A couple of weeks ago we journeyed to Castle Acre on a sunny afternoon to have a picnic on the grass by the castle ruins and a stroll around the village.

As it was an unplanned outing we stopped by Asda to gather some picnic fare. I do have a soft spot for these salad pots and my childhood favourite crisps have always been skips; they melt in the mouth! White chocolate cookies are a given as one step from heaven, the yogurt was reduced so I picked this up instead of the sausage roll that was available. Mountain Dew, mmmm. The apple doesn't even start to readdress the balance but I do like apples so it rounded things off nicely.

The sun played hard to get which didn't detract from the time out. It' such a luxury to leisurely wander around somewhere pretty.

I made a little video as well for you to watch, I think it's under a minute long.

 

 

The public footpath loops around Castle Acre Priory. We've never been in before, maybe one day but I'm disappointed they do not display entry charges clearly.

The Castle ruins are free to walk around, which we like to do. Sadly, some parents consider it entirely acceptable to allow or encourage children to play on the crumbling walls.

 

There is something of a backlog to catch up sharing, I've been out and about a lot recently as well as focussing on the changes to my health and fitness regime so a whole variety of posts will be coming soon!

Sophie

A really straightforward recipe for home breaded cod or any white fish. Personally I prefer pollack, coley or something other than cod or haddock but supermarkets do not seem to consistently stock a good range of fish yet they always have cod or haddock. It's hard to buy sustainably sourced fish even though it would be my preference. As a reformed fish hater I am yet to notice a jot of difference in taste between all the slabs of white fish that look the same so to me I'd rather have a less popular cheaper fish.

This recipe is so simple that anyone can make it. If you, like me, are none too fond of the preparing of a fish fillet (wrangling) then buy from a fish counter and ask the fishmonger to do it. Pop on some gloves and Bob's your uncle, you don't even need to touch the fishy.

To make the crumb, use stale bread (I used two rolls for these two fillets), bunged in a blender until it is a fine crumb. Add your preferred selection of fresh or dry herbs, whizz again, then drizzle in some olive oil as it's whirring. As a guide I used around a tablespoon for two fillets worth of crumbs.

These baking liners are invaluable, chuck stuff straight on them and it washes off a doddle, never having to scrub burned on bits off trays.

The fish goes on skin down, then coat the top in your choice of soft cheese, we used light Philadelphia with garlic and herbs. The crumbs then coat the fillets, give then a little pat to get them nicely stuck on the sides.

I cooked these in a fan oven at 180oC for about 25 minutes.

Voila. Tasty. Serve with whatever you fancy: chips and peas or mash and steamed vegetables.

Sophie

Ooooooooo Fruitbroo, I love you.

Two tasty new beverages have arrived from the clever people at Fruitbroo; 'Elderflower and lime' and 'peach, pear and honey'. These are designed for summer sipping with chilled water and ice as opposed to their hot drinks (although they would be lovely hot too if you ask me!) As with everything in the Fruitbroo range they are 100% natural with nothing added. Not a thing. They contain no caffeine, dairy or gluten.

Anything elderflower is a must-try in my book and this drink did not disappoint! It was full of flavour with a good dash of lime to prevent it from being too sweet and keeping it deliciously fresh. The peach pear and honey has such a heavenly aroma, to me peaches have such a summery smell it was so inviting. This tasted like the sweeter of the two drinks with all three flavours coming through.

I am so glad they come in large bottles as I never want them to end, these are definitely my soft drink of choice when sitting outside. Each 200ml bottle makes 4 litres of drink, giving 22 180ml servings per bottle. They also spring to mind as a perfect drink to serve at weddings and parties as the soft drink option instead of Pimms. All the delicious fruitiness.

Thanks to Fruitbroo for sending me these bottles of juicy iced tea to review, I ruddy loved them.

Sophie

I've been keen to try out Market Bistro in King's Lynn for a while now and while out for a browse round town I finally got the chance on Saturday. We usually just stick to the main shopping areas which is why I hadn't discovered this place sooner; it was through Twitter that they caught my attention. How could I resist when they tweet such delicious plates of food? When I heard that they run a lunchtime offer of two courses for £12 I made a note to ensure we made it along next time we were nearby. Located in Saturday Market Place they are only just around the corner from the main shopping street.

