Pumkinseed Mole

This was a recipe I found on the Ramekins website way back in 2006 after I got back from Mexico but sadly its not there any more. But I have a print out!! So here we are the nicest mole I can make and its pretty easy.

Ingredients:

For the chicken & stock

big pinch of salt

1 small onion chopped

2 chicken breasts

For the sauce

100g pumpkin seeds, freshly toasted (4-5min in the oven at 200C)

large can tomatillos (kindly provided by the laughinggeos in NOLA), drained and rinsed

2 green chillies

5 lettuce leaves

1 shallot, peeled and roughly diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled

3 large sprigs coriander

dash of ground cumin

big pinch of black pepper

Cover the chicken breast and onion in boiling water, add the salt and simmer for 12min until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken and slice it. Save the stock - straining out any onioy bits.

Put in a blender all the other ingredients with about 100ml of the saved stock. Blitz and then put into a pan. Bring the sauce to the boil and add the chicken, simmer for 15min and then serve with rice for a super yummy tea!

Stratford

On Saturday we all piled down to Stratford upon Avon to picnic on the banks of the river with Naomi for her birthday celebrations. The sun came out and the boys even hired a boat and meandered down the river for a bit. In the evening we headed into the newly refurbed Royal Shakespare Theatre for a tremendous performance of Macbeth - lots of (fake!) blood and interesting alterations - the made the witches into rather ghoulish children ghosts. Really brilliant!!

Information design at Central St Martins

Last week I was on a course at CSM to learn about information design with the wonderful Angela Morelli, you can find her TED talk here. Using cut and paste (no computers at all!) we learnt how to make information more interesting and several great ways to generate interesting graphics - from maps to charts, from words to numbers. In the slide show you can see various things we created - bar graphs of the niceness and utility of cups we had brought with us, the classes favourite foods displayed as a menu using a script made from their handwriting samples, a giant graph showing how expensive a weeks course is (!) and my favourtie piece is the map I made recording my travels on foot through the week. Its drawn on tracing paper so that when its closed the stacked images show how the routes changed and accumulated over time. The little pocket the map fits into is the map (wrapping paper from Stanfords) I used to trace my journeys from - its from 1947, but all the right places are there!

The course was fab - and while I was in London I took the chance to meet up with lots of friends, on the South Bank with Mum & Dad, and with Kim, Chris & Katie, with Sarah at the Wellcome Collection Dirt on Disgust evening (that's where those fabulous chemistry set lights are btw) and I even met some new folk at the Arts Catalyst's Kosmica night!And of course there was time for cupcakes! At both Peyton and Byrne and at Bea's of Bloomsbury.

Life & Death of Marina Abramovic at the Lyric theatre

We've just come out of the world premiere of the Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. What a performance!! The stage was set with three resting 'corpses' set amongst red lit bones with black dogs prowling through them as we entered the auditorium, a deep bass note sounding. As the play started Willem Defoe took us throuh her childhood, which itself was harrowing, and scenes were perfomed by the starstudded cast. There was Serbian folk-like singing and powerful songs from Anthony (of and the Johnsons) which reverberated in our ears. The stageing and lighting were stunning - very clean and crisp. Our attention was rapt, even when the man adjacent passed out and needed to be moved! After the interval the cast sang en masse, and we heard more stories from Marina's life. The performance came to a close with three angelesque beings rising from the stage to thunderous applause. Phenomenal!

Note: if you want to have a peak at the performance have a look at this youtube video

Molecular pebbles

Down at mac I have been having a lot of fun making these funny little pebbles in porcelain. They make me think of molecular models! I shall have to make some more when the kiln arrives!

Wednesday Cake Night

We had a meeting at work today and I mistook, at a distance, the little choux pastries for coconut macaroons. But it meant that I then had a hankering for a coconut macaroon so I decided I would pick up the ingredients on the way home and make some. I also bought some ground almonds to make an orange and almond cake - not quite the same as the one I had in St Ives but atill pretty tasty!

Talisker beef

This is a very yummy and quick recipe. Buy the best piece of siroloin you can!

For 2 people
225g beef sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into strips
1 tablespoon chilli flakes and peppercorns , crushed (that's total not each!)
3 tablespoons Talisker or other very good whiskey
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 spring onions sliced
2 peppers, red/green, sliced
1 tablespoon veg oil
1 tablespoon seseme oil
120g angel hair pasta

Mix the beef, chilli, whisky and soy sauce together and marinade at room temperature for 30min (or more in the fridge). Cook the angel hiar pasta according to the instructions (usually 2-4min in boiling salted water), then drain and add the seseme oil. In another pan heat the veg oil and fry the spring onions and peppers for 2 min. Add the beef and stirfry for another 2 min until just cooked, then add any remaining marinade and cook for a minute. Then bring everything together and serve! Very good if you're hungry and in a rush (hence the dodgy photo) - for instance after climbing!!

St Ives part 4

We'd booked ourselves into Alba for a tasting menu at 8 so we thought a bit of exercising in the shape of a little cliff walk would be a good idea. So we headed off down a winding road again and left the car at Levant Mine. Sadly it wasn't steaming as the 1990's boiler had broken! We had a good explore and then joined the first tour of the day, learning all about the workings of the mine and its good fortunes until the early 1900s. Then we ventured further towards Botallack mine before heading back for a rest on the beach! Dinner at Alba was very delicious - the menu was matched by a series of Cloudy Bay wines from New Zealand, the most interesting being the Te Koko which was a Sauvignon Blanc aged in oak barrels. WHile we dined we watched the RNLI whiz out on a little zodiak, there was much interest by everyone around the harbour but it seemed that there was no medical emergency as the doctor came and went fairly rapidly. Needless to say we were the last people in the restaurant and definitely could have done with some trolleys to help with the full tummies up the hill!!

