Busy Me

I have had a really busy weekend of nightshifts, and now I'm reaping the rewards. I have 3 days off in a row... Hurrah!

The thing I love about working funny hours is the time I get off when everyone else is at work. It's got the potential to be such a productive time. While everyone else is working I can go to the doctor, the bank or walk around the shops without being squished in a crowd.

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not always that productive.

My first day post nights was spent curled up in bed with the kitten imagining that I was an eskimo huddled under a pile of furs. I was too lazy to even cook dinner and we ended up having curry. Today was a little more productive. The in-laws are staying on Wednesday night before going to the airport so I needed to give the flat a really good clean. I haven't done as much as I'd like, but I've given the bathroom a really deep clean, done a huge pile of washing up and put on two loads of clothes washing. Tomorrow I can properly tackle the lounge, kitchen and make the new spare bed. I probably need to dig the bed out of all the boxes in the spare room too. Oh, and hide the Christmas presents elsewhere, it would be a bit of a surprise-ruiner if they found those in bags next to the bed.

I've also spent ages cooking a delicious homemade dinner to make up for last night. We're having one of my wintery favourites... stuffed savoy cabbage in a rich tomato sauce. It's been twice as much work as I had to make a vegetarian filling for the hubby. I created one with quorn, rice, spices, butter and stock. It's pretty delicious and might actually be nearly as good as my meaty filling.

I really should finish tidying but instead I'm going to curl up on the sofa with a cup of jasmine green tea, some revision and Taylor Swift playing in the background. I promise I'm actually revising and not just looking at the cute baby on the book cover!

Step by Step - November

All my life I have been teased for my love of lists. In fact as I've got older not only has the teasing got worse, but somehow it means that people think I'm organised and I get roped into doing lots and lots of organisational bits and bobs for people.

I know I'm really guilty of getting bogged down in lots of little bits that I've said I'll do for other people and don't always think about doing things for me, so from this month I'm going to do what I've seen lots of other bloggers do and set myself some goals to achieve. Little steps each month to more happiness and organisation for me.

1. Read a textbook. 

Okay I know that this doesn't seem like much fun, but I spend so much time doing stuff for other people I forget to do the basics. I'm a massive geek and I ordered myself a new textbook last week. I've been saying that I want to brush up on my neonatology for a while, so that's what I'm going to do.

2. Write Christmas cards.

I always get to halfway through December when I'm insanely busy at work and remember that I've forgotten to write the Christmas cards I bought. I have stacks of them and this year I'm going to get prepared earlier.

3. Take a walk.

Once I'm outside in the cold fresh air I love having a walk, and it always makes me feel so much better, but I always find too much stuff to do indoors. This month I need to take some outside time.

4. Use my proper camera.

Since I got an iPhone I've almost totally stopped using my real camera. It's not a fancy DSLR, but I used to love taking pictures on it. This month I'm going to take it out more.

5. Take a bath.

Before you jump to conclusions I shower every day! There's nothing nicer when it's cold out to have a relaxing soak in a hot bath. I want to do this with no phone, no emails, no reading work stuff, just listening to music.

6. Technology free day. 

I'm going to spend 1 day this month with no iPad, no laptop and no smartphone. That means no thinking about work emails, no ignoring hubby for reading blogs (oops) and no stressing myself out by accidentally landing on the Daily Fail website.

The First Second

Tomorrow is Hubby's birthday. Not only is it exciting in it's own right but it's also the first time we have celebrated a specific special occasion more than once together. Our first second so to speak.

Having firsts is very exciting, new situations and new experiences, but although it sounds a little boring I am really looking forward to all the seconds (thirds, fourths and more...). This is going to be the beginning of us forming our own traditions. Exciting times.

Last year all my efforts for Hubby's birthday (although he wasn't hubby then), seemed to go horribly wrong. Not only did I choose presents that I thought were wonderful, but were way off the mark I also had a massive cake disaster. I spent ages baking a cake that looked delicious, but was actually held together but what I can only describe as chocolate flavoured cement. If effort and love could have made a cake taste delicious, this would have been the most wonderful cake ever. Unfortunately they don't and it wasn't.

This year I am playing it safe with a shop bought cake and have hopefully got some presents which will go down a little better. I really don't want to be making a tradition out of bad presents and worse cake.

Grilled Sweet Potato with Tomato, Honey & Mustard Salsa

Sweet potatoes are delicious. I love them in curry, as chips or wedges, but my all time favourite is to slice them thinly, grill them and top them with something delicious. 

I first got this idea from a tapas bar that I used to go to whenever I went home to visit my Dad, but unfortunately it has now closed. That meant that I had to start cooking it for myself, and bit by bit I changed the recipe and now it's almost completely unrecognisable. 

This makes a great side dish to share with friends, served either with some grilled meat or fish and a salad or as a combination of smaller dishes if tapas style eating is your thing. If it isn't your thing you should make it your thing. I think that there is no better way of eating than sharing lots of delicious yummy dishes with a group of friends. 

Take all the measurements as an approximation, I don't know how big your potatoes and tomatoes are. 

What I used...

4 sweet potatoes

2 fresh tomatoes

Half a red onion

Tablespoon of honey

Tablespoon of wholegrain mustard

Tablespoon of red wine vinegar

Tablespoon of olive oil + some for cooking

Salt

Pepper

How I did it...

1. Heat the grill to medium.

2. Wash sweet potatoes.

3. Thinly slice sweet potatoes, lay on a baking tray, lightly spray or brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.

4. Bake sweet potato until the edges are beginning to get crispy.

5. Chop tomatoes and half a red onion into small dice.

6. Mix mustard, honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper to make a dressing. Adjust quantities of each until the flavour is to your taste. I like equal quantities. 

