Sunday Sevens #69

It’s Sunday! Time for a quick Sunday Sevens, a series devised by Natalie at Threads and Bobbins.

Week off work = lots of Riley walks!
This past week I have had a quiet week off work, though it wasn’t too restful as I took Riley on lots of walks to the local park. Lots of extra walking means my miles for the #walk1000miles challenge has been a good 38 bringing my annual total to 1,233 miles. How are you doing if you are walking 1000 miles?

Riley

The Lion King 2019

A Trip to the Cinema:
For a treat, my mum and I took a trip to the cinema to see the new Lion King. Having seen the 1994 original and loved the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, I was eager to see what the new all CGI production was like. The film had received some pretty scathing reviews but I really enjoyed it! The reprises from Zimmer’s soundtrack really made the film for me. If you have seen the film, what did you think?

Book I am reading:
Thanks to Sharon’s reviews, I’ve picked up a copy of Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman. It’s very quirky, funny in places and a satirical take on modern culture.

Brocholes:
David took a few days off work at the end of the week and joined me in a leisurely four mile walk around Brockoles nature reserve. We went in search of dragonflies! We spotted azure damselflies, common hawkers and numerous butterflies on the wing.

Common Hawker

Azure Damselflies

Small Skipper

Meadow Brown

Family meal:
It was David’s birthday on Friday, so we invited his brother and sister and their respective spouses to a dinner party at our home. We ordered in our favourite curry from Saffron and had a good catch up.

Family dinner

Swallow Tailed Moth

Moth:
During the dinner party I wandered around the yarden with David’s nephew Ewan, and spied this gorgeous swallow-tailed moth. I’ve never seen one before so you can imagine my excitement.

Buff tailed bumblebee

A bonus picture:
While pottering about the yarden this Sunday afternoon, I spied this huge bumblebee. Isn’t she a beauty!?!

That was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens #19

It’s been a while since I participated in Sunday Sevens, devised by Natalie at Threads and bobbins. I wanted to do one this week as I have some pet news a few of you have been waiting to hear.

Coming down for breakfast one morning, I poked my head into the living room where the finches are housed. I did a double take as sitting next to his partner Tux, in the hospital cage (she visits him), was Troy!

For the past week we have been giving him sliced, fresh garlic in the hope that his ear/balance issues were bacterial (they were not fungal). I was astounded at his transformation! Troy’s head still slightly twitches but he has become more upright. We will continue giving garlic in the hope the infection clears.

National Curry Week:

I’ve been spending a lot of time cooking this week. To celebrate one of Britain’s favourite cuisines, I thought I would cook some meals with a curry theme.

Chana Masala

Indian Samosa Caserole

I attempted another recipe for a chana masala, but the meal wasn’t much of a success. One success however was my attempt at an Indian samosa casserole. It was filling, healthy (apart from the pastry) and even David enjoyed it!

What I am reading: At the moment I am trying to get through Dan Brown’s book, The Lost Symbol. I’ve been reading it since August. It’s pretty hard going. I got through Inferno after a second try as it’s been made into a Ron Howard/Tom Hanks film. So I thought I would give this novel a second try too, being also a Prof. Langdon book. I’ve got 100 pages left, so hopefully if I sit down and focus I can finish it soon! It’s got a pretty lackluster plot-line though. Once again I feel I am being given a history lecture. I wouldn’t recommend it. Have you read it? What were your thoughts?

Days out: The beginning of the week saw me going in search of autumn for Wild October. David and I visited Liverpool’s Festival Gardens.

Japanese Garden

For the very first time, we visited the Toxteth Reservoir, to see Rita McBride‘s Portal (2016). The instillation was part of the city wide art festival, Biennial.

David’s picture of Portal (2016)

Have you managed to get out and about this week? Are you participating in Sunday Sevens?

Christine x

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Sunday Sevens #10

One word springs to mind when I think back to this past week and that is… SUNSHINE! Most of the UK has been blessed with unseasonably warm weather. I am not complaining, I have been enjoying most of the weather by sitting out in the yarden with Artie. We have spent many a long afternoon, dining al fresco and soaking up the rays! Artie looks like he has recovered from his little tumble down the stairs on Sunday!

