Staying Healthy

Hello my lovelies!

Seeing boxes of goodness like this on my doorstep has kept me happy and healthy in lockdown. 

During self-isolation my grocery purchases have been considered, ethical and successful.  And by using a home deliveries service run by a local firm ( Manor Farm Foods )  I’ve done my bit to reduce food miles, road congestion, fossil fuel guzzling and air pollution.

So it’s not just the courgettes that are green in this household !

And talking of courgettes, I made a tasty moussaka with them and their aubergine (eggplant) mates.
And shock horror!!! I took not one single photo of it. 

So here’s the cookery book it came from instead!

Now that we’ve hit Lockdown Exit Phase 5 and all is open again, I’ll continue to make use of this excellent home delivery service.  It’s an ideal way to shop. 

And it makes me feel a bit old-lady-posh getting home deliveries.

A bit Margot from The Good Life!

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Thank you, #manorfarmfoods❤ for bringing me through this, happy and healthy. 

A la perchoine, 

Mary x 

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#guernsey #guernseylife #ethicalshopping #goinggreen #homefooddeliveries

Saturday Sarnie

Hello my lovelies.

The day has been beautifully sunny.  But then most days have been beautifully sunny, as we have been blessed with another proper summer. 

So today I had planned to write up a recipe I’m keen to share with you.

But I went cliff top shopping.

Then ate crab sandwiches out in the garden back home,

 looking at a pile of wood panels on the lawn, soon to be my new She Shed.

And then got totally sidetracked with said She Shed. 

Which needs its underbelly painting before assembly

Then all I was fit for was a relaxez-vous type of evening.

Wearing this morning’s purchase, a pretty pink kaftan.

Which I slipped over a very old black maxi, and then chilled for the rest of the evening,

So all I can give you food-wise are those pics of my very yummy crab sarnies.  Bon appetit!

A la perchoine,

Mary x 

Turning Norwegian

When I go on holiday, this little boy needs sitting.

So for my recent trip to Sussex I welcomed Norway 🇳🇴 into my home. 

This lovely couple took good amazing care of Bertie, despite the challenges he threw at them!

They sent me reassuring daily pictures and videos of my boy whilst I was away.

But it wasn't plain sailing.  Bertie had plans of his own and his reoccurring cystitis flared up on the day of my departure.  So I didn’t depart.  I waited until vet, TLC and time had done their jobs. 

Meantime, I soon slipped easily into Norwegian life.   Scandinavian style breakfasts with my guests. 

Beautiful home-baked bread each morning.

Watching my guests quickly settle in, here spying a cat climb up the olive tree.

Conversation slipped seamlessly between Norwegian/Danish and English, sometimes mid-sentence.  It was a fantastic opportunity for me to indulge in my passion for Scandinavian languages and a great refresher.

And so the breakfasts continued.  Cheeses, smoked trout, fruit.

Each day the breakfast plates were decorated with whatever freshness was to hand ... basil, chives, a little fruit, tomatoes.

 

J's bread really was something else and I’ll post on that shortly.  You WILL want to read that post!

R 's  Breakfast included a Gammel Dansk (Old Danish) each day.  It's a sort of fortified spirit.  I remembered it being a traditional tipple to start the day off when I lived in Denmark and the Danes swore a daily shot kept them fit and healthy.  It's nice to see the tradition lives on.  

Skaal!

My guest tells me he always packs a bottle or two when travelling and he's never suffered from any tummy upsets, despite sometimes travelling to pretty dodgy areas of the globe that are known to be tummy-challenging.  Maybe there is something in this Old Danish tradition, after all ...

So I took my trip three days later than planned, and returned back home three days earlier than planned.  There's a certain symmetry in that eh?

Yes, Bertie had further episodes whilst I was away and after the second episode I decided I'd better get back to my boy, despite Son and catsitters handling each event perfectly.  It felt unfair to impose on "the crisis team" any longer

So I decided to turn this pig's ear into a silk purse.

Turn a crisis into a pleasant experience.

I drove the Norwegians to various spots around my pretty island, some being places they wouldn't have otherwise visited.

I had more Scandi breakfasts.

I took them out for fish and chips.

We took time out to watch a slug crawl up a wall on a rainy day.

And I learned how to make tasty bread in a totally revolutionary way!  You REALLY DO need to pop back to read that post!

But mostly I decided to view these unexpected home days as a gift, an opportunity to get to know these special people that little bit better.  And we had a blast!

My Norwegian guests friends have had an impact on me during my unexpected time spent with them.  It's like I've been reminded of my "roots" - yup, more on that in another post too!

 I think I may be giving my life a few welcoming tweaks ...

