Skip to main content

ENTERTAINING CATCH-UPS



Last Thursday  morning, the weather was glorious so  I took Elsie for a lovely walk in our village  wood. It isn't large, about four acres, but is a great place to take your dog, or to visit for a bit of quiet contemplation.  Sadly, it's situated next to the village primary school which is oversubscribed and has parking issues.  There are plans afoot to take some of the wood to create extra parking, which I think is very sad and short sighted.  I've signed a petition to stop it happening, but I'm not optimistic. Talk about 'paving paradise and putting up a parking lot'.

We were the only ones there and Elsie could run off lead for a change, which she thoroughly enjoyed. The wind caught my dog treats bag and all the goodies fell out onto the grass, but she shot over and hoovered around for about five minutes, so I guess she got most of them.

On Friday, Mr. and I met up with friends for lunch at our local smokery restaurant.  

Taken from their website |(a bit old as the artwork is much nicer now)


Mr. had smoked eel,  I had smoked chicken breast and we both went for the roast veg and garlic potatoes to accompany our meals.  It was so delicious and yes, I should have taken some pics, but again, to keen on filling my face.  Loved catching up with our friends, who we've known forever,  but I felt a bit sorry for the other diners as we were all rather animated and there was a lot of uproarious laughter.

In the evening, my sis and brother in law came over for supper. Mr. cooked tomato free chilli, served with baked potatoes and  garlic bread.  Yes, we were incredibly piggy that day, but Mr. has his appetite back and I only had as small portion (no, I'm not lying, honest)  Again, we had a great time, lots of laughter and hilarity.  We were quite exhausted by the time we fell into bed.

On Sunday, we had Mr.'s Mum and Dad  over for lunch, together with M, who is Mr.'s brother's mother in law (does that make sense? )

Mr. cooked a shoulder of  pork in cider overnight in the Aga, and served it with crispy crackling, roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots and steamed sprouts and peas. His cider gravy was so good, I could quite happily have eaten it with a hunk of crusty bread, as a separate meal. 

I provided the pudding, deconstructed Black Forest gateaux and a sticky toffee pud.  The whole meal went down a storm, which is always good.   Sadly, the afternoon just flew by and with the light fading, they headed home.

Tomorrow all the decorations come down.  I know, they should have been down already, but as our Christmas was a bit of a damp squib with Mr. being ill, we thought it would be much nicer to keep them up for our late festive visitors.





They will  all come down tomorrow, apart from some of the twinkly lights that I will keep out, with extra candles for a bit of  hygge.  Then it's a deep clean and freshen up for the whole house, not my favourite thing to be doing, but I know that the end result will be hugely satisfying.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TULIPS,  SOURDOUGH,  MANDALAS...OH, AND SNOW! I cannot believe we are already almost halfway through February.....where did January go for goodness sake? I've been treating myself to tulips, for which I'm a bit of a sucker, with this delicious bunch reminding me of rhubarb and custard sweets f or some reason. My affection for tulips at this time of year stems from the fact that they don't elicit itchy watery eyes and snotty, sniffly noses, symptoms that daffodils do.  Having said that, I have some Tete a Tete in the kitchen that will be coming into flower soon, so better stock up on the tissues. This bunch also called to me.....well, you can't have too many can you? I thought how nice they would look with  some sort of matching doily underneath them and a mandala sprang to mind.  I chose to this pattern one for it's design and colour palette and it proved to be an easy little make. The photo does not show the true colours, quelle suprise, as...
SPRING HAS SPRUNG! Windows and doors have been flung open in the last few days,  to let in the unusually warm air.  I'm breaking out my summer clothing already!  Can't last Mr says, as there is a cold snap coming.... what a happy little soul! We've  moved the bench to the top of the garden again, as the lengthening days mean the sun remains there the longest.  It was still light at 6.00pm yesterday and we made the most of it sitting watching the birds on the feeder,  robins,  great, tufted, blue and long tailed tits, sparrows, when suddenly a sparrow hawk swooped straight across the garden and sadly that was the last of the bird activity, as they all had the sense to stay hidden.  Last year a sparrow hawk did this, again right in front of us, but it took a bird, which although is only nature at its rawest,  was still quite shocking. It's much the same when we walk the dogs, with skylarks swooping about in pairs, performing what I...
2019 I EMBRACE YOU I used to dislike New Year, but now I just think how lucky I am to be welcoming in a new one. My dodgy looking glass contains homemade pomegranate kefir, which is my new favourite tipple. I'm making up for my over indulgent festive period and have to say, it's quite addictive! No resolutions for me, as I'm so useless at keeping them.  However, I will try to work off some of the poundage that I seem to have gained......how did that happen then? Probably all the laziness betwixt Christmas and New Year, which we thoroughly embraced.  Lolling around on sofas with the dogs, watching films, doing puzzles, snacking instead of eating proper meals.  We did take the doggies out every day for a good long walk, but that was about it. The decorations are still up, as our custom is to take them down the first weekend after New Year, just to stretch the holiday that little bit further. Well, we  may still be up at midnight, to welcome in the New...