Just heading into work on the train after the Easter holiday break. It's been nice to have four days off, even though time has flown by, and we've had all the children home for at least a couple of days.
I'd given up eating chocolate for Lent and I was very keen to enjoy an Easter egg on Sunday morning, which I did at around 7am.
Max had come home on Thursday and he and Margaret had gone to the Le Creuset shop at Peterborough Garden Park in Eye to choose some dishes and pans for he and Inna as an engagement present. He'd got quite a collection of yellow and the traditional orange enamelled dishes and they'd got quite a good deal by getting sale items and also extra discount for spending over £600. There were about three bags full and they weigh a ton! I was quite pleased that Max had come in his car and he could take them back. If we'd had to take them down, they would have been impossible to carry on the train, so I would have had to drive.
On Friday, Margaret and I did the shopping in Whittlesey and then had to pop across to Sainsbury's to get Tom and Hannah a Linda McCartney quorn roast - the standard veggie option when we're having a family roast dinner. I was a bit grumpy because I thought Margaret would have popped there on Thursday when she was in Eye and now we had to make a special journey on a busy morning. We had ordered a full leg of lamb from Freeman & Daughters - one of the Whittlesey butchers. We normally use Jones, but I like to share the business out a little bit as they are both good butchers. It came to £40 for the leg and Margaret wasn't sure it was right, mainly because the end wasn't cut straight I think. Because it was a full leg, the hip ball was still in place and it didn't look as trimmed and clean as a half leg.
Lamb is very dear, especially at Easter, and it doesn't go very far. This leg, which was almost too big for the oven, fed six people with a medium-sized Tupperware container of cut meat left over (which Max polished off on Monday). Max and I took the dogs for a walk in the afternoon across the fen to Great Knarr Fen Road and back. They both had a good run. Holly is getting far more confident off the lead and now doesn't worry too much about sticking close by. She was off through the rape (which is just coming into flower) and when her nose is working hard, her ears switch off completely. We never really lost her and there's not much harm she can come to out there. Gravel is now the better of the two dogs, mainly because he's fatter and less fit, so running tires him more quickly. I will try to get them a couple of good off-lead sessions per week; I think it's important for their fitness and their waistlines.
I the evening, I made cottage pie, which (even if I say so) was very nice. Max and Margaret were back for seconds and then Max and I went across to the Rose & Crown. We couldn't persuade Margaret to come with us as she was too weary. The pub was really quiet - there was Max and I, another table of three eating a meal and then the old couple who come in every Friday. We had three pints of bitter from the Nene Valley Brewery in Oundle and it was quite good, if a little too sweet and malty. Perhaps it needed some sharper hops. Inna was at her mum and dad's this weekend and they were planning to check out a few hotels and country houses for their wedding. This is being planned for summer 2013 and the budget is around £7,500. Toby is being lined up to be best man and Tom has been asked (and agreed) to do the wedding photos. Max and Toby are going climbing in Derbyshire this week, so I think Max is planning to ask him then.
On Saturday morning, I made curries for the evening meal - a chicken Madras and a vegetarian option of Quorn Korma. They were done by lunchtime and left to stand until dinner. Curry always tastes better when given a bit of time. I had cheese for later in the evening - a Colston Bassett Stilton, a Wookey Hole Cheddar, a Tunworth from Hampshire and a Beaufort (two-year old) from France, not far from Bourg. Sam and Lucy arrived soon after lunch and Tom and Hannah late afternoon as they'd been to Stamford for a look round the shops. They'd bought a small table and some other bits and pieces. Sam, Lucy and I walked the dogs around Toneham, but they were under strict instructions to stay clean and stay out of the river, so they stayed on their leads! The food went down quite well and even Tom, who announced that he didn't like Korma, ate a very large plateful. There was not a great deal left for Margaret's dinners during the week and we made a hole in the cheese, although I forgot that I'd bought quince jelly and left that in the cupboard. I'd got some sweet Greek red wine from Tesco for a bit of off-piste wine-tasting and got three bottles out of the garage. It went down very well and was much better than I'd expected. It tasted a little like a light port.
