1. Hello, is it (this recipe for a pumpkin couldron) you're looking for?

    / 2 min

    A couple of Halloweens ago I used a recipe I found on the BBC Food website for a rather splendid Chicken and Pumpkin Couldron. I blogged about it on my What I Had For My Tea blog (no longer maintained). A tasty stew cooked and served in the shell of the pumpkin. The BBC has since deemed to break the internet and has taken to recipe down. Fortunately I had a copy printed out in the kitchen drawer so I've retyped it and am posting it here for seasonal posterity.

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  2. So you want to get into cycling?

    / 9 min

    A friend got in touch to bend my ear about cycling. He's recently committed to a long distance charity bike ride and wanted my advice on where to start with equipment, clothing and training. I'm no expert but I've been in a similar situation that led to cycling being a big part of my life. My email response to him was rather lengthy but I thought it might be of benefit to other newcomers to cycling so I've reworked it a little and published it here.

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  3. No Bread, Beer or Biscuits: How I Lost 63lbs in 100 Days

    / 4 min

    On the morning of Saturday May 19th, 2012 I awoke with a hangover. The previous night I'd been drinking in York with some friends and now felt truly awful, not just because of the booze and its after effects but because on a number of occasions on that night out that I'd been made aware of just how big a guy I was. Nothing mean or nasty was said. It was something I'd actually been bringing up myself, almost as an icebreaker. 'I'm Pete. I'm the big guy'. I realised I'd been doing this on nights out for a while.

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  4. Somewhere for Things to Land

    / 2 min

    In the mid-2000s I had a blog. It was before Twitter and having a blog is just what you did. I sometimes had things to write about and discussions to have. Most of the time I was talking to myself but as long as I was getting things out of my head and onto the world wide web I was happy.

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