wonderful wednesday #10

It's time for another look at some loveliness from the past week, and it's been a great one.

Marvellous Millie: That gorgeous little hound turns 4 years old today. We have celebrated with sunbathing in the garden and a trip to the park for a meet up with my friends, their children, and most crucially their dog who is Millie's playmate of old. They had a happy reunion, and I'm sure there will be treats for tea later too. She's such a wonderful companion, and has coped so well with the turmoil of a baby brother in the house. All she ever wants is company and cuddles (food obviously goes without saying), and I do enjoy the fact that now T has a more predictable bed time, we can have a couple of hours curled up with her just like the good old days.

Sunshine: It has been glorious here, although that has made me realise that I urgently need to purchase some suncream in order to be a responsible parent. The weather makes such a difference though, I've been walking T everywhere, and it feels so good to get out and about.

Cooking: The book I chose for this month's Cookery Calendar Challenge is proving to be a real success, I've already made three recipes from it and am planning a few more before I have to return it to the library! Everything I've made has turned out really well, and it has felt really good to be in the kitchen and making some more unusual dishes.

Getting Muddy: I took part in a Race for Life Pretty Muddy event over the weekend. I signed up on a whim, and then completely forgot about it. I was chatting with my mum's neighbour about starting going running with her daughter, we have grown up together over the years, and our two families are incredibly close. I suddenly realised the race was this weekend, got in touch to see if she fancied joining me, and three days later we found ourselves scrambling through cargo nets, bouncing on space hoppers, sliding down inflatables, and crawling through mud, mud and more mud, in the glorious sunshine. It was brilliant fun, all the better for having company, and felt like a real achievement. My family all came along to cheer us round (and take some brilliant pictures), and we are already thinking about doing a 10k one in June. My legs have been aching, and I've bruises everywhere, but I still get a huge grin whenever I think about it.

Impromptu Visits: The Husband's best friend from uni got in touch out of the blue to see if we were around. He lives a long distance away but happened to be in the area this weekend, so once I had managed to de-mud myself, we went for Sunday dinner followed by milkshakes, then had good chats over coffee at home. It was lovely to see him, really good for him to spend time with T, and it was also one of those occasions where we realised how happy we are where we live. It was so nice to be able to walk two minutes and have lots of options for things to do, yet also to be able to retreat back to home after and sit in the peaceful sunshine. A lovely weekend all round.

I think that's plenty of wonderfulness for this Wednesday, I feel like I could go on and on, I haven't mentioned photography, or stationery, or free gifts from fabulous companies, but instead, go and read some of the other wonderful posts:

Sally is the originator of the idea, you can search for #wonderfulwednesday and these lovely folks all post too: Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri, Mimmi, Martina, Isabelle. 

wonderful wednesday #9

I hope May is treating you well so far, it's time for another round up of some of the loveliness that's been going on round here:

The Breakfast Club: I met up with some close friends for breakfast in Manchester and it was lovely to see them and put the world to rights. As with last week, I'm finding that the early starts that come with parenthood are finally suiting me, and I was home just after 12 feeling like I still had most of the day left, while already having spent a good few hours in good company.

Impending Middle Age: My friends and I were reflecting on how life has changed since we were at university together, over 12 years ago. One friend was off to look at bathrooms that afternoon, while I was relishing in having no weekend plans. I did then manage to outdo her in the grown-up Saturday afternoon activity stakes by visiting a garden centre, and as I told them, taking an active interest in a rack of fleeces and waterproof jackets. There then ensued a conversation about the necessity of a good fleece and the joys of potential national trust membership. At least I am in good company!

Gardening: Just to further fit the stereotype, we returned from the garden centre and spent a happy hour in the garden. The Husband did some weeding, and I planted up our hanging baskets with plug plants we had ordered online. I also added some basil to my much-adored new herb pot, but this is my second attempt at planting a basil plant in amongst all of the other herbs, and it is looking like it may have failed again. 

Running: After a month's absence I have finally been back out on a few runs. The longer it goes the less inclined I am to start again, convinced that I will have lost any progress made, but actually, my pace has remained quite consistent with where I was at previously, and it has been rather enjoyable to get out for a quick burst of activity in the sunshine.

