Gray Weekend

The weather hasn't been the greatest over here and we had a pretty grey weekend, however that doesn't stop us from enjoying some "walkies" time with the dogs.

I really hope when things settle a bit I'll be able to invest in a decent camera to capture these moments a bit better.
Today I had a maternity care with my G.P and things are still all good with the baby and now all I have to do is wait until the big day arrives!

Finally here is a picture of Butters pretending to use the computer because if that adorableness doesn't brighten your day I don't know what will!

Colour on a grey day

The other day my sister brought me some flowers to cheer me up after a painful and sleepless night. It is quite remarkable how simple things can really brighten your day. Today I posted a picture of the Lillies fully opened on Facebook and learned that apparently they can be dangerous to cats! I need to do some research on cat friendly plants and repellents so when it comes to do the garden  can have a little veg patch that is undisturbed and a little patch full of "cat friendly" plants for them to play in.

I've spent most of my day feeling sorry for myself with a cold and Pinteresting crochet makes for the cats and the dogs. Have decided on a couple of projects and will hopefully be showing them off soon!

What's been happenning

I know I'm pretty rubbish at sticking to blogging and pretty good at coming up with a hundred justifications as to why I haven't bothered. I am however starting to think it would have been nice to keep posting through my pregnancy so that I had something to show my daughter when she grows up and so she can relieve the pregnancy with me. So better late than never. With just under 6 weeks to go our lives have changed a lot and while I won't fully describe why or how I will do my best to upload thoughts and feeling as much as I can.

On the 12th of January 2015 we got married in Bude, Cornwall. It was an intimate thing with my parents, sisters and three of D's friends. We didn't bother with a photographer and all our photos were taken on the guest's phones which I really enjoy. Instead of your generic wedding photos we ended up with wonky photos of us pulling weird faces which captures us so much better than any photographer could.

You may not know who these guys are, they aren't massive outside Ireland but this is the Dublin band called "The Coronas". This Saturday they are beginning their UK and Ireland tour and I really wanted to see them in the Wedgewood rooms in Portsmouth but unfortunately the gig was the day before my due date. I had decided to not buy tickets and wait until the day and if I felt like it and there still were tickets we would go. D had suggested we buy tickets for a gig earlier in the tour but they were all in 3 arenas and I really wanted to see them in a smaller venue. On Monday night I was wasting my time away on Facebook when they updated a status saying they were opening a rehearsal the following day to 50 guests and would give the first 25 people to email two free tickets to go see them and meet them. Obviously I had to try my luck and my sisters thought they'd email too to see if they could win. After a few hours we all had lost hope when my younger sister got the email through saying she had been selected! She was kind enough to let me and D go and we had an amazing time. They played their full set list for the tour and we got to chat to them and get some set lists and picks signed. They are quite lovely lads and coincidentally one of their albums was recorded in Cornwall near where D lived! 

The day of the Coronas gig was also the day that marked my 34 weeks of pregnancy. Little bump was well behaved and only really kicked hard to the loud guitar riffs, she's either not a fan or was rocking out in there. I was lucky enough to have an ultrasound at 33 weeks and we got to see our little baby one more time before she makes an appearance. She is weighing an estimate of 4 1/2 pounds and is really healthy. She was even laying in the same position as I was with her right hand behind her head, I guess she's going to be a lot like her mum... I did ask to confirm the sex but just as the technician was about to do so my breakfast decided to make a re appearance and we didn't get around to it. Regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl we really can't wait for the big day!

Finally I've been crocheting a giant granny square blanket, in pinkish colours so I do hope it is a girl! I'm using 200g of ice yarn that I got through a swap on Facebook. Last month I set up a new Facebook page for knitters and crocheters to swap unwanted hobby related things and it has really taken off! So I got 4 balls of 2 different ice yarns in exchange for some books I had and I'm now slowly making a blanket which hopefully will be done before baby arrives. I love the yarn but it's not as soft as I thought it would so I may use the blanket more as a decorative piece rather than as an actual blanket... We shall see how it turns out when I'm done and I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, I think that's it for now. I know I keep writing this but I will strive to post more regularly in these last few week until all my time is being taken up by the baby!

Super quick beef stew - slow cooker recipe

I think slow cooker 101 is a hearty beef stew and that is what I have cooking in mine tonight. I am still not 100% comfortable with the idea of leaving the cooker on while I'm at work so I tend to cook my meals overnight and wake up to the smell of yummy food.

For tomorrow's dinner I decided to make a quick stew, typically I only realized that I didn't have any potatoes once I started so I think I'll drain out most of the water and serve it with rice. Here are the ingredients:

Yes, you may have spotted a sneaky plate of profiteroles in the background, those were swiftly eaten and definitely didn't end up in my stew! 

First off I browned the meat with the chopped onion, salt, pepper, tobasco and Worcestershire sauce. I don't always brown the meat, if I'm in a rush I won't bother and there isn't much of a taste difference in my opinion but it does mean the meat looks a bit anaemic instead of nice and brown.

I then added a pint of boiling water with a beef oxo cube dissolved in, chopped carrots, chopped leek and have put it on low. I'll keep it on low all night, turn it off in the morning and then maybe whack it on low when I get home until my OH makes it home from work at about 8ish. It doesn't need that long but I like my meat to almost melt when you bite into it.

That is about it for this super quick and easy stew. Can't wait for tomorrow's dinner already! 

I do apologise for the rubbish photos but I don't have a decent camera so these were taken with my phone and it's the best I could manage. 

I shall report back tomorrow on how well dinner went down. 

Until tomorrow,

Claudia

x

  

Slow cooker adventures

Earlier this month I convicted the OH to let me spend £14 on a slow cooker from Asda. I'm gonna admit that I didn't even know what one was until a couple of months ago and as soon as I started reading up on them I knew I had to get one.

Since my last post so long ago life has changed a lot. I became engaged and will be getting married on the 12th of January 2015 (less than a month away, yeek!) and I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with a baby girl. So the appeal of minimal food preparation and washing up combined with coming home to a cooked meal was far too great for me to resist!

So now I have my cooker and will be posting my adventures as well as generally being more active.

Looking forward to reading your comments and please feel free to send recepies for me to try!

Claudia
x

Self Saucing Chocolate Cake - Slow cooker style

Ingredients:

* 100g butter, melted
* 1/2 cup of milk
* 1 egg
* 1 cup of SF flour
* 2tbsp cocoa
*1/2 cup caster sugar

For the sauce:

* 2 tbsp. cocoa
* 1 cup of brown sugar
* 2 cups boiling water

Method:

1. Combine butter, milk and egg
2. Sift flour in separate bowl and mix in sugar
3. Add wet ingredients to flour and sugar mixture and place in slow cooker
4. Combine cocoa and brown sugar together and sprinkle over the top of the mix
5. Pour boiling water over the top and cook in high for 3 1/2 hours.

Busy, busy

There are lots os super exciting things happening at work and that is why I've been rubbish at blogging. We have to weeks to drain an entire tank, re build a wall, re theme it, fill it back up again and stock it.

Eventhough the timing is really tight I'm quite looking forward to it. The shark tank has been bugging me ever seen I started working here and it's finally being done up! Hurray! We've got five species of shark ready to go in and will be getting a couple more soon. I'm going to take daily pictures of the progress and will post them in chronological order... Let's hope it goes well...