Despite the town centre being on the busier side of usual, the restaurant was fairly quiet. The interior looked modern and inviting with some lovely touches. The menus came on clipboards, something which I'd never seen before and rather tickled me! As every good restaurant should, the menu changes (in this case weekly) to make use of seasonal produce and to keep things interesting. Although the main menu looked mouth-wateringly good, I'd already decided we were sticking to the set menu which was considerably shorter; in reality we both prefer a short menu as it is so much easier to make a choice.

As a pate fiend, I was never going to shy away from the pate option; it was chicken liver pate served with toast and chutney. Oh it was scrumptious. It was surprisingly filling and I still misjudged the ratio so ended up with a little leftover pate in that cute little jar.  Chris ordered the smoked salmon, served with butter and toast which he enjoyed.

We both fancied the 'fruit pig' sausages served with mustard mash, greens and gravy. There have been three standout sausages over the years and these were certainly one of them. So good. The waitress asked if we would like any sauces or extra gravy, naturally Chris wanted mustard and I went for more gravy, you can never have too much gravy in my book. As it turned out the dish would have been sufficiently gravid as it was originally served but the liquor was that delicious that I took full advantage of the bounty. There were clean plates by the end.

As for drinks we chose Norfolk Cordials; Chris the rhubarb (and ginger we thought) and I the elderflower which was pure heaven.

The welcome we received was warm, the service was attentive and the time we spent in there was just over an hour which suits me just fine; I hate to be rushed, especially if dining on more than one course. I'd love to head back another time for (perhaps a special occasion) an a la carte meal or at the very least a sneaky pudding.

Sophie

This is me. This is my style; I'm Sophie and I love a big baggy jumper, a short frilly skirt, a pair of boots and a scarf. My repertoire of outfits is pretty eclectic, I love trying new items and seeing how they work for me; taking a new 'in' piece and wearing it in a way that makes me happy. Dressing is something of a hobby of mine, a concept which Chris will never be able to get his head around it seems!

This burgundy jumper seems to get better with age, I'm pretty sure it'll be at it's absolute prime when it has a gaping great hole and a string of yarn hanging below my knees. My little Primark skirt felt rather left out last summer but upon my bi-annual wardrobe re-jig I pounced on it for an immediate wear, with warm tights and long boots.

Jumper – Vero Moda, skirt – Primark (ebay), top – Barbour*, tights – no idea, boots and bangles – charity shop, scarf – gift, bag – giveaway win

To me this outfit was spot on for my time on the Fakenham River Walk in the spring sunshine a couple of weeks ago. I believe in dressing to make myself happy and I bet I'm not the only one.

Sophie

PS. I've written a post all about my experience of learning to cook as a guest post, I'd love you to take a look if you get a chance.

It's high time my health and fitness plan was reassessed and given a much-needed shake up, today's post comes from Josh Mann, a personal trainer and nutrition advisor who is scrutinising my current regime and putting forward his recommendations. This is very exciting for me! Over to Josh
Sophie and I have been have been speaking recently on Twitter and I have offered to have a look at her current regime and see if there is anything she can improve upon to get the results she wants.
First, lets look at your current lifestyle and what you have done to get yourself where you are today………
Finding this out is crucial to understand what current activities a person undertakes on a day-to-day basis, but it is also important to find out and negotiate the time they have to dedicate to their goals. This will have a big impact on the advice and recommendations I would give to somebody.
· After an active childhood, you (as most people do) have fallen into the trap of becoming inactive as an adult.
· You’ve decided to attend a boot camp and gained confidence as you’ve gotten fitter. Since then you’ve taken up running and previously entered both 5k and 10K running events (with personal bests of 22min12secs and 46mins57secs respectively) – not a bad baseline to work from.
What activity are you participating in on a weekly basis?

