Adventures with a mandolin – Part One

So, having managed to keep my fingers entirely in tact after using the mandolin for the first time, I thought I’d share with you the result of our efforts using my new mandolin.

I used the smallest julienne blade along with the straight slicer blade and we had amazing shoestring chips with ham I cooked for Christmas and fried eggs – delicious. I think next time I might use a slightly larger julienne blade as it was hard work pushing the potato through the cutter whilst worrying about my wrists!

the mandolin cut chips

Sizzling in the oil

Just out of the pan

Ham, egg and chips

Snow buns – snow fun

So, unless you’ve been completely oblivious we had a whole lot of snow the weekend before Christmas and we got some here in the valley too, though nowhere near as much as they got elsewhere in the UK!

It’s the first snow the buns have ever seen so we got them out in it and it was soooo cute, Helga wasn’t so sure but Betty loved it…

 

Still stuffed!

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas day, I was a very lucky girl and got a lot more than I expected! My favourite gifts though would have to be Mr B’s present of my lovely alien – ‘the claw!’ – and the super-duper, scary mandolin that M&D got me. I used it tonight for the first time, holding my breath the whole time, whilst Mr B shouted ‘be careful’ at me every 30 seconds! To be fair to him, I’m clumsy enough usually to give him cause for concern but nothing terrible happened (this time) thankfully! We made some awesome chips which I will post about tomorrow but in the meantime some lovely pictures of my favourite presents…

My new mandolin

the claw!

Chicagotastic fun

Well I LOVED Chicago, had an amazing time and am finally feeling slightly normal after not getting ANY sleep on the way home and trying to catch up for the last couple of days! I’ve never ever been outside of Europe so jet lag was a completely new experience for me, not the best part of the holiday

We bought lots and lots of presents for everyone and I can’t wait to give them all out, took me about 2 hours to wrap them all yesterday but then that’s because they all have to be perfect…or as perfect as I can get them!

We also ate huge amounts of food – everyone warned me about the portion sizes but they still exceeded my expectations as did the people and the service, everyone was so friendly! Not once did I get in the elevator at our hotel without someone saying ‘morning’ or commenting on us being English – they loved that In the UK it seems like everyone actively avoids talking to each other so it was a lovely refreshing change. I did end up feeling homesick though, missing my house and the bunnies and the lovely aloof English

I will talk at length about how ridiculously cold it was, how much more able to cope with snow they are, the amazing restaurant Mr B took me to for my birthday, the aquarium with the funniest show I’ve ever seen and the biggest tank, the fantastic art institute and the gorgeous hotel (we got upgraded – woooo) but for now I leave you with a few piccies…

Chicago from…Wacker Bridge I think – got a little lost!

The ‘Bean’ – it adds the pounds!!!

Amazing buildings!

Yes, that is me with THE best hat in the world :)

You can just make out Mr B amongst these bizarre sculptures!

A view from our bedroom – out of one of the SIX windows!

Off to Chicago!

I’m far too excited to think about anything else at the moment, this time tomorrow I’ll be in Chicago having left the house, bunnies and Christmas tree behind…I will actually miss my tree a little! Fortunately the parents are kindly looking after it all whilst we’re away so we won’t come back to burst pipes or p*ssed bunnies hopefully!

There will of course be an excess of posts about Chicago upon my return but I thought in the meantime that I would leave you with a picture of our hotel – The Allerton on the Magnificent Mile. Fingers crossed that it lives up to my expectations!

Tooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful birthday cake :)

So as promised pictures of my wonderful cake that Mr B’s Mum made – beautiful!

Aw no! I’ve got loads more pictures but my camera just died – typical! Anyway, you get the idea. My favourite colour and covered in sugar flowers she hand made

The meal last night was wonderful, ended up going to LSQ2 in Reading which was great once we got the main course sorted out – more on that later! And Mr B bought me a fantastic purple swatch which I LOVE!

All over for another year but now I have Chicago to look forward to – woooooooooo!

It’s me birthday!!!

So I have finally reached the grand old age of 27 and I can say for absolute certainty that I still feel 21…or maybe 16 – depends what day it is! It is only 3 years now to 30 when I thought you were a real adult…not sure I’m ever going to feel like a real adult though…oh well!

I was a very lucky girl when I went home over the weekend and I got some money from my brother and Ms T plus a lovely Amy Butler cushion pattern – if only I could stretch to her fabric…maybe! Then my M&D got me THE best earrings ever, I’ve worn them every day since Mr B’s Mum made me the most beautiful cake which I have taken LOADS of pictures of but haven’t got the right cable so won’t be able to post them till tomorrow – it’s stunning!

