Catch up.. Spring Views and... Foods!

Spring Sky at St Ives

We snuck a trip to St Ives for lunch and birthday shopping for the SIL yesterday and I got my spring images at the harbour!

Spring View St Ives Harbour

 Then the girls came by after they had been out for Sunday lunch, so they were in their Sunday best! ;-) 




Annabelle was hanging out with us and she is so chilled.. well at least when not out to dinner (hence why she was with us!), 15 months now and just cute!

Mischief in a dress x

Just so 'the Big Sister'

Oh and while I am on catch up.. as ever.. here's the great basket of bread I crave (this one from Jordan's St Just market on Saturday.. I went along for the chat and to see how it went along in case I am called in to help someday)

My Food Heaven

Definitely my Food Hell!

...and to round of the weekend a promise of some decent weather.. ?

What I learned this week..Monday

Well I am trying to blog from my new phone and hope it is easier and less glitch free than my last one!

As.you know I have been pretty useless at blogging in recent months.. lack of computer in the kitchen, building works and generally lots happening.. just how I like it really.

Lynn has challenged us to show a picture each day and talk about how we always learn something every day..

My picture is of the salad I made for our lunch. It has so many ingredients and is very spicy with chilli salt, jalapenos, capers and anchovies!  I forgot to add tuna but hoped Col wouldn't notice and told the girls so as I left the house.

I learnt that Kate loves to bubble you up .. she told Col about the lack of tuna and when he came out to the office he nonchalantly noted there was no tuna... I knew Kate had bubbled me up! Mainly because he couldn't keep a straight face!

Zac is on the phone to Colin as I write. Hope he will enjoy seeing more new for home ... oh and my Jordan has started baking in earnest..she is doing Country Markets and local fares. .and she has started her blog and face booking for it too. .Cornish Cakes and Bakes on FL.

(this would have been just fab except that I wrote it on the challenge blog instead of my own.. I stand corrected!!)

Oh dear... late again said the White Rabbit!

... and so here I am very very late and two weeks behind on my challenges.

Suffice to say I shall just have to give you all some pics for thought and see if that works.

Lynne's week :

“ Make rest and refreshment a necessity, not a luxury”

Ahhh a few weekends ago our 21st Wedding Anniversary was coming up and Col made me the most gorgeous meal... a nicoise salad with eggs, anchovies and fresh tuna, followed by Eton Mess with my favourite passionfruit, raspberries and strawberries.. he certainly ticked all the boxes! Oh and Ferrero Rocher (with dark and coconut ones too) for extras!

 

We bought a new trampolene, always a hit with the kids of all ages and Kate and the girls will especially 'rest' a bit and enjoy that!

I have been taking Lyla to 'Toddlers Stay & Play' the last few weeks and it made me smile seeing the array of drinks containers we used in the garden! Something for everyone!

Zac came home for almost a week, his course is getting less busy and he had several free days working up to last weekend..he and Col are so alike, I wonder if Zac has 'Colin' written through him like a stick of rock!

Col & I had been away a couple of nights (he had a trip so I ran away to meet him.. the kids are getting real good at managing a night or two without us!)  It certainly has been doing us good, one of the kids commented that it's nice we still have something to talk about now they are all busy!!

So we got back Sunday afternoon and chilled in the sunshine with Zac..yes, even me!

Birthdays:this was April's choice for last week's prompt.  We have got birthdays most months around here, July especially!  Colin is 50 in June so there will be lots going on for that, partayyyyy! Jordan will have finished college by then, barring one exam so she will be on cake making mode.. here's a snippet of her one she made for April last week...xxx

365/360-1 On my table & Delight

Well what a day!! A delight in itself and floors and table creaking with the presents, the food, the drink. It was a great day, we got up about 9.30am and returned, bushed, in our beds about 1.30am today!!!  I am a very lucky lady, so many lovely presents.. handbags and scarves in the plurals and many other goodies..chocs and smelly things, all my favourites from Sanctuary Spa and Estee Lauder!

Our great pal Michele called from the States and that was lovely too, and I have been so busy I haven't even made time to call my brother yet.. though vice versa, but we will.. we kind of agree that if we ever miss a moment it is not with malice, just the things going on at the time!

My biggie though was getting the Olly Murs album from Lisa and her family.. 'Olly Murs??' I see you frown?... 'She never mentioned him before'... ahh, and here's the twist.. I got his album as all the Robbie ones sold out.. ...still frowning?? Well I know that Olly is support for Robbie on his stadium tour next year.. and yes, they bought us two tickets for Robbie, abley supported by Olly in June, about two weeks after Col's 50th birthday.. wow, it's going to be a great summer, and all those weeks to plan, wonder and anticipate.. (and make sure my prompt fits the bill and is in on time if I am away.. how good am I Jen, it was my ...errr.. twenty third thought after sheer delight, huge grinning and yes, almost tears!)

Seriously though, we have seen Robbie before but this is like.. err.. my Olympics!

I had talked about the David Cassidy event that Sandie another 365 blogger went to, but I think Col stopped short on booking it as it had Hot Chocolate and Leo Sayer too and all those ladies.. he just couldn't do it.. and Robbie is still NOW isn't he!!