· Daily dog walks
· 2x boot camp style workouts a week
· 2x interval style running sessions that last between 12-20 minutes
· Now looking to add a long run lasting between 45 minutes and an hour on the weekend.
From this you can see throughout the week you are quite active, I like that you’re out walking the dog and making the effort to do some form of activity. You do not have loads of time to exercise because of your work so you are keeping sessions short and intense so you can burn a reasonable amount of calories.
What’s the mission captain?
Let’s talk about goals – what do you actually want to achieve?
All goals should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & have a Time-Frame. This will help you keep focused throughout the duration of your journey.
Let’s have a look at your goal:
S – you want to be able to run 10k in less than 46 minutes
M – It is something that can be timed with a stopwatch
A – You already have a PB of 46mins 57secs, and are a regular exerciser so to improve by 58 seconds does not sound unrealistic to me
R – You’re a keen runner, who is looking to better yourself and improve your overall health and running is a great way of doing this
T – I feel 12 weeks is a realistic timeframe to achieve this in.
Lets have a look at the nutrition side of things……
Nutrition will make or break your goals. Getting enough good quality nutrients is key to helping you recover from exercise, but it will determine whether or not you get the body of your dreams.
I asked you to fill out a food diary, logging everything you ate and drank throughout the course of a week. I would recommend that everybody do this at some point in the near future, as it can be a really good indicator of bad habits.
From your Food Diary I was able to produce the following stats:

	Food Diary (Average)	Target	Difference
Calories	2102	2000	102
Carbs(g)	277	251	26
Protein(g)	81	104	-23
Fat(g)	59	65	-6

Over the course of a week you can see that on average you are consuming 100 calories a day more than you need to. It may not seem like a lot, but that’s an extra 36,500 calories over the course of the year – this will not help appearance or performance.
The majority of people do not eat enough protein and you definitely fall into this category – you are eating around three quarters of the amount of protein that you actually need. If you are active, you need more protein to help recovery and build lean muscle (this helps you burn more calories at rest). The NHS recommends 0.8g of protein per kilo of bodyweight – this is fine if you do no exercise at all. But if you are exercising (and doing so on a regular basis) you need to double that amount – and before you say anything, no, you are not going to get huge ladies!
To me it appears that you are getting enough fat in your diet. I like to aim for around 1-1.5g per kilo of bodyweight. Fat is vital for overall health and should not be cut out of somebodies diet (see my blog on low fat diets). You just need to make sure that you’re getting fat from good sources such as butter, lean read meats, oily fish and nuts.
Carbohydrates are the last things I tackle because you should get your protein and fat sorted first and let carbohydrates make up the rest of your diet. You have included a range of Carbs including oats, bread and cereals in your food diary. I think oats are a good source of carbs but bread and cereal on the other hand, I don’t. The focus should be on unprocessed foods like starchy veg and 100% whole grains. Lets not forget those green veggies, these should be consumed daily and in large quantities. They offer too many benefits to describe here.
Moving forwards
I like that you are currently including two intense running sessions a week in your regime as this will help improve speed. The only changes I would make to your current exercise routine is to remove the boot camp style training and get some more miles in. I’m not saying that a boot camp style workout is bad, but for your goals it is not a relevant style of training. These boot camp sessions should be replaced by two running sessions, each lasting between 30-45 minutes. One of the runs should be quite easy and the other running at the speed required for you to hit your goal.
If you implement the nutrition strategy that I have suggested above, you should see your recovery time improve, have more energy and feel full at meal times.
Anything else to look at?
Sleep……..
You have told me that you get between 6-6.5 hours of sleep per night. Now for me, I think you need at least another hour to aid recovery.
Sleeping continually for either less than six hours or more than nine hours in adults has been associated with poorer health.
Below are the daily hours of sleep people need at the different stages of their lives:
· Children: 10 to 11 hours of sleep
· Adults: 7 to 8 hours of sleep (adolescents need a bit more)
· Older adults: 7 to 9 hours of sleep
When we sleep the body carries out a number of functions that we are often unaware of; producing processes that help you deal with physical and mental stress, information processing, memory formation and the repair and restoration of (muscle) tissues. It is a natural process and something that is essential to our overall well-being. If you struggle with getting a good nights sleep then I would recommend using a supplement called ZMA. The zinc and magnesium will help you relax and help you sleep through the night.
Before you go…….Read this!

Before you decide to get started on a brand new health and fitness journey, whether that be running (like Sophie) or for general weight loss, really take the time to make an honest assessment of your current circumstances. Better yet get someone let myself to do it for you. We can discuss achievable goals and make sure you have all the tools you need to achieve them.
Thank you to Josh Mann for this report! It has definitely given me the motivation and direction I need to go forward with renewed vigour and positivity. If you want Josh Mann Fitness to set you on the right track then check out his site for details of all he can offer you, follow his blog for great health and fitness posts and give him a tweet @joshmannfitness on Twitter too. I'll be keeping you up to date on the new changes I'm making soon. Good times.
Sophie