Home again

We've had a charmed couple of days tootling around the Oxfordshire countryside & lunching in favorite pubs. We went to Aynho, The Great western, to lunch yesterday - great homemade soup & chunky sandwiches in a cosy setting, then on to collect T from school, whilst KP went swimming. We went to Deddington, a lovely village with a 3 storey antiques emporium for a poke around. T was fascinated & great fun - he loves "willow pattern", having been studying China at school. We went back to Pret in Bicester Village for tea, where B joined us on his way home from work. Later, we had a nice meal when T & KP had gone to bed & chatted until bed/sleep, whichever came first! This morning G dropped me in Bicester for a potter whilst he went to J for a treatment & we met up later. We went to The Pointer at Brill for lunch, the most amazing food ever; G had a smoked salmon scotch egg (egg wrapped in smoked salmon mousse), I had an beef sandwich - home made wholemeal bread, horseradish & layers of pink,local roast beef. Fantastic. we came home around the lanes, dropping in at the Antiques' centre at Weedon. Home & settled by a good fire - about to check out my purchases on t'internet!

Bang bang...

Q. Whats brown, amazingly chocolatey with a chunk of Belgian white chocolate at one end, milk chocolate at the other & delicious? A. chocolate brownie from Hambletons bakery in Oundle - winner of the "Best small Baker" last year. I shall never eat a brownie from any other baker ever again - they only supply a few shops locally in Rutland & Leics, so that should be a diet plus. Today we went to Nuneaton Justice Centre to collect the shotguns, then drove to Southams auction House in Oundle, to go in the sale in early Feb. The local villages are very pretty & Oundle is delightful, with lots of small specialist shops, some grand houses & a public school of note. We lunched at The White ..... on soup & pate with Hambleton's bread, then pottered around the town & came across the bakery. We drove home via Market harborough, Loughborough & Atherstone, intending to stop for tea, but didn't. It has been 12 degrees today, a vast improvement on the last week, but felt colder. Yesterday was a good day - I took the assembly at Shustoke school & booked in to take another in Feb before Mothering Sunday. After lunch, I went to the shop to see if I was needed - I wasn't, the bakery would have needed pricing for me. I went on to vacuum the xmas tree needles in church - Maurice had already done it, so I went to have a cup of tea with Marg & Phil for an hour. I cooked W & MK's pork ribs for dinner, with mashed potatoes & onion, apple & red wine sauce, followed by stewed apricots & ice cream. I seem to have a voracious appetite at the moment - I hope it's only due to the cold weather!

Bubble & squeek

What else do you do with left over brocolli & potato? The Burn's Night celebration was a great success - we seated 27 people around a long dining table, going across two rooms & all went according to plan, starting with the Selkirk grace, ending nearly six hours later, when the last guests left. The food was great - even that made by me! I recommend The Hairy bikers haggis sauce (cream whisky, mustards, lemon & chives)& james Martin's salmon pate & tipsy laird. Anyway, all is back to normal, the house gleaming - a good chance to clean the corners when furniture has had to be moved, to clean the fridge when you have a lot of food to store & to clean the saucepan shelf/scour all of the pans, when they've all been used. More than a few wee drams were cosumed, we had a great raffle, with donatd prizes & we made a profit of £440. As I picked up my shoes to go to bed at 2.00am I noyed that they were not matching - one slingback with cloth front, one shoe with patent front. Did anyone notice or were they dazzled by my kilt, white silk shirt & sash or even G's full highland dress? I did change in a hurry & had put two pairs of shoes out to decide later - we are considering making odd shoes a requisite next year. Two accolades - *my Hunter wellies, a present from W & MK a while ago are brilliant! They are so soft & comfortable, a race apart from my green Dunlop boots which make any movement unpleasant. *New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Waitrose have fairy dishwasher tabs, 51 for £6.95, which is even cheaper than the packs of 28. The snow has gone apart from a pile full of gravel on the drive - 3 degrees at 6.00am this morning but the chickens are still hibernating/not laying. They may be traumatised!

