Mr C and I have been real party animals this week. Out on two work nights - almost unheard of! Tonight we visited one of St Albans' new restaurants: Stonegrill St Albans. The slightly different thing at this restaurant is that your meat, fish or vegetables are served to your table whilst cooking on superheated natural volcanic stones! (apologies for the poor photo) It's a slightly strange experience, and a bit smokey at times, but certainly gave the steak that I had a completely different taste to normal. I understand that Stonegrill is a chain, so if there is one near you then I'd certainly ... read more
No! I don’t want to join a bookclub
Virginia Ironside's No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub is a paperback that I picked up from a local charity shop whilst I was off work ill. It looked quite light and jolly and so I though that it would be ideal light reading. The book is written as the diary of Marie Sharp, starting a few months before her sixtieth birthday. Marie is a woman who is (slightly unusually) looking forward to turning sixty. She's due to become a grandmother for the first time and is thrilled at being able to embrace the time spent with grandson Gene. The book follows her life, along with those of her close friends ... read more
Laughter – the best medicine
After an awful journey home from work, Mr C and I tonight went to see Jimmy Carr at the Alban Arena here in St Albans as part of his Repeat Offender tour. Fantastically funny. Very rude and totally wrong in parts, but still made me laugh until I ached. If you haven't seen him live then do so if you get the chance. Well worth it! ... read more
Corn Stuffed Tomatoes
A while back Mr C and I decided that we should put some more time into our cooking. We were getting into the habit of eating out quite frequently, and while we enjoyed it, it certainly wasn't doing our waist line, or bank balance, much good at all. Logically, if you are replacing eating out, then you can look to spend a fraction of that money on good quality ingredients and cook at home instead and get just as tasty a meal. We therefore started making the most of various cookbooks that were starting to gather dust on our kitchen shelves and started being a bit more adventurous in the kitchen. ... read more
Cowboy Bean Hash
Tonight was Mr C's turn to cook - something he does quite often and is fantastic at! The first stage, of course, had to be to provide some lubrication for the chef and his assistant. This initial stage sorted, it was time to move on to the main part of the evening's entertainment - the food. Cowboy Bean Hash (our chosen name!) is a meal that Mr C's mum originally taught him to make. Quite where it came from we're unsure. She may well have got it from Delia (many of her meals were) but we can't swear to it. The minimal ingredients and general style make us think not - but we may be wrong. In ... read more
Words
I think this is fantastic! Created with the words in the last few blog posts I think it's really interesting to see what words are included - my passion for reading certainly stands out! Created at wordle. ... read more
Arthur & George – Julian Barnes
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes is another book that I chose to read after seeing that it had been on the Nightingale House Book Group reading list. The blurb that I found about the book at the time of buying simply suggested that Arthur and George were two individuals who lived in Britain in the late nineteenth-century. A series of events that made sensational headlines would then bring the two gentlemen together. That was all I knew at the start. A book about two gentlemen at a time in British history that I enjoy reading about. I didn't think much more of it at the time and just looked ... read more
Outdoor Summer Fun
Yesterday was the annual summer event at our local nature reserve. Mr C and I were helping to organise the pond dipping. A couple of years ago the whole mere at the site dried out. Since it re-filled with water we have seen evidence of several different bits of wildlife and thought that the summer event would be the ideal opportunity for us to see what was living under the surface and to teach some of the local children about what they can find living in the water. Armed with some fishing nets we started to explore under the surface and we were quite amazed with what we found! Not only did ... read more
Hugh’s Chicken Out fight against Tesco
I'm quite disappointed to hear on the lunchtime news just now that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has failed in his attempted to get his special resolution passed at the Tesco AGM for them to improve their chicken welfare standards. I understand that Hugh managed to get 10% of the vote. Unfortunately Tesco had stated that he needed a whopping 75% for the resolution to be passed. Since Hugh launched the Chicken Out campaign I've been following his progress with interest. His television programme showing the conditions in which many chickens are forced to live certainly made me think again about ... read more
Regular or Irregular?
When I first learnt to knit (not all that long ago) one of the things that I found I enjoyed most about it was the regularity of the stitches. When doing practice squares (and trust me I did a LOT of practice squares) I enjoyed letting my mind wander somewhat and then being able to run my fingers along my finished work and feel the regular pattern that I'd created. I decided a few months ago to try to push the limits of my knitting ability. Apart from the socks I also started on a small lacy cardigan from a Rowan pattern that I obtained from Rowan International. I'm currently working on the ... read more