We weren't planning a long walk today, just checking round the town caches. We got round one side of town and regretted the lack of hats and gloves as it snowed! After yesterday which was positively hot.
I warmed up with beetroot soup for lunch, using up the 5 that arrived in the veg box this week, making a vat with leftovers to be divided into portions and frozen for another day. My daughter who finds beetroot more painful than just colourful finished off some cauliflower and coconut laksa from a couple of days ago.
Despite the dire warnings from the weather-boffins, Linlithgow appears to be almost the only place in the country without snow (so far). Orkney has Proper Snow™ (with gritters, ploughs and black ice), Embra had some whiteness, but it's a glorious, if rather cold day here.
I suppose they're saving it up for tomorrow, when I have to go out in it.
Brunch has been eaten (smoked salmon, baked eggs*, avocado and TOAST), and laundry is laundering.
I think eating later will probably involve grazing on leftovers from yesterday - pâté, breadsticks, olives, stuffed miniature peppers and CHEESE.
Oh - and CHOCOLATE.
* I've discovered the hard way that 2 minutes in the microwave egg-baker thingy is too long ...
eta: @TheOrganist - that sounds like a lovely service. So pleased you're able to be singing again - especially Byrd!
We have No Chocolate in this house. An oversight that will be rectified by the addition of a syrup/ cocoa/ raisin sauce addition to our ice cream tonight.
As if it s not cold enough already without eating ice cream.
We went for a walk this morning. Very pleasant and not too chilly though there were a few flakes of snow. Sunny now and one of us is going to have to brave the Turkish shop at the end of the road for ingredients for dinner tonight, That is when we've decided what we are going to have.
I'm in the Midlands of England at the moment: it's bright if cold. Yesterday it was actually hot in the middle of the day. I'm in the conservatory and if I close the door it's like an oven! So strange to think it's snowing elsewhere in the country
I've considered mowing the lawn but Mr Nen feels it's not necessary and I've been easily persuaded out of it. Instead I've been busily watching some recorded programmes we're going to lose when our TV box updates itself any day now.
I've weeded two baskets of geranium rotundifolia from about a square yard of raised bed. But it snowed. Like isolated crystals occasionally drifting past the window. But it was cold.
We drove up to York to deliver no 1 son back and popped in to Byland Abbey to explore the ruins (too cold for a proper walk). Tea was pasta with bacon and cream.
Sleet and sunny intervals, followed by snow and sunny intervals was forecast for here today. Neither sleet nor snow materialised, but the sunny intervals came accompanied by a bitter wind.
Ventured out only to adjust the number of layers of horticultural fleece on the tomato plants (sheltering in one of those plastic grow-houses), and on the blackcurrant bush which had started budding.
I am going to get very tired of the covering and uncovering as the weather swings from one extreme to the other.
Should have sown veg seeds by now, but haven't - just hoping the weather picks up enough for them to catch up when I eventually get round to it.
He arrived in time for lunch with news of a new girl in his life and details of a flat he's made an offer on.
Exciting times!
We have freezing cold and sun again.
It’s my churchy Zoom this morning - always enjoyable and it lifts my Tuesdays
I have started taking Tatze on her walks in the afternoons as Mr Boogs corners the morning spot. We don’t walk together as our walking paces vary so much neither of us enjoys it! Tatze is more than happy with either speed as she’s off lead 99% of the time anyway.
I’m looking into the serious possibility of getting another dog, but first I must see if Echo qualifies - because, if he doesn’t, guess where he’s coming?!
A cold sunny walk here.
Officially I am on leave this week, though I want to spend one day catching up on marking. I've decided today is a study day so I will be reading for my research. I also need to pop into the forum to leave supportive comments on my fellow students end of year posters.
Lovely and mild yesterday saw Mr D, friend + friend's dog + me going for a 6 mile walk. Really enjoyable. Today it's bloomin' freezing. Yesterday evening saw us with a chickpea + a bit of leftover lamb tagine which was delicious. It used up the last of Easter Sunday's lamb . Tonight Toulouse sossidges with left over veggies, roast potatoes and onion gravy. I can't get enthusiastic about work. Sigh.
Back to work today, and although the threatened sn*w hasn't reached either EH49 (home) or EH4 (work) - it's a beautifully sunny day - it's jolly cold, and was even more so at the bus stop.
