Project 52: Week 25

As you may know, I have been taking part in Penny's fabulous Cookery Calendar Challenge this year. Over the weekend I cooked up both of this month's recipes, and loved the look of these tomatoes, scorched under the grill and ready for roasting. I was a little disappointed that the fancy chef's blowtorch we own doesn't actually have any gas in it, as that would have been the perfect chance to use it, but the grill did a good job (once I remembered to turn it on!). Pop back at the start of June to see what I rustled up with them, and which book I chose this month, 

Project 52: Week 10

After a busy and lovely weekend, calmness has descended, and an early night beckons. 

Project 52: Week 9

After a week of snow, sleet, rain, and bitter cold, today as I wandered round the garden with Millie, there was warm sun, blue skies, and bursts of colour. Maybe, just maybe, spring is tentatively starting to arrive.

Project 52: Week 8

A Sunday afternoon stroll with The Husband and Millie. It's still looking, and feeling, very much like Winter outside, although a few brave daffodils have appeared in the garden, so I'm focussing on those for some colour.

project 365: week 44

I'm afraid it all went a bit awry this week with missing photos all over the place! I'm not entirely sure where last week went, but thank goodness for Millie, and apologies for the beagle themed set of photos!

298. Coffee and pain au chocolate for breakfast. The Husband lined them all up on the board "because I know you're going to take a picture" so I had to oblige!

299. Is absent I'm afraid. The only picture on my phone was a cartoon my friend sent me to cheer me up after a rubbish day at work last week. 

300. Lots of early nights this week and Millie made the most of bedroom privileges, getting quite comfy on the blanket.

301. After work I went to visit Grandad and then it was straight home and to bed, with a quick snap of the bedside table on the way.

302. Getting licked by Millie, despite my protestations.  

303. Well there's a phone full of pictures for Friday but they are all screenshots of possible hairstyles for my appointment on Saturday morning! It seems in the midst of that I completely forgot an actual picture, as we spent the evening making fajitas and watching a movie. 

304. And just to complete the theme, Millie looking entirely disinterested in my new hair and far more fascinated by something on the wall, either that or she was trying a new pose after a week of being my subject! Hopefully more variety next week, and a full complement of photos too! 

project 365: week 42

284. We had a lovely hour at Crosby beach, wandering amongst the statues that form Antony Gormley's art installation. This is the first proper trip we took Millie on, back when she was a newly rescued puppy, and it was lovely to take her back there, more than 2 years later. There was something soothing about being by the sea, walking along the shore as the tide went out, and enjoying the peace.

285. In between a few meetings I worked from home for an hour, and Millie managed to wrap herself up in my blanket as I worked. As it was my first day back in work I was glad I had the chance to see this face, it was a lot tougher this week with that sense of suddenly life just carrying on, I wasn't ready for that somehow.

286. I've been racing through the books this week, all of them have been really gripping reads. I wasn't sure what I would think of this, as I have seen mixed reviews, but I couldn't get through it fast enough! I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, and I had worked out a lot of the plot twists quite early on, but for me neither of those detracted from it, I found it a great plot and it does make you think of the commute slightly differently!

287. As suggested by my Word of the Week, there has been a lot of baking here. After a low day in work I decided to make some oat and sultana cookies. I enjoyed making them, but think perhaps I overbaked them a little as they had caught on the bottom, so no recipe for those any time soon. The Husband decided to bake biscuits too (he doesn't like cinnamon or sultanas so mine we a no go), and he decided that we were having a biscuit party. It was a nice way to end a rubbish day.

288. Not that we have been finding comfort in food at all! Thursday night and we had potato cakes and tea for a late supper. I never manage to make them taste quite as good as my grandad does though!

289. We made our own naan breads on Friday, and we were very excited with our results! Having lifted some curry from the freezer on Thursday we decided to make our own naan bread to go along with it. The Husband got home from work before me and made the dough (a good way to use up some nigella seeds from the GBBO pitta breads!), then I fried them up once I was home, and they puffed up miraculously into naan breads.

290. The Husband made some (more!) biscuits on Saturday, and they were very nice indeed, especially with hot chocolate. I've been feeling very Autumnal this weekend.

project 365: week 41

277. Home from Cambridge and after a late night and an early start I had a doze in the afternoon sunshine, followed by tea and snuggles with Millie.

278. More tea, as I spent the afternoon sitting in the lounge, catching up with blogs, watching films and snuggling Millie.

279. Morning cuddles with Millie for company.

280. We started art classes on Monday. Despite it being the last thing I felt like doing, the two hours were really enjoyable and flew by. As I killed time waiting for the scan on Wednesday morning I decided to do some of the homework, and found the ink drawing was a good distraction.

