Weekly Musings

2018 - Week Twenty Five

'You have turned your heart into a museum of people you've loved to keep them alive inside you.'

(Nikita Gill)

I'm going to skip through the majority of this week as it was pretty uneventful with staying at Aum's. I got a poem up on Instagram, read it here, and I went to watch him in his school production of Mary Poppins on Thursday which was amazing, and that is no exaggeration! The school he is at really pull out all the stops when it comes to drama performances: hand painted backdrops, elaborate costumes and full makeup, a live band, mic attachments, the whole she-bang. Considering it is an all boys school and the lead (as well as multiple others) did the complet hour long play in heels and a wig, I was beyond impressed, this year was probably my favourite so far.

On Friday as soon as I had dropped Aum at cricket, I drove 'round to Tasha's and together with Hannah we road tripped up to Carlisle for Lydia's hen party. We didn't arrive until gone 10pm, by which time most were already there and in the hot tub! We hired a beautiful Georgian manor for the affair (there were 16 of us altogether and we all fit in very comfortably), and it was literally my dream house - fireplaces in all the rooms, roll top baths in the bathrooms, its own orchard, an Aga, a twisted staircase/ entrance hall fit for a queen and William Morris wallpaper galore. The rest of the bridesmaids and Emily had arrived early and decorated everywhere with banners, photos and balloons so it looked a treat!

As we turned up quite late we headed to bed after a couple of glasses of fizz, but were up bright and early yesterday ready for an action packed day. After a hearty breakfast we drove in convoy to Ullswater, where we took part in a canoe treasure hunt, which was beyond fun. Lydia's mum sat it out so we were in three teams of five, each in two canoes that had been strapped together. We had to follow clues and row to each next point in order to try and reach the booty first - four bottles of champagne!

 

I'm not going to lie, I am not cut out for rowing! Even with help from our guide who used his speedboat to push us along at times (shoutout to James at Glenridding Activity Centre) we were not exactly speedy. Unfortunately our team didn't win, but four bottles was more than enough bubbly to go around us all, and we needed the Dutch courage for the cliff jump that we did at the end, which was such an adrenaline rush, I did it twice!

Once we were home and had scrubbed up (after I had a quick dip in the hot tub to try it out) we all convened in the dining room for a three course dinner that we'd hired a chef to cook. I had the Thai fishcakes to start, followed by a vegetable tagine, and we all had the trio of desserts to finish - homemade pistachio yoghurt ice cream, triple chocolate mousse and a lemon meringue. The dessert and my main was delicious, but the starter had too much coriander in for my liking, and the meat-eaters main (chicken meatballs?) didn't go down too well. It took the hassle out of cooking or trying to find a restaurant to fit us all in though, especially in the middle of nowhere, so it was worth it.

After food I became a cocktail maker! I had devised a menu and me and a couple of others took orders and whipped up some alcoholic creations for everyone, which were very well received. Lots of silly games, drinking and dancing ensued, which you can thank for my choice of track of the week below, as it is mine and Lydia's 'song'! the last trio standing, Lydia, fellow bridesmaid Lizzie and I made it back into the hot tub with a bottle of prosecco at 2am, so you can imagine I was not feeling the freshest this morning!

Today we set off for home before midday, so I was sunbathing on the roof of the boat before 4pm, and Chris threw together a lovely tea for us ready in time for a Love Island catchup. Corker of a weekend!

Weekly Musings

2018 - Week Seven
'Fall for someone with an air of mystery and wildness in their bones, but with the kindest eyes and a thousand beautiful stories woven into their soul.'
(Nikita Gill)

 It's always difficult to kiss goodbye to the end of a week off work, but I have had such an amazing time I almost don't mind (almost). I had a super lazy Monday and started watching Gossip Girl; how I managed to let it slip past me when everyone else was bingeing on it back in 2007 I will never know. It's trashy and far fetched but deliciously entertaining, the perfect fodder for background viewing whilst pottering around the house. Tuesday was pancake day, so I thought I'd be a bit experimental and devised a recipe all of my own - a spinach, mushroom and squash baked pancake stack which turned out really well (and we still had room for sweet ones for dessert!).