Lunch was more leftovers - breadsticks and pâté - and I think supper will be pasta with green things and crème fraîche.
eta: Boogie, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were willing Echo to fail his exams!
Very chilly here, and three flakes of snow this morning. Which is ridiculous, given that it was 26° (!) last weekend.
The market this morning looked a bit sad. At present only food can be sold (no other stalls), and a lot of the usual traders were missing. I think they must have given themselves a day off after the long weekend.
eta: Boogie, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were willing Echo to fail his exams!
Shhhhh! We have always steeled ourselves to say ‘no’ if one didn’t make it and did so when Twiglet was withdrawn. The other six passed with flying colours and are all still working.
We went for a brisk walk pre-lunch round the nearby playing field. It was chilly in the less sunny bit where the wind was blowing straight at you, but rather warm on the sunny side with the wind behind you.
Son has gone home and we are getting back to our usual routines. We'll be seeing him soon, as when our move finally happens we'll need his help to get the boxes out of the loft.
... supper will be pasta with green things and crème fraîche ...
... and some leftover baked ham, which made it even nicer.
I'm now sitting with a cup of tea and the M&S Belgian CHOCOLATE truffles my brother and sister-in-law brought on Sunday, and they're so good they probably ought to be illegal.
Not having a great time in the kitchen these days (I've lost that lovin' feelin'). So tonight's chicken and mushroom pie is a bit of a chance, particularly as it's topped with hot water crust pastry, which I have never tried before.
I must admit, the current cold snap is leaving me feeling quite dispirited and I'm sure I'd feel cheerier if it warmed up.
Study done today and tea was beef and pepper fajitas.
@Pendragon My morning featured a trip to the dentist, but I got a clean bill of health, fortunately, and was in and out in no time. How did yours go?
I was extremely sceptical about all the predictions of snow, but we've had quite a bit this afternoon. Basically April showers but with snow. We discussed whether you can actually have a snowbow, or if the light only refracts through liquid water.
Brilliant sunshine and a bright blue sky this morning - I had to remove layers of clothing as I was sitting at a table in front of the window, in direct sunlight.
Outside it was bitterly cold again. Mr RoS said he saw some snow, but I was facing the wrong way for a moment, and missed it.
Soup again for lunch.
Sunny and cold again today, and I’ll be going for a walk shortly.
Today I’ll check into work and make sure there are no urgent problems that need my attention. I’m officially on leave but might do a little marking this afternoon so I have less to do next week.
We had flurries, not much reaching ground level, but we could see the stuff hanging down under the dark clouds above - subliming before it got very far.
I tend to buy and cook the same things every week. I book my online slot first thing on a Monday morning for the following Monday and it only takes a few minutes to fill my trolley from my favourites. Wednesdays are always chick frick; Fridays are curry; Saturdays stir fry; Sundays a casserole. I've never particularly enjoyed cooking so it suits me to know what I'm doing each day and not be creative or inventive.
I've been out of routine this week because of the long weekend which involved roast lamb on Sunday and the leftover lamb in a casserole on Monday (and very nice they both were!). However, things are now back on track. I've done some unusual baking though; we haven't been eating bananas at our normal rate and the two in the fruit bowl were beyond salvage so I've baked banana bread. I'm heading out for a short walk in the cold now and will drizzle icing over said bread when I get back. It is not particularly Slimming World friendly but cakes consumed in the interest of Quality Control contain zero Syns, right?
Filling. But then the recipe I took it from was for a pie to eaten cold in squares, so a certain level of stodge would be appropriate. Otoh, it was very quick and easy, so I would do it again, only roll it thinner.
Tonight is the aubergine stuffed with lamb mince and manchego, which I've done before.
The Dentist was fine, apart from needing to brush a bit better. Dragonlet 1 has his adult molars coming through.
Yesterday we watched a Zoom toddler music session from the National Gallery, based on a still life painting with a fantastic lobster. I also had the unbounded joy of CofE safeguarding training for church.
This afternoon we went and got some compost and plant food, then put the strawberry plants in their tub.
Last night's dinner was duck wraps using up some of the meat left over from Sunday. Tonight is chicken cacciatore.
