Christmas is coming!!!

It has been such a long time since I last wrote on this blog; apologies to those who actually bother to read me, but the past few months have been extremely busy!
The hard work eventually paid off, and I am pleased to inform you that I am now a fully qualified Emergency Medical Technician, after passing a series of written exams as well as practical assessments only a few days ago. There is a catch, however. New responsibilities are coming with this promotion, such as the pleasure to work alongside - and be accountable for - Emergency Care Support workers, Trainee Technicians and Student Paramedics. Keith will still be around to share his wisdom (scary thought for those who know him!), and hopefully I shall still be ...er... around.

Christmas is coming soon, and the lucky thing that I am is not even working on the day!
Jon will come and pick me up a few days prior to this and take me to the brand new Waitrose in Banstead for our food and booze shopping.

After much debating with the boys, our menu for Christmas eve is the following:

Lobster with mayonnaise (bought live from an outstanding fishmonger in Wimbledon Village called Loch Finne)
Beef Wellington (fillet from my local butcher)
Chrismas Pudding (Duchy Originals)
Homemade mince pies
.... and of course,
Lots of fine wine, Champagne and Cognac

On Christmas day, it is only Rob and myself, probably a bit hungover and queasy,hence the simplicity (sort of):

Oysters
Foie Gras
Canapes
Christmas Pudding
Champagne and wine.

Not sure whether oysters and foie gras work well on the morning after a feast, but hey it's Christmas!

I can't wait!!!!

Busy!

Julie demonstrating what a Trou normand is



No I have not given up on this blog just yet; as it happens, both time and inspiration have been in serious shortage.

The cooking has been pretty uneventful too; controlling the calorie intake after noticing a slight weight gain makes cooking fancy stuff a bit out of place!

Unfortunately, when I thought I had done well, my friend Julie came down to London for a weekend. Good old Rob took us to the Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant in North Cheam that specialises in Schezuan cuisine. For the discerning people that we are, this is the place to pig out...

They do a "leave it to the chef" meal, which consists in a series of starters (green beans in batter, scallops, monkfish, lamb chops, chicken satay....), then some Peking duck with pancakes, a selection of main courses (beef in black bean sauce, spicy prawns, cripsy pork, beef fillet in tomato sauce,....), and to finish, a refreshing mix of melon, orange, accompanied by apple and banana fritters. Coffee and Brandy to finish, and you are ready to be rolled home!!!

We often cut through (or, in my case, stagger through) Nonsuch Park to aid digestion, which is about an hour away from home.

It was another wonderful night out erm, dining, and I am sure Julie will tell everyone in Dublin how nice the food was!

Now I am trying to get back to sensible eating and exercising. It is very hard to do when you spend three whole days stuffing your face!
Take yesterday for example. I woke up at 04.15am to get ready for my 06.00 shift. Had a small bowl of corn flakes, a banana and the mandatory bucket of coffee. Our morning was unusually quiet, which made it even more difficult not to notice the stomach rumbling. My lunch - 800ckals of pasta salad - was subsequently devoured by 07.30. It is never a good start when you know that you have until at least 19.30 before you can obtain a well-earned dinner at home.
I was however lucky to work with the lovely Tina, who made spam sarnies (more calories...) for everyone at base, thus keeping me going for a while longer!!!

As for the exercise, I managed the other day an hour flatwork lesson on giant horse Casper (Irish Draft x Thoroughbred, I think?), but things are not going as well as they used to. The fact that my feet just barely go beneath the saddle doesn't seem to bother anyone; it is no surprise that his big movement makes me feel so rubbish everytime I attempt to sit to his trot, or just sit still for that matter. Needless to say, this did absolutely no good to my self-confidence and I doubt that things will get any better...

Honestly, do I need this? All I want is to have a happy horse that is suitable both in size and personality and enjoy my time with this animal!

Still, I have the gym to keep me going. Boring, unsociable, time-consuming. Great.

Because I am also reaching towards the end of my "trainee" year at work, the final exams are lurking round the corner and the revisions have well and truly started.

I still had time to pick a few blackberries though....

Oh, and the shooting season has started!!!!!!

A wine to match

Jon bought this bottle the other day. He thought it was hilarious.

We are trying it tonight and shall find out if the man still laughs when he wakes up with a throbbing headache tomorrow....

Lapin!!!

Ah, I am cooking a French rabbit and shall have it in a pie tomorrow!!!

A taste of Summer

Who wants to eat in this really hot weather? Well, I do. I can eat food, rain or shine, in illness or in health, something that shall never cease to baffle many people since I look so... well... small!

The secret is in the food itself; as you probably all know thanks to the constant mediatic exposure of our local chubbies, in order to be thin, one must eat regular balanced meals everyday. Oh and exercise. Lots. That and stay away from evil alcoholic beverages. Forget about cake. In fact, do not have fun ever again. Capisce?

