Looking forward to another fun weekend

Jeff and I had a really fun night last night – In fact, it was also a rather fun afternoon as I had to retake my ITIL exam, which meant that I was free from 2:30pm and whilst I suppose I *could* have gone back to work, no one expected me in the office, so I decided I would take advantage of that fact and go and spend some time with Jeff. Jeff is currently working his last ever set of night shifts, he has tonight (Friday) and tomorrow.. and then that’s it! He becomes a normal nine-to-fiver.

I think my exam went better than it did last time, so hopefully I will be able to update the Blog in about a week with the news that I passed, fingers crossed, anyway. I saw Jeff and we decided we would go and get some lunch as I was starving. We also decided to get the ingredients for ‘Parkers Beef Stew’ One of the Ina Garten recipes from her book, ‘Back to basics’. We settled for the Morrison’s supermarket for once, as they do really nice salads and before long, we were heading back to Jeff’s house, not only with two salads (complete with crunchy bacon bits) but also with 2 more bags of compost, some more seeds and all the necessary ingredients for the stew.

After getting back we watched a couple of ‘Barefoot Contessa’ shows – due to me being in Las Vegas last week, we have 11 episodes still to watch, so we’re trying to get through them as quickly as possible. We munched our salads and for once, I only managed to spill food on myself once – which is quite good going I thought. After lunch, Jeff and I potted all the new seeds – It should be quite fun seeing massive sunflowers flowering, as well as eating our organic lettuces and tomatoes. The tomatoes inside are doing REALLY well and Jeff’s cherry tree is flowering! In fact, everything is doing rather well and I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of growth in the next few weeks due to the weather getting warmer.

Once we had done all the gardening, Jeff and I watched some more trashy TV including an episode of ‘Embarrassing bodies’ (I don’t think it’s possible for Dr Christian’s shirts to get any more garish – thankfully he’s got a big enough personality to pull them off without looking like a Pratt). We then decided we needed to start cooking as we knew the stew had to be in the oven for about 2 hours.

It took us about an hour to prep everything and stick the stew in the oven. This including the marinating of the beef in the red wine, sticking the beef in flour and then frying it in portions, before putting it into the ‘Dutch Oven’ (Casserole dish, to us English peeps) and into the actual oven. Jeff and I had also bought some wine when we were in the Supermarket – even though Jeff was working that night, he had a few hours off at the beginning of his shift so he didn’t need to start work until midnight. Due to that, Jeff had a glass of wine, but I had more than him as I wasn’t working until the following day. Whilst it was a Rose – it was pretty strong and quite quickly I was feeling the affects of it.

We realised we had forgotten peas for the stew, so I suggested we go and get them, and some bread to eat with the Stew. We set out for a much closer Supermarket and ended up buying doughnuts as well – This is totally my fault as when I get even slightly tipsy, I end up with the munchies – Jeff and I split both doughnuts in half so we got some of the chocolate one and some of the caramel one. Jeff preferred the caramel, I preferred the other one :-)

Even though we had basically had our pudding before our main course, when we did get round to eating the stew it was well worth the wait. It was absolutely gorgeous! We had bought ‘Sour dough bread’ to eat with the stew and it worked really, really well. Both of us were incredibly full afterwards and there was still loads and loads of stew left. So much stew that Jeff took some to work with him last night and we managed to fill a massive plastic container 2/3rds of the way, full.

It was a lovely night and as with all lovely things, they are over too quickly. Jeff said goodnight to me and I snuggled up in his bed, whilst he went to work. I didn’t see him this morning because although he should have been back before I went to work, he helped a work colleague get home as his work colleague had a flat battery. That’s the nice kind of person Jeff is, so I am sure I can wait for a cuddle until Sunday!

On Sunday, I think we’re going to a different farmers market and doing another Ina Garten recipe – another one from her ‘Back to Basics’ book and this time it’s going to involve fish!  I think we’re both excited, knowing that we’re going to Northumberland within a week… I know I am!

- Molly

Gardening, Classical music and wine!

Wow. What an absolutely brilliant weekend! It started off well when Jeff came to my house to have breakfast, well ‘brunch’ I guess if you eat food at about 10:30am? I made him an omelette with sausages that his parents had bought for him when they visited a few weeks ago along with mushrooms, onions and cheese. He seemed to rather like it, so I’d say that was successful. Jeff reacquainted himself with my cat and kept the cat occupied whilst I cooked (which I appreciate as my cat is evil and incredibly attention seeking).

After breakfast we headed off to Jeff’s house so I could dump my car. I hopped into Jeff’s car and we headed off to a local farm shop so we could get something for lunch – on the way, I decided that I needed some more wine for my wine rack (I hate it having gaps) so Jeff and I popped into the absolutely wonderful wine warehouse where they have 40% off ‘bin end’ wine – 40% off is great, but it’s a bit of a moot point when the wine can still be over £100 for a half bottle. We managed to pick out some really nice Riesling and hopped into the car and continued our journey to the farm shop.

