Bloomin Marvelous

At work today we held a bake sale in aid of the Marie Curie Cancer charity.  We took their Blooming Great Tea Party and adapted it to fit our working arrangements.

So Monday morning bright and early the HR team arrived armed with tupperware a plenty and all sorts of cakes, we had massive cream cakes:

Plenty of cupcakes/fairy cakes:

And some more heathly alternatives in a fruit slice and banana breakfast loaf (which was scrummy I donated and tested this one just to be sure):

By 11.30am we had raised just short of £300 thanks to the generosity of my colleagues here at work.

We set up an honestly table in the corner of the office restuarant for the rest of the day and will add up the total raised at the end of the day:

I am so pleased with the results today - the excellent baking skills of the HR team, all of them giving up their time and donating cakes for sale.  Particular thanks to Caroline (pictured with me at the top) who did all the organisation for the day and did all the posters and advertising - now for the clearing up....

Where did the time go?

Blimey has it really been two weeks? Work has been very busy and the weekends have passed with a blur.  The TV at home seems to be stuck on either BBC HD or ITV HD and the World Cup - my conversations with The Boy seem to be limited to half time or full time and I am missing him a bit.

However, he loves football and I knew that when I hitched myself to that wagon so no complaints here.

So, what have I been up to.  Well there was another trip to Geneva, then we went to Scarborough for the weekend - the weather wasn't great but The Boy and I had a great night out (here we are before the wine  was consumed):

The next day I indulged my love for Asparagus once more with parma ham, roasted asparagus and poached duck eggs (on nom nom nom):

I made gifts for my friend who's baby girls is due soon:

Inspired by the pretty fabric I finally got around to making myself a dress from some fabric I bought last year.  I am so pleased with the result and wore it to work on Tuesday with a little red cardigan - many compliments were made:

So here I am again, two weeks later.  We've been to the coast again this weekend - making use of the flat we have there as we promised we would this year.  Today is chore day but not too much cooking at The Boy is in London for two days and Glasgow for two days so he only need food one night.  I have a pile of ironing and am back down south this evening but that's okay.  The weather is a little disappointing but the good news is that we are off to see Mum & Dad next weekend and their weather is fab - huzzah time to warm our bones.

Nice and Easy Cous Cous Salad

 When the weather gets nice and the BBQ comes out I always return to my failsafe, easy Cous Cous Salad.

It's easy peasy to make and gets better after some time in the fridge.  You will need:

300g Cous Cous

Punett of Cherry Toms

bunch of Spring Onion

A generous handful of corridander and the same again of mint

A lemon

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

Garlic (4 of the individual bit the name of which escapes me right now)

Salt & Pepper

Right - put the cous cous in to a bowl with three tablespoons of the olive oil and cover with the required amount of water and set aside to cook.

Chop the tomatoes, spring onions and herbs up and set aside (I halve the toms, slice the onions and finely chop the herbs).

Finely chop the garlic.

When the cous cous is ready add the juice from the lemon and another good glug of olive oil.  Fork through then add all the other bits, stir up, salt & pepper and there you go - easy peasy cous cous salad.

If you like pop it in the fridge now and it will just get better.  Om nom nom nom.  It keeps for 3-5 days in the fridge so is perfect for quick lunches during the week.  We like to have it with home made chicken kebabs (where the chicken is marinaded in oil, lime juice and honey with chilli flakes and garlic then skewered with mushrooms, onions and peppers)

Enjoy xx

Yummy Soup

We've just had some really yummy soup for lunch.  It was tasty and warming and its success was really down to KBWs soup she made for supper ealier this week.

Here's the recipe for today's soup:

2 tablespoons of Waitrose essential ingredients frozen shallots

1 large leek, sliced

2 carrots, cubed

1 large parsnip, cubed

I pack cubbetti de pancetta

1 teaspoon of Waitrose essential inredient chopped frozen chilli (expect chilli flakes would work too but maybe a bit less)

1 tbl spoon Olive Oil

Large glug of Noilly Prat

I can of borlotti beans

1 tea spoon dried mixed herbs

600 ml veg stock (hot)

salt

pepper

1. Sweat off the shallotts in the oil in a large heavy based pan

2. add the sliced leek and sweat off for 2 mins

3. Add the pancetta and cook until completely opaque (you know when the bacon goes a paler pink - about  3 mins)

4. Add a large glug of noilly prat and fry off

5. Add the cubed carrots and parsnip, dried herbs & chilli

6. Season with the Salt & Pepper generously and cook for 5 mins, stiring regularly to steam the veg a bit but not to burn the leeks (may need less time depending on your hob strength)

7. Drain and clean the beans and add them to the pot, stir in and cook for 1 minute.

8. Add the stock and bring to the boil

9. leave to simmer for 15-18 minutes (again depends on your hob)

Serve in warmed bowls with large chunks of buttered bread (I didn't have the bread by The Boy did and said it was great with the soup).

