Blogtober 2023 :: Day 8

Blogtober Day 8 :: Sunday

What an easy, slow, restorative day I've had today, it's been really lovely if a tad uneventful. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling so much better, almost back to my normal pre-germ self which is something of a relief. I enjoyed a luxurious loaf around in bed this morning, it felt so good to just lounge about knowing that I had nothing in particular to get up for and could take my sweet time.

Mid morning we walked into town for our regular Sunday coffee, J, myself and Little B this week. Our two favourite little cafés are closed on a Sunday so we opt for Caffe Nero instead - I am a huge fan of their cinnamon swirls and Little B has taken a liking to their caramel-espresso frappé so is always keen to come along for that particular Sunday treat. 

I'm sharing photos of old buses because we walk past this car park on our way to town and there was a vintage bus show taking place this morning. It seems such a niche thing to me, and not something I'd personally be particularly interested in, but there were plenty of people taking photographs and seeming to enjoy themselves.

The weather has been exceptionally warm for October, reaching 20 degrees here today.

This afternoon I took a walk through the park to the farm shop to pick up some food for dinner, enjoying the sunshine and the colourful signs of Autumn here and there.

↑↑ I noticed this little flower growing in the grass in my front garden today and I thought it looked ever so pretty. The grass in our front patch is wildly overgrown and resembles an out of control meadow, so it's kind of nice to see flowers sprouting forth in the way that they do in the wild. I didn't know the name of this flower so I just looked it up - it's "orange hawkweed" if you felt a pressing need to know, also known as "fox and cubs" which I thought was sweet.

From the farm shop I bought three things - a lemon and garlic spatchcocked chicken, a big pot of mixed olives and some barrel aged feta cheese. I was talking to a friend yesterday about food, and he was cooking this exact chicken for his dinner and serving it with a Greek salad. Honestly, my mouth was watering as he was talking and I thought to myself, well that is just the sort of easy meal that would suit me very well on a Sunday when I want to take it easy in the kitchen. Simple, delicious and no fuss to prepare {thank you for the foodie inspiration Michael, if you are reading this!}

As the oven was going to be on for 75 minutes to cook the chicken, I also decided to bake some little baby potatoes at the same time. I thread three or four onto a metal skewer, rub them with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and they are soooo good, all fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. After they are cooked I cut a cross in them and squeeze them open slightly, then dollop in a little cream cheese and a sprinkle of chives.

I prepared a lovely fresh Greek salad, well you just can't go wrong here, can you?

It was a deliciously simple meal, and I have enough chicken left over to make a risotto tomorrow. Win-win.

Not a lot else to tell you really - I worked through three loads of laundry, and crocheted 2 and a bit v-stitch stripes, and that's about the total sum of my Sunday. I'm enjoying chatting to you at the tail end of my days, but I do worry you might get bored with my rather mundane day-to-day offerings. I'm trying to resist the urge (which is quite strong) to think up more exciting and bloggable things to do and places to go - I have always said that personal blogging should be authentