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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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Evoking fond memories

Posted in Cookery, Live Racing with tags , , , on 09/12/2011 by Sheree

If I’m not spending time out on the bike, there’s no where else I’d rather be than the kitchen. After my cheffy attempts last week end to impress a couple of French guys, I’m cooking for a bunch of friends tomorrow evening. I’ve no need to impress, they know what I’m capable of in the kitchen. We have dinner together on a regular basis;  sometimes in one another’s homes, sometimes in restaurants. Whose place we eat at tends to depend on the time of year.

One couple have a delightful flat in Beaulieu sur Mer, close to the beach. This makes them our go to location for beach picnics. The other couple, who have two teenage boys, live like us in an apartment with a wonderful view of the sea. However, they have a much bigger terrace and an adjacent garden where they can easily accommodate eight or more. I, on the other hand, have the largest dining room, so I tend to be the hostess of choice in winter.

Not for the faint hearted

Many moon’s ago, one of the guy’s first trip from behind the then Iron Curtain was to Austria where he ate Kaiserschmarren, a well-known and popular dessert. On subsequent trips, when he’s been racing in the Giro or Tour of Austria, he’s enquired as to its availability at each hotel and has been disappointed. Largely, I suspect, because it’s a dessert which needs to be made to order. It’s a thick, souffle pancake studded with plump rum soaked raisins, dusted with icing sugar and served with a slightly tart fruit compote. I promised him that the next time he came to dinner I would make it for him. Accordingly, I’m serving everyone a traditional Austrian meal.

We’re starting with a few nibbles including smoked salmon and caviar, washed down with champagne. Then, I’m serving tagliarini with a truffle sauce. The main course is an Austrian colossus, “Tafelspitz” with all the trimmings. It’s boiled beef, but not just any beef. I use ribs of beef but have the butcher take them off the bone to make it easier to carve. The beef is slowly simmered in a vegetable stock to which I have added the bones. When cooked, it just melts in the mouth. I’m serving it with traditional accompaniments: creamed spinach, saute potatoes, chive sauce and horseradish. Dessert will be the afore-mentioned Kaiserschmarren with spiced plum compote and apple strudel with vanilla sauce. You might think that two desserts is somewhat over the top but, don’t forget, the one couple have two teenage sons with the obligatory hollow legs who can easily consume their own body weights. I should add that there’s also home-made bread and petit fours, plus a cheese course. No one’s going to go home hungry and we’ll all need a long ride on Sunday morning.

The key to enjoying dinner parties, IMHO, is planning and preparing as much as possible in advance. I’ve done that and stuff’s either in the fridge ready for tomorrow or sitting in the freezer waiting to be defrosted at the last minute. I just need my beloved to decide which wine and champagne he’s going to serve in his capacity as Chief Bottle Opener.

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Just another week end

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Football with tags , , , , , , on 04/12/2011 by Sheree

The incredibly mild weather is continuing which isn’t great news for those planning on going skiing. This, of course, has meant I have been out and about on the bike since my return from the Big Apple. Yesterday was the Telethon, France’s version of “Children in Need” but I was too busy with my guests to take part in the Club’s ride.

One of my English students is contemplating what to do after leaving school. French schools appear to be no better than English when it comes to dishing out career advice, so we’re lending a helping hand. I had invited around a couple of family friends for dinner. One’s an accountant and the other’s Head of HR at a bank in Monaco so they were both able to impart some words of wisdom and advice to our young friend.

Having guests for dinner’s an excuse to try out some new recipes. I decided on English cooking with a twist as my theme for the evening. I cooked a silky smooth cauliflower soup with black pudding, fish and chips with home-made tomato ketchup and for dessert, apple crumble and custard. Obviously, nothing was quite as it seemed. 

I dusted the monkfish in curry powder and fried it for a few minutes and served it with celeriac chips which had first been confit in goose fat before being fried too. The crumble was perched atop cored apple halves stuffed with rum soaked raisins and served with my home made custard, not a tin of Bird’s in sight. There was also a cheese course and my petit fours to finish. I believe the boys have quite changed their minds about English cooking.

Our young guest stayed over and rode Saturday morning with my beloved and his friends. He returned to collect his stuff and the two of them polished off the remaining crumble doused in custard. Who knew raw crumble tasted so good? Yes, the “spare” crumble hadn’t been cooked. Still both declared it ideal cycling food.  I went for a 3 hour ride after they’d left but returned too late to prevent them eating it. 

Following on from my Garmin malfunction, still waiting to hear from my LBS on that one, the screen went blank on my 7 month old Dell.  Now I’d had the same problem with my old Dell, but only after 7 year’s use. I immediately spoke to their Support Desk but I’ve got to make contact with them again tomorrow morning.

Saturday afternoon, I replaced my Blackberry. The mouse on the old one had given up the ghost. It would only work in two rather than four directions so, sadly, it had to go. Of course, the functionality on the new one is completely different and I’m still grappling with it.

Today was the Departmental pointage at Menton. We lost our crown last year and I don’t expect we’ve recovered it. Nevertheless, as M Le President was working, I was on hand to chivy the boys. After the pointage we continued on in to Italy for a coffee with a few clubmates. The coffee’s good in France but it’s cheaper and better in Italy. This added a few extra kilometers to the ride, just over 100km by the time we got back home.

We collected the papers, showered and then I whipped up a quick lunch before we settled down on the sofa to read the papers and watch the television. It’s allowed, we’ve expended a significant number of calories.