This soup can be salty - so if you don't like salt you may want to leave it out and there will be some in the pancetta and stock.

This was yummy - there are no pictures as it is all gone (The Boy finished it off).    I love it when my veg box and Ocado order inspire me to cook somethig so bvery veyr simple that ends up being so very tasty.

We're not going out at all today, we have the paper, it's FA cup on the TV and the wood burner is going on.  I'm finishing off a jumper I am knitting for a friend who is due to have a baby this coming week .  Whilst working away is tough - being home is lovely, spending time with The Boy doing very little makes it all a bit easier.

Lets go to the Movies.....

This weekend The Boy decided that we needed to catch up on the films we want to see and hatched a Plan

Off we pooped to the local multiplex and made good use of our monthly unlimited passes (about £13 per month, so as long as we go to three or more films we save on the ticket price.  We saw Avatar, Nine, Where The Wild Things Are & Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll.  All of them were really good films and all of them completely different

Avatar

We saw this in 3D and whilst the effects were pretty bloomin special I think you could see it in 2D and still be pretty impressed.  The effects really do make the film, the acting is secondary as (to an extent) is the story.  It's a good family film and is a bit bubblegum, in that you don't really need to care or pay too much attention to enjoy it.

Nine

A musical that is both beautifully shot and beautifully acted.  An amazing cast - Daniel Day Lewis, Sofia Loren, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Coultard, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Fergie (the black eyed peas one not the miserable sourpuss football manager) - and a brilliant score.  It was beautiful from start to finish and made me want to smoke, drink espresso and wear beautiful underwear and much much more eye make-up.  The Boy didn't enjoy this film much - he appreciated that it was well made but didn't enjoy it - he's not really a song and dance man.  I however, love love loved it and will be buying it on DVD and backcombing my hair in the meantime.

Where The Wild Things Are

I had read and heard a  lot about this film so may have gone in with high expectations.  It is a lovely film, sad in places and heartwarming in others.  I really felt the little boys loneliness but what I liked about this film is that the last 5 minutes didn't suddenly fix everything - it was a sad ending but was a Hollywood smultz fest either.  It was really well made and my only small negative was that it felt a bit slow in places.  Really glad I've seen it on the big screen, and I probably will watch it again when it's on TV.

Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll

Again I have heard a lot about this biopic of Ian Dury and have seen Andy Serkis on the TV quite a bit this week talking about it.  It is a film for people of a certain age and (in the same way as The Dammed United & Brian Clough) if you don't know anything about the era or haven't heard of Ian Dury & The Blockheads you may not engage with the film.  However, the acting was amazing - particularly Serkis and the kid who play's his son Baxter, Bill Milner, who was the lead in Son of Rambow.  Both the female leads were strong as were all the supporting cast.  The Boy really enjoyed this film - his favourite of the weekend.

All in all a good weekend, back home now - the fires on the stew is in the oven all that's missing is the bottle of red wine - oh well only another 21 days to go on the wagon.

I'm a little obsessed by food at the moment

I'm a little bit obsessed with food at the moment, from my fabulous Veg Box that came with my Ocado order this week - Curly Kale, Pumpkin, Parsnips, Carrotts, Cabbage & Pototos

Todays lunch - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, spring onion, ham and ceasar salad dressing:

The Scotch Eggs I made on Saturday:

And the Cornish Pasties I made on Friday:

And last but by no means least, your friend and mine, Coffee:

I know that the obsession is linked to being back at Fat Club and counting everything that I eat but so far it's been quite healthy and I only had half a pasty and 3/4 of a scotch egg.

All good.

Tomatoes

So my parents came to visit in August and then I started work and my blogging has lapsed - whoops. So I am today planning to bring myself up to date (ish) starting with Tomatoes.

M&D came over and we had a lovely (if a little tense due to my mood swings) time. They brought with the a bottle of the fabulous gold medal winning Netto Corbierre that The Boy loved when we were there (€2, 50) and a few bottles of champagne and these:

The beans and courgettes are from my garden but all the various Toms are from their garden in France. They only arrived there at Easter so these are all new plants and only some of this years crop.

So we had plastic bread, lurpack and tomato sandwiches with a nice cup of tea and then they left and left me with a glut of lovely Toms. So I did what I do best and made a pasta sauce.

Finely chopped shallots fried in olive oil until transluscent; bucket loads of Toms (skins on) chopped, fried off with another glug of oliver oil, fresh basil from the garden and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic. Salt & Pepper and nom nom nom.

