Vacations – Page 3 – Bit of the Good Stuff

Goult, Provence, Summer 2013

Published on September 23, 2013 by Sharon4 Comments

Last month, we were lucky enough to visit the beautiful region of Provence in France. We travelled by car, stopped overnight in Fontainebleau, then headed to the historical village of Goult, which was to be our home for two weeks.

We stayed in a sweet little cottage, which we rented from Eva, a very kind and welcoming Swedish lady that had lived in Provence for many years.

The cottage had everything we needed for a comfortable stay, including a fully equipped kitchen. Whenever we stay in France, we tend to prepare our own meals. It’s way cheaper (we would easily have spent £60 per day if we’d eaten out), plus I’ve found it near-on impossible to find vegan cuisine outside the big towns and cities.

I did bring a few supplies from England with me (mainly bags of raw nuts as these tend to be expensive in France). We bought fresh bread, salad, fruits and veg from the shops in Goult and did our main grocery shops at the hypermarche in Apt. The big supermarkets often have a ‘bio’ (organic) aisle which stocks health foods, wholegrains and ‘free from’ products. We found non dairy milk (including Alpro) in the long life milk section, and soya yoghurts (such as Sojasun) on the chilled yoghurt aisle. We also found big tubs of ready-made houmous, much to Lil’ L’s delight 😉

All the meals we prepared were quick and easy. For lunch, we’d have big plates of salad and crudites, served with freshly baked ‘6 cereales’ bread. We also found Heinz baked beans on the ‘International’ aisle of the hypermarche, which made a tasty quick lunch served on toast.

For evening meals, I’d stir fry a big pan of veggies with spices, then use them as a basis for Mexican fajitas, Moroccan couscous or Indian curries. We also made tomato & basil pasta dishes, red lentil dals and French bread pizzas.

While we were out and about, the boys did eat the odd ice cream, crepe or patisserie but I stuck to nuts, seeds and dried fruit snacks. My stomach appreciated it. Normally on vacations my stomach feels very unsettled but not this time. I didn’t have a single stomach ache whilst we were away 🙂

We enjoyed so many activities on this vacation! In the mornings, there was tennis playing and frisbee throwing in Goult; swimming at nearby St Saturnin; exploring in the Foret des Cedres in Bonnieux; paddling in the crystal clear waters at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse and plenty of biking 😉

After lunch, we would often go exploring by car, hiking up to hill-perched ancient remains…

and visiting nearby towns and cities, including the historical and vibrant Avignon.

Back at the cottage, we would chill out in the ‘cave’, reading, drawing, playing cards and watching films. Early evening, I also enjoyed going for runs up and down the hills round Goult, taking in the beautiful scenery 😀

Biking was a big part of our vacation this year. We took our own bikes (strapped to the top of the car) and enjoyed exploring Goult and the surrounding countryside. We cycled past vineyards, olive groves, lavender fields and through cedar forests. It was such a feast for the senses!

Often, in the mornings, we would cycle to neighbouring villages, which tended to be perched on top of a hill.

It was challenging at times for Lil’ L …

… and there was the odd injury :/ …

… but it was worth it. In addition to the great sense of achievement he felt at having ‘conquered’ another hill, there were the rewarding refreshments at the village cafes…

and spectacular views to take in ♥

I also took on my own challenge this year and decided to ride a section of Mont Ventoux. I hadn’t done any hill training on my bike this year, so I knew I wouldn’t be in shape to ‘conquer’ Ventoux, but I thought I’d at least attempt the last 6.5km section.

I left M and Lil’ L eating nutella crepes at Chez Reynard…

… and set off on my Marin full suspension mountain bike (much to the amusement of the ‘roadies’) ….

… praying that my 13 year old gaffer taped shoes would hold out!

The final 2km seemed more like 20km, but I eventually made it to the summit.

It was a fantastic experience. I’m so glad that I did it!

The two weeks flew by and it was soon time to pack up and head back home, feeling refreshed, revived and fitter than when we’d arrived!

Provence is such a beautiful area of France. Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to return one day ♥

Do you choose to cook on vacations? If so, what are your favourite dishes to make? Do you have any tips for quick and easy meals?

Lanzarote 2013 & Three Ingredient Pineapple Cake

Published on April 19, 2013 by Sharon17 Comments

Hi everyone!

