Long Weekend in Norfolk

Morning all, it's a chilly one out there today but how pretty did everywhere look thanks to the frost :-) First time of de-icing the car this winter and Barry's first experience of a harsh frost that he can remember - I don't think we had many back in March when we brought him home with us. He liked the crispy grass and ran around a lot this morning to keep warm. There was a beautiful sunrise here this morning over the Berkshire downs and I loved donning winter clothing for a bracing morning walk.

We all woke up tired this morning anyway; it took us almost five hours to drive back from Norfolk yesterday, with a brief stop at Jack's parents in Cambridgeshire to say hello too. By the time we'd unpacked our bags, put some washing on and found something to eat I think we were all ready for bed. I could certainly hear Jack trying to coax Barry out of his snug warm bed this morning to go outside for a wee - the dog that is, not Jack!

We had such a lovely time in Norfolk with my family this weekend; I needed a break away from work and it had been a couple of months since I'd seen my parents or my brother (who joined us, with his girlfriend). The weather was rather wild this weekend and we experienced 50mph winds, rain, sleet and hail. We attempted a walk one lunchtime and could barely reach the Overstrand promenade, so instead ran back to the pub to warm up!

This photo made us all laugh!

We did however manage a few walks along the beach and Barry had a great time chasing seagulls and fetching his tennis ball. He also went jumping into pools of seawater left behind as the tide went out, many of which were very deep which he didn't realise!

 

There were some fantastic sunrises and sunsets while we were in Overstrand, made all the more spectacular by the storm clouds that were rolling towards us - the hail showers really did sting!

 

Overstrand Beach, Cromer Pier in the distance

 

It was of course very important that we got to enjoy some fish and chips while we were on the North Norfolk coast and it only seemed right that we visited our favourite chip shop, Mary Janes'. We opted to eat in though or my haddock & chips may have flown back into the sea!

 

Monster piece of Haddock!

We had a really lovely time catching up and as I mentioned, we had a lot of laughs - mostly at my expense... after one particular windy and wet dog walk along the beach, Jack and I headed to the village shop to buy a lottery ticket. Jack waited outside while I headed in to buy the lottery ticket - which I didn't manage to buy because the lady behind the counter asked to see some ID! I thought she was joking and I certainly didn't have any on me (we'd taken a few pound coins in our pockets), so I huffed out of the shop after telling the woman I'm 26 years old!! I sent Jack in (who's almost a year younger than me) and he had no problems. To say my family found it hilarious was an understatement and I did see the funny side later on, I was just amazed as it wasn't even for alcohol! I'm used to getting asked for some ID when buying alcohol, although the last few times I've not even been asked but it seems I look 10 years younger when it comes to buying a lottery ticket! Oh well, Mum says I'll be glad I look younger one day.

I haven't got a lot planned this week though I desperately need to do some sorting in our kitchen cupboards. Ever since we moved in I just put things in cupboards without giving it much thought but trying to get to my cake tins last week was an effort! I'm usually Miss Organised so I must do this at some point. I'd like to make another soup this week too; I'm fancying a pea and ham soup!

Have a good week all :-)

Weekend

I think the presence of the storms was felt everywhere this weekend, it certainly made for some menacing skies over Newbury on Friday.

Moody sky over the West Berkshire Museum in Newbury

 

Luckily I didn't get too caught out in the rain this weekend and it was nice to have a fresher temperature on Saturday; I hear it's going to get much colder by the end of the week too so here's hoping we wake up to some beautiful frosty mornings as opposed to grey wet clouds.

 

I had a lovely day in London on Saturday at the BBC Good Food show; it's the first time I've been to this show and I thought it was great. We had a presentation with Tom Kerridge and he's one of my favourite chefs - anyone who loves proper British grub is good in my books! He cooked an amazing mussel dish and made it look so easy that I really must try it, I love mussels. There were lots of samples, especially fudge, I don't know how much fudge I ate! There were some really interesting stalls with different combinations of food you wouldn't necessarily put together. I enjoyed it anyway and it was lovely to have a catch up with my friend. We then headed to Covent Garden afterwards for something to eat before catching the train home.