Because my weather app thingy was saying it was -1° when I woke up, I brought my boots and winter coat out of storage, and although we didn't have any sn*w in either Linlithgow or Embra, I was quite glad of them, especially during the 20-minute wait for the bus.
I took a pair of shoes to wear in the office, which would have been too warm for boots, but by the time I was coming home I probably didn't really need all the heavy-duty gear.
After a quick foray to M&S on the way home, supper was The Sausage Thing - a sort of pseudo-paella with Italian-style sausages, saffron rice, prawns and peas - and it was very decent.
@Firenze, you're several steps ahead of me on the pastry front - it's something I've never tried. David always liked pies, and decided not long before he died to try his hand at making pastry (and made a couple of really rather good chicken pies).
I was half expecting to bump into you outside the chippy yesterday (tues) evening, @Piglet .
first time in well over a year (kids don't like chippy chips) but after 2 days of clearing out, then repainting a room, and seeing as the kids were getting something separate (too common an occurrence these days) we treated ourselves.
I've made a hot-water pastry crust for a giant gala pie (pork pie with hard-boiled eggs in) for two Christmases, and it's really easy compared to other varieties of pastry.
Sadly, this year it would not have been worth the effort as with only two of us, we'd have still been eating it at Easter (just a joke, before you all turn green and look for the projectile vomiting smilie!)
Last night we went on a virtual pub crawl, a walk round our area visiting various pubs we would have gone to if they were open. A good thing they weren't, I'd have been very drunk by the tenth!
Dinner last night was our mid-week staple of salad, flat bread and hummus.
Weather a bit iffy up here, sun did appear for a short time, but black clouds have now made their appearance. and its jolly cold!
Tea last night was cauliflower steak, bacon and mashed potato. The cauliflower refused to stay in its steak shape, so it turned out more like fried cauliflower. Tasted good, though!
Husband en rouge took Captain P to the speech therapist this morning, giving me a bit of time to myself. I went to check out the new fabric shop that has opened nearby, and in a remarkable feat of self-discipline managed not to buy anything. I shall be back tho
Walnut bread is rising and will be available for virtual tasting later.
Comments
I warmed up with beetroot soup for lunch, using up the 5 that arrived in the veg box this week, making a vat with leftovers to be divided into portions and frozen for another day. My daughter who finds beetroot more painful than just colourful finished off some cauliflower and coconut laksa from a couple of days ago.
I suppose they're saving it up for tomorrow, when I have to go out in it.
Brunch has been eaten (smoked salmon, baked eggs*, avocado and TOAST), and laundry is laundering.
I think eating later will probably involve grazing on leftovers from yesterday - pâté, breadsticks, olives, stuffed miniature peppers and CHEESE.
Oh - and CHOCOLATE.
* I've discovered the hard way that 2 minutes in the microwave egg-baker thingy is too long ...
eta: @TheOrganist - that sounds like a lovely service. So pleased you're able to be singing again - especially Byrd!
As if it s not cold enough already without eating ice cream.
Also, chocolate.
Ventured out only to adjust the number of layers of horticultural fleece on the tomato plants (sheltering in one of those plastic grow-houses), and on the blackcurrant bush which had started budding.
I am going to get very tired of the covering and uncovering as the weather swings from one extreme to the other.
Should have sown veg seeds by now, but haven't - just hoping the weather picks up enough for them to catch up when I eventually get round to it.
He arrived in time for lunch with news of a new girl in his life and details of a flat he's made an offer on.
Exciting times!
We have freezing cold and sun again.
It’s my churchy Zoom this morning - always enjoyable and it lifts my Tuesdays
I have started taking Tatze on her walks in the afternoons as Mr Boogs corners the morning spot. We don’t walk together as our walking paces vary so much neither of us enjoys it! Tatze is more than happy with either speed as she’s off lead 99% of the time anyway.
I’m looking into the serious possibility of getting another dog, but first I must see if Echo qualifies - because, if he doesn’t, guess where he’s coming?!
Officially I am on leave this week, though I want to spend one day catching up on marking. I've decided today is a study day so I will be reading for my research. I also need to pop into the forum to leave supportive comments on my fellow students end of year posters.
Lunch was more leftovers - breadsticks and pâté - and I think supper will be pasta with green things and crème fraîche.
eta: Boogie, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were willing Echo to fail his exams!
