Lush spa

My Sister, mum, Aunt and I but ourselves a lush voucher at Christmas rather than exchange presents.
We then have a girls day out at some point during the year, so it's a good idea.

On Sunday we went to Cardiff. We had pizza in zero degrees and did some shopping in the arcades.
We then went to  the lush spa. We all bought the synesthesia voucher this time, but as the treatment requires you to pick things unique to you each one is different anyway.
I'd definitely try that again! So many word combinations!

Continent clothing

I love this shop! It's a cooperative, the woman who brings it employs people in Africa to make different garments.
She can tell you who made the fabric, who made the garment and which village you're supporting through your shopping.

I bought a dress from here that I took to Malta and people stopped me to ask where I got it. I not only are these super ethical, they're also beautiful.

Each piece is hand crafted and totally unique. Which is both a blessing and a curse...
You have to buy things when you see them or they won't be there again!

She's based in the Harris arcade in Reading. On the end by O'Neil's.

Today my eye was caught by the leaf skirt... And then the back pack... So I had to get both. Obviously.

Trying to be more environmentally conscious

So, this week our council became the first in the country to abandon it's plastic recycling services and tell residents to put their plastic in the normal bin to save money.

This has redoubled my awareness of the amount of plastic we use as a household. I'm in the process of switching all of our bathroom products to lush products- the containers can all be returned to gain discount on your next purchase. They're also ethical, and good to their staff so I'm happy to have an excuse to buy more.

At work we've started collecting plastic to make ecobricks. I need to do some more research but this seems like a good solution.

I'd like to start making my own soups etc as that will reduce the plastic we use too, but one step at a time I guess.

Reading with my Nan & Mum

Today my Mum and I met my Nan in reading and had a mooch around all the festive looking shops and did the Abbey ruins trail.
We had lush weather for looking for ruins!

One step closer to home ownership!

It's been a crazy few days. If you've never bought a house, I'll forewarn you that it's bizarre. You fill out forms. They all go off into the ether, periodically they're replaced with different forms and then suddenly everything happens all at once and is extremely time pressured.

So yesterday the mortgage contract arrived, as did the request for the deposit to be paid (minimum 5 working days before the completion date- and there were only 8 working days to go). Just as traff was due to leave for a flight to Spain.
So we spent the afternoon running round to banks and solicitors getting everything signed and transferred etc.

This morning I made the final money transfer and all the required phone calls.
Bought something on Amazon and fell fowl of the fraud department at the bank and had all my accounts temporarily frozen.

I celebrated both the final payment and the reinstatement of my accounts I bought a Halloween jumper from peacocks and a Halloween bath bomb from lush.
The cashier gave me a pumpkin one for free to celebrate my house buying!
I love lush even more now!

New paddle board

Yay! Paddle boarding!
I picked up mine and Tracey's paddle boards yesterday. They were supposed to be delivered but I was in Barcelona so I had to get them from the TNT depo.

I had failed to consider how challenging this might be.

It took 3 strong men to get the boxes into the car.
I realized my error when I parked in the closest space (2 streets over) and tried to get the boxes out of the car. My knight in shining armour came in the form of a gas fitter who needed to use the loo as the water was turned off in the house he was working in. I guess that's a fair exchange.

I can't wait to get out on the water!

Injury

Nurse traff has been diligently strapping up my poofy ankle. Marley has been less helpful. She just tried to steal the bandage.

Drinks reception at steam to welcome 2818

Tonight was the welcome drinks and official 'opening' of 2818 at Steam.
The train was made in the railway works and is now owned by Swindon.

I've never had champagne with a train as the guest of honour before.

Jenni's birthday meal 🎂

Jenni's birthday was on Thursday so as I was away in Barcelona, we celebrated this evening at Lalbagh.

Catalan cod with blacked aioli

https://www.elnacional.cat/en/gastronomy/catalan-classics-recipe-cod-burnt-aioli_241920_102.html

Ingredients for 1

cod fillet - 180g / 6.5oz
tomatoes - 2
flour - 100g / 3.5oz
egg - 1
garlic - 1 clove
olive oil
salt

Recipe

Deseed the tomatoes, just leaving the flesh, and dice

Fry in a splash of olive oil until they break apart to form a sauce

Season

Coat your cod in flour

Heat a saucepan of oil (see video)

Cook the fish, then remove carefully and remove excess oil with kitchen paper

Place the egg and garlic in a small diametre jug

Start mixing with a hand blender

Slowly add oil as you blend until you get the required quantity and texture

Plate: tomato sauce first, then cod, the aioli on top

Using a kitchen blow torch (or a hot grill), brown the top of the aioli

Barcelona day 4

Barcelona day 3

Barcelona day 2

Barcelona day (evening) 1

Indian cookery class at Dakh's house

Today one of my former colleagues invited me to a cookery lesson and dinner party.
We learned to make two types of curry, pakoras, riata and salsa- as well as learning how to make curry paste bases.

The food was incredible!
The pakoras were my favourite!
We had a fantastic afternoon of catching up and learning new skills. But now I'm so full I can barely move.

A rainy Saturday

What better way to spend a rainy day than crocheting a blanket and eating Mexican wrester shortbread whilst watching The Imitation Game with Tracey Dale?

The biscuits are from a fancy national trust recipe (the one in the latest magazine...)

We're going to Roz's later for Mexican food and we didn't want to arrive empty handed.
Rubarb gin, homemade shortbread and exploding kittens should do the trick though!

Paddle boarding races- Saltford marina

Tracey and I took part in the bi weekly paddle boarding races run by the Bath paddle boarding club.
We did really badly, but we had a nice time and now we have some times to beat when our own boards arrive! 😁

My week off

I should really prologue this post by saying that my week of annual leave didn't really go as planned.

As you do, when you take a week off of work, I had grand plans that didn't quite work out.
But, I have scrubbed the kitchen floor and cleaned the bathroom, watched all of The Bletchley circle and started watching Bleach (somehow this Skipped me by, it's honestly ridiculous but extremely compelling).

I worked 5 days at the Steam 1940s festival (cue giant hair, red lipstick and retro fashion). So that was ace. I met some really lovely people and had some great feedback.

On Wednesday I met with Sophie. We went national trusting. We actually went to Pete Townsend's house.
So jealous of the amazing views! It was really lovely to catch up, we did a bit of planning for Iceland too.