The beginning of the week saw David and I heading off to wander around the red squirrel walk at Formby Point. Come the end of the week we had ventured to Chester Zoo to see the new Aye-aye exhibit (which was the highlight of the day for me!) Of course no visit to Chester Zoo would be complete without visiting Islands and going on their Lazy Boat Ride (another firm favourite of mine!)

Red Squirrel by David Evans

Aye-aye by David Evans

On Friday we welcomed guests to no. 49! Joining us at our dining table was David’s brother, sister-in-law and nephew. David served his signature Rogan Josh for the adults. All had a good time, there was not even a morsel of rice left!

This Sunday, David and I spent a good part of the afternoon, cutting, grooming and washing the family dog, border collie, Riley. Here he is just after his bath!

How have you been spending your weekend? Enjoying the sun (if you have had it!)?

Have a good week ahead,

Christine x

Sunday Sevens was devised by Threads and bobbins.

The weekend that was…

…the 28th – 29th March 2015.

This weekend couldn’t come quick enough for me as I had a very long week in work, aided by the fact that I was hormonal and tired.

Thankfully Friday came!

On Saturday after doing the usual shopping and cleaning, David and I went to spend the evening with family and friends. It was the third year anniversary of my Father’s passing, so we congregated at Mum’s (next door). We had a curry from our favourite restaurant Saffron and a games night. Although the games part had to be relocated to our house as Mum’s TV wouldn’t accept the PS3 on the HDMI cable! (Go figure!)

From Saffron, I had a Vegetable Karahi, David a Chicken Shahi, Mum her usual Chicken Dupiaza. My brother Stephen and his friend Paul who were not au fait with Indian cuisine had Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma respectively. The meal went down splendidly!

During part two of the night we played Blur while eating summer fruits gateaux.

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Sunday was a day of relaxation. I pottered about the garden in between breaks in the rain and did a weekly check on the status of the plants.

My tulips are growing from strength to strength and I am sure all six will bloom if the wind does not knock them over!!

The Flame of the Forest has bell flowers on it again this year.

Flame of the forest ‘bells’

I took a picture between the leaves of the Bluebells that I think are growing in my garden and then got excited when I discovered that there was a bud growing! I do hope they manage to grow to fruition!

Bluebell?

On Saturday during our visit to B&M I bought a shrub for £4.99. Euonymus Japonicus Pierrolino Sense. The store had these plants in last year, but I am sure they had flowers on them. This shrub does not. I had hoped for more nectar for the visiting bees, but alas not with this plant!

euonymus japonicus pierrolino

I also noted that my Primulas were flowering, however something had been enjoying a spot of light lunch and had munched away most of the leaves. I wonder who that was???

Half eaten Primula

Quorn Madras…made the Christine way!

Today David and I both had a day off work. After getting David’s car from the mechanic all bandaged up and fixed (for now!), we headed out to my two favourite shops, Dunelm and B&M. I got a lovely set of egg blue curtains for the bedroom, a change from the teal ones from Dunelm at £30.

Come the afternoon, David worked on his aviary for the finches and I cooked up a mess in the kitchen. The house smells of Indian spices now.

I thought with having a day off, that I should do some more cooking. At least then I know that David is eating a proper meal! He can be so fussy!

So I decided to make a Vegetarian Madras taken from a recipe I saw in an Asda magazine. The recipe was much simpler to the one recipe I have also tried.

The ingredients were as follows. Serves 4 (though I halved everything as it was only for two.)

• 1 large onion
• 75g of Asda Madras Curry Paste
• 1 clove of garlic
• Handful (per person) of Quorn chicken style pieces
• 390g of Asda Italian chopped tomatoes
• 100ml of water (reduced if for two people)
• Rice for the amount of people served.
• 200g of frozen peas
• Naan bread (to serve)

Method:

• I fried the onion and the garlic in some sunflower oil.
• Once golden added the curry paste and cooked for a couple of minutes.
• I then added the Quorn chicken style pieces and cooked for 5 minutes
• Add the water and tomatoes to the pan and simmer for 25 minutes.
• While the sauce is cooking, put on the rice and cook for 15 minutes
• After the rice is cooked add the peas
• Put the naan bread in the oven for 6 minutes.
• Serve with your favourite beverage and radio station.
• Share with the important people in your life 🙂

The result was a curry that was not too spicy but warm enough to make the nose run! lol I was amazed that even David enjoyed the meal. He even cleared his plate! 🙂