We are the Champions….

They did it!!

The six #Shoulder2Shoulder runners (One was unable to start) completed the Half Marathon last weekend and raised a massive £2,100 between them, the JustGiving page is still open if you wanted to “Congratulate” them further, - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Clark43

I positioned myself near Prospect Park with the intention of taking photo’s as they came through, I managed to get shots of all the runners, bar young Ms Poole and Mrs Poole, which considering the amount of runners coming through I was quite pleased about. Stevie “Scuba” Bryant was the first #S2S runner home in a very respectable time of 1hr 42m.

It was quite emotional spotting all the different charity shirts coming through and quite warming to see the bright orange shirt wearers running for the RBH Official Charity. Next time I do anything like this I’ll make sure I don’t choose white running vests, far too difficult to spot in the crowds.

It would be impossible to personally thank everyone who contributed to our cause, so if you’re reading this now, then thank you so much.

Steve P. has come up with the bright idea that next year it would be good if he was in charge of the camera, and I was one of the runners and had kindly (?) offered to train / mentor / pick me up off the floor, in preparation. We’ll see, I’d love to do it, but I fear my knees may be just too far shot to manage it.

This week has been pretty “Full on” as far as work is concerned, probably the busiest since I went back in May of last year, to be honest I’m totally knackered this evening, so recovery would appear to be still ongoing, oh great! On Thursday I had to go to my old stomping ground of Harrow, I’d forgotten what a crap place it is to drive to and what a dump it is when you arrive. A quick Facebook update describing Harrow as a dump didn’t seem to go down too well with the Harrow Town Centre Facebook page –

Paul Clark checked in to Harrow Town Centre.

Yesterday at 11:43 · Harrow · 

Long time since I've been here, it's still a dump.

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Harrow Town Centre

Region · Harrow

156 people checked in here

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Harrow Town Centre We're really sorry to hear you feel this way.

Unlike · Reply · 3 · Yesterday at 12:08

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Carol advised me as she was leaving for work this morning that she’d be going for a “Quick Pint” after work and Errant Son is working until 8pm tonight I thought I’d make a simple and delicious Lasagne for their enjoyment when they eventually stoat back home, then it clicked that I hadn’t done a Clark recipe for a while, so here goes.

My Version of a Classic Lasagne –

Ingredients

Ragu

750g Lean beef mince.

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Stick of celery (chopped into small pieces)

One carrot (chopped into small pieces)

One onion (chopped into small pieces)

Two cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)

Mushrooms (roughly chopped)

Thumb sized piece of Chorizo (chopped into small pieces)

Very large glass of red wine

Mozzarella ball

Sprigs of thyme

Massive amount of grated parmesan

Cheese Sauce

30g flour

30g butter

80g cheddar cheese

500ml milk

Start by heating a large pan on a high heat with a slug of olive oil and chuck in the chorizo, fry until the oils from the chorizo are released into the pan. Log in the mince and stir with a whisk (this helps to break down the meat) until the meat is browned all over. Next add the red wine and let it cook down until all the liquid has gone. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrot and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the tomatoes plus a tin of water and the mushrooms turn the heat down low and bubble for 20 minutes or so, then add another tin of water – repeat for 1hr 20min. Whilst waiting for the ragu to cook sit down at the computer and write a blog to take up the time, whilst slugging the remainder of the opened wine bottle. When it’s finally ready, run out to the garden and rescue the stupid cat who’s decided to attack the massive Bengal cat from next door. Placate the cat with “Dreamies” and allow the ragu to cool after stirring in the thyme.

To make the cheese sauce chuck the butter into a saucepan on a medium heat to melt, then add the flour and cook for about 5 minutes, take off the heat and slowly add in the milk stirring all the time, put back on the heat and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring often. Finally add the grated cheddar, salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Continue stirring until the cheese is all melted.

To assemble (Ha, ha, how pretentious!) the dish line a large dish with a layer of ragu, cover with a layer of lasagne sheets, add another layer of ragu with some of the cheese sauce, parmesan and mozzarella. Repeat until the dish is crammed to the top. Finally add a few dots of ragu to the top of the dish and cover with the remaining parmesan.

To cook, cover the dish with baking foil and whack into the middle shelf of a preheated oven (180 degrees) for about 30 minutes. After 30 mins remove the baking foil and cook for another 10 minutes to brown the top.

When your family eventually return, serve with garlic bread and a decent bottle of red. Never, never, ever serve it with salad, otherwise Nino will visit you in the wee small hours with a spiky stick!

As always, thanks for reading.

To be continued………………

#Shoulder2Shoulder