Strawberry Starburst Refresher

If you wanted to lead me to the dark side of sugar, a trail of jelly beans would probably to the trick, with fudge waiting at the bottom of the bean stalk. Hello, I’m Natalie and I like sugar.

Chocolate and sugar are my vices, red wind, chips and crisps (outside of the UK, crisps, potato chips, chips being fries) Paul’s. Fortunately for me, Paul doesn’t like chocolate and sweets so there isn’t temptation hanging around at home and I’ve homed in on my will power resistance. That’s not to say I won’t join in demolishing a bag of crisps every now and then. Red wine and most alcohol I can generally walk away from. A Mortiz? Well, now I have to reconsider.

Sugar, I’ve had to get crafty. I’ve gone from having to have a chocolate bar everyday down to dark chocolate and dates. Moving to France helped. Individual chocolate bars selection is limited and expensive. They prefer multi packs which are way too much temptation to have at home. Most sweets have gelatine in, so there out for me. Back in Spain, I may give in the sweetie shop sometimes and avoid if possible the chocolate isle in the UK. They have every single type of chocolate bar going. To be honest, I actually crave medjool dates over chocolate and sweets any day.

I like it when I try thing that has the taste of a full blown sugar hit, but with healthier side effects. This summer when I remember I make a batch of detox or flavoured water for the day, Blogilates style. Usually I use lime and a berry of some sort. Recently I’ve switched to lemon and strawberry. In a carafe or mason jar of water I add about half a lemon, a few strawberries cut up with some mint leaves for a taste just like strawberry Sunbursts. Double whammy of hydration and vitamins.

Interesting things are coming the kitchen at the moment. Paul’s studying this month a fundamentals of raw food (not to be confused with vegan, even thought it’s all plant based) course with Matthew Kenny Cuisine. Nothing is cooked beyond 40-49C/104/120F and there’s a lot more dehydration than oven involved. Actually the oven isn’t switched on at all. Lunch today was a delicious courgette and avocado tartare and savoy cabbage paprika crisps this evening that were a little too addictive. If you want to see more or what plant eaters actually eat, checkout his tumblr and if you’re curious to know what yacht chefs do when that final day arrives after a 3 month service (read cooking at sea for 3 months straight), visit The Staff Canteen where he has a quarterly blog going on.

What are your food vices? Jelly beans, Oreos, Animal and Fudge bars are my weakness. I can resist 99% of the time, but they do kids sizes now. Same taste, less calories, but the ingredients, not clean.