Tuesday 15 September 2015

Lately

Let's have a little catch up of things which have been happening chez J&J shall we.


From the kitchen we have produced three things never cooked in there before.
S made sweet potato cookies. She decided to bake these as part of her homework on Zimbabwe from a traditional recipe found online, earning herself some words of admiration from her teacher. Very nice they were too.
I made British style patatas bravas, which earned a mixed reaction. One loved it, one tried it but didn't like it, one refused to eat it. Sound familiar? 
The last new thing on the menu was a whipple-scrumptious fudgemallow delight for Roald Dahl day. Oh my. 




I was very pleased when Friday evening rolled around and I was home with my feet up. It had been a busy week. I really felt like a glass of wine but we didn't have any in. What we did have cooling in the fridge was a Snowball. I had bought them a couple of weeks ago as it was something I had wanted to try. Out came the very infrequently used champagne saucers, the drink was poured and very quickly quaffed. I thought it was delicious. This now begs the question, do I try Advocaat on it's own? Any advice? 

Whilst (kind of) on the subject of glasses I wanted to show one of my latest purchases. 
I had an afternoon out with my sisters at the end of August, it was to spend time together on the anniversary of when we lost our dearest Dad. 
We went to a vintage and antique emporium where I found this little gem. It's now my glass of choice for my morning orange juice.




I've been very organised and sorted out all of C's birthday presents from the stash of items I have accumulated for her. I have a fair amount of things towards her Christmas present and for her birthday in October I think I counted 15 items for our budget of £10. I shall be wrapping them soon and will make sure I photograph them as I go. I have also decided on the gift for my other sister T whose birthday is in November and I'm really pleased with the theme running through it. This candle is part of it and when I have bought all the items I'll share it here.





Last week at book club our read for August was given a thumbs up by all. Black Hills was something a bit different and an enjoyable read but I felt it was about 100 pages too long, I got a bit bored with the two main characters trying to sort out their relationship when you know how it's going to end. Also whenever I looked at the cover I started singing 'Take me Back to the Black Hills, the Black Hills of Dakota, to the beautiful Indian country that I love' from the film Calamity Jane. And as much as I love Doris Day and that movie I was getting fed up with it!
In contrast this month we have The Spinning Heart which is only 160 pages long. Or should that be short. This should mean I have some time to read another of the books G gave me for my birthday. 
I have read the Phryne Fisher one already. G bought me that because we were hooked on watching the TV series on Netflix which was hugely entertaining. My next one will be The Year of Living Danishly.




We didn't go booting this weekend and the weekend before we only went to provide a bit of support to my mum and sister who were there selling so I only had time to have a mini wander and make a couple of purchases. A checked shirt for T and a sequinned top for S.




The lady who was on the pitch next to my sister didn't want to take any of her things home and gave me this length of Christmas fabric which she said is used to hang from a mantle. She said it had originally came from Denmark. I think I may wrap it around the metal base of the tree to hide it's ugly legs.




We were hoping to go on a wildlife walk at a local nature reserve at the weekend but when we got there for the advertised time we found it had already started. Weekends over the next couple of months will probably be a bit quieter as there seem to be less events on as we head into autumn, so it was a little disappointing we had missed this one. 

12 comments:

  1. I think all those recipes look scrumptious. My mum's never been a drinker but I remember her having a snowball at Christmas when I was little, it's something I've never tried myself, I usually stick to wine. That's a wide selection of books that G bought you, I'm always happy to receive books as gifts, there's always plenty on my wish list. It's a shame you missed the wildlife walk, we have to make the most of every bit of fine weather we have on a weekend now as we head in to autumn, I'm sure there'll be many a weekend when we're stuck indoors.

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  2. Goodness Snowball I haven't had that in years didn't know it still existed. The biscuits look lovely. As for who likes and dislikes its the one bit of the big ones not being at home anymore that I don't miss. Now it's only number 3 that can have his moments of fussy but he will at least try something new every now and then. He discovered last week that he quite likes chilli con carne go igure:-)

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  3. I think Champagne flutes should be banned - it should be saucers all the way! A colleague told me he likes Snowballs, so I got him some for Christmas, which he was pleased with. My Nan always had a bottle of Advocaat in her sideboard at Christmas - I've never tried it though. x

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  4. I love a good selection of books to get my teeth into. Pretty glass, good way to start the day xx

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  5. I actually treated myself to a bottle of advocaat from Warninks (advertising man's dream, I am) a few years ago when Nigella's Christmas Kitchen just oozed about it once too often. I really enjoyed it, and managed the bottle by myself over the month. Aldi (God Bless them) do a cheaper version that I got last year which works just as well with lemonade.

    Like the look of the books, and I've never heard of Miss Phryne Fisher. I'm off to netflix it now!

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  6. So much in this post Lisa! My Auntie Gladys used to always make me a snowball at Christmas time with Advocaat and lemonade with a glace cherry on top! I don't know what Advocaat would be like on its own but as far as I know it IS a snowball when mixed with lemonade. I fancy one right now! x

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  7. What a lovely post to read Lisa.
    Molly's Den is a very popular stop for friends and family who live in Hampshire!

    I can remember snowballs ... is it more of an old fashioned drink? It was certainly one that was a very popular drink in our family many decades ago at Christmas time. The children were allowed one as a special occasion but well mixed with lemonade!

    Do hope your week is going well - just think two more days and it's the weekend again.

    All the best Jan

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  8. The Mary Poppins book looks hugely.interesting!! I can't wait to see your sister's present stash, I bet it is great! That's such a shame about the walk, annoying when that happens! A cheerful motto on a glass/mug etc is always cheering so you did well with that one! X

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  9. I always like to see how creative you've been with that £10 gift budget! I can highly recommend "A Year of Living Danishly" = it's very interesting and funny, and we can learn a lot from that country.

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  10. I love snowballs. My Nan used to give us one at Christmas. I now have a big wine glass and I put in two at a time with loads of cherries on a cocktail stick!
    That makes me sound so bad, not everyday, only as a special treat now and then. Honest!

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  11. Doing a bit of blog-hopping and found you blog, I had forgotten all about snowballs - always a Christmas drink and then I remembered Babycham which also had a cherry in.
    I've got the Mary Poppins book on order from the library

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  12. I love Snowballs, but only ever buy them at Christmas. x

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