Its been a while! (Joe)

It has been a while since my last post (May I think!) so I thought I was about time I took some of the blogging responsibility back from Jo. As I write this she is making some St Kitts salsa as part of the Olympic Food Challenge, while simultaneously cooking some super health flapjacks for marathon training fuel....remind me why I am marrying her again?? ;o)

I am unsure why blogging has become so infrequent after posting every day for over a year, but I guess it is a habit, like anything, that is easy to fall out of; there has also been a lot going on recently!

So here is a quick round up;

First and foremost, all things considered, Mum is doing well. After 3 rounds of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and a major operation, she is now back at home in recovery with her feet up and lots and LOTS of visitors! We are all very thankful for the support that we have from family and friends so thank you to you all.

Secondly we have been organising our wedding that's happening at the end of September! Luckily Jo and I have the same ideas (or is that I agree with her??) so there hasn't been too many rows - which is good, obviously. With only 8 weeks to go though things are getting a bit hectic!  My stag do is in Valencia in the last week in August where the highlight will be La Tomatina with 15 mates, while Jo will be enjoying the sights and sounds of a night in the mighty Liverpool! Sadly, my best man's Mum passed away recently so I think a week away with the boys will do us all some good. Chin up fella x

Last weekend we attended the wedding of two good friends, Al and Jess Gilmour! Congratulations guys - we had a brilliant time and we look forward to seeing you both soon at our do.

The happy couple

 Al's stag was in Amsterdam and it was ace....here is a picture of him in all his glory:

Weird leprechaun thing

In amongst all this, I volunteered us (Jo) to cook a selection of dishes from some of the countries that are competing in the Olympics along with some other bloggers/ tweeters with too much time on their hands! (hmmm)....all in there are 204 countries and we have all the easy ones! Clearly!

Our countries are New Zealand, Chile, Bahrain, St Kitts and Nevis, Maldives, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ghana, Botswana, Malawi, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Norway, British Virgin Islands, Iraq, Sierra Leone and the Dominican Republic.

I think we've got inspiration for all but two: Zimbabwe and Iraq, so if anyone has any inspiration you are welcome to help out!

We will be posting the food made over the course of the next two weeks or so so keep your eyes peeped!  Amongst all this I am also in training for my second marathon in Liverpool, which is a week after we come back from our honeymoon in October - right now I am struggling for motivation and the whole thing seems a little daunting! I am sure I will get there in the end though!

So fingers crossed everything will go to plan.  The blogging and food making may be a bit sporadic but we will do our best!  Lots of love, Joe (and Jo)