Life Lately: May 2016

The most notable thing to mention this month is that Scott and I got married! A couple of weeks ago we tied the knot and celebrated with family and close friends. We had a fantastic day.

I still can’t get use to referring to him as my husband. Seems very grown up.

Eating

• Caramelised onion gravy. Hands down the best vegetarian gravy I’ve ever had.
• Honey lime stuffed quinoa potatoes.
• Butternut squash pasta. Really liked the flavour, reduced the pasta quantity but kept everything else the same.
• Rustic croutons. Rip bread into small-ish chunks (2-3cm). Heat a little olive oil in a pan with garlic and lightly fry until crispy. Season with salt and pepper. Delicious as a soup topping.

Rhubarb! Our crown at the allotment is huge. Two recipes I’ve enjoyed the most are stewed rhubarb with orange (I added a handful of raspberries too) and simple vanilla cardamom stewed rhubarb. I haven’t made it yet but I’ve got my eye on this French toast with poached rhubarb and pistachios. Awooga!

Watching

• Wallander: The White Lioness. The first episode in the new British series (also the last) of Wallander.
• Flowers. A warped comedy about a dysfunction family. Stars Sophie from Peep Show.

Making

Table arrangements and bouquets for our wedding. We chose blush roses, eucalyptus and gypsophila. I really really enjoyed putting them together — and having a living room bursting with flowers.

On Saturday I attended a silver clay workshop by Emma of Silverpebble and made these pendants. I spent the morning sat around a table with lovely people, crafting and gawking at things like seed heads and lichen. Oh and eating homemade brownies.

The one on the left is the top of a poppy seed head and the one on the right is the tip of a leaf. I took enough photos to fill a whole post so I’ll write about the workshop soon.

Growing

Our allotment is beginning to take shape. Most things are in the ground now but the beans have taken an absolute hammering from the slugs.

We felt pretty downhearted about it last week to be honest but we plodded on, putting out beer traps and planting out other seedlings. Seeing all those dead slugs in our traps lifted my spirits in a disturbing sort of way. Hopefully we will the battle.

Enjoying

Being out on our bikes again. We are a bit out of shape but all the hills around here have been giving us a good workout. When we need a break, there are lots of pubs serving good food en route. Must fuel the body 😉 As you can tell we’re not part of the lycra brigade.

When we go for a walk we stop to see how the Canada geese are doing. There are five of them nearby, all very fluffy, all growing up so fast.

That’s all for May!