A new discovery!

We started the weekend with a relaxed morning, enjoying a light breakfast and coffee while watching Saturday Kitchen Live and playing Wordle. After that, Sophie got ready for a walk and lunch with Vikesh, while I prepared the chicken and vegetables for our dinner. It took me almost an hour to prepare the vegetables and meat for Mary Berry's Panang chicken and rice stir fry. How do the Masterchef contestants prepare and cook a three-course meal in a couple more hours?!

Sophie and Vikesh went for a walk and had lunch at a pub in Walgrave, while I mowed the verge and weeded the front garden, with Keith's help. The grass seed I'd put down a few weeks ago had thrived, which I was pleased about and the bare patches had filled out. We also rearranged some stones to make them visible and prevent people from driving over the corner of our garden. Delivery vans, in particular, always manage to cut the corner and there's a water meter plus BT equipment located there!

It looked so much better when we'd finished and I noticed a new plant growing around the stump of one of the conifers we cut down a while ago:

When I Googled it, I discovered it's a Stinking Iris and probably grew there after a seed was dropped (from a bird?). I hope it flourishes there!

Keith made me a fish finger sandwich for lunch with a cup of tea and I spent the rest of the afternoon pootling about and then relaxing on the bed with the Gomes, who had graced us with his presence!

Sophie and Vikesh arrived back and the men watched the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Manchester United. Sophie made us cocktails - we had homemade Negronis and then cracked open the bottle of House Negroni from Bar Termini. Sophie's cocktails were just as good, if not better!

It was generally decided in the evening to leave tonight's meal until tomorrow, as Sophie had eaten a big lunch. Vikesh went home for his dinner, and we had a very relaxed evening eating cheese and walnut sausage again and looking forward to another two days off!