Project 52: Week 4

I am a highly suggestible person, an advertiser's dream, I often find myself browsing an online shop, having seen it in a magazine, or as last night when my friend told me she had a chinese takeaway for tea, despite having just finished a curry, I suddenly had an urge for a spring roll! And so it was that, having watched Great British Bake Off this week for Sport Relief, I decided I would make Paris-Brest for after Sunday dinner this week. 

I had never made choux pastry before, and I enjoyed making it, but it didn't rise quite like I hoped. I'm not sure what I did wrong, it was very light and tasty but quite flat, which made slicing it in half a bit tricky. They went down very well with the family today though, and I'm desperately trying to work out where else I can use the hazelnut praline which I have left, so that I don't just keep returning to the tub for another spoonful.

It's a bit of a blurry picture, but they didn't last long enough for me to have another go. I seem to be alternating between Millie and food at the moment, so I wonder what next week will bring!

word of the week

I tried my hand at gothic lettering for this week's word. It's a bit blotchy in places, but it makes me want to find the wax seal I had when I was little and and decorate some envelopes!

A week full of moments, as is every week I suppose. There have been contented moments, cooking Sunday dinner for my parents and Grandad, and gathering round the table for a catch up over a meal. Moments of chatter and cups of tea, catching up with the best of friends, and moments of happiness when she announced she would be able to come to gathering we are having for my birthday, having managed after lots of trying to swap her shift at work. Moments of productivity, spending an hour or so shopping and managing to get gifts for lots of forthcoming birthdays over the next few weeks, and enjoying wrapping the presents and decorating them with ribbons when we got home.

Moments of sadness, at a friend's funeral, very glad to have The Husband on one side, and Mum on the other, and hands to hold. Moments of nostalgia, as my parents of having building work done at home. Their conservatory got dismantled to make way for a new extension, and as it is the room where we traditionally open gifts on Christmas and birthday mornings, there was a lifetime of memories captured in the walls. Moments of happiness, seeing pictures of my cousins beautiful new baby, and celebrating a new addition to the family.

I also have been trying to be a little more in the moment this week. Having read psychologies magazine in the middle of a busy week, I was interested in an article about trying to single-task rather than multi-task. It's not a new concept, and dedicating short bursts of time to things but being wholly committed to them during that time, is something I've known about as an anti-procrastination tool for a long time. However, this week the idea seemed to stick, and it has been helping be progress things at work, and also to enjoy time with friends and family without also trying to check my phone or being distracted by other things. 

For tonight, now a moment or two of blogging, and catching up with comments and other people's blogs. Then, a moment of calm, an early night and a book ready for an exciting week ahead. Hope you have had lots of lovely moments this week, and in the days ahead too.

Cookery Calendar Challenge: January

At the start of the year, the lovely Penny, of The Homemade Heart, announced that she would be doing a Cookery Calendar Challenge. The idea is beautifully simple, to pick a recipe book each month, and cook two new recipes from it. With kitchen shelves filled with much-loved but under-used recipe books, it sounded like a great challenge, with just the right amount of effort required. Particularly having decided this year to sign up for a weekly shopping delivery, which I order mid-week, saving us a few hours around the supermarket at the weekend (though I do miss wandering the aisles a little!), it has been really straightforward to sit with the book and add the required ingredients to the list.

So for this month I chose Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. It has a great range of recipes, some really useful sections on basic techniques, and also introduces each chapter with an index of few of the recipes sorted by cooking time, a helpful feature I haven't seen in other books. 

I usually turn to recipe books for baking, so I thought I would use this challenge to try a few new savoury recipes. The first recipe, pork with chilli and coconut, has been quickly added to the household favourite list. It was very simple, and didn't require many ingredients, yet tasted really good, full of authentic Thai flavours. The meat does need marinating for 2 hours before cooking, so this was good to make at the weekend, and there were plenty of leftovers for a spare portion for the freezer.

I bought jasmine rice to serve with the dish, and it all worked together really well. I don't normally make dishes with these flavours, even though I love them, and it was the first time I had used creamed coconut. Luckily there were multiple sachets in the pack so I will definitely be making the recipe again! It even earned a high-five from The Husband, so the challenge got off to an auspicious start.

With an abundance of mince in the freezer, I decided to find a recipe to use some up, and opted for beef florentine. The recipe in my book is slightly different from that I have linked to, both are by Mary Berry, but the one I made included Gruyere, and didn't have mushrooms. In effect, it is minced beef in a tomato and garlic sauce, topped with a layer of cooked spinach, cheese and eggs, and then with a filo pastry lid.

I wasn't convinced all of the flavours would work together, there seemed to be a ridiculous amount of spinach, and cooking the beef in butter produced a very oily meat sauce as you can see above. However, I should have had more faith in Mary, it was really good, and I enjoyed it far more than I expected. It also proved to be really filling, serving us as dinner for two, lunch the next day, and dinner again the next night (plus a few bits of pastry off the top for Grandad when he came to visit), and I was still looking forward to it for the third meal! I did inadvertently add a big spoonful of ginger as I mistook it for the jar of garlic from the fridge, but luckily it didn't overpower it. I'd leave it out next time though! The only thing I'd change about this recipe was the fact that I tried to cook it after work, and it took a good hour and a half, which felt a bit involved for a week night.