So then we had this:

Yummy.

Even better heated up in the microwave the next day (so The Boy) tells me.

From feminist to domestic goddess

So this weekend was interesting - I started with my bog questioning whether or not I was a feminist and ended by spending hours at my new sewing machine making a dress.

I got an original 1940s pattern from Ebay and some lovely purple linen from a shop in Leeds and set about it. Well it is by no means perfect (some of the seams are a bit dodgy thats for sure) and sewed my first ever zip (straight enough). To top it all it fits (blimey) and doesn't look too bad - not going to win any prizes but for the first thing I have sewn for more years than I care to remember I am really please. I will take and post some photo's at some point. Bought some more patterns on line today so will get some more material the next week or so and keep making - eventually I may make something I would be prepared to wear in public.

Today with the left over material I made a book bag - not sure it will take much weight but it looks great. I have also made a Chocolate Fudge Cake and started to knit a shrug-cum-poncho......I am not sure what has happened or who I am but my house smells lovely.

Might even have a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

Sunday Sunday

So here we are again the end of another week that just seems to have merged into the last few weeks. I have achieved very little again but feel the need to list what I may have achieved in the hope that it will make me feel better:

I met with a recruitment consultant which resulted in

An interview for an interim role (that may or may not exist)

Had an eye test and am only partially more blind than last year

commenced operation office sort out (on 6th bin bag and having to give shredder a rest)

started a 2nd blog (here)

went to the gym (once- not good)

bought new bike helmet (oh and a new bag which I don't really need and regret purchasing as it's another £40 but wanted and have no self control good job I live in BFN otherwise I would shop everyday - good job I am too lazy to go out to the shops in the nearest town......)

commenced knitting again (an effort to not snack on crap whilst watching crap on TV)

retreated further into my self as the despair of not having a job sets in and the realisation that I really need an income as I don't want to tap into the reserves/savings although isn't this why we have savings and reserves for this very 'rainy day scenario' - why when The Boy was out of work we didn't tap into the reserves is because I paid for everything which in turn depleted my pre-savings reserves which have kept me going for a few months but will need to be supplemented - GAH, I need to work not just for money but for me, I am bored and boring and lazy. Having nothing to do just magnifies this laziness, at least when I am working I can be lazy at home as I have been working hard - now I have nothing to hide behind my procrastination and general lazy sluttishness is laid bare for all (well The Boy) to see......feck.

So next week it's The Boys 40th, I am planning to finish the office sort out and then move on to the spare room (Parents have indicated that they may be coming to visit in a few weeks and this will require a bed for them - which is currently covered in overflowing from wardrobe clothes, bags and bedding). I will bake a chocolate fudge cake and a carrot cake; I will go to the gym 3 times; I will get a fecking job - enough of this rejection ENOUGH.

Today will be mostly cooking and eating with a soupçon of ironing thrown in for good measure (just because my weekend and week days merge into one long blur of time some things should stick to Sunday).

Blimey I am a miserable, feel sorry for myself, oh woe is me, lonely pity party aren't I? Feck it, today will be lovely and tomorrow I will start a fresh, chose my attitude and JFDI.

There that feels better.

I would be so much lighter

If I lived on my own - okay I would probably get through a lot more wine but I have had a salad and need nothing else.

You see The Boy is a runner, he runs or goes to the gym 4 week nights and at least once at the weekends. He's also a proper Yorkshire man so likes Big Food (pasta, mash, big curries etc) - if it hasn't got a sauce then it's not a proper meal. Where as I am not a big sauce fan, I would always rather taste the food (nothing like a good piece of steak with perhaps a pile of greens) as long as it's seasoned and not over cooked I'm happy.

So since meeting and marrying him I have gained 60lbs, I am starting to lose it (after a few false starts) but it just crept up on me. I would plate up the same size meal as his (he doesn't cook and I blame his mother but that's a whole other rant) and tuck in (not much of an off button when I eat). You see I love food, and I love cooking so it's been a pleasure (ahem). When I say pleasure it has been a pleasure sometimes but often a chore.

So when he is away I eat less (drink more usually) and I'm not hungry, I'm satisfied and happy.

Right, while the cats away the mouse will eat less pour herself a glass of Pinot Grigio and have control of the remote - puurrrfect.

How does my Garden Grow?

Well - very nicely actually. I blogged about my Rocket Gardens patio garden when I planted it up and on Friday 3rd I took some photo's of the progress - I am really pleased -

Runner Beans

Strawberries

Spinach & Chard

Courgettes

Salad Leaves

So I am really looking forward to Utterly Butterly coming for supper on Wednesday as we will be having the first salad crop from the garden!