love those cupcakes

Recovering

Thanks so much for your well wishes.   Still not firing on all cylinders (that was some bug the Boy brought home), I've continued to be housebound apart from a (makeup free because of the eye infection, quelle horreur) dash to the shop followed by a quick visit to check on Aunty M. at the weekend  

Of course, this means I've had no excuses for putting off the consultancy work I committed myself to and I think it's fair to say some progress has been made.   The laptop breaking down the other day and being carted off to laptop hospital might have been reason enough for doing nothing but, no,  I have a back-up machine so have been able to plod valiantly on. 

At other times I've been watching this, admiring the flowers on the only bulb I planted last year

 

and enjoying my first (free) snack box from here.

Can it get any more exciting?

Below par

For the last seven days I've been laid up with the worst cold/flu/bug I can remember having.  The Boy brought it home, the mister was next to succumb and then it was my turn.  

It started with a pounding head (which has continued every day since and which the Nurofen has consistently failed to reach), a load of iron bars stuck in my throat (or so it felt) and the sound of the sea constantly in my shell-like. 

The iron bars have since departed (more or less), leaving me with a late night/early morning cough.  Then yesterday I woke up with one eye swollen and stuck fast and the bloodshot other hinting that it might follow.  (It did.  This morning.)

I've wallowed in hot, deep baths for hours on end, because that's the only place I feel comfortable and who knows, I might actually manage to sweat the bugger out.  I've rested (in truth, hardly moved from the horizontal), self medicated and tried to keep taking in fluids (which isn't easy when your throat is full of iron bars but I must have taken in more than enough as evidenced by the overflow from my eyes and nose). 

I did venture out on Saturday to celebrate the Girlie's birthday with dinner here (of course I couldn't taste a thing and felt full pretty quickly) and threw some cakes together for her to take back to Manchester on Sunday. (Maybe I should have worn gloves and a mask during the making of them.)

 

Unbeknown to everyone, the Boy quietly cracked on with making some Jammy Dodgers, just in case I wasn't up to baking.

I think he did a pretty good job and the Girlie got an extra present.

 

What's for dinner?

I'm in the process of changing (ordered but not yet delivered) our everyday plates and dishes.  The mister here wonders if other people do this as frequently as we seem to do. 

For daily useage I don't choose anything expensive so that they can be replaced when the inevitable chips appear or changed quite easily when I get sick of the sight of them.  This time round I've gone for this design. (The smaller plates and bowls have an all-over pattern.)

We have other sets (sadly nothing in the way of family heirlooms) which have changed over the years, just not so frequently, and which come out for different occasions along with mix and match serving bowls and dishes. 

One I'll keep forever is the first one we ever used, the one my late brother bought us as a wedding present and which always comes out at Christmas as it doesn't matter what the table colour scheme is.  I've had to replace a few items which have been broken over the years but the range has been discontinued so I suspect that's not going to be quite so straightforward for any future breakages.

Then we have one from this range which is used for New Year and when we have people round for dinner.  (This replaced a rather brown Denby service.)

For summer dining there's one like this

 

or some plates in this pattern which I bought last year for those rare occasions we have dinner in the garden.

Then there's the collection of tea cups, saucers and plates which deserves a post of it's own. 

So, tell me, do you have different dinnerware for different occasions?  And do you like to spring clean your place settings and make changes? 

 

Lately I've been......

.....enjoying the last of the granola I made (adapted from this recipe) between Christmas and New Year.

.....trying to motivate myself to crack on with the consultancy work I've taken on so that I can get paid.  But there are so many distractions.......

.....catching up on series 2 of this.  Having learned that a third series is being filmed, I've just one thing to say to the producers.  Tak.

.....baking Roman style ("crusty, crumpety") spelt bread, using the very straightforward recipe on the back of the flour bag.

.....watching this, one of my Christmas presents.  Very different from the usual "wagons, roll!" Western, and with minimal dialogue, this film is about the struggle of three families travelling the Oregon trail in 1845.  It's bleak, it's grim, it's powerful.  It's going to leave you feeling very thirsty (and possibly wishing for a different ending) if you watch it.

.....marvelling at someone's efforts to get at the catnip.  Just look at that tongue!

.....listening to this, another Christmas present.  I love it.  You can get a taste here.

.....booking a (planes, boat, train) holiday.  More on that later.

Into January

And so far, so.......samey.  Plus, I haven't made any of my usual lose weight/read more/Google less New Year's resolutions though I'm aiming to make a few changes in the year ahead.  

One thing I learned in the lead up to the festivities is that the housework doesn't do itself (nor does anyone else do it, nor can you continue to ignore it after a point) and leaving it all for one mahoosive clean-up (alongside all of the shopping and present wrapping and cooking and baking) is one sure way to give you back ache and put you off your Christmas dinner. 

So I'm trying to do a bit each day.  Thus far it's working (and I find I rather like admiring the results of the vacuuming and duster flicking) though I'm very aware we're only five days in and my enthusiasm does have a tendency to wane rather too quickly (as evidenced by the numerous reminders around the house of many an unfinished project). 