St Ives part 3

As it was Saturday we decided to take it a bit more slowly so we headed out after another superb breakfast to Tate St Ives. We played with the balloons filling the sea-facing galleries by Martin Creed, (Half the Air in a Given Space) and took part in Roman Ondak's Measuring the Universe by having our heights recorded on the wall - we were decidedly in the average streak! There was lots to see and we rounded it off with a cup of tea and flourless orange & almond cake on the roof terrace. Then a potter through many galleries finally ending up at the Barbara Hepworth museum, where the lady custodian invited us to trial our hands through the water in one sculpture to play with the light. A light snack of glistening Cornish strawberries overlooking the harbour before a quick change and back for dinner at Sims Restaurant. We'd certainly been spoilt before, because their food was really good but just not quite as excellent as everywhere else we had been. It was scallops and bacon or mackerel pate followed by lamb cutlets or cod in a creamy sauce. We declined dessert but had ice creams watching the biathlon competitors complete their race on the far side of the harbour having swum from Carbis Bay!

St Ives part 2

It was a stunning sunny morning so we decided to go for a spin down the very windy roads to Land's End (the most westerly mainland point), we arrived before any potential hoards but missed any end to enders too, so it was quiet and we got a little stroll in along the cliff. Then off to Mousehole for a mid morning ice cream and on to the Lizard peninsular (the most southerly maniland point), which was much nicer and more rustic and charming than Land's End. We walked down to the lighthouse and into the little harbour for a scramble over the rocks. Finally we headed down even smaller roads to Glendurgan garden and its amazing maze and tasty lemon meringue muffins! Back at the Nook we had an hour to put up the feeties before dinner at Saltwater. Another delicious meal - baked scallops or scallops with bacon jam, seafood risotto or Cornish crab linguine followed by chocolate mousse with honeycomb or pannacotta!

St Ives part 1

Its a long way to St Ives, so we set off first thing in the morning and poottled down the M5 and then A30, taking a little break to Yandles, finally arriving around 5. We had a cup of tea in the Nook, where we were staying before having an explore - what a beautiful place. We chose Rhurbabs for tea - exceedingly yummy - mussles, baked chicken with sweet potato wedges & salad and then a rhubarb crumble cake for dessert!

Winning!!

What a week! On Tuesday I had (the day from Hell) an interview and a big presentation to give. The interview was really hard and to be honest I thought that I had completely blown it so I headed off to the presentation thinking I'll give this my best shot and see if I can find a job else where. So I was really surprised to find a message when I got home to say they'd like to give me the job! Of course I said yes and next week I will meet with the head of the department to finalise a contract and duties - fingers crossed it'll all work out! The newest member of the School of Dentistry lecturing/academic staff.

When applying I said if I got it I would buy a kiln - might be a bit surprising but then I have been hankering after one for ages and over the last 6months down at the MAC I have been making all manner of strange and interesting objects. Today I got some time to go to the Earth and Fire Ceramic Fair at Rufford Park and I did indeed buy a kiln. The lovely people at Potclays are building it for me and I can pick it up in about 2 weeks. Its dinky - so I can get it in the car and can run it off the normal electricity supply. Starting small!!

While I was at the fair I bought a ticket for the tombola and I never win but I did this time! I am delighted to now own this pretty pot made by Katherine Winfrey! Back at home I harvested our burgeoning crop of raspberries into it. Fabulous all round really!

Gardener's World

We had a super time yesterday at Gardener's World Live at the NEC. Mum was volunteering for the RHS and we had time to potter about all the beautiful plants - I managed to come home with just 2 - a cephalotus (Australian picther plant) and a tiny hosta called snowy mouse ears. Wonderful fun! Then for Father's day we popped down to Highbury Hall where they had a bird display going on - and nearly got eaten by the biggest vulture I had ever seen - she could have gone off with my car!!

Anglesey

And back at Easter we took a trip to Anglesey with Jean and Dick - visiting Amwlch, Tregarth, Plas Newydd, Parys Mountain and South Stack

Grasmere

At the beginning of May Nick, Charlie and I went for lots of walks around Grasmere - Silver Howe, Helvelyn and Helm Crag - some more pictures on Charlie's blog too. There was also the start of the use of the Tom Tom

Bio-ceramics

I have been toying with ideas around the use of plasticware in the lab for a little while. I am struck by how durable yet disposable they are. To highlight this I have been making porcelain casts, which are delicate and not so disposable, of the humble Petri dish and trying different glazes on them to represent biological samples - either eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells - growing on them. I particularly like the one above where I have used a very tiny sliver of red glass, which seems to have pooled in small colony like patches. I have also been wondering if there is enough iron in biological preparations - for example bacteria brown on iron rich agar - to make a glaze. Below I have used Porphromonas gingivalis, which is fairly iron rich - I think a hint of brown can be seen! Next I would like to track the route plastics take through the lab - from pristine box fresh to autoclaved distortion.

Barcelona - beautiful food

Dinner at El Xalet on Montjuic - a special place for a special 70th birthday dinner for Jean

Some of the delicious tapas we had - this was at Taller de Tapas in Born, totally demolished!

Yo! Sushi

Yesterday we had a big old wander through Brum and ended up at Yo! Sushi for lunch. We'd both never been in before so it was a great little adventure - yummy yummy fishy lunch!

