Chick pea climax

I promise this wont become a cookery corner....but seriously versatile chick pea usage HAS to be documented!

1 can chick peas
2 average sized sweet potatoes
2 onions
garlic
pepper
chili flakes
paprika
cumin
basil (dried)

Chop it up, chuck it in a roasting tray with a little olive oil at about 200 degrees for about 45mins. Done

Brighton personal trainer

Brighton's secrets

Due to the nature of my work I have been extremely lucky to see parts of Brighton that others may not see...parks and gardens that only residents have the keys to, back gardens, farms, building developments, offices, private gyms, and the hundreds and hundreds of houses from which I've trained people...
This is the way I've always preferred to work, I'm not sure I could manage turning up to the same place of work everyday, let alone be confined to the training limitations gyms and health clubs impose.
Occasionally I'll stumble across a new gem of a training facility that is public, these happen less frequently the longer I live here. And yet the city never ceases to amaze me. Last month I found a step sprint session on a section of the under cliff pass I had never even known existed.
I was under the impression the pass ran from the Marina to Saltdean only. It happens that there is a small (1km) additional section running from Telscome cliffs to East Peacehaven. At the end of which are the best kept training secret around: 186 concrete steps leading to the top. Cool:

Olympics 2010

News update on Brightonfit's inaugural garden olympics:
On the 3rd July 2010 13 brave olympiads turned up with about 100 of their friends and families for support (A rather amazing number of whom had bad legs, backs and necks thus preventing entry!)
There were 8 events spread between the outside track and the two indoor arenas.
4 of the events were purely physical ranging from climbing the garage wall to dragging a punchbag with a rider on it down the garden.
1 was logistical.
1 was a coordination test.
1 was a test of visual dexterity
and 1 was a mental agility test.
The diversity of olympiads was beautiful; a 6ft5" 55yr old gardner, an english student, a gym bunny, and a couple of chancers....
The crab race was the first event. It brought all competitors together at the start of the games after which they were split into groups. The start was staggered and olympiads were behaving sportingly:



At the first corner, a few olympiads began josteling for position:



And from then on the day brought out the competitive streak in everyone. The drag and ride prooved to be the deciding event for the leg muscles of a few the next day or two. The winner (in an amazing 9 secs) was the half man half machine Gareth Edge:



Caber tossing took place in a shaded corner of the stadium, but the judges were no less vigilant and measured to the millimetre each and every toss that got a white flag:



...And just when everyone was nearly spent....they had to collect in arena 2 for some flexing of a very different sort of muscle in the mental agility test:



Machine man took first but a galent second place was awarded to Chris Angell:



And as the day drew to a close many of the "injured and wounded" raced over to Gareth telling him they were going to de-throne him next year....lets see how their injury rehabiliataion goes first eh?
Well done to all who took part competing, serving food and drink, MC'ing, cooking, judging and playing music to help make the day a really good laugh!

Yummy things

Who would have thought being a veggie would make you want to cook? Veggie's eat a bland diet full of pasta, cheese and lentils dont they?....NOT SO!
The free life nutrition plan ive been following for the last couple of years has taken its next turn...these days its no meat, fish nor wheat and the only dairy involved is that from a bottle of milk with a green top (raw milk)
Mainly still issues around morality for me on the meat and dairy thing, but the wheat thing has stemmed from an interest in the paleolithic eating movement thats growing in popularity of late...more on all that in another post.
With such constraints on what Im willing to ingest it became immediatley apparent that my familiar methods of procuring food were not going to be as possible and I have found myself having to organise my time a little more efficiently if it was going to work.
Lunches out of Tesco's is not really an option unless you go for a bean salad...they've got some nice one's in take out boxes but its soooo boring after a couple of days. I have made some corkers though and i thought id share a couple of my favourites.
I enjoy flavourful, heavily spiced foods. I also cannot cook following recepies so the following may turn out slightly differntly from mine if followed as the amounts are very approximate:

Spiced parsnip nut burgers:
1xsweet potato
3xparsnips
1xfresh chilli
1xstick lemon grass
mixed spice (smallish teaspoon)
1xbunch corriander
4xcloves garlic
2xred onions
2xlarge bags unsalted mixed nuts
salt & pepper

Fry onions. Add crushed garlic, chilli, lemon grass and let it all soften. Peel and dice potato and parsnip and add with a small amount of water. Cover and let roots soften and water evaporate entirely. Crush the nuts in carrier bags with a hammer and add with the mixed spice, salt and pepper. Let it all heat through before you add the corriander. Take off heat and whizz it up with a hand blender then make the mush into burger shapes and place on a baking tray. Makes about 6 fat burgers.


Root vegetable and olive mash:
3xred onions
2xsweet potatos
5xparsnips
5xcarrots
1xsmall turnip
1xtub black pitted olives
5xsundried tomatos in olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1cm cubed root ginger
1xstick lemon grass
1xfresh chilli
mixed herbs
1xbunch corriander
1xbunch parsley
sprinkle of cinnamon
small teaspoon nutmeg
salt & pepper

Fry onions in oil with garlic, lemon grass, chilli and ginger. Add diced potatoes, parsnips, carrots and turnip. Add water and cover until veg are soft and water has evaporated. Add sundried tomatoes, mixed herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and olives. Heat for a while before finishing with all the chopped herbs, salt and pepper. When its all a mush blend it with a hand blender, if you want a soup instead of a tapenade texture then add water. Makes enough for 10