Knowing your limits

Two years ago I wrote a blog about running for Sport Relief. This year I decided to do sign up again and so I'm writing a blog about it again. Although last time I ran three miles, and this year I'm running six. Mostly because (if you clicked back you'll see) I chickened out of six last time. In fact, now that I think about it, that's the only reason.

You see, ever since I saw the ortho doctor last October, I treasure any day when I don't dislocate my knee as miracle. The conversation went something like this:

Doctor: Hmmm....(on honkers five feet opposite so he's looking at my knees at eye level) Have you ever dislocated your knee?
Me:  (Standing with my trackies pulled up into shorts) Dislocated it?! (Surprised at the suggestion) No.
Doctor: Hmmm... (and not a good sounding 'hmmm') Are you sure you've never dislocated your knee?
Me: Yeah...no, why?
Doctor: Really? (Raises eyebrows)
Me: Well, never knowingly anyway.
Doctor: Oh you'd know. But you've really never dislocated it?
Me: No.

At this point in the movie of my life, there'll be a daydream sequence where I will be some sort of medical marvel. People come from far and wide to stand amazed at the never-dislocated knee. There'll be spinning front covers of my knee on the British Medical Journal, Scientific American, TIME, Newsweek, The Economist, Hello, OK and a host of foreign magazines, you know, to add to the worldwide wonder of my knee.

So six miles is most definitely my limit. I know a few people running the marathon this year. And well done to them! But see, I would also like to be able to still use my knees in 5 years.

Now here's the bit where you come in...

Like I said before, it'd be silly of me not to mention it on here because if you'd like to sponsor me I'd very much like that! I know Sport Relief is a huge charity and will raise literally millions through their very prominent night of prime time broadcasting, and other charities need the support of marathon runners etc to raise their money.

But this is your friend Tina and she's running a distance she's not entirely sure she'll complete and she's holding a small, figurative bucket for charity while she does it.

So if you'd like to sponsor me, you can do it here: http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/tinaarena

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

If Jed and Birgitte ruled the world...

I know, a two week hiatus on here. No one is more disappointed in me than me.

So what has moved me to blog after 15 days of inactivity? One word: Borgen. I know what you're probably thinking, but let me explain. Borgen is a Danish political drama and it is just fantastic! The West Wing is rated pretty high on my TV favourites list (scratch that, it's top of the list), and I can't think of another political drama that I've even watched, much less loved. (No, wait, I did watch some of that Geena Davis Commander-in-Chief. Terrible, truly terrible.) But the four episodes I've watched of Borgen I've loved.

My good friend Rebekah (and now, purveyor of TV shows I should watch) told me to watch it. I caught it just before it disappeared from iPlayer. Now, sadly for you if you haven't watched it it's already been on TV and no longer available on iPlayer. But do look out for repeats or a showing on BBC2. [The Guardian did a review of it here, if you want to know more about what it's about.]

A lot more intrigue and political wheeling and dealing goes on in Borgen than The West Wing, and of course the biggest difference is that it's subtitled into English. Every so often a stray English phrase sneaks in to an otherwise Danish sentence, like 'fifteen minutes of fame'. Much like the French have no phrase for cul-de-sac, the Danish don't have a phrase for fifteen minutes of fame. Also, I'm pretty sure I've learnt the Danish for Prime Minister - States Minister. See, this programme is really improving my Danish.

Names are tricky to follow sometimes, and I'm not entirely sure how they pronounce some of them. And place names. Oh the place names! I enjoyed this one so much I rewound it to take a screenshot.

Middelfart, of course, means central passage because it connects Jutland and Funen.

Should I ever go to Denmark (it looks just gorgeous in the show) Middelfart is on my list of places to visit. Just for a picture by the sign of course.

How I scored a bajillion cool aunt points

There are many, many reasons why I'm a super cool aunt but today I present you with just four.

1. Today is my nephew's third birthday! I had a great present for Johnny: a Buzz Lightyear costume. He likes to pretend he's Buzz Lightyear using the Mr. Potatohead Buzz Lightyear wings he has. They're about 10cm wide and he holds them on his back but that doesn't stop him. So I knew I was on a winner with an actual Buzz Lightyear costume for him.

