Reflecting on my week #99

My work week has continued to be busy, and longer than in probably should be, but as it’s the first week of term I think that’s ok and hopefully things will start to calm down. More than usual I was looking forward to a weekend with some time to do what I liked as MOH was working again. I considered heading off to see Downton at the pictures, which felt quite decadent. Then I saw the weather and sitting in a darkened room didn’t seem right. However good the film might be.

In the end though plans changed and it was just as well I’d already dismissed the pictures idea. The weekend was far more chilled than we originally thought and for the first time in a while, out came my crochet. It’s been a while, and I’m not sure if I’ve shared it here. But it’s the project that’s travelled far and wide. To Birmingham, to Liverpool and even to Portugal, and not once did it see the light of day!

pale grey crocheted square

I made up for it this weekend though and the central square, made up of nine squares is ready to be assembled. I’ve used a variegated grey and white yarn which starts from white to the darkest grey, so I think it’ll look great. It’ll be a square throw for our sofas, one that we can throw over the arm and act as a kind of arm protector too.

light and dark grey crocheted squares

Once the centre square is together, the next section is a series of shell borders. Then more squares, I think, but I’ll worry about that bit when I get to that. I’ve a few crochet projects on the go, and this one is my go to project right now. It’s simple with no colour changes, other than those that the yarn determines.

Simple for my full up brain, just what it needs right now!

The weekend was also one for being domesticated, and it’s been a while. Chores were done, and stock was made from the remains of the roast chicken from Saturday’s tea. It was the ultimate in multi-tasking, I was watching the rugby meanwhile the stock, and then soup was doing it thing. Tasty, wholesome and very good value. The small £5 chicken from the butchers has provided a roast dinner for two, four servings of soup, which was generously packed with chicken and veg - and the leftover roast potatoes, and there’s still chicken left for lunch one day.

home made chicken and leek soup

With time and inclination, it’s amazing what you can do. During the soup stage i popped into the garden for some herbs, and was met with the “crime scene” below. Which made me jump more than it really should have.

an unexpected find in the garden

I’ve no idea where it came from, or actually if it’s still there. Did the foxes bring it in? Did our neighbour’s children throw it over? Though if they did we should sign them up for the field events, because they’re naturals. Is it missed? Am I holding it hostage, without realising? But how do I return it, and to where.

It looks so peaceful too, and quite comfy, well for a soft toy.

Who knew the dilemma an unexplained soft toy in the garden would bring. What would you do?!

London Mules with Haycocks No 9

* This is a collaborative post

I am rather partial to a spot of gin. Which given its popularity right now is handy. So when I was invited to a Gin tasting and masterclass with Haycocks No 9, I think you can probably work out what my answer was.

Had I heard of Haycocks No 9 before? No, but there’s so many gins out there that that didn’t surprise me. What I learnt though was that it’s a spiced gin liqueur, it goes with everything (quite literally - and you know me, I like to be thorough in my testing) and I found a new gin to add to my gin list.

We were greeted on arrival with a London Mule - Haycocks No 9, fresh ginger, lime juice and ginger beer, and very welcome it was too. In fact it’s a drink we might have had at least another of as the masterclass ended.

I’ve already mentioned that there’s hundreds of gins out there, so I was curious when they said the last thing they wanted to was make another gin, because the world doesn’t need another one. They didn’t want to add just another flavour. They realised that despite mixing so well, gin was never made for mixing, predating cocktails and tonic by decades.

Their inspiration is the humble coriander seed. Bear with me.

London Mules with Haycocks No 9

That’s why gin mixes so well, so they thought they’d create something different, but something that mixes as well as gin, but tastes like nothing else. And from the tastings we had, both with mixers and neat, it definitely tastes good.

Its botanicals are chosen not just for how well they go together, but also for how well they mix individually. Each one had to bring a citrus, zingy or uplifting spice note to the party. Think turbo-lemon-sherbert for grownups. But here’s the thing, there’s no lemon in sight. Unless you add a slice, of course.

As is my way I managed to choose a mixer that on its own sounded good but didn’t really deliver (Fentiman’s sparkling lime and jasmine drink - the one in the instagram photo above.), but when mixed with the gin, was very, very drinkable. In fact Haycocks paired with Fentimans at Taste London as the pairing worked so well. MOH tried his with Cherry Coke - also good (though I’m not a Cherry Coke fan), and with San Pellegrino bitters, again also good.

Haycock's Flavour pairing wheel

What’s more they explain the science on their website. And if you’re not feeling quite so brave, or need a bit of help or structure then there’s a fab Flavour Pairing Wheel which you can download too.

And as they said on the night it did take a fair bit of tasting to create, though no brand owners were permanently broken in the making of it (only temporarily!)

Tough work, I guess. But worth it.

Thanks Haycocks No 9 for a great evening, and for providing the opportunity to try your spiced gin liqueur with so many mixers.

* I was invited to this event to try the product and share an honest review on my blog. All views shared here, are as ever, my own.

PoCoLo

Reflecting on my week #98

I don’t think I’ve had so much time away from my blog for quite a while, if ever. But that time away isn’t because I’ve fallen out of love with it, but more because when things are full on something has to give, and that thing has been this space. Which thinking about it objectively like that, I’m not so happy about.

Today I’ve had a day out of the office at a conference for work, and it has been the best thing. Yes, work is busy, and a day out now could be classed as indulgent, but it’s also amazing for the perspective it brings. All round. I left Victoria today feeling more inspired than I have done for a while, still with a list of things I want to achieve as long as my arm, but with renewed determination to tackle the important things.

That includes making time again for this space. Making time for proper meals. And making time to do things that bring joy - and incase you think that’s related to a big tidy up, it isn’t, but it is about spending time together when we can both get off the treadmill of work-sleep-repeat.

MOH’s had it worse than me though, his hours have been crazy. When there’s seventeen hours overtime done in a single day, yes seriously, it’s all a bit wrong. It’s amazing what clarity there is when you have time, and headspace. And views like this from Platform 2 at Victoria earlier on.

view from platform 2

No doubt tomorrow I’ll be back on the grindstone and my resolve will be challenged, probably more than once. But there is only so much you can do, isn’t there?

So what else has been going on? There’s been gin. Well more precisely gin liqueur tasting. MOH headed off to Shoreditch on a Monday night and drank some gin. And very civilised - and tasty - it was too. I’ll share more another day though.

There’s been cake too. We wandered into the Farmers' Market in the Village last weekend for cake, it’s the rules when at Farmers’ Markets. And we left with two weird and wonderful creations. Mine was green, totally vegan, sugar free and as tasty as it was unusual looking. MOH opted for something slightly more traditional, but equally as gooey and between us we demolished the two - we had to share each one (another rule) and in keeping with my digital hiatus, there’s no photos.

Sunday afternoon was spent on the sun loungers in the garden, and after a long Saturday, it was needed to recover. Wasn’t the weather nice, and wasn’t it nice to be able to just sit out in the garden again? Looking ahead to this week, we’re already planning to head out to lunch on Sunday after England’s first game in the Rugby World Cup, though I noticed today as I came past our planned restaurant of choice it’s closed for a refurb, let’s hope they’re quick and open again by the weekend, or that could backfire, somewhat.