I’m back at long last! Sorry I’ve been away so much longer than expected. I hope you all had a wonderful Spring break. While I’ve really valued my ‘unplugged’ time, I’ve been looking forward to my return to blogging world. I’ve missed you guys!

So what have I been up to? Well, over Easter, M, Lil’ L and I were very fortunate to escape the freezing cold weather in the UK and head to the Canary Island of Lanzarote. It was wonderful to spend some quality time with my boys, without all the distractions and ‘busyness’ of life back home.

We enjoyed chilling out on the beach and at cafes, chatting, reading, playing card games and sketching (cartoon drawing was particularly popular this holiday!)

We’re huge fans of Cesar Manrique, and we loved spending time at the sites he designed, including Los Jameos del Agua, Jardin de Cactus and his own house (now a charitable foundation) which is situated in a lava field!

Lanzarote - Jardin de Cactus — Jardin de Cactus, Lanzarote

During the holiday, we also got to spend some quality time by ourselves. M really enjoyed biking in the volcanic national park…

while I loved my daily runs along the coast path and meditation by the sea.

Lil’ L loved playing on the beach, rock climbing…

and leaping!

However, in contrast to all this boisterous activity, sometimes you’d walk round the corner and find him meditating!

He also spent a lot of time reading. He got through about seven books! (‘Big Nate’ was a popular read this holiday).

We did some great walks along the coast and in the volcanic national park. Away from the resorts and towns, you could easily start to feel like you were on another planet!

To be honest, when I saw the newspaper headlines about the freezing temperatures and chilling winds in the UK, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to our return. However, we seem to have brought the good weather back with us. Perhaps Spring has finally arrived for sure (fingers crossed!) I’m loving the lighter mornings and evenings too ♥

Inspired by the sunshine and warm weather, I chose to make a pineapple cake for my study class this week. It was no ordinary cake though… it was fat free, dairy free and egg free! A friend gave me the recipe a few years ago. She’d spotted it in a newspaper, but I believe it was originally published by Kim and Rachael of the 4 Ingredients phenomenon.

Since it has no fat, its texture is different to other cakes, but it’s delicious none the less. It’s one of my all-time favourite cakes and I’m happy to report that it got the thumbs up from my study group friends too 😀

Here’s how to make it…

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Three Ingredient Pineapple Cake

Serves: 12

Ingredients
250g / 9 oz / 1¾ cups self raising flour*
200g / 7 oz / 1 cup unrefined caster sugar
1 x 432g / 15 oz tin of crushed pineapple

* alternatively use plain (all purpose) or wholemeal (wholewheat) flour and 2 tsp baking powder. I use chapatti atta flour, which is a very fine wholemeal flour, available in the UK from the world food aisles of Tesco and Asda.

Optional glaze
1-2 tbsp pineapple or tropical juice
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

Grease a 22cm / 8½ inch cake tin and line the bottom with non stick baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180c / 350F.
Sift the flour (and baking powder) into a mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar. Add the pineapple (entire contents of the tin, including the juice). Mix until just combined. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
Optional glaze: As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick it all over with a cocktail stick. Brush with juice and sprinkle on some granulated sugar.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge (or slice and freeze).

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I wonder if this cake will work with crushed mangoes too? I’m definitely going to have to give it a try 😉

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are xx

Link of the day: Orange and Almond Cake

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What we got up to in Italy

Published on August 31, 2012 by Sharon15 Comments

As promised, today I’m going to show a few pics of what we got up to in Italy.

Poffabro, the village where we were staying, is situated on the edge of the Friuli Dolomites Nature Reserve, so we enjoyed lots of hiking. Some routes could be accessed directly from the village…

… whilst others began a short car ride away.

The terrain was much trickier than anything I’ve ever experienced before, involving steep, uneven climbs and sharp descents on scree. I was often way behind the other two, but I just took my time and concentrated hard on each step so that I didn’t fall. Can you imagine breaking your ankle out here? I have no idea how you would access help!

At times I had to resort to climbing on all fours (very elegant), while Lil’ L’s favourite way of descending was skidding on his bottom. It was very effective, but I’m amazed he didn’t wear a hole in his shorts!

