Time travelling

I think I must be – time travelling that is – and have woken up in January… what’s all this about?! Midsummer, apparently. Hmmph. I don’t believe gale force winds and pouring rain are technically summer weather…

I’ve had three days off this week, all the better to appreciate said Januarylike weather, and have got quite a bit done. My car was due its MOT yesterday (don’t ask – that hit the wallet hard!) and while it was in the garage, I cycled the four miles to the next village to have my hair cut, then left my bike in the bike shop to get that serviced too. It turned out it had two broken spokes in the back wheel (how did I not notice that?!) but luckily cost slightly less to service than the car did

I got the hairdresser to do me some cheeky ringletty curls instead of straightening it so, freshly coiffeured, blonded and curled, I came out of the shop feeling pretty damn foxy – only to have to cycle  home through the rain, which of course started just after I left and stopped as soon as I walked through the door. Thanks.

Said cheeky curls don’t like rain. If I’m looking for an animal comparison, it was more drowned rat than fox by that point.

I had to go to a morning meeting today (always a bonus on a day off!) then this evening, went to a power hoop class. Have you ever done it? It was so much fun and although I thought at first I’d never get the hang of it, by the second track, I was well away and enjoying every minute. Having said that, I don’t know about DOMS; my hips and stomach are killing me already…!

I used my mum’s recipe book for inspiration for another dinner when I got home, having realised I had parts of loads of vegetables that needed using up:

I chopped most of an aubergine, some courgette, the best part of a red and a green pepper and half a red onion and roasted them, sprinkled with garlic salt and sprayed with olive oil, for about 20 minutes at 200C, until soft.

I then poured over a mini pot of a Dolmio stir-in pasta sauce, (I used to love it in my pre-coeliac days and remembered how good it was when I saw it the other day), sprinkled in some grated cheese and put the whole lot back in the oven for another 15-ish minutes, till the sauce was bubbling and the cheese browning.

I don’t know why I made coleslaw to go with something moussaka-ish either, hence the broccoli barricade. It was delicious though; the sauce is great and the ingredients list is nice and short, although I’m sure passata would work just as well.

The rest of the weekend’s looking busy too; up at the yard for the farrier first thing tomorrow, driving to West Sussex, then out for a meal in the evening – and England’s quarter-final match on Sunday! I love the football at the moment, although I’ve watched England too long to think we’ll still be in after Sunday’s match

Have a great weekend!