A day of treats!

Sophie wanted to run on the treadmill at the gym this morning, and as I needed to go out and get a few things from Aldi, I volunteered to drive her, sit in the car with the newspapers and then go shopping afterwards. Keith was also tempted to come, so it was a real family outing!

It was a gorgeous morning with plenty of sunshine, but there was a chilly wind, so it was lovely to sit in the shelter of the car and soak up the rays while we perused the papers. Sophie wasn't long, and when she arrived back, we popped into Aldi to get what I needed. Yesterday, I had finally decided to shell the bowl of nuts that we'd bought for a Christmas treat, and I'd found a recipe for little chocolate nut clusters that I wanted to try.

We bought chocolate, and a few more nuts to add to the ones we'd shelled yesterday and returned home, glad that our journey was over as the cyclists were out in full force, and taking advantage of the good weather to go for a ride!

We had brunch, and I turned the leftover potatoes and sausages from last night's barbecue into a sort of Spanish omelette. With crusty bread and coffee, it was a lovely meal, taken in the sunny conservatory for a change!

Once cleared away and washed up, I chopped the nuts and spread them on an oiled baking tray to roast in the oven for about twenty minutes. I then melted the dark and milk chocolate (using some of the chocolate egg that Vikesh had bought us at Easter) and combined honey with fruit juice. I coated the nuts with the honey and juice combination and put them back in the oven for another thirty minutes, stirring them once.

After their time in the oven, I let them cool a bit and then mixed them with the melted chocolate before spooning them into cake cases and popping them in the fridge to set. They looked yummy! Sophie, meanwhile, had hoovered the house and cleaned the bathroom so we were both very industrious! It was bliss to relax later with a naughty drink and a couple of nuts clusters each. We all agreed that they were delicious and I'm so glad I made use of the Christmas nuts!

Later in the afternoon, we indulged in a spot of pampering, and Sophie painted my nails and we had a face pack (I also had a foot pack). Lovely! We do love a spot of pampering on a Sunday afternoon while watching A Place in the Sun!

We had talked about Christmas 2024 today and plans to go away somewhere. I'd been looking at villas in Lanzarote, but over dinner, Keith suddenly announced he wanted to go to Mallorca... why hadn't he told us before? We all knew it wouldn't be red hot but the last time we visited in December, the temperatures were lovely and we saw plenty of sunshine.

Sophie and I immediately looked at flights with BA (no extra luggage fees) and saw favourable ones going out on the 23rd of December from Gatwick. We held them for £5 per flight, so we have to make a decision in the next couple of days!