Martin Gleeson: Blue Zone

I’ve mentioned my good friend Nick before, and it’s time to mention him again. He’s set out to sail single-handed from Europe to Australia. Which is simply amazing. And he’s just now managed to cross the Bay of Biscay. And well into the northern hemisphere season where, frankly, you’re just meant to moor your boat for the winter and try to keep warm.

He sent me all the details before he left on Thursday: Emergency Response Beacon number, British registration number, etc. Just the sort of details that you never want to have to recite to anyone. And he said that if I hadn’t heard from him by Monday, I should start to be concerned and contact the British Coast Guard. Of course, having the utmost faith in this amazing young man, I wasn’t worried in the least. But just the same, by 9pm Monday I’m on the phone to his dad saying: “Do you think he meant the end of Monday, Europe time? Is this about the time where we should perhaps begin to think about getting concerned?”. And literally as I’m saying this, sitting in front of my laptop that I’d turned on a few minutes before, a Google chat box pops up with “made it man” from Nick. So much relief all round. Of course we never doubted him for a second, but it’s nice to know that he’s back standing on solid ground.

So head over to bigoceans.com and be sure to make a donation to a struggling sailor/artist/geek/adventurer so he can continue his incredible journey!

Good to see this stuff getting into the mainstream media:

Cut red meat intake to save the planet. [The Australian]

Oblivious to the impact of our carnivorous ways. [The Age]

Thanks Deb!

This is a very old recipe and I really don’t know the attibution, but I got it from Deb and have also heard it from others. I’ve tried to put a little bit of nutrition back into it (by substituting wholemeal flour for milled, raw sugar for refined and soy milk for regular), but it is definitely a special occasion dish - make sure you share it with lots of friends so the pieces are small!

I must try and experiment with something like flaxseed oil to replace the butter and make it fully vegan-friendly.

1 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup raw sugar
2 tsp cocoa
1 tbsp butter (melted)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together, place in a big lump in the middle of a high-sided casserole baking dish.

Sauce:
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 and 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tsp cocoa

Mix and pour over the pudding.

Bake for approx 30mins @ 180deg C. Serve with light ice cream or light cream.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I’m a runner.

This is something that I rediscovered when I was 34. I did quite a lot of running as a boy, right up until the time I left school. Actually, I slacked off at the beginning of year twelve, but that’s another story. I became fairly sedentary in my early 20s and my weight gradually ballooned, even when I became a commuter cyclist in the mid-1990s.

In mid-2002, I began walking at lunchtime with friends around the Tan. I saw quite a few runners and, after a while, decided I would join them. The first time, I got about 100m before thinking I was going to collapse and die of a heart attack or exhaustion. Mind you, I was about 140kg at that stage. I thought: “it’s OK, it’ll just get easier each time”, so I tried again a few days later and got about 50m. But after that, it did get better.

I ran the City to Surf in 2003, a half-marathon in 2005 and a marathon in 2006.

But in February this year, I stubbed by left little toe as I walked past a door. It really hurt, as it does, but a few hours after the pain of the stubbed toe had subsided, the whole outer side of my foot felt like it had been given half a dozen good whacks with a cricket bat. Walking was painful for a few weeks, and running was completely out of the question. I waited about 6 weeks, and tried running again, but the pain was still very much there. So, in May, I went to see a Podiatrist at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Clinic. It was time to put the feet in for a service. I cannot recommend those folks highly enough. My Podiatrist confirmed what I had long suspected: my feet were flat as pancakes and if I wanted to keep running, I needed orthotics. She also suggested I rest the toe a bit longer and took an x-ray just in case, which came back negative. So I got the orthotics and rested the foot. Took my medicine.

The good (no, great!) news is that I’m back running again. I’ve run 3 times in the past two weeks (10min, 20min, 25min), and while I’m pleasantly surprised that I haven’t lost all my fitness after several months without running, it’s pretty tough when I get to the 20-minute mark or so.

It’s such an incredibly good feeling to be running again. When you are something and you can’t do it, it’s so frustrating, even depressing. But when you get back to doing it again, well, there aren’t too many things that feel so good!

I can’t let the whole month go by without a post, so here’s a real favourite of mine. This is an incredibly zesty salad, a great one to take to barbecues or just whip up a batch and have some throughout the week. As an interesting aside, when this recipe was originally given to me, it called for 3/4 cup of sunflower oil - more of a soup than a salad! After a few experiments, I think I’ve found that 1/4 cup is a good balance between too oily and too dry, or too out of proportion with the soy sauce and lemon juice.

Share and enjoy!

1 cup of brown rice (measured uncooked)
1/3 cup currants
60g roasted cashews
3 tab spns chopped parsley
6 spring onions (shallots/eshallots)
1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
2 tab roasted sunflower seeds

Cook rice and allow it to cool. I often cook the rice the evening before making the salad. Finely chop the capsicum, spring onions and parsley. Roughly crush the cashews with the flat of your cook’s knife. Mix everything together. Add the dressing immediately before serving and mix well.

Soy sauce dressing
1/4 cup sunflower oil
3 tab spns light soy sauce
2 tab spns lemon juice
1 clove garlic (v. finely chopped)
small pinch salt and pepper

Variations
- Substitute a Spanish or red onion for spring onion, or just add one.
- Substitute a mix of sunflower seeds, pine nuts and pepitas for the sunflower seeds.
- Add grated carrot or zucchini
- Double the quantity for parties, etc.