Dinner, 6/4/13: Creamy Sausage and Mushroom Pasta

Not a  lot more to say about this one. It's tasty and filling and quick and simple.

Dinner, 5/4/13: Bang Bang Chicken (and Duck)

We usually have this dish with chicken, but this time we had a choice of chicken or duck as I had one little packet of duck breast fillets in the freezer from another meal. We always enjoy these little pancakes - this was Olivia's request in particular on this occasion...

Dinner, 4/4/13: Cauliflower Cheese Lasagne

Mmm, tasty. 

A cold, windy day on the South Bank

We took advantage of the fact that we had a day off and it wasn't actually raining to head up town and check out the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit at the Tate Modern.  Here are Sarah and Alex playing on a sculpture on the South Bank...

Walking down the Jubilee walk - you can see St Paul's across the river.

We found an extract from the Wasteland etched into the pavement along the river near Blackfriars Bridge. Quite a bit of it was quoted - not sure quite how much, but large sections of the first stanza of the Fire Sermon.  It was fun to see. 

The tide was out quite a lot, which always adds interest, though it was too cold and damp to go down and poke around on the "beach" left by the receding tide.

Top cold for us, anyway - this seagull may have felt differently, though I think he looks cold, personally. 

Oddly, it didn't seem to be too cold for this bloke who was making a sand sculpture  - to each his own!

Arriving at the Tate Modern, you get these lovely rows of birch trees - I always enjoy these.

We booked tickets for the Lichtenstein in the afternoon, and then headed over to visit the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret Museum, which is over by London Bridge, Borough Market, and, as you can see, The Shard. 

The Museum was great - lots of old bits and pieces to poke around in, including some rather scary medical implements, but also lots of containers from patent remedies and medical specimens. It was a lot of fun. 

This is the operating theatre itself - the whole museum and theatre are above a church, which is kind of funny. But it's a fun, quirky place to explore. 

Loved this window full of bottles - I took several photos of it...

After some lunch, it was back to the Tate for the Lichtenstein (no photos allowed) - I really enjoyed this. I never realised how much more there was to his work than the few stereotypical pieces we see all the time, such as Wham or Oh Jeff I Love You Too But... For instance, he did a number of Chinese Landscape inspired paintings, which we all really liked. (This is the view from a gallery window - again, you can see St Paul's across the river.)

And finally, here's a door in a road off Roupell Street, which we walked down on the way back to Waterloo from Blackfriars Bridge - it was so windy, we decided to go inland a bit, and as I used to work in the area, I know a lot of ways to walk the route. I always did enjoy Roupell Street.

Dinner, 2/4/13: One pan spicy rice

Not that spicy, really, as I used mild curry paste when making it (sometimes I use hotter curry paste, but at the moment, my mother is visiting, and she can't eat anything too spicy, so I played it safe...)  

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away...

Went for a walk today with my mother and Sarah - only through the park, past school and up to the high street in Worcester Park to poke around the charity shops (sorry Angela, no cow plates to be found!). But it was sunny. It was still a bit chilly, especially when the breeze kicked up, but it was sunny.  And blue sky, as you can see in this blossom photo. 

It's so lovely to get a nice shadow in a photo - and given what the state of this path has been like this winter and early spring, nice to be relatively mud-free.

Here's a bit more blossom, doing its part for spring.

And of course, my favourite tree - with a shadow - and blue sky!

This crow is a little out of focus - the camera picked up the front of the fence instead of the crow as the main focal point, but I couldn't tell that until I downloaded the photos as it was a bit too sunny to see that in the viewfinder screen. Oh well!

Garden Centre Visit

We had a lazy Easter Monday today - no specific plans.  After breakfast, I realised we were out of several different kinds of bird food, plus one of the cheaper plastic feeders had been broken by overweight birds (i.e. pigeons and things which shouldn't be using it - not fat robins!) and could do with replacing, PLUS we had a voucher for buy-one-get-one-free scone with jam and cream in the cafe, so it was time to toddle off to the garden centre. Like many garden centres these days, our local one has really diversified, and now offers clothes, books, toys, candles, gift items, a crafting section, greeting cards, a cafe, pet food and even furniture. Oh, and plants and gardening supplies!

They also have a section which sells fish, specialising in koi for outdoor ponds, but also with tropical fish for tanks. When we are not in a hurry, that's always worth a look - and now you can actually, for a small fee, buy some koi food to give to the big koi - Alex had to have a go at this, of course.