And as if that wasn’t enough the lovely Mr B is taking me out for dinner tonight to some undisclosed location. I’ve been informed that it’s not a pub as ‘that’s not posh enough for your birthday’ so we shall see. As we’re going to Chicago in 2 days time there’s no need for too much celebration – going to eat and shop myself silly whilst I’m over there instead. CANNOT WAIT!!! I am tooooo excited

So nearly all packed, just got to write an exhaustive list of instructions (yes I am that controlling) about the bunnies for mine and Mr B’s parents and then all I need to decide is what takeaway we’re having on Wednesday so there’s no washing up!

Of course I also have to work but then in my mind I’m already on holiday…

Made.com – great furniture

I’ve just found this great site that has beautiful furniture at prices I can afford! Loving the corner sofa and the gorgeous cabinet! I think I may be a little grey obsessed but look how gorgeous it all is!

Made.com list themselves as ‘idealists. Children of the revolution’, which means little to me in terms of furniture but seems to mean that they handpick fantastic design and offer it to us at VERY reasonable prices! They work directly with the furniture makers and cut out up to 80% of the costs. This does mean that each piece is made to order, which takes about four weeks, and then shipped to the UK, which takes about 4-6 weeks, but for these prices it’s worth the wait!

Check them out.

Newark Corner Sofa in charcoal - £549

Bouji Chair in pavilion grey and red - £169

Bourbon Cabinet in distressed vintage grey - £149

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

My lovely tree

I’ve been desperate to put the tree up since we bought it about 3 weeks ago, just because I love sitting in the lounge looking at the twinkly lights and pretty decorations, it makes the whole house feel better. In fact, if I could I would leave it up all year!

Last year we had a real tree and I do prefer them as the smell of pine needles is also something I really associate with Christmas but as we’re away for a fair few days in December I decided that it would be easier to get a nice fake one. Whilst I’m still not that keen the one we ended up with is fairly alright and I won’t moan too much…it is HUGE though!

So last night Mr B and I decorated it and I LOVE it, wish I could have stayed at home and looked at it all day to be honest, but then anything’s better than work!

Some pictures of our lovely tree and favourite decorations…

Bargain glass bauble from B&Q

'Rescued' from Monsoon

As it's our second Christmas together!

Illness and bunny surgery – no excuse!

So I have been INCREDIBLY rubbish with blogging lately I am sorry!

It’s no excuse but the mother of all colds combined with the bunnies going in to be ‘done’ has left me tired, rather uninspired and quite weepy. Not a pretty sight!

Anyway, I am back at work now having almost recovered from the cold…well I’ll keep telling myself that and it might come true! It’s my birthday on Monday so I have a very busy weekend ahead AND we’re going on holiday next week to…dum de dum…Chicago!

I am SO excited, not on the normal scale of excitement but on another far more excitable scale where I lose total interest in everything else and just keep thinking about the hotel and the lake and the shopping and the FOOD and eating myself silly. Plus I have NEVER been outside of Europe – ridiculous I know – so even the idea of the long flight is exciting me. Poor Mr B, it’ll be like taking an excitable toddler across the Atlantic, except I’ll probably get drunk and pass out

So now I’m just worrying about packing and getting the house vaguely clean for my parents staying whilst we’re away. Maybe I’ll shove everything in one room and make it out of bounds. Far too concerned about the bunnies to spend too long cleaning etc.

They had their op to remove all their lady bits on Monday and I have never felt so mean as I did when we dropped them off. They just looked at us like we were the meanest people ever and Betty very kindly gave me a three inch cavernous scratch on my hand as a goodbye kiss – thanks! So we picked them up Monday night and since then I have worried worried and worried a little more that they weren’t eating and then they were eating but they weren’t pooing, I even composed the poo song which had absolutely no effect on their bowel movements but did make them seem a little amused Then we had to syringe feed them minging baby food which was not fun for anyone and I now have shelves covered in carrot and vegetable…hmmmmm. Finally last night they POOED, never have me and Mr B been so happy or so aware of our immense lameness. Yes we are reduced to talking about poos – it’s just what happens with some couples after a while I guess.

So absolutely knackered I may now be, I couldn’t be happier that the two madames are now on the road to recovery. I leave you with some pictures…