Thursday 7 October and eating out again!

I seem to be doing a lot of eating out at the moment! For three weeks in a row now I've been out with friends for meals and very enjoyable it's been!

Last night I went to the Mandarin Buffet with two friends and it was great. As the name suggests, it's a Chinese buffet with every type of Chinese dish you can think of, plus a few Japanese and Indian classics thrown in for good measure. It's a large restaurant but the noise level was reasonable and unlike Red Hot in Northampton, it didn't remind me of a busy hotel.

We shared a bottle of very good house white and munched our way through the buffet along with a good many others. At £12.90 for as much as you can eat, it was very good value and the choice was excellent as along with all the usual Chinese dishes there was also sushi, Japanese dishes (they were raw and had to be cooked by a special chef) salads, desserts and a chocolate fountain. I think it would go down very well with my little family so I can see another visit looming in the near future!

Wednesday 6 October and a bottle of free wine!

Bruce came into work yesterday with his grandchildren and very kindly brought me a bottle of Italian Prosecco to say thank you for the pass card I've given him. It put a big smile on my face as I do like a glass or two of bubbly and it went down very well as a pre-dinner aperitif! I used to work with Bruce in the Wine Shop and he certainly knows his stuff about wine so it was delicious - very elegant and smooth with lots of tiny bubbles which is always a good indicator of a decent sparkling wine.

Life continues to be hectic but at least the weather has improved and last night we went for another walk into the village. The leaves were carpeting the roads and paths and the bushes were covered in red berries. As soon as we have a frost I'll be out picking my sloes to make Sloe Gin.

I did a little more research into the Family Tree, concentrating this time on my maternal Grandmother's side of the family. Sometimes, however, the more I delve into the past the more confused I get...I always worry that I'm looking into people that, although they share the surname of a relative, are complete strangers!

Hitting the ground running...

Life is very busy at the moment and the last two days have passed in a blur. It seems that at the moment every minute of the day is allocated to doing something but that suits me fine. I like being busy!

Yesterday we had beautiful weather (well it was Monday!) so Keith and I found time for a short walk after work. The trees are really beginning to change colour now and the leaves are falling in abundance so the sunshine and the golden colours were a welcome relief from the drab greys of Sunday.

Today I had a few highs and lows and it certainly made the day an interesting one! We didn't have time for a walk, but we did spend a pleasant hour in the conservatory with a drink and the crossword. It sums up my day when I bought what I thought was an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc and noticed as I was pouring it that it was a Chardonnay...I'm not a huge fan of Chardonaaaaay but it was quite pleasant. I definitely prefer the Sauvignon Blanc, though so I may have to go back to the supermarket and buy the right one tomorrow. Good job it's on special offer!

Wet Sunday

It has rained almost non-stop today. As a child I always hated wet Sundays. I'm not sure why it was Sunday in particular that was depressing or Saturdays as well, but wet weekends are never welcome, no matter how old we are. All plans to go out into the garden have been put on hold so I did a few bits of tidying up, helped Mikey with his homework and then devoted the afternoon to researching the tree. It was a bit frustrating, to be honest. The relatives on my dad's side are proving to be particularly elusive and I sent off for my Great Great Grandmother's birth certificate in the hope that it may shed more light on things. This genealogy hobby is an expensive hobby!

Chores!

Today has been full of doing things that were a bit of a chore, but I suppose it catches up with me every now and again! Sophie had another visit to the Chiropodist this morning and more freezing treatment. The Chiropodist never stopped talking and I really think I ought to go for a career in counselling (or more likely, just listening). Reading through the various pamphlets for all the services offered by the centre before we went in (Reiki, counselling, massage etc) I'd earn a fortune!

After the appointment I dropped Sophie off at Susie's house as they were going off to Milton Keynes with Susie's step-mum while I went home to tackle the housework. It took me four hours to clean downstairs but I have a lot of satisfaction from knowing everything is very clean! I can now relax, look forward to a steak dinner tonight and a glass of red!

Lagging behind...

I seem to be lagging behind already this month so hopefully I'll catch up over the weekend. Yesterday was busy and the weather was atrocious - summer is well and truly over now. I thought back to a couple of years ago in October when we all went for a walk in Salcey Forest and it was like a summer day - warm and sunny and beautiful. I have a feeling this October will be a little different although this morning has seen a return to blue skies and misty sunshine. I really must get out and try and take some photographs if it's like this again. I love the sunshine through the mist.

This weekend I need to do some boring stuff like housework and I haven't ventured out into the garden for ages so I dread to think what's happening out there, apart from the slugs and snails taking over completely. If it stays dry I may use today as a chance to put the garden to bed for the winter. Keith is planning a lot more pruning to the bushes in the back garden which have gone on the rampage. We did the same thing with the shrubs in the gravel garden last October and although they looked very bare at first, the pruning did wonders in the Spring and Summer when they really flourished. I have a competitor for Keith's attention this weekend, though...the Ryder Cup is on so I know not a lot will get done, unless it's rained off again of course!

Seafood and eat it

I was going to write this last night but I arrived home far too late so now this is officially an October posting! Oh well!

Anyway, I went out with some friends last night to The Seafood Cafe in Northampton and we had some delicious food. I was a bit taken aback at first as the restaurant looks like a bigger version of a local chippie with the stainless steel counter and white tiles everywhere. All the tables are arranged along one side and a lot of the specials were on big blackboards. When we arrived it was quite busy but as the evening wore on it became very loud!

There were four of us and we had a great time catching up. The food was gorgeous and the fish cooked to perfection. They had an amazing variety of fish to choose from including lobster, oysters, crab, scallops and king prawns. I chose the scallops and chorizo to start followed by sea bass fillets with peas, pancetta, lettuce and saute potatoes. We enjoyed two bottles of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with our meals which were delicious - really crisp and fruity and a great match for the fish. We all had room for pud so I chose the Eton Mess which was lovely, if a little sweet.

I'll definitely be going back and would love to take Keith as he really appreciates a good bit of fish, something we don't often eat at home. My only gripe was the loudness of the music. I really must be getting old!