I came back with a selection of items, including the bird food and feeder I went for; some hyacinths (this basket was reduced to £3, as it will only bloom a few more days - but there are 3 bulbs, so it's a good value for planting out later and brings some much needed spring colour to the house now; I also got a pot of purple and one of white, which have only just started to open, so they'll last much longer); a selection of greeting cards for upcoming occasions; a reduced candle (soy wax, big size, down to £4 from £18 as it was with the Christmas stuff) and probably a few more bits and pieces I can't remember now. My mother also picked up a couple of gifts needed for upcoming events and some cards. And of course, we had a trip to the coffee shop to use our BOGOF voucher, though I forgot to photograph the scones.  Remiss of me, I know.

What I read, March 2013

I read 10 books in March, which seems to be about par for the course - that's about 2.5 books a week, which sounds about right. Some read much quicker than others, of course. One of these, I'm technically not finished with yet, but it's close enough to count for March.  Here's what I thought:

• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M Valente. This is a children's book. I read some kids' books unashamedly - some of them are very good; this was one of those. I loved the tone and the way the narrator spoke to the reader. Plus, what a totally excellent title. 
• The Peach Keeper, Sarah Addison Allen. I've read another by Allen (Garden Dreams), and this one was enjoyable, though not, I think, quite as good as that one. In the Alice Hoffman vein, though perhaps a little lighter. 
• The Land of Decoration, Grace McCleen. Another book involving a bit of magic/supernatural/odd stuff going on. Quite a dark story in places, but I was generally pleased with how it came out. Tackled a tricky premise quite well; it's often hard to write sympathetically about people who belong to extreme religions without it seeming patronising, I think. 
• Mary Reilly, Valerie Martin. It wasn't until I googled this for a cover image that I realised that it had been made into a film with Julia Roberts (which I haven't seen). I had read Property some time ago [a funny aside on that - I can remember precisely where and when I read that as it was in a single day (short book) and I have a clear visual memory of sitting in the sun in at Camden Lock drinking coffee and enjoying it. But I digress.] so when I found Mary Reilly in the charity shop, it seemed a good choice. I enjoy books which either fictionalise historical situations, or, as is the case here, take one bit of fiction and weave a story around a character or event in it - not so much a pastiche as a digression, perhaps.  This one tells the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde situation from the point of view of the maid, Mary Reilly. And of course, it prompts me to read Jekyll & Hyde, which I have a feeling I may have read once, a long time ago, in the dim recessses of youth, but can't remember much about.
• Venetia, Georgette Heyer (re-read).  No one writes an historical romance with the with and erudition of Georgette Heyer.  Always reliable, especially if you are frantically busy and don't want to tax your brain too much, but also don't want to be treated like a brainless moron just because you like a good romp.
• Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris (re-read). I read this a long time ago, when it first came out, as I had read Harris' other series (mysteries set in the town Shakespeare, Arkansas).  I have watched some of True Blood, the TV series made from the Dead... series and while I like it fairly well, it's a little too graphic to be at the very top of my list.  I don't mind quite so much in books, but I find it a bit boring in telly and films (sex, I mean, not violence, though I find too much gore a bit boring at times, too). Anyway. I have the series of these from The Book People - or at least the first 8 or so - so I thought I'd re-read the first to remind myself of just what was what. I'm sure I'll be reading more of them as time passes - they're a fairly amusing way to pass the time without making my head hurt. They aren't, however, as good as Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, if you like vampire mysteries with a bit of romance in them.
• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell. After last month's Maggie O'Farrell, I thought I'd check the library for other titles - this was the first one I found. I enjoyed this as well as the other O'Farrell I've read and found the ending both a bit shocking and quite satisfying. 
• Spindle's End, Robin McKinley. This was one which my mum left here on her last visit, thinking I might enjoy it, as I've read other McKinley books. It's a re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story, set in a fantasy land. It was pretty good, though not as good as Beauty, her re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, and also not as good as my favourite of her novels, The Blue Sword.
• Finding Mr Flood, Ciara Geraghty. Good fun. A nice, solid story with a little of everything in it.
• The Girl you Left Behind, Jojo Moyes. I read her other book, Me Before You, which I thought was excellent; this one also is proving to be well worth reading. Not finished with it yet, but will be interested to see how it all comes out, as it weaves together the lives of a woman in occupied France during WWI, the Kommandant in charge of her village, and some modern-day people connected with the painting. 

March Roundup

As usual, I like to look back on the month and see what we ate, and also check out the statistics of it. This month, I'm also going to add a mosaic of some of the dishes we ate, although my food photography skills leave a little something to be desired (usually because all I really want to do is eat the meal, rather than try to work out what angle and lighting work best!)