Some of the paths were no more than a foot’s width… right on the edge of a crag next to a sheer drop. It was a bit scary, very challenging, but all good fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂

We also visited some beautiful villages and towns within the region, including Pordenone, Spilimbergo and Barcis, with its stunning lakeside promenade.

We took a day trip to Venice, which was only 1 1/2 hours from Poffabro.

It was beautiful to see but, for me, the Venice of today seems to have lost its ‘heart and soul’ to tourism. After a quick walk round the crowded city centre, we were happy to spend the rest of the day walking round the quieter backstreets.

We also took a day trip to the beach at Lido di Jesolo, where Lil’ L had hours of fun playing in the sea. Have you ever seen a boy wearing socks and crocs in the sea? Well you have now.

Lido di Jesolo was absolutely buzzing with people and I’ve never seen so many sunbeds in my life. They seemed to go on for miles! The Lido was only a 2 hour drive from Poffabro, but what a contrast in scenery!

Closer to Poffabro, we found a hotel in Fanna that had a fantastic swimming pool and beautiful gardens.

For a small fee, non residents were able to spend the day there. We must have gone there at least 5 times. In the morning, the pool was pretty quiet, but it steadily filled up as the day went on.

We all did a lot of exercise this holiday. As well as the hiking and swimming, M and I did a fair amount of running. Poffabro is situated on a hill and I would run down to the bottom of the village and back up, then back down and up again. The ladies sitting outside the church found this pretty amusing and would wave and call out to me each time I passed them.

Of course, being in Italy, there was a lot of ice cream eating to be done. I believe Lil’ L had an ice cream every day… that’s 15 in total! His favourite flavours were pistachio and bacio (nutella).

Apart from the ice cream, we ate pretty healthily on this break. We ate pizza for the first couple of days but, by day 3, we were all craving something healthier (even Lil’ L was asking if he could have vegetable soup instead of pizza!) From then on, we made our own simple vegetarian meals. The fresh produce tasted out of this world! We thoroughly enjoyed our home cooked meals and they weren’t a chore at all to make. As well as leaving us feeling good inside and full of energy, they also saved us a small fortune.

And finally, in addition to all these wonderful activities, we had lots of time chilling out, reading, drawing and, for me, Dharma study & practice. Total bliss! Lil’ L loved to meditate for 10-20 minutes every night before he went to bed and I often joined in.

After such a refreshing break, I’m on a mission (again!) to ‘declutter’ my daily life back in England. I’m pretty sure I start this mission every time I come back from a break yet, within a week or two, I’m on the slippery slope back to ‘busyness’ (a lot of which is self-created). Time once again to seek the ‘simple life’ (well, as simple as life can be with school runs, lunches to pack, after school activities, uniform washing & ironing, and so forth) 😉

Summer’s over. It’s time to embrace the new season. And what a lovely season it is 🙂 Have a wonderful September everyone xx

A Trip to Treviso & Poffabro, Northern Italy

Published on August 30, 2012 by Sharon10 Comments

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks but we’ve been on a family vacation to beautiful northern Italy. At last I had a chance to dust off the summer clothes and get some wear out of them 😉

In this post, I thought I’d show you where we stayed in Italy. Tomorrow, I’ll post some pics of what we got up to whilst we were there.

Our vacation started with an overnight stop in Treviso, which is situated in the Veneto region of North East Italy, in close proximity to Venice. We stayed at the Titian Inn (booked via booking.com), which was a short car ride from the centre of Treviso. We loved the hotel and would highly recommend it.

I’m so glad that we made the stop over at Treviso rather than heading straight to Poffabro. It’s a lovely town with lots of interesting architecture, arcaded walkways and streets on waterways, encircled by a large town wall.

There are some really interesting pieces of art work dotted about the town.

I particularly loved Treviso at night. There was a real buzz to the place, with people of all ages out for the evening, socialising in the al-fresco restaurants and stylish bars. Lil’ L was amazed to see how late the children stay up in Italy. By the time we left at 10.30pm there were still children (including toddlers!) playing in the town square. It was so refreshing to experience a place that has a ‘family friendly’ nightlife.

The buildings in Treviso looked absolutely stunning at night. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any decent photos as we didn’t have a tripod with us, but we did manage to take a photo of the ‘music’ art installation by balancing the camera on some railings.