 

 

I didn't get up to a lot yesterday; Jack had some friends to stay for the weekend and they had a late night out on Saturday so they were all feeling a little tired and fragile yesterday morning! I did drag them to the pub in the village for a tasty Sunday lunch and I made some more mincemeat in the afternoon.

 

Cheeky puppy found a cosy place to snooze yesterday on the guest duvet!

 

So a pretty boring blog post today! Now I'm going to have a good read of everyone's recent blog posts to see what they got up to at the weekend, while chomping on some jammie dodgers! :-)

 

I'm very much looking forward to Thursday this week as we're heading to Norfolk for a long weekend at my Parents' home. Barry is excited about running around on the beach, crazy to think that the last time we took him to the seaside he was only 15 weeks old and this time he'll be 10 months old, how time flies. I haven't seen my parents in a couple of months so I'm excited to see them and my brother and his girlfriend are also coming for the weekend too so it'll be nice to have some proper family time. I can't wait for some long walks on the beach to blow the cobwebs away.

 

Have a good week everyone x

 

 

When does Jack Frost arrive?

After a weekend of mist, fog, wind, rain and more rain, I'd like to know when the weather will dry up and get cooler! I don't like this persistent mild wet weather, I hope the frosty but sunny days arrive soon.

Sadly the weather meant Jack couldn't get finished with his shed building, so instead we've almost finished the coving in the main bedroom. Just the tricky chimney breast to do (with 'inny' and 'outy' corners) and then it'll be over to me to caulk and paint the new coving. Our main bedroom will then be complete in terms of decorating. I'm going to buy a curtain pole (and curtains) this week, I'm getting a bit sick of our makeshift curtain (a big duvet cover pinned up!) but until we had finished the painting and decorating I didn't want to put some nice new curtains up. I did buy a book on curtain making as I'd like to give it a go, but I think I'll choose a smaller window instead of our huge bedroom ones (not sure I'll be that good!). We then need to finish furnishing the main bedroom; at the moment we're making do with two clothes rails, a few plastic tubs as bedside tables and a workmate as a TV stand!

I had a much needed hair cut on Saturday after god knows how long neglecting to find a hair dressers. I've had my hair cut by the same lovely lady for so many years that when I moved to Newbury almost 3 years ago it was really tough to find somewhere new (I instead opted to book a hair cut every so often when we went back to Cambridge to delay having to find somewhere new). I have however now found a lovely salon with very friendly staff members. The lady who cut my hair was lovely and it was a relief I have to tell you that they actually listened to what you're after. Hair cuts really aren't cheap anymore though hence why I don't go as often as I should. Jack's so lucky to be able to pop to the Barbers in the next village and have his hair cut for £5 but then it probably takes them less than 5 minutes to do it! Though the hair dresser blow-dried my hair beautifully (something I can never seem to do), it was totally wasted when I left the salon, scarpering to the car as quickly as possible in the driving wind and rain! Jack (ever the gentleman) told me how lovely my (bedraggled and now frizzy) hair looked nonetheless. We then rewarded ourselves with my favourite kind of weekend breakfast; sausage, egg and bacon bap!

I am nicknamed the Bacon Queen!

Other than venturing out to the farm shop on Sunday morning, the rest of the weekend was spent indoors (in the warm). We did brave the weather a few times to walk the dog but even he didn't enjoy the wind much! I finally managed to get my latest crochet project finished; I've made a scarf for my best friend for Christmas in a beautifully soft part-Alpaca wool. I can't post photos of the scarf yet in case she spots it on my blog! I'm very pleased with it anyway and after quite a few hours, it's given me a lot of practice with lots of different crochet stitches. I've been busy crocheting holly leaves and mini-wreaths too that I can either make into a sort of bunting or just hang in various places around the house - photos to follow once they're finished. I have also nearly finished our big crochet blanket for the bed, it's probably at double-bed size now and our bed is a king so just a few more rounds to do. I can't wait to snuggle up in it!

