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I should be there

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Live Racing with tags , on 18/05/2012 by Sheree

It’s been the same story for the past three Giro’s, I make plans to go and watch a stage and pressure of work, more specifically La Kivilev, means they’re cancelled at the last moment. The Giro arrived into the Italian Riviera yesterday afternoon which for me always conjures up pictures of chic Italians in Riva boats. It looked so lovely on the television and I kept thinking, I should be there. My plan had been to watch yesterday’s stage finish into Sestri Levante and watch it depart today from Savonna. I would, of course, have taken my bike and had a bit of a ride around too.

However, as I’m responsible for providing once again a large proportion of the food for this evening’s BBQ for the Kivilev’s volunteers, my plans were snuffed out fairly early on. Next year, I keep telling myself, will be different. While I’m not doing anything overly complicated for this evening, it is acting as a dry run for next week. I’ve made the carrot and tabbouleh salads for the 40 attendees this evening which has given me a good idea of the time it’ll take to do the same next week, albeit for 175. I had hoped to do a lot in advance however space is an issue, specifically space in the fridges. So most will have to be done the night before. Last year I recall that I stayed up all night cooking, I’m not expecting this year to be any different.

I’ve made a rich, crumbly almond cake to serve with my vinegar glazed strawberries this evening. Spanish strawberries are cheap at the moment and tasteless. I enrobe them in a balsamic vinegar caramel which really brings out the taste. I’m not proposing to do this next week at La Kivilev, no they’ll be having spiced rice pudding and a piece of my (in)famous pain d’epice for dessert.

In addition to the cooking, I’ve also got to purchase all the food for this evening. We keep the BBQ simple: sausages and chicken. Fortunately, someone else has kindly offered to cook these. My beloved did it last year but he’s still in the UK and therefore unavailable this evening. Obviously having him absent does make my workload easier.

One of my biggest issues is trying to calculate who’ll turn up this evening. We’ve reckoned on 40. However, it’s less of an issue as whatever’s left over can happily be popped into the freezer. Though it’s rare that there’s much more than crumbs after these events. I’m constantly amazed at my clubmates ability to consume what is essentially free food. I’m beginning to suspect that they starve themselves beforehand so as to maximise the benefit. Most of them are only 60kg when wet!

I’m obviously a glutton for punishment as I’ve also offered to cook for the dozen or so volunteers next Friday. In year’s past we’ve ordered salads and pizzas which take an age to arrive and are rarely appetizing. In the interests of economy, I’m going to prepare lunch for a fraction of the cost: tortilla with two different salads  – coleslaw and tomato – followed by dessert. Haven’t yet decided what to do for dessert, probably some cake and cookies to have with coffee.

It might sound as if I’m having a bit of a moan but in truth I like cooking for large numbers. Indeed, I enjoy the logistical challenge and, as ever, it really is all about planning and preparation.

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Reduced numbers

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Live Racing with tags , , , on 22/03/2012 by Sheree

For some unfathomable reason I woke up on Sunday morning at around 3:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep on account of my beloved’s snoring. So I rashly decided to get up and get on with some work. At 6:30 I loaded up the car with my baked goodies and headed down to where we hold “The Gentlemen”. I was surprised to find it was raining  but 5kms away at the start of the two-man team time-trial, the road was dry, although the sky looked menacing, and it was chilly. As a consequence of the weather, and another race over in Mandelieu, numbers were down on last year.

As first, despite, several down jackets, I was really chilled. So cold in fact that I wrapped myself up in the thermal car blanket. Finally, the sun came out and I began to thaw enough to start serving my cakes to the hungry hordes who fell on them like locusts. The pissaladiere disappeared almost as quickly as it was cut along, with the pain d’epices. The French find it vastly amusing that an English woman can dish up such delicious Nicois Classics. I’d brought along a couple of new recipes along with my tried and tested banana cake, pain d’epices and carrot cake. A new chocolate cake recipe, which was very squishy and moreish, along with a lemon poppy seed cake that was light and crumbly, with just the right amount of tang. Following favourable feedback, these two will be added to the repertoire.

It was pleasing to see many of our past and present riders stepping onto the top step of the podium to collect the prize for their category. For the last two years, the cups have been handed out by Jeannie Longo. But she was a no show this year. I wonder why? I encouraged the chap we’re hoping to persuade to take over the role of M Le President to fulfill the role of Master of Ceremonies – he’s a natural.

