Vodka = bad

Jeff and I just can’t seem to ‘chill’, the whole idea of sitting in front of the TV for hours on end is alien to both of us and as per usual we have managed to do an inordinate amount of stuff in less than 24 hours.

I spent most of yesterday in the spa, with a friend and Jeff played various computer games and pottered around. I got to his house for about 6pm and after watching a little bit of TV and watering the plants outside (everything seems to be going really well, still!) we decided to cook – tonight we had 2 more Ina Garten recipes to try: Steakhouse steaks (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/steakhouse-steaks-recipe/index.html) and sautéed wild mushrooms (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/sauteed-wild-mushrooms-recipe2/index.html) Jeff had got a pepper grinder with the food processor he purchased a few months ago, so we tried to do what Ina suggested and grind our own pepper – it actually seemed to work quite well and we mixed it with some salt and coated the well-oiled steaks with it.

Usually I really enjoy cooking with Jeff, however this time it wasn’t overly fun and I don’t think Jeff thought it was either. I don’t know if we were both tired, but our timings seemed really out and there wasn’t much banter between us – we just got on and did stuff, then got in each others way.

The steak was way too peppery for me and even Jeff (who loves pepper) said it was slightly too peppery. I am assuming it’s a failure on our part – as I don’t imagine that the wonderful Ina got it wrong and she hasn’t let us down so far (let us not forget the Parkers beef stew or the French apple tarts we did recently which were a resounding success!) The cooking method was brilliant though, and we both agreed that we would certainly cook the steaks in the way she suggested in her recipe. The mushrooms, on the other hand – were absolutely brilliant and tasted wonderful, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.

After dinner we watched random TV and I suggested we have a few drinks – BIG mistake. For some reason 5 shots of vodka got me completely drunk and when I’m drunk, my paranoia seems to get 100 times worse. Jeff said he was going to go to the toilet quickly and I went to look on his computer for the dates to Goodwood, Festival of Speed as we had just been talking about going. I mistakenly clicked on ‘My computer’ as on my laptop – the icon for firefox is where his icon for ‘my computer’ is – however, rather than sensibly shutting the window down, I had this overwhelming urge to try and find a photograph of his ex-girlfriend to see what she looked like.

This took about 30 seconds and after I saw a photograph – I felt sick. Completely my fault and I immediately felt bad about ‘snooping’. Jeff came back and I admitted straight away what I did, asked him to password protect his computer and  got quite upset. Jeff was slightly puzzled as according to him, after his ex and he had split – he had deleted all photographs of her. After a lot of coaxing – I showed Jeff where I had found the photograph, only for Jeff to say that it wasn’t his ex, but his exes friend. Did I feel totally stupid? Yes..

I told Jeff that I could probably find out what she looked like within a minute and after 30 seconds, managed to find his exes Facebook profile, complete with loads of photos. Jeff’s response was ‘See, I told you she was ‘fugly’, However from what I could see – she was neither fat, nor ugly… however I guess that’s the thing – your partner is hardly going to say to you ‘My ex was prettier than you’, or. ‘Yes, she was short and brunette – your polar opposite’. Still, whatever anxiety I am feeling – it’s my own stupid fault and if anyone has any tips on how to stop feeling inadequate, it would be nice to hear them :-)

After the stupid episode, Jeff and I went to bed as he had to be up at 05:00am to take some of his friends to Gatwick airport. He got back by 07:50am and when I got up to go to the toilet, he said hello. He made me a cup of tea in bed and by 09:30, we had already had some fruit, watched a ‘Barefoot Contessa’ episode and headed out the door to Petersfield Farmers Market. We went to Petersfield Farmers Market a few years ago and it had torrentially rained, however hadn’t ben there since. It still wasn’t as big as Winchester but it wasn’t far off and thankfully this time round the sun was shining and the weather was really gorgeous.

We decided we were going to do another BBQ for lunch / dinner and bought lots of really nice meat, including ‘pork, goats cheese patties’ and some watercress sausages which I can’t say I overly enjoyed but hadn’t ever tried them before so they were worth trying! We also bought loads of different cheese – ‘pepper and beer’ and ‘garlic and nettle’ amongst others. After we had wandered around the market for half an hour, we headed back to the car and found a cooking shop on the way. Jeff and I both bought different types of thermometers so that we could tell what temperature the meat was, when we baked it in the oven as well as how hot various liquids were in pans.

On the way back home I suggested to Jeff we stop off in a garden centre and finally buy some herbs and the strawberry plants I had wanted for ages. £20 later and we had 5 different herbs and 6 very healthy strawberry plants heading back with us in the car.

As soon as we got home, Jeff helped me wash my car (which had been utterly filthy for the past few weeks!) and after that, I set about potting up all the new plants whilst Jeff cut the grass. Once all the ‘chores’ were done, we started on the BBQ which was really nice – we ate the meat with a lovely cheese and tomato bread and a lovely focaccia which we bought fresh at the Farmers Market this morning. We also had some nice homemade beetroot chutney which we had bought in Hexham farmers market which was gorgeous!

After food, Jeff and I watched a little bit of TV, however Jeff kept falling asleep and looking really tired – he said he was OK, however after a few minutes it was clear that he wasn’t and really should have gone to bed. I suggested I go home early and Jeff replied ‘If that’s what you want’. To be honest… I didn’t, as was looking forward to spending a few more hours with Jeff – however it was pointless (and a bit cruel) to stay as Jeff was so tired. … So I headed home and Jeff went to bed.

The next couple of weeks are going to be hell at work – so I don’t know what Jeff and I will be doing, or exactly how much time we will be spending together… I just hope we can continue doing fun things together and enjoying each others company.

- Molly