7. Mix the tomatoes and onions into the dressing.

8. Arrange the sweet potato on a plate and top with the tomato, honey and mustard salsa.

The Morning After The Nights Before

Although I moan about it, I really don't mind working on nightshifts. My problem is getting back into the swing of things afterwards. Luckily we do our nightshifts in little blocks and this morning I just finished my 4th nightshift in a row. Excitingly I'm not back at work until Monday so I hve some time to wind down.

My first day post nights always feels slightly wasted. I stumble home, exhausted and always do the same thing.

Drink, eat, catch up TV and bed.

I got in today and drank 2 pints of water (no time to drink in my 13hr shift last night) and then thought about what I'd fancy. The good thing is after a nightshift it's entirely up to you if you want breakfast or dinner. I went for my guilty pleasure. Instant noodles. There's something so comforting about a big bowl of really soupy instant noodles. These were Mama's pork flavour. A new favourite.

The noodles, the kitten and my iPad were all taken into my nice cosy bed. When I'm on nights I always sleep on hubby's side of the bed. It's silly but it's nice to be able to snuggle down under the duvet that smells like him and pretend he's there to cuddle. (Somewhat strangely hubby and I have separate duvets because otherwise I steal the duvet and hubby has to freeze - separate duvets are one of my top tips for a successful marriage.)

The blinds were drawn and Inara and I snuggled into the duvet to catch up with this week's 90210. Perfect. I fell asleep meaning to only have 3 hours but over 5 hours later I woke up. Perfect post nights day. I always feel guilty for "wasting" the day, but I feel so good having had such a good relax.

The Home Cottage - Redhill

I can't believe that it has taken me 2 months to visit this lovely looking pub that is walking distance from my flat. To make up for that I have been twice in the last few weeks. Once with a friend from work for lunch (where I was too shy to get out the camera) and on Sunday with hubby for a roast dinner.

The pub is split into a dining room and a pub section, both times I've sat in the pub part. There are a mismatch of tables, chairs and sofas which all add to the intentionally "designer rustic" look of this place. I'm always a bit shy about trying new pubs as I've had some horrible experiences in grotty local places for local people, but this place has a wonderful welcoming atmosphere.

When I went for girly lunch we were lucky enough to get a cosy sofa seat. I was impressed with the choice of soft drinks (they have Fentimanns rose lemonade!!), and noted that they had a big choice of real ales which I knew would interest hubby.

I had a prawn marie rose baguette which was surprisingly huge with the most delicious chips I have had in a long time. They were golden and crunchy on the outside while staying soft and fluffy inside. My friend had a charcuterie platter with a nice choice of cold meats, sun dried tomatoes, olives and hummus. She stuck to the small platter but they do bigger ones to share.

I was so impressed that next weekend I dragged hubby in the rain for Sunday lunch. It was much busier so we weren't lucky enough to get a seat next to the open fire... so next time we'll have to get there earlier.

Hubby is a pescatarian so roast was off the menu for him, so he chose fish and chips. The fish was covered in a lovely light batter and accompanied by those amazing chips. The best bits however had to be the minted pea puree and the chunky tartare sauce bursting with capers and onions.

I went for roast beef (with a nice big glass of red wine, obviously!). The rare and tender roast beef came with a huge homemade yorkshire pudding perched on top, resting on crunchy but fluffy roast potatoes and loads of fresh steamed veggies. The gravy wasn't a thick artificial gloop, but instead a tasty jus... my only complaint was that there wasn't more of it, I could have drank the stuff in a glass. I'm sure if I would have asked they would have given me a bit more. The veggies were lovely and fresh and as soon as I tucked in I stopped moaning that they didn't have my favourite, braised red cabbage.

I was also convinced to get a side of cauliflower cheese. Big mistake. I love cauliflower cheese and this was a massive disappointment. The cauliflower was so crunchy it seemed raw in the middle and was topped in an underseasoned white sauce. I'm not sure that it had ever seen cheese. I wish I hadn't ordered it because otherwise this would have been an amazing lunch.

I'm not going to let the cauliflower cheese stop me coming back to this lovely pub as everything else I have tried has been absolutely delicious. In fact I can't wait to try more of the menu and banish the memory of that cauliflower forever.

7/10

It's Booked!

Hubby and I have finally got organised, we booked our anniversary weekend away!

We have known that we wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate our first wedding anniversary since we got married. I remember sitting in a cafe the morning after we got married and saying how great it will be that our 1st wedding anniversary falls on a Friday, the perfect excuse to have a long weekend.

As luck would have it, my usually horrible rota not only had me off that weekend, but the Friday too. It was clearly meant to be. 

Our plan has always been to have quiet, romantic weekend in a cottage somewhere we can drive to, and except for a brief flirtation with the idea of Disneyland, I've spent longer browsing holiday cottages than I spent planning my wedding (not hard when we planned a wedding in 6 weeks). 

I had a little panic this weekend when I realised I'd left booking the cottage I'd found too late. Someone else had booked it. My first reaction was to be devastated, but then I realised that everything happens for a reason, and there must be a much nicer cottage hiding somewhere, waiting for us to book it. 

I was right. 

We have found a gorgeous little cottage near Bude, which is part of a small collection of holiday cottages. It has a huge bed, a copper bath and beautiful views over the countryside. I've always wanted to visit Cornwall and this will be my chance to spend a couple of days with my wonderful husband visiting lots of cute little towns and enjoying each others company.

I'm not going to spoil the surprise of where we're going, but I promise to show some pictures when we get back if you promise to keep your fingers crossed that the weather won't stop us getting there!