News

There have been a lot of developments since my last post. First of all I realise how near the wedding is. Only a few weeks now and it all needs to be done. This has spurred me on to make favour boxes, thank-you cards and name place cards. Busy stuff.

On top of that I've been keeping the house as tidy as I can for viewings. We now have a buyer. Obviously it's early days but I am really excited. The slightly stressful thing is that the stipulation for our new house is that we need to move by the 17th April. That is the week after the wedding!

So now we're onto packing as well as going mad with wedding stuff. Phew!

Snow photos

As promised, here are some snow photos taken last Monday (2nd Feb):

The photos were taken on a 1 hour walk taken on the Monday morning. It was really early so hardly anyone had disturbed the snow. Perfect!

What's even more unusual is the fact that, nearly 1 week later, the snow is still present! Plus more is forecast for tonight/tomorrow.

The roads are a little bit scary, predominantly because they've not been gritted as the Council is scared there might not be enough grit for the snow that is forecast.

Some Councils have actually bought table salt for gritting with instead of rock salt as there is such a shortage.

Snow really...!

Yes as we all know it's been snowing. It's been an odd week as I only managed to make it into work on Wednesday & Friday so it's been disjointed and catching up mostly.
Now it's the weekend and it's still icy. I will add photos at a later date as I took about 80 on Monday!!

I've been caught up in wedding preparations. I'm keen not to be bridezilla but it's amazing how much time you waste on ridiculous pointless things, such as um-ing and ah-ing over table flowers, or what earrings would look good, and what the 'ideal' shoes would be. So I have sort of given up on those things. I bought a pair of earrings that are pretty, but not too wild so I can wear them again, I bought a tiara that looks fine but didn't cost over £100 (which was the price of my next favourite), picked a plain wedding ring, got a spontaneous honeymoon booked to Malaysia and I got the first pair of shoes that looked ok on.

Most of these decisions have worked out fine. The shoes are beginning to make me panic. They are sooo high. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a flat shoe girl 100% of the time (except for the odd posh do where I am forced into a low kitten heel). These shoes are about 4" high. I think I will be mostly falling over on our wedding day...

The result

So here is the chicken liver recipe I wrote about yesterday. We added pak choi to make it more of a meal and it was delicious. We cooked and consumed the whole thing within 45 minutes! It'll definately be used as a quick after work dinner in the future.

The crispy noodles were so simple but not something I had done before. Who'd have thought brown sugar, ginger, marsala wine (instead of sherry), sour cream (instead of double cream) and soy sauce could be so delicious!

Chicken Livers

When I say these two innocent little words there is always one of two responses displayed. Either the person screws up their face in repulsion at the thought of offal and humans consuming such a thing, or, more rarely, the person nods in agreement with me about how great they are.

We began with chicken livers when I wanted to make some pate for presents one year. I didn't really know what to do with them but Waitrose had a small leaflet explaining how to make it and since I enjoyed eating pate I reasoned that it could not be so difficult to make some. How right I was. Chicken liver pate is so simple it's ridiculous and the results are soooo delicious.

At times when cash is tight and we've decided to economise we bought some chicken livers, tossed them in seasoned oil and then fried them in butter with a splash of sherry I was an instant convert. They are sooo delightful and pink and juicy. I love them on toast or on a salad.

Today I had my love of chicken livers shared when Paul Rankin did a recipe starring them on Saturday Kitchen. I can't wait to make this recipe. It has an.... eclectic array of ingredients that even I would ponder about mixing together (cream, soy sauce, ginger, butter), but the final result looked so good I can't resist. I'll let you know how it goes. I doubt it will be terribly photogenic though.

Soldiers' bravery

I got in contact with an old school friend yesterday. He's been in the Army for many years and has just returned from Afghanistan again. I have lost count of how many times he's been over there. This time it has really affected him. He's now lost 15 friends out there, right in front of his eyes. He's come home and life cannot be the same.

I can't imagine the things he's seen and done. He told me, the thing that kept him going all that time was thinking about how life would be when he got home and saw his loved ones. Not least his baby son who was born only a few weeks before he was last deployed out there. What did he come home to? A country that's moved towards a recession, everyone down and sad and not the least bit grateful towards him. What did he spend the last 6 months out there fighting for?

In a bid to help him I looked on the internet to see what is out there to help him. Not a lot it would appear, as he's not lost a limb. So what is there for him to look forward to? Another 18 months here before being sent back there AGAIN. There are no words to explain how much respect I've gained for these people in the last 24 hours.

2008 is nearly over

It feels like an age since I posted on here. I was an absolute wreck in the run up to Christmas - too much work, ill health and general fed-upness with the dark. Fortunately that is now behind me.

Although a bit sniffly I had a good xmas. I got lots of time with the people who matter most to me, lots of yum food and great presents. Who could ask for more?

I love the time between Christmas and New Year and this year has been the best yet. Cunningly we made very few plans. This left me with plenty of time to play my new MarioKart DS game, cook and eat a lot and generally be lazy. To counteract all the laziness we went shopping yesterday to Bluewater. What a busy place! I am sure it was more busy than before Christmas. Mad groups of people we wandering aimlessly among the shops with shelves heaving with unsold Christmas merchandise.

I cannot understand these groups of parents with GIANT pushchairs going shopping at this time of year with a couple of kids also wandering about and an elderly relative also in tow. Surely they can see what a nightmare it will be before they even leave the house. No-one looks like they're having a good time. Being pushed and shoved is not a leisure activity as far as I am aware.

Today has been a curry haze. Tomorrow we're having family over for a big curry feast. So far I've made dhal, fish curry, mushroom bhaji, tamarind chutney, coconut sambal and pea & potato samosas. Phew!