When the bed is warm, and it's cold outside

Oh boy. Today was COLD. There was thick frost on all the cars outside when I left the house this morning.

Since joining the gym in September, my aim has been to go three times a week. For me to fit this in, I have needed to set the alarm and get out of bed earlier - 5.45 am, to be precise.

This has gone pretty well so far - albeit with a few too many `switch the alarm off, put thoughts of going to the gym off for another day and roll over in bed' mornings. And, I must admit, that may well have been a teensy weensy bit annoying to anyone else who may have also been woken by the super early alarm for no reason. Not only that - with the luxury of a warm place to exercise at my disposal, I have also slid into the category of being a fair weather runner - I am guilty as charged for hearing the heavy rain on Sunday morning, and failing to get out of bed for my regular run. Worse still, I stood up my faithful running buddies in the process, who showed up and ran 5 miles. Sorry girls.

I can't claim to love going to the gym, and I doubt I will ever love it as much as running. But I don't dislike it, either. What I do like is the walk home from the gym, where I enjoy the fresh morning air on my own. And, quite often, the brightest part of the day happens about this time - before damp and drizzle takes over and lingers on until it's dark again. And so, when the alarm goes tomorrow morning, I need to reach for the kit (ready next to the bed), and not even debate with myself about whether or not to go, instead, telling myself `I will feel good afterwards'.

One thing my early morning gym visits have bought me (aside from an inbuilt sense of entitlement to eat plenty of cake everyday), is listening to Vanessa Feltz on Radio 2. I know. But Radio 4 doesn't exactly motivate you to get going, and nor am I either in the right age bracket for Radio 1, or even close enough to pretend to be. And I have to say, I am quite liking Vanessa. Perhaps it is because I find her reminiscent of the days (when I was young) of The Big Breakfast on Channel 4, and having to rush for the bus to school because I was too keen to watch whatever it was Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin were doing (and, no doubt also, knowing this would be the topic of conversation when I got to school).

Anyhow, this morning's opening topic was biscuits. Apparently, Heston Blumenthal has declared it a scientifically proven fact that biscuits taste better once dunked. Not sure I agree, although I am prepared to carry out several tests myself in order to try and make an informed judgement. Shortly after this, one of Vanessa's loyal listeners (and there seem to be plenty of them who ring in) shared their favourite biscuit indulgence. Take two chocolate digestives, melt briefly in microwave, and sandwich them together (melted chocolate sides in) with some marshmallows in the middle.

This was all I could think about for the rest of my time at the gym.

And so, when the phone call came through from a friend to look after their boys at teatime, I knew I had the perfect excuse to go out and buy the biscuits and marshmallows.

Put a couple of biscuits on kitchen roll, microwave for 20 seconds,
add as many marshmallows as you can and you have pudding heaven for small children
(and the grown ups supervising them)

My young dining companions, were (all five of them) in a state of gooey chocolate biscuit and marshmallow induced heaven. There were no arguments, no complaints or sly attempts to wind siblings up, and no getting down from the table for a full five minutes as they ate.

Instead, the conversation went from rather serious discussion from them all about how best to eat this new pudding, and, then, onto what to name it.

Pudding Sandwiches. As recommended by five young food scientists in Bedford. They are most certainly the perfect way to cheer up the damp and drizzly days that the British weather doles out in abundance. Enjoy!