Skip to main content

Monthly Munch: June

We started the month feeling like a hotel (my parents, some university friends and Graham's family all visiting within ten days!) and ended the month staying in a hotel (our Newcastle trip).  In between we enjoyed the long days and sunshine with bike rides, barbeques, and Graham's new inflatable canoe.

Out for a walk with Graham's family
Toby



- has definitely entered the "Why?" stage.  I thought we'd skipped it, but sadly not.

- can do a scarily good snort (à la Peppa Pig) which entertains Theo no end.

- managed to sweet-talk his way behind the wheels of a Bentley Turbo R and a Massey Ferguson tractor at some recent events.




- announced that when he's five, he wants to drive a Subaru.

Quotes:

"I want to build with the avocado." (Meccano)

To one of the girls next door: "I'm three and you're four."
She: "I'm not four, I'm six."
Toby: "Six?? That's really old!"
Clearly he has a way with the ladies.


Theo

Blowing raspberries is one of his new tricks

- has definitely entered the "things in mouth" stage.

- giggles at Toby's antics, and when you tickle his cheeks.

- regularly sleeps through the night now, and gives you a big smile when you go in in the morning.  Such a sweet baby!

Do I look like a teacup?

Heeeellllppp!!!  I'm sinking!

Thankful for:

- strawberries from my very own plants

That's the canoe, having a trial inflation on the lawn
= several opportunities to do some cake decorating.  No paid gigs yet, but I feel like I'm not entirely forgetting all I once knew.

Recipe of the Month: Fish baked with fennel, red onion and orange


This is adapted from a recipe in the May edition of the Waitrose magazine.  I'm not sure what I think of fennel - raw, it has quite a strong aniseed flavour, but once cooked, it doesn't taste of anything much.  I liked the orange, though.  We ate this with a simple salad and some toast.

1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
1 large red onion, finely sliced
200g potatoes, finely sliced
1 orange, finely sliced (discard the ends)
2 white fish fillets, fresh or frozen
2 tbsp olive oil
dill or thyme

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Place fennel, onion, potatoes and orange in a baking tray.  Squeeze over any juice from the ends of the orange, and toss with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil.   Roast for 10-15 minutes depending on whether your fish is fresh or frozen.

Give the veg a stir and add the fish (the original recipe used fresh cod; I used frozen pollock).  Drizzle with the remaining  1/2 tbsp olive oil, and season with the dill or thyme and salt and pepper.  Roast for 10-15 minutes longer.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Derwent Valley: Derby City and the Derwent Pilgrimage

It was 8 am and I was already hayfeverish, headachey and hot. Why on earth was I setting out to walk through the middle of Derby, when I could be up in the hills of the Peak District? No one was forcing me to do this section. I could skip it entirely. But I knew I wouldn't, because this was the next part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. And besides, I had a suspicion that it would be better than it looked. Alvaston Park was certainly a good start. It's a wide sweep of green grass and mature trees. I used to come here quite often when the boys were small. I was glad to see some of the planets were still there - although Mars has had a lot of feet standing on it, I think. Here's a tiny Toby in 2013 with Mars... ... and a more battered Mars today. Alvaston Park I kept off the roads for a while by following a cycle route. Even when I joined the traffic, it wasn't bad. The factories and office blocks had roses outside. This road, now the A5194, used to be the A6 coming in...

Derwent Valley: Exploring the Astons

It was the hottest day of the year so far, with a forecast high of 32°C, and I was setting out to walk around three places with very similar names: Elvaston, Alvaston, and Ambaston. I was mostly hoping they would be shady! I was expecting to park at Elvaston Castle Country Park, where there is pay and display parking, but I spotted a large layby in Elvaston village, which was not only free, but also shaded by a large hedge. This meant that I didn't walk through much of the country park. Instead I skirted the edges, passing the village hall, with its decorative windows, and approaching Elvaston Castle itself along an avenue of yew trees. Elvaston village hall yew avenue Elvaston Castle was built for the Earls of Harrington and sold to Derbyshire County Council in 1969. Unfortunately the council is struggling to find enough money to keep the building in a state of repair. The castle isn't open to the public, but the gardens are well worth a walk around. The estate church, St Bart...

Greece is the word! Part 2: Epidaurus

For the first part of our Greek holiday, see here . Day 4 - continued After much waiting around, we acquired a hire car and set off for the second part of our holiday. I am so glad that Graham can get into a strange car in a foreign country and drive away with no problems. I would be a nervous wreck. Even Graham was a little spooked by the Athens traffic - very narrow lanes crowded with cars and buses, and mopeds zipping in and out of every available gap. I had left Google Maps set to "avoid tolls", which meant that we stayed off the fancy new highway and took the old road towards Corinth instead. There was practically no traffic, so although it was slower, it felt very relaxed. We passed hills, hotels and oil refineries. Along the way, we stopped at a supermarket for supplies and drank Green Cola at the beach over the road. Crossing the Corinth Canal at Isthmia, we started heading south through the mountains of the Peloponnese. The sky had been growing darker and darker, and...