So, the first month has been a resounding success, many thanks to Penny for such a brilliant idea for a challenge. I haven't decided for definite on next month's book, but I was very excited to get Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals and 30 minute meals years ago and haven't ever gone beyond flicking through them, so they are looking high on the list. Really looking forward to seeing what other people have done this month, do feel free to join in over on Penny's blog.

word of the week

Well the calligraphy went a little better this week, back to using the proper pen. Unfortunately my photography left a little to be desired, so some of the edges were cut off in a bid to get the lettering straight. I think I need to be a better student and draw out my lines before I go rushing in with the pen!

There have been lots of lovely conversations this week. I was also considering the word confidence, as a few of the conversations have been ones that required a bit of self-confidence too! For the first time in my life I walked into a new hairdresser and asked for a consultation. Since going short, I've been realising that you can't grow it out easily, or quickly, and have been wondering whether to go down that route or persist with the crop. Having decided to try a new hairdresser I called in on the offchance, and had a very helpful chat, and have booked an appointment. I don't know why, but I always find walking into the hairdressers quite intimidating, and this one is quite a smart looking salon so I was a bit wary about wandering in off the street, but I was pleased with the outcome. I only hope I'm pleased with the outcome of the haircut too (I decided to stay short for now!).

I also walked into a perfume shop, as I'm on the hunt for a new perfume - it doesn't take much psychoanalysis to wonder if all of these changes might be linked with the impending 30th birthday! Rather than my usual tactic of avoiding eye contact with shop assistants and turning down any offers of help, instead I had a nice chat about what I was looking for, and tried a few options. I don't think I've found the winning one yet, but it was a helpful discussion. I've had a few bits of small talk with people in shops this week and it did make me realise how even a little spontaneous human interaction can cheer up a day.

There have also been a few conversations with colleagues and supervisors about a piece of work I did recently that seems to have been well-received. I got some really positive feedback and we are having discussions about how it can be developed further, so they were some more confidence boosting conversations. Particularly as it is in the area I'm quite interested in pursuing long-term, it was really reassuring to know I had made a decent attempt at it.

Then today The Husband and I went to visit some friends. It is one of those lovely friendships where I met someone through work, and we got on brilliantly, and managed to make the transition to friends in "real life" too. Because I was away on a placement last year, and she then went off on maternity leave, we haven't seen them in a while, so it was lovely to spend the afternoon there. They did us a lovely Sunday lunch, and there were conversations aplenty, catching up, sharing stories and meeting their new baby. It was a brilliant end to the week, a really relaxing way to spend the day, and its always fabulous to see a friend after time apart and realise you are able to pick up exactly where you left off. I hope you have all had good weeks too.

Project 52: Week 3

I haven't used the camera much this week, so today's Sunday photo is actually from Sunday night, a last minute snap  of Millie as I sat down to write the blog post. It's a good job she's so photogenic!

word of the week

The calligraphy did not go so well this week. There were ink spillages, and wobbly nibs, and then I decided to hand-draw the lettering instead of using a calligraphy pen and it went a little (a lot) wrong. I decided to practice the flourishes as I find that I tend to do the same swirl repeated over and over, and they went a bit wrong too. I decided that once I had put ink to paper I was not allowed to start again, and I must try to make the best of whatever I ended up with, an exercise in accepting imperfections. So here it is, although I must admit I shared it to instagram then swiftly deleted it, so perhaps I still have some work to do on the acceptance part!

It has definitely been an unusual week. For all of my talk about planning last week, any semblance of usual routine has gone out of the window a little. Work has started late, and finished late, and there was a day off on Thursday for The Husband and I to make use of an afternoon tea voucher my parents kindly got us at Christmas. It was a real treat, and felt even more special having a midweek trip together. There has been good new and bad news, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, and I wrote an unusual blog post for me, in that it was a bit more serious than I tend to be, It was incredible to have such kind, thoughtful comments back, and made me very grateful for the lovely people that visit here. There was also a mid-week visit from my best friend, who lives quite a way away, and it was great to see her.

I have had some unusually early nights, but also tried to remember last week's word, and have some evenings of gentle productivity, to keep on top of things to some extent. I would say that the weather has been unusual too, but I have memories of being in Australia last January and my mum sending us pictures of Millie playing in thick snow, so maybe a cold, snowy January is starting to become the norm. And whereas Sunday night is usually a quiet evening in spent winding down and getting ready for the week ahead, tonight Grandad and I are off to see a show together, which will be unusual in the best kind of way.

Project 52: Week 2

I was very tempted to use this picture as it was definitely a favourite picture this week, but I decided not to have Millie for two weeks on the run. Instead, here is part of the beautiful afternoon tea The Husband and I went for, a lemon macaroon and a dark chocolate tart. We received the afternoon tea as a gift from my parents at Christmas, and this week we took a day off work to go and enjoy it. It was a lovely treat, great to have some time off mid-week, and we spent a very happy few hours together.