On Wednesday morning after swapping Valentine's day cards and presents with Chris I headed to a yoga session at InHale studio. I have been fitting in an hour or so every day this week so far and really enjoy how invigorated it makes me feel. The class was a bit more difficult than I am used to but I thrived off the challenge, and knowing I had avocado bruschetta waiting for me for brunch at The Garden afterwards definitely made it worth the extra effort. I grabbed a quick coffee at Abi's 'round the corner and then headed home to get ready for my date that evening and pack for a late night roadtrip to Wales for a few days.

As a surprise Chris took me for tea at HOME in town, followed by a viewing of the live stream of Twelfth Night from The Globe in Stratford-upon-Avon. We shared a flatbread platter for starter (with tapenade, beetroot and cumin, and aubergine and yoghurt dips), and then I had a North African 'Buddha bowl', with chickpeas, courgette, spinach, kale, seeds and Cajun fried halloumi on top. The food is top notch at HOME, they have so many options (tonnes of veggie and vegan stuff too), a cracking drinks menu and the atmosphere is super chilled. The play was fab; I am hugely biased as an avid Shakespeare fan, but I felt very lucky that Chris sat through it with me, as he admitted afterwards that he didn't have a clue what was going on! We drove straight to Chris' family house in Llangynog, Wales once it had finished, with a quick pitstop to collect the doggies from the flat, and arrived just after midnight.

On Thursday morning after a lie in and some breakfast we set off on an amble up the side of a mountain. We totally misjudged the wind though so had to turn back after about half an hour - a cliff edge, a bouncy cocker spaniel (Ferryn) and a very lightweight ball of fluff (Lola) seemed like a recipe for disaster. We grabbed a coffee in the local pub and then snuggled up back at the house watching House of Cards instead. That afternoon Chris' mum and her friend Maggie arrived and we got on the wine after eating a lovely homemade lentil lasagne, and his stepdad got to the house later on to join in. It was nice to get to know them all a bit better - definitely one of the most relaxed and enjoyable 'meet the parents' I've done!

On Friday (feeling a little worse for wear!) we drove to nearby Oswestry to a vegan restaurant called The Fat Rabbit for lunch. The choices were so good that Chris and I got two to share: mushroom and white wine gnocchi, and tamarind gyoza with edamame and rice noodles. We also got a raw Snickers bar with ice cream for dessert, oh my gosh it was all incredible! We had a little mooch around the market and shops, before heading home as Chris was DJing that evening. Beautiful little Welsh jaunt!

Yesterday I was up bright and early to head into Manchester for another yoga class, this time with a few friends to celebrate my mate Emily's birthday. It was a reggae version at Hyper Island in the Northern Quarter, and it was HARD! We did core work, inversions, loads of hamstring stretching poses, and ended the class with headstand practise, which I gave my all, but it will be a long time until I have perfected it. A few more joined us for brunch in Trof, I had a couple of soya lattes (needed the caffeine boost!) and the vegan brekkie but with added halloumi. I saw a few friends that I haven't caught up with for ages so didn't get home until mid afternoon, and then I went to Chris' boat for an amazing Swedish massage as I am one of the case studies for his current college course.

Today was spent cleaning the house and cooking in preparation for my parents and Jasmine coming for tea. As Chris makes an awesome paneer curry, we did all Indian themed food - we had poppadoms and I made onion bhajis to start, (that actually came out pretty well for a first try) followed by the curry with chapattis that Chris homemade, and my mum made a raspberry and cherry pavlova for dessert. A gorgeous evening with some of my favourite people. Proper stuffed now!

FYI - track of the week at the top is one of my old faves, and upon googling it to stick the original on here I found this absolute gem of a live version filmed just last September. The epic drum solo (seriously listen to the recorded version) has been replaced with piano and it is so delicate it completely melts my heart.