Pumpkin Carving

It’s that time of year, time to create a jack-o-lantern. 

Firstly, you have to choose your perfect pumpkin, and find the ‘just right’ side to create the face on.  Next,the gloopy, seed-filled insides get scooped out and the expression of your choice is skilfully carved into the pumpkin flesh.  A candle is then shoved inside to light it up and create that perfectly spooky mood.

Yes, good old Halloween fun explained in a few easy sentences.

These days I don’t get the opportunity to dress up for Halloween, but it’s still fun to carve the pumpkin, watch scary movies and eat Halloween candy. Heck, this can be done any time of year really but is especially fun in October.

This year I was amused to find out that British turnip carving was the original way to ‘celebrate’ the 31^st October back in the day.

Yes, carving a turnip.

My British colleagues explained how as children they used to struggle to hollow out their rock hard turnip instead of using its softer cousin like we do across the pond.

You can read about it here and have a good giggle thinking about just how incredibly difficult this must have been back in the day.

Flying Visit From An Old Friend

This week I had a blast from the past in the form of a flying visit from a high school friend. It was a super short visit to the Northeast but I think I managed to give him a flavour of the area in the day that he was able to spend here (and we certainly tasted as many of the local delights as one can taste in a day: see my food post here).

View of the coast from Tynemouth

 He had spent a good chunk of time exploring the wonders of London prior to his 3 hour train ride to get himself up North. Away from the craziness of the big city, I had to really think how I could ‘wow’ him with the very brief time I had available.


There is a lot to choose from since the Northeast has amazing landscapes, extra friendly folks, fantastic seaside towns, markets, museums, oodles of culture, cutesy tearooms, historic sites, stately homes, wildlife and lots more to offer people(where’s my commission from the Tourist office, eh?).


Tynemouth Priory

 So, what do you show someone who is here for just one day? My brain was whirring with all sorts of ideas until I settled on a few choice ones.


Since Britain is known for ‘fish & chips,’ and we all have to eat during the day, it made sense to suggest this as part of the visit adventure. The natural progression from this thought was to suggest that we head to the seaside (only 25 minutes by metro) to eat the aforementioned fish & chips.


A friend had highly recommended Marshalls in Tynemouth as “the best” place for us to partake in this traditional meal, and since Tynemouth is such a great place to visit on its own that idea fit in perfectly with the plan.

Tynemouth Beach

Tynemouth has a gorgeous coastline and beach with tons of character (and not only a place with ‘the best’ fish & chips but also a fantastic cake shop which I don’t know the name of unfortunately, but YUM! The fantastic selection of cakes is worth the metro ride alone).


Being from Chicago, where the architecture is amazing but not incredibly old in the scheme of things, my friend kept pointing to the really old pubs and other buildings saying “Is that building new old or old old?” which totally reminded me of myself for the first few years that I was in England. Now, after nearly ten years here my answer followed by a big smile was: “This is England, it’s old old.”


Newcastle castle keep

We then headed back into Newcastle city centre to view the actual castle. The Castle Keep is impressively old (built between 1168-1178 by Henry II) but it is also a tiny bit of a letdown if you are expecting a palace rather than an historic castle keep. I will need to explain this better to any of my future visitors.


We then popped around the corner to view the totally random Vampire Rabbit, the history of which is still a bit of a mystery.


We enjoyed a few local brews at two of Newcastle’s more atmospheric pubs which offer a wide variety of real ales (Bodega & The Bridge Hotel) and then carried on to The Raj Tandoori just off the Bigg Market for an incredibly filling four-course curry meal.


Newcastle's Vampire Rabbit

Britain has very good curry. I think you’ll find that fact a difficult one to argue with, so it had to be done even with our stomachs still full from our earlier taste o’ British cuisine.


All in all, it was a very picturesque and enjoyable day in the Northeast!

Soggy Beautiful Lake District

Coniston, Cumbria

Oh the joys of camping.

Roughing it in a tent with a tiny gas fire to cook your meals under the stars, where making a simple cup of tea turns into an adventure. Boiling the kettle on a gas fire takes nearly 30 minutes or alternatively, you opt for a luke warm cup of tea if your gas canister decides to run out of gas midway through boiling it! When it is finally done it is a lovely cup o’ tea.


A thin layer of waterproof material(aka: the tent) is all that protects you from the elements, rain, rain and more rain in this particular case. The rhythmic pitter-patter lulling you to sleep in the evening and the glow of the sunrise gently nudging you awake at the crack of dawn (if your bladder hasn’t already woken you up demanding that you to head to the toilet block).


Tarn Hows, Cumbria


Bed consists of a slightly stinky sleeping bag that just never quite feels dry but it makes the most comfortably cosy place to sleep after a long day of walking, exploring and breathing in the fresh country air.


From the tent pitch, the view is a beautiful landscape and the surrounding countryside is dotted with the cutest little sheep which makes it absolutely out of the question to choose roast lamb at the pub meal that evening since they're such cute little things.