A trip to Hay

Last Saturday we took a drive in the sunshine down to Upton upon Severn to visit Andy at Upton Wines, principly to check out what wines he might have for the wedding. Then as we were halfway there we carried on down to Hay on Wye for a little potter and a nice lunch at Richard Booth's Cafe at the back of the book shop. N had a yummy pizzetta with eggs on top. Along the way we found a tree keeping warm!

Action Weaver and Curious about Craft

...came down to the University today to give us a taste of weaving with Travis Meinolf's super easy to use back loom. Helen and I had a super lunch time creating a little section for what will become a blanket made by the people of Birmingham. The one in the picture (with Travis) was made by the people of San Francisco.


(here's a bit I made!!)

San Diego

After my jaunt to New Orleans I headed across to San Diego for the IADR conference. A busy busy time but we had a chance to discover Chocolat and Pinkberry. Fabulous crepes and frozen yoghurt!

New Orleans weekend 2

Today D and I went out of town to the plantations and checked out Houmas house and Oak Alley meandering our way back along the edge of the river. No armadillos spotted but it was a super drive and we got really close to the train going over the Huey Long bridge next t us!

New Orleans weekend

I headed off to New Orleans on Saturday and by Sunday morning we were all pottering around the French Quarter! First stop brunch at the Court of the two Sisters - beautifully draped in wisteria and delicate jazz being played in the courtyard as we ate a tasty brunch of eggs benedict, New Orleans King cake and crawfish. Of course we then had to stretch our legs and had a good browse around the Quarter before heading back to D&S's house for a spruce up before a special tea at NOLA - delicious fish and fabulous desserts, even a little becandled ice cream for me. A super day!

Laboratory Life Exhibition

All things come to an end but the exhibition of Laboratory Life is still on til Monday and there will be a public forum tomorrow if you're in the area. Its picked up quite a bit of interest already! Check or wired and culture 24.

Giant agar dish and inoculation of the dress

Today we've had a really busy day. Sarah & Brian made 10L of agar and poured it into our homemade petri dish. The Chinese shop even ran out of clolourless agar so we had some yellow, green and red too, which is kind of exciting looking! Then we made our embroidered dress damp and pressed it into the agar. Finally we harvested all our bacteria (that we'd grown on other agar dishes) and innoculated the dress. Pretty pooped now!

Lots and lots of embroidery and some bacteria!

We visited the micro lab at the hospital to find out what our nasal swabs had grown - the white plates showed none of us were carriers of MRSA but several of the group had Staphlococcus aureus (of a non-resistant strain). Then we went back to Lighthouse to embroider (lots)! And then to the hostel also to embroider!

Regency dresses with Martin at Brighton Museum

Today we were incredibly lucky to visit Brighton Museum stores with Curator Martin Pell who showed us one hundred years of dresses covering the Regency period and surrounding times. The Regency period was 1780-1830. In the slideshow there are images of the detailed embroidery and patterns in the fabrics - we're going to be using these as inspiration for the embroidery we'll do to our regency bacteria dress. The threads we use have been dyed and impregnated with natural antimicrobials.

Visiting Simon's lab

Here we are in the lab painting with coloured bacteria. I think we also look like bacteria moving around - we vanish to visit the warm rooms. I think I also captured a spider walking across the lens.

Lab life day 2

Today we went out on a big ramble aound Brighton visiting the fish mongers for some fish to grow some bioluminescent bacteria, to various monuments associated with the Regency period and Mrs Fitzherbert, the Brighton Pavilion and of course the seaside! WHile we were in the lab I also set up a time lapse (a photo was taken every minute) - you can see we were pretty busy with visitors!

Infective Textiles at Laboratory Life, Brighton

A couple of days ago I headed down to Brighton to join Laboratory Life at Lighthouse. This art-science set of collaborations has drawn together members of both art and science communities to work on some really amazing projects. I am working with Anna Dumitriu on a project called Infective Textiles. We're going to try and use bacteria to colour and pattern fabric and then, as its Brighton, create a Regency dress. We spent yesterday getting to know each other in the team - there's Anna, Brian, Sarah, Rosie and me - and getting together some ideas of how the project might work. Today we went on several field trips to source some bits and pieces. Our first port of call was to the hospital microbiology labs to pick up some of the more scientific bits of kit - a microscope, some agar plates, bins for disposing of the bacterial waste at the end. Then we popped into ASDA for the less scientific things - plastic boxes, salt, spring water etc. And finally we drove a little way down the coast to Widewater Lagoon and Nature Reserve where the water is a little brackish and there are some good sulphur eating bacteria in the mud. There were also a lot of swans ( and rabbit droppings!) but we had a fun time in the freezing cold splashing about in our wellies! Back at Lighthouse Oron Catts gave a short talk about tissue culture histories and there was an interesting debate afterwards about using living organisms in art (and science) pieces. Thought it was nearly tea time after all that we did get a moment to make up some of (Dr Simon) Park's Kitchen agar - from agar (from the Chinese supermarket), marmite, honey and pea protein powder (it was supposed to be skimmed milk powder but somehow we lost that on the way back from the supermarket!!). Tea was had at the basketmakers.

Molecular gastronomy

This year is the International Year of Chemistry and we decided we would celebrate with a little molecular gastronomy. But not Heston Blumenthal for us, noooo we thought we'd make edible molecular models! We asked our friends what they would make - from insulin to methane came back the answers. I sketched out all the potential molecules (on the back on an envelope no less - quite unintentionally) and we chose two to make. The bonds would be lollipop sticks and the atoms would be cake balls (ala Bakarella)

'back of an envelope!'

