Lamb stew and a trip to Wales.

Morning.

(these were the clouds over the garden this morning) 

We have had a busy few days. It started with a mega shop on Thursday night. This was a now rare Tesco shop. we are doing more and more shops at Aldi and Lidl, however once in a while we need to stock up on the bits and pieces that they do not sell. odd things like, my favourite shaving gel, clear recycling bags, favourite coffee etc. It also meant for a mega meat shop! they had lots of short date, lamb, pork and mince. So I made a lovely slow cooked fruity lamb stew.

 You may observe one or two strange ingredients. tomato sauce, brown sauce, cranberry sauce and rose wine.

When i make stew, it is often a chance to use things up. the wine was left over from Christmas day as was the cranberry sauce. The tomato and brown sauce were nearly used up so they were swilled out and added to the mix. we had an assortment of potato's both old and new so they were chopped and peeled and thrown in.

How did it taste?? lovely. however we have not had any yet. We gave my sister some and the rest went into the freezer for an easy meal in the week.

Friday. ahh I had a day off on Friday. I had planned to return to the loft and continue with the big clear up. Did that happen? No. I spent the morning pottering and then the afternoon shopping. lots of lovely Christmas shopping. I have bought the presents for my cousins and lots of bits and pieces for the girls for Christmas. I just love the words 70% off.  Home then mince and tatties for tea. double the amount 1/2 for us and 1/2 for the freezer. I now have to get the   presents into the loft and away from prying eyes.

Friday was also a sad day. I am a public Sector worker and the cuts are really taking effect. many of our colleagues and friends are having their posts cut and are either being made redundant or having to first interview for their own jobs. its horrific. Some of our friends found out on Friday so we were texting and messaging people to find out if they survived the cull. I still have to wait and see if the axe will fall on my team but we wont know till after April.

Saturday.
We went visiting wider family in Wales.

A lovely day to be travelling as the weather was good and the motorway was clear. I still get excited at going over the Seven Bridge, although was not happy that the toll is now £6!

It was a very busy day filled with lots of talk and chatter. We went to an Italian  for lunch. The food was nice and we got very engrossed in our conversation. We took our time over our meal, then dessert, then coffee. We got the hint that we might have overstayed our welcome when the waiter was coming over every 5 minutes to take something off the table. First the cups, then the jug of water, then the salt and pepper, then giving us the bill, then the music being turned off. We decided that we were either being ushered out or the waiter was interested in what we were saying.

By the end of the day we were tired and ready for drive home. Once again the motorway was clear.

So now its Sunday morning. I am sat with a cup of coffee and listening to the Archer's and writing this blog. Perfect. Hope you all have a nice day. x