The sky is full of fluffy white clouds switching quickly to giant streaky grey ones and back again. There was a great deal of rain coming down over the weekend in a combination of torrential downpours and light drizzles.


Driving North

 This may put some people off camping in the Lake District, but to quote a wise individual: there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad choice of clothing. Or something along those lines.


So really...what’s not to love about camping in the Lake District?

Stink-tastic!



(Tenuously linked photo)
Ruti sat within the coffee table on top of a pile of Runner's World magazines.

Today’s park run was a tough one for me. For no particular reason I found myself really struggling towards the end but I managed to make it through the finish line without stopping at all which is my primary goal.



On my way home, I stood on the Metro listening to my favourite choice of cool down tunes (a bit of Arcade Fire) and had an amusing epiphany of the aromatic variety.


I noticed a niffy whiff of stale sweatiness and slyly looked around me to see from where this rather manly scent was emanating. Subconsciously I realised I was placing the blame on a middle-aged man standing nearby until it dawned on me that the sweaty stink was really my own, tee-hee!


After the initial moment of embarrassment, I was actually very proud cuz hey.... I had worked up quite a sweat and had my very own potent Eau d’sport to show for it. Thankfully I was still wearing sporty clothes which gave me an excuse to be slightly stink-tastic, right?


Motto of the moment: Be proud of your athletic aroma, yay for sweat!

Unofficial Pacing & Cat Naps

Today is Saturday so that means of course that it’s a park run day! It was a warm sunny adventure in cow pat dodging at this morning’s run on the town moor (there were some especially fresh splats on the path at the start, bleurgh!). We had fantastic shorts & t-shirt running weather with the temperature around 55 F, or 13 C, with a not too harsh bit of sun to soak in a good dose of Vitamin D and a little dainty breeze to keep us from melting along the way. You can’t complain about those conditions one bit (unless you stomped through a pat, hehe).



I had an especially enjoyable run today because I had an unofficial pacing buddy. I latched onto her midway through the run and it helped me hugely (big thank you to her!). It was such an encouragement to have someone just ahead of me almost pulling me along towards the finish. We ran side by side for a bit and when she’d pull ahead it spurred me on to kick in that extra 10% and try to gain even standing again.


Through funnelling all my energy just to keep up with her, my mind was focussed on this goal alone and in turn this kept me from dwelling on any negative thoughts. Any momentary ideas about lack of energy, aching legs or the beginnings of a stitch niggling its way into my ribcage were banished. Negative thinking be damned, I was going to be her shadow, to stick to her like glue or linger like a bad smell!


We finally spoke to one another after the run near the finish line and I enthusiastically explained that, perhaps unbeknownst to her, I had attached myself to her pace and that it was her pacing that had helped me to finish well. I was happy to hear that she enjoyed the extra push as well. It seems that my determination to stick to her kept her on pace through to the end of the course too. Our unspoken and unplanned teamwork paid off in a true win-win style. Who knows, we may have the chance to help each other again and that may even be the winning combination to my achieving a new Personal Best!


After all that exertion of energy I’m feeling the need for a lil’ Saturday afternoon cat nap, or perhaps that’s just my cleverly constructed segue to allow me to include a photo of Zoot taking a cat nap in this post, you decide.

Either way, here ya go:

Zoot's Nap Swirl - disturbed from his slumber by the papparazzi

Candy Is My Friend

Fact: I've decided to separate my food related blogging from my day-to-day blog.


Fact: My new food blog is called Candy Is My Friend.


Fact: I am not a professional.


Since I seem to be writing an equal number of posts about random observations as I am writing about food it makes sense to me to have one blog purely for my foodie posts and to keep this blog for everything else. So here goes!

It's all in the name of foodie fun and to share a few recipes where possible. I am not a professional writer or photographer or chef for that matter so please keep that in mind if you choose to read my simple little food blog. It is purely for my own pleasure to keep track of all the deliciousness I've encountered.


So, let it begin.... http://candyismyfriend.blogspot.com/

Yum!

Sesame Salmon with Noodle Salad

Who doesn’t like being spoiled with a homemade meal after a long day?

Just put your feet up, relax, wait for the plate to be put in front of you and enjoy. Even if it is just a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich I’d relish the fact that I didn’t have to make it myself, so it’s a huge bonus when it is a deliciously fancy meal that is very photogenic to boot!


That was exactly the case with this delicious dish of Sesame Salmon with Noodle Salad.

It used fresh salmon cooked gently by a drizzle of hot sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds to add extra texture. The noodle salad was served cold with plenty of herby goodness from fresh mint leaves and coriander (aka: cilantro). There were plenty of hints of zing in the salad from the pink pickled ginger mixed throughout the rice noodles.

I’ll definitely be requesting that this dish be added to the chef’s ever-growing repertoire of specialities.