I can't claim any points for the aid to flying, we shared this arm breaking work around.

Average aunts would stop there. Cool aunts aren't done with just buying presents, oh no.

2. I gave him a laser for his costume. Not a real one you understand, that's dangerous and costs you cool aunt points. It was one of those keyring things that help you find your car's keyhole. 

I Buzzed it up with a Star Command logo. Above average aunts would give just the keyring.

3. I made him a spaceship! Oh yes I did! I realised with his wings on he might not fit into his current rocket (a playtent tube thing, I don't know the correct term, I'm not a parent!) So I went to Play Resource, got lots of big cardboard and bits and bobs. (If this wasn't a post about my nephew I might have written 'free crap' there...) I took into consideration my brother and sister-in-law's feelings on the growing expanse of toys in their living room and made it collapsible; visitation rights are important to cool aunts.

No honestly, I've never worked for Nasa.

It's fine, it has wings here, see.

The interior (do you have spaceship 'interiors'?) You can see the moveable control panel with buttons, and the light panel, along with many space and Buzz pictures.

4. And finally, I made him a personalised card. I know what you're thinking, 'no big deal Tina, you make cards all the time for people'. (Please note: If I didn't it was because I probably ran out of time and not because I don't like you. You got a card didn't you? Then what are you complaining about?!)

But this card turned out to be the pièce de résistance of the whole thing. He opened it first and was immediately spellbound by it. Why? I'll show you why.

It's Johnny and his good friend Buzz hanging out in space, that's why!

The card brought about some of the cutest sentences I've heard. Every once in a while he'd go back to the card and tell us something about it -  "Buzz is looking after me", "I am 'appy with Buzz" or "Look at my 'appy face.

Honestly, it's hard getting all these cool aunt points. Your heart can actually melt.

No seriously, still here, still meat free

I didn't really want January to be only about #meatfreeJanuary but as I'm now in the final twenty minutes of meat free January it would seem remiss of me not mention it. Again.

So yes, I'm still a vegetarian. I actually quite like it. It's really not that hard, and despite her best efforts Jud hasn't made me miss eating meat at all. That said, I won't do it forever. Or probably even one more day. Well it's a bit of a faff, isn't it? Especially when you go out somewhere.

My last day as a vegetarian included a Veggie Patty Subway.

This photo is from Subway's website here. It's a wholesome slice of goodness. Apparently.

I just read the ingredient list there and truthfully, I had no clue what I was eating. I mean, it was nice, don't get me wrong. When I ordered it I had fun because the guy asked me did I want him to change his gloves as he'd just made a chicken somethingorother for the customer before me. 'Yes please, that'd be great.' I'm such a vegetarian! Well he offered and and I wasn't about to fall at the last hurdle by getting some chicken juice on my veggie Subway. Dinner tonight was a lovely Moroccan cous cous dish with halloumi cheese (or squeaky cheese as it is more affectionately known). It was very nice, though there was a bit of a tomato shortage which was unfortunate. Definitely could have done with more.

I think the best thing has been trying out different recipes and challenging myself to eat new things. I loved spinach pie and will make it again for sure. Cannellini bean bolognese was delicious too and the chick pea burger thing was definitely worth making again. Actually there were loads of things I loved. Quorn tacos were lovely, and despite a few people on Twitter saying Quorn was rank/cardboard/sick-inducing I liked it. I only had Quorn once the whole month which wasn't too bad and I never, not once, had tofu. Huh. Makes you wonder if I was a real vegetarian at all.

[Quorn is an interesting thing to me. I don't understand it. How does it taste of different types of meat? What's it made of? I read this article and it didn't make me feel any better about it, especially the bit about being 'safe for human consumption'. I never want to see it being made. Just like I never want to go inside an abbattoir.]

So what will I do now? Maybe #meatfreeMonday (or another day by special arrangement)? Maybe.

As for February's challenge? Well Ruth suggested #saladfreeFebruary. It's still on the cards.