Although many participants felt incumbent on trying a slice or two of anything they could lay their hands on, reduced numbers meant that I had a couple of cakes left over to add to the freezer for my forthcoming English classes. In addition, I’ll now start building my stocks for La Kivilev at the end of May. This is where the large chest freezer will be brought into service down at the club so as not to take up all the space in mine. Though I will have to take regular inventories or padlock the chest so as to ensure nothing goes walkabout – yes, really.

First up however will be next week’s birthday celebration for two of my English group. I’ll be away in the Basque country the following week so have promised them a slap up afternoon tea, including their favourite chocolate chip cookies, before I depart. The two of them have worked very hard over the last few months and are regularly scoring top marks in their English tests and homework, so I must be doing something right.

I’m in training for this Sunday’s sportif organised by my cycling coach who’s still taking it easy on account of his busted 3-times but finally healing collarbone. Today I rode with another of his clients who’s training for the Nice Ironman. We had a really good ride although I was feeling a bit fatigued at the end of it. Definitely overdid it on the interval sprints – watch out Cav!

My beloved has arrived safely in Australia after a couple of days in Dubai. I had hoped to tackle some pressing items on the “To Do List” before his return next Monday but our accountant has come up with a million and one questions about the year end accounts. The guy who’s handled everything for the past 5 years’ or so left and his replacement, who strikes me as being very efficient, has gone over everything with a fine tooth comb. I think I’ve managed to come up with an answer for pretty much everything.

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Creamed but never crackered

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Live Racing with tags , , , , , , on 18/03/2012 by Sheree

There are two things I absolutely love doing: anything to do with cycling and ditto cooking. Ahead of today’s Gentlemen, I’ve been whipping up a few cakes to satisfy the hoards.  In theory, it’s only around 150 cyclists and 20 or so volunteers. In practise it’s more as a lot of clubs will just happen to pass by the feedzone as part of their Sunday club ride. They’ll claim it’s to check on how their clubmates are faring. But no one’s fooled. It’s to sample my cakes.

Cyclists here don’t have the same “coffee and cake” culture as in countries such as UK, US and Australia. They don’t need to stop and buy anything as it’s freely provided as part of the Sunday club ride. To be fair most clubs buy the cheapest cakes from the supermarket, typically madeira, ginger or fruit and serve them with a selection of biscuits, dried fruit and chocolate. My club’s USP is my home-made cakes. Because they’re so much nicer than supermarket ones, people, not unnaturally eat more. Some have been known to try a piece of each!

Yesterday’s treat was a day out, on my own, in Sanremo to watch the thrilling finale of Milano-Sanremo. I like to drive over early, find a convenient and non-paying parking spot – see, I’m becoming very French – buy La Gazzetta dello Sport and settle down with a coffee to read what the pink pages have to say about the race. One of the things I love about cycling is its unpredictability. The Italian bookies had Cavendish as their favourite while Gazzetta mused that everyone would be riding to prevent him winning.

I then had a pleasurable stroll around the shops and indulged in a spot of window shopping before taking up my position. It was windy so I was keen to find a place which afforded me shelter while still letting me enjoy the sunshine. I opted for the large screen after the finish and right next to the podium which was also opposite Rai’s studio – a grandstand seat.

The pictures rolled and on the ascent of La Manie, Mark Cavendish (Sky) was almost immediately in difficulties. Word reached the front of the peloton who upped the tempo and distanced Cav. Faithful lieutenant Bernie “The Bolt” Eisel was sent back to keep him company while Team Sky deployed Plan B: Edvald Boassen Hagen. Queue the sound of money jingling in the bookies’ tills.

We all had a bit of a heart stopping moment when the cameras alighted on a bunch of paramedics tending to an unseen fallen rider, on the descent of La Manie, who was later identified as the Columbian Carlos Quintero riding for Columbia-Coldeportes. Luckily he suffered only concussion and a broken collarbone but it had worryingly looked much more serious on the screen with over active imaginations working overtime.

The early breakaway group of nine riders, including the first Chinese rider to compete in this event Cheng Ji (Project 1t4i), who at one time had an advantage of around 13 minutes, were taken back on the Capo Berta with about 60km remaining.

