There's a giveaway and a guide in your Heyday Friday newsletter
A special offer to try something I love, plus some of my favourite seaside spots, a tasty way to prepare eggs and an emotionally gripping TV recommendation in this week's newsletter
Hello!
Autumn is just starting to make its presence felt here in the UK. Dead leaves are beginning to accumulate in my front drive at a rate of more than just a few a day - a sure sign, and the mornings have the hint of a chill about them. Whilst I’m hopeful of a brief burst of Indian summer warmth before the new season rolls fully around, I am busy mitigating my usual end-of-summer melancholy, as I usually do about this time, with thoughts of where I might plan to get my necessary injections of vitamin sea next, even if that’s likely to be many (many) months ahead.
With that in mind, I thought the time had come to update THIS BLOG, which I wrote in the very early days of Heydays, and share another round up of special sea side spots I especially love.
Find out which ones have made it onto my new list by CLICKING HERE. And if you have one to add/recommend, please do share it in the comments. There’s nothing I love more than discovering a new spot to be in my happy place, beside the sea.
Whenever I am by the sea, I always think of these gorgeous
WORDS OF WISDOM
from American poet Sarah Kay
By the way, the beach in that pic is the first one I write about in THE BLOG (sometimes it’s almost seamless the way I put this stuff together)
Slightly less seamless is the fact that the delicious recipe I’m sharing with you this week is one of the many (many) I have saved on my phone from the Instagram accounts I follow, rather than a Mindful Chef one I’ve recently tried.
I’ll explain why that’s a bit less tidy than it might be at the end, but first here’s the lip-smacking recipe, which is, apparently, a breakfast dish in Turkey, but which I ate, and found thoroughly satisfying, as a light supper.
TURKISH EGGS
This amount will serve two people
Preheat the oven to 170C, gas mark 3
Put 300g cherry tomatoes, one tin of chickpeas, drained, and 3 cloves of garlic (skin on) in an oven proof dish, toss with olive oil and salt and roast for around 30 mins until the garlic is completely soft and the tomatoes are jammy.
Dollop four spoonfuls of Greek yogurt on two plates (2 spoonfuls on each) and smoosh the cooked garlic into the centre making a well which you then fill with the chickpea and tomato mixture.
Top with two poached eggs on each (so four eggs needed), and top with a drizzle of harissa paste, a sprinkling of fresh parsley (and I add a bit more ground sea salt on the eggs).
Then tuck in accompanied by toasted sourdough (or any bread of your choice). Deelish!
A SPECIAL GIVEAWAY
The reason why using that recipe rather than a Mindful Chef one is a tad less than seamless, is that thanks to the lovely chaps at Mindful Chef I have a little giveaway for you, which would have tied in just that bit more neatly if it had been one of theirs this week. Ah well…
If you’ve ever thought about giving this terrific fresh, healthy meal service a go, then now is the time to do it, because four lucky Heydayers can get 25% of your first four boxes.
To find out more about the Mindful Chef service and recipes, and the brilliant work they do to help feed children in poverty CLICK HERE
And to be one of the lucky giveaway recipients, just email me and I’ll send the first four who do, the instructions to redeem your discounted boxes (the offer only lasts until the end of September).
As you know, I absolutely love Mindful Chef - I prefer them to Gusto and Hello Fresh, both of which I’ve tried - and I’m excited to be able to give you this discounted chance to experience their delicious, nutritious, easy-to-prepare, waste free recipes for yourself.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……WATCHING
I don’t know why, over four regular series and one other celebrity one, I’ve never been tempted to watch Race Across The World, but having finally decided to see why everyone who’s a devotee raves about it, I can absolutely understand their enthusiasm and now have a LOT of catching up to do.
The stars of the current celebrity series are (clockwise from top right in the picture) broadcaster Jeff Brazier (whose wife Jade Goody was a reality TV star, and mother of their two small boys when she died tragically young from cervical cancer) and his son, Freddy; broadcaster Kelly Brook and her husband, Jeremy, a French former judo champion; Ted Lasso star Kola Bokinni and his cousin, Mary Ellen; and Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills and his husband, Sam.
Their journey begins in Belém, Northern Brazil - the gateway to the Amazon - and takes them, via five checkpoints along the length of South America to the finish line in the Andes in Southern Chilie.
If you’re also a RATW newbie, in brief the teams, who all have their mobile phones and wallets taken away from them, have to navigate their way from the starting point, to each of the specified checkpoints using nothing more than a paper map and spending no more than the money they are given. They’re also given a booklet telling them about the countries and cities they are travelling through and it’s entirely down to them to choose their routes and organise their transport and stopping off points along the way. The handbook also gives them details of places where they can find paid work to supplement their budget and help eke it out.
There are two things about RATW that make it so especially compelling. First is the stunning photography. This may be a reality show in essence, but it’s also an informative and beautifully shot travel programme, gorgeously showcasing the landscapes, cities and towns that provide the setting for the race .
The other is seeing the relationship between the competing pairs as they spend a month facing the challenges of travelling together through strange countries, relying and depending on each other (and the kindness of strangers of which there is a wonderfully heartening amount) and witnessing how it affects and changes them. It’s emotionally riveting stuff.
If you want to see all six episodes of this current series, you’ll have to wait, because they’re only being released once a week (old school) and we’re only on episode three so far. But I think it makes it all the more engrossing having to wait between each one.
You can watch Celebrity Race Across the World on BBC 1 and iPlayer
And see a trailer for the current series HERE
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
Apart from the fact that the new series of stunningly good Slow Horses has arrived on Apple TV - I CANNOT wait to get stuck in to the best show on TV - I loved this heart-warming example of the kindness of strangers and how it can literally transform lives.
FRIDAY FUNNY
Now this is a list I can really get on board with. You?
That’s it for this week, but before I go I’ve got my fingers crossed that none of these ‘chores’ end up on any of those lists:
Email me to be one of the four lucky Mindful Chef discount winners
Share your favourite beach recommendation(s)
Click the little like heart
Thank you. Have a lovely week and see you next time
Diane x
When we lived in England, our favourite family holiday spot was staying at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel. It has stunning views of the beach. We’d spent hours walking up and down the beach, walking into the quaint shops and having an icecream.
Thank you Diane. Just on our way back from a wonderful week in North Yorkshire. Next time we will go further up to beautiful Northumberland ❤️