Hello!

Today I will tell you about some of the milestone adventures I have had the last few months to give you a bit of a backdrop to what I am all about.

Imminently before finishing my 4 years of university at University of Hertfordshire, I landed a job in communications at a great company based in Poole, Dorset. So there I was with three weeks to move out of my family home of 20 years based in a cushty little village in the county of Bedfordshire. I left my family, my horse and everything else I had always known. It was definitely heading out of my comfort zone but something I was ready for.

As well as a new job and a new home, I had the added excitement of travelling to Uganda in July for three weeks. I was going with my family and boyfriend to do a voluntary project in a remote and very poor area of the north of the country. I have now been back two weeks and can safely say it was the most overwhelming, life changing and rewarding experience I have ever had. The excitement of my new job and home was suddenly not so exciting as I had to tear away from my family who I had been through so much with the last few weeks.

I sorely miss Uganda - the people, the smiles, the simplicity and the reason we were there. But there is one thing I don't particularly miss…and that is the food! But as I knew then, and I continue to remind myself of now, we are lucky to have food, let alone be privileged enough to eat food that satisfies our taste buds as well as our body's survival needs. The best way to describe Ugandan food is  heavy and bland. Think potato (not cheesy or smooth!), beans, roasted corn, goat, chapatti (Indian I know!?), banana and pineapple! Banana and pineapple was breakfast every morning and we were sick of the sight of it by the end! Lunch and dinner was very carb intense and although we were doing physical work every day, we didn't lose any weight because of the crazy carb intake! I lived on avocado…it was soft and smooth and had flavour. Avocado grows well in Uganda and a staple food. The local people were not too malnourished when we were there because the region had experienced a lot of rainfall and this is when people can grow crops and eat well. A little girl was preparing lunch for her family, using a handmade pestle and mortar.

En route back home from Uganda, we had a couple of nights in Dubai. Middle Eastern food is probably my favourite cuisine. I discovered this love in Lebanon back in 2010. An entire feast of tabouhli, labneh, falafel, vine leaves, lemon chicken wings, meat kebabs (the best you can ever imagine), pure garlic paste and flat breads. I love the social aspect to eating middle eastern food, it's all about little and often and sharing as you go. Although there is every cuisine in the world on offer in Dubai, we were partial to Lebanese! We did however compromise one evening with a steak house for the boys. Yes, I did enjoy it but my mind was definietely wandering elsewhere! Why have a steak in Dubai, when you can have it at home?

Anyway, we are home now and whilst I have always argued that English food isn't very inspirational, I didn't complain about fish and chips by the seaside this afternoon!