Beyonce, beyonce

So, everyone loves Beyonce. Accept it.

Even people like myself who went through that "omg I am totally rock and do not listen to pop music like ever" stage love Beyonce.

So today's exercises mainly consisted of me and a friend drunkenly dancing to a Beyonce Live dvd. We are the best.

But first!.....this was not the only exercise I did. Oh no no no. I went for a little run, Couch to 5k week 6, day 1, to be precise. I actually ran to the library because I needed to get some printing done, and I own zero printing machines. Shout out to my local library.

I also went to the shop opposite the library to get ingredients for delicious cookies. These were much appreciated by my friend, her boyfriend and me (especially after tiring beyonce dancing - not by the boyfriend). I used a basic but delicious recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies that a friend gave to me a while back. As copied below:

Ingredients: (makes about 20-25 cookies)
150g chocolate chips
250g butter
250g plain flour 
100g granulated sugar
50g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease up a baking tray.
Mix together the butter, granulated and brown sugar, followed by the egg.
Then add the flour, baking powder and salt (the mix should then be quite gloopy and smooth).
Follow these with the chocolate chips
Dollop large tablespoons of the mix onto the tray, keeping them about 8cm apart to avoid them spreading into each other (this may have to be done in batches).
Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes until golden brown - keep an eye on them though as they tend to spread themselves out!

Yum. Also love that my friend uses the word gloopy in her instructions!

Couch to 5k, week 3 - done!

I was so tempted not to go out for a run tonight but the thought of not being being able to write that title finally got me out the door. That and the fact that after a week of doing a fair amount of exercise I was actually itching to get out the door (once I'd recovered from Christmas/clothes for new job shopping).

Although I only managed 4/7 days exercise this week (not the 7 planned!) I'm still fairly proud of myself and looking forward to keep up the good work next week. I've also kicked off my aubergine obsession this week with an amazing aubergine bake (new favourite) and an aubergine curry I've made tonight from my new cookbook:

Love it when books match my bed cover ;)

After the success of last week I think tomorrow I'll plan a (maybe more realistic) exercise plan, as well as an eating plan. Also I want to make sure I work around my planned social events this week so I will try and incorporate them in to my plannings.

A very British Thanksgiving

For the past three years, I've hosted Thanksgiving for my not-in-anyway-American friends.

Why? Well, it started with an operation and a friend obsessed with all things USA culminating in "let's do something fun in November that involves our friend not moving too much".  Combine this with my (parents') large kitchen/dining room and "Thanksgiving" was born.

This year there was no way I was letting a small London flat with a tiny kitchen/oven get in the way of our slightly odd tradition. So enter my Thanksgiving spreadsheet of organisational dreams!

Google docs FTW!

The perfect roast potatoes were housemate 1's contribution.

Stuffing - everyone's favourite. I save the amazing home made kind for Christmas though.

Apple and blackberry crumble - housemate 2's contribution - YUM.

 I am thankful for:

Spreadsheets (weirdly obsessed and proud!)

The happy glow from cooking for friends

My little London flat

My housemates for being great assistant cooks and hosts

The electrician who  fixed our shower 2 hours before people arrived (after 10 days of showering at work!)

Friends

Friends

Friends

Can you tell I've got that soppy post-Thanksgiving "I love my friends so much and even though I'm a bit tired and hungover it still counts" feeling ;)

Tomorrow will bring a post-Thanksgiving weigh in and run but for now I'm just enjoying the fact that today Christmas came early....

The master of all the chefs

Today I made my way to Kensington Olympia to check out the MasterChef Live exhibition. An interesting experience as I never really watch the show, but as my sisters were working there I wasn't going to turn down a complimentary pass! And so I went along in search of free tasters and healthy-food inspiration.

So let's start with the tasters! I ate a small lunch in order to leave room (and calories) for free nibbles, because, as everyone knows, free food is delicious food.

The foodstuff I was most expecting to deliver in the tasters area (and WOW it did) was cheese:

Medium cheddar infused with Whisky? Hello!

Fortunately I managed to restrict my cheese sample eating and didn't buy any,  this was very hard for me. The other most notable sample was a glorious crazy beverage:

Nectar of the gods

I actually witnessed someone buying 10 bottle of this!

So as I munched my way around (lots of chilli sauces, om nom nom) there were also some bizarre sights to be seen...

Giant lollipop made of sweets - I think I got a sugar rush just from looking at this!

'Flora Tea' because who doesn't want a weird flower to grow in their glass of tea?!

And finally there was that inspiration I'd been looking for....

 

I saw a light on the road to Damas(cus)

Mezze! Aubergines! I'd forgotten how much I love middle east-style mezze food, but particularly aubergine dishes. I also ate a lot of aubergine based foods in Egypt last week so I rushed home and bought the most aubergine-tastic cookbook I could find! Stay tuned for future aubergine based meal plans.

Move out the way kid or I will EAT. YOUR. HEAD.

Other inspiration arrived in the form of some dried-apple crisps that were reasonably priced (unlike a lot of things at the show!), really yummy and low calorie, so an inspired replacement for my dried mango addiction. I also happened across some of the best marmalade ever (made from quinces - oh so exotic) so I bought some for porridge flavouring purposes (see how I made that sound a bit healthier by mentioning porridge ;) ).

Om nom nom

And that was it for mastering some chefs at Master Chef! 

What's the best/weirdest/yummiest thing you've ever seen at an exhibition/food market/village fete?

In other news, this weekend I got a armband holder for my phone so I'm quite looking forward to testing some running apps (android darlings, none of that iphone rubbish :P ). So there should will also be some more running-based posts next week, hurrah!