Here are some photos from our friends weekend away to Foresters Beach which is 1 hour north (with no traffic) of Sydney.

11 of us in total, me Sanna Courtney Brendon Marty Roby Easton Sam Roland Hanna Basma and Yasmin, full up beach house.

It’s race time for Ian and I, we trained well this time, long distance weekend training and I ride to work 30km’s each day.

The race is in Canberra and its 100km hence its called the Capital Punishment 100km enduro.

Arrived at Akhils house in Canberra and tuning the bikes.

My race day diet of various fast absorbing gels and unnatural substances, but they work.

Me and our Canberra host Akhil

7am and ready to start the race. I’ve had my usual race day breaky of bananas on toast with honey.

Tragic happenings, Ian’s rear tyre blew out! Took 10 minutes to fix.

Another rear tyre blowout, such bad luck. We were out of spares, a passing women chucked  us a spare tube, saved! This 1 took us just 5 mins to fix.

100km’s finish! We did it in 4hrs 55min, that includes the untimed section where we cruised slow. Will upload official time when I get it.

This is my tired face.

Free beer at the finish, gotta love the relaxed nature of MTB events 🙂

Cheers

Capital Punishment is a great event, fast and flowing single track 80% of the time, not many hills at all and well organised, I would recommend it.

Apparently this is what my management team think I look like:

For this Sunday morning Brendon organised a get together of 10 friends to walk up the short but steep inline to get to Sublime Point Lookout which is just South of Sydney near Wollongong.

The night before we slept at Brendon’s, I was attacked by mossies, must have had 20 bites at least!

Crew of 10 off to start the track at the bottom. The track is only 1km long but very steep with steel ladders you have to climb in places. Forgot to get photos of the steel ladders dam.

First rest after just a few hundred metres as it was so steep.

King of the Rock

and another rest for water

The track was mostly steps all the way

Getting closer to the top

And we reached the top yayayay!

Damien being a silly Frenchy to Sanna and me like always. From left to right is Brendon, Marty, Anne, Courtney, Roland, Mark, Damien and Sanna. Unfortunately Sam and Easton didn’t make it to the top.

A nice photo of Sanna and me having fun in the Park at the beach.

And a photo of Damien and I with “Operation take Christmas tree through lobby to put in the back garden unrecognisable by security cameras” for 2013.

So Brendon has finally got around to editing the final ‘Lost episode’ of our old TVS show ‘Supercar Spin’. It definitely brings back a flood of good memories. We all wished we had enough time to continue this. Also he spent many hours trawling through all the old footage to make a 4 part Bloopers reel, this really made us laugh. This is what Brendon had to say on FaceBook about the Bloopers:

Supercar Spin February 2012 (The Lost Episode) – Boxster, Audi RS4-TRS Plus

The bloopers are definitely the funniest, all 4 parts are below.

Bloopers – Part 1 – Supercar Spin

Bloopers – Part 2 – Supercar Spin

Bloopers – Part 3 – Supercar Spin

Bloopers – Part 4 – Supercar Spin

One of the few things I  can cook pretty well, one of my favourites is a very simple version of Jambalaya. Jambalaya is a dish from Louisiana of a Spanish and French influence.

Jambalaya originated in the Caribbean Islands. The Spanish culture mixed with the native foods created what is known as Jambalaya. Jambalaya is traditionally made in three parts, with meat and vegetables, and is completed by adding stock and rice. It is also a close cousin to the saffron coloured paella found in Spanish cuisine. So this is how I make my simple version….

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 chicken  breasts, cut in pieces
• 225g flavoursome sausages (chorizo is available)
• 225g rice
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 green pepper/capsicum chopped
• 2 sticks of celery chopped
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 600ml (1 pint) vegetable or chicken stock
• Salt & Pepper

Photos are from a serves 6 portion as I was cooking for guests.

Method

Heat Oil in large pan, fry onions and garlic for about 5 mins

Add the sausage and chicken and fry for another 5 mins

Then add the pepper/capsicum and celery

Continue frying for another couple of minutes , then season and add the cayenne pepper, spicy!

Pour the stock over the top and bring to the boil

When the stock is boiling, add the rice and cook for roughly 20 mins or until the rice is soft. Be careful not to overcook the rice.

Job Done!

Happy new year to all my friends and family around the globe!

This new years eve we went to our friend Steve’s place in the Horizon building overlooking the harbour.

They even had tickets to get in. 4000 guests in the 1 building, a big building

My first beer for NYE, from Portland, USA.

View of the harbour bridge and the harbour before it got dark.

Cousin jacks catered 170 pasties. Never seen them basted in a pan before.

A bit burnt but everyone raved about the pasties.

Party time

Interesting place to keep the drinks.

Damien, Sam, Brendon and Sanna

The 9am smaller kids fireworks

They over catered on pasties I think

Crazy friend Roland

Drug lord Brendon with his cigar

Everyone at the party.

I enjoyed watching the fireworks so much I forgot to take photos of them. 🙂

So here is a photo I ‘didn’t’ take

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!