre called Lavender Tea Rooms. And it was so pretty! There was a field growing lavender and all these beautiful plants. Inside the tea room they sold all these pretty little trinkets, lavender teabags and lavender-flavoured biscuits.

My dad had a bacon roll (which looked very posh!), my mum had cream tea, Ben and Di had toasted teacakes (no photo sorry) and I had mint and pea soup. I would have normally had a scone but my tummy still felt a bit dodge. I thought soup would be a better call! And I am so glad I had it – it was the best soup I have ever had. So good in fact that my mum tried a bit and ordered some for herself as well! And the baguette was lovely and warm.

Then we headed home. When I got home I quickly showered and then headed out (with a couple of apples for the journey) to a BBQ with my friends. I didn’t partake in any food (apart from a slice of cake) as I had just had lunch and was later having an Indian with Ben but it was lovely to hang out with my friends in the sun. Though I felt a bit like I had heat-stroke and I was burnt from the run on my chest and arms.

I met their little guinea pig as well, who was lovely. I used to have loads of guinea pigs so I was quite content to stroke it on my lap.

UNTIL IT PEED ON ME. There’s gratitude for you.

We played some games and chilled out and then I left early to get back to Ben to eat a very well deserved Indian.

Though we both noticed how thirsty we were after the Indian. I mean I know how salty Indian takeaways are but I think that combined with losing a lot of water during the race really hit us. We both went to bed with water by the sides of our bed.

Monday was a lovely relaxed day with the family enjoying a tasty BBQ.

And so a great Bank holiday weekend if I do say so myself! Family, running, tasty food and sunshine. Perfect!

What do you prefer: tearooms or coffee shops? I do love coffee but there’s something so terribly quaint about a tearoom. I’m just sad I missed out on the scone. Next time for definite. They even had lavender flavoured scones!

What childhood pet did you used to have? We had two dogs, hamsters, nine guinea pigs (at one time!), fish and rabbits.

What do you like to eat post-race? I think I just prefer to drink lots of water and then have a proper meal a little while after.

Hills at the beginning or a race or then end? I thought I’d prefer the end but now I’m not so certain!

**I’m sorry if you’re getting bit sick of me going on about being the first girl in races and things like that – I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging at all. I’m just pleased with how my running is doing. The races I’ve been doing are by no means huge races. They’re smaller informal races, so there’s a better chance to do well!**

May 27, 2013

Bank Holiday Weekend – Part 1

Hello lovely people! How good does a long weekend feel? And with such lovely sunny weather! Ben and me have been really enjoying the weather and have been fairly busy these past few days.

Saturday morning we both naturally woke up early. So nice to have the sun gently wake you up. We did a couple of chores and then headed out to our local Parkrun in the lovely Victoria Country Park.

This time I did not make the mistake of having breakfast beforehand!! I was quite nervous due to last time. When we got there we found out we were doing the ‘harder’ course which was three laps and had an incline in it. To be honest I wasn’t too bothered as I didn’t know what to expect as I haven’t done a proper 5k in ages. And there was a pacing event on as well so there were lots of volunteers pacing different times which was cool.

On the first lap I managed to get slapped in the face with a stinging nettle as I turned round a corner. I thought “ha, well I won’t make that mistake on the next lap!” But by the second lap I’d forgotten it and got slapped again. And you wouldn’t believe that it happened on the third as well… I clearly have the memory of a goldfish.

I was enormously pleased with this! It’s funny because I saw the ‘Sub 22 minute’ pacer on the second lap round and thought well I’ll just stick with him as I was happy with getting 22 minutes! But as we carried on running I felt myself have enough energy to get past him and carry on a bit faster.

And I came first girl! It also felt great to be cheered on by the volunteers and then to cheer on everyone else as I waited for Ben to finish (not that he was that much further behind me!)

He got 25.07, a new PB

So we felt pretty good after that. We went home, had some much needed breakfast as by this point it was after 10am.

After showering and chores we were off to Chichester to have lunch with my family for my mum’s birthday. Between my dad, my sister and me we had decided to surprise my mum by not telling her that Rachel (my sis), Nick (brother-in-law), Ben and me would be there. She just thought it was her and my dad. So we zoomed to Chichester to get to the restaurant before her and waited there for her to arrive. We got her a glass of Prosecco as well ready and waiting.

We were sat in a window seat so I was worried she’d see us but when she walked past but she was completely oblivious. My dad did a discrete nod and then they headed inside. Honestly, her face was a picture. She was so surprised and over-the-moon it was just lovely.

And the food was divine, as always. This restaurant is a big favourite of our family (it’s called Trents).

For starters Ben and me had our usual thing…

A ‘dipping board’ with olives, basil pesto, hummus, pittas and crudités.

And for main I had a chicken Caesar salad.

Really chunky croutons, anchovies and chicken. Yum. The dressing was so good as well.

Then we moseyed about and looked in some shops. We went into one of my favourite sweet shops (Ye Olde Sweet Shop):

Look at that huge Sherbet Fountain (do you remember those?? I hate liquorice but I used to love dunking the liquorice stick into the sherbet and licking it off).

We also went to another of my favourite Chichester food-places: The Swallow Bakery.

Wow word: AMAZING. Honestly I spent a good 10 minutes perusing what I wanted….marshmallow cupcakes, carrot cupcakes, rainbow cupcakes…and all these other cakes, brownies and flapjacks as well.

I’m not sure if that’s clear enough to see, but you can have a cupcake MILKSHAKE. A cupcake blended in a milkshake. And they had gluten-free option cupcakes too which I thought was great.

Ben and me went for strawberry meringues and red velvet cupcakes. Then we parted ways with the family and went home. Such a lovely day out!

After dinner, we ate the meringues. We just couldn’t not. I mean seriously, it was a push waiting that long to tuck into these bad boys (we didn’t share; we had one each).

Sugar-induced coma occurred promptly after this. But it was so worth it. We still have the cupcakes (I’m not sure how we haven’t eaten them yet, but seriously they well be gone by the end of today).

We were shattered and so had another early night as we had yet another 10k the next day (yes, I know. We are official obsessed. You don’t want to know how many we’ve signed up to. Our bank account is not pleased with us).

Right, I will stop there as this is becoming a bit lengthy. Hope you’re having a great Monday off (if you have indeed got it off)!

What’s your favourite way to spend time with your family? Going for a meal is definitely one of my favourites. Or coffee and a cake with my mum. Can’t beat that mum-daughter time.

Are you doing any Parkruns? Or races in general? We’re completely hooked on both. I love the adrenaline and feeling of accomplishment of a race. It definitely beats solo runs! Also Parkruns are a great way to measure improvement/progress every week.

Cupcakes, brownies, cake…what’s your favourite baked sweet treat? Mine is cake. A big slab of cake. But I do love cupcakes. And brownies. And cookies. Oh and scones obviously