Silvo

That's the smell on my hands, having cleaned enough cutlery to lay the table for 30 for tomorrow night - two sets of knives & forks +a dessert spoon + butter knife each. Knives - 3 each are at a premium - plenty of large but fewer butter knives. The tables are all in & lined up, awaiting the cloths & chairs. I went to Kenilworth this morning to collect the haggis & do the shopping at Waitrose. Everthing went well, with many of the things I wanted, reduced. I forgot the list but only missed couple of things. We now have: Smoked salmon & salmon pate (to make) Haggis, neeps, tatties & brocolli, served with whisky, mustard & cream sauce (to make) Crnachan or Tipsy Laird (trifle with mascapone & whisky) Cheese & biscuits tea/coffee with scottish Tablet. I'm going to cook some mince with vegetables in case anyone doesn't eat haggis. All going according to plan - easy cooking but a lot to serve up quickly. I'm still feeling well-blessed & smiling about yesterday's results.

All clear

Boobs, that is. I was called back for further tests following my mammogram a couple of weeks ago. As we were going away I put it off for a week & went to Walsgrave hospital this morning. You assess your stress levels on arrival - I reckoned mine as 10/10, but put 7/10, before having a chat with a nurse who explained that there were changes since the last tests, hence the recall. Only 1 in 15 women have a problem. So. I spent the waiting time counselling someone with stress leves of 12/10. You then have another mammogram, then an ultrasound - last had one when expecting B - then a biopsy, if necessary. I had the first two tests, then was declared fit- no problems - the best words I've heard for a long time. Apparently tissue can become folded during a mammogram, giving a dark area - a bit of spare tyre got into the picture, perhaps! Apart from the inevitable stress the service was excellent & the staff brilliant. We went on to MG to collect the kilts ready for Friday & spent a couple of hours with J & G, via Waitrose in Kenilworth to collect the haggis, then on to Bicester for a visit to Cotswold, Tog 24 & tea in the garden Centre. G is now fully equiped for Everest. We've had an Indian take-away, wine & a small box of chocolates for dinner, in front of the fire, celebrating the perfection of my body. Diet starts again tomorrow!

Haggis hunting!

Phew, loads of snow & sub-zero temperatures. Coleshill was second in the list of most snow in the Midlands last night, at 11cm - not a lot for the Vikings in the family, but extreme for B46. It seems even colder as we've just returned from a week in Kyrenia, N Cyprus, lazing in the sun. Actually, we don't really do lazing, but we've explored on foot & by car, 3 days of each, & relaxed in the old port, drinking coffee in the sunshine. The hotel was great - The Pia Bella - recommended. We arrived home yesterday tea-time, having dropped in to see JR en route. The flight was in 15 minutes early & the roads were clear apart from the last 1/4 mile, so we were well blessed. One of the chickens has disappeared, in the snow, whilst we were away, so we have plodded around the site - plenty of footprints - two legged & four legged, but no chicken! A bit Wallace & Gromitish - The Chicken Run! We shall party if she returns, but not too hopefull as it's so cold & chickens are not highly intelligent. We have a Burn's Night celebration on Friday, to raise funds for sh church. We are having a sit-down meal, humming in the haggis, etc. To our surprise, we have 30 people coming & have spent some of the day planning the tables & seating - 4 tables in line across the kitchen & conservatory should do it - two tables to collect from church. I have just been on line & on the phone sourcing the haggis - not as easy as you may think. Neeps & tatties are a doddle! Have to check up on ingredients for "cranacan" & "whisky trifle".

JR sitting

Having a night with JR - he's asleep! He had a fall after Christmas & broke his shoulder, which is strapped & causing some pain. I've administered pain killers, which work by putting you to sleep, until you're better. Busy writing the next chapter of my latest steamy novel, working title, "Too long in the sun" - may take the week, instead of blogging. This may be the one!