Hundred and Ten Miles

Summer at Costa is all about raising money for the Costa Foundation. Our store decided to do a sponsored bike ride from Milton Keynes to Lambeth in London - where they roast all the coffee beans and back which is about hundred and ten miles. 

Riding the £700 bike loaded to us from Trek.

We made it to the end, with myself cycling a fair portion of the way and a mile or few from the guys downstairs in Cotswolds, Costa, and a few customers who fancied a go on the turbo trainer. The last hour I was cycling to the end of the challenge, I managed to raise thirteen pounds, which I was really happy about. In total our shop raised about hundred and seventy pounds for the Foundation from the cycling and different activities throughout summer.

Got there in the end!

Chilli Festival

Bank holiday weekend I went to a Chilli Festival in Frosts, a local garden centre. Chilli Fiesta would have been a more fun name that fitted their theme - they had staff in sombreros, a mariachi band, a chilli focused BBQ and a little straw bale pen with micro pigs on display. There were also rows and rows of different chilli plants or seeds available for purchase. I sampled the grilled haloumi and veggies kebabs from the BBQ with a variety of chilli sauces, a chili jelly sweet, chili cheese.

Some fun chilli facts I learnt...

• Christopher Columbus brought the chilli plant to Europe around 1492, he mistook it for black pepper, hence why it is known as chilli 'pepper'.

• Chillies are full of vitamin A and C - twice as much as citrus fruit.

• Hungary is world famous for it's chilli powder, known as paprika. There is a Chilli museum in Szeged.

• Soaking chillies in vinegar with help reduce their strength.

• The best way to relieve the burning sensation from eating chillies is to drink milk, yogurt or ice-cream. Water will only disperse the oil around your mouth and make it worse.

• The hottest part of the chilli is not the seed, it's the white placenta inside the chilli.