We managed to find some lovely chicken breasts for our lunch – sesame chicken salad and stopped in on a supermarket on the way back to get some salad bags and other salad stuff. I suggested to Jeff that we actually spend a few hours going to a National Trust property and he was up for the idea, however when we got back home we actually decided it was probably best just to potter around the house, especially as we were going to London later for ‘Classical Spectacular’. Another thing we bought at the supermarket was more things to grow and some more pots. This time we bought pepper seeds, cheery tomato seeds and radishes. I’m not overly keen on the radish idea, but Jeff said that his parents grew them and apparently they’re very easy to do - .e.g just stick the seeds in the ground and forget about them, so why not?

Back at Jeff’s house we made lunch and watched some more ‘Barefoot Contessa’ which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite programs. Unfortunately Ina Garten didn’t do anything overly healthy this time around, so after watching the program we deleted it and then set to work on potting all the seeds. Once done, I suggested we go to another garden center and get even MORE things to grow and Jeff was up for the idea. What I didn’t realise was, Jeff was so up for the idea we actually came away from the garden center with a cherry tree, a David Austin Rose called ‘Alnwick’ which was particularly poignant as Jeff was born near there and some gladioli. Jeff also bought two massive pots so that both the rose and the cherry tree could grow without needing to be re-potted for a few years.

We got back and set to work straight away potting things up and before long we had to stop, as we needed to get going to London. After changing clothes and the washing of hands, Jeff and I set out to the train station and hot-footed it to Knightsbridge tube station, only hesitating at the Starbucks in Waterloo to grab a couple of slices of fruit bread and some small hazelnut hot chocolates. We made it to the Royal Albert Hall JUST in time – I admit, I was quite stressed as I hate being late to anything. Jeff as always, was laid back and kept telling me to chill out, but as anyone who is a bit of a control freak knows – that’s easier said than done. We took our seats with 5 minutes to spare, and had the most amazing 2.5 hours just sitting there, listening to amazing classical pieces. The conductor, John Rigby, who I had seen before, was as always, mad as a box of frogs but in a good way. His jokes were exceptionally cheesy but I think that’s a good thing as it got the audience involved.

The pieces that the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played were:
Nessun Dorma
Rule, Britannia
Land of Hope and Glory
1812 Overture
BIZET - Pearl Fishers Duet
HOLST - Mars The Planets
SOUSA - Liberty Bell March
HANDEL - Hallelujah Chorus
GOUNOD - Soldier's Chorus Faust
VERDI - Prelude to Act I La Traviata
STRAUSS - Also Sprach Zarathustra
RAVEL - Bolero
STRAUSS - Radetsky March
DENZA - Funiculi, Funicula
STRAUSS - Blue Danube Waltz
MUSSORGSKY - Great Gate At Kiev
BIZET - Toreador's Song Carmen
SAINT-SAENS - Finale Organ Symphony

I knew most of them, except for the ‘Slave’s Chorus’ by Handel and the Great Gate at Kiev so it was nice to listen to some new classical pieces. The Dudes who sang were utterly amazing – especially Kevin Greenlaw who looked very dashing, dressed up in a Union Jack flag for the ‘Rule Britannia’ encore. However Philip O’Brian, who was the stand in for Wynne Evans was also very, very impressive. The concert finished by having loads of balloons descend from the air and people popping them (which apparently is supposed to signify cannons?) It was a fantastic night and the Royal Albert Hall was packed with a lot of flag waving people.

We managed to get back just after midnight and both of us were totally knackered – so much so, that Jeff actually decided to call in sick as he was supposed to be working on Sunday at 7:00am. I know, not overly great in terms of work ethic – however, Jeff got some good news on Thursday and will be handing in his resignation next week, therefore hopefully he will be a lot less stressed and not working with a bunch of cretins.

We’re off to a Spa on Tuesday – Jeff’s first time, so that should be interesting and then, it’s the ‘mystery weekend’ where Jeff has no idea what we’re doing and I have planned everything…. I won’t reveal anything here as I know Jeff reads the blog, so I guess I’ll have to fill everyone in after the weekend!


-Molly

Fun Filled Festive Frivolities

What do you do when you start seeing your ex partner again after a year?

Go for a drink? Check.

Spend loads of time catching up, filling each other in on what each other has been up to over the year? Check.

Spend the best part of 3-4 days making mince pies, mulled wine, visiting a number of farm shops, baking cupcakes, buying fine wine from a wine merchant, have a meal in a very posh hotel,  book a holiday, decide to go to the annual ‘Cheese awards’, go to a classical music concert in London?

