A recipe for a starter

There is nothing better than having friends over for a meal but to enjoy yourself you do have to be organized. I had to find recipes that I could prepare the day before as we planned to go out with our friends.

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese

This is a nice light summery starter and it is by Mary Berry who did a talk at the Tenterden Food and Wine Festival a couple of years ago. I shopped at Waitrose for my ingredients.

There were 3 peppers in each jar. With a sharp knife it is easy to carefully open them out.

Cut each pepper skin in half then put little dollops of the cheese on each one. (I found there was not quite enough for 6 so in one pepper I put Philadelphia cream cheese and this works perfectly well, especially if someone doesn't like goats cheese.) Of course the cheese could be blended to make a more spreadable filling.

Cut the marinated aubergines with a scissors and place an even number on each skin.
Chop the basil leaves and sprinkle them over each one.
Season with salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

To make the chimneys:

Tear off some cling film. Place a skin carefully in the centre

Bring the bottom clingfilm up so the skin curls up and then bring the top part of the clingfilm down, and keep the cling film firm. This draws the top of the skin over to make a roll. Seal the roll, rolling the clingfilm round the pepper and gently sealing up the sides like a cracker. Place all the little rolls in the fridge to firm up.

To serve:

Toss some lambs lettuce with a dressing. Cut each roll into two or three and plate up with some lambs lettuce. The fresh flavours work well served with fresh bread and butter.

Serves 6
2 x jars of red roasted peppers

1 x 150g tub soft mild goat's cheese (Chavroux)
Philadelphia if required

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 x 200g tub marinated grilled aubergine (chiller counter)

a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Lambs lettuce leaves

french dressing

Weekend with Fens

Last weekend we went to Cambridgeshire and Ely. The weather was gorgeous and we took some photos which John has made into a slide show for your enjoyment. For more details of the weekend go to his blog, but to see the photos just press play below.

The Vitality Show

Last Friday my friend and I met up at London’s Earls Court 2 and we went to the Vitality Show. I recommend it for a fun girls day out. We enjoyed our mini massages and watching a cooking demo with Philidelphia but sitting at an angle where we could only see the chef, Ed Baines (who luckily was quite cute) and we couldn’t see the food at all.

We both did a class in Face Yoga Training where we learned a 15 minute face training routine to help remove toxins, and stimulate the blood and elasticity of the face, keeping it younger looking. I have bought the CD by Danielle Collins and each day I take some time to sit and follow her instructions. I hold a lot of tension in my face and ears. I would recommend for those who are like me, as each time I massage the skin, I have a little less pain and feel a little calmer.

We also took to opportunity to join a 40 minute Kundalini yoga class with Siri Datta. It was so good to try something new. There were similarities to the Yoga we know and love, but the techniques were quite different. Our teacher talked about chakras and showed us how to take our hands into Mudras to help focus and the breath. We performed small controlled repetitive movements while controlling our breath.

Below are instructions to draw awareness to yourself after completing a pose or even after a job or a stressful moment.

You may be either standing tall in Tadasana (the mountain pose), or in Virasana stretch forward (child pose), or sitting comfortably, your spine long. Close your eyes, and with the eyelids drawn down look up past your eyebrows to the third eye. From the pelvic floor lift everything up internally, then hold your breath. Feel calm and don't strain. Some of you may like to count as you look up to your third eye. Then relax and breathe and just be. Enjoy this quiet time.

This is simple and effective. Anyone can do it. It is helpful for all of us to learn to lift the pelvic floor to prevent bladder problems, especially after pregnancy and in later life for both men and women. My students said afterwards how much they liked this. It is incredibly centring. After the lesson, at the Vitality show, despite all the noise, I just felt incredibly calm.

It just goes to show that there is always something new to learn and new experiences to be had.

Google Vitality Show for more information about this and next years show.

Yin yoga and chores

Over the last week I have taken some time to do some yin yoga in my studio. I found a yin yoga routine in an old Yoga Journal magazine. This was perfect for me. I lit some candles turned up the heating, and with mat, block and bolster I was ready. My back and hips have been aching from the household and garden chores I've been catching up on for the last two weeks. I haven't done much physical yoga except for a few stretches and twists.

