project 365: week 13

81. After getting home from a night visiting my friend, we had a happy half hour as a family, sat in the bedroom planning the week ahead. I have a bad habit of needing to feel constantly productive, and especially when I am away from home during the week, as I was last week, it was good for the three of us just to share some time in the early afternoon sunlight, chatting, and just being.

82. The shades of spring brightening up the study, these beautiful two-tone tulips have been adding colour to our week.

83. Got back to the hotel late from visiting my cousin, but was determined to make use of the gym, so a very late night trip. Having the thought of some races lined up is giving me a much greater incentive to persist with trying to improve my stamina.

84. Home at last, and the "I forgot to take a photo" shot of my bedside table.

85. Text my Grandad from work saying that I was a busy bee, and then managed to amuse myself greatly by sending him this picture saying that I even looked like a bee. Alas he didn't get the picture until much later, so I think he was little perplexed as to what on earth I had gone to work wearing!

86. Friday night movie night with The Husband. We made these again, with the leftover mixture from the freezer, tidied the kitchen and then went and curled up under the covers with a film, and Millie for company. Fabulous start to the weekend.

87. A lovely afternoon ordering a photo album from our Australia trip, was so great to go back through the pictures of our trip, and though it was tricky to pick favourites, I'm really looking forward to the book arriving. It was also an excuse to lift out our honeymoon album for inspiration, and so an afternoon filled with reminders of happy holidays. We fueled our endeavours with some more of the Hotel Chocolat chocolates that I received for my birthday. These caramel shortbread ones were lovely, such a treat.

Linking in with The Boy and Me

word of the week #13

It has been a week filled with meetings, all of them good. Meeting up with my closest friend for a night of chatting and celebrating her new job. After I arrived home the next morning The Husband and I then went to visit some good friends and had the wonderful experience of meeting their beautiful new son. Cuddles with a 4 day old baby are a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

To London a few times this week for a number of meetings, which also offered the opportunity to meet (or at least see) some great people speak about some interesting subjects. It felt like a real privilege to be able to attend one of the events earlier in the week, and hear some really well-respected people talk.

I also managed to take the chance to go and meet up with some family who live in London on the night I was staying down there. So much nicer to spend the evening with my cousin, his partner and their gorgeous little boy, reading bedtime stories and doing jigsaws, than eating room service by myself.

And then after a train home from London, with the promise of seeing my parents and Grandad for the first time in a few days. The weekend is here, and it started in the best way, being met from the train by The Husband and Millie, and then a family walk home.

recipe: enchiladas

This is not a particularly complicated dish, but it was tasty, and a success (not a guarantee by any means when I cook) so I thought I would share it. Partly because it was simple, partly because I happened to have some pictures - albeit not the best food photography you will have ever seen, and partly because I had an urge to post something tonight and this was a title I had saved in my drafts folder as a prompt for just such an occasion.

Making this was actually borne out of an accidental opening of a tin of kidney beans (a case of mistaken identity, they were falsely accused of being chopped tomatoes). Not wanting to let them go to waste I found this recipe in one of the three Hairy Bikers books that live permanently on the stand next to my oven and adapted it as the kidney beans I had opened weren't in chilli sauce. Recipe located, I got the rest of the ingredients the following day (bar the lime) and this made a lovely Saturday night supper for The Husband and I. Rather than making the four portions the recipe calls for, I just did two, with added spiced potato wedges from a recipe in one of their other books for the ever-hungry husband. The rest of the mixture has gone in the freezer ready for another night - batch cooking always makes me happy.

My splodging of salsa and sour cream seemed somewhat lacking in the aesthetics department, but it was really tasty. In other news, and as part of my developing 30th birthday plans, I have just signed up for a 5k and a 10k run over the next 6 months - eek!

Enchiladas

Serves 4, Prep Time 20 Minutes, Cooking Time 50 Minutes

(Recipe from The Hairy Dieters Eat for Life)

Ingredients

450g beef mince (extra lean*)

1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves

400g can of kidney beans (drained)

400g tin chopped tomatoes

3 tbsp tomato puree

1tsp dried chilli flakes

1tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp paprika

400ml beef stock (made with 1 beef stock cube)

8 tortilla wraps

50g cheddar cheese (half fat*)

150g creme fraiche (half fat*)

3 tbsp tomato salsa

fresh coriander

salt

pepper

oil

lime wedges (optional)

*reduced fat options included in original recipe as it is a healthy eating/calorie counting cook book - use whichever options suit you!

Recipe

• Chop onion and garlic. Fry in large non-stick pan with beef mince. Break up mince with a wooden spoon and cook for 5 minutes.

• Add kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika and tomato puree and stir well. Pour over the beef stock, season well with salt and pepper, and mix. 