The hopes of a number of favourites were dashed by falls. The King of Belgium, Philippe Gilbert (BMC) was taken out of contention on the Cipressa while his predecessor to both the Belgian championship and crown, Tom Boonen (OPQS) was hindered on the descent of the Poggio. A couple of moves did go according to plan. Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) launched two unsuccessful attacks, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack)bridged across to what proved to be the winning attack of Aussi-champ Simon Gerrans  (GreenEDGE) and Tirreno-Adriatico winner Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas) just before the summit of the Poggio.

Now, if you’re going to follow anyone downhill, it might as well be either Fabian or Nibali. Gerrans was in great company. Cancellara opened a bit of a gap by the time the reached the bottom of the descent and was starting to motor away. But Gerrans, knew what to do. He gave chase. This is where the script changes. Instead of Fabian leaving the two original attackers trailing in his wake, Gerrans worked hard to get back onto his wheel.

Simon Gerrans winner of Milano Sanremo 2012 (image courtesy of official race website)

Simon Gerrans winner of Milano Sanremo 2012 (image courtesy of official race website)

To give Fabian his due, he continued to motor towards the finish when lesser riders might have quailed at the prospect of allowing the other two to ride his coattails. Had he not done so, the trio would have been swamped by the peloton and the win would have been fought out by Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb. Instead, the three in-form riders headed to the finish line and Simon Gerrans had the smarts to ambush Fabian and take the win, making it successive wins for Australia.

I was then courtesy of my position, treated to a grandstand view of the podium. I would have taken a photo had the battery not already run flat in my phone. It seems to last no more than six hours tops. There’s nothing else for it, I’m going to take a trip to Orange hell to sort it. I skipped away and back to the car, handily placed to get back onto the motorway ahead of all the peloton’s cavalcade of motorised transport and most of the other spectators. It had been a great day out.

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Hither and thither

Posted in Cookery, Live Racing with tags , , , , , , , on 24/02/2012 by Sheree

Well here we are, it’s Thursday evening, my beloved is due back at midnight Friday afternoon – see how time flies – bringing to an end my three-day spell of peace and quiet. I’ve been very busy but I don’t feel as if I’ve achieved much. I still haven’t gotten around to writing about Sunday’s exciting finish to the Tour du Haut Var in Fayence.

After a well-deserved early night my beloved headed out early to ride with the club. I set off about an hour later, to avoid the early morning chill. I went straight to the pointage and rode back home again to prepare lunch for my beloved’s return. I wanted to leave early to watch the cycling  so I could bag, once again, a spot on the finish line.  A quick trip down the motorway and we arrived in Fayence, parking the car outside of the town, to facilitate a quick getaway.

The organisers had laid on entertainment: a Brazilian singer and scantily clad dancers much to the appreciation of the largely male, elderly audience. Again, the spectators were mainly local, apart from Mauro Santambrogio’s fan club who’d travelled from, I assume, his home town near Como, in Italy.

Jon Tiernan Locke winner Tour du Haut Var 2012 (image courtesy of my beloved)

All the usual suspects were there: Daniel Mangeas, Stephen Roche and Raymond Poulidor but the talk wasn’t about Voeckler or Rolland, no the name on everyone’s lips was that of Brit, Jon Tiernan-Locke (Endura Racing). Who, as anticipated, ignited the final few kilometres of the race up the (in)famous Mur de Fayence, to take the stage and the overall. It was a very pleasant afternoon in the sun and we headed back home happy as dusk fell.

Monday passed in a blur and I dropped my beloved off at the airport on Tuesday morning anticipating a few undisturbed night’s sleep and days to be spent as I pleased. Of course, things never quite go the way they’re planned. He’s back and apart from tidying the flat, dealing with masses of club and company administration, logging a few kilometres on the bike and penning a few articles for my other blog VeloVoices, the time has passed all too quickly. I still haven’t made any inroads into the ironing mountain, or should that now be range of mountains and the “to do” list is growing at an alarming rate.

I’ve guests coming for dinner this evening and I have been foraging in my freezer for a sticky, wine-rich daube which I’m going to serve with oven roasted onions and carrots and a white bean puree. Dessert is a help yourself affair. Cold creamy rice pudding and/or crumble either of which can be enjoyed with caramel apples and/or stewed strawberries. Helping them slide down a treat is plenty of my vanilla flecked [real] custard.  I generally don’t serve a starter during the week, instead my guests can nibble on  home-made foccacia and slivers of salami.