Can you guess what they were? Or highlight the following text to find out They were vanilin (at the top of the page) and theobromine (at the bottom of the page) from vanilla and chocolate respectively. We made cake from 5 eggs, 220g butter, 220g sugar and 220g self raising flour. Then we split the batter into two, adding vanilla essence to one half and cocoa to the other. Once cooked we mixed the crumbled cake with vanilla frosting/icing and shaped the sticky mixture into 46 cake balls/atoms. Using a little melted chocolate coating we stuck the lollipop sticks into all of them (plus some doubles!) and let them set in the fridge.

'sketch molecules'

We started with the uncoated cake balls making a 'sketch' model before we got into the serious business of coating the cakes with chocolate coating (candy coat from Hobbycraft). Once coated each cake ball/atom was pushed into a piece of oasis by the lollipop stick/bond so it could set. Popping them into the freezer helped quite a lot. Then time for assembly, we heated up a skewer to melt the chocolate coating so that we could push the bonds in and voila molecules were made!
We've been carefully counting bonds and fingers crossed everything is present and correct! Remarkably tricky but great fun.

The chocolatey brown atoms are carbon, the red ones are oxygen, the blues are nitrogen and the white ones are hydrogen.

Tagxedo

A while ago I got really excited about wordl, well today I have found something even better (could there be?!!) and that's Tagxedo - where you can make a word cloud and make it an interesting shape too!

String Bean

Today we went in search of new fish tank plants but the usual place was completely sold out. So pottering a bit further down the road we happened upon another garden centre with aquatics and a tea shop! We were lucky in the plant department and then had a very yummy cup of tea and piece of carrot cake :-)!!

Last weekend we all had a super time in Guildford - going out for tea at Olivio before seeing Alan Ayckbourn's Life of Riley at YAT. Then a trip to see the butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Wisley!

Jelly baby fudge

This afternoon we went for a little potter down to Webs of Wychbold and while browsing through their food department I discovered they were selling fudge covered in jelly babies. Now I thought that sounded like a good idea and having a can of condensed milk in the cupboard I thought I would try and make something similar. Never having made fudge before I found a recipe online and once the fudge was ready and poured into the tin and applied a whole bag of jelly babies to the top. A couple of hours later and the whole thing was set. I sliced it up and Nick and I tried a piece out. Delicious! The fruity flavours really add an exciting twist - but the jelly babies were still really runny - and so the whole experience was rather sticky!! Speaking of which I must finish off the washing up!

Marmalade

Whilst we were away, I found some Seville oranges in Wilton. So I thought I would knock up some marmalade - very simple: I put the oranges (about 7 I think) into a casserole dish, covered them in water and baked them for a couple of hours. Then I cut them in half and scooped out the insides and threw that back into the cooking liquid. I brought that to the boil and boiled for 5mins. Then I sliced a few of the oranges thinly, I like not too much peel. I strained off the bits out of the cooking liquid and returned the liquid to the pan. I added sugar (500g to 750ml liquid) and the sliced peel, brought it to the boil and waitied til it 'jammed' (about 118C). Then all that remained was to put it in sterilised jars! Yummy!

Happy New Year!

A few sparlers from a lovely few days at Dinton Mill near Salisbury.


And here's our delicious New Years Eve dinner, handmade of course!

Caracoli

Tasty muffins at the new Caracoli coffee shop above Steamer Trading in Guildford - lots of other fabulous ingredients too!

Truffle shuffle

Using an adaption of a truffle recipe from the Sainsbury's magazine this month I made a couple of batches of chocolate coated truffles. White coated peppermint truffles with silver dusting and milk chocolate coated violet truffles with edible purple glitter. The violet flavouring came from Patiwizz in France and the glitter from Hobbeycraft!

For the truffle filling you need to melt together 100ml double cream, 100g chocolate and 25g butter. Flavour with a little essence (just a little!) and then leave to set in the fridge. Shape into balls, I used a teaspoon measure, then pop in the freezer to harden, reshape if necessary and chill again. Then melt 150g chocolate, cool and then dip the chilled truffle centres in it. Dust with glitter and allow to set!

While I had the violet aroma out I also made some macaroons from bubble and sweet's recipe! And some violet creams.

Llama Trekking

Executive chocolate buttons in creation

Pomegranate

More tasty cakes! This time a lemon and cranberry muffin at Pomegranate in Solihul.

The bell

On Thursday I went wedding dress hunting with Sarah, Juul, Lotte and Laura. As a treat afterwards we all went to the Bell near Alderminster for lunch, and what a treat it was!! We had yummy starters including a smoked mackerel pate, then roast partridge and finally I had chocolate brownies for dessert, though really that could have fed all four of us!! The decor was delightful - I simply loved the reindeer horns strung with Christmas baubles and feather boas!

Shake

Tasty cupcakes and interesting drinks at Shake - I had a fry orange cream hot chocolate - I think they literally melted a bar into some milk. Very yummy but very sweet!!

Opus

Yesterday we had a rather fantastic afternoon - first seeing the new Harry Potter movie and then going out for dinner. Nick took me to Opus, with a little drinky at All Bar one first! The dinner was magnificent, as was the wine - a K-Naia verdejo and rueda from Spain.

saturday mornings

Party Food

We had a little party for Nick's Birthday and our engagement, and after many requests for the recipes here they are.