Erm.... Check?

The last few days have been awesome – For both of us, I think. Despite me having a very nasty cold, Jeff and I have been getting to know each other again and have done all manner of funky stuff.

When we were together, we used to go on loads of really cool holidays. We went to Prague and Berlin and did loads of really, really cool UK holidays such as visiting Northumberland, Scotland, Ipswich, Cornwall, Exeter, Oxford, Hertfordshire..... We always managed to find fun things to do and as we’re both National Trust nuts, it usually involved at least one castle or stately home.  Getting back in contact, we thought it might be nice to go on holiday somewhere else, somewhere new, so we can make some more memories. Being the ‘control freak’ in the partnership, I suggested to Jeff that I organise everything and he just turn up at the train station and I’ll tell him where we’re going and what we’re doing. So, on January 28th 2011, Jeff will be turning up at the train station and will be told where our mini weekend break will be! I’ve been having great fun organising everything and on the day we travel to our destination, will be giving Jeff an envelope with a number of clues in it, so he can guess where we’re going....

Saturday morning, Jeff picked me up in his 4 wheel car due to the snow issue – I do drive (and it’s an absolutely fantastic car), however Jeff’s handles better in the snow, so he drove to my house and off we went to the first farm shop. Neither of us had visited it before and we managed to buy quite a lot of ingredients to make ‘Venison and red wine casserole’ which was the plan on Saturday night. Unfortunately, I had come down with a very nasty chest infection, therefore there was a lot of coughing and nose blowing as well as the chattering nineteen to the dozen. We then headed to a supermarket to get all the rest of the ingredients and some cough mixture for me.

Everything seems rather surreal at the moment – The last time I was at that supermarket was when Jeff and I were together over a year ago – The last time we spoke on the phone, was when he dumped me, the last time we went out for a posh meal was the week before we split.... I know it will get easier, but it’s been a very odd few days.

Once armed with the food stuffs we headed back to Jeff’s house and started to make mince pies – I have to say, they turned out rather well considering we made some changes to the recipe. The casserole, we did later on in the day and again, it turned out incredibly well – We woofed it down with some lovely crusty rolls and then couldn’t really move for a few minutes. I think Jeff is planning on having the leftovers today for lunch. We made mulled wine ‘half properly’ and it tasted great – I think that’s another thing we have in common, we both like a drink :-)

Sunday was more farm shops and a lovely walk in the snow along a river. It was lovely just holding hands and everything being far less... complicated.  When I was working away from home, Jeff travelled to see me at least once a week and I didn’t see him at weekends as I was so busy trying to fit all my friends and family in – just ‘chilling’ and spending time together without having to worry about travelling back to work is something I’m still really happy about.  I taught Jeff another one of my recipes and the Lamb Byriani turned out exceptionally well – I think we’ll be the size of houses if we continue cooking every night, though.

Monday night was the night we had booked the posh meal – it was a tradition of ours to go to this hotel once a year at Christmas. Last Christmas we had just split up, therefore we obviously didn’t go, however when we got back in contact we decided that this was a tradition that we both enjoyed and therefore were willing to try again and risk damaging the memories.  I shouldn’t have worried, it was utterly, utterly perfect. Jeff looked absolutely gorgeous in a black suit and when I saw him come downstairs he literally took my breath away – It was snowing when we got to the hotel and sitting by the open log fire with a drink, a gorgeous man and snow outside was such a perfect evening. The meal was wonderful, the service was (as always) brilliant and it didn’t feel like we had been apart at all.

On Tuesday, we decided we would make cupcakes and go and investigate fine wines – Jeff knew of this brilliant Fine Wine shop and Wine merchants very close to his house so we decided to go there and investigate. It was fantastic! We got a few bottles of fine wine and had this really, really nice man recommend a sweet red to us (I’m pretty OK with white wines, don’t have a clue when it comes to red wine). Neither of us had been there before and it was nice to think that having only been in contact just over a month, we’d already found loads of amazing places and done loads of really fun things together. The cupcakes turned out brilliantly – we decorated them ourselves, I think Jeff should quit IT and go into the cupcake making business as I certainly think he has talent in that area!

Lunch time was a wonderfully European affair of cheese, meat and bread – one of the cheeses seemed to have won an award at the ‘annual cheese awards’ and this got me interested, so we Googled the awards and have no decided that due to our shared love of cheese, we will be going to the annual 2011 cheese awards – What relationship can fail if you both share a love of cheese?

Tonight is the classical music concert and I’m so excited. Jeff and I share a love of classical music and whilst I don’t profess to be very knowledgeable in that area, I do know I enjoy listening, learning and experiencing things with the man I never thought I would see again.

- Molly