Foodie treats!

It was heaven to wake up this morning and know we hadn't got to rush off anywhere. Sophie had swapped her working day with another member of staff so she was free and Mike wasn't working either.

Keith and I had a Neighbours binge fest first thing and the rest of the morning was very lazy. We had torrential rain early in the day and at one point the sky went really dark. Good job it wasn't like this last night at the fireworks!

In the afternoon Sophie and I went to Market Harborough and had lunch at Pizza Express as a treat. We enjoyed the dough-balls to start and shared a pizza with a glass of wine. Perfect! When we emerged from the restaurant we discovered a foodie market taking place in the main square - there were stalls from France and Germany (currywurst!) and it was all really festive. It made me yearn for the Christmas markets of Berlin!

We had a mooch about the shops and called in to see Duncan and his merry crew. His shop had been changed around quite considerably and they now offer a wine bar on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! It was very busy indeed and we had a little tasting before buying two bottles of wine. I explained to Duncan that I'd been working for Majestic and he looked a bit surprised!

As the car park ticket was just about to run out, we dashed off and drove over to Mum and Dad's as I haven't seen them for a while. We had a cup of tea and some cake and then it was time to go home where I discovered that Mike was still out. I thought that Keith was going to pick him up on his way home from the football! Just as I took my boots off, he rang so Sophie and I went to collect him from Moulton.

The A43 is closed this weekend so there was lots of traffic trying to get through Moulton, which is difficult enough at the best of times. Sophie spotted a huge lorry trying to turn around on a side road - obviously the driver hadn't followed the official diversion signs and had probably used his SatNav to find the way, with disastrous consequences!

As we headed back home we could see fireworks in the distance and a strange white light hovering over the clouds. We thought it was a laser but Mike said he'd seen it before when he'd walked to the village! Weird!

Sophie and I were cooking tonight and had chosen a Hairy Bikers' recipe for Chicken Parmigiana. By the time we got home it was almost 7pm and I really didn't fancy cooking a new recipe, but after Keith suggested having a takeaway instead, I felt guilty so Sophie and I pressed on. She prepped all the vegetables while I grated a block of Parmesan cheese and chopped up an onion (borrowed from Sue and Paul!). We then made the tomato and red wine sauce, butterflied the chicken and covered the breasts in breadcrumbs mixed with the cheese. It was a bit of a faff but by 8pm it was all ready. We added mushrooms to the base of the dish which we probably won't do again as they created more juice then we wanted but we all agreed it was a lovely meal and next time, we'll just adapt it slightly!