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. 

Weekly Musings

2015- Week 7

'Even while your widening smile was shaking in the smoke, your head was full of hope'
(Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Butterfly Culture)

This week has been lovely, I've had dates two and three with the same guy from last week, and introduced him to a couple of my favourite chilled acoustic artists/ bands - one of which was Benjamin Francis Leftwich, the other Fleet Foxes, hence the lyrics above and video below. On Monday for date two, it was my turn to return the favour of planning, so we went for food at Home Sweet Home in the Northern Quarter (I had pulled pork with sweet potato fries, jalapenos, BBQ sauce, salad and pico de gallo!) followed by drinks at Apotheca, which just happened to have an open mic night on which was cool.

I had lamb rump steaks with a gorgeous goats cheese salad at the Country Club on Tuesday, and I went to The Little B in Sale on Wednesday with Kelly for a catch up over a couple of drinks. On Thursday it was date three; though we both weren't feeling great so I invited him over for dinner at mine so it was more chilled. I made lasagne from scratch which seemed to win him over, and he brought me flowers, chocolates and a card for an early Valentines Day present as we're both busy at the weekend - it was such a surprise, noone ever gets me flowers! Major points.

On the 14th I went for a stroll around Entwistle Reservoir near Bolton with Mum and Aunty Sarah, the weather was fine and there were quite a few people milling around. It was good to get out in the fresh air and have a natter. On Sunday after a relaxing yoga session, Mum, Jas and I had a trip to The Trafford Centre, and for once I actually came home with a decent haul! Dinner at Mum's after marked the end to a perfect week!

Weekly Update!

Jazzy Veg & Marshmallow Icing!

This has been another quiet week, though this weekend has been fun. On Tuesday at the Country Club I had teriyaki lamb rump medallions with a ginger and spring onion dressing, accompanied by chargrilled broccoli and asparagus in a peanut-sesame dressing. The veg was amazing, I would just have that as a snack on a lunch time, the dressing really perked it up. The lamb was deliciously tender and again, the dressing complimented it nicely.

On Wednesday Mum came round during the day to finish my wardrobe off so I finally have all my clothes hung up and looking lovely! I took Aum to the Cake Gallery that evening as he skipped drama and I was babysitting - I had a raspberry and white chocolate sponge with raspberry pieces in the cake and marshmallow in the icing, it was amazing!

On Thursday I had a chilled one, caught up with some writing and jobs around the house. Friday was Valentines Day (see previous post) and on Saturday I spent the day testing out my new curlers (slight fail, but not too bad) and writing an article for London Fashion Week. In the evening Mo and I went out for dinner with friends at a place in town called Dogs N Dough (see previous post) and today has been spent recovering and writing a few more Fashion Week articles for Candid. They will be up next week for you to look at!

Homemade Recipes...

Valentines Day!

Yesterday was Valentines Day, and though I am not a huge fan of the holiday, I thought seen as I have a boyfriend this year I might as well celebrate it somehow. I decided to cook for us both, as I enjoy cooking and it's cheaper/ less slushy than going out on the night!

For starter I just did a homemade platter, which had french bread, brie, pate and olives. I find that the simple dishes are often the nicest, although I was pretty full after eating it all! 

For main course I made slow cooked beef bourguignon and dauphinoise potatoes. I was well prepared, as I chopped the 4 rashers of bacon, 3 onions, two handfuls of mushrooms and 2 carrots the night before, so that I just had to pan fry them in oil the following morning before adding them to the slow cooker. I covered 400g beef cubes in flour and then lightly browned them, before adding them too to the mix, and then poured half a beef stock cube, 150ml of red wine, a chopped garlic clove and 1/2 tbsp tomato puree over the top and gave it a stir. I then left it bubbling all day for about 6 1/2 hours. (Recipe from the Good Food Channel). 

To make the dauphinoise, I peeled and par boiled the potatoes for a couple of minutes, before thinly slicing them and placing them into an ovenproof dish so that they slightly overlapped. I then grated 2 garlic cloves, and added them to 175ml double cream and 100ml skimmed milk (this can all be cream if desired, I just wanted to lower calories slightly!) and poured it over the potatoes before topping with some grated cheese and baking them in the oven for approx 1 hr at 175c. (Recipe from BBC Food).

For dessert I made a tarte tatin, served with the remaining double cream. I peeled and cored 6 small apples, and sliced them in half before placing them to one side. I then heated 100g sugar, seeds from a vanilla pod and 50g butter until it was a bubbling caramel and tossed the apples in the mixture before pouring into an ovenproof dish. I then placed shop-bought puff pastry over the top, squashed the edges around the apple mixture and trimmed the edges before baking at 190c for 25-30 minutes. (Recipe from Jamie Oliver). When it was finished, I flipped it over onto a plate, and though mine was a strange shape due to using a dish that was too big to cook it in, it tasted delicious and was surprisingly easy to make.

It all went down a treat with red wine for me and Coronas for Mo, and there was plenty of dessert left for the day after!