I got a blindin deal from www.ferrysavers.co.uk at £20 one way from Dover to Calais.  It’s good crossing times too.

So we’ll be leaving on Saturday 28th April 2007 and making the mad dash to Amsterdam.  Thankfully it’s much closer than Wursburg last year plus it’s on those nice France/Belgian/Holland roads rather than the crazy autobahn.

We’ll be on the road for about three weeks taking in as much of Holland and Belgian that I reasonably can.

We’ve booked our hostel in Amsterdam for the first 5 days of our stay mainly because Queensday is on and I’d hate to have to sleep in the car given it has no back seat.  We’re staying at http://www.bulldog.nl/ which better be damn good because it’s €80 a night which is more than most hotels. 

I’ll try and keep you all posted with the plans…

I think I may have discovered the secret to inner peace.

It’s not religion or food or consumerism..

It’s swimming.

When I’m in the pool, all that matters is the water, the sound of the waves splashing against the surface.  I no longer care about what needs to be done in the office, or what I need for dinner or what I’m doing this weekend. 

The only thought I have is a number in my head repeated constantly like a mantra over and over again, once on every stroke the number repeats itself to remind me which length I’m on.  It is my only concept of time or space.

I like to swim with my eyes closed so that I can truly take myself out of my body and be somewhere other than the local leisure centre in my lunch break.  The cold waves that splash against me could be the ocean anywhere in the world.  The swosh of the current and the waves beating against the side of the pool remind me of being on a boat on a fishing trip or going snorkling.

When you next have half hour free, go and swim for 20 lengths without stopping.  I promise you that you’ll forget all your worries by the time you get out.

So it’s finally over.  *wipes sweat from brow*

Once again our itinerary was way too ambitious.  I’m still sulking that I didn’t get to see the Houses of Parliament because they closed in advance of the Lord Mayor’s show on Saturday.  I’ll have to arrange a tour through my MP because that way I get to climb Big Ben, too, which most people have never done.  Everyone climbs the Eiffel Tower, but very few climb Big Ben.  I’ll let you know how it goes and if I manage to blag tickets.

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So here’s what I’ve been up to this week.

I meant to do it on a daily basis, but I’ve been so knacked after all of that I’ve been more interested in sleeping and resting my tired feet. I have another two days to go yet so hopefully there’ll be another update later in the week.

I loved Shakespeare’s Globe so much that I’ve added it to my “must take visitors to” list.

Speaking of which, why do I always end up spending a couple of hours waiting outside the British Museum whenever you guys come to see me? I spent 2-1/2 hours out there waiting for Hekate in Easter and 30 minutes out there waiting for JR911 on Saturday. Is this some sort of punishment for the fact that my people stole from you and proudly show it off in cases letting other people get their grubby fingers on it?

I can recommend the Thai Garden Cafe opposite and the pub next to it for good food/beer. They do a lunchtime cheapie special in there that looked nice. Anyways, here’s a mini review of What I Did. If there’s anything I forgot to add or a section that should be there, let me know because eventually I’ll move most of this into the Explore section, too.

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Have you seen any of the Planet Earth TV series presented by David Attenborough? I went to a talk by Ben, a photographer who has accompanied some of the research teams. He takes single photos, not for use on the programmes but for advertising the series. He lives locally and we both go to the same singing group.

He described his trips to Gabon and Guyana. Photographing in forests. More precisely, sitting in a hide tied on to a 50m tree within a mosquito net for 9 hours, waiting for an animal to appear that deserves photographing. The menace of bees, and of ground creatures that attack your ankles. The rain, heat and humidity.   Driving their truck out of town along a main road half a metre deep in mud. Sailing a powered canoe up a river to get to the best wildlife area, accompanied by two locals, finding your way blocked by a waterfall and having to portage the canoe (and the stores & equipment separately), around the falls. Then doing the same for another 6 waterfalls. The rewards? Photographing a bird that has only been photographed once before, 50 years ago. And in the last 5 minutes of the last day, seeing a jaguar swim across their river. All told in a straightforward style — Ben is a very unassuming person.

The talk was fascinating. And it convinced me that I really don’t want to go there. Ben admitted he didn’t totally like the environment, he prefers mountains. Me too.  But I do want to see his pictures from some of his other trips, to Greenland and Antarctica.

(For those in Britain: Planet Earth next series starts on Sun Nov 5 at 2100h).

A simple roast chicken is the perfect dinner on a cool fall day. It’s much easier than most people think. Just make sure to take the giblets out and rinse well. This is adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe (the Barefoot Contessa). I haven’t exactly changed much as it’s really just yummy. Add aromatic herbs as you wish. A bit of sage and marjoram would be lovely, maybe some chives. You can even add different citrus like orange or lime to add a different flavor. Just change the herb to match, like more oregano with the lime and use cumin and chili powder to season the chicken or lemon pepper to give it a Greek feel. These just help to give the chicken a subtle flavor throughout, and the citrus helps keep it all moist.

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I bought some quail at the farmers’ market recently. Four quail for $12. Not a bad deal really. They’re fresh, free range, and I’m helping out a local farm. There are tons of meat vendors at this market, and I’m trying them all. The lamb and pork have been successes so far, and the quail was rather good. I didn’t do anything too extravagant, just a simple compound butter and roasting. Serve with potatoes or wild rice and a veggie.

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As I ran out of the nutrient tablets for the lettuce garden (it was due for a feeding in a week),  I put an end to the lettuce garden last Friday.  After many bowls of salads, it was fun watching it grow. 

A bowl of leaves:

 A farewell shot of the lettuce garden before I harvested the last salad and cleaned out the bowl:

Cleaning out the garden was a little more work.  First, I had to take off all the leaves.  Then pull out the pods (and the extensive root system).  After pulling the leaves out of the pump (not that difficult), I washed the bowl and the growing platform.  Next, I had to fill the bowl with water and some bleach and plug it in to run it through the pump.  After about two minutes, I poured out the bleach mixture and replaced it with water.   I plugged it in again and ran it for another few minutes to clear out the last of the bleach.

After all that it is ready for the next planting!  Next on the list is the cherry tomatoes! 

The cherry tomato garden is a bit more work. It will require pulling out extra seedlings per pod, pruning the plant, and cleaning out the bowl every two weeks.  Unlike the salad kit (with seven seed pods), the tomato kit only has three seed pods to allow space for each plant. 

I put in the pods on Friday after work.  When I checked on them today (Monday) after work, I noticed the seedlings are sneaking through already!

I will be tracking the growth again in my Yahoo photo album. See Tomato_Aerogarden at:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/apyf/album/ 

Also, it looks like there are a few new growing kits, Italian, French and Japanese herbs available from Amazon.com .

The Daily Mail has released a list of the top 10 super foods:

· Apples
· Baked beans
· Broccoli
· Olive oil
· Wholegrain seeded bread
· Salmon
· Tea
· Yogurt
· Bananas
· Brazil nuts

This goes back to my philosophy of a cup of English tea really is the answer to everything.

I can honestly say with the exception of the nuts and fish, all of the above are regularly in my diet.

How many of these are in yours?

The article including the reasons why the above are good for you: The top 10 super foods

I like to check out city markets when traveling, and in Washington, DC the Eastern Market on Capitol Hill can be a fun and yummy stop, especially on a Saturday morning in the fall.  It’s one of the few public market buildings left in the city, and as far as I know, it’s the only one that’s still operating as a market.

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