I was very pleased to see Sunday come. I'd given up chocolate for Lent and I'd started craving it more and more. I woke up quite early with the help of Holly and Gravel and got my Cadbury's Buttons egg out of the fridge and ate the whole thing while listening to Zee TV. What a bizzare start to the morning! Margaret seemed a bit grumpy that I'd eaten a whole egg, perhaps she'd wanted to present it to me? We had hot cross buns made by Lucy for breakfast. She wasn't happy that they'd risen enough, but they were actually quite good and I managed to eat one and a half buns even after a whole Easter egg. While Margaret cooked dinner, I took the dogs on the fen walk with my sister, who was coming to join us for dinner and was bringing a pudding. It was going to be a pavlova, but when I went round to tell her we were ready to walk, it had been overcooked so it was brown on top and stuck fast to the tin. Pudding became rhubarb crumble instead!
It was a lovely day, cool, but quite sunny. Tom had been out for a run early on and had seen three owls hunting in the fields off Knarr Fen Road, including one sitting on a road sign as he turned off the old A47. Tom said he didn't know who looked more surprised - him or the owl. Holly and Gravel were having a great time on our walk and Holly disappeared into the fields for a good 15 minutes just where we were going to turn around. We kept catching glimpses of her, but she wasn't ready to come back any time soon. The dogs put up lots of ducks, which are perhaps feeding in the rape fields, and we also saw a number of plovers (lapwings) flying in a wild fashion and calling out to the others. It was either the joy of spring or a mating dance in the air - perhaps both.
When Holly did, eventually, join us again, we started back only to lose both her and Gravel in a rape field. Gravel popped out at the top and ran across to join us, but there was no sign of Holly. We'd walked on to the start of the fen where I generally put the dogs back on their leads and we waited there for some time before I decided I'd better go and look for her. I put Gravel on his lead and walked briskly back not bothering to wait for my sister, who is quite a slow walker. Holly was there at the edge of the field, running up and down the dyke. Perhaps she was wondering where we were because she came straight away and went straight on her lead. We'd been out for a couple of hours!
Back home, Sam and Max had gone to cricket nets with Bretton and Tom was sitting on the lawn reading. He said he was quite bored (I think Hannah was working on a project for the FSA - she was off to Frankfurt on Tuesday) so I suggested the pub and Margaret, who was in a pretty good mood, volunteered to wash the dogs solo. We headed to the Rose before she changed her mind!
There was no Nene Valley Bitter as the barrel had finished, so I had Cuckoo and Tom went for Old Trip. He took one taste and pulled his face. The barmaid, Helen, was obviously a bit worried about the beer and must have been watching his response. She said it had been on for more than a week and was probably past its best - typical Steve! Anyway, she swapped it without protest for a Tydd Steam beer and Tom stayed on that. It was light and very hoppy, which is just how he likes it.
When we got back, it was time to watch motorcycle racing. Tom and I were excused sitting at the table. Originally, we were in trouble for being anti-social, but then I think Margaret realised that it was quite useful not having to bring in the table from outside to accommodate eight people. The racing was the first Grand prix of the season (from Qatar) and is a night race under floodlights because it's too hot to race during the day. MotoGP has gone back up to 1000cc capacity and a new 250cc four-stroke single capacity (Moto3) has replaced 125cc two strokes. I was sorry to see 125s go, but Moto3 was pretty entertaining and the 250s sounds just like little Ducatis tearing round the track. Cal Crutchlow, the current British hope, had a good weekend with fourth place. Hope he can keep it up.
Monday comes round all too quickly. We went to the driving range to hit a few balls in the morning and I'd made cheese scones and some focaccia for breakfast as well as a loaf for the week. Tom and Hannah left late morning and Sam and Lucy around lunchtime. The day was a bit wet and rainy, but it brightened up enough for a walk round Toneham with Margaret and Max. Holly brought the weekend to a rousing climax by gobbling down her dinner, going into the lounge and vomiting the whole lot back up on the mat!
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