Here we are already - new year's eve 2008. So much has happened this year that I'm not really sure where to start. The highlight has to be marrying Mr C back in March. A perfect day and quite simply the best of my life. A round the world trip followed for our honeymoon: Los Angeles, New Zealand and Hong Kong. A trip of a life time and an amazing way to start married life. We were able to swim in Blue Lake pictured above and both of us agreed that it was one of the highlights of the trip. Since returning life has really centred around home and work. I also ... read more
Archives for December 2008
Yummy food
It's been a few days of fantastic food here.Firstly, we've been enjoying the contents of the food platter that my sister and her boyfriend gave us for Christmas. The chocolate truffles are particularly good (if you're reading please send me the recipe H!) and the chutney went perfectly with some ham for lunch on Sunday. I then got my hands very messy helping Mr C to make the tandoori chicken part of a butter chicken recipe that was in a book I gave him for Christmas. I have to say that it was one of the most delicious curries I've ever eaten and tasted amazingly fresh, with a ... read more
Emma – Jane Austen
It feels like an age ago that I started reading Jane Austen's Emma. I'm not totally sure why, but it was a very long read. I had a small break in the middle to read a couple of other books and I'm really glad I did as it meant that I came back to the second half of the book refreshed. Somehow I managed to get through my whole schooling without studying any Jane Austen and it was only when I left university that I bought all the set and thought that I ought to read them. I wasn't really sure what to expect with Emma. Other books like Sense and ... read more
All over…
Well there you go, the main part of Christmas is over and Mr C and I are safely back home.The four days we spent up with my parents seemed to fly by without much time to sit still. We had our trip to the seaside, visit to see my Gran, and also a trip up to Wakefield where a clergy friend held a Christingle service on Christmas Eve.Christmas day itself of course brought gifts. Photos will come as soon as I locate the camera, but of particular note were the fantastic binoculars and bird identification videos from my parents and the home made platter of edible gifts from my ... read more
Happy Christmas!
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to catching up with you all after the festive season. ... read more
Winter seaside
It's two days before Christmas and it's grey and cold outside - therefore it must be time to go on a family trip to the seaside. Surely? It was actually really nice to be outside and get the feeling of the wind through my hair as the four of us walked along the beach before having a mini-picnic in the car. We went to Sandilands in Lincolnshire which is about an hour's drive from where my parents live and is one of their favourite spots for winter walks. Despite the sky and sea being pretty grey there was much more of interest if you looked down at the beach that ... read more
Final Preparations
Today has really been a day of final preparations for Christmas. All the gifts are now wrapped and we've been to visit Mr C's family to deliver presents. All the washing is nearly done and I am starting to feel ready to start the festive season. Quite a bit of time seems to have been spent in the kitchen today. The final touches were made to yesterday's Rocky Road. Now we just need to remember to take it out of the fridge tomorrow and put it in a nice box for the journey north. Today I also made my first set of mince pies. I have helped my Mum hers many times over the years, ... read more
Edible gifts
It's been a while since I've done any baking and therefore I was quite excited to go round the supermarket earlier today picking up ingredients. My Dad's a big fan of Rocky Road and I therefore decided to make some so that Mr C and I can take it up as a gift when we go to stay with my parents on Monday. This is such a simple recipe and I love having these in the fridge for those moments when you need a little something sweet at the end of the day. I've got a few ideas though as to how to vary things in this recipe - possibly with the addition of rice krispies ... read more
Festive St Albans
Mr C and I took a wander into St Albans this afternoon to pick up a final few Christmas presents. We walked up into town past the Abbey which was a hive of activity this afternoon. Such has been demand in past years for the carol services, this year they decided to do Carols on the hour, every hour from 11am until 4pm. Outside the Abbey was a small craft market, in addition to the main Saturday market in the centre of the City. I thought it was a lovely touch and in beautiful surroundings - I just hope they use the space again for a similar purpose. The Abbey is very much the ... read more
Worse before better
It seems I'm destined to feel worse before I start feeling totally better. I'm now at the hacking cough stage. Coughing so much during the night that I (and Mr C, who is possibly in the early stages of all this) didn't get much sleep at all and my whole body feels shaken to pieces.Today was supposed to be my last day in the office before having next week off. I was supposed to be out visiting clients, but that was cancelled yesterday. There's nothing that can't wait until I'm in on the 29th, so instead I'm having a day concentrating on trying to make myself feel ... read more