Christmas Cheer - the edible version

Every Christmas I like to produce something handmade, these days with children, work and the general mayhem that Christmas thrusts on our household I tend to leave the sewing machine covered in dust and end up making something in the kitchen. Nigella, I am not but somehow the scents of festive food encourages me to partake in matters of a highly domestic affair as well as having the obligatory tipple of mulled wine whilst I am doing said domestic tasks!!
Friends are not the only victims recipients of the Christmas cheer produced in the kitchen, oh no, so too are the teachers of both my boys - they must LOVE Christmas ;)

This evening I have mostly been making a regular of mine at this time of year - Pistachio & Szechuan Pepeer Biscotti. Given with a bottle of a sweet dessert wine such as Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise it goes down a treat. As I tweeted a photograph of the process, I received a request to share the recipe. The scent of the warmed szechuan pepper corns and the caraway seeds is enough to make me pour a mulled wine even if I started the first batch at a little past 4.30pm - well it's Christmas for gods sake!!! Here is my gift to you - the recipe.

The process - wish it was scratch & sniff!

Makes about 30

1-1 and a half tsp szechuan pepper
1 tsp caraway seeds
325g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
170g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
100g shelled pistachio nuts

Preheat oven to 150C. Line a baking tray with parchment.
Dry fry the pepper & seeds in frying pan over medium heat until fragrant, cool slightly then grind in a mortar to a rough powder.
Mix the flour & baking powder & salt. Stir in the sugar and the spices. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs. Mix to a firm dough, get your hands in. Once mixed the dough should be firm enough to just hold it's shape. Work in the pistachios.
Dust hands with flour, divide the dough in half and shape each piece into a plump log. Put on the baking sheet and bake for 45 mins until lightly tanned and firm.
Take out of the oven and reduce the heat to 130C. using a serrated knife, slice each loaf diagonally into pieces roughly 1cm thick. Arrange on a wire rack then put it directly into the oven with no tray underneath. Cook for a further 20-30mins until dried and hard.

Enjoy the festive season, one and all x x

JANATHON - WAS GOOD WHILE IT LASTED!

Myself & Janathon were getting along just fine until a week or so ago when my neck randomly decided to go into muscle spasm overnight.
It has taken a week for me to feel "normal" again and able to exercise in comfort.
I'm afraid not only my neck suffered but my Janathon jogging, blogging and logging suffered too, I neglected you and now feel like I did you a disservice.

It was great while it lasted though, thoroughly enjoyed the encouragement and general support from other Janathoners on Twitter as well as the feeling of getting my training off to a great start. With my marathon on 6th May and a half marathon on 26th February and 4th March I was into my stride.

So even though I have not executed Janathon as it was intended I still feel I gave it my best whilst I could. The hardest part for me was the blogging each day, finding something of interest to say about my activity that day was sometimes harder than others. There were days when out on a run that I had the opportunity to show readers & twitter followers the gorgeous sections of our coastline that I have been lucky enough to run throughout January. I filled blog posts with the sheer joy of running our lovely North Cornish coastline.
There were days when swimming a mile in the pool could not be expanded much further than just documenting that detail.
Nevertheless I enjoyed the experience while it lasted, a short but sweet experience.

Today has been a weird one really, as I was taken to task by a parent whilst doing the school run (for matters relating to a PTA event I am helping to organise), missed my pilates class for one reason or another and then had to re-organise childcare for TJ as my mum could not collect him after saying that she could!! I did however get to have lunch with friends, celebrating Mrs C's birthday and enjoyed a wee Bucks Fizz - in the middle of the day I might add!!!!

All in all an early night is on the cards, looking forward to tomorrow as a long run looks set to come to fruition and it is MY BLOG'S BIRTHDAY!!!! It will be 1 year old tomorrow!!

ADDED NUTRITION - DAY 8

The first complete week of Janathon has come around and I have to say I am enjoying it. My run today was my first long run on my marathon schedule, a 9 miles was in order. I felt prepared, I felt confident and I was looking forward to it.
Rob Herron from Muscle Finesse had kindly sent me some free samples of High 5 Advanced Sports Nutrition to try and review. As this was a run that would enable me to take added nutrition, I popped a Berry Zero High 5 tablet into a bottle with some water as well as taking another bottle of water in the other pouch. I was planning to meet the family at the swimming pool so knew I would need some extra for after the run.
I started taking the drink with the High 5 in by around mile 3 and took it throughout the run. Felt fine and really enjoyed the berry taste, I have Cherry-Orange and Citrus to try also. Was a welcome relief from the stickiness of some gels I have taken in the past!!!! I do also take Jelly Babies with me as they have helped me on many occasions, especially when going for a PB in half marathons last year! I drank about half of the High 5 drink throughout the run and then drank the rest upon finishing.

The run took me along country roads, small tracks, villages and into town. Didn't fully get into my stride until mile 5 as I was wanting to keep within the region of 9 min miles, which I am finding harder at the moment as I have been working on my speed for the last half of 2011. I know that I wouldn't want to go out too fast on a long run, I do like to have something left in the tank for the finish. My average min per mile looks like I was working quite well when it comes to that, so happy with the way it went. 8.55 average overall :))

Saw very few runners out and about, in fact I passed just 2. Very unusual for a Sunday morning but maybe they were all in Exeter for the First Chance 10K. I know many of my twitter pals were there and doing very well by the looks of my timeline!!! Well done especially to @supermu62 @KariAnnWebb and @Lisa_run, there were also quite a few from Bude RATS going so hoping they all did themselves proud. I'm sure they did. So a fairly quiet run this morning, thanks also to my Sennheiser earphones finally giving up the ghost :(( The podcasts (The Moth) will have to wait I'm afraid!!
 
Mr T and the boys were at the local swimming pool for our usual family swimming session - literally our whole family turns up!! I planned to finish my run there and wait for them to finish, instead I got my cossie on and went in, really wanted to give my legs a bit of a stretch and the water was fairly cold so knew I should get in. Twas bliss!!!

This afternoon looks set to be a DVD filled one, with the N Cornish mizzle having descended only minutes after I finished my run (perfect timing). Hoping everyone is having an equally lovely Sunday, looking forward to what the new week brings.