Library Love: I have always had a thing about libraries, my mum used to take me regularly when I was younger, at at University, I always felt most studious if I took myself over the library and holed up there. I love libraries, the peace, the sense of endless books to be read, and in the case of the university libraries I have visited the history within the walls. Having dropped out of using the library since starting work, yet reading more than ever in recent years, I have now rediscovered my love for them through T. I started by taking him to a session of songs and a story, which is twice a week at our local library. It is a brilliant activity, free, half an hour, and is one of the things we have done most consistently since he has been born. It was first attempt at any kind of baby group, and helped me build my confidence as a new parent venturing into the terrifying world of interacting with other parents! Since then, I have started to realise what a wealth of things I have been missing out on, and last weekend came home with a new recipe book and a DVD on loan. My favourite thing, though, is that it is the same library my mum used to take me to, and although it has changed in many ways, the layout, and the bright, welcoming children's room where we got to the class is the same one I used to spend hours in as a little girl. I love the fact that history is repeating in the nicest way.

f you would like to visit some of the others (highly recommended) then Sally is the originator of the idea, you can search for #wonderfulwednesday and these lovely folks all post too: Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri, Mimmi, Martina, Isabelle. 

first things first

The first of May.

I love it when the first day of a month is a Monday, it just feels like everything is nicely lined up, but when the first day of the month is a Bank Holiday Monday, well hurrah, that's an added bonus, with the promise of an extra day as a family, and a shorter countdown until the weekend.

The first morning waking up after a sleep in fresh bedding, with a day stretching ahead, and no real plans.

The first day today, when I can indulge my sweet tooth, after sixty days without sugar (or crisps, or alcohol). More on that in another post, but I'm intrigued to see whether chocolate will hold the same appeal now, I feel like perhaps I have beaten the craving, but I'll see how the next few days go!

Unfortunately, while my diet has improved drastically, I haven't kept up with the running. Having taken a week off when I got poorly, it stretched on into two, and then three weeks, and now it is over a month since I have had the trainers on. Last night I ventured out on my first run, just a mini one, determined to get fit for the 10k I have planned in a few months time. It wasn't horrendous, and I've been walking 3-4 miles regularly taking T out and about to the park and the library, so I'm hoping that has helped. After my sister-in-law ran the London Marathon this year, I casually suggested to The Husband that we could look at doing one together, maybe in October. I might be mad, I don't think there is anything casual about a marathon, but we have both wanted to do one for a while, and I wonder if signing up might be the prompt we need. The Husband has started looking at running watches today, so I'm wondering if I may have tempted him. Watch this space!

This month also brings with it our first family holiday with our extended family. My cousin and his family, and my aunt and uncle are joining us, my parents and my grandad for a week in a holiday rental property. It seems to have come around quite quickly, and I am very excited, especially as the property has a swimming pool, games room, and cinema room. T might be a little young for table tennis or movie nights, but he loves swimming and I can't wait to be able to take him for a splash each day!

Saturday was the first time I had a girly meet up with my close uni friends since T has been born. Once they got over the shock of me, queen of the all-nighter and steadfast night owl suggesting meeting at 9am (oh motherhood, thou hast changed me), we arranged to have breakfast in Manchester. It was a beautifully sunny day, I made it to the train in plenty of time, had a glorious few hours catching up, and was home before T woke from his nap ready for his next feed. It felt like everything went to plan, and it is still a revelation for me to be able to go out for a few hours and not worry that he might be hungry, particularly as he was never great a taking a bottle. It was a long leisurely breakfast (much to the chagrin of the staff I think, as the place was packed!) and a brilliant catch up. 

Finally, on the train home, I started the first few pages of Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. I haven't read her previous books though I had obviously heard of Eat Pray Love, but had read about this one a few times. It kept appearing in magazines, and I kept thinking it sounded interesting, and then I read a blog which referenced it, that I now can't for the life of me find (if it was you please tell me as I have hunted for it, and would love to link it back). I decided on a whim to buy it, and I'm glad I did. I did rather too many embarrassing snorts of laughter on the train, and the words have been popping up in my head, making me itch to pick it up and carry it on. It reminded me that the joy of being creative, in whatever guise that takes, is enough reason to carry on writing here, to carry on dusting off the calligraphy pens, to carry on trying to catch up with my camera projects. Not through a desire for comments, or approval, or popularity, but just through the joy that it brings me, the small pleasure I find, and so here I am.

Wishing you all a wonderful May, whether it be full of firsts, or enjoyable familiarity. 

Cookery Calendar Challenge: April

I gave The Husband the choice for this month's book, and he went for the other James Martin book I have "borrowed" from my mum, My Kitchen. Although I was a little reluctant at first, having used a James Martin book for the challenge last month too, I remembered cooking some recipes from this book when I took part last year, and finding lots in there that appealed, so I let the choice stand! I like that this book is arranged seasonally, so I went with summer recipes again, and having realised, thanks to Christina, that it was perfectly acceptable to cook more than two recipes (it would never have occurred to me otherwise, being such a stickler for following rules resolutely!), I actually made three this month, as so many were tempting.