In March, we ate 8 specifically vegetarian meals (not counting any leftovers), we ate out together once (for our anniversary, at a Michelin starred restaurant - without the kids!) - I ate out with friends once and Geoff ate out once while away on business. I used my slow-cooker three times; we had leftovers four times and Geoff or Sarah cooked 6 times - a little more than usual as I have been very busy, plus there were parents' evenings and also, Mother's Day.  I wonder what April will bring? (Hopefully, warmer weather, so there are fewer soups and stews needed!)

WHAT'S WAS FOR DINNER, MARCH 2013

• 31st: Roast chicken, roast potatoes, cabbage, gravy (Easter)
• 30th: Black Bean Burritos
• 29th: Ham and Mushroom turnovers
• 28th: Thai-style mince with Jasmine rice (Sarah)
• 27th: Chicken Jalfrezi
• 26th: Mixed bean goulash, cornbread
• 25th: leftovers
• 24th: Goulash with Sauerkraut
• 23rd: Fennel Risotto
• 22nd: Gooey Pasta Bake (Sarah)
• 21st: Pork Chops, Cabbage, Potatoes (Geoff)
• 20th: Courgette, Mushroom & Mozzarella Tart
• 19th: Penne with Chorizo, Olive and Rocket
• 18th: leftovers
• 17th: Spanish Chicken with Chickpeas
• 16th: Beef Stew
• 15th: Bacon Sandwiches
• 14th: Sausages, oven potatoes, peas (Geoff)
• 13th: Chorizo and Chickpea Soup
• 12th: Pasta with roasted squash, rocket and parmesan
• 11th: leftovers, etc
• 10th: Shepherd's Pie (Geoff cooking)
• 9th: Homemade Pizzas
• 8th: Thai Chicken and New Potato Curry
• 7th: Jacket potatoes with toppings
• 6th: Lettuce and Spring Onion Soup
• 5th: Creamy chicken and pesto pasta
• 4th: Morrocan Mince (leftovers from freezer)
• 3rd: Neapolitan Lamb Stew
• 2nd: Butternut Squash Ravioli
• 1st: Geoff and Kate out

Slice of Cheesecake

There was a request for cheesecake and as we have nothing much planned to do on this long holiday weekend, it seemed like a nice idea.  

It probably could have done with a few more hours setting in the fridge, but it was still tasty...

Dinner, 31/3/13: Roast chicken, roast potatoes, cabbage, gravy

We're having lamb next week when some friends visit, so the slightly-less-traditional Easter Chicken made an appearance. I hope I didn't give all the poor marshmallow peeps nightmares...

More chocolatey goodness

What better for Easter brunch than chocolate chip pancakes? This could be a rhetorical question, mind you...

Attack of the fluorescent peeps

The peeps have journeyed all the way from America to attack Geoff's book on this sunny (but still way too cold) Easter morning...

Seasonal visitors...

Dinner, 30/3/13: Black Bean Burritos

Something we've had several times before - a nice vegetarian Mexican meal...

Dinner, 29/3/13: Ham & Mushroom Turnovers

These were good, although the edges didn't seal well. And there was too much filling, so I will have to buy some more puff pastry to use the rest... What a crisis!

A (brief) walk in the sun

As it was very briefly sunny this morning, and not due to remain so for any length of time, we all quickly got ourselves together and headed out to a local park (Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon) for a stroll in the sun. Even those of us who would normally sleep for a large part of the morning decided to take advantage of the sun while it lasted - which was a fairly short time, as it happened. 

You can see a little sun here in this photo, though not a lot. 

There were some crocuses out, and a very few daffodils, but you can tell it's been a colder than normal spring, as usually by this time of year, there would be swathes of daffodils, and they were pretty thin on the ground (lots of stems, but not many blooming). This was one of the few which was open all the way.

The forsythia was just beginning to bloom, but on the whole, the garden still looked quite wintery, 

with lots of seed heads and old growth.  I quite like that look, but I'm more fond of it in January than in the end of March...

Still, it was nice to get out and have a stroll, and in some cases, climb a few trees

or try on Olivia's sunglasses... (I reckon he should use this as his Facebook profile picture; what do you think?)

Dinner, 28/3/13: Thai Style Mince with Jasmine Rice

As it was Thursday, Sarah cooked tonight - this is a dish we've eaten lots of times before, but her first attempt at it - and lovely it was, too. Two weeks' holiday coming up, which is nice, as we'll have a bit more flexibility about meals - not so many of them that have to be fixed quickly. Though I'm sure there will be some, of course.

Dinner, 27/3/13: Chicken Jalfrezi

From the Hairy Bikers' Cookbook, The Hairy Dieters.  This was great - hot, but not too hot, pretty quick, great combination of textures because you cook the peppers and onions (and some tomatoes) separately at the end.  Yum.