Still here, still meat free

Well thank goodness I didn't make any wild resolutions like blogging more, because just three weeks in January and I'd look silly.

So the good news is that I am still meat free. (I didn't want January posts to be all about #meatfreeJanuary but hey ho, when this is your third blog it's what I'm going to write about.) I thought I might forget and eat meat or something but it's been alright and I haven't really be hankering after meat dishes. Rebecca tweeted that she thought stir fry would be loads tastier without the vegetables. Doesn't that just leave fried meat? Where's the flavour in that?! Not to sound all vegetarian worthy or nowt, but there's a whole world of taste I've discovered when your meal is largely just vegetables. I have deduced this is because of the herbs and spices rammed into the dishes. Truthfully, garam masala? Never heard of you beforehand (except are you in tikka masala?). Heck, I even got a basil plant I was using so much those little bunches from Tesco weren't enough.

Tonight I had a lovely chickpea curry. Last week's highlight was bean bolognese. When talking beforehand about the plan with Brian he said that I shouldn't go from meat to meat substitute. Fair enough, where's the challenge in that? So I haven't had anything with Quorn. But when I was round at Karen's I had a piece of 'chicken'. Oh. My. Goodness. Maybe it was just the two weeks meat free talking, but it was so like actual chicken. Made me think it can't be too good for you. What's mycoprotein anyway? Is that something I want to eat or spread on my skin to stop wrinkles? They have an advertising campaign on at the moment and so later in the week Quorn tacos are on the menu. Good luck everybody.

The sad news is that meat free January has resulted in some injuries. Nothing serious I should add. Well aside from nearly losing the sight in my right eye. And it's probably not fair to blame meat free January; these injuries could have occurred while cooking meat dishes.

Injury 1 was a small burn on my fourth finger in an unfortunate tea-towel-not-sufficient-to-act-as-oven-gloves while I was roasting a pepper (before stuffing it with mushrooms and ricotta cheese). I think it hurt more because it was my fourth finger because it's so underused. Oh woe is me.

Injury 2 was a cut to the side of my thumb while washing the food processor blade. Turns out those things don't just cut because they go round very fast, they're also quite sharp. Who knew? Those wee cuts are beasts though, aren't they? They never stop bleeding. I had to use several sheets of kitchen roll to mop up the blood. ('Mop' might be an extreme verb there.)

Injury 3 was the worst. It's the one that made me wonder if I was going to ever be able to see out my right eye again. If you've done what I've done you'll probably have wondered the something similar...chilli in the eye. Oh glory that hurts.

I've always thought I would be quite handy in an emergency situation. I never thought thought I would flail about the place. I'm not the flailing kind. I think I'm quite calm, quite level headed and able to...do something. Well, now I know for sure.

So there I was making tea (chickpeas with tomato and spinach). The recipe said to chop the chillies finely. Obviously before the advent of meat free January I had chopped a chilli finely before. This was not a new experience for me. I knew the chilli would be on my hands, I knew to wash them, I knew not to touch my face or especially my eyes anytime soon.

At this point it's important to remember I had been sick. And I had to slice onions. Those things make your eyes, well more moist, that normal. I knew what not to do, but I did it, I wiped my eye. Although I don't even remember doing it.

Oh, a few moments later I knew I had alright. The burning, searing pain, around what  I believe Olay would call my delicate eye area, told me. It got worse and worse until I couldn't keep my eye open. I ran water on some kitchen roll. There was some temporary relief but it wasn't enough. I ran more water on it. Then through the pain I had an idea. I don't want to overstate it, but it was possibly the best idea I've ever had.

I put milk on the kitchen roll. That's what you're supposed to drink with a hot curry right? Why wouldn't it work with chilli in the eye? Well, I can confirm it worked! I've said it before on here, but I am not a medical practitioner. I know, but it's true. But there I was, in the actual heat of the moment, I came up with a remedy all on my own.

It was at that moment, with a milky eye patch over my eye, I knew I'm alright in emergency situations.*



*Really sorry if it turns out I'm bad in an emergency situation sometime further down the line.