Pink Green

It's Nearly March...

Well, February has nearly passed us by, thank goodness. I am longing for some sunshine, a cup of tea on the bench in my garden, opening the windows and the doors and generally not feeling quite so cold and grey. I don't usually feel the cold but it has been the sort that gets into your bones. The fire and blankets have been working overtime, and we've taken to allowing Bodie on the sofa occasionally just for his warmth (which he is quite happy to provide in return for a cuddle).

We had a fabulous half term week in a cottage near Chichester. It was right on the beach, and we had a lovely time exploring places we had never been before.

This was the beach that was a 30 second walk from our front door.

This is a really pretty florists shop in Arundel, and it serves to remind me that the sun did shine while we were there!

West Dean Gardens were my favourite discovery. Even in the depths of Winter there were signs of life everywhere. 

The fruit trees were all trained in the most perfect manner around metal supports. It must be breathtaking when the blossom is out.

I managed to squeeze in a visit to Clothkits in Chichester, which was a fantastic sanctuary from the blizzard outside. I took a couple of sneaky photos on my phone, but as I was with children and men I was only allowed a few minutes to browse. I came home with some little bits of fabric and lots of ideas!

One good thing about the weather is that I have been reading, knitting and crocheting much more than usual. I knitted a hat from this book, which has been keeping me warm, and I am currently working on a cowl from a pattern cobbled together from various sources in gorgeous mustard coloured wool. I will be taking this with me to tomorrow nights' Craft Night In at Cafe Moochoo, which is a lovely way to spend a couple of hours with friends (and cake).

Well, I had better go and start tidying. I've got friends coming round for wine and gossip tonight as Andy is working, and as always I've put off the tidying up until the last minute. In my defence it does get messy very quickly so the later I leave it the more chance there is that it will still look ok at 8pm!

 

Here Come The Girls...

My lovely sister Rachel came to spend this weekend with us while her hubby is away, and as Andy was working nights and sleeping days we had a very girly time of it indeed. When we get together food seems to form a huge part of  the planning. We are both good, homely cooks, and treaty food is a bit part of family time. My girls approve heartily and joined in with gusto too.

Friday night consisted of one of my favourite Madhur Jaffrey recipes - Red Pepper Chicken, and copious wine and a catch up in front of the fire once the girls had gone to bed.

Despite the grown up girls feeling a little weary, the not-quite-grown-up girls were full of beans and so we headed out of Cheltenham to show Rachel some of our favourite haunts. We hit Stroud Farmers Market first, where we bought bread, olives and cheese for a platter tea, plus scrummy Thai Yellow Curry for lunch from a street vendor, washed down with spiced apple juice.

After a little walk and a mooch we headed for another favourite place - Nailsworth - for more mooching in the stunning (but also, sadly, stunningly expensive) Sharland & Lewis.

Restorative cake was needed, so we had a cake sharing platter in a tiny tea shop. This was meant to be for 2 and was advertised as 'slivers' of cake. We had actually eaten one slice before I took this picture. It served 4 and we didn't finish it all. Doorstops would be a more appropriate description. The orange and poppyseed was especially scrummy.

Following on from that we waddled back to the car, and headed back to a more local, and much newer haunt of mine - the gobsmackingly beautiful Whole Foods store. Now, I am not normally one to get excited about a supermarket, but the pristine, stunning displays make me swoon every time I walk in! I am too afraid to take something in case the whole thing collapses, and I am sure that once you remove an item an alarm goes off and someone instantly comes out to replenish the display.

Oh, but the beauty of it all. I have to confess that having stuffed ourselves with cake earlier we weren't feeling foody, so left with nothing more than 2 yogurts, a bottle of pear and raspberry juice and a packet of mints.

A good hour of Just Dance, a platter tea and some late night crafting ready for a hen do finished off Saturday just nicely.

Sunday started with a trip to the car boot, as Rachel has a new, much larger, house to fill (and I helped her with that mission considerably). I bought a gorgeous, bargainous kitchen table for £30 which I have yet to photograph, and this gorgeous set of drawers which I bought to  sell on but decided I can't part with.

We spent the rest of the day chatting, laughing, drinking tea and chilling out. Now she has moved to just over an hour up the road I am already looking forward to the next girly weekend. I may need to diet in preparation though!

Did anyone else have a fun, foody weekend?