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No ordinary cookie

Posted in Club Events, Cookery with tags , , on 25/01/2012 by Sheree

The past few days I have been fighting  a rearguard action but I’ve caved. It’s official, I have a cold which I’m now feeding with my favourite remedy – hot toddies. I think it was made worse spending a couple of hours down a cold, damp clubhouse yesterday evening. We had a meeting of the management team to re-elect the key members – like there were any other takers! Indeed the one club member who had shown in interest in becoming M Le President next year has done an about face. I suspect he was keen on high office while he thought he had me on bord to do all the donkey work – think again.

This is, of course, quite a serious issue. If we can’t find someone to take over at the end of our period of office, we’ll either be left holding the baby or the club might fold. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that the President must live in the same town as the club’s based, and be newly retired. Sadly, not too many of our members fall into this category.

Fond though I am of my fellow clubmates, they are often quite frustrating to deal with, even though I know they have the club’s best intentions at heart. Sometimes it’s like herding sheep, which either makes me a shepherd or a sheep dog. Though I do like to think of myself as a goat, it is after all my star sign.

I have at long last managed to recruit someone to help me with marketing our big annual cycling event “La Laurentine Andrei Kivilev”. Taking a leaf out of the book of my fellow writers on Velovoices, I have recruited a youngster to liven up the Facebook page. However, he’s not familiar with Twitter (can’t have everything) so we’ll broach that at a later date.  I have high hopes. Having discussed our potential strategy with him yesterday evening, I have instructed him to go forth and multiply our friends.

The cold has meant I’ve had to turn down an opportunity to ride with my coach today, but I don’t want to give him a cold.  It’s going to be an excercise free day.ng to be a day off the bike. This is slightly upsetting as adverse weather conditions are forecast for this week end. It had to happen at some point. Although I am jetting off to the sunshine with my beloved this week end: pleasure for me and business for him. It’ll be a week in Dubai’s sunshine which at this time of year is in the mid-to-low 20 degrees centigrade. Ideal for a spot of sunbathing or sightseeing.

Do these look good enough to eat?

Cold aside, I’ll still take my English class this evening, as I promised them a celebratory English afternoon team in honour of the one who celebrated his 18th birthday at the week end. I’m preparing a traditional tea with some rather (if I say so myself) splendid chocolate chip cookies. They contain cornflake crunch, mini-marshmallows as well as the ubiquitous chocolate chips. I expect these to evaporate in seconds, rather than minutes.

 

Thursday postrscript: Did I say seconds? I should have said nanoseconds. They were a monster hit and more have been ordered!

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I might know your secret

Posted in Club Events, Cookery with tags on 08/01/2012 by Sheree

Russian pasta dish

I rode on my own yesterday and it was such an enjoyable ride it forcibly reminded me why I love being out on my bike: freedom. I rode one of my regular winter week end routes and was loathe to get back, but I knew my beloved would be expecting me to feed him. Lunch over, I dealt with a few club related matters and in no time at all it was time to leave for dinner.

We had been invited by friends to celebrate Russian Xmas with them and I was much looking forward to it largely because my friend’s such a fantastic cook. I had checked on the internet what Russians typically eat at Xmas and was somewhat dismayed at the unappetising list of courses. Nonetheless, I had every confidence that my friend would serve up a veritable feast.

We left home just after 17:30 giving us enough time to call into my favourite florist for flowers for our hostess. Shock, horror, the florist was exceptionally closed. Undeterred, we headed into Nice to collect the chocolates for the boys (remember, it’s Xmas) and drove along the same road to find a florist. My beloved was champing at the bit to put our destination address into the GPS. I told him not to touch it as the address was already in the GPS’s history. We eventually found a florist, but it’s offerings were very drab, so I had to wait while they made up something more to my taste.

I got back into the car and, as we were now running late, decided to ring my hostess. My hand closed on my mobile in my bag and I fished out my powder compact! I’d left my mobile at home and so had my beloved. No fear, we weren’t too far away. My beloved triumphantly announced that he’d put the address into the GPS and we drove off. Fifteen minutes later we were back where we started: the florist’s. He’d put in the wrong address and erased the correct one. Lucky I have an elephantine memory!

Once reprogrammed, we arrived ten minutes later, but over 45 minutes late. I was not a happy bunny. Luckily our hosts were unconcerned, it hadn’t interfered with their preparations for the feast and were amused by our tales of woe. We exchanged greetings and presents, and sat down to enjoy a glass of my favourite beverage, without which no celebration is complete.

