365.37 Monday In The Park

A morning cycle, followed by a morning walk in the park with the hounds is a sure fire way to clear the head before a day at the desk.

365.36 O’Donnell’s Crisps

Hands down, two of the nicest bag of crisps on the Irish market at the moment. I don’t care much for the sweet chilli flavour but the cheese and onion are hard beat.

365.35 Riverwalk Empire

The new boardwalk running alongside the river Nore stretching back into Kilkenny city, a great new stretch to bring the dogs on.

365.34 A Fine Chicken & Cheese Bagel

On the hunt for a sandwich in town and in keeping with my objective of trying one new place a week for food in 2012, I stopped into Fresh (Pam’s Deli) on High Street, Kilkenny, for a bagel and at €3.60 toasted was not disappointed.

365.33 A Cold Start To The Morning

Absolutely bitter these past few mornings and it’s not going to get much better for the week that’s coming. Also picked a bad time to rub out of heating oil.

365.32 On The Air

After filling in on The Bottom Line business show last week, today was ye Web Watch slot on The Edwina Grace Show on KCLR 96FM. I’m handy to have around in that regard I guess.

365.31 Anyone For Chocolate Biscuit Cake?

After pouring over the cookbooks looking for something to send the month out on a sweet high before hitting the bike, it was a chocolate biscuit cake that won the battle. This one contains some dairy chocolate, a Milka with Dime, Aero, ginger but biscuits, Crunchie, Toffee Pops, marshmallows and more. A veritable feast of chocolate that when set remained nicely on the soft side. No chainsaw required.

Getting Back On The Bike, Cycling From Cork Again

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I’ve not been on the bike since October, which effectively means I’ve been taking it easy for four months with walking to town (coupled with twice daily walks with the hounds) being the best I’ve been able to put together. As February beckons on Wednesday, so too does the time for me to get back up on the bike and back out on the road. Only, for the time being, I’m not going to hit the road.

Thanks to Darragh at The Bike Store in Kilkenny (also a client of mine, I should add) I’ve just finished setting up a Tacx Satori turbo trainer for the sunroom. While the dogs have me out in the morning before work, it’s still at the point where by the time I get home in the evening it’s either dark, pissing rain, miserable or a combination of all three. So I’ve opted for a turbo trainer which means come the winter months later in the year, I won’t be without a cycle.

Ten minutes on the trainer this evening though shows me I’ve got my work cut out for me as, having let let my Christmas extend right up to the end of January, things have gotten somewhat out of hand. But with bike training comes bike discipline, comes food discipline, comes drink discipline, weight training and all the rest so I won’t be too long in putting things right again. Of course, things are much more fun when there’s a goal involved, which brings me to the Cork cycle.

The Cycle From Cork

Last year, the June Bank Holiday to be precise, I swapped the streets of Kilkenny and the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival for the hills of Dungarvan and the back roads to Kilkenny on a two day charity cycle from the Rebel County to the Marble County as part of the Mary Slattery Memorial Cycle weekend. Having spent plenty of my youth hanging out in her back garden at the top of my street, scoffing macaroons and hold club meetings (we were very organised kids in fairness), I was delighted to be able to take part in the annual charity cycle in aid of Chernobyl Children International, with 2011 being the first year the cycle would take on Mary’s name in recognition for the years of work she did for the organisation.

I’ll be equally as delighted to repeat the feat again this summer, which is also a good starting point for me in the training for the Kilkenny to Sligo cycle in the autumn. Registration has opened as of tonight and carries a €50 registration fee (to cover transport, team support and accommodation) with the ideal fundraising target at €300 per participant. There were over 100 of us on the road from Cork city last year across the two days and organisers are hoping to see numbers double on last year. Knowing the lay of the land having taken the two days out for the cycle last June, I can tell you it’s absolutely brilliant craic, with great banter along the way between those taking part and those working the support all the way along the route.

If you’re in Kilkenny or the surrounding area and you’re interested in taking part, download the registration form here to print off and post to the organisers with your deposit. You can also find the Mary Slattery Memorial Cycle on Facebook.

Now it’s time to get cracking on the fundraising side of things!

365.30 Thai Green Curry

Take 1 can of coconut milk, a quarter jar of Knorr Blue Dragon Thai green curry paste, two peppers, two onions, a few breasts of chicken and some rice and you’ve got yourself one hell of a tasty Thai green chicken curry. One for AnyGivenFood.com I reckon.

365.29 Two Happy Hounds

These two guys (Bolt, left, Buzz, right) have made such a huge difference to us in the house since December 18th. Over a month here and they’ve been completely transformed into two very happy hounds. At least that’s the vibe we get off them anyway