Alfresco breakfast take 2

Not so much the weather for it today!

Alfresco breakfast

Today I ate my breakfast outside with my favourite dining companions.
One was a little unwilling.

Farmer's market haul!

This week we're trying the butcher's stall. Harissa sausages and streaky bacon.
More strawberries and more honey too.
😁
I want to get some heritage carrots to make my sushi look more interesting. Maybe next time.
And some squashes.

I was disappointed this week as there was no bread man and no one had any corn on the cob. Crop of the week seems to be chard.
I'm not sure i'm ready to be 'on trend' and eat chard.
This week there were loads of cheese places too.. perhaps I will investigate them at a later date £10 for 3 cheeses seemed a bit pricey but maybe it's delicious.

This seems to have become a Sunday activity.
It's quite nice to stroll around the market and the fruit and veg are better deals than in the supermarket.
Jurys still out on the meats.

Dim sum

I have been far too successful at making these.
This morning as I type this I am making custard buns for breakfast.
Last night I had two types of vegi dim sum with a soy sauce dip.

Next I want to do bbq pork buns! A trip to the supermarket is required!

Honestly, this steamer is almost better than the rice cooker in terms of kitchen gadgets!

Letters

I signed up to a pen pal collective via instagram.
So, I have two new pen pals- Hope in Canada and Mario in Costa rica.

I'm actually pretty excited about it! And with the distance it won't be crazy as it'll mean writing about once a month.
😁

This is such a 90s past time.

SUP

Wallingford

We took a detour on the way home to visit the castle ruins in Wallingford.
Definitely worth it for the views!

Abingdon

Today's adventure: Abbey ruins, abvey meadows, the thames towpath, bubble tea and a rest in the gardens!
It was soooo hot.
I am probably sunburnt to hell.

Home made Dim Sum

This is so stupidly easy with a steamer! Buy one!
Make delicious snacks in 15 minutes from frozen!

Traff's future...

Look like anyone you know??

Dyrham Park

London

Today, Tats and I went to see the victorian  pleasure gardens at Crystal palace.
After a dim.sum lunch, of course.

The maze and dinosaurs date from 1870, but they're still very pleasing!
The maze originally was built in 1870 but was destroyed by a fire. It was replaced in.1987 to mark 100 years of girl guiding in the uk.
It's also pretty tricky!

Lazy Sunday

After a late night last night, we didn't get up very early today...
Marley was really empathetic, she just had a lie in.

I started my day with my 5k power walk/slow jog and Traff went to the gym.

We followed that up with a trip to the farmer's market for fruit, honey and lettuce.
Then, whilst the sun was out we thought we might as well have a bbq and make use of the lettuce!
We tried quorn gammon steaks and they were actually a bit disappointing. But all the better for being on the bbq.
I also made harissa corn on the cobs.

Marley and I took it in turns to roll around on the trampoline impatiently whilst Traff cooked.

After lunch, we had a reading break: I have finished howells moving castle!!

Then pudding.

And now we're settling in for a film evening now that the sky has gone a bit grey.

The GLC

Traff and I went to see the GLC at the rollerstone arms.

It was a weird evening.

Firstly, the start of the show was delayed because someone tried to kill themselves by jumping off the multi storey car park opposite the venue.
So all the roads were closed so that the police could talk the guy down.. that took 4 hours.

Show back on the road and disaster averted, the support artist took the stage at 9pm.
Agricultural hip hop.
It was good, we enjoyed it.

The GLC took to the stage at 10pm and played a selection of retro classics.
That was a very good show!

I wasn't sure what to expect if i'm honest as there are only 3 of them. They had definitely calmed down in the last 10 years! No sobbing tour manager or cocaine in sight!

Cheese and chilli festival Vs British summer

We meant to go to the cheese and chilli festival.
But it was £7 entry each.
And whilst we were debating this there was a thunder storm.

So, we went to waitrose and arranged our own, slightly less impressive cheese and chilli festival.
Free entry.
All you can eat cheese.
Winner.

Gloucester

As you know, Ray is living in our guest bedroom.
She tried to buy a house in January, it all went wrong, she'd already given notice on her rented accommodation, and she said she'd be here 'for a few weeks'.
6 months later she may have finally found a new place worthy of attempting to buy!

In fairness, she's looked at loads of flats, just most of them were extremely worn out.
This one is awesome.

So, we went for a second viewing yesterday and still can't find any faults! Then we went for thai to introduce Andy to my Mum. She was well behaved.
So, all in all, it's been a pretty productive week!

New job proper!!

Ok, this is very exciting but i'm posting my secrets here before I get my official offer letter:
On Wednesday I had to go get my DBS check done because I now have two new jobs!

From January (6 months notice! I think they're taking the piss but I don't think there is much I can do...) I will be working 4 days (full time hours) for UKRI as a contracts portfolio manager, assessing grant applications for engineering and physical science projects at UK universities. I'll then we working 1 day a,week for Steam (and a few weekends and evenings).

I'm starting with Steam next weekend, and will work weekends for them until Christmas, so part of this trade off will be that i'm socially unavailable until 2018 because my current work are being so difficult!

I'm so excited for doing something new!
I celebrated with pie!

Jay's holiday in Wiltshire day 3

The turkish baths!
I love the health hydro and once you get over them being rough around the edges the turkish baths are awesome.
Very much a man spa.

The other people are interesting.
Last time we met a recovering heroin addict. He was there again this time bit he has a girlfriend now.
This time we made friends with a sikh guy who showed us how to make the steam room steamier and an iranian guy.

After 3 hours in the baths we called it quits and went for dinner in lalbagh.

Jay's holiday in Wiltshire day 2

Rinse and  repeat of day 1, except we bbq'd with coals and jay joined me on my 3k power walk.
But he did not walk quickly.
Worst. Time. Yet.
The company was good though!

Marley spent so much time running around outside she was sparko.
So cute!