I could tell we were not going to be disappointed, the table was literally groaning under the weight of the selection of appetizers or “zakushi”. It was a mixture of typical Russian dishes and some from Kazakhstan. The stories concerning each dish’s provenance merely added to my enjoyment. We ate Russian salad, beetroot and cabbage salad, herring, blinis with fish caviar, horse sausage and horse milk cheese, salad in aspic, cabbage and potato pirozhki. I tucked in with evident enjoyment and we toasted the feast with vodka.

Next up was borsch, more of a beef and vegetable broth than a purely beetroot soup. Again, it was delicious. The main course was Russian pasta “Pelmeni” served with sour cream and tomato sauce. More gelatinous than Italian pasta and therefore more akin to Chinese dim sum. The question now weighing heavily on everyone’s mind was whether we still had enough  room for “zaedkami” – dessert. After a brief respite, we were tempted by a dazzling array of goodies including Kazakh chocolate which I admit can more than hold its own with anything produced in Belgium or Switzerland. Finally, we all conceded defeat. It had been a truly delicious, and interesting, feast and, after the best part of five hours at the table, it was time to go home.

We woke late this morning and rode over to the pointage at the offices of Nice Matin. We’d missed the club and decided to go for a ride on our own. We were soon joined by a handful of riders from another club who normally leave me standing – but not today. I was in epic form and it got me thinking. Was this the result of my overindulgence the night before? Had I stumbled onto the secret of the strength of riders from Eastern Europe? Was this what set them apart from their Continental counterparts?

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Debits on the same side as the window

Posted in Club Events, Cookery with tags on 05/01/2012 by Sheree

This one's got my name on it!

The club’s AGM is by and large a rather boring affair, apart from the food and the prizegiving. In case you’re interested, I have yet again, for the third (or is it fourth, I’ve lost count) time in a row, made a clean sweep of the trophies in the “feminine category”. Lest I get too big-headed I should point out that there’s barely any competition. I have again suggested that just one big trophy will suffice as I’m running out of room in the terrace shed trophy cabinet.

It’s boring because it’s long-winded. We’re cyclists, we don’t like sitting still for too long but everyone has to have their say. I generally pray that not too many public officials turn up or, if they do, we’re merely a pit stop on their pressing evening agendas. The starring role is reserved for M le President who’ll faithfully read from his pre-prepared script which I’ve already forcibly pruned back. I suggested that getting things off one’s chest in print (the public officials get copies), and on the night, would not be advisable. But there’s more than just a spot of pissaladiere to look forward to. Although as I’ve made it, it will be worth it. This year’s highlight will be the presence of two local professional riders who’ll probably  say a few words too, but they’ll be words worth listening to.

Easily the most stupefying bit of the whole evening in the past has been the presentation of the club’s accounts. In previous year’s these have been read out, in their entirety or, much worse beamed onto a screen where even those sitting in the front row would need binoculars to see the figures. It’s got to be done, but no one’s found a way to make it either interesting or informative. I should mention that the presentation of the accounts is prefaced by the auditors, one of whom (a real rarity) is actually an accountant and the other’s a retired chief of police, saying they’ve checked the accounts and they’re satisfied that they’re correct. No true and fair view here!

I had planned to graphically explain the accounts briefly with the aid of a few pie charts, or “camemberts” as they’re called here, but the  beamer’s broke. Fear not, inspiration has struck. I’m going to be using a wheel, from a racing bike, to illustrate my points. How apt is that? Whether this will be any more successful remains to be seen, but I am bearing in mind my audience: retired lift engineers and municipal gardeners. It’s going to be short and sweet. I will, of course, be getting in my dig at M Le Maire for fobbing us with the same subsidy for 15 months as we normally get for 12, despite our vastly increased membership. By the same token, I won’t be making any reference to this season’s fall in numbers.

I have today been slowly ticking off everything on my AGM ”To Do ” checklist until all that remains is my own contribution to the best bit: the food. In honour of our professional cyclists I’m making a reduced fat galette des rois. The regular version is frangipane encased in puff pastry. My lighter one has apples mixed into the frangipane and it’s shrouded with filo pastry. In addition, I’m making some chocolate galette des rois, savoury cakes, pissaladiere, fois gras toasties and cooking some mini sausages. The rest of the food has been bought and/or ordered for collection en route. My faithful band of helpers, without whom none of these events would ever take place, are lined to prepare everything while we’re boring everyone else to tears. Ah, so that’s why we’re not short of volunteers, they’re nobody’s fool.

