London | Nought Zero Blast-off

It feels like it has been so long since I last blogged, and it has been really. Thoughts, ideas and recipes have been buzzing round in my head and life has been happening – guests have been coming and going, and I have seemed not to have time (although of course I actually have had time) to sit down and blog about it! Well, here I am eventually, having to summarise a lot in to one, for anyone actually interested!! Hope you don’t feel robbed by me collating events into one.

So, to start we had my little sister and her boyfriend, Andrew, with us! And my other little sister! They were here during the fun and games of the housewarming and the Run for Congo- but due to those events they barely got a mention! (Apologies). And even worse, failed to have their portraits taken, so they will just have to come back! While Fiona and Andrew were here another (sort of a stretch) like little sister came to London Town, Deborah. Due to hideous accommodation, which I imagine is plentiful in London, she was v welcome to stay with us! And was great to have around as well, lots of cups of tea were available and she defo earned her keep by her decorating advice contributions. She stayed for two weekends and so of course at least one adventure in the kitchen had to happen (with her help). It is a great recipe to share because it was so simple yet so yummy and so different – Sausages and Apple!

Sausages and Apple:

So – one of the joys of blogging is that people randomly check in on your blog and can share other random things that you may like – more so than you may actually do in the ‘real world’. So a very old friend shared this recipe with me and I have to admit, I was definitely going to try it but I wasn’t sure how the results would be. Wow – we were all v pleasantly surprised. So, defo check it out and try it! It is basically really flavoursome sausages with apple (kind of obvious). They recommended serving with rice, but we debated whether it should be mashed potato. Ultimately I think they were right with the rice. You can decide for yourselves. You will for sure be getting some version of this served at future BBQs we have!

Here is the link as thought it just as good to share it from there, than write it out!!

http://thelocalcook.com/2009/12/26/dark-days-challenge-sausage-and-apples/

So yeah, Deborah was hospitality No 3 really. And she very dutifully had this lovely portrait taken. Pro.

Even with the slight flash issue, I still liked this one the best.

Hospitality No 3 was unexpected, but lovely. Hospitality No 4 was expected, but no less lovely. Last weekend my father, brother and his girlfriend, Kim, came to visit. Loving all this family time. So yeah. This was my first time meeting Kim, which was great. We had a good weekend, and think they had some chill time after a long flight in from Kuwait!! After a few issues with the shower had us worried from the previous weekend – it was actually nowhere near as bad as expected, espec for my bath-loving bro. So yeah, that was really nice last weekend. I took them to the safe option of dinner by Tower Bridge – safe as a good London experience, and also Le Cote Brassiere, which was our find last summer, continues to be a good and safe option!! Here’s a few pics from Tower Bridge (excuse the red oompa lumpa).

Graeme and Kim by Tower Bridge!

Tourists.

That weekend was also Father’s Day. Could not tell you the last time a card was even sent for that – but this weekend he got the full treatment. Sunday Roast lunch (yes, paid for as well), an after-lunch stroll to the Royal Academy of Art for the Summer exhibition (v good – would highly recommend that!!!), church at All Souls, and home for homemade Mac and Cheese (becoming a fav recipe that needs to be recorded). So yeah. That was good. However, think the hospitality has room for improvement in terms of sleeping equipment!!

Eeeek – the ‘bed’. Room for improvement.

Daughter’s cooking!

Father’s Day at the Royal Academy.

So – thank you to all our guests for coming to visit and hopefully you had a good stay. We had fun and you pretty much all escaped without a portrait – epic fail. So you better be back. Think that’s about all I can update on for now.

Well it was mother and sister-ville in our lives this weekend! Raymond ventured up to Newcastle to hang out with his mum and two sisters, to celebrate Lauren’s 21st Birthday!! While I stayed in London to hang out with my mum and sister in the lovely Catford. So, I can’t tell you what Raymond did really except for surprise some very happy women and go to watch the Reluctant Fundamentalist (look out for guest blog book review to come!).

But we had a wonderful time. Both mum and Fiona arrived Friday night and they voted for a Laura Recipe – Macaroni Cheese. Oh goodness – that went down a treat with them both and was so simple. I will give the recipe in a separate blog post as it is something any one of you reading should recreate (if you can purchase cheese where you are!) – mum has already committed to repeating it! So that was a success. So, we just chilled at home on Friday evening and also on Saturday morning – that is being very hospitable I believe – breakfast prepared, although they did both have their jobs, what kind of mother would she be if she didn’t do some washing up!!?!

But the main event was that evening – Singin’ in the Rain. Aww, my little bro got us tickets for Christmas and he made a good choice for sure!! After Fiona got over how hard done she has been her whole life as I never took her to a London show (whoops, note to self, I need someone to go to Matilda with) she was happy to go!! And it was really good, I would definitely recommend it. It was lighthearted, cheesy and quite funny at times actually. The singing was not of high calibre I dont think – but weren’t any major belting tunes like ‘Close Every Door’ or ‘Bring him Home’. So that was ok!!

Mum and Fi before the show…

With our ‘umbrellas’ incase you were wondering what we are doing!!

As it says..singing in the rain!!

So yeah, that was a really great evening!! A RAoK was also completed on the way home that evening. And that was really the fun and games over. Was nice to plan a weekend just for fun really, no pressure, no big plans – just go to a show and have fun!! Which is exactly what we did. I should say, that was after treating ourselves to afternoon tea and a stop off via a couple of london phoneboxes – much too many pictures to upload on the blog, so I have selected the ‘best’!!!

Mum in the phonebox…

‘Ballet’ outside the phonebox…

Most normal – St Paul’s Phonebox.

And last, but of course by no means least – the guest book!! Fiona managed to escape but will be back down in 2 weeks times with Andrew so will not escape then. But here is what I think is a lovely portrait of mum! That’s no 2 in the collection.