Jack's work colleagues love my baking so I made a giant fruit loaf yesterday which was probably all gone by 9am this morning! I always make mine quite boozy and leave the dried fruit soaking in white wine and brandy for at least a few hours before they go into the mixture so I hope they're not drunk now..

Making Fruit Cake

I didn't get any photos of the big fruit loaf but I did also make some mini fruit loaves, they're so cute! I love everything in miniature! Good things come in small packages, that was what I was always told :-)

Have a good week!

Autumnal Food

I hope everyone had a good time on Halloween and watching fireworks on Bonfire Night last night. Our village had a display last Saturday which we watched from our driveway; it was Barry's first experience of fireworks and our nervous little puppy was surprisingly brave. That's not to say he stood with us going "oohh" and "ahhh", instead choosing to head for the safety of his comfy bed where he could watch and listen while playing with his toy. I know fireworks are extremely scary for a lot of pets.

We've had a lot of dense fog this week that hasn't cleared at all some days in our little 'dip' in the Berkshire downs. We've also had a lot of rain this week which has meant I've made the effort to re-stock our freezer with meat that will be perfect for stews and casseroles. We enjoyed a lovely lamb stew one day this week; I love being able to use my slow-cooker. My Nan gave me her old slow-cooker a few years ago and I love it - the older ones are just as good if not better than some of the newer inventions. The settings on mine are very simple; auto, low or high. It has a big ceramic pot that's removable too which is great as it means when I get home I take it out of the slow cooker, make some dumplings and pop it in the oven to finish off the dumplings. If I didn't do dumplings I think Jack would cry! I love dumplings too, very naughty but so good, especially herby dumplings!

My lovely assistant; the slow-cooker

 



Barry is eager for the weekend to arrive as it means much longer walks in the countryside. These dark evenings mean that our usual walk is somewhat shorter, though he still enjoys a good run around the field in the mornings too when Jack takes him out before he goes to work. We had a nice walk together last weekend, lots of colourful berries everywhere.

I also cooked a lovely Halloween-inspired meal last Saturday; Sausage, sage and pumpkin casserole. It's so tasty and this time I did it with some couscous on the side (great to soak up all the juices). I really like pumpkin and would love to try making a pumpkin soup. What do people recommend I do with the pumpkin in the soup? I was thinking a pumpkin and carrot soup?

Things at work haven't improved sadly, and I don't think it will any time soon. Therefore, my de-stress therapy when I get home is to crochet or read a book to switch off, both of which I didn't make much time for. I'm now making more of an effort to have an hour or so of 'chill time' and my little limpet is always by my side while we wait for Jack to get home from work. Once home, all three of us squeeze onto our tiny worn out sofa which is finally meeting its end. It's been in Jack's family since he was little and was kindly donated to us when we first moved into our own place, before coming here to our house with us. It's now falling apart completely and we have finally ordered a new sofa and arm chair which will arrive before Christmas. We're very excited and I've already called dibs on the armchair, it's a perfect snuggle for me (without little limpet) with a good book, though Jack also thinks it'll make a good gaming chair... hmm. I think we've both already said it's going to be pretty difficult to stop Barry from joining us on the new sofa. I think I'm just going to invest in a good throw (mainly for the bottom cushions) to help protect the new sofa from getting worn. He's only allowed up when invited (as opposed to many dogs that beat you to the best spot in the living room!), but he perfects his "I'm so lonely" face from across the room in his bed when he's not on the sofa with us, so we usually give in!

My little limpet

 

 

We're having a quiet weekend at home; I hope the weather will be dry so we can enjoy a nice long walk somewhere. Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Final photo I promise; Barry showing off while playing his favourite game we call "patience/frustration"! He loves it and stays stock-still until given the cue to gobble up all the treats!