On a serious note, whether we like it or not there is a lot of truth in the above paragraph. The good news is, healthy stuff needn't be dull, so forget Gillian McKeith and other witch doctors because she hasn't got a scooby. I grew up eating good stuff and never ever found it boring. Sometimes it even contains saturated fats, refined carbohydrates and I must confess I like to drink a bit of wine with my meals. Whatever happened to good old common sense and being responsible for your own actions?

Now Summer has well and truly arrived, it is our chance to enjoy what it has to offer.
Fruit such as gooseberries are indeed on the forefront, closely followed by blackberries, which shall be harvested by my lovely assistant Rob in a few weeks time! He told me how excited he was at the prospect of having his skin ripped to pieces by the thorns again! Bramley apples from his mother's garden will be just right too to start making some lovely crumbles.

I watched with great interest one of the latest River Cottage episode (see www.channel4.com/food) as Hugh made a wonderful goat cheese cheesecake accompanied by gooseberry compote. It looked so heavenly that I had no choice but try the recipe.



Leftover bread that had gone stale became an essential ingredient to the pud below, whilst the crusts were turned into crumbs for some later use.



Last but not least, I have been raiding my local fruiterer Michael for doughnut peaches, which are far superior in flavour and texture than the bog standard stuff. They are also - as the name suggests - shaped like doughnuts. Doughnuts? With only a few calories? That's right!!

Longhorns....

We celebrated Rob's birthday last Sunday. This year however, although no Amazonian ants or buffalo chilli con carne were to be seen at our table, the food was certainly no less worth of a mention in this blog!

Pricey but worth every penny for its unique taste and texture - we put ours on the barbie with a coating of steak spices, served with Sally's (Rob's mum) potato wedges and a salad - I find Longhorn beef even nicer than the best Aberdeen Angus I ave ever eaten.
The cold lager here is worth mentioning, and as you know, particularly exquisite on a hot summer day. I was told that well-bred ladies like myself should never touch the thing, so I laughed my loudest laugh before I opened that can of Foster's and poured it in a (posh) glass.

For more information on this amazing breed of cattle, have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_longhorn_(cattle)

A change from Moby Dick

I am such a lucky girl! Not only do I have the most loving and supportive boyfriend in the world, but I also have great work colleagues; one being particularly special to me because I owe him so much that I ought to pay the tribute he deserves.

For the past six months or so, Keith has been teaching me the job by encouraging the use of good old common sense. At first his working habits and methods felt far too illogical and confusing for my little Trainee head. It seems nevertheless that, as the months went by, this old school Paramedic/Clinical Team Leader started to get the results he wanted from his belligerent French pupil. I must say, we have been quite blunt with one another at times, getting on each other's nerves on a regular basis. Is it what made it work so well at the end? Hell knows!

With a strange affinity with dog dirt, besides amusing tendencies to drive with the handbrake on, sing badly, and trip over various objects without even frowning, Keith has an amazing entertainment value and a very placid temperament, which makes him one of the most sought-after crewmates in our area.
At home, he is a devout father to his three grown-up children and hard-working husband to his wife Bernie. Actually, his family looks so perfect I could not help being reminded of those American sitcoms I liked to watch as a child. I am in awe, all the more as his health suffered; a consequence from constant worrying and one too many overtime shifts.

From the day we met, he has always shown a keen interest in my cooking and eating habits, something that I reckon almost every patient we visited knows about.

Keith loves fishing in his spare time, and lo and behold (one of his favourite catchphrases) I was the lucky person to end up with a sink full of cod, mackerel and seabass - a superb bounty that was to be shared between us both.

The only drawback to this was that the delivery turned up very late in the evening (just before Midnight) and that all that lovely fish had to be processed and put away at once.

Despite making a horrid mess in the kitchen, the efforts were really worth it! The skinned fillets of cod made a delightful meal coated in seasoned breadcrumbs and now I am really looking forward to trying the seabass!!!
I followed my friend Elisabet's recommendations for the breadcrumb recipe, which won an unanimous vote from both Rob and Keith.
All you need is:

- Breadcrumbs (or wheatgerm)
- Cayenne pepper
- Salt

You can also add crushed garlic, grated Parmesan and a bit of flour to make it stick more. The combinations are endless!!

Mix all the ingrediends in a plate and beat an egg in a separate bowl. Dip the fish in the egg, then roll it in the breadcrumbs mixture. Fry in a knob of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes on each side. Serve with a slice of lemon and tartare sauce.

There is also a great recipe - amongst others - for Pollack in beer batter on www.channel4.com/food.


I am blessed knowing such lovely people!!