A Bit Of A Hen Do - Part 2!

So the presents for the Bride to be arrived in one piece.
Phew!
We went out to eat here:

Eat as much as you like.
Buffet style.
Hummus, crispy duck pancakes, curry, mint mouse, cheesecake and sweets and fruit.
Delicious.
Yummy food.
Stuffed.
Too busy eating to get some pictures of the food.
Sorry.
The Bride to be(my niece):

loved it all.
A lovely Girls Night Out!
I wore my lovely posh shoes, of course.
I teetered and tottered, bravely, pretending I was "fine" and tried to keep up with everyone who had worn sensible shoes, convincing myself that I was walking eligantly and not going at a snails pace.
The Mother of the Bride to be(my sister in law) couldn't walk in her shoes either...
but they do look great don't they?

It was lovely spending time with my "ex-family", whom I love dearly and remain close to, perhaps surprisingly, despite being divorced for many many years.
It doesn't generally follow a break-up to maintain good friendships with the in-laws, sister-in laws etc, but this family has a special place in my heart and they would say I the same in theirs too, I think.
It is fun to break the rules, anyway isn't it.
We love to laugh and see people's faces when I am introduced as "the ex-sister in law". We wait for the cogs to turn in people's heads and then say "Oh," and still look perplexed.
We just giggle.
It really is a story of mourning into dancing.
Maybe I will tell you one day.

Brr Monday

It may be May but it has been cold today.
Good job I had put on my slow cooker this morning.
Home from work and nice warm food to welcome me home.
Pork in Barbeque sauce.

A recipe from my Fix It and Forget It Book.
Pork, diced.
Onion, chopped.
1 x can/bottle of bbq sauce.
1/4 cup honey.
Cook on low 8 hours all day whilst you are cold at work.

Serve with fresh bread, a thick sweater, cosy slippers and TV whilst sitting on the sofa.
Yummy.
Click on the heating, optional but welcome extra.

A brr-illiant start to the week.

May it be warmer tomorrow.
Please.
At least I will have leftovers.
Brr

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!
This has been my table decoration:

This morning at church we sang the amazing hymn:
"Praise to The Lord, the Almighty the King of creation"
A brilliant hymn written by Joachim Neander (1650-80) and translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827-78)

The last few lines of one of the verses to this hymn seemed particularly poignant to me this morning, Valentines Day:

"Ponder Anew,
What The Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend Thee."

I think I had previously sung the words If to the end He befriend thee.
I really really liked this translation today...

To ponder anew, think afresh, gain fresh understanding, to look with new perspective.
Fresh insight.
I love the word ponder too.
Probably because I am a bit of a natural day dreamer!
Pondering was good enough for Mary, though, wasn't it when she pondered on all the things that were spoken to her with the birth of Jesus.

It was this line that I really liked today:
If with His love...
It reminded me of His loving kindness that draws us close to Him.
The freshness of Him befriending me, drawing alongside to be a friend with Luci.
It has such a simple, a lovely childlike quality don't you think?
Friendship works both ways doesn't it?
He chooses to befriend me and I choose to befriend Him.
I am glad we are friends.

The rest of the day has been great too.
Yummy food and great friends.
9 of us this time:

A meal with Abbie and Tim, Emily and Jamie, Anna, Jenny, Ralph, Beefy and last but not least - me!
A brilliant chance to use my New plates.
I snuck in a mini bag of malteasers and magic stars into each napkin bag and tied them with raffia!

The meal was, as usual, a collection of amazing contributions from each of us.
We had this yummy Moroccan salad for a starter with bread from Abbie and Tim.

Then we had the Beef Burgundy with baked potatoes and sugar snap peas.
Apple and Blackberry crumble, yummy lemon pudding,chocolate gateau was all delicious too. Thanks Beefy and Jenny.
The meal was all washed down nicely with some rather nice red wine! Thanks Ralph and Emily and Jamie.
We rounded off the meal with tea and coffee and ginger shortbread.
Thanks too, Ralph and Tim and Beefy for doing all the washing up!!!
you guys are great.
This smiley face, Ralph, :-) is for you - as I know you didn't know how to write one earlier today - and apparently can't do one on your blackberry.
:-) or should that be :-(
Thanks friends.
Thanks for the food and the laughter.
It has been a good day.
Thank You God for being my friend and Thank You for my friends too.
Happy Valentines Day, bloggy friends.
xxx

That Lovin' Feelin'

You got That Lovin' Feelin'?
Or do you see it as a huge marketing thing?
Those of us with a partner spend a fortune and those of us without save a fortune!

