FALLING OFF THE WAGON

This week I have fallen off the wagon. Well and truly. I have eaten junk food, got a takeaway, had too many gin and tonics, and worst of all, I HAVE NOT RUN AT ALL!

I feel so bad and lethargic.

I do have a couple of excuses to give you though;

1. I have been feeling ill this week, coughing, headaches and just a bit sniffly.

2. It has been so very very cold (I thought we were over the worst of winter, apparently not!)

3. The takeaway was ordered having spent 3 and a half hours on the tube from Woodford to Chiswick when the journey normally takes 50 minutes. We sat on the platform at Woodford for 45 minutes without moving anywhere and the district line was totally suspended. aaargh.

The thai takeaway was from a place called Budsara on Chiswick High Road that we haven’t tried before. I never really know what to order when I get a takeaway and so am never very adventurous. It is particularly hard when you don’t have a menu in front of you.

We shared some spring rolls to start which were pretty good. Then I had a Chicken and Pumpkin Red Thai Curry which was sooo good. I’m going to put butternut squash in my next Thai curry.

Jack had Prawn Pad Thai noodles-I’ll be honest, I ordered them for him, and although they were good, they were a bit too sweet.

It was a real treat to order in as we haven’t done it for so long. Well I haven’t. Jack had a domino’s last weekend and he had a Holy Cow last night!

12 miles to run today... it's not going to pretty.  

BANGERS AND MASH TASTE TEST

Sausages: Sainsbury’s vs. Butcher

Round two of the taste tests, this time it was sausages. I thought that this taste test would be a tricky one as everyone likes different sausages. Personally my favourite are cold pork chipolatas- I often cook a pack just to put in the fridge and eat later. However, when I was working at ‘Spirit of Christmas’ I tried a Wild Boar and Apple sausage. Wow. It was amazing. I vowed to branch out a bit from pork chipolatas and try some new varieties. First off I had to work out who made the best sausages; my local butcher – Macken Bros or my local supermarket- Sainsbury’s. 

I decided to test good ol’ Cumberland sausages from each place. 

The left sausage is from the butchers, the right is from Sainsbury's

I grilled the sausages in the oven, made a creamy mash with butter and whole milk, and made a chunky onion gravy. I am not the gravy maker in this house and it was my first solo attempt at gravy- I think it turned out pretty good. I sautéed some red onions in butter, added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of brown sugar, half a pint of water and a beef stock cube. 

I invited my friends SJ, Sasha and Ellie over to partake in the taste test.

Everyone picked out the butcher’s sausage straight away. It had far more herbs and flavour than the Sainsbury’s sausage. Ellie, Sash and I agreed that the butcher’s sausage was far superior. SJ, on the other hand, said that she liked the Sainsbury’s sausage more! 

The next day I had a sausage sandwich for lunch- yes I had purposefully cooked extra sausages so I could have some cold the next day! The difference between the two really shone through when they were cold; the butcher’s Cumberland makes a way better sandwich than the Sainsbury’s one! 

The Costings:

Sainsbury's Cumberland Sausage: £1.99 for 8 Sausages

Butcher's Cumberland Sausage: £2.55 for 6 Sausages

Whilst there is a cost difference I would definitely pay the extra money for the improved taste. I'm looking forward to trying the different flavour sausages available at Mackens over the next couple of weeks.

CAN YOU TASTE THE DIFFERENCE?

Where should I be buying my food from? And is there a taste and price difference between produce from Sainsbury’s, and produce from independent food retailers? This is what I have set out to discover through a range of taste tests. I have selected a variety of meat and fish produce that we eat regularly and will invite friends over for supper to do blind taste tests.

I chose Sainsbury’s because it is my local supermarket and I have been shopping there forever, and will be comparing their produce similar produce from the local fishmonger, butcher and greengrocer.

The outcome of these tests will decide where we will do the majority of our shopping; Sainsbury’s or the independents. We will also take cost into consideration, looking at whether for taste difference is worth the cost difference. Hopefully in some cases the cheaper option will also be the tastier option!

