We indulged in plenty of mozzerella and tomato, Spaghetti and the best Pizza ever! Plus a lot of laughter.
The summer is the time when the main competitions are over, and it's a great time to train, learn, work on mistakes and have a life again. It's been lovely spending time with Jason, not stressing about my weight and enjoying not having the pressure of a competition looming.
It's easy to slip in to an unhealthy diet, but I've kept my weight on track and really enjoy eating good fresh foods. My mum and dad have been staying for the past few weeks as they usually live in Spain. They enjoy treats, and my mum gave me a shortbread biscuit from Morrisons. It made me feel sick, even though it was the smallest biscuit, but it probably had more than my usual dose of sugar in one day, in that small biscuit alone.
So with the summer season here, there isn't much going on with Jiu Jitsu, except training and the small matter of releasing myself from the running of the Carlson Gracie Essex Chelmsford Gym.
I set the gym up on 5th March 2012 and rented space in Fitness First 3 times per week. My head coach's brother taught a few classes at the start, then James Costa took over instructing the classes and every so often, Alain would come and teach on Fridays. It was so tough at first, trying to get the word out there, advertising by flyer-ing, word of mouth etc. We had hardly any students and the money was all coming out of my own pocket to fund the classes, but I knew that it would work, I could feel it.
After being at fitness first for 3 months, we moved to a gym that was only for martial arts. It had just been opened by a guy who I trained with years before in Kickboxing and Muay Thai. It was the perfect place, and I made it our new home.
Two years later and 30 members strong, the Chelmsford gym of Carlson Gracie Essex is a huge success.
I would have loved to carry on running the gym, but it takes up so much of my time and I've never been paid an penny for the time and dedication that I put in to running it. It's all been done with love and to make sure the instructors get paid and James Costa gets a decent sponsorship from the gym profits.
Sometimes you have to let the love go and hand it over to those who want to take it to the next level. It'll be sad not having the control of running my little baby that I have seen grow from a seed to a blooming tree, but I won't miss all that running around for nothing. I'll still be training, and training for the Worlds on November 1st, so there is no change there.
Jason said that my jiu jitsu will get better as I'll have less stress and pressure now. I hope he's right, and I can finally enjoy Jiu Jitsu properly.
Now for the food....
One of my Jiu Jitsu friends Mike asked me to find him a one pot recipe that's quick and easy. Ratatoullie is one of my favourite dishes thats great to eat as a dinner and again as left overs the next day for lunch. It actually tastes better the day after as the ingredients have had a chance to infuse.
Ingredients:
For the Ratatouille
1/2 Red Onion
1/2 Red Pepper
1/2 Yellow Pepper
1/2 Green Pepper
Courgette
5 Mushrooms
4 tomatoes
Fresh Basil
For the base of the dish
Marrow
40g Quinoa
Method:
Chop all the ingredients for the ratatouille in to cubes, apart from the courgette, I like to cut this in to discs, but there is no rule how to chop this. Add each ingredient in order and cook in a pan on a medium heat of the hob.
Once everything is in the pan, cook for about 15-20 minutes and add pepper to taste, and also a handful of basil.
Cook the Quinoa as directed on the packet
When the ratatouille is almost ready, use a jagged edge vegetable peeler on the marrow. This will create spaghetti like strips. If you don't have a jagged edge peeler, a regular peeler will be fine, but you will have ribbon like strips instead. They both work as well.
I bought my peeler from a market in Paris, but you can get them here, you just have to look hard for them or buy online.
Place the marrow in a pan of coconut oil and fry for a few minutes.
Serve the Quinoa on the plate, then add the marrow around it, then place the Ratatoullie on the top.
Et Voila!
Enjoy!
Jolie x
