Weekend Edition: Iced Chai, Blueberry Muffins and Susie Watson

When it's warm out, I like to have the back door wide open the whole time I'm in the kitchen.  I especially like to prop the door open if it's warm and rainy - I find it relaxing listening to the rain.  As soon as the door is open, Lizzie makes a beeline for her watchpoint at the gate.  She spends most of her time outside right in that spot.  Standing or sitting.  Sometimes barking but mostly just sitting quietly, watching the world go by. Andrew had gone out to pick up coffees for us this morning and she was waiting patiently for him to come home.  

Whilst Andrew was running errands, I set to work making a batch of giant blueberry muffins.  I have been craving them (with a hot, strong, coffee) all week long.  I tuned into Steve Wright's Love Songs on Radio Two and warbled along to Whitney and ELO as I sieved, whisked and stirred.  I used the recipe from The Grand Central Baking Book and it was good!  I added a little more sugar to the mix just because I like sweet muffins - they were delish.  The house smelled amazing as they baked and Andrew arrived with our coffee just as they hit the perfect eating temperature.  We sat on the swing seat in the yard together, with Lizzie at our feet, chatting about nothing in particular and enjoying the sunshine.  (Ok, that last bit was a lie.  I was chatting and Andrew was semi-listening.  As usual.)

We went to Marlow yesterday.  Late to the party, I know, but I have become obsessed with Susie Watson pottery and textiles.  Obsessed.  I had read that the shop in Marlow was kitted out like a traditional house and I fancied a looksee.  Not only that, Andrew and I both like to go out at the weekends on mini road trips wherever possible, exploring different towns or countryside and trying out new eateries.  We set off super-early and picked up a Starbucks for the journey.  I felt kind of swanky in my new long white cotton dress but within seconds of being handed my chai latte, it was in my lap.  The barista (stupid word) hadn't put the lid on properly.  Thank gawd the drink was cold because although the ice cubes were a bit of a shock, a hot drink would have been a whole other kettle of soldiers.  I was calm about the frock (now see-through and a kind of dip-dyed pale beige) but we raced home for me to change, threw the dress *straight* into the washing machine (oh hello, Postie, don't mind me here in the kitchen in my control pants and granny shoes) and I couldn't bring myself to leave the house until I was certain the dress was OK.  (It was.)  We finally got to Marlow for lunchtime, headed for the cafe that had been recommended and promptly found ourselves eating mediocre quiche in a mediocre cafe which served unattractively large slices of cucumber and plastic sachets of salad cream.  

The day was saved by a very pleasant wander through the park and along the river followed by a little sit-down at a game of cricket as we ate ginormous waffle cones of Mr Whippy with flakes and chocolate sauce.  I came home happy with a big bag full of pastel crockery and linens, a posy of flowers and frizzy hair (it rained).  We will definitely go again.  Marlow is a lovely town. There are other cafes and restaurants I'm keen to try, as well as requiring several visits back to empty Susie Watson of pink polka dot goods.  

I've been sewing today, making little wrist pincushions that Claireybelle and I hope to sell at homebird & belle.  (So exciting.  News on that for another day.)  Lizzie sat in an armchair in my sewing room looking impossibly cute and didn't bat an eyelid at my swearing or the excessive sex grunts from Orange Is The New Black on my Mac as I worked. 

Finally, our perfectly ordinary dinner of breaded chicken with salad and new potatoes was made perfectly extraordinary by the presence of salty, buttery, homegrown, freshly dug potatoes. OMGosh. So delicious.  If there is one thing you do next year, I would so encourage you to grow your own.  We have got all kinds of veg growing in pots outside and they are all coming along superbly, so far.  The pair of us are embarrassingly inept in the garden, too, so if we can do it anyone can! 

Have a great week.

Love

Nicki 

x 

Essential Expenditure and Pet Insurance

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love her floppy ear - it only perks up when treats or walks are mentioned

Andrew, as the Financial Controller of our household, has been reviewing our outgoings and interrogating me asking about the importance of some of our regular expenses. If I don’t start using the gym, for example, that particular membership is history. (Apparently, popping there to have my eyebrows done and buy Costa coffee doesn’t count.) We have had these conversations before when Andrew has conducted one of his little household expense reviews and our pet insurance has previously come under the spotlight. I heard him joking on the phone the other day that when he first met me the dog was insured for more than him! (No comment. Ha!) 

snuggling on the sofa with us (needing a haircut)

I bought Lizzie as a puppy, a while before I met Andrew.  She is my first dog and although I was excited to bring her home I was also very aware of the commitment and responsibility of having a pet.  I desperately wanted to do my best to look after her.  Our family has kept dogs for as long as I can remember and it was my Mum who advised that I set up an insurance policy.  I arranged for it immediately - the monthly premium was a relatively small amount of money and I figured it was the grown-up and responsible thing to do.  

After her first season (yuck) Lizzie became very ill. She was only about six months old and had been completely healthy up until then.  I was scared.  I whisked her to the vet where she had an emergency operation to remove her reproductive organs - she had developed a serious infection and, I am told, could have died.  It was a horrible time for me and would have been made even worse if I had been forced to find the £800 for the vet bill.  I told Andrew this story the first time he queried whether we really needed pet insurance - Lizzie seems quite healthy after all, he said.  I haven't needed to explain it again - he gets it and the insurance remains firmly on our essentials list.  I cannot recommend it enough.

keeping me company in our home office

I am not sure I can come up with quite such a compelling reason as to why I need to keep my £45 gym membership, however. I’m going to have to dust off my trainers. My thighs will thank me, I’m sure! 

