Wednesday - Our first naked dinner night

Ok, so I have fished you into this one! I have no idea how many different people visit our blog but it seems like there are a few of you.....

This is the only begging blog I am going to write, but I need sponsorship for my running the Edinburgh Marathon in May so please help!

For the last month I have hardly done any running at all as I seem to constantly be picking up the injuries and I have to be really careful if I want to get around the full 26.2 miles in one piece! My target time in 3hr's 45 mins, but as this is my first marathon, I am hardly training and I have only been running for a year after over 10 years of doing jack all exercise it's seems unlikely that I'll do it but I want to aim high!!

I have committed £550 to Breast Cancer care and I don't to let them down, so even if you can spare only a single pound please donate here.

Thanks people!! Joe x

PS. If you sponsor me £50 I can provide pictures of me eating dinner naked if that's what it really takes.

PPS. Here is dinner for the past 2 nights;

Yesterday

Today

Monday's Chicken and Noodle Broth

I won't deny it, I'm getting pretty nifty with this butchering lark.  We bought a chicken this weekend for Saturday's curry, and I took it apart so we had leg meat for the curry, breasts for another meal, and all the bones for a yummy stock.  This stock slow cooked to make it crystal clear and it seemed only right to make it star of the show in a chicken noodle broth with sweet corn and spring onions.  It was super tasty and felt pretty virtuous afterwards.  Now we just need to get over the biscuit addiction....

Chicken and noodle broth

Sunday - A Salmon and Avocado Salad

Right now we are looking at exciting things to do in Seville on our honeymoon, so this is a quick one! - choosing an amazing hotel is such a chore! After a disappointing day of football on Sunday, Jo cheered me up with this fresh and colourful salmon and avocado salad with lots of other treats thrown in....apart from the chicken on Friday, we had a relatively healthy week which was good (apart from the biscuits - obviously).

Salmon and Avocado Salad

Saturday Shopping and Curry

For once we had a free Saturday and decided to make the most of it, and the beckoning sunshine, by taking a trip to the Kirkstall Deli Market.  Joe first went to this market when it started a year ago and wasn't even inside the ruins.  How things have changed - the market was a delight with a huge variety of producers and goodies to sample and buy.  We could have happily spent hours there gorging on the treats - Dough Bistro was showing off some nice burgers and their new menu, while the cakes from the Yummy Yank looked absolutely incredible and we will definitely pick one up next time.

This time round we restricted ourselves to just a few treats - some tea from the Tea Experience (rose cong fu and spicy black chai no less), green chilli pickle from Asharun Spices, some soup from Thistlemist Farm and some biltong - which is a new one for me but tasted awesome!  I definitely recommend it for some cured beef snacks.

After the market we popped over to Headingley for a quick drink and the papers at the Arcadia bar, followed by some shopping at Beer-Ritz, which has a fantastic selection of interesting beers, ales and lagers.  We picked up some interesting bottles to try, some of which have already been sampled - oops!

The Tea Experience's wares

The fab biltong - everyone should try this (and sorry for buying the last small piece)

Joe is having a weekend off the running so I thought this would be my opportunity to indulge in some Indian foods (off limits during training unfortunately).  We have been following The Curry Guy on twitter for ages and this seemed like an ideal time to try out one of his recipes.  He also does a daily blog which is packed to the rafters with recipes, both traditional and a bit more anglicised, suiting all tastes.  I had a bit of a search and really fancied trying his chicken vindaloo recipe (see here).  Although this is a restaurant style recipe, I was fairly convinved it wasn't going to be a horror of a vindaloo (thinking beer bellies and chilli eating competitions) and I was right.  Although I slightly bastardised the recipe (apologies - I never cook with chicken breasts in a curry) it was a really tasty, albeit quite hot, curry full of layers of flavour and heat.  It was accompanied by an aloo gobi and some M&S naan - although I will definitely try his recipe for home made naans next time too.

Me enjoying some vino...well, why not?

Our starters some (lazy) M&S samosas

The green chilli pickle - simply superb.  Everyone should also buy this!

Chicken vindaloo

Aloo gobi

The first helping (of a few, I'm ashamed to admit!)

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Round-up

For some reason (possibly distracted by the brilliant weather) we have been neglecting the blog. So as I write this quick round up of Wednesday to Friday, Jo is busying herself with our fun-packed Saturday which includes Deli Markets, Vindaloos and beer.

In continuation of our healthy eating, Wednesday's dinner was pan fried turkey breast with a zingy carrot and sultana salad that went perfectly with the balmy evening that we had in Leeds.

Carrot and Sultana Salad

My plate including turkey and brown rice

On Thursday Jo made our first ever non meat stew - a non meat stew you say!? CRAZY! It was really good and I didn't miss the meat at all as the mushrooms gave a hearty meaty punch! We will definitely be having this again.

Mushroom Stew and Cous Cous

I am running a marathon in 2 months and I am scared! I am desperately trying to get my mileage up so I took an afternoon half days annual leave on Friday and jumped on the train to Crossflatts, which is the station past Bingley. The run I attempted was 17 miles down the canal back to Leeds which was okay for the first 13 or so and then I began to struggle as my recurring injuries of a stiff left knee and sore left groin kicked in....unfortunately I had to walk the last 2 miles as I was in disappointing agony! If I make it round 26.2 miles in my target time of under 4 hours then it will be a miracle (well not quite but it will be bloody hard work!)

If you want to support my marathon attempt and Breast Cancer Care, then you can sponsor me here. Trust me, the more motivation I can get the better!!

A marker along the canal

PS. I am in a mutual sponsorship deal with James Macsween of Macsween Haggis fame - the guardians of Scotland's national dish! So if you are feeling generous and would like to sponsor him too then his page is here.

My reward for the aborted run was a spit roast chicken from M&S with chips and garlic bread - Jo was out on the sauce, so there was not a vegetable in sight - Boom! Jo came home a little worse for wear and she was delighted that there was still half a chicken left which she demolished! Good work (she also added some green stuff and didn't have chips - fanny).

My plate

Jo's plate