Profiting from the brief respite from live cycling, I’ve been reconnecting with the world of round balls. Football and tennis to be exact, and with mixed fortunes. My beloved boys in claret and blue lost 1-0 at home to the Red Devils, a disappointing result from a strange team selection. OGC Nice were at home to Rennes and frankly I feared the curse of the returning former manager and players. Not a bit,  the boys won 2-0 to keep them connected with those teams sloshing around in the final quarter of the league. A loss would have had unthinkable consequences.

It was the Davis Cup Final this week end, Spain v Argentina. Naturally, the boys playing on home turf were favourites to lift the cup for the 5th time in 11 years. They didn’t disappoint, despite heroic performances from Del Potro and Nalbandian, Nadal wrapped it up today with a thrilling reverse singles which swung first in favour of Argentina and then back again like a pendulum. But no one really doubted the outcome: Spain victorious again.

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Total washout

Posted in Club Events, Cookery, Favourites on 25/10/2011 by Sheree
Not what was wanted

After a few cold, damp days back in UK, I was so looking forward to getting back home and going out on my bike. Late Sunday afternoon I just had a quick warm up on the home trainer in anticipation of yesterday’s ride. After a greyish start,  at lunchtime my beloved and I donned our kit, grabbed our bikes and exited the building only to discover it had started to rain: yet another session on the home trainer. I was woken in the early hours of this morning by the sound of gusting winds. Sure that they would keep the forecast rain at bay, I turned over and went back to sleep only to be rudely awaked by the alarm. Time to drive my beloved to the airport. As we left the garage it was obvious that my hopes were totally unfounded: it was pouring. In fact, visibility was a bit of an issue and I was pleased that there was so little traffic on the road.

Returning home, I resigned myself to another session on the home trainer. My cycling coach sent me an SMS with his suggested training session. I had to perform a series of pyramid accelerations sandwiched between a warm-up and cool down. The poor chap has been recently grounded firstly by tendonitis in the knee and then a broken collarbone which he’s had pinned this evening as the bone broke in another place last week end. It’ll be a while before we go riding together again. But you’ve got to feel sorry for his wife. It’s half-term, the kids are home and she’s got a husband underfoot who’s usually out burning up a gazillion calories and getting high.

Despite today’s truly horrendous weather the outlook for the rest of the week suggests that I might be back on my bike as early as tomorrow. My coach texted me a few training suggestions shortly before he was due to go into surgery this evening. I wonder if he did that for all his clients? I would normally ride over to my monthly appointment with my nutritionist, but obviously not today. It’s well nigh impossible to park near her office though I did manage to do it today. Otherwise, quite frankly, the water absorbed by my clothing, while rushing from car to office, would easily have cancelled out this month’s weight loss.

This evening, as usual, I spent a couple of hours down the cycle club where, thanks to the weather, attendance was muted. This meant I left earlier than anticipated enabling me to get back for a bit of baking for tomorrow’s English class. I’ve recently acquired Dan Lepard’s (no relation to Def) latest treatise and have found a delicious chocolate cake recipe that I think they’ll enjoy. One can never have too many chocolate cakes in one’s repertoire as they’re universally loved, especially by my target audience of teenage boys.

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Mutton dressed as leopard

Posted in Cookery with tags , , , on 28/09/2011 by Sheree

You’re possibly wondering what, if anything, did I bring back from Copenhagen? Well, we’ve already covered the Mark Cavendish autograph. My friend Bert always gives me a load of New Zealand memorabilia: pens, coasters, mobile phone holders, key rings, bidons and notepads. These, along with anything else cycling related that I pick up, get put into the club goodie box for members to help themselves. My beloved asked me to get him some Remoulade sauce. I usually buy it in Germany but the Danish version is superior and, IOHO, there’s nothing better with cold roast beef and saute potatoes. I also bought some salty liquorice. Again, you can get this in Holland and Germany but I prefer the Danish as it’s saltier.

I really wasn’t intending to buy anything until I got to the airport which is one ginormous shopping mall and enables Danes to save on the vat. I now understand why you can check in 3 hours ahead of your flight and they provide shopping trolleys for all your shopping bags. I bought some liquorice syrup and powder at one of the specialist food stores along with some chilli flavoured liquorice. Expect me to be experimenting with this flavour for the next couple of months.

In addition, I have a friend who collects ornamental bells, so I bought her one from the Georg Jensen Xmas 2011 collection. I then had 80 Danish Kr left in change which I spent in H&M, not your usual duty-free store, on a leopard print scarf.  I have noted that animal prints were not just a passing phase last winter and again feature strongly. However, I do feel that anything more than accessorizing with these prints leaves one looking rather more “Bet Lynch” than’s advisable. Particularly if teamed with gold hoop earrings, also making a comeback.

I also seem to have brought back a head cold. The tickle in my throat from yesterday afternoon has escalated into a full blown sore throat and head cold. This is very unfortunate as I was looking for a new best time on Sunday on the ascent to Fort de la Revere via Col d’Eze. I missed this event last year because I was in Australia. The year before, I was 2nd in my age group, but last overall. Unless there’s more riders in my group, I suspect the overall result might well be the same, but I was hoping for a significant improvement in the time of my ascent. I’ll stay home today and see if I can shake it off. I’ve plenty to occupy me as it’s a quarter end, but I’d far rather be out on my bike.

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