Colds and Cake Failure

I’m feeling rather sorry for myself – I have a cold and I feel rotten. The Boy was away last week so I kept myself busy with the following:

Monday: several hours ceroc/modern jive with a little salsa thrown in for good measure.
Tuesday: prework swim followed by post-work pole fitness.
Wednesday: pilates and my weekly fix of core-strength building and gossiping with the local WI.
Thursday: cycled 16 miles.
Friday: yet more ceroc/jive.

Unfortunately, I have been paying for it since by (carelessly) losing my voice and having terrible trouble with my sinuses. I’m starting to realise that I’m not superwoman. This is the price I pay for fitness.

Preparing the marinade

Despite this, we held a big barbecue on Saturday with friends old and new paying us a visit. I marinated chicken thighs and drumsticks for throwing on the grill; some were ‘chinese-style’ with soy, five spice, and ginger while the others were smothered in pounded red onion, parsley, chilli and lemon juice. Both varieties were part baked and then grilled over the barbie to ward off any nasty raw chicken bugs. Despite their double cooking, both flavours came out nicely moist and deliciously smoky from the barbecue. The spicy marinade was particularly good and so simple – just pound half a finely chopped red onion, a whole sliced red chilli, a tablespoon of lemon zest and a tablespoon of parsley in a pestle and mortar then add a glug of oil (I used sunflower).

My best friend decided to pay me a visit on Sunday so, in anticipation, I decided to make some little cakes and try out a new recipe. Egg-free banana and honey cup cakes with chopped walnuts. They were not what you’d call a resounding success...

Oops...

They sunk. Damnit! This might have been something to do with over filling the cake cases - school girl error! The finished cakes were extremely sweet and sticky, stubbornly bonding themselves to their cake cases. I think the recipe still needs some work! With half an hour to spare, I was still determined to have something sweet to put on the table. We were house-sitting for The Boy’s parents so I had their kitchen - and their gadgets - at my disposal. I knocked up a quick chocolate sponge with the help of their Kenwood chef (one day, I will have one!) which was ready just in time.

Now, back to my steamy cave (namely a bowl filled with boiling water and a blob of Vicks with a towel over the top) for more recuperation!