The next day we headed to Poffabro, a village in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, situated at the foot of the Dolomites. This is where we were going to base ourselves for the remainder of our two week vacation.

Poffabro is a beautiful village, with an array of interesting, historic buildings..

I loved this front door!

The village has a breath-taking back drop and stunning views.

Even though the village is tiny (181 inhabitants), it has a visitor centre; a church; a shop which sells fresh bread daily; a traditional Italian restaurant; and a cafe/bar. It also has some of the most friendly locals that I’ve ever come across 🙂

The cafe/bar was the real ‘hub’ of the village. For the hours it was open there was a constant stream of people coming and going, both locals and visitors. Lots of people came to the village as part of their cycling or walking route, and stopped off at the cafe for a refreshment.

Our rental apartment was located in this beautiful village house (next to the visitor centre, opposite the cafe/bar).

Shall I give you a sneak peak inside?

Here’s a pic of the open plan lounge / dining / kitchen area.

The apartment was lovely and spacious. It had a modern bathroom with walk-in shower, and two double bedrooms (Lil’ L got the best room, no surprises there!) Unlike our bedroom, his room had windows, a wardrobe and dresser/desk with chair (which he made good use of!)

All in all, Poffabro was the perfect place to stay for a couple of weeks, to relax and recharge the batteries.

Tomorrow I’ll post some pics of what we got up to whilst in Italy.

See you then! xx

Lake District Camping, Mountain Biking & NKT International Buddhist Festival

Published on July 29, 2012 by Sharon10 Comments

We last camped three years ago. The three of us spent five nights squashed in my ‘3 man’ tent in the Lake District. It rained a lot, the tent leaked, I woke up to find my pillow was soaking wet and vowed that I would never camp again.

Three years later, here I am again, camping in the Lake District. It wasn’t exactly my preferred choice of accommodation but it was super cheap and all the B&Bs in the area were full (yep, as usual, I left planning to the last minute).

We borrowed our friend’s slightly bigger tent and pitched it in the middle of a farmer’s field. After a night of relentless rain, I woke up to find that the rain had flooded in on my side of the tent and I was laying in a pool of water. You see, me & camping just don’t get along 🙁

But, despite the less than favourable camping experience, we had a fantastic time in the Lakes. Me & Lil’ L had a very special day at the NKT International Buddhist Festival in Ulverston. Thousands of people from all over the world attended the festival and the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone was so friendly. I never seen so many smiley faces 🙂

A lovely diary of the festival with video clips and photos is available at http://kadampafestivals.org/summer-2012/.

While we were at the festival, M went mountain biking. He had a fantastic day of exhilarating riding and beautiful scenery.

Here are some of his favourite shots of the day…

When the three of us met up at the end of the day, we were buzzing from our experiences and had lots to chat about over dinner. For our evening meals, we went to Ambleside which has an array of restaurants and cafes with menu options for vegetarians and vegans.

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This small town has two highly popular vegetarian/vegan restaurants – Zeffirellis and Fellinis – and we sampled the menus in both.

The food was fantastic, especially in Fellinis. There are three dishes in particular that I’d like to try and re-create at home:
– Sweet potato, broccoli and lentil sambar served with coriander and lime flatbread
– Chestnut, leek and wild mushroom filled pastry with baby roasted vegetables (Lil’ L loved this)
– Sweet potato and chickpea tagine with lemony couscous

We’re now back in the South where it’s actually been hot and sunny for a couple of days. It’s been perfect weather for the start of the Olympics. Let’s hope it continues!

I hope you’re having a great summer wherever you are. And if you’re camping somewhere in the UK, make sure you don’t forget your waterproofs. Next time I’m going to take waterproof pyjamas. Knowing my luck, I’ll need them 😉

School’s Out! Planning Summer Activities on a Shoe-String Budget

Published on July 18, 2012 by Sharon5 Comments

The school summer holidays officially start for us today. I can’t believe that another school year has finished already. These years are flying by!

I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time with Lil’ L over the next six weeks. However, as I’m not working at the moment, I need to make sure that we keep spending to a minimum.