Aubergine Parmigiana
Put 25g flour in a bowl and add seasoning. In another bowl put a little evapourated milk. Then dip sliced aubergines (from 2 aubergines cut into 5mm slices) in the evapourated milk and then into the flour. Place the aubergine into a large lasange dish. When all the aubergine is in the dish, bake (175 C) for 30min. Then cover the aubergines with 500g passata. Mix 50g parmesan with 100ml evapourated milk and spoon this over the passata. Bake in the oven (175 C) for 25min.

Sausage stew
Brown 12 chipolatas and 200g smokey bacon lardons. Drain on a piece of kitchen towel. Fry a finely chopped onion and 3 cloves of garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the diced flesh of a butternut squash and saute for 10min. Add 200ml white wine and reduce by half. Then add in the browned sausages and bacon, along with 600ml stock and some fresh thyme leaves. Add 500g leftover roast chicken or turkey. Simmer for 30min. Add 2 tins of cannellini beans (rinsed) and simmer for another 10min. Stir in 4 tablespoons of creme fraiche and a handful of freshly chopped parsley.

Continuum

This evening we went down to the planetarium at Birmingham's Thinktank (the science museum etc) to see the showing of Continuum by Paul Grimmer. This brilliant piece of performance, made for fulldome screening, was mesmerizing. Born out of residencies at the MRC virology labs, Allenheads Contemporary Arts and Dance City there was also a tinge of menace which seemed perfect from the presumed viral inspiration. We also got to see a little of the usual space and astronomy presentation - I was full of wonder!

2011 Diary

I got feb up of trying to buy a diary with vertical appointments - which is very handy for planning experiments! - so I have made my own on lulu. It even turned out to be cheaper than a shop bought one. A proof is ordered, fingers crossed it turns out well!

Butterfly cakes

These are our first attempt at some gluten free cupcakes (using Nigella's Quadruple chocolate loaf as the base recipe). They are exceedingly chocolatey!! We may have to tone that down a bit! The edible butterflies are from Sugar Robot.

More cupcakes please!

Following the success of the angel cakes we whipped up a selection of cupcakes - vanilla, chocolate and gingerbread with luscious icing, thins time with a bit of butter in that sticky meringue mix. And I tried out a lebkuken recipe too - all very yummy.

Angel cakes

Whilst in Winchester I bought a new cook book and on Wednesday night we had lots of fun trying out the angel cakes - the cakes themselves were a very straight forward recipe but the icing was something new - marshmallow frosting. It required us to whisk the egg whites at 60C but having broken my sugar thermometer we resorted to using the electronic temperature probe (aka NASA control) that dangles out of the kitchen window!

Take 250g sugar, 4 egg whites, 1 tbsp water and a pinch of salt and put in a bain marie and whisk gently until they reach 60C. Then tip into another bowl and whisk briskly for about 3min until it makes stiff glossy peaks. Then pipe on top of your cakes - a very sticky business.

Winchester

Last weekend we had a super time in Winchester with Vicki, Seb, Adrian and Sarah. Lots of good food and laughs, and even a visit to Arthur's round table.

Liverpool Biennial

We popped up to Liverpool last Sunday to see a few of the exhibits at the Liverpool Biennial. Here we have Laura Belem, Do Ho Suh and Hector Zamora's works. Its on til the 28th November, so plenty of time to go and see them!

Cycling in Tibet

Apologies for the loud breathing sounds!

Kathmandu again!

I can't believe we're back in Kathmandu again. After leaving Shigatse we cycled out into the countryside (and I got a puncture from a wayward piece of glass in the road) for many nights of camping. We rejoined the main road after taking the southern and quieter road to Shigatse, but it didn't make too much difference as the road heads straight to Everest Base Camp and the border so wasn't too busy. There were plenty of Tibetan villages to cycle through to start with but they got sparser the further we went. A few days in we took the turning towards Everest Base Camp over the Pang La. The road was the only untarred one we took in Tibet, and boy it was bad - lots of pot holes and corrugations. Nick and I managed 10km up the pass, through sticky mud and rain before calling it a day. Then at the top we stopped to look out on the view - a bit cloudy but there were lots of ammonites to distract us! On the way down the road was still bad and I managed to catch an edge in a rut and fell off the bike into one of the large concrete bollards, thankfully otherwise I would have been off the edge. A bit rattled I tried to reattach the rear wheel, that had come off, and didn't quite manage it, so I was happy when the minivan scooped me up and ferried me to the camp where Doug easily fixed it! Must have been the shock. The following day we rode up to Everest Base Camp, which had stunning views but it was a little bit weird. There were lots of yak hair tents set out in a big rectangle (like around a football pitch) and each proclaimed to be a hotel - my favourite was the 'Metal Yak Grand Hotel'!!!

As the exit road was out (landslide) we made it back to the tarmac where we had turned off a few days before and cycled through Tingri, again with stunning views of Everest and Choy Oyu. That night we camped next to a local inn and got the chance to pop in for a nosey and a beer - it was a real highlight to see how the people where living. Unfortunately the town was full of dogs that howled all through the night! Onwards and we only had two passes left and I happily made it up both of them and through the headwind on the otherside. We caught sight of Shishipangma too! We camped at the top of the gorge leading to Nyalam, and even visited the town for a hot shower, the first in a week! Then we started the 160km descent to Nepal. We swooped down the mountain and into the mist, which made it pretty treacherous! I must have made it all the way through one set of brake blocks! Near the border were a couple of dodgy little towns and then we were having our passports checked 3 times to leave China! We said goodbye to Goncho, our Tibetan guide, and headed to a little hostelry for lunch on the Nepalese side. We made a decision to cycle to The Last Resort for the night. The road was abysmal, as were the dogs that chased us! We went over several landslides, dragging our bikes through the mud! We did it again the following morning but they petered out by lunch time as we continued to descend. But after lunch we cycled through the heat of the day and I was rather unwell with lack of salt, 6 rehydration salts packets later and all was well again. Nick made it up the final climb to Dhulikel, where we spent the night. This morning we cycled the last 30km into Kathmandu, the traffic was terrible, as was the road surface. Just as well we were all on mountain bikes! And so we're back in the Holy Himalaya Hotel, in reach of good food and the Internet again, having cycled 622miles!