Yin yoga is just a softer way of doing yoga. We perform the same poses as we normally do. In this case not the standing poses or flowing poses, but poses/asanas like forward bend in cobblers pose, Bhujangasana - cobra and the sphinx, Janu Sirsasana - head to knee pose and Upavista Konasana - wide legged forward stretch. Sometimes it is really enjoyable to take time in poses and just let go of the tenseness that the body automatically holds. The mind and the body work together. It finds the tension, you let it go, and then the body finds another area and you let that go and so on. And after a while you begin to relax and breathe and it feels so good.

Even if you do not practise yoga you can apply the same principles. For example when you are in the garden digging or bending over and you feel the tension building up in your shoulders, let the shoulders release away from the ears and take a moment to breathe, soften then admire what you have done, smile and continue when you are ready.

Pied Piper

I have had a couple of weeks off, giving me time to do cleaning, clear my filing, do masses of very satisfying cutting back in the garden and finally sort out the garage. It all takes time and it is very cleansing.

I went up to the Barbican in London with my son and I have to tell you about it. Street dancing - you've probably seen the odd lad do it (and dance lovers will have seen the film 'Step Up'). I did not really know what to expect but it was the most amazing dance to see on stage. The scene was an urban setting and they tell a gritty version of the Pied Piper. The dance is superbly choreographed Hip Hop and it was absolutely fantastic. The music was bassy and emotional, and the dancing was so brilliant. These dancers from Stratford are so fit and energetic and they danced with precision, in groups and singularly. The interpretation of movement to the music was astounding and we loved the use of other media to cleverly tell the story. The feel good factor was just huge. Everyone was elated. See it if you can and try and get central seats. It's only on until the 14th March.

Stimulate Your Immune System

After John had his cold I thought how could I prevent myself and my students from catching the bug. I decided to focus the lesson on poses that help stimulate the immune system. Back bends are heart opening and invigorating and as you breathe deeply in the poses you can almost feel your body becoming stronger. The three poses we are focusing on are Bhujangasana – the cobra, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana – the bridge, and Matsyasana – the fish.

We warmed up with stretches, neck warm ups and standing poses Trikonasana and the dancing Warrior I (see Jan blog). These heart openers stimulate blood flow and the immune system and therefore practicing these three poses once a day can help prevent colds and flu.

If you are a beginner each of these poses can be lightened. After preparing for the cobra by lifting, lengthening and releasing each leg 3 times, place finger-tips in line with the eyes rather than level with the shoulders. This gives a more gradual curve in the spine. Always remember your pelvic tilt and take long breaths in the pose.










Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling from your feet, up along your legs and up through your spine to your heart centre.

Draw back into Virasana Forward Stretch or child pose to release tension in your lower back.

The bridge can be lightened by lifting the hips to create a line from the shoulders, hips and to the knees. Start with the back of your neck long and feet close to your hips. Work your gentle pelvic tilt as you keep the hips lifted so keeping tension out of your lower back. As we’ve been thinking about protecting knees work to keep the knees facing up and not falling in to each other or out.

Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling over the front of your body all the way to your knees and down to your feet.





After releasing from the bridge bring your knees to your chest and hug them to you.

In the fish pose the chest lifts and there is no tension in the back of the neck.

Bend your knees, place your hands palms down under your buttocks, elbows tucked in. Don’t think about this next movement too much. Think light thoughts and lift your chest, arching the upper back and rest on your forearms.
Then energize your heart centre with nice long breaths.

Afterwards bring your knees to your chest or the Garland adaptation we did in class to lengthen the spine.

Enjoy!

A View From The Bridge

My step son Peter has made his debut in the West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre. On Friday we went to London to see ‘A View from the Bridge’, a play by Arthur Miller. Pete plays a small (but, of course, important) part at the end of the play and is also understudying. It was an excellent play. The audience was spellbound and nobody dared to cough while anyone was talking on stage. The actors got us really hooked especially Ken Stott who you see pictured below. This photo so reflects the intenseness of the play and the emotion of Eddie (the main character). Every character was interesting and engaging. It is a great play and it deserves to have a great run over the next 6 months.