Salmon: Sainsbury’s vs. fishmonger

Last Friday the Taste tests began. I invited the girls; Anna, Helena, Jo, Emily and Amanda, round for a salmon supper to say goodbye to Anna, who was heading off to South America two days later (and where she is now, so jealous!)

I served ‘Orange and Soy Salmon’ with fresh squid ink pasta and courgettes. 

 Plate 1: Salmon from the local fishmonger with courgettes from the greengrocer. (All the pasta was from Sainsbury’s)

Plate 2: Salmon and courgettes from Sainsbury’s.

Everyone had a small plate of each. Emily was my assistant food stylist for the evening.

I asked everyone to write down which plate they preferred and why. The results were supposed to be anonymous but as we all know each others handwriting that didn’t exactly work, but we all enjoyed hearing what everyone had written!

“First- moister (more moist) and flaked easily. Both were really yummy.” AS

“I think the 1^st one is the fishmonger’s one- it was more tasty. Sainsbury’s one very nice but a bit drier and not as flavorsome.” EC

“A fish was nicer.” JS

“I think that the 2^nd one was more expensive but preferred the first one.” HA

 “Salmon – winner -1^st. I preferred the 1^st one as I felt it was more moist. The second one was a bit drier and slightly sweeter. Courgette winner 1^st. 1^st more flavour and less watery. Overall winner = 1^st. P.s Thanks for a yummy dinner xx”. AD. 

Overall everyone, myself included, preferred the 1^st plate, and almost everyone thought that plate 1 was from the independents!!

The costings:

Sainsbury’s Salmon- £5 for 400g

Sainsbury’s courgette 1.75 for 3

Fishmonger’s Salmon- £7.90 for 400g

Greengrocer’s courgette- £1 for 2.

We all decided that for roughly 60p extra per serving the fishmonger’s salmon was definitely worth it, and the courgette from the greengrocer was cheaper and tastier- brilliant.

All future salmon and courgette purchases will be from the independents! 

For pudding I had made gooey flourless brownies from a recipe book that I was given for Christmas. I served them with coffee ice-cream.

They were sooo good and we had a lovely evening! It is the last time the six of us will be together until Anna gets back in July! xxx

THE WHOLE NINE MILES

I was actually quite pleased when I was asked to babysit on Saturday night; it meant that I would be ready to face 9 miles the following morning. Unsurprisingly Jack’s late night was not conducive to an eager runner at 8am and I was somewhat shocked when he said at the last minute that he would come with me. I didn’t want to question it too much incase he changed his mind though, so we left Jack's friend sleeping and hit the trail.

I love running along the Thames Path early on a Sunday morning. It is so pretty and peaceful.

The river was teeming with rowers, sailors and kayakers.

We ran from Chiswick, down to and over Kew Bridge and back up the other side of the river. I gave Jack the choice of carrying on to Hammersmith Bridge and going over our 9 mile target, or cutting back across Barnes Bridge and having to make up the miles back in Chiswick. He was beginning to flag as we had been running for well over an hour, and decided that he was not running any more than 9 miles today!

My friend Simon had told me that the first couple of miles were the hardest as you were getting into your stride and that the middle miles were easier as “your body is a metronome”. I definitely found that today, and felt really strong between miles 3 and 7.

Mile 8 was hard. It went so slowly. I kept asking Jack how much longer as I wanted it to be over.

We were also running faster than last week's 7 miles. I don’t know whether it was because we knew the route or because I was more confident but I am hoping that my attempt at speed work during the week played a part. Last week we were running 11.30 minute miles and yesterday we ran 10.30 minute miles. I am so pleased! (The Garmin says 8 miles because we only got it going once we were at the river.)

 

I’m really glad Jack came with me for my run as I find it much easier running with a partner- someone to pace myself against, chat to, check if I’m ok, and generally stop me from giving up. I’m not sure he was so pleased but at least his long run for this week is over too!