281. I spent Thursday night baking the mokatines from Great British Bake Off, and having now caught up with all of the technical challenges, I will be posting the recipes each day next week, better late than never.

282. Out for a family meal for Grandad's birthday, and this poached pear dessert came highly recommended by my stepdad, who had tried it before. It was an excellent choice.

283. Saturday night was my attempt at chocolate soufflé, and I used two types of cooking chocolate in the recipe.

project 365: week 40

270. A shot of the smoke rising over the streets, with the skyscrapers behind as we walked through New York.

271. We spent our last day taking an early morning ferry to Staten Island, followed by a walk down Fifth Avenue, and the most incredible meal of our lives at Jean-Georges restaurant near Central Park. I was worried that the last day would be a bit of an anticlimax as we waited for our evening flight, but this turned out to be the perfect end to the trip.

272. Home and lovely to see our parents, and Millie recovering too. She was very settled at their house, having firmly established herself in front of the fire!

273. The photos go a little downhill, as I'm afraid it's a series of bedtime shots now - a rather uninspired bunch after the holiday pictures!

274. I bought this book at the airport, but didn't actually read it on holiday. I got stuck in on the commute this week and it is already finished, completely gripping!

275. The old, make it black and white to try and make it look interesting photograph! We were supposed to travel to Cambridge for the weekend for a friend's 30th, but decided to only travel on the Saturday morning instead, and I was very grateful for the extra night at home.

276. This waffle felt more like an NYC portion than a Cambridge one! Wandering around the city centre in the afternoon we came across a market, and couldn't resist tucking into a waffle from one of the stalls, even if there was a bit of a sugar rush afterwards.

project 365: week 39

A week late with posting these, so apologies for the back-to-back posts tonight, I am just catching up! 

263. I did actually bake the tennis cake over a week ago (as you might be able to guess from the picture the net was problematic!). The cake was beautiful, and I will get the posts up here eventually - how long can I get away with blaming my tardiness on jet lag I wonder!

264. A slightly random picture taken as I walked home from my parent's house, and then I forgot to take any others, hence lots of overprocessing to try and make it look arty! I'm not altogether sure it worked.

265. This poorly puppy at the vets just before she got admitted. That face was very hard to leave behind, some tears were shed.

266. Pottering about at home, waiting to hear news on Millie, and trying to get ready for the surprise trip to New York, roses in the kitchen were a pretty distraction.

267. Our first taste of the iconic city that is New York, yellow taxi cabs queued up outside JFK.

268. Friday night wandering through the city, and the Rockerfeller centre lighting up the skyline.

269. This was The Husband's choice of breakfast to start his 30th birthday celebrations! A classic American diner, and a mammoth portion. We were up before dawn, and wandered down the street watching the sky lighten after breakfast, which was a good job as it gave us plenty of time to get our appetite back in time for our tasting menu lunch later in the day!

project 365: week 38

This was the week I finally forgot a photo!! With 100 days to go as of last week, I'm afraid that on Friday night The Husband and I started watching a film, and I completely forgot. I scoured for anything that could feasibly count as a picture, a screenshot, an emoticon, and alas I didn't have a thing. I'm resisting the urge to declare the whole thing cancelled now that I haven't got a perfect record, and instead think it is probably a bit more realistic for me to get to the end of the year without all 365 days! And it give's me a reason to join in again next year!

256. Oh Great British Bake Off and the mystery flaounas. These were actually quite fun to make, but I really didn't enjoy the flavour. More on that when I write them up (which I will do soon, I promise!!).

257. The train station roof, including the reflection of the lights from the train carriage, lined up perfectly. Lots of early starts this week, and I've been quite enjoying the early train. In fact, on Friday, which shall forever now be known as "the missing day", I tried to take a picture of the sunrise but got thwarted as we pulled into a station and the view got obscured. So I can console myself with the fact that the intention was there!

258. The roses from my Grandad still in full bloom, long outlasting the flowers I got myself a week later. I shall have to switch allegiance to his supermarket!

259. A trip to my Auntie's to see some family, including my cousin's beautiful sons, who are always such fun to be with. I had a great time playing trains and boats, then a fish and chip supper, and this gorgeous sunset over the sea too.

260. Thursday night snuggles with The Husband and the beagle, catching up on Great British Bake Off, having managed to avoid finding out the results beforehand.

262. Please avert your eyes from the toes much in need of a pedicure, and instead gaze in sympathy at the poorly foot, and the fact that I missed the chance to run my first 10k race, although the injury perhaps suggests I wasn't quite ready for it. I'm not sure if the home-made strapping really helped all that much, the temptation to peel it back off was too strong to resist, so it didn't last all that long!