• Heat until simmering, then reduce heat and leave to simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes, until mixture has reduced and thickened. While mixture is simmering preheat oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Spray/brush a small amount of oil into a large shallow ovenproof dish.

• Place an 1/8th of the mixture in a tortilla wrap, top with an 1/8th of the cheese, and then fold the wrap up and place in dish. I tend to put the filling in the middle, fold up the bottom, fold over either side, leave the top open and place the wrap folded side down in the dish. Repeat until all 8 wraps are made and mixture is used up.

• Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 5 minutes.

• Before serving spoon over the creme fraiche, salsa, coriander, and lime wedges if using.

• Season with black pepper and serve.

365: week 12

74. Some home baking as part of our Mother's Day meal. Definitely started to feel like spring serving up this cake, especially on my favourite floral cake stand.

75. Visited a different part of London with work today and was brilliant to see some different sights as I travelled. The buildings around Westminster are beautiful, I love the history within the walls.

76. In the process of sorting out lots of the belongings we have stored in a spare bedroom. I found my clarinet from when I used at school and decided to order some new reeds and have a play. Lucky I did as Millie also found the old reeds and decided to have a play of her own.

77. Waiting to travel to dinner with friends after work. This building has popped up before in my 365 project this year, I do find it beautiful.

78. An antipasto platter out for dinner with The Husband before we went to watch a comedy show. One of those meals where I felt like I ordered exactly the right dish - no food envy here!

79. My attempts at a photo of the solar eclipse were somewhat scuppered by the clouds putting in an appearance. I still quite liked the photo although it wasn't as impressive as many of the others I saw!

80. Flowers and cake tied up with brown paper and string for a visit to my friend who has just got a brilliant new job. I love using brown paper to wrap up flowers and make them them look a bit more special.

Linking up with The Boy and Me

word of the week #12

There seems to have been an abundance of food this week. Baking on Saturday, ready for a family gathering at our house on Sunday for Mother's Day. The left-overs became a picnic for the train that night, as I headed to London for a few days of meetings. Buffet lunches, tea and biscuits and room service dinner. Since getting home I have met up with friends for a meal out after work, then again last night with The Husband before we attended a comedy gig. 

Looking back on the week it feels gluttonous, and excessive. All of the meals enjoyable, and celebratory (except perhaps the room service!) but too much all in one week. I am craving simple dishes, home-cooked food, and as spring officially starts, a desire for lighter, fresher fare.

adventures before thirty

(Taken from the title of a novel by Algernon Blackwood. Originally published in 1923, when it was called Episodes Before Thirty, I bought a copy for The Husband, who collects old books, as a 29th birthday present.)

As I mentioned, I don't really worry about aging or growing older. However I have been thinking in recent weeks that my next birthday is quite a significant one, and talking with friends in particular has caused me to reflect a little more on the year ahead. I have a very close friend from university, and we were born within a week of each other. Last September marked ten years of our friendship (we met on the first day, in our halls of residence, and unlike so many of those freshers' week friendships this one has absolutely stood the test of time). In the run up to our birthdays we reminisced about previous milestones, the end of our teenage years, turning 21, and laughed at how distant thirty had seemed all that time ago.

I am still feeling very positive about the years ahead, and very happy with my life as it stands, never having been one to have a 'life plan' or certain goals with achieve-by dates. As another close friend  said to me, on reflection she feels at a good stage in her life. We are both married, own our homes, have stable jobs and while I don't view any of those things as being more or less successful than the alternatives, for me (and my risk-averse, homebody personality) I found that what she said resonated. Actually I can reflect on my life, and feel content with the big stuff like home, work, and of course my relationships with family and friends. Things feel well suited to me and that is a fortunate position to be in.

Perhaps influenced by the world of blogging, and the wider Internet, and the obsession of these mediums with lists of evey kind, I have been mulling over the idea of drawing up a thirty things to do before I'm thirty list. I noticed many people do similar lists around New Year and I have been increasingly tempted. Today is, genuinely just by chance when I checked half an hour ago, 330 days until my 30th birthday, which spurred me on to write this burgeoning post today. However, never being one to rush a decision (see above - risk-averse  homebody) I actually plan to commit to a list in a months time, so it will be 30 things in 300 days. In the meantime, it's over to you - what would you put on my list?

365: week 11

67. Sunday afternoon with The Husband, chatting over a cheeseboard.

68. Bags packed on Monday night ready for a few days working away. Still adore the new handbag I got for my birthday, makes me smile every time I use it. 

69. Something about this caught my eye as I waited for the train early in the morning.

70. A very boring picture of my room service dinner on Wednesday night!

71. Spotted this patterned arch as I walked Millie late in the evening. 

72. Friday was movie night curled up in the study with The Husband and Millie. Happy way to start the weekend.

73. Beautiful roses we bought as a Mother's Day gift.

Linking in with The Boy and Me