Eton Supersprints

Last Saturday I took part in the 2008 edition of the Eton Supersprint Triathlon. I had to dress up in fancy super-hero outfit and wear a number on my chest.

The race wasnt too bad, I had minimal preparation and managed to get in 105th out of 130 people in my age group. Thats not so bad, bottom 20% instead of bottom 5% that I did last year so I'm definately improving... well actually it could have been because this year I was competing on a racing bike.

Anyway, I signed up for the Bananaman Triathlon on the 20th July, that one's going to be a killer because its half as long as this one.

Camino a Santiago

Last week, I set off with my brother Javi and my Mum in a cold morning to join the pilgrims on the last 100Km of the Way to Compostela in the province of Galicia in the North West of Spain.

We started off in Sarria a small town where we were dropped off by an overnight train from Madrid at 6.30am and started asking the locals for directions to Santiago.

Its amazing how far one can walk on foot if you do nothing else all day. Soon we left the little town and had joined the Camino Frances (French Way) the most traditional of routes for doing the Camino.

From then on we spent the following week on the road sleeping at Peregrino Hostels and eating proper food and breathing fresh air.

You meet a lot of people doing the Camino as well, both locals that are happy to stay and chat or by bumping into other pilgrims (mostly europeans) walking the road at the same time. I had an amazing time and got to see a bit more of my own country, which I have left neglected for so long because there were more exciting places to see.

Steven's Homemade Spanish Paella

And since its the end of the world and you may still have some food left in the house, I think its time to celebrate our abundance before things get worse.

Here is a recipe for Spanish Paella that I put together:

Steven's Homemade Spanish Paella (feeds 4-6)

INGREDIENTS

Fish & Meat
- 250 g of mixed seafood (squid, mussels, prawns, etc)
- 200 g of king prawns in the shell

Stock
- 1.2L of fish or shellfish stock (should taste rich and salty), to be kept hot during steps 1-2

Veg
- 80 g of chopped green beans
- 10-15 snow peas (mangetout)
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1/2 chopped capsicum
- 1 chopped tomato - 80g of butter beans (boiled & canned)

Rice
- 300g of Pudding Rice (Paella rice ok too but must be SHORT grain)

Condiment
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped and crushed
- 1/8 tube of tomato paste
- 1 pinch of saffron
- lots of olive oil
- 1 sliced lemon

Cooking Stuff
- 1 non-stick wide pan with a lid
(non-stick: very important or the rice WILL burn)
- wooden spoon

STEPS

Step 1) Fry the veg separately
Fry capsicum, onion, green beans and garlic in the paella pan with abundant oil over a low fire for 5-10 min or until soft.

Step 2) Fry the rice and garlic
Add some more oil and fry the rice (yes the rice) with the fire on high setting, stir constantly until the rice changes color from translucent to white.

Step 3) Add the stock and veg
Add the stock to the frying rice (if hot enough it will reach boiling point very suddenly, this is good) keep adding until it covers a finger or so over the rice. Add the fried vegetables, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, saffron, turmeric. Stir it in. Taste the broth, it should taste a little bit salty, add more salt if needed (dont worry the rice will absorb most of the flavour). If too salty add boiling water to compensate.

Step 4) Turn it down.
Turn down the fire to the lowest setting and wait to die down a bit. Put the lid on and cook for 10-15 minutes. Add more stock and stir occasionally if the rice gets too dry (add boiling water if there's no stock left but not ideal).

Step 5) Add the seafood
Put the king prawns and snowpeas aside to decorate with. Add the rest of seafood and stir in again one last time. Leave it to cook on low fire until rice is almost done. Place the snowpeas/prawns on top looking pretty and turn off the fire. There rice should be bubbling but only with a little bit of liquid at this point. Leave for another 5 minutes to finish cooking with its own heat. Add the lemon slices and serve.

Enjoy! :)