Life, you're welcome!

Do you find yourself turning a crisis into something pleasant?

Turning a negative experience into something positive?  

Finding that silver lining in the grey cloud hovering overhead?

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

Coming up: bread baking that will blow your mind!

Wine with The Neighbours

Burgundyberrywine.  The colour of my coated jeggings is perhaps

best described in this portmanteau, because I do believe that colour is in the eye of the beholder.

Plum, aubergine ... oh I could go on, but I will stop here because no matter what it's called, it's all shades of dark red and puce and it's going into so many of my outfits at the moment.

Looks like berry isn't just for Christmas. 

 

So when the neighbours down the end of the garden invited us for a neighbours' supper, I thought no further than berry coated jeans for my Saturday night out.  Out of the house, yes, but just a few yards down the track!  I don't think I walked off even one of the many tasty calories my dear neighbour put on my plate :-(.

 

 

The Outfit Bit

 

Yes. That colour jeggings, with a black tunic blouse.  I found a camisole in Peacocks for £4 last week and snapped it up as I saw immediately that it was the same colour as the jeggings and my gorgeous new berry knee boots. And bing-o, it was. This long cami is going to be so useful to column with the jeggings for putting together with cardis, and the occasional jacket if I'm feeling a bit more dressy.

Peacocks also have jeggings (not coated) in the same colour; yes, I was tempted but stopped myself for fear of going into berry overkill territory.  But they're really nice, if you fancy smearing a bit of berry on your legs.

 

 

I thought the pointy toed heels were perfect pitch for this night-out outfit, but practicality ruled the day night.  Yes, I only had to walk a few yards to my destination, but it was raining heavily, wind-ing even heavier, so as soon as I poked my nose out of the window I was inspired to swap for boots.

 

 

 

I'd worn the top and jeggings recently for another at-home supper at the home of friends.

 

 

 

Then,  I'd slipped a woolly jumper over the tunic that time, probably as I was at the tail end of sinusitis.

 

 

 

 I think the tunic on its own changes the outfit into something a bit more partyish. 

What do you think?

 

 

The Food Bit

 

I took no photos of the meal, respectful of the fact that it's post-Christmas and there may be a few serious dieters reading this.  But just want to say this.  When at our neighbours' drinks party before Christmas we'd talked about getting together a bit more frequently than once a year.  When our neighbour invited us for this supper the week before, I started rambling on about how it's the getting together that's important, and that I'd keep the food very simple when I host.  She totally agreed and said she was keeping her menu simple too.    She was doing a crab and prawn tian for starter, then a choice of sea bass or beef bourginon (or both!) for mains.  Pudding would be a citrus posset, lemon merengue pie and a fruit crumble.

Oh my!!!  That's simple?!!!! 

 

On the night itself she kept to a lighter touch.  Slightly.

The tian was delicious and I would have been happy to stop there.  But I didn't want to appear precious so I soldiered on.  For the cause, you understand.   

As we all chose to keep it light with just the fish for mains, she didn't serve the beef, but then did bring to the table a choice of cod or hake, both en papillote.  And she only served the posset, though the other two pudds were on the countertop if we fancied.  No, no, posset would be just lovely to round off the splendid meal, we all chimed.  So on to the table came the possets.  Lemon, lime, orange.  Yes, she'd made three types of posset!

 

And that, readers, is the act that I will be following!!!!

 

 

 

A la perchoine.



#1 Southernhay

Hi dear readers.  I'm on my short break and as usual I find myself rather limited on the technology front.  So here are a few pics of my first stop off point, a rather beautiful hotel in Exeter.  But without OOTD shots.  Sorry.  That's proving technically challenging!

I love Georgian architecture, like large windows with pretty shutters.

The sanitaryware has been chosen sympathetically to era.

I liked the little touches in the room.

The wooden button clothes pegs.

A feature sofa.

A well stocked beverage cupboard which includes a cafetiere and ground coffee.

The period bedside table wherein modern technology is hidden, like a speedy hairdryer.

The rooms are stocked with Ren bath products and massive fluffy towels.

The gin isn't bad either 😍.

But what a surprise this dining room held.

Things started looking good when I bit into little morsels of freshly baked carroway seed rolls and whipped butter.

Then from my first taste of this pickled beetroot and ewe's curd, I knew I was in for a treat.  (I want to try making this, mmmnn.!)

The chicken ballotine continued to tingle the taste buds but the carrots were the main event on this plate: the carrots were of another world where they are the deities and mere mortals humbly bow.