Tashi Lungpo Monastery

Today has been our rest day and so we spent a lot of time doing not a lot and then some time cleaning and taking care of the bicycles, before wandering down to the Tashi Lungpo Monastery, which is the home of the Panchen Lamas. There were several monks about and a few pilgrims, but mostly tourists again. I reflected that I don't feel like I've got under the skin of Tibet at all yet. Though last night we ended up at the Yak's Head Tibetan Restaurant, where much sign language and pointing were required to get something to eat. We had momos, knuckle stew, soup and even yak cheese and homemade pasta (which was really vile!). It was the most hilarious evening and I hope we provided some entertainment for the local people in the restaurant too, as we laughed away the evening, drinking beer from shot glasses (which seems to be the norm). What the next 10days will bring, save massive passes, I don't know, I'll let you know when we get to Kathmandu!

Shigatse

Last night I had Tibetan curry for dinner - yak meat and potatoes in a fragrant spicy sauce, very yummy. We tried to get momos (really yummy dumplings) but they had sold out! This morning we eschewed the hotel restarant and headed back to the Yak Western restaurant for chocolate pancakes! Then it was a fairly straight forward 90km down to Shigatse, it has been the first really hot and sunny day and many people were out in the fields collecting in the harvest. Surprisingly they left their shoes by the road and did the harvest in bare feet. Needless to say there were plenty of hellos and high fives! We cycled through wide open plains, with what looked like aluvial fans coming down from the mountains, but no glaciers. We cruised into Shigatse at around 12.00 which was a bit early, we could proabaly have taken a bit longer to cycle and have had longer banana stops. But the Manasarovar Hotel was a welcome sight with its baths and even oxygen machines next to the beds!! After showers and a little washing Nick and I went out to see what we could find. We wandered through one of the Tibetan markets full of load speakers and non-touristy useful stuff, like shirts and soap. Then back to the hotel to cool down, having an ice cream along the way.

Here are a couple of photos from the trip - the to of the Khamba La pass and the riding today, across a large open plain.

We also saw some birds that looked like whoopoos - could they be or are they woodpeckers? And some sparrow like birds that had dark pink fronts - any suggestions? And lots of grebes

Gyatse

We left Lhasa in glorious sunshine, pottering up for a team shot outside the Potala Palace where we became a tourist attraction ourselves as the Chinese tourists joining us for pictures! Then came our first full day of cycling (90km) up to the bottom of the Khamba La pass. It was interesting cycling lots to see and lots of traffic to keep an eye on. There were several large Buddhas painted on the side of the rocks and the river rushed by threatening to burst its banks. We camped in what looked like a farmers field but right next to the road, so when the lorries laboured by in the night they made a lot of noisy. It was sunny til about 6 and then there was an almighty thunderstorm, and this pattern has been followed every afternoon. It stopped in the night (except last night!) and then was gloomy in the morning. We started early to climb 1200m over 35km (or in 30 km as I thought!). I struggled for breath from the start and at 29km got off my bike wanting to lie down and catch my breath but I struggled on on foot for another 2 km til the minivan found me and very thankfully scooped me up and took me to the top of the pass. All the others had made it! the view down to Scorpion Lake was spectacular - turquoise waters and green mountains. We raced down the other side, with a splitting headache from the altitude that made its presence known over every little bump. After a few kms we stopped for lunch and I opted to take the minivan the last 30km to the campsite where I happily had a lie down and a diamox.
The following day we set off again to cycle over Karo La - a shorter ascent but to over 5000m, this time I got really close to the top (2km) before the minivan found me. The top was decorated with prayer flags and was strangely warm, we must have been sheltered from the wind. Then we whizzed down the mountain to have lunch looking along a valley bordered by snow capped mountains. It was another 40km to the campsite as the normal one had been washed away by the excessive rains. We camped next to a turquoise reservoir, a beautiful waterfall and an abandoned village. There were even belemnites on the ground! During the day we saw men spinning yak wool and lots of birds including choughs with red beaks.
Today we set off in the rain and went over Simi La (I got right to the top!) and then it was all down hill to Gyatse. The fields here are still full of barley and there are people pottering about in their horse drawn carts. The streets are filthy but somehow feel a lot more authentic than Lhasa. We walked up to the Pachu Monastery which has one of the last chortens left untouched in Tibet but there are no monks and very few pilgrims. The chorten is beautifully decorated and has a great view over the town towards the Dzong (fortress). Tonight we're in a hotel (with showers!!) and tomorrow we cycle to Shigatse for two nights in a hotel and our rest day, but its 90km away on the flat so some effort is required to get there. Its also another 150m below where we are now so hopefully that will be good!

Test ride

Last night we went up to the New Manadal restaurant at the end of Barkhour Square to have a little Nepalese food, instead of Tibetan noodles - very fine rice and dhal. We fancied some ice cream and so decided to try Dico's, the local equivalent of McDonalds. We opted for ice cream and chocolate sauce - which all turned out to be faintly yak flavoured. If you're wondering why we tried Dico's its because we found pea flavoured ice cream in the local shops!