Another, slightly more challenging, change I want to make this year is letting go - of stuff (of which there is still far too much  here), of past decisions, actions and conversations I can do nothing about.  You have no idea how much I replay in my head (even from years and years ago), how much I analyse, how much I think I could have done or said differently.  Bonkers, I know.  And I'm not at all sure how I'm going to achieve this change.  One of my friends thinks I should try hypnosis ("look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around my eyes, look into my eyes, you're under").  I think not. 

We went for lunch at the art gallery in town today, only to find the cafe has changed ownership.  The new menu doesn't impress at all (today's special was corned beef pie) and the quality of what we ended up with (soup, lukewarm at that) was very poor.  We had to eat chocolate tree decorations (yes, really) once we were home to get rid of the after taste. 

At least the sun was shining on the drive there and I managed to get the first snap this year of my favourite local landmark.

 

New Year's Eve

When I was growing up, New Year's Eve night was spent, along with a couple of cousins, at my grandma and Aunty M's little house, waiting for my mum and dad and other relatives to return from their celebrations in the cocktail lounge at a hotel in town.  One of my uncles, a railway porter and the only dark haired family member, was always first footer, after which the Christmas cake would be cut, served always with white Stilton cheese and accompanied by glasses of whisky for the men and sherry for the ladies.  Then everyone trooped out to let in the new year at my aunts' houses in the same terraced street as grandma's, often by way of a conga, which we kids just loved. 

I remember one New Year's Eve when I was about six, everyone congregated on the nearby marketplace, all facing the parish church.  As the clock struck midnight, a figure dressed in a white robe appeared at the top of the church, between the two steeples, waving to the crowd.  I learned many years later he was a returning missionary.  On the night itself I was convinced we'd seen God!

Tonight will be just the three of us and a bottle of the fizzy stuff.  (We had this particularly yummy one last night as the Girlie is returning home to Manchester today and no, we haven't won the lottery!) 

As 2011 trickles away, I'd like to raise my virtual glass and wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.  See you in 2012.

Bits of our Christmas

Well, it all came together in the end, as it always does.  The festivities were set off with a carol service on Christmas Eve, followed by some last minute preparations (like icing the cake).  There were five of us on Christmas Day and there was much present swapping, eating and quaffing of the fizzy stuff (though I didn't manage to eat my Christmas dinner.  That was a first.)  One of the cats, probably high on catnip, disgraced himself by deciding to run up the Christmas tree, almost to the top, as we were about to have tea, rearranging the baubles on his way.  Boo, on the other hand, was quite well behaved and a stocking filled with treats and new toys kept him occupied most of the time.  Subsequent days have been spent lazing on sofas, having a proper look at presents, watching telly (I'm still catching up on episodes of The Killing 2) and eating chocolate gingers.  Cobwebs were well and truly blown away with a walk on the beach on Wednesday, with a late lunch of bags of freshly cooked chips eaten in the car afterwards.  Last night we had a trip to the panto (oh yes we did!) and a cheese fondue supper, another first.

Yes, it's all been so very good.

Christmas Eve

 

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas.

 

Two more sleeps

 

The Christmas food shopping was done in town first thing yesterday and we only forgot the Blue Stilton and Toblerone.  Once it was all put away, I settled down to present wrapping.  

Not including a break for a chip supper, and a trip to the supermarket nearby for the Blue Stilton, Toblerone and yet another roll of sellotape, it took nine hours.  Nine back breaking hours.  

It started off quite well, with tinsel ties and decorations and neat handwriting. 

But enthusiasm soon waned and some presents will need to be opened in very subdued lighting.

I tend to use different wrapping paper for each person (there aren't many people to buy for but I buy quite a lot for each person) but discovered I'd used the same for two people.  Hopefully, the Girlie's betrothed will be happy with any 'intended for aged aunt' gifts which come his way. 

Whilst I was wrapping, the mister was fixing the lights on the outside tree.  This was after I'd suggested we have it chopped down if it was not decorated for a second year, snow having intervened last year.  (Well, it's an otherwise not particularly attractive conifer that hinders the rear view when reversing off the drive.)

Today was designated cleaning day. 

And here I am sitting at the laptop.

 

A couple more ticks

The mince pies have been baked and are now stored in the freezer awaiting the start of the festive feasting.  Of course, we tried some, for the purposes of quality assurance.

We actually prefer a sweetened pastry and this one gives very shortbread-like results.

The little chestnut rolls have also been made and frozen (uncooked).

Using a recipe  from Rose Elliot's vegetarian Christmas book, the rolls were made with buttery rough puff pastry (turned and rolled eight times!) with a filling of chestnut puree, breadcrumbs, soy sauce, grated onion and garlic and a good pinch of chilli powder, all mixed together.  I did bake some but they were polished off before I managed to get a picture. 

The cake is yet to be iced and I usually make rum truffles and peppermint bark (the candy canes arrived today) to nibble when people fancy a change from Quality Street.  We also need to fit in the big supermarket shop and hopefully there'll be a trip here for cheeses and one or two other treats. Not to mention ALL of the gift wrapping. 

Tempus is certainly fugiting.