Typically, Valentines Day here in the UK tends to be very much for those wishing to declare undying love, secretly or for already existing couples and the marrieds.
Quite exclusively, it has to be said.
Very different from the USA, I think.
No buying Valentines for friends or children buying them for classmates.
Nope. Just the boyfriends/girlfriends/partners/husbands/wives.
Traditional cupid stuff.
But...
As you know, I am a bit of a rule breaker and love any excuse to get friends together!
This year I am planning, with the groovy girlie chicks, a yummy Valentines meal for our friends and husbands.
There should be 10 of us if everyone comes.
We asked more but some have other dates, it seems!
I am really looking forward to it - and excited to use all my new plates and bowls I now have.
I collected the rest of them today!
I had some money for Christmas to get some more of my chosen tableware I have been collecting these last few months. Sophie Conran in the Portmeirion range.
I love it!
I had some for my birthday after I ditched my old Denby at China Search and I went shopping the other weekend with my friend Tanya to get some more with my Christmas spending money.
I made my lovely purchases and opted to get it from customer collections later in the day after we had done more shopping.
A great idea, we thought... except that we were so busy gabbing and shopping elsewhere that we simply forgot the time.
When we realised the time and battled the car park and traffic to get round to customer collections... yes you have guessed it... they were closed.
Too late.
They had all my shopping.
I came home empty handed.
(Well, almost!)
This...

became my new challenge!
I managed to arrange for them to deliver it.
It arrived...yesterday - when I was at work!
A little frustrating as they said it would be either Friday or Monday. In a way, I had hoped for Monday as I am off work next week.
So I picked it up from the local parcel depot this morning!
It will be great to use it tomorrow, though!

Of course, Tudur was on hand to help with the unpacking!
He was just as excited as I was and jumped right in to help!

Once it was all unpacked and washed and put away, I got everything ready for the slow cooker - Beef Burgundy.
I used a recipe from this Fix it and Forget it.

A fabulous slow cooker book.
I also borrowed one of the girly chicks slow cookers as we need 2.
Friends will bring things to go with it - either savoury or a yummy sweet.
We will accept any food or flowers, wine or chocolates, most gratefully.
Will take photos and post them soon.
Happy Valentines Day, tomorrow!
x

Our Thanksgiving meal

Yesterday, we, the groovy girlie cake chicks did the most fabulous Thanksgiving meal together :-) for some of our friends.
Tudur helped me decide which table cloth to use...

and I used the wreath I decorated with pine cones, orange slices and cinnamon sticks as my centrepieces, with a candle in the middle.

There were 11 of us in the end and everyone brought something!
We had time to share some things we have been thankful for each over this last year. It was good to reflect on things we are thankful for and also to hear more about each other's lives too.
We ate turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, sausages, fresh greens, honey glazed carrots,sweet potato casserole with oats and marshmallows on top, roast parsnips. We also had stuffed bread as a vegetarian option.
For the stuffed bread I sauteed red onion, garlic, carrot, celery, green pepper, mushrooms. I used fresh cranberries and chestnuts for a lovely Christmassy flavour. Season with salt and pepper and mixed herbs. Simply carve off one thin slice from one end of a small loaf of bread and scoop out the centre of the bread.(One of my friends actually ate all the centre of the loaf!) Stir in some grated cheese before adding to the centre of the loaf and then place the end slice back. You can you small cocktail sticks or kebab skewers and heat in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.
We then ate pumpkin pie, apple pie and chocolate cupcakes. Yummy.
I also got to wear my red shoes too.
Delicious. Great food and great company with my fabulous friends.
Thank you friends for a wonderful evening.

My thanksgiving meal coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope your Thanksgiving was good.
We girly cake chicks are planning on celebrating Thanksgiving next weekend with our husbands and other friends. Hopefully there will be 14 of us. We have been gathering ideas for our feast and are looking forward to sharing what we are each thankful for, during the evening. The UK doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but traditionally the church has harvest festival as a celebration in September, where we are thankful for all the produce grown that year and give food parcels to others in need. We girly chicks love food and a chance to be thankful, so we are looking forward to getting together to eat and be together. Bring on the turkey, sweet potato and pumpkin pies on Saturday 5th December!
I am really looking forward to it.
I might dress up in a posh frock and my red shoes!

The Alternative Wedding Feast!

After the Wedding ceremony and the photos, the bride and groom and all the relatives left to go to the Wedding Reception. A few of us friends were invited to the ceilidh later in the evening, which was great fun btw! However, it didnt solve our dilema: What to do in the few hours after the ceremony and the evening do?
We heard that all the relatives would be eating sausages and sweet potato mash and thought that this sounded rather yummy. So we decided to gather together at my house for the Alternative Wedding Feast! We each bring food to cook at my house then to eat together. We often have similar food meal gatherings and they are proving to be special times for us all. We often decide on a theme, like Sunday roast or Italian theme, so that it is not just a pot luck menu.
Rachel and family brought the drinks and sausages and Jen brought the potatoes and I made onion gravy and we served it all with some carrots. I made a lemon drizzle cake for dessert. A simple, cost effective way to share a meal together with friends. Delicious!


I used a recipe from my new birthday gift a few weeks ago: the hummingbird bakery book, by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers. He was inspired to learn to make amazing cupcakes after a trip to the USA.
This book has some fabulous looking recipes that I can hardly wait to try. My friend Abbie has been to one of their bakery shops in London and says that is an amazing experience!
I would love to visit one of the shops to try one... or maybe 2... of the cakes!
Thank you, my lovely friends for a lovely day.( I enjoyed wearing my new home made earrings too!)