Thinking on the pics I have to share, perhaps our best moment early in the day was Kate getting her 'main present'.  Now you may know that she and April (Ross' g/f) go to pole exercise / dance classes. Kate used to do acrobatics and gym so it is kind of her 'thing' an she needs to keep up with something flexible and dance-ified..but she doesn't always get time off evening work to go to classes, and even then they are busy.....well we bought her this long oblong present..

...is it my main one?..

...might be..

..is it what I think?...

...A keyboard?

...Keyboard?

..Yes, keyboard?

....What? you got me a keyboard? really?

...Why, don't you want a keyboard ? (she doesn't even do music!)

..Why would you buy me a keyboard.. (grinning, she knows..)

.. opens the box, huge huge grinning and Col puts it up, in my kitchen, we walk past it every time we go to the oven or fridge or sink.. but she is happy, so happy.. and so are we (it will be moved.. next week..!)



Yes, we had Ketchup on our table too!!

My best Christmas dinner yet.. hot hot hot and everyone at home.. next year Zac will be somewhere hot!

Dig In!

Two dinners down, all she needs to do now is lie down!

Dom on Dinner 2 as well.. these other halves are so devoted to the Jones clan..xx

 


 

 ... and doesn't Lipsy make dresses just for Kate..>>>



The lovely, funny Lyla..x

I'm in this one!!!! and someone said 'Cheese' (but not the smelly Stilton Tom & I love!)



365/219 Frustration.

..I know that when I feel frustrated by something I really know it, but soon afterwards, when asked what does this to me I can't quite think of something so maybe underneath I am a fairly contented bunny, though i ca moan for England.. mmm, do they do a Olympic medal for it!

Some days I feel frustrated because I am not sure what to cook for tea or who and when people will appear... of late it has been me, Col and his Dad so I have taken to quickie meals so we can all rest or get on afterwards.. but then some days the girls will be home and have friends over and suddenly I need to cater for ten! Thank God for frozen stuff eh. Tonight with Col out I was able to make lasagne, he's not too keen, but this way Kate will eat some tomorrow for breakfast.. yeah, you read it right!

While the oven was on I made a rhubarb cake I saw on Janice's blog here! . As I made it I realised it is very similar to a Dutch Apple Cake I make from the Crank's Cookbook.

It derives from the River Cottage site here which I think looks really nice site....it does suggest pink rhubarb may look better than green but hey, it was reduced and beggars can't be chosers or whatever the old saying is..

.. ..so tonight I fed four, plus Ross and his g/f later plus Kate for breakfast, was cooking a good while but enjoyed it, time in the kitchen with everyone from Cat Stevens to Charlotte Church giving it large.. lovely!

Oh yeah, but the dishes (clean or dirty waiting to be 'done')and household jobs which create more work than you started with, they frustrate me!

365/86 Early morning routine..

Porridge...dishes...big bear eats porridge...me, cup of tea and a sneaky peek on here...

365/16-17-18 Pleasurable Naughty Snack!

One for my man, and it covers three days worth of Suzie's photo challenge.. this could be the only way I catch up.

So, it's my Col's guilty pleasure.. Domino's pizza, Vegi-Roma with Jalapenos and Garlic Dip....eaten in the car, less than five minutes after collecting, from a nice viewpoint watching the boats in Penzance Harbour!

.. luckily easily pleased, my man x

Nice change today..

... and a change is as good as a rest they say...so I should be well rested by the end of the month!   I get quite bored when the weekends, and weeks too really, follow the same old routine. So today and the forthcoming few weeks will be quite enjoyable, even if mad busy!

Kate finally got her Christmas present of going to 'model school' today. As usual for a teen, she was out all day yesterday (local festival day at Helston Flora) and not quite organised this morning, but JB and I sorted her (for sorted, read bossed her about a bit) and she looked quite a classy little chick when we delivered her this morning.  JB and I got an hour in Truro, some splash / dash retail therapy, home to do chores and then I fetched Kate again later.  

I think she enjoyed it, as ever with something you've waited for for a while, it doesn't always deliver in the 'wow, zap, kappow' way we hope, but I think it was worth doing, she met some other nice girls and learnt a few things. 

It'll be nice to see the pics we get in a few weeks. Kate has done several shoots for her pal 's 'A' level course so it'll be interesting to compare the 1500 we laready have with the ten or twenty from the 'pro'... 

Oh, and two days in a row we've had fresh tuna for our tea.. well subconsciously I think it's my way of making up to Col for not getting him to the Maldives for a while .. just so much to do here (tarmac next week, sheds  and extensions to build, boats to go fishing in, sons to send away to sea..) 

Pops brought the latest catch today..(!)..and I just had to share this little piece with you.. all say ahhhhh...it's exactly as it came out of the pack..xxx

(Amazing too, that whilst I'm playing 'taxi' all the sorting / digging / remodelling back home gets done.. so I reckon catering is a small price to pay eh?)

