I've been lacking words this last week, so instead here are some pictures from what I've been up to. Highlights include a hen weekend where we got to stay on a working farm (with the lovely pair at the top of this post outside where we slept!), the first bulbs coming up in our garden, Mr C's birthday (which obviously required a home made chocolate cake), the completion of my raised bed, and today the first day of Spring proper. Somehow I also managed to squeeze in two books (Vanessa and Virginia and Deaf Sentence - reviews of both to follow), ... read more
NTTVBG: The Girl with Glass Feet – Ali Shaw
I admit that I'm a day late in actually finishing Ali Shaw's The Girl with Glass Feet but after an action packed couple of days away I couldn't face rushing the last 50 or so pages; I just wanted them to last forever. Ida MacLaird is turning into glass. She doesn't understand why and is understandably somewhat scared. Desperate for an answer she heads to the island where she thinks her transformation began, to search for a man that she met just once, but in whom she is placing all her hopes of a cure. She makes it to the island, but instead of finding her saviour she instead ... read more
Lemon and Honey Chicken
I love it when you discover a new recipe that's completely yummy, but also so easy that you could almost do it with your eyes closed. That sums up this recipe for lemon and honey chicken that I took out of 101 Cheap Eats . Less then ten minutes preparation and then an hour in the oven was all that was required before this could be served up. We used whole chicken legs in it and found that the meat stayed beautifully moist and infused with the lemon and honey flavours. These were also carried by the potatoes that cook around it and the time in the oven was just right to get these ... read more
Atonement – Ian McEwan
I am delighted that my reading project for 2010 seems to be on track. I have just finished reading Ian McEwan's Atonement which was one of the books on the Waterstones' Top 50 books of the Decade list and had actually been sitting on my bookcase for a while. I'd heard a fair bit of hype around the film adaptation of this, but somehow everything about the book seems to have passed me by a fair bit. A shame really as I thought it was an excellent read. I loved the innocence brought out in the thirteen year old Briony and in particular that ... read more
Jemima lives again
Someone please tell me how I ever found the time and energy to have a full time job! I seem to be really struggling this week, despite my best efforts to make sure I achieve something every day. Still, one thing that I did manage this week was to finally finish Jemima! Sadly she's far from perfect, but I certainly learnt a huge amount about my sewing machine in the process. Next week's project should be to give her something to wear. Let's hope I can manage at least one of the outfits in a week. ... read more
Valentines chilli and chocolate muffins
Valentines day meant something nice had to be made for Mr C when he returned from his usual SUnday morning football. I spotted the recipe for chilli and chocolate muffins in the February edition of Country Living magazine and thought that they would fit the bill perfectly - Mr C being a fan of home baking, chocolate and chilli.Very simple to make as the recipe only took a few minutes. I did decide not to include the whole bird's eye chillies on the top of each, but otherwise followed it to the letter. I'm therefore not at all sure as to why they rose and spread in quite the way they ... read more
Slow stitching progress
When I started my latest cross-stitch piece I assumed that the regular bed cover pattern would be quite relaxing to sew. How wrong I was!Having to keep changing colour is a right faff and quite time consuming. Still - I'm getting there - and after a bit of work on the animals in the bed I'm feeling a bit more refreshed. Bearing in mind that the bit pictured above is only half of the overall picture size, so quite a bit more to do. Three and a half more months to get it finished so I had better keep up the momentum on it as the last thing I want are sewing induced ... read more
A week of new recipes
Last week I managed to make great headway on my 52 in 2010 challenge with not one, not two, but three new recipes tried during the course of the week! The first came from the wonderful Apples for Jam and was for a simple beef stew with carrots. Not necessarily the most exciting dish in the world, but a good hearty winter meal all the same. Served up with some home-made mash this was very welcome of a bitterly cold evening. The carrots added a certain something that gave it a slight step up on most beef stews. After being inspired by seeing Nigel Slater's cookery programme on ... read more
NTTVBG: Brodeck’s Report – Phillippe Claudel
Today marks my first venture into book group reading with Phillippe Claudel's Brodeck's Report which I have read as part of the Not The TV Book Group over on dovergreyreader's blog. I wrote last week about feeling like I needed to structure my reading a bit better and I'm delighted to say that I managed to finish this book today in good time to join in the discussion over on dgr's blog.Brodeck's Report is, to be honest, one of those books that I doubt I would have chosen to read if it were not part of the book group's reading list. Set ... read more
Mo
My television watching is often a few days behind when things are actually broadcast, so it was only yesterday when I caught up with Channel 4's drama Mo, which told of the life of the late Mo Mowlem. The film covers not only her time in Northern Ireland, but also her own personal battle against the illness that finally took her life. The acting was fantastic, with Julie Walter's portrayal of Mo as incredibly accurate. The way in which the story was told was beautiful in the way that it combined tender moments of Mo's life as well as the challenges that she went ... read more