Nicki

x

Ice cream for dinner

On the menu this evening:

It wasn't dessert, it was my actual dinner.  What a pikey!  Who cares; I ate salad for lunch (WeightWatchers - yawn) just so that I could have this (please note that this is not sound nutritional advice).  Creamy vanilla ice cream with my special Vahiné caramel sauce.  

  

If you ever see this stuff in the shops, grab a bottle.  It is delicious with ice cream, pancakes and fresh fruit.  I also like to sauté a couple of chopped pears (or apples) in a smidge of butter and drizzle a little of this over them. I know it's easy enough to make your own caramel sauce but, really, sometimes you need a quick fix.  (It occurred to me today that I could have used it to flavour the buttercream for the caramel cupcakes at the weekend rather than faffing around making my own caramel, too.)  

As I ate it, the dog was watching my every move.  I thought she wanted the dregs of ice cream from the bottom of the tub, but no:

She just had the urge to accessorise.  Ha!  I like her style.

Nicki 

x

PS I just wrote a whole paragraph about my bee saga and deleted it.   It makes me want to cry and this is a cheerful post.  So yes, the saga continues and whether the bees live or die it is going to cost

 us a few hundred pounds to have scaffolding to get into the chimney to sort it out.  

Pass the sherry, please.

Gin O'Clock

How can a short week feel so long?!  

It's 6:30pm and way past gin o'clock so I've just logged off my work computer and am going out in the garden for a drink before it gets cold.  Lead the way, pooch.

I'd write more but, you see, there's a rather handsome man in my garden 

and he's got a gin with my name on it.

We're going to Cambridge tomorrow for some shopping, lunching and, if the weather is nice, punting.  Last time we went punting (at Stratford upon Avon) we collided with a tour boat on the water.  It was very embarrassing.  I was almost peeing myself with laughter (thus rendering self even more useless at steering) whilst he got progressively sweaty and stroppy.  Should be fun! 

Nicki 

x

♪♫ Workin' 9 to 5... ♪♫

♪♫...what a way to make a livin'... ♪♫ 

I love this song!  It is one of my guilty pleasures, I know every word, and on a long car journey I'll quite often select the 'guilty pleasures' playlist on my ipod and sing my head off.  I'm driving to Leeds tomorrow for a meeting.  It takes me nearly three hours to get there so I plan to fill my Starbucks travel cup with proper strong coffee and sing my way up the M1.  

I am a little bit excited.  Not just because I get to spend the morning with Queen Dolly, Dr Hook and Five Star but also because I have got a new handbag.  I'm using it tomorrow for the first time.  I know it's sad to say that I'm excited about using a new handbag but there we are.  It's a Mulberry handbag and it's my new favourite thing.  

You can't really tell properly here but it's coral coloured leather.  Eek!  It is the Mulberry Alexa and the colour is called 'watermelon'.  It has a short plaited handle which fits into the crook of the arm and a longer strap which you can sling over the shoulder or across the body.  I have a couple of other Mulberry handbags but this is the first time I've bought one in such a ker-azy colour.  It is summery and fresh - I love it.  Not pink, not red, not orange but a perfect bright coral.  The kind of colour that looks amazing with a tan.  I have a few brightly coloured tops but I mostly wear neutral and nude colours; my beige, grey, khaki and parachute silk pink all look so right with this bag.  I wear a lot of black too, especially for work, but I think the only black item of clothing I can bring myself to pair this with is my leather jacket.  I don't like bright colours with black.

In this photo, the bag is sitting on a footstool.  Quite a loud patterned one, I know.  I love this room, it's our little den, shall I show you?

Our house is odd.  It's very old - two cottages that were knocked into one - and it is built on a slope so we have five levels in total, even though we have just two bedrooms.  This room is at the very top of the house - it is the lightest, brightest and warmest room (everywhere else in the house can be cold and a bit dark, even in high summer).  

You can't see it but those two chairs are in front of a TV - that's where my man watches his football/sci-fi and I watch my trash TV.  The little desk is where I sit with my laptop when I work from home and I also do any sewing up here.  We have books on shelves everywhere in this house, it drives me crazy.  The Mr and I both read a lot and he likes to see books on display.  I don't, I'd rather they were packed away, but we also have several strings of fairy lights in various spots around the house so I reckon I can compromise!  

Here's my little desk.  And some of the trade-off twig lights.

This is the only room that we can have a nice big light in - the ceilings everywhere else in the house are pretty low.

My Mother in Law keeps telling me that I need to remove all of the crystals once a week and wash them in hot soapy water to keep it sparkling.  I pretend not to hear when she says this.  The best it gets is a flick of my feather duster.

And finally, here's my little work chum.  She keeps me company when I work from home and listens out for would-be burglars, the postman and the annoying little boy next door who keeps booting his footballs over the fence.  She also patiently listens to me rabbit on when I'm in the middle of a particularly tricky spreadsheet.

This was her today and this photo makes me smile because I think she looks quite wise 

with a walrus moustache.  

See, you can go crazy in the coconut being on your own too much, thank goodness I'll be seeing real people at the office tomorrow.

Nicki 

x 

Dogs and Dentists

The dog has had a dental treatment at the vets today so she's sitting with me as I type.  We're sitting on the bed for a change.  She isn't usually allowed on the bed so it's a little reward for her being so good.

I don't really like her to come into the bedroom and I certainly don't like her to jump up on the bed - I wouldn't curl up in the dog bed with her - but she's a bit clingy and I was feeling kind.  Since taking these photos I have got the heebie jeebies and she's now on a massive freebie L'Occitane towel.

She's a good little dog and they all loved her at the vets surgery.