Bank Holiday

It’s a Bank Holiday, a day off to do whatever you want.

Bank Holidays in the UK are all about the Bank of England. Before 1834, the Bank was closed for roughly 33 saints’ days and religious festivals. In  1834, that was slashed to four: 1 May,  1 November, Good Friday, and Christmas Day.

In 1871,  Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871, which specified the days, in England and Wales, Easter Monday, Good Friday, the 1st Monday in August, and Boxing Day. In Scotland, they have different holidays. The first Bank Holidays were known as St Lubbock’s Days for a while.

Nowadays in England we get 8 days off (although this year we get an extra day for the Queen’s jubilee and last year we got a day off for the Royal Wedding – well the monarchy costs roughly £40m a year and has to be good for something!). In the UK, our minimum leave allowance is 28 days inc. Bank Holidays.

So for this holiday, I shall be celebrating May Day and International Workers Day, late and by not working.

Happy Monday, people…

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Sunday Music

One of the blogs I read and am very fond of is Questions for Dessert, Krissie is a runner and about to run her first marathon today. I can’t imagine ever wanting to run a marathon but am totally in awe of the people who have the drive to do it. If you’ve read her blog then you’ve followed Krissie’s journey and she’s got more hardcore about her running through the months…so good luck and this song seemed appropriate, I’ve used it before but it’s worth a replay…

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Saturday walk

Last week’s walk was rained off, Ma and I went to visit ‘the plague’ (Grandad asked us to scatter his ashes around the rosebush where Iris’ (my Grandma) where scattered and put up a plague, the mis-spelling stuck) and put some flowers for his anniversary and for Iris because her birthday falls on May 17.

Even though the weather was awful, there’s always something interesting as you walk through a graveyard.

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Friday Night Cocktail (non-alcoholic)

I’m sticking to this no alcohol thing. This week’s drink is based on bissap, which is often called the national drink of Senegal. Jo’s partner Lazare taught* me how to make it when I visited her in the Cote d’Ivoire and I have a stash of hibiscus flowers that Jo brought back from Senegal to make this. (I’m running low, as she and Ms T are off to spent two years in Nigeria soon I’ll have to make sure that I put an order in!)

Anyway bissap, according to Lazare has many benefits and is especially good for the blood and a USDA study in 2008 showed that consuming hibiscus tea lowered blood pressure in a group of prehypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults. It’s also a diuretic and has Vitamin C and other minerals.   I’m pretty sure that the sugar added to it cancels out the benefits but I do like the taste. It seemed like a good idea to use bissap for Friday Night Cocktails.

I’ve used tonic or soda water, but you could also use lemonade, don’t leave out the bitters though as it brings it all altogether. You could also use vanilla extract instead for something a bit sweeter.

What

Tonic or Soda water

Angostura bitters

Bissap

Ice

Mint for garnish

How

Fill a glass with ice and pour bissap so it comes up to halfway, add a dash of angostura and top up with tonic or soda water. Garnish with mint.

*if my instructions aren’t clear enough and there is a chance that’s the case, just google jus de bissap and there are loads of recipes that are a bit clearer

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Stuff

It’s election day. In London we get to elect a mayor and the London Assembly, it’s such a privilege to be able to vote..I had a PT session with Jem last night, I ache this morning but feel so much more encouraged and motivated than I did yesterday, I can do this running thing..

I’ve counted and I have 6 more working days until Northumberland, we may not get the weather this year but I’m looking forward to being there…I also love Bank Holidays…and we’re getting one this weekend

This weekend we will have family lunch and we are going to take Oli for a walk along the river (with his scooter), which is probably the definition of madness…

 

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What I’ve Read – April 2012

22. Poison Study – Maria V. Sydner

I’ve been meaning to read this for ages and glad I got around to it. I enjoyed it while I was reading it but not sure if I care enough to continue with the others. Although I do keep thinking about it, so I might..

23. A Feast for Crows – George RR Martin

It took me a while to read this, I think because part of me is getting scared that someone I like (Jamie, Jon Snow, Sam) is going to be killed off. The two parts of book 5 are sitting on my shelves and think I’m putting them off so I don’t have wait so long between that and book 6!

24. The Steep Approach to Garbadale – Iain Banks

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed Iain Banks, I raced through this. The narrator of the story reminds me of the Crow Road which I now need to re-read.

25. Love You, Hate You, Miss You – Elizabeth Scott

I enjoyed it enough to read it in a day and enjoyed it. Not one for the godchildren just yet though..

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May Goals

It’s the beginning of May already, so time to think about how I did in April and what to do in May.

Lone Iris

So how did I do for last month? Overall it was a much better month, I have had two migraines but for much shorter periods of time and the physio is helping the pain in my knees which is making me much happier, bonus is that I’ve lost 6 pounds, because I think I’ve been better at planning my meals:

1) Money. £100 for the month.  Passed that one, actually had some money left over!