Probably not a good idea to wear a grey t shirt out running! NICE. 

When we got home I had my standard post run breakfast; porridge with blueberries, cup of tea and a large glass of water. So warming and filling- yum.

The rest of Jacks day looked like this....

ONE RUN AT A TIME....

Reality hit at the end of November when it dawned on me that I hadn’t put a pair of trainers on in over 6 months, let alone run. Back in September 2009 I ran 8km for Breakthrough Breast Cancer having done absolutely no preparation for it, but 26.2 miles is a long, long, way and there is no way I could do it without any training.

I set about looking for an appropriate training schedule. I had found lots of ‘novice’ plans that started with 25 minutes walking- and wanted to find something that started with 2 mile runs. During my research I stumbled across a blog by an American girl called Emily. She wrote about her ‘road to running’; her training runs, 10ks, half marathons and marathons. It depicted the good, the bad and the downright painful moments of her training. Her honest approach to marathon training gave me the inspiration and courage I needed to stop faffing about, choose a plan and start training. Through her blog I discovered Hal Higden’s ‘Novice Marathon Training Schedule’ .

And so it began. I started running 3 miles three times a week as the official 18 week plan hadn’t started. Unfortunately the first official week of training fell during the week that I was on holiday with my family. I did a couple of 3 mile runs on the treadmills at the gym in the hotel but was nervous about the 6 miles. I roped in my cousins Will and Rob, along with Jack, to do the run with me. We thought we would round up the 6 miles to 10km as it sounded more impressive!

photo by sandra purves

 I was so proud of myself, and the boys, when we finished. It was the furthest I had ever run (despite the fact that I don’t look like I am actually running in any of the photos.) 

photo by sandra purves

I decided to swap the subsequent weekend runs- we were supposed to do 7 miles on the 2^nd January but decided to do 5 miles instead (I had seriously been slacking during the Christmas week!).They weren't too bad except for Jack telling me we had much further to go than we actually did! We managed over 7 miles last weekend and 9 miles this morning! (posts to follow)

MARATHON MADNESS?

Twenty two hour bus journeys through South America give one a lot of thinking time. I spent many an hour staring out of the window thinking about Vic and missing him.

Vic was a close friend and housemate at University who sadly took his own life aged 20, after suffering silently from depression. I was absolutely devastated and it took me a long time to accept that he was gone. I still find myself occasionally with a lump in my throat and tears running down my face after being struck by a memory of him. In particular cooking Coq au Vin (a regular Sunday evening treat at Uni) and hearing MIA ‘Paper Planes’ reduces me to a blubbering mess.

Vic with his Mum Kristina

During one particularly long bus journey I decided that I needed to stop wallowing and turn the grief into something constructive. I knew Jack, my boyfriend, had signed up for the Virgin London Marathon for the following year, so I followed suit and signed up. However, there was one crucial difference- I signed up to run for MIND, the Mental Health Charity, and run in memory of Vic.

I think about Vic everyday; I miss him everyday. The intense training would be something positive that I could focus my energy on and I would help raise money for, and awareness of mental health problems, focusing particularly on depression in young people. I hate to think that Vic suffered largely on his own and without our support. If I can help one person to get the support that they need, one family not have to lose their child and a group of friends not have to go through the heartache that we have, then at least something positive will have come from our loss.

I signed up to run for MIND in May last year but didn’t tell anyone until I had been accepted. I didn’t want to jinx it or psych myself up only to have my application declined. We returned to the UK in July and the marathon had slipped to the back of my thoughts, so I was slightly taken aback when I received a phone call from the events team at MIND to confirm that I had been awarded a place in the London Marathon 2011. I was thrilled, but also apprehensive- I have never run further than 5 miles! I am not a natural runner, and I think that Vic would find it hilarious that I was even attempting to run the marathon, but I know that he would also be very proud of me.