We did lots of great free/ low cost activities last summer that we’re hoping to repeat or improve on this year. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far…

– Bike Rides
Inspired by the Tour de France, we’re going to devise our own ‘Tour de Bath’ where we explore different areas of the city by bike and record our ‘stages’ on a map, noting the distance and time.

– Hiking
There’s so much local countryside that we’ve yet to explore. We’re going to pack some sandwiches, binoculars, a map, and waterproofs, and hike along footpaths and bridleways in the hills around Bath. Luckily my ‘smartphone’ has got GPS, just in case we get lost 😉

– Photography
Lil’ L loved the challenge I set him over the Jubilee weekend of photographing red, white and blue images. This summer I’m going to set him some more photographic challenges and show him how to edit photos and make online albums.

– Creating in the kitchen
Lil’ L has already devised a list of 15 new smoothies and milkshakes that he’d like to try making. During the holidays, we’ll work our way through his list, photograph the successes and blog about them.
I’m also really looking forward to teaching him how to make other treats, such as granola bars, chocolates, ice cream sundaes and so forth.

– Summer Reading Challenge
Last weekend, the children’s summer reading challenge was launched in Bath by Olympic Gold Medallist Amy Williams. It was such a pleasure to meet her! I didn’t get to hold the Olympic torch (like my mum did!) but I have now held an Olympic Gold Medal. It was beautiful… and way bigger and heavier than I imagined it would be!

The library reading challenge has really fired up Lil’ L. The first thing he wanted to do when he broke up from school today was to go to the library and borrow some more books!

– Maths Challenge
To keep our ‘maths brains’ ticking over, we’re going to take part in Carol Vorderman’s Online Maths Factor Summer School (I need this as much as Lil’ L 😉 ). The school costs £15 but is so worth it. Carol Vorderman has got to be the ultimate Maths teacher. Not only is she fantastic at explaining maths, but she actually makes maths fun. Her online schools are perfect for kids like Lil’ L who are yet to develop a passion for numbers.

– Summer Diary Writing
Lil’ L has recently started to get interested in writing and his stories are way more creative than anything I’ve ever written! I’d love to encourage him to keep writing over the holidays, maybe in the form of a summer diary or scrap book. As well as writing, he could add photos, ticket stubs, drawings and so forth.

– Family Activities at Local Museums and Galleries
There are lots of drop-in activities on offer at the museums and galleries in Bath which are free for residents, and I’m planning to make the most of them! Does anyone fancy investigating Roman gods and goddesses and making Minerva’s wise owl? Or how about learning some Roman language and make a Roman book mark? I know I do! 🙂
If you’re planning to be in the Bath area over the school holidays, you must check out the family activity programme. Here’s the link.

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– Play Dates
It’s really important that I arrange some play dates for Lil’ L so he gets to spend time with his friends during the summer. I need to do this ASAP as I know diaries get filled really quick.

– Quality time with grandparents
Lil’ L rarely gets to have one-to-one time with his grandparents and this is something that he mentioned he would really like this summer. Next week, he’s going to spend a couple of nights with his nan and her two dogs in Dorset and he’s really excited about it! Hopefully, at some point during the summer, he’ll be able to have some one-to-one time with his other grandparents too.

– Family quality time
The three of us (me, M and Lil’ L) are really looking forward to spending a couple of weeks’ of quality time together during the school hols, which means switching all the gadgets off (phones, computers, etc) and giving each other our full attention. We really value our quality family time. For me, it’s priceless 🙂

– Buddhist Festivals and Daily Meditation
There’s lots of Buddhist festivals in the UK this summer, and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to attend at least a couple. As well as inspiring teachings and meditation sessions, there’s always lots of fun activities arranged for the kids. Lil’ L made some great friends at the festivals last year and hopefully they’ll meet up again this summer.

I’m also hoping that we’ll get into the habit of daily meditation, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. With Lil’ L’s help, I’ll set up a dedicated ‘meditation space’ upstairs. We’ll make it cosy with cushions and blankets, and light incense and candles. It’ll be great 🙂

So that’s just a few ideas of what we’ll be able to do this summer on my shoe-string budget. I can’t wait to get started!

I wish you all a wonderful summer. 🙂 xx

p.s. If anyone’s got a bit of sunshine to spare, we would really appreciate it if you could send it over here. Thank you 🙂