Happy 30th

This month, I hit a milestone in my life. On 7th April 2014, I became *spoken through gritted teeth* THIRTY years old...

As someone who has always thought of "Happy Thirtieth" as somewhat of an oxymoron, I have to say that I wasn't looking forward to it much. You see, thirty is a significant age: If I were a professional sportsman (I know, it's hard to believe that I'm not, looking at my physique), my career would be approaching an end and I would have to start considering what I will do afterwards.

Having said all that, I have to give an honourable mention to my wonderful wife, Harriet. All jokes about how ancient I am aside, she has made this part of my life a memorable time. For those of you who know Harriet, you will know the following two things about her:

1. She is hugely organised.
2. She cannot keep a secret.

On the occasion of my thirtieth birthday, Harriet remained resolute on attribute #1, however she managed to buck the trend on #2. She managed to keep my birthday plans a secret for THREE MONTHS up until the night before. Not all of you will appreciate the significance of this, but let me tell you - this took a gargantuan effort on her part!

The plan was that we were going to Pembrokeshire in Wales for the weekend. Harriet's sister, Charly (Charlotte), used to live and work down there and Harriet would often go there for a quick visit or a retreat. She has often described to me how much she loves that place. Once we got there, I could see why. Pembrokeshire is beautiful.

The most spectacular was Barafundle Bay. A beautiful little cove surrounded by cliffs, this beach was perfect. We had sunny weather (very un-Welsh!), we had sand and we had almost exclusive access to one of the nicest beaches I've been to. I can't really do it justice in words, so here are a couple of pictures from our visit:

This was not the pinnacle of our visit to Wales though. Oh no. The main secret Harriet had tucked up her sleeve was that we were going coasteering! For those of you not in the know (much like I was), Coasteering is an adventure sport where you don a wetsuit and helmet, swim in the sea, climb cliffs and throw yourself off them. It has to be one of the best things I've ever done. I started with my fair share of trepidation, but it ended up being the most fun I've had in ages.

The weather was rubbish that day - we even called up to confirm that it was still on. After being told they do these kind of things during hurricanes, we carried on stoically and met with the company that was taking us out. We got ready and met our guide - "Safety" Will.

"Safety" Will - Our indomitable coasteering guide.

Unsure of whether this was ironic or not, we (Harriet, Me, Will and Al - A Spanish exchange student helping out at the Coasteering place) set out on our adventure. As it turns out, the moniker "Safety" Will was actually both well-earned and ironic. Though he was clearly bonkers, he was very cautious, considering we were on rocks with a 10 foot swell bashing us every few seconds.

Coasteering!

We battled around the coast, climbed up stuff, jumped off into the sea and basically had ourselves a brilliant time. We finished off in a flooded quarry where Harriet and I jumped off some pretty high platforms just to prove how epic we are. A great day!

Yes. It was cold.

After more great sights including St David's (the cathedral is particularly beautiful), Folly Farm (The Zoo where Charly used to work), Tenby (pretty seaside town) and much more, our weekend was over. What a great time we had. Good work, Harriet.

St David's Cathedral.

So now on to more adventures, where both crazy and peacefully sedate things await us as we visit new places and meet new people. Life has a lot more in store and there will be many twists and turns up ahead.

Harriet enjoying what Folly Farm had to offer!

Though it seems difficult at times to accept that I am now out of my twenties and almost half-way to retirement, it also seems obvious to me that there's still a lot to do.

Life does indeed begin at thirty!

Interlude from Revision

Revision for exams has sort of sneaked its way into my life. At the moment my full-time job is revising for Medical School finals. It's six-days a week of at least twelve hours of study with few breaks. As you may imagine, chocolate started disappearing from my cupboards in bucket-loads and I was getting severely depleted (thank you, Easter traditions); only for me to realise that chocolate can precipitate migraines. Migraines set in thick and fast. But I haven't stopped eating because it's a health compromise I'm willing to make! I've decided that my body-shape and gym-habits can return once I've safely taken the exams. 

Life in the Institution for me seems to be on hold. I have officially taken a holiday from all domestic duties. With that in mind, you may imagine that my home must be an absolute state. Not so! Ben has taken off his Clark-Kent-style glasses and traded his suit for a blue-red-and-yellow get-up complete with external pants. Fortunately, I don't mean this literally. He is my hero right now, though. He's totally there - for blessings (when the chocolate-induced migraines get too much); for laughter (when I feel like crying); and to lend me his vision of me when I don't feel like I can achieve. 

Anyway, I have to stop musing and carry on with my learning. I hope any of you who are taking exams at the moment or getting ready for them have the best of luck! 

Sitting at home alone revising - rubbish...

... having a husband that texts to say he's missing you - Priceless. 

There are some things money can't buy. :)

Easy Meals - A Week of Good Food!

At the end of last week, Ben and I sat down to our Friday evening meal and decided that we had eaten particularly well over the last five days. 

None of the meals took me very long to prepare, they were all fairly cost-effective (I had a lot of the things I needed already so the only things we really bought were meat and fresh vegetables) and I cannot claim credit for a single one of the recipes. 

When I was growing up my mother was my Stake Young Women's Leader. It worked well for me because I got lots of insight into the difficulties and joys of that responsibility. Plus, I gave direct feedback on whether I thought something would be fun or not. When people praised the creative and fun activities we had Mom always replied, "Not a single original idea!" 

People would laugh and just understand it as modesty. There was another layer to what she said though. She worked hard, she did her research and she found lots of amazing and creative ideas that she could run with and bring to life. She was being honest - the ideas weren't things she just 'came up' with, they were other people's flashes of inspiration that she could use her perspiration to bring to life. 

