Monday 26 November 2012

Crafty

A very good friend is having a baby, so as soon as I found out, it was the perfect excuse to knit something. I'm getting a bit broody myself but have to get the wedding out of the way first - and get a proper training job - before we can embark on that stage! So for the baby I made this hat in a cream colour. 


It's made out of pretty thick wool, which was great fun to knit with because it was so quick! Unlike when I knitted an Arsenal scarf for Andy a couple of years ago - that took forever.


On Saturday we took a trip to my favourite shop of all time - Ikea! We only popped in to look at Christmas decorations, but as usual came out with £30 worth of stuff. Finally we have a mirror for the spare room. Technically we're supposed to ask the letting agents for permission before we attach anything to the walls, but as I rang them 3 times in the last week and I'm still waiting for them to get back to me, we're going to put the mirror up anyway and worry about it later. 

I've been after one of these wicker hearts for a while now, we went to the Chatsworth House Christmas Market on Saturday and they had loads, but they were very pricey. Luckily Ikea had some that were very reasonable. So this is what it looks like in daylight:


We threaded a set of LED lights through it, and now it looks all festive:


It's not quite an acceptable time to put the Christmas tree up - we have to wait until after Andy's birthday on Thursday - but I'm already in the spirit of things. Shame this year I'm working nights over Christmas anyway, sometimes it really sucks that people get sick all year round. 

Anyone else in the Christmas spirit yet?

Sunday 18 November 2012

Theatre and Cake

On Friday night, Andy and I went to see 'The Memory of Water' at the Guildhall in Derby. We're not big theatre goers but were fed up of another night in front of the telly drinking too much wine, so off we went.

The Guildhall is tiny, we had end row seats thinking we'd be alongside the aisle, but instead we were up against the wall! It was incredibly hot in there, and as the evening went on it got hotter and hotter. The play is about three sisters (and later on their partners) the day before their mother's funeral. The relationship between the three of them has always been strained, and the high pressure environment led to some interesting and hilarious discussions between them. I was so impressed with the high quality acting; there were so many lines, with one of the characters being on stage for the whole of the first half (over an hour).


Of course the best thing about going to the theatre is that there's always ice cream in the interval! Andy didn't believe me that it would be there, but happily I was right and we had a Magnum each. Sadly only a Classic, they didn't have anything as fancy as the new Infinity ones!

Last Wednesday we had dinner with friends, and it was our job to supply pudding. Normally I'd bust out the classic banoffee pie recipe that never disappoints but I fancied trying something new - so using TGBBO book (obviously!) we attempted this:


It came out as a bit of a monster! From the bottom up, it's meringue, brownie, raspberry cream, brownie, meringue, raspberry cream and decorated with chopped hazelnuts and pistachio nuts. Yum!



Unfortunately between making it and serving it, the top half kind of slid off to one side, meaning it didn't look quite so pretty. But it tasted delicious!

Sunday 4 November 2012

Donkeys

Half term is no fun when you're an adult. I definitely feel like I need a week off after working since we went to Chicago at the beginning of September. Luckily we have booked our honeymoon! We're off to Mauritius for a week straight after the wedding. For gift lists, we're having a list at John Lewis for a few bits and pieces (KitchenAid mixer in artisan, yes please) and then asking people to get us Virgin Holiday vouchers if they'd prefer. Then we can pay for the rest of the honeymoon. Otherwise I might have to do some extra locum shifts...

Yesterday we went to the Donkey sanctuary in Peak Forest, in the Peak district. It took us an hour to get there, only to find it was incredibly muddy and we were expected to go across two fields to get to the donkeys. Mud negotiated, we stroked a few donkeys and tried not to freeze to death. Andy got headbutted by one in the groin because he was standing on a particularly tasty patch of grass.


Donkeys are amazing animals, and these ones are so tame. They were happy to be stroked whilst they ate. We walked round for probably no more than half an hour as it was barely above freezing, but it was fun and we paid our voluntary donations so we felt like we'd done our bit!