After a good night's sleep we were saddled up to go at 9 and cycled west out of the city following the river up stream. The road was good - smooth and not too busy. We came past lots of prayer flags on the mountains and saw people stopping their cars to put fragrant herbs into the little burning ovens by the stupas. Strangely there were seagulls and terns (no black cap). Other birds included a bee eater/bulbul shaped bird with a russet front and dark back, geese and chickens. We also saw our first yaks ambling down the road and plenty of cows in the fields. There were also lots of poly tunnels growing aubergines, melons, pak choi, tomatoes and doubtless many other fruits and veggies. We took a turning up to a tourist eco camp but only found a military barracks and some grumpy guards. But it was up a bit of a hill so good practise - I got quite out of breath whilst cycling but it all subsided very quickly we stopped. After 15miles we stopped for a drink in a cafe and then returned by the same route, calling in at the Tourist Toilet on the way back - better than most others we have visited but still not a fabulous experience. I think it will only get worse as the trip progresses.

Back in town we had noodles at the Lhasa Kitchen and picked up some chocolate - their brand seems to be Dove but I'm pretty sure its Galaxy! Tonight we'll have a farewell meal (to Lhasa) and then tomorrow the tough stuff begins. I think it may be 4 days until I can blog again but it might be all the way back to Kathmandu if we're unlucky in Shigatse with the internet.

Jokang Temple and Sera Monastery

After more noodles last night and a yummy omelette for breakfast we headed off to the centre of old Lhasa - to Barkhour Square. Its this the pilgrims have been circling and we were allowed to go in for 15min to see the splendours inside. The temple hasn't been renovated like the Potala Palace and the centuries of butter lamp smoke have blackened the walls but the central buddha still shines brightly, and the woodwork where the people have past and held the wood has a brilliant patina. The floors were coated in many years of butter too so it was quite slippery under foot. After our brief glimpse we headed up on to the roof where there were lots of golden chimneys and a stunning view across to the Potala Palace. Above the crowds we could easily take pictures, even of the stamping soldiers. The ladies mending the roof were rhythmically tamping it into place and singing, very lovely. Under the square there was a butter lamp manufacturer , where there were a few lads continuously pouring melted butter into the little brass goblets and putting in wicks. There were also a couple of ladies already lighting them. The floor was super slippery and the room really hot. Then we joined the throng and made a circuit of the temple before heading to the 'First West Cake House' for excellent muffins and lemonade.

This afternoon we saddled up and took Gongcho on his first cycle in years, up to the Sera Monastery. the roads were busy but we mostly had our own cycle path, even though it was used by cars and bikes going in both directions. The breathing was good! and we recovered easily after the little climb to the security post. Then on foot we wandered around what must have been a hive of activity, it was quite strange to see it as an open air museum with a handful of monks. At 3 on the dot a gong was sounded and all the tourists headed into a courtyard to watch the younger monks testing each other on the scriptures, making the hands in acknowledgment of correct answers. It was fun to watch and they all see to be having a good time, but it was rather goldfish-bowl-esque. Then a longer route back to the hotel,circling the Potala Palace and braving the traffic. Time for a little more cake and a rest/shower (its been about 25C) before dinns and then tomorrow we'll try a long distance!

Potala Palace and Barkhour Square

After a bit of a noisy night (lots of horns on the main road) we had tsampa and fruit for breakfast, the tsampa was a bit like ready brek! Then we hot footed it down to the Potala Palace, but our allotted entrance time wasn't til 9 so we hung about the gardens and took some photos. Then we were allowed in and started climbing up the steps - a hard job, Zoe said her heart rate was three times its normal. At the top we came in to a courtyard and entered into the palace itself. There were many beautiful paintings and many many Buddhas, tombs from Dalai Lamas, covered in gold. turquoise and other precious stones, including elephant pearl, which apparently comes from their brains (didn't fancy that much!). We only had a short time and soon we were out on the other side descending the steps to a large lake where we caught the bus over to the Summer Palace. This was set in beautiful gardens and filled with flowers in pots. The rooms were smaller but no less ornate. The Tibetan white and blue drapes they use for celebratory tents hung above doorways and windows making a very jolly air. By 11.30 we were all starving (apparently you use more calories at altitude!) so we set of for lunch back near the old part of Lhasa. We went up some steps and found a large room with low benches and ordered lots of noodles and some yak momos, but unfortunately the momosd turned out to be filled with yak cheese - really horrible! Sort of sweet and crunchy and yaky/goaty! The butter tea was similar, with lots of salt in too. While we were having lunch Gongcho got a phone call saying the bikes had arrived from Kathmandu on the truck, so we scarpered back to the hotel to assemble them and make sure they were working. An hour or so later it was done, I had also visited the bank and changed some money (making the teller giggle when I asked for small notes and receiving a really big wad!). Then out to find some puncture patches and postcards before browsing through the market in Barkour Square. We always seemed to be heading against the tide of pilgrims but we saw all kinds of interesting things - lots of massive pieces of amber and turquoise, ancient stirrups and bells, rugs, national costumes and much more. We went to a covered market and stocked up on boiled sweets and biscuits for our trip. Tomorrow we'll take our first cycle out to Sera monastery, but first its time to put the feeties up and have a rest!

