CAR SICKNESS AND COCKTAILS

St Lucia- Day 1

Last week Jack and I took advantage of his industry discount and travelled to St Lucia to spend a week in Marigot Bay.  After a cold winter, we were very excited about getting some much needed warm and sunshine. 

We started our luxurious holiday at the Caviar House at Gatwick Airport, where Jack treated me to a glass of champagne and some smoked salmon. All very lavish for a Sunday morning. 

Our flight was easy and pain free, as was our arrival into Hewanorra airport. We were greeted there by a swish Mercedes, which Jack described as 'the nicest car on the island'. 

Unfortunately the roads in St Lucia are very steep and winding, and people drive pretty fast. It wasn't long before Jack and I were both feeling a little unwell. Jack was unnaturally quiet in the car, so I knew he must be feeling pretty ropey. I tried to overcome my queasiness by talking to our driver, Neptune, about the island. 

On arrival at the hotel we were presented with a rum cocktail.  

Our room was very elegant and attractive with its dark mahogany wood floors and walls, white linen and soft lighting. I love hotel bathrooms, and I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a bath. I was pleased with the shampoo and conditioner freebies though!

Check out the view from our balcony, and spectacular boats in the marina. The largest boat was The White Cloud, at 221 foot, it is in the top 100 largest boats in the world and came complete with a helicopter on the top deck!

After settling into our room, we headed down to the Hurricane Hole bar for some drinks and snacks. 

We were a bit disappointed by the food menu at the hotel bar, it was burgers, chips, chicken wings, garlic bread and not much else. We went for the garlic bread, which was quite tasty, given how hungry we were.

Supper that evening was at the French/Creole restaurant in the hotel, Boudereau. It had been highly recommended by the staff and on the hotel's website classed as a fine dining restaurant. However, as Jack and I are self confessed 'food snobs' we were not overly impressed. We were totally exhausted which may have tainted our judgement. 

Jack kicked off with a Creole crab cake, which although tasty, was a little soggy, and felt as if it had been fried off some time ago. 

I went straight for the main, with red snapper fillet, vegetables and a sweet pea sauce. It had good flavours, but the snapper was overcooked. 

 For his main, Jack had Jerk Pork that was delicious and the best of the three dishes. 

We were exhausted after travelling all day and the 4 hour time difference, so we were tucked up in bed by 8.30pm. 

(Apologies for the darkness of the food photos, the restaurant had terrible lighting)

NOT GOOD

Last weekend, I set off on what was supposed to be my longest run to date, the dreaded 20 miler.

Things did not start off well.

Just after buying my preferred running snack, gummy bears, I saw a dog get hit by a van.

It got hit with the front wheel, then run over with the back wheel. The dog's back leg was clearly broken and its face was bleeding. The owner was clearly in shock and the dog was whimpering in pain. It was so horrible to see and it really shook me up, so much so that I started running in the wrong direction....

I ran to Chiswick House and round the grounds a couple of times before heading to the tow path. I was feeling really strong and confident, enjoying the sunshine. At mile 7 I stopped to crack into my gummy bears, and when I started running again, I felt a really painful twinge in my left knee. I tried to swap my knee supports over from my right leg to my left but it didn't help. It was so sore that I could not continue running and ended up hobbling back to Chiswick High Road.

I limped my way directly to a physio and asked for an emergency appointment. I was in tears when I spoke to my Mum and Jack about my knee. I was so worried that my running was over for the time being, and therefore the marathon, a mere four weeks away, would be out of the window.

The physio had good news and bad news. The good news was that my running career was not over, merely on hold for 2 weeks. The bad news was that I had inflamed iliotibial bands on both legs which was causing tightness and pain in my knees, and that the 'fatty bits' (very technical term) above and below my left knee were swollen. He taped up my knee and told me to rest for a week and come back after our holiday.

So with the doctor ordering me to put my leg/feet up, a week in St Lucia could not have come at a better time!

LONG TIME NO SEE

I know, I know, it has been nearly a month since I last posted anything. Shame on me. I have two excuses;
1. I have been very busy with training, internships, jobs, job hunting...
2. My computer is rubbish and has not been accepting my camera, and has stopped me signing onto my blog because of some cookies. Who knows what it is talking about. The important thing is that I am on now.

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with SJ, Char, Sasha and Nick to wander around The Real Food Festival on the Southbank. I had never been to one, but apparently Char and Nick go most weekends- one of the perks of living in Central London.

Part of my reason to go was to use my new camera, very exciting!

Another reason to go was that I was starting my month internship at delicious. magazine the following day and wanted to have done something foodie at the weekend incase anyone asked me what I had done (they didn't!)

It was a pretty miserable day, and I had already run that morning so I was quite sore, but the food on offer at the market soon cheered me up.

These foccacias looked amazing. Sasha bought a leek and ricotta to have for supper and said that it tasted as good as it looked. We tried to speak to the guy selling them, however he had such a high pitched voice that we all found it really hard to understand what he was saying, and we left muttering thank you's and vowed to google it when we got home (I haven't yet!)

Also at the stall with the foccacia were these brownies, they looked great and tasted pretty good too. Not a top 10 brownie, (a Hummingbird recipe remains at number 1 for the time being), but very tasty. Char and I shared one for pudding, which happened to be before our main, but who's counting.

The lady above was selling Jamaican Soda bread in a variety of flavours made by her Mum at home with only 2 ovens! We tried the Mixed Berry which was warm and moist and juicy, and a chocolate, which felt positively healthy after the brownie. I bought a Apple Crumble soda bread to take to supper at Jack's friend's house later that evening, unfortunately it didn't survive a day in my handbag very well and tasted quite stodgy by 9 o clock that evening.

I had a delicious pork and apple burger for lunch, whilst Char and Nick were more adventurous with Ostrich burgers. Sasha, who had joined us from a Tax revision break, had a lamb sandwich I think, and SJ had some churros and chocolate!

It was really nice to catch up with old Q girls, and to enjoy the Real Food Festival, I will definitely be purchasing a ticket for the big event at Earls Court in May if anyone wants to come?