Postscript: AGM went well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. There were a couple of lowlights: our subsidy for next year is being reduced by a third – economic crisis! My beloved accidentally deleted all his fab photos of the event. None of the Professional cyclists got an opportunity to evaluate my “lite” galette des rois – too slow, eaten by the hordes ahead of those I bought from the Patisserie!

Highlights: I got to kiss both Amael and Geoffroy when they presented me with my (two) trophies.

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There’s no such thing as too much

Posted in Cookery, Favourites with tags , on 03/01/2012 by Sheree

Yummy

I hate to be the bearer of bad news so soon after the festive season but, start stockpiling chocolate, a cocoa crisis is looming. Yes, according to the scaremongers, chocolate will soon be considered as luxurious as caviar, and just as expensive. Those City boys are going to be buying cocoa futures like there’s no tomorrow, which will only exacerbate the problem.  

Allegedly, within the next eight years there will be a million ton cocoa shortage, forcing significant price rises in chocolate and related products. It’s the fault of those in the East who have developed a taste for Western treats. Hands off our Mars bars!

I sense the problem’s already begun. One of my current favourite television adverts features tennis player Roger Federer (who knew he had a sense of humour?) going through Customs with a tennis bag full of round Lindor truffles which look like tennis balls in the X-ray machine. The stunningly attractive Customs officials first taste and then confiscate the chocolate while threatening/promising Roger with a strip search.

It’s obviously a spoof as anyone who travels knows that absolutely none of the customs officials look like the two women in the advert. Though they might well confiscate your goodies and subject you to a quick once over with the marigolds.

I understand the real crux of the cocoa problem is low yields and inefficient farming methods in the prime cocoa producing areas, largely in West Africa.

Chocolate comes from the dried and fermented seeds of the tropical Theobroma (meaning food of the gods) cacao tree. They’re small and require rich, well-drained soil. They naturally grow within 20 degrees of either side of the equator because they need about 2000 millimetres of rainfall per annum, and temperatures in the range of 21 to 32 °C. Cacao trees cannot tolerate a temperature lower than 15 °C. (Damm won’t be able to grow any on the balcony.)

The three main varieties of beans used in chocolate are criollo, forastero, and trinitario. Criollo is the rarest and most expensive cocoa on the market, and is native to Central America, the Caribbean and South America. Criollos are particularly tricky to grow and produce low yields. The most common bean is forastero, a native of the Amazon basin. The African cocoa crop is entirely of the forastero variety and they are significantly hardier and of higher yield than criollo. Trinitario is a natural hybrid of the other two varieties and hails from Trinidad.

To harvest cacao, the fully ripened pods are cut from the tree and the beans and surrounding pulp are extracted and placed in bins to ferment for about seven days. The beans are then spread in the sun for 5-7 days to dry quickly and to prevent mould growth before being taken to the chocolate factory to be cleaned, roasted and graded. The shell of each bean is removed to extract the nib. Finally, the nibs are ground and liquefied, resulting in pure chocolate in fluid form which can be further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

Chocolate liquor is blended with the cocoa butter in varying quantities to make different types of chocolate or couvertures. The finest, plain dark chocolate couvertures contain at least 70% cocoa (both solids and butter), whereas milk chocolate usually contains up to 50%. High-quality white chocolate couvertures contain only about 35% cocoa. Accept nothing but the best! It’s like wine in this respect; don’t cook with anything you wouldn’t eat.

Chocolate first started life as a beverage enjoyed either hot or cold. It was imported into Europe after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. It quickly became a Spanish court favourite and within the next century its popularity spread throughout Europe with the first chocolate house opening in London in 1657 and in 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane created a milk chocolate drink.

Come the Industrial Revolution, the Italians invented the first form of solid chocolate. The Swiss jumped on the bandwagon and opened the first chocolate factory. Then the Dutch patented a method for extracting the fat from cocoa beans to make powdered cocoa and cocoa butter. But it was the Germans who made the first chocolate bar swiftly followed by the British, J S Fry & Sons. Enter the Cadbury Brothers from Birmingham and the rest is history.

