Wanderlust

I've been away.... and it's been bliss!  Away from work troubles, away from the cold and best of all away from the mundanity of daily life!

O and I have spent the last 2 weeks in Thailand, experiencing the bustle of Bangkok, the sounds of the jungle in Khao Sok national park, the peace and serenity of chieow laan lake and finally the stunning beach paradise that is Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lipe.  Tomorrow I'm back to the office, but whilst I deal with the endless stream of emails and crunching of data, I'll try to take a moment to remember how lucky I am to be able to travel and experience so many beautiful and wonderful places.

Run Eddie Run

Last night in what was the BBC's most bizarre scheduling decision of the year, I sat down at 10.30pm to watch Eddie Izzard Marathon Man on BBC3.  What hero this guy is, at the age of 47 with no prior running experience he decides to swap his life as a stand up/transvestite to run 43 marathons in 51 days.  I struggle to run 5k without being out a breath and anyone who completes a marathon has my upmost admiration, but to complete 43 back to back, well that takes it to another level doesn't it!?

Image from here

The run was done in support of Sport Relief and saw Eddie take in a route that involves the whole of the UK.  Last nights episode showed Eddie's 5 weeks of prep and then suddenly we were off, starting in the centre of London's Trafalger Square heading west towards the beautiful Wales.  There were some great moments of Eddie being supported by the Great British public, in particular a lovely welsh lady running alongside him with some homemade Welsh Cakes and a guy who just wanted to shake his hand for the fact he wanted to salute his crazy mental challenge.  As he headed deeper into the Welsh valleys, with his feet becoming more infected and painful, I could only admire the guy more and more, he just seemed to determined to get through each mile and everytime he finished another marathon you could see the relief across his face.

The programme is in 3 parts, the next being Thursday March 11th and then concluding on Thursday March 18th and it's great viewing and very inspiring!

Have lovely weekend! x

Africa Africa

Boy did I get a little bit giddy this morning when I quickly snuck a peak on ASOS!  I love prints and African ones are right up my street!  I can't put my finger on it, but there is just something about the boldness of the colours and the patterns that I adore.   Whilst on holiday in Kenya 2 years ago, I went crazy buying lots of Kikoys, all with the most fabulous prints and colours.  Of course, I vowed that I would somehow find a use for them in London... however, unfortunately, they are still carefully folded up in a bag in my loft!  But their time will come one day...

The best thing about the ASOS collection though, is that it is designed, sourced and produced in Africa, which is a rare thing in today's world of fast fashion.  With it having such a great ethos behind the collection, I think I can safely say the above jacket had my name written all over it!  The downside... they only had as size 12 left and I'm keeping everything crossed that this size 12 fits my somewhat large boobs!  It should arrive tomorrow... so positive thin thoughts for me and lets hope the fit model for the design was a larger size 12!

St David's Day Part 2

When I was a child and went to school in England I always used to dress up on St David's day and take Welsh cakes into school to share with all my classmates!  I think they were all a bit bemused by my outfit.. but who doesn't love being the centre of attention when you are 5 years old.

Unfortunately the outfit is a little bit to small these days, but I still managed to make the Welsh cakes and bring them into the office yesterday.  Below is my Gran's receipe... I recommend trying them, they are extremely easy to make and are taste just perfect with a cup of tea.  I make mine on a bake stone, but they can be made on frying pan, you just need to keep the heat very low.

Gran's Welsh Cakes
6oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Butter
1/2 tsp of mixed spice
3oz Caster Sugar
2oz Currants
1 egg
Touch of milk

1. Mix the butter into the flour to create a breadcrumbs like texture
2. Add the mixed spice, sugar and currants
3. Add the egg and mix together
4. Add the milk so you get a dough mixture
5. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface so it is about 1cm thick
6. Cut out with a cake cutter
7. Grease the bakestone with butter and heat
8. Add the welsh cakes and heat slowly until they are golden brown on each side
9. Leave to cool and add a dusting of sugar to the cakes
10. Make yourself a cup of tea and sit down to enjoy the fruits of your labour!