2) Exercise. I’ve sucked at almost every exercise goal I’ve set this year but I feel better when I do it. So I’m going to commit to the C210K programme, I did it last year and loved it. Pass, did some form of exercise three times a week but the running has been really at the mercy of the weather, (In typical English fashion a drought was declared and a hosepipe ban announced and I think that it’s rained every day since!) so I need an alternative plan and need to make more use of the gym. As a bonus, I also did physio stretches and exercises every day. 

3) Exercise 2. Fit in a person training session with Jem. It helps, he’s a pain in the arse sometimes, but he’s also quite inspiring. Pass, saw him in April when he broke me (strained neck muscles!) but it was good.

4) The demon drink. After Easter, no booze until my holiday on May 12th. This means that all Friday Night Cocktail posts have to be done this weekend or they will be non-alcoholic. Pass. I will confess to two glasses of champagne with Ma (evil temptress that she is) but other than that, no alcohol, no huge issues with it either (apart from the mock horror/shock from my friends). 

May goals.

1) Exercise – three times a week + physio stuff every day. I will be on holiday for a week during May but we plan to be pretty active so should be alright, what I really need to focus on is strength work, I’m fine with cardio but need to do more sit ups!

2) Money – £200 for the month. That’s for haircuts, dry cleaning, foodie pen pals, vitamins (which cost a packet), groceries and everything else!

3) Sleep – I have to get to bed no later than 10pm on a school night!

4) Drink – still on this one. Nothing until my holiday and after my holiday once (already a planned date with Maggie and Ma at Gilbert Scott). Not drinking helps me accomplish other goals namely the exercise and getting to sleep ones better, so until I feel that they stop being goals and start being habits, I want to really slow down on the drinking. (Listen to me, I sound like I normally down a bottle a night!)

5) I eat a lot of fruit – which is no bad thing, but I’ll like to swap 1 or 2 of the 4+ pieces of fruit I eat in an average day with something else, carrots and hummus, cornichons, something with a bit less sugar.

There you go…

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Foodie Pen Pals

Carol Ann at Rock Salt started up and runs the UK/Europe branch of Foodie Pen Pals.  (in the US it was the brainchild of Lindsay of The Lean Green Bean).

April was the first month I’d participated I had to send a parcel to Jenny at Bake (go and check out her blog to find out, what I sent her!) and received a parcel from Nina at Spencers Arc.  Before you send the parcel you get in contact with the person that you’re sending to get their address and find out if they have any allergies or dietary restrictions you should know about and you check out their blog.

Cooking is probably the most creative that I get and one of the things I love about it is that I pick up all sorts of hints and tips from other people. In that spirit, I asked Nina to send me stuff that she couldn’t live without and/or hints and tips that she’d picked up.

Nina did that and went one better, putting together a parcel with the theme of St George’s Day! So in my parcel, I got (and apologies for the photos, I was excited and didn’t realise that the lens needed a polish!):

 

Tea – Nina can’t live without tea.

‘A Full English’ breakfast in sweet form (Nina used to work in the shop it came from as well), anyone who knows me well would tell you how much I love sweeties, it’s a wonder I have any teeth left!

Chocolate Fish and Chips (bonus points for wrapping them in the local paper!)

To go with the Fish and Chips….mushy peas – according to Nina, her husband can’t do without them.

British Fancies – Cake!

And trifle mix – Nina’s favourite pudding and something I never make, generally leaving trifle to Ma, who makes an amazing sherry trifle when she can be bothered, so I’ll have to find an occasion to make one now..

Thanks Nina it was lovely to get a parcel in the post full of lovely treats..

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We’re all connected

This morning I read the comments on an article about London. According to the comments London and its inhabitants are responsible for all that’s going wrong in the country. It was pretty depressing…then I saw this. Still love my city, still not prepared to accept that it’s the epitome of evil…

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Friday Night Cocktail (non alcoholic version)

Today’s drink is a ginger and orange cocktail without booze.

The base of this is a simple syrup with ginger added. To make the syrup take one cup sugar and one cup water, add sliced, peeled fresh ginger (about 2/3 cm square). Heat until the sugar dissolves and bring to the boil, allow to cool and leave overnight. Strain and keep in the fridge. If you done want to make the syrup (and I’m working on the syrup to make it more gingery!), use something else, I recommend Kittys, although I’ve used the Belvoir Ginger Cordial as well and it’s more fiery. For an alcoholic version try ginger wine or The Kings Ginger  (again if you do, let me know how it turns out)

For the drink itself.

Juice of half an orange

2oz ginger syrup

Soda water

Build over ice.

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