The first dish is the one I cooked most recently, and although I did make it, and did take pictures, I have alas not found a way to make koftas look in anyway photogenic or appetising on the plate, so I thought I would give you a glimpse of the book, and the much more successful photography within. These were simple to make, and were a nice alternative use for mince, that I would definitely try again. I did find this recipe a bit bland, but that may be because I used chopped fresh fennel rather than ground fennel, and some subsequent internet searching suggests that this may have resulted in a much milder flavour. I found they took a lot longer to cook through than the recipe suggested, though perhaps I made them thicker as I didn't mould them around skewers, just into small sausage shapes. I served them with pitta, homemade tzatziki, and the corn. I think the recipe is quite small in terms of portion sizes, it definitely needed the additional accompaniments to make a meal, but as one dish for a barbecue, which I guess was the intention, it would be a definite success.

The next dish was lemon and rosemary lamb with tahini aubergines, Again, I think it was designed as a barbeque dish, and so I added some garlic crushed potatoes to make it into a full meal. We don't usually eat lamb, I find it quite a fatty meat, and it can be expensive for small cuts, but I do enjoy the flavour and will often order it when eating out. The flavour of the lamb was beautiful, though again, it required longer cooking times than the book suggested, but this was likely due to our cutlets being quite thickly cut, as I bought a rack of lamb and carved them from that. The aubergines were a little overpowered by the lemon I thought, and the specially bought tahini paste got a little lost (any tahini suggestions welcome!). I will forever love this dish though, as it was the first time The Husband had tried aubergine, one of my favourite vegetables, that he has resisted up until now. T also tucked into a piece with gusto! Alas, I wouldn't say it was aubergine at its best, but I have bought another one, in the hope that an aubergine parmigiana might be an acceptable offering!

The first dish I made from the book was by far the most successful, despite inauspicious beginnings. Having bought all of the ingredients, the night when I had planned to make the tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza came round, and I was absolutely not feeling in the mood for making dough. I persisted though, and am so glad I did, it was declared an outright success by my pizza fiend of a husband, and I know for a fact we will be making this regularly. We eat pizza pretty often, it is such a quick meal, and with salad and sweet potato wedges it is a staple of our weekly meal plans, but I know shop bought pizza is not the healthiest option usually. This was so much better, and tasted so much more flavoursome, that I shall be rustling them up again very soon.

Next month, I will be using Rick Stein's Long Weekend, which I took out from the library on Friday as it sounded particularly apt as I browsed the shelves with T. I expect this might be another month where I make more than two recipes as just a quick flick through has revealed loads I want to try! I have made a few dishes from the internet this month too, and a particular success was the cauliflower pizzaiola, which used up a few ingredients that were languishing in the fridge, and provided a hearty meat free meal too.

The Cookery Calendar Challenge is the wonderful creation of Penny at The Homemade Heart, do use the button below to check out the other bloggers taking part and see what recipe books people have been dusting off this month.

wonderful wednesday #8

I'm back with a wonderful Wednesday round up after a few weeks away, and trying to rattle this out while the baby naps so we shall see how far we get. I'm not sure why I've been absent from this space, there has been plenty of wonderful around these parts, and even though I haven't been writing about it, I do think having done just a few of these posts has already made me better at spotting the good stuff as it happens!

Early Mornings: Yes. I, the lifelong night owl have gone over to the dark side (should that be light side), and rather than fight the baby-inflicted early starts, have learnt to relish them. Sunday found us wandering through the park with the dog and the baby at half eight in the morning, admittedly when I suggested getting out and going for a walk, The Husband's first response was "do you mean [insert incredulous tone] before breakfast?", but even he agreed after we got back, and breakfast was being consumed, that it had been a good idea. Admittedly, early starts are all the easier after some sleep, which brings me nicely to....

Sleep: Not exactly sure how it happened, or how long it will last, so while I can I'm celebrating the fact that at the moment T seems to be enjoying sleeping overnight. It has made such a difference, from really struggling a few months ago with lack of sleep, and him not really eating, we now have a baby who eats anything and sleeps well. I know all of these things are likely temporary, and I know how hard it feels when those things aren't happening, so I'm not bragging, just celebrating my own little victories when they come around!

