Hello to you all! It's been a very lazy weekend to make up for the very busy week we've had. But, I've got some good news to make it all worth while! We're going home! For a visit, but going home still … it's all terribly exciting. Only two-and-a-half months to go. Very pleased.
Yessir, so, in the meantime, I shall fill you in on my rather dull and lazy weekend.Let's start with the food … always the best place to begin.
Yum! I made a delicious rocket-basil-pesto-steak-cubes-gnocchi-roast-tomatoes dish which is probably my favourite easy meal ever. It's really very simple: cube some really good steak and pan fry quickly in a really hot pan (with Robertson's steak spice!) at the same time that you grill some baby tomatoes and boil gnocchi. You have to time it carefully so that it all finishes at more-or-less the same time. The tomatoes really have to pop before they're ready: the skins should be peeling back and the tomatoes should be quite soft. Then, when ready, toss together in a big glass bowl with basil pesto and fresh rocket. That's it! Done in about ten minutes. And it's deeeelicious.
I thought I'd be creative and make my own basil pesto for a change – I found this amazing Jamie Oliver recipe which was really very quick and easy to make. It made all the difference, especially because I added a tad more parmesan cheese as per my preference. Mm, yum.
Ah, I had completely forgotten about these treats: Gingerbread Gentlemen! I was, of course, completely taken by them when I saw them in Waitrose and had to have them. Oh so English!
You only get six in the box, but they're quite tasty so it was all worth it.
We got caught up with G's boss at the pub on friday night. It was a horrid week so I was quite happy to be a "plus one" for a little while, but the whole thing went on really quite long. In fact, we only got to leave at about 10.30pm! That's quite late for a "quick drink after work". Anyway, that meant that G was feeling a bit weak on Saturday morning and we ended up spending the whole day inside watching tv and generally being very lazy. You see, he has to keep up with his bosses as they offer to buy him drinks… it creates a good social aspect to work and they often get rather drunk and tell him secrets. It's rather entertaining! But it does mean that some saturdays are wasted on the couch. Anyway, back to today. We went out early this morning to Greenwich for a little walk around before Formula1. The weather wasn't fantastic (see above) but we did discover a little food market which was very pleasing to the eye.
And then we had a little wander around the market, which is always very enjoyable. We got three things:
1. We each got a book from the nice bookstore where all books are one price. (second-hand books, but very good quality)
2. G got a very nice belt. There was a lovely elderly woman making belts from her own stall in the Greenwich Market. You chose your piece of leather, then chose your preferred buckle, and she made it up to your specifications. And it was very reasonable.
3. We got two very interesting coffees. The first (my choice) is Swiss Chocolate Almond and the second (G's choice) is Irish Whisky. We've tried the Chocolate one, it's delicious. The stall had loads of sacks and canisters of coffee beans. You choose the one you like, the vendor scoops up the beans and weighs them, and then grinds them for you to take home and enjoy. Some of the other flavours were Maple, Chocolate, Caramel, Jack Daniels…
After much deliberation we stopped off at bought G some golf shoes that he's been coveting for weeks. He's very pleased, and is wearing them around the house (as you can see above).
Ah! I keep walking past these beautiful flowers on the way home. Each "flower" is a bunch of blue millefiori surrounded by pink and purple mini-flowers. I'd love to know what they're called.
And finally, I'm not sure if I mentioned this last week, but… we went to this amazing book store in Oxford when we were on our way home from Silverstone. It's a den of earthly delights, with books piled on top of tables, on shelves to the roof, in heaps underneath tables, in corners, on counters… and each brand new book is only £2.
And now my read-to-unread book ratio is rather daunting! I'm currently reading a PG Wodehouse book – an author I've never encountered until now. Very English, very sarcastic, very cynical. Almost done, review to follow.
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