Coundown to Wokingham: 24 days to go

It's a little over three weeks until the Wokingham Half-Marathon, and I don't really feel up to it.

After last Sunday my left knee felt a bit tender, especially after I turned suddenly in the kitchen, so I rested it for a couple of days. Last night I thought I'd put it to the test at the Reading Roadrunners. That seemed a good idea as there would be plenty of people about if I needed support and I could pull out at any time.

I go off to a bad start. I almost didn't finish my first warm-up lap as I got breathless very quickly. After the session got going properly I did another two warm-up laps and that was better. I did them quite fast too - coach Pete said I was 'going great guns'. Then the stretches amd mobility exercises went well, and a session of four laps alternate jogs and strides felt good. I was tearing along the straights and my knee was holding up fine.

Then came the killer. Half an hour of leg exercises, a mixture of running up and down the steps in the stand interspersed with different kinds of squats. Ouch! OUch! Ouch! By the time we were dispatched for four laps of warm-down my legs had turned to jelly.

I slept deeply and all day today I've been stiff and aching in my knees and quads. Not pain though. I think my knees will be ok. Touch wood.

What's in this week's veg box?

It's a Fruit and Veg box this week. Here's what we have:

• Avocados: Two of these, fairly small. I'm minded to make some guacamole.
  
• Aubergine: The most beautiful of fruits. It breaks my heart to cut one of these open and cook it. I could do a moussaka I suppose but it's more likely that I will turn to Ursula Ferrigno's indispensible book Real Fast Vegetarian Food. I love this book - it was the first book to convince me that vegetarian food doesn't have to be worthy-but-dull.
  
• Mushrooms: I suppose mushrooms are one of the few things that can be produced locally all the year round. Always useful to have around anyway, although these days I find I preger a bag of dried forest mushrooms from the deli.
  
• Cauliflower:. Hmm. I haven't used up the last one yet. I think there'll be cauliflower soup in the menu soon.
  
• Red cabbage: Another timely reminded that it's a greta time to make bigos, the Polish hunter's stew.
  
• Ginger: At last, a piece of ginger root, without which so many stews and casseroles are not complete! This has been the only vegetable I've had to resort to the supermarket for since I started getting the boxes.
  
• Purple sprouting broccoli: You can tell it's the low season for vegetables.
  
• Apples: These are imported organic Braeburns - crisp and sweet. Dumbed-down oranges. Small and with a hint of bitterness.
  
• Bananas: I like these organic bananas. They come from a cooperative in the Dominican Republic. They are small and sweet and go well in my porrage.
  

Food is comforting too

In case you thought I was a healthy food zealot (and nobody who knows me at all well would think so) let me say that I also made a batch of Ginger Nuts. I've heard it said that it's not worth making biscuits because bought ones are so good. I beg to differ - I am zealous in my resistance to factory food, and these home-made biscuits are quite different from anything in the supermarket.

You want the recipe don't you? Of course you do!

GINGER NUTS

500g self-raising flour
250g unsalted butter
150g golden syrup
125g soft brown sugar
100g chopped glacé ginger
4tsp ground ginger
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

Mix the flour, sugar, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, making sure all lumps are removed.

Melt the butter and syrup together in a pan, then add to the mixture in the bowl. Add the glacé ginger and mix to a dough.

Pull off walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll them into a ball. Flatten them slightly between the palms, and place on a greased baking sheet with plenty of space between each one. Bake for 20 minutes at 150C.

You will probably have to bake the biscuits in batches.

Supporting Independence

I needed a tub of emulsifying ointment (it makes great moisturiser; it's what keeps me young-looking and a 500g tub costs £3.50 lasts a year!) So, mindful of my New Year resolution, instead of going to Boots I went instead to my local independent pharmacy, Saood on Oxford Road.

Saood is run by a Muslim man who dresses in full Muslim garb and goes to the mosque on a Friday. He's a very nice Muslim man. I often see him out on the street and he never fails to smile and say hello. There's also a woman I assume to be his wife. She is English and white, and has adopted the Muslim dress including headscarf. She is also very pleasant. I have never had any complaints about the shop, the service is always friendly and courteous.

I do get queasy about one thing though. One corner of the shop, by the door, is dedicated to a selection of Muslim literature. I had a browse through some of this, especially as it related to women. It is depressing and it is scary. One book is called "Why Most Women Will Go To Hell". Another tells how women like "English ways", which are of course immoral and corrupt. So they must be protected by being given a proper Muslim education and kept isolated from the depraved English.

In this country we recognise the right of all people to free association. We also recognise the right to believe what you want, not what you are told to. If some people don't like that, they don't have to stay here.