Taken yesterday morning on a cold day before the cloud came along to warm things up again.

Here’s a couple of photo’s I took in August whilst out on a day trip to Wye in Kent.

Summer flowers on the Wye Downs

The view from Wye Downs

I’ll post some more of my favourties soon.

Seeing the beautiful morning sunrise, I quickly got my camera and snapped this.

This was the last good mild morning before the cold mornings came along.  Brrgghh!

I recently spent a couple of days in Germany, and found that the only time I could get a decent cup of tea was if I made it myself in my hotel room.  Even then, it still wasn’t the same as the tea back home.

When asking for tea from restaurants or cafes, I get a teapot of hot water and a tea bag.  I then have to request some milk to go with my tea which usually comes back hot.  No matter how much I brew the tea in the hot water (whether it’s in the teapot or cup) it’s never enough so I end up with a milky weak tea.

I have all the ingredients there for a cup of tea, but it just never manages to be the same as the tea I can get back home in England.

A friend of mine that I was travelling with has resorted to bringing in her own tea bags and small pots of milk.  I think I might start to do the same!!

On my way home from work, I popped into the local shop.  Once I got back into my car, I had to wait for a couple of minutes for a bus and several cars to pass before I could pull out.  I was soon on my way, but had to pull up to allow one oncoming car to reach me and pass me.  This car had right-of-way, so I had no choice but to stop.  I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a car approaching from behind.  Suddenly, this car decides to overtake me and drive down the road, forcing the car (who had right-of-way) to stop and pull up onto the pathway to allow this rude arrogant driver to pass.

It still astounds me that people think they can drive and behave any way they like.  All it would have cost this driver, is 30 seconds to wait for this car to pass.

All I can hope is that karma catches up with this driver.  And soon.

Pizza!

I got all the fresh ingredients together for the topping and even for the dough-bread.  Yes, I made my own dough.  For some reason, I decided to make the dough by hand!  Phew, that was hard work!  Strangely enough, it did give me a little exercise, cos my arms and stomach muscles were really aching afterwards.

It was a big success and pizza and dough were cooked lovely and was very tasty as well.  Just one stupid mistake made though – I put the toppings on the pizza-dough before I put the pizza-dough on the trays.  It turned into a two-man job with lots of utensils to get them off the work-top in one piece!  Luckily it didn’t turn into a disaster!

Ham and mushroom pizza with home-made pizza-dough

Monkey Bread

I also had a go at making Monkey Bread.  Again, I decided to make the dough by hand.  It is hard work, but very rewarding.  Once it’s been kneaded and left to double in size and kneaded again, you have to separate the dough into lots of small balls.  The balls are then dipped in melted butter and then dipped in a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts (I used chopped mixed nuts and chopped walnuts).  The dough-balls are then put into a loaf tin (greased and lined) and left to rise for another hour.  Half an hour in the oven and then it’s ready.  Best served warm or toasted.

Monkey Bread

After being asked by friends and family what exactly Monkey Bread is, I did some research but couldn’t find any conclusive facts about where the name came from.  Some suggested that it got its name from the Monkey Puzzle Tree due to it’s ressemblence.  Others suggested it gets its name from the act of several people pulling at the bread as it’s reminiscent of monkey behavior.  Either way, it sure was tasty and I’ll definitely be making that again.

Next time…

My next task is to make Gypsy Tart.  A very delicious but very naughty dish.  I did attempt it last week, but I was unsuccessful.  After receiving several tips from family and internet, I will try again shortly!  Wish me luck!

The last time I blogged was in June!

My excuse will be that it was summer and I’ve been outside enjoying the weather etc etc (yes I know the British summer hasn’t exactly been great this year!!)

Will try to get off my butt a bit more and add to this blog a bit more regularly!

Promise!

I do have an advantage at spotting cold-calls though which makes it easier to end the call sooner rather than later. When I answer the phone and they say “Hello, is that Mrs ‘so-and-so’” I instantly know it’s a cold-call, as the phone contract is in the name of my partner and we’re not married!

The cold-call received today was even easier to spot as not only did they assume I was married and address me by my partners name, they tried to sell me an insurance package on satelite repair and I’m on cable!! They don’t do their research very well do they!!

Needless to say I was a little nervous at this idea. Swimming the 40+ lengths after a full day at work was enough to make me very tired, let alone cycling to and from swimming as well. The last time I used a bike properly was around 10 years ago, so to be perfectly honest I was extremely nervous about using a bike again.

With the arrival of the nice weather and the lighter evenings, my time had run out. I dug my bike out of the back of the garage, dusted it off, got the tyres pumped up and the chain re-oiled and bought all the bits and pieces I’d need (bike lock, lights, hi-vis jacket, helmet and mileometer). I was ready.

I did suggest we just go for a bike ride first to get used to cycling again and we’d do the cycling/swimming/cycling thing later, which my sister thankfully agreed to.

My first ride consisted of biking through the local woods and along cycle paths through a couple of parks and housing estates and lasted 6 miles. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed myself. It was a nice leisurely ride with opportunities to stop and enjoy the scenery, where I was able to snap this picture.

I was very, very tired when I got home and the next day my… erm… ‘behind’ was a little sore, but cycling in the sunny evenings around my town was really good fun and I was perfectly happy to go again.

I can’t believe I was so scared and nervous about cycling. The saying is correct after all – you never forget how to ride a bike!!

Sadly have not been swimming much but before you start tut-tutting I have been out and about on my bicycle (yes, my sister finally got me out on it) and I’ve been taking a few pictures here and there. I’m looking to post a few of these pictures soon, so stay tuned!