Television: We've never really been into tv in a big way, with the exception of Bake Off in my case, but we seem to have found a few programmes at the moment that we really enjoy. Line of Duty, which is usually in the realm of the too dark and grim for my liking, has got me hooked this season, after half listening while The Husband watched the last series. We've also been enjoying Masterchef, but my goodness, how much of a time commitment is that programme?? Just when I've caught up there's another three episodes waiting to be watched.

Sunshine: So it's still absolutely freezing, as I discovered at dog class with Millie on Monday, when my hands actually wouldn't move when I came to drive home, and there are still occasional downpours, which I experienced on the walk to the library on Monday, managing to get rained on and then dried off in the same half a mile walk (Monday was not a great weather day it seems!). But, despite all of that, more often than not I'm waking up to bright blue skies, and sunshine, and that just makes life cheerier. It makes it more tempting to leave the house, and it's generally good for the soul.

Work: Well, not actual doing of work, but getting in touch with my supevisors, and starting to make small steps to having plans for my return. Happily it is a long way off still, but it felt good to make contact, and being reassured that I hadn't been completely forgotten. I also took T to my old workplace on Friday, (I will be starting a different placement when I return) and it was lovely to see my boss there who I get on brilliantly with, and for her to get cuddles with T.

So, I'm quitting while I'm ahead as there are definitely sounds of a baby starting to stir, if you want even more wonderfulness,  then Sally is the originator of the idea, you can search for #wonderfulwednesday and these lovely folks all post too:

 Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri, Mimmi, Martina, Isabelle. 

Cookery Calendar Challenge: March

This month I cooked two recipes from James Martin's Masterclass, which is one of the many books I have on, ahem, extended loan from my mum! First up was polenta with wild mushrooms and parmesan. I chose this as I have been keen to try polenta, and also wanting to try and incorporate a few more meat-free dishes into our diet. Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that I'm not a great fan of mushrooms, and so perhaps this wasn't a wise choice!

I also didn't realise that the cooling time required for the polenta was a lot longer than the cooking time for the mushrooms, as the recipe wasn't clear on how long to cool it for. Having already ended up making it on a night when I just wanted a quick dinner, because the mushrooms needed using, I'm afraid impatience got the better of me and I forged ahead with the frying of the polenta "squares" despite the fact that they were clearly collapsing as I tried to cut them. So, it was not a successful dish but more down to user error than anything wrong with the recipe! The Husband raved about it, and I must admit whilst texturally dubious, the polenta tasted delicious, although I think anything with that much butter and cheese in it would! I want to try and use the polenta again, with proper cooling time, and as there is plenty left in the bag, I may well do!

Next up was tandoori cod steaks. The fillets I got weren't as thick cut as I'd expected, I think cod loin would have been better, but this was a brilliant dish. The spice mixture was easy to make, and I had all of the various ingredients in the cupboard from previous curry recipes. After marinating the fish for a few hours, it cooked under the grill in ten minutes, and was full of flavour. I always enjoy curried fish when I choose it from a menu, and it was great to be able to recreate that style of dish at home. A great way to incorporate more fish into our diets, and a recipe I'll definitely be returning to again.

In a bid to use up some of the polenta, I tried to make these sweet potato fries from the BBC Good Food website this week. Alas, mine turned out dusty, rather than crunchy, so I continue on the hunt for a way to make my home-cooked sweet potato fries taste like the crispy coated ones I have eaten elsewhere! Any suggestions welcome!

The Cookery Calendar Challenge is the wonderful creation of Penny at The Homemade Heart, do use the button below to check out the other posts and see what recipe books people have been dusting off this month.

first things first

The first of April.

Last month was the first month since October when I didn't complete the running challenge I signed up for. Whatever bug I've had seems to have really wiped me out this time, and I decided to stop trying to push myself to carry on with it when my body seems to be in need of some rest. I'm hoping to get back out soon, especially now the weather is nicer, as I always feel good when I've been for a run, but for now I'll try and get back to full health first.

Monday marks The Husband's first day in his new job, having finished at his previous role on Friday. It will be big changes for him, travelling by train, working in a new organisation, taking on a more senior role. It is very exciting but having been in his last job for several years it feels like a major transition. 

For me, life has hit a gentle lull of routine. T and I pass our weeks with regular trips to the library, the swimming pool, walks to the park and visits to my parents and Grandad. Time is flying by and he is looking more and more like a little boy rather than a baby. It's easy to feel that there is nothing new happening, but every week brings changes, a myriad of tiny firsts, that are so small, and happen so quickly, I barely notice them. Then suddenly, I look back, and realise that he is doing so much more, and growing up before my eyes! Here's to noticing the little firsts that April brings, as well as the big ones, and savouring the smallest moments.