Lethargy and a 'night out'

What is it that makes us all so lethargic some days?

..is it the fact that it is only Tuesday? ...or that we slept too heavily and woke feeling like our arms are lead weights and that we did three rounds with someone it would not be fun to do three rounds with?... or is it that we can see the lighter evenings coming, and with them the feeling that we should be using the extra daylight usefully, rather than languishing with a glass or two of the nice stuff in front of the fire each evening? .. or is it cos I'm trying to read/ digest/modify a Quality Manual...now that IS the definition of lethargy inducing behaviour!

Whatever the cause, it has got me today, and not just me.. but Ross and Col as well.. at least.
Not even a walk down the field at lunchtime, with my man and the dog managed to bring me enough sunlight exposure to eradicate this weary, so we can rule out SAD syndrome! (or maybe we need to lay in the sun and have it focus specifically at the back of our necks.. did I read that somewhere?)..

.. anyway, I have been promised a night out tonight (since Sunday.. if we can both muster up the energy / enthusiasm!),.. and boy, our Col knows how to treat a girl...Seafood Cafe in St Ives I wondered??... or maybe the cinema in Truro (not Penzance, the carpet  stick to your feet and the seats spew foam from the arms like candyfloss.. yukkk)

Nah, you all know him better than that.. it's Tuesday, BOGOF night at Domino's.... I did smile, I will love it, and who knows it may even be nice enough to have a wander in Falmouth too.. and better than that he knows that I know that the perks will be bringing home the 'One Frees' so I don't have to make lunch for the masses tomorrow!

Easily pleased, that's me...

Perservering!

..Yesterday,  for the first time in months I got on the scales.. reckoning on seeing a certain figure in my head, thinking I must have lost a pound or two.... I was horrified to see a number 11 at the begining of the weight!  Hell, how much did I put on over the last few months.. you mean the trousers were not just tight from the latest wash / shrink cycle my Hotpoint seems set on??!

Okay, so I've been good.. as in 'better than I would normally have been' (no mid-morning saffron buns, no blatent eating of biscuits through the day....not enough chocolate or tasty stuff to register on a calorie counter.. to be exact: ONE tiny chocolate Rudolph the Reindeer and a fruit bagel for supper the other evening) but it was a shock to see the number 11 on the scales, not since Kate was born, though often I have sideled up to the 12lb mark and I should know that is two pounds off the next stone.

Anyways, my resolve is good, we thought about swimming on Monday evening but neither Col and I could come up with a pleasurable aspect of going....the cold car drive there, fumbling for parking money, changing amongst the plasters, swimming amongst the plaster wearers, dressing a wet body in the chill of an evening draught... and then waking the next morning with bird's nest hair (me, not Col)....oh, yeah, feel good about the swimming per se, but not about the rest and the chocolate bar you eat to stave off hunger until you go home and cook tea.

So, not swimmers, least of all not pool swimmers in winter..(esp with a warm holiday looming  :-)  )  ...cross trainer beckons..

Progress..

.. well not a biscuit or a cake has passed my lips for two whole days..porridge for breakfast and lots of fruit, plus usual meals.. feeling quite proud, and def less sluggish, esp around the waist, though doubt it would measure anything, it's the feeling which counts.. isn't it.

No porridge this morning and did have saffron bun (not a cake or a biscuit.. isn't it just fruit bread in another name..?) for breakfast / croust as I got in the office..but all is not lost, and I did save it from being stale and thrown away didn't I!?

Trying not to fall into the trap of analysing everything I eat, but looking at last two blogs I'm not so sure it's working...also got the Donna Downey canvas album in my head, off to do a day with Linda at Mevagissey next Saturday and really want to hone my ideas and stash so I don't go there with no idea and two bags of kit I'll never use.

Resolution..

.. well we're a good few days into the year now and several boxes of chocolates are still lurking in the 'our presents' bag in our bedroom (namely plain Ferrero Roche, Chocolate Ginger and mini Rolos.. all my favourites, but perhaps that's why they still exist, the childhood teaching of waiting til later and savouring the best..?) 

The extreme cold weather and my normal low for the first half of January has passed so I am going to be a healthy eater...I am stopping short of calling it a diet, but from this mornings bowl of porridge and the apple I just scoffed I will be calling time on biscuits, buns and cakes!  Not sure if it will have any effect as the extra cakes and sweets eaten over the last 6 weeks will take a bit of counteracting! I love Christmas Cake, and have done more than my fair share of demolishing a whole Christmas Cake, with almond paste and icing , plus a red wine cake.. the second of which is still half eaten and hiding in a tin to be found when I am on a healthy sugar fix (I tell myself that it is all dried fruit, aka fibre, aka healthy eating!)

I thought maybe writing this down would be like a cheap version of Slimming World or Weight Watchers, an unspoken world out there watching to see if there is any change, exerting some pressure on me....just how much willpower I have will depend on how quickly these jeans feel a little less tight..I need instant results here to even get me to the weekend.

(So strange, I was googling for a photo of rolos and found this one.. in front of some curtains exactly like mine! How wierd is that? Or how common are my curtains?)