Or is it? Part II to follow

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Feats of endurance

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Hazards on 16/12/2011 by Sheree

Mmm delicious

I am not, and never have been, fond of mass participation events. Mass in my book being any number over and beyond me and my beloved. I’m a goat (Capricorn) rather than a sheep. However, there are times when you cannot do exactly as you please. By working for myself, I have sought to minimise these. However, while I was a wage slave, there were occasions when I toed the party line, notably the office Xmas party. Words guaranteed to strike terror into the heart of every manager. However, if you are a manager, then these are MUST attend events. Nothing short of death should excuse you.

By their very nature, they are organised, or should be organised, to appeal to everyone else and, to keep the taxman happy, generally to a per capita budget. I have long accepted that what constitutes a good night out for most is my idea of hell. I found the trick with office parties was to put in an appearance, eat and drink very little, be seen by as many people as possible, make a point of speaking to all my staff and thanking them for their efforts, but not to overstay my welcome and ruin everyone’s enjoyment. After all, few want to get off their face when the boss is around. Generally, leaving money behind the bar was also well received.

As the Club Treasurer and Secretary, I’m pretty much obliged to put in an appearance at all club events. However, here my role tends to be organisational rather than participational. In truth, I mind this less as I’m in charge. Events also follow a traditional pattern, although the annual dinner and dance has fallen by the wayside. Next year, we’re combining the AGM, which is being held on 6 January, with the Galette des Rois. Largely, it must be said, from necessity as the much in demand municipal venue isn’t available again until March.

In recent years, thanks to enlarged premises with a garden, we’ve also added a few events to the club agenda: Pancake night, Chocoholics evening and summer BBQs. These cost the club very little as it’s generally the members and their wives who prepare everything. Everyone mucks in and a good time is had by all, including me. But then that’s because I like nothing better than cooking for an appreciative crowd and proving that, contrary to popular belief, the English can cook.

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Back on the treadmill

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Training with tags , , , , , on 15/12/2011 by Sheree

My coach is finally back out on his bike after a six week break with a multiple fracture of the right collarbone. Since he’s supposed to be ”taking it easy”, I’m the ideal riding companion. I rode over to his office from whence we set off to undertake today’s training exercises.  Actually, we did tomorrow’s, as I did today’s yesterday. I saved my least favourite: pedalling in a high cadence. I find these exercises tiring and they expose my pedalling weaknesses. I have been working on this and my coach felt that I was making some progress. My action is getting more supple and I don’t bob about as much as before. Possibly because there’s less of me to bobble.

I did wonder whether my coach would put on any weight during his enforced rest. Well if he has, I haven’t spotted where he’s put it. On his slender frame there’s nowhere to hide. Sensibly, once the wind sprang up, he allowed me to ride in front, while he took shelter. Interestingly, he didn’t indulge in too much “look no hands” riding today. Obviously not keen to get another busted collarbone anytime soon.

We discussed my goals for next year. They’re going to be pretty much the same as this year with the addition of a couple of competitive time trials, one of which will be up Col de Vence.  I would love to do the Haute Route (Geneva to Nice) and am confident I would have no problem completing the arduous parcours. But everyone else would get fed up waiting for me and I’d probably be consigned to the broom wagon. I have no desire to take part in any event which has more than 500 participants, in truth, even then there’s about 495 too many. So that pretty much eliminates events such as L’Etape du Tour, La Marmote, Bosses du 13 and so on.

As part of my training package, I get to ride once a month with my coach but due to his injury we’re now playing catch up. So we’re riding again together next week. This will give me a welcome break from my beloved with whom I’m going to be spending the next three weeks. I know, it’s going to be tricky, but hopefully we’ll muddle through. He’s over in the UK racking up some serious brownie points taking the outlaw out for dinner. His brother’s keeping him company so the outlaw will be in heaven: both her boys together.

The great weather’s continuing. I sat outside, read L’Equipe and had a coffee after my 3 1/2 ride before heading back home. This evening was my last English class for a month. Two week break for Xmas, the week after’s the club AGM and then I’m visiting the folks. Wanting to maintain momentum, my two youngsters are finally getting good grades in their English tests at school, I’ve given them a project for the holidays. They’ve got to report on a football match and give me potted stats and bios on five of the players. Knowing these two they’ll plump for a match involving Barcelona. The month’s break will also allow me to restock my supply of cakes and cookies, the cupboard is bare.

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