That's just like me and recipes. My source for all but one of these recipes is bbcgoodfood. I like the site. It works. I usually make the higher rated recipes and everything has worked out pretty well. The meals are generally simple and unpretentious. 

So.... here they are! 

Recipes of the Week (meals in 30 minutes max!) 

Monday: Beans on Toast 

Ok, not what you were expecting. This is a 'treat' meal for both Ben & myself. It's indulgent to sink into a meal that it takes less than 5 minutes to make. Sure, it's beans on toast. But we like to add a bit of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and maybe a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. It's so cheap!

What you need: (I don't really need to explain this but what the heck!) 

1. One tin of baked beans (we use Tesco Everyday Value - 24p!) 
2. 4 slices of bread (toasted) - we like wholemeal 
3. + your choice of condiments 

Tuesday: Tortellini with ricotta, spinach & bacon -bbc good food

I get bored with pasta. It's stodgy and unexciting and, let's face it, I probably ate too much of it during my first year of University. It has lost its appeal. Especially pasta with any kind of tomato sauce from a brand that rhymes with "Boyd Pos'man". However, I really loved this dish. It was fresh, used some of my favourite tastes and flavours (spinach, lemon and walnuts)- and Ben was just happy we were eating pasta. 

What you need:

1. Enough ricotta & spinach (or other) filled tortellini for two (roughly 125g - we could probably use less) 
2. 1 or 2 rashers of smoked bacon (it says lean back bacon on the site) 
3. 12g walnuts (crumbled) 
4. 1 lemon - zest and juice
5. 1 tbsp grated parmesan 
6. 1 tbsp olive oil 
7. 50g spinach
8. Ricotta 

Yes, there are quite a few ingredients but most of these things can be used again. We have lots of ricotta to use next week and we have an ongoing supply of parmesan as we love the stuff. Again, walnuts are an investment. 

Wednesday: Lentil and Bacon Soup (with a side of spinach with pine nuts and garlic) - bbcgoodfood

Lentils are something I never ate at home. I was introduced to them by a University friend while we were in Sri Lanka on our Medical Elective. Since then we have had so many great curries and things using them. I'm totally converted. I was going to put up a picture of the outcome of me following this recipe but I looked at the picture and it seemed totally unappealing. I'm not really good at making food pretty (something to work on!) but it tasted delicious. Definitely more of a curry than a soup! 

The spinach was an experiment on what I could get Ben to eat if I covered it with enough flavour. He went as far as saying he liked it. Hurray! 

What you need: 

Soup 

1. Olive oil
2. 1 onion
3. Pancetta / Bacon 
4. 1 carrot
5. Ground cumin
6. Turmeric
7. Garlic (we use the squeezy stuff) 
8. Red chilli 
9. Stock cubes (vegetable) 
10. Red lentils 

Again, we had all ingredients apart from the bacon, onion and carrot which made this cheap. 

Spinach

1. Spinach
2. Olive oil
3. Pine nuts
4. Garlic

Go easy on the garlic! ;) 

Thursday: Chicken breast with Avocado Salad - bbcgoodfood (Adjustment for veg haters- Chicken sandwich and peas!) 

As you may realise by the note above, some things that make me salivate don't have quite the same effect on Ben. Honestly, I looked at the picture for this meal and I could already taste the lovely fresh vegetables against the tender chicken. MMMmmmm..... So we compromised. Meaning that the chicken worked for both of us, but we did what we wanted with it. Ben microwaved peas as I chopped up scrumptious pieces of avocado. I think we know who got the better deal! 

What you need: 

1. Chicken breast
2. Olive oil
3. Smoked paprika
4. Avocado
5. Red wine vinegar (balsamic would work well too) 
6. Flat-leaf parsley
7. 1 Tomato
8. 1 Red onion 
9. JUST FOR BEN: bread (pitta) and frozen peas! 

I could eat like this everyday! Who needs carbs? 

Friday: Chicken noodle soup -bbcgoodfoood

The only meal I managed to get a decent picture of. Looks good, right? Maybe not as pretty as the one on the website, but still... and gosh, did it taste good! 

What you need: (and you really NEED to make this!) - 

The original recipe has mushrooms, but I took them out! 

1. Chicken stock
2. Chicken breast
3. Fresh root ginger (very very very thin slices)
4. Garlic
5. Noodles
6. Sweetcorn
7. Spring onions
8. Soy sauce
9. Basil leaves / Mint (I used basil) 
10. Chilli flakes 

Saturday: (Ben was out as I was revising so I could eat what I wanted) Quinoa and feta salad with roasted vegetables  - bbcgoodfood 

This is the food of my choice. Not hugely healthy (roasting with oil; feta cheese) but fresh and filling. I really enjoyed this and it's going on my list for next time Ben isn't around for dinner. I think he would have eaten most of this but he's not one for courgettes... maybe I'll try it on him without them. Please tell me if you can get your husband to eat things like this so I can be jealous!

What you need (for one):

1. 50g of quinoa (this makes quite a lot - I might try 40g next time) 
2. Olive oil
3. A red onion 
4. A pepper (I chose red, but orange or yellow would be good too) 
5. A courgette (couldn't find baby courgettes in my local supermarket) 
6. Garlic
7. A lemon (My shopping this week was not well planned so I ended up using lemon juice from a bottle)
8. Sugar
9. Parsley (I used dried but fresh would be great)
10. 50g feta cheese 

None of these meals took long, they were all tasty - and I didn't have to think very hard: someone else did that for me! 

What else could you ask for??