My awakened taste buds even ventured to try TP's black squid pasta, even though a 40 year old memory of a Portuguese squid had rather scarred me for life, but the intensity of flavour coming from this little offering has now erased that earlier experience from my memory banks, hopefully forever.

The food was heavenly and later we had the opportunity to thank the chef personally.

Southernhay House Hotel is a little pricey but if you are in Exeter and looking for somewhere special to stay or eat, or both, then this is the place to go.

We were celebrating a special anniversary and I am so thankful that TP pushed out the boat.  What a special treat this was!

A la perchoine.

The Autumn Dress That Never Was

Oh how I love summer!

The days are warm, still and sunny.  I could not ask for more.

Early morning coffee outside with the birdies.

A sundowner on the patio to round off the day.

I am a very happy bunny.

Very happy actually, as I was taken out on Friday night. 

A proper date night, none of this B&Q, Waitrose and knicker buying malarky.

Now, in my previous post I touched on how I needed blogging to stretch myself when dressing in retirement and gave you a perfect example with my East black linen 2-piece which I (finally) realised I could split after 15 years!

Examples of my closed-box thinking where clothes are concerned must be like buses, because, hey, here comes another.

This dress.  I'd bought it in 2003 in September.  So for that simple reason I associated it with autumn, and winter or spring at a stretch, and wore it accordingly.  Or maybe it was because of the earthy colours , who knows.  I didn't wear it for some years, it was a slow burner.  When I eventually did it was in autumn or spring, always with brown, though when I look closely at the pattern, there isn't actually any brown there.  I knew it was a summer dress because of its weight and style yet I wore my summer dress in every other season but summer.



The Photographer wanted me to wear a flowery dress.  I tried on a brightly flowered jersey number from Madeleine here but if felt just too warm on such a gorgeous day.

I slipped on this little wisp of lined silk and it felt just right for a summer's evening.

Then I pushed the envelope further!  What about accessorising with a sludgy pink, break away from the browns?

I slipped on my pink Marks wedge sandals, my recently rediscovered pink Tula bag and slipped OTS the silky knit La Redoute cardi.  Pink worked. Matchy matchy, but I happen to like that!

And after 14 years I discovered that this dress is perfect for summer, it just needed to start seeing other accessory colours.

(You can certainly now see how I need to keep pushing myself via this blog, don't you? Dressing really is Rocket Science to this dear old Pout!)

After having gone crazy with my iconoclastic train of thought, I reined myself in a bit with jewellery.

I thought simple gold would work and as it was a special occasion I pulled out all the stops.

I added gold ormer earrings and a larger ormer to a chain along with a gold Swiss vreneli, a long-service award. A bracelet filled chukka with charms.  (There's a story there but that's saved for another time - this was supposed to be a quick post and look where I've got already ... still at dressing stage and I'm nowhere near finished!).  Diamond rings, oh it went on, I really pushed out all the stops for this date!

Then, dressed, finally, we walked along to the coast and to our favourite restaurant, La Reunion.  We enjoyed aperos on the balcony, overlooking the bay.

I wanted to make an effort for the old fella as we were out to celebrate a special occasion relating to his residential status.  He was one happy bunny too.

And because it was a special occasion, I noted that he'd also pushed the boat out with the jewellery.  He was wearing his Skagen watch.   He explained that this is his dress watch, which comes out of the drawer for special occasions.  How stylish is that?!

Me wearing my Skagen watch, doing a Howard and Hilda, I'm afraid.

Hendrick's G&T just like it's supposed to be served, apparently, with thin slivers of cucumber.

Watching swimmers cool down as I too cooled down, sipping elegantly through my straw.

Watching beachgoers barbequeing their tea on the beach.

And then it was our turn to tuck in! 

I'll just slip in tiny pics of my pea fritter with pea shoots and my cod with lentils, spinach and samphire, and hope that the dieters won't even glance at these insey winsey food shots.

Later, the walk home on a very hot and balmy evening, first back along the coast.

Then a tiptoe through the cricket field, a short cut.

A house that thinks it's castle.  And a photographer who thinks he's a spectre.

And yes, strolling blissfully, having changed my heeled wedges for something far more comfortable for the walk home on a hot summer's evening.  My faithful Clarks metallic toed flatties. (Yes, I was wearing pretty much all the gold I have, right down to my toe tips!)

You see, I went prepared.  I've done that hot summer's evening walk home before and had had the blisters to prove it!

So, I'm sitting here in the welcome coolness of this room, wondering if I am the only person on this planet who restricts herself to a specific season to wear an item of clothing, based on nothing more than the time of year she bought it or its colours.

Or have any of you fine ladies discovered after a long period of time that you were wearing something designed or appropriate for a totally different season?

A la perchoine.