The wind has swung round to the north-west, and, at the moment, is invigorating, rather than chilling.
More coal has been ordered for the Dragon, though. Winter is not yet over...
The market this morning looked a bit sad. At present only food can be sold (no other stalls), and a lot of the usual traders were missing. I think they must have given themselves a day off after the long weekend.
Shhhhh! We have always steeled ourselves to say ‘no’ if one didn’t make it and did so when Twiglet was withdrawn. The other six passed with flying colours and are all still working.
But, with Echo, we seem to have lost our steel!
Son has gone home and we are getting back to our usual routines. We'll be seeing him soon, as when our move finally happens we'll need his help to get the boxes out of the loft.
I'm now sitting with a cup of tea and the M&S Belgian CHOCOLATE truffles my brother and sister-in-law brought on Sunday, and they're so good they probably ought to be illegal.
Study done today and tea was beef and pepper fajitas.
I was extremely sceptical about all the predictions of snow, but we've had quite a bit this afternoon. Basically April showers but with snow. We discussed whether you can actually have a snowbow, or if the light only refracts through liquid water.
Outside it was bitterly cold again. Mr RoS said he saw some snow, but I was facing the wrong way for a moment, and missed it.
Soup again for lunch.
Today I’ll check into work and make sure there are no urgent problems that need my attention. I’m officially on leave but might do a little marking this afternoon so I have less to do next week.
I tend to buy and cook the same things every week. I book my online slot first thing on a Monday morning for the following Monday and it only takes a few minutes to fill my trolley from my favourites. Wednesdays are always chick frick; Fridays are curry; Saturdays stir fry; Sundays a casserole. I've never particularly enjoyed cooking so it suits me to know what I'm doing each day and not be creative or inventive.
I've been out of routine this week because of the long weekend which involved roast lamb on Sunday and the leftover lamb in a casserole on Monday (and very nice they both were!). However, things are now back on track. I've done some unusual baking though; we haven't been eating bananas at our normal rate and the two in the fruit bowl were beyond salvage so I've baked banana bread. I'm heading out for a short walk in the cold now and will drizzle icing over said bread when I get back. It is not particularly Slimming World friendly but cakes consumed in the interest of Quality Control contain zero Syns, right?
Filling. But then the recipe I took it from was for a pie to eaten cold in squares, so a certain level of stodge would be appropriate. Otoh, it was very quick and easy, so I would do it again, only roll it thinner.
Tonight is the aubergine stuffed with lamb mince and manchego, which I've done before.
Yesterday we watched a Zoom toddler music session from the National Gallery, based on a still life painting with a fantastic lobster. I also had the unbounded joy of CofE safeguarding training for church.
This afternoon we went and got some compost and plant food, then put the strawberry plants in their tub.
Last night's dinner was duck wraps using up some of the meat left over from Sunday. Tonight is chicken cacciatore.
I took a pair of shoes to wear in the office, which would have been too warm for boots, but by the time I was coming home I probably didn't really need all the heavy-duty gear.
After a quick foray to M&S on the way home, supper was The Sausage Thing - a sort of pseudo-paella with Italian-style sausages, saffron rice, prawns and peas - and it was very decent.
@Firenze, you're several steps ahead of me on the pastry front - it's something I've never tried. David always liked pies, and decided not long before he died to try his hand at making pastry (and made a couple of really rather good chicken pies).
first time in well over a year (kids don't like chippy chips) but after 2 days of clearing out, then repainting a room, and seeing as the kids were getting something separate (too common an occurrence these days) we treated ourselves.
Sadly, this year it would not have been worth the effort as with only two of us, we'd have still been eating it at Easter (just a joke, before you all turn green and look for the projectile vomiting smilie!)
Dinner last night was our mid-week staple of salad, flat bread and hummus.
My banana bread turned out well; Quality Control continues.
It's a lovely sunny day here and I'm headed out at lunchtime with a sandwich to eat a picnic in a friend's garden.
Tea last night was cauliflower steak, bacon and mashed potato. The cauliflower refused to stay in its steak shape, so it turned out more like fried cauliflower. Tasted good, though!
Walnut bread is rising and will be available for virtual tasting later.