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Sunday 8 August 2010

Birthday weekend

It's my boyfriend's birthday today so we had a weekend of treats:)
First off, on friday evening, we had some dear friends over for dinner. I wasn't very good with recording everything, because I was more concerned with enjoying the evening! The food went down very well; we had melon and pomegranate, kale chips and cashews to nibble on with our kola liquer! Then we had a potato, watercress and avocado salad with a creamy smoked paprika dressing (olive oil, soy yogurt, garlic clove, smoked paprika).
The main course was a coconutty tofu rice noodle dish. One of my guests suggested I take a photo:

It's a bit fuzzy! It was very tasty, lots of ginger and plenty of chilli heat.

We were so full we sat on the sofa for half an hour before we could eat dessert. I didn't snap it on the night, but here's a pic of the last slice before we shared it:

I made with with an oat biscuit base, then soy yogurt and dark chocolate and frozen raspberries, baked in the oven for half an hour on a lowish heat. We had it with raspberry Swedish Glace (soy ice-cream).
My guests brought some lovely sweet pea from their garden:


Yesterday, we spent the day at the beach.

I went swimming while he read, then we got some chips and went for a long walk along Ballywalter beach. It was really sunny but windy. On the way home I got a burst tyre! The wheel was bolted on so tight we had to get the AA to come out. We were starving by the time we got going again! We had tinned spaghetti and toast when we got in...! I was pretty tired and went to bed early so was up for the pool opening this morning and did 50 lengths. I tried out my swimmers snorkel after a few lengths breaststroke but kept getting water in it and freaking out. I brought my nose clip but couldn't bring myself to try front crawl without the snorkel so just breastsroked the rest. Gah! I am frustrated with myself but face-in-water + me=panic. I am working on it with nose clip and a bowl of water at home but it's so different in the pool. Even with the snorkel in as soon as my head went in I start sucking away at the air like there's no tomorrow. At this stage I will be breaststroking the tri swim and getting one-on-one Shaw method swimming lessons over the winter.
We spent the rest of the day watching films (my boyfriend is a real film buff). Two Hitchcocks (Spellbound and Notorious) and Cinema Paradiso. In between I got all my tidying and washing done. This was dinner:

A sautee of mushrooms, potatoes, peppers, onions and spring greens with Irish grown Hungarian wax chillies, and lots of thyme, garlic and smoked paprika.

The birthday boy enjoying his cheesecake:


All in all a very laid back and fun weekend! Just what I needed in the middle of the training. Sometimes you've just got to kick back in front of a film and eat tasty food and drink yummy wine:


5 comments:

  1. Yes sometimes you have to take a break and enjoy life! Glad you had a great weekend.
    Pure2raw twins

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  2. What a great weekend (minus the tyre trouble) and all the food looks amazing!!! Food, wine, friends, fun = my ideal weekend. Happy birthday Mr Tri Eating Plants :)

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  3. I continue to admire you for facing your fears with the H2O! Go you! And happy birthday to your man. He looks like he really enjoyed that cheesecake! :)

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  4. Sometimes I wonder where I lost the plot! I guess I enjoy scaring myself:O

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  5. That really was an exceedingly delicious dinner. Very unusual and memorable - open a bistro!
    Nicola and Kasey

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