Family celebration

A splendid lunch today for my Aunt's 90th birthday!

Cooler in College Station

Well, would you believe it!  It's cooler in College Station than it is in London.  And we thought we were escaping the heat!

This and that...

First samphire of the season.  This plant that grows on the salt marshes in North Norfolk needs no introduction to locals.  It's succulent and tastes of the sea.  Chock full of iodine too.  I got a large bunch at the fish stall on the market when I was out yesterday buying Dover sole.  It was so tender we didn't have to strip it off the stalks.   A very healthy and tasty hors d'oeuvres!  The Dover sole was good too.

The wonderful weather continues and we've been having supper in the garden every night.

I've also made time for knitting.  Been finishing up some bits of yarn on a cardigan for a friend's baby granddaughter.  It makes a change to be knitting pale and pretty colours.

A Sunday stroll

We have enjoyed a week of wonderful weather that is forecast to continue to the end of next week.  Clear blue skies and very warm - around 80F - which is nothing compared to south west USA, but suits us fine!  We have had 3 BBQs in one week, which must be a record for us.

Raynham circular walk

On Sunday we decided to go for a walk around West and South Raynham, an area we don't know at all well.  We did about 5.5 miles in total along grassy paths and tracks and a few quiet lanes.  Just one or two bumpy fields!  We passed and went into two interesting old churches and the ruins of another. At one of the churches a bench for two in the graveyard was perfect for our picnic.

We were amazed by the variety of wild flowers and grasses in the hedgerows, beside the roads and at the field edges.  There must be a new policy of not spraying everything in sight.

I got my phone out and started snapping, but alas I only managed two photos before the battery gave out.  Must remember to take a proper camera!

Makeover

Makeover...no, not me!  I'm perfect the way I am... ;-)

No, I'm giving our small guest room a makeover.  I haven't gone as far as painting the walls, but new bed, new bedding and new curtains and table cloths.   I'm halfway through the curtains. Sewing them is a doddle, but cutting them out was a bit difficult as I couldn't kneel on the floor with my bad knee.  However, after much bending over and shuffling around, I got the pattern repeat to match.  There'll be a evening of hand hemming the sides and bottom and then...hey presto...photo opportunity!  Watch this space!

Look, Mary!  4 pillows! 

Summer is here

BBQ tonight for 7 people.  It's warming up and the garden furniture is out.

Humous and olives

Mini hamburgers
Chicken kebabs
Lamb kebabs
Tabbouleh
Green salad
Roast Mediterranean vegetables
Leek and mushrooms à la Greque
Potato salad
Yoghurt with mint

Rice pudding with lightly crushed pistachios, honey and rose water
Strawberries

I think I'm going mad!

Seeing red!

I'm at it again.  More people for dinner tonight (a French woman, an Italian woman, an Italian man and an Englishman - the two Italians not together)  and having got everything ready I realise that RED is the predominant colour!

Red pepper soup

Moroccan chicken with red onion and red chillies
Cous cous with onion and tomato
Roasted cherry tomatoes
Green salad

Strawberries and crème fraiche
Cheese (not Red Leicester though, ha! ha!)

And I'm wearing a red shirt (the one that was rescued from the lamb fat disaster)! What's that all about then? Something subconscious going on?  Let's see if anyone notices...

Kitchen dramas

Well, there I was taking the large and heavy, slow cooked shoulder of lamb out of the oven to rest in the utility room next to the kitchen.  Just 15 minutes to go until our guests arrive for dinner.  I cover the lamb and head for the utility room, not realising that a long cardboard tube which came with a roll of fabric and was standing by the door ready for recycling had actually (and silently) fallen across the threshold.  Yes reader, I tripped and went headlong across the utility room parallel to the floor until the dish containing the lamb came up against the central heating boiler, smashed, ejected the lamb and sprayed hot fat (jus, if you're into gourmet nonsense) up the walls.  Once my forward momentum is halted I crash to earth on one knee and one elbow, letting out, at the same time (multi-tasking even in a dire emergency), a bloodcurdling scream and just avoiding putting my face in the lamb!

Fortunately Peter is quick to arrive, realising that something is not quite right in the kitchen! He's such a perceptive man!  He rescues the lamb as I slowly drag myself to my feet.  We recover the lamb, wipe up the worst of the jus and I run upstairs to change (fat spattered shirt is not a good look), check my hair for bits of lamb, run down again and open the front door with a beaming smile...

Yes, it tasted good. Today my knee is swollen and stiff so I have had to spend most of the time watching Wimbledon with my leg up.  I'll live to fight another day (or shoulder of lamb).