I can't disguise the fact that I am rather partial to a nice glass of wine, especially when curled up with a good book or my knitting. I've done an evening long introduction to wine tasting course at my local independent wine shop which certainly taught me a lot, but I'm still much more of a James May than an Oz Clarke when it comes to knowing about wine. I generally buy things that are on some sort of a special offer in the supermarket and go back to the ones that I discover that I really like.One that I found recently in the Waitrose new world wines offer ... read more
Archives for September 2008
The last time they met – Anita Shreve
I can't say too much about Anita Shreve's The Last Time They Met for risk of ruining the experience of reading it for yourself. I will say that having read quite a few Anita Shreve books now I think this one stands out as being pretty special.The story starts with Linda Fallow and Thomas Janes meeting up at at writers' festival in Toronto and we learn that this is the first time the former lovers have met up in twenty-six years. The book also takes us to Kenya where they last met and back to Massachusetts where there love first started. Throughout the book the ... read more
Books, books, books…
I love reading and I also love telling others about good books that I've discovered and sharing them around. Last Saturday was a fantastic day for new books though.Firstly Mr C and I went to visit my mother-in-law and I took with me some books that I'd read to pass on to her. In exchange she presented me with a pile of books that she had picked up - a mix of charity shop finds and ones that she's read for the local book group that she attends.After a quick cuppa Mr C and I then walked into Harpenden to do a spot of shopping. Of course no trip to the shops is complete without a ... read more
Let’s grow!
I don't normally get drawn in by the various TV adverts that we are bombarded by during most TV programmes, but tonight I did see one that made me go to the internet to look up more.I'm very keen that we teach children more about healthy eating and where food comes from and hence I really like the sound of Morrisons' Let's Grow campaign. It works in a very similar way to the way the other big supermarket chains have their vouchers for schools campaign, but in this one schools can exchange the vouchers they are given for gardening equipment that the children can ... read more
Lots and lots of garlic
I went along to the St Albans' Farmers' Market a couple of weeks ago for my usual Sunday morning amble around looking at all the wonderful food produce available and choosing a few items to take home and use in that week's meals. When I was there last the semi-regular Continental Market was also still on with their stalls at the end of where the regular Farmers' Market ones are.I'm not such a big fan of the continental market, mainly due to some rubbish cheese that I've had from one stall in the past, but this time one particular stall really caught ... read more
Place of Execution
I don't watch that much on television, but do tend to find myself drawn to either comedy, factual documentaries or murder mystery type programmes. One programme that falls into the latter category and that I'd been looking forwards to after seeing the trailers was the ITV dramatisation of Val McDermid's A Place of Execution that started on Monday night.Although I haven't read any recently I read most of McDermid's books a few years ago (mainly via my local library at the time which was excellent at ordering things in for me) and this was one book that ... read more
Parmesan Bread
I've not been that adventurous yet in my bread making, but I've certainly always wanted to be more so, especially after the tomato bread that I got to eat at a friend's house and so I got out one of my bread making books with the aim of making some sun-dried tomato bread.The lack of sun-dried tomatoes in the store cupboard meant that my plans had to be modified someone and instead I ended up making parmesan bread. I started off with the sun-dried tomato bread recipe from Jennie Shapter's Bread Machine book and followed the instructions for the medium ... read more
Swans on the Mere
As I've mentioned before Mr C and I don't have a garden ourselves and so we make as much use as possible of our local nature reserve. We went down there this morning and were treated to a huge amount of nature.When we were down earlier in the week we found one swan swimming on the Mere, but today we found that the one had been joined by four mature cygnets. The Mere was a busy place this morning though as alongside the normal array of coots and morehens there was also a heron keeping an eye on things and we caught sight of the resident kingfisher going about his business. Mr ... read more
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
I first heard of Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day via yarnstorm and finally got round to buying a copy when I was looking for something on amazon to bring my order of work related books up to the level required for free postage and packing.I completely loved this book for so many reasons. Miss Pettigrew is the most delightful character that grows with the book in quite a remarkable way. She is a middle-aged governess who is sent by an employment agency to Miss LaFosse (a nightclub singer!) and Miss P thinks that she is going there to look ... read more
Learning to crochet
I've been wanting to learn how to crochet for ages, so today I took a day off work and did just that.I'd booked myself a place on a Rowan beginner's crochet course that was held in the Brent Cross John Lewis and had a fantastic time. There were only six of us on the course (they limit the number of places to eight so that enough one-on-one tuition and help can be given) and I found that I was able to learn so much. I'd tries teaching my self from a book a couple of times, but after the basic chain I just found myself getting so confused about what to do ... read more