Lhasa

After a super Tibetan meal last night, giant fried momos (sylbanet or something like that) and a bit of a delay in the airport we were off to Lhasa from Kathmandu around lunch time. They said the weather was bad in Lhasa, and after hearing of two planes crashed yesterday we were happy to wait. Then all of a sudden it was all systems go. As we spiralled up out of Kathmandu valley we breached the clouds and as we flew to the East we could just glimpse the tops of some really big mountains, one of them must have been Everest!! As we flew onwards the clouds thinned and we could see the arid mountains and flooded valleys below. As we neared Lhasa the flood of the Bramaputra filled the whole valley but it looked like a regular occurrence as the roads were skirting the edge and the bridge spanned the entire width of the valley floor. We spiralled down again and then we had arrived! We were greeted at the airport by Gongcho our guide and lots of white scarves! There was a 65km drive up to the city, alongside the flood plain and buddhas carved on the rocks and distant prayer flags on mountain tops, looking like myriad spiders' webs. The city was something of a surprise! Lots of low rise fairly modern buildings and shops, but we caught a glimpse of the Potala Palace where we will visit tomorrow. A swift check in (to a cigarette small impregnated room!) and we went out to find some dinner, wandering through the little alley ways of old Lhasa up to Barkhour square. I was quite shocked by the number of security cameras and military police in full riot gear! Gongcho took us past  hundreds of little stalls full of really beautiful things - necklaces, buddhist cymbals, bells, fruit and much more. We ended up at a local restaurant which ace! No momos tonight but lots of noodle soup, of various descriptions and also yak - in the soup and also as milk in the tea - tasted quite goaty! Amazingly it only cost us 1GBP each!! Nick and i wandered back past more stalls - lots of biscuits, which we may have to stock up on before the ride, but even with the time change we're quite tired so an early night I think is called for!

Patan and Swayambhunath

Last night we went to the Utse hotel, which has a fab Tibetan restaurant, lots more momos were consumed! I had Tibetan noodle soup (that thuk or something similar) and Grant (intrepid Aussie who'll try anything) had some of the fermented millet drink (Tongka?). I thought it was quite tasty but he really didn't like it, it was sort of like hot sherry.

Today we were up bright and early to hand over our bikes which are being driven to Lhasa by Durbah and his crew, hopefully there won't have been any landslides as they will have to carry them over! We were also supposed to be going for a sight seeing tour but it was really tipping it down so we rearranged to go after lunch. So Nick and I commandeered the hotel bus and a driver and went down to Patan, just to the south of Kathmandu. We were dropped off in the Durbar square and had a very pleasant wander through the area. There were loads of people about and even a queue to get into the Hindu temple. We later found out that its a special festival today and every one was having a lovely time. We stopped off in the Old House cafe for hot lemon and black tea, served by a young lad who looked about 12.

Back up at the hotel we bumped into the rest of the group about to go for lunch at the Gaia restaurant again, so we joined up with them, again a good lunch. The we all piled into the bus and went out to Swayambhunath, the monkey temple. We made it up the 360 odd steps to the top and were greeted by a fabulous view out across the valley. The temple was a stupa and equally crowded with Hindu pilgrims. Our bus picked us up on the other side of the hill and we drove towards the Kathmandu Durbar square and went for a great big walk around the area. We stopped in to see the Kumari, the living goddess, a girl of about 5 or 6, a rather weird experience, sort of like going to the zoo, with all the tourists gawping up at her as she made an appearance over a balcony. We walked back to the hotel past the markets Nick and I saw yesterday. Thankfully the rain has stopped, last dinner in Kathmandu tonight and then off to Lhasa first thing in the morning!

Bikes and Boudhanath

After our team talk we all headed out to the Rum Doodle restaurant for a little butter chicken masala and a welcome beer, but then we all caved in for an early night! This morning we first went to choose bikes for Nick and Zoe (a zoologist and keen cyclist), calling in at two cycle shops. The second had rented to Red Spokes before, so they gave us a very good price! And they promised to put new cables and cogs etc on to the bikes. As that happened very quickly we had plenty of time for a good explore, Nick and I wended our way down to Durban square, past many temples and shrines, through many muddy puddles and market stalls. On the way back we stopped at the Gaia restaurant for lunch, just around the corner from the hotel and 5min later the rest of the group dribbled in too! I had momos - exceedingly delicious steamed dumplings! After lunch we met up with a guide from Eco Tours and he took us down to the Pashupatinath Hindu temple, where it was teaming with people, Sadhus and there were at least 3 cremations going on. From there we went to Boudhanath Buddhist stupa, this was much quieter even though there were lots of people making the circuit around, turning the prayer wheels. The rain was gently falling again and we went up to the Saturday Cafe for a chocolate brownie and a cup of tea. Nick's gone off to pick up his bike and we await Joyti our Nepalese guide to tell us if we're on a flight tomorrow or Thursday out to Lhasa!

Kathmandu

After many hours in the air we have arrived in Kathmandu! What excitement!! It was fairly chilly as we left London, roasting at 5am in Doha and then raining in Kathmandu when we arrived at 4pm. An interesting trip through the rush hour traffic and we arrived at the Holy Himalaya Hotel. The staff are very friendly and loaned us some umbrellas and we had a 20min walk down the road and back. Fabulous smells and sights, really exciting. Off for a team talk with Douglas our guide.

Toms and peppers from the garden

Haul of fruit/veg from the garden! Not bad for a place where it seems to rain rather a lot!

Packed

So we're all packed, I've just come back from seeing Nick at Red Kite Cycles who very kindly took off my pedals and gave the brakes a once over. Bertie is in his box and everything is in our rucksacks. Its really started throwing it down, I hope this is not a sign that the rest of the holiday will be the same! The weather forecasts are not promising wall to wall sunshine. So we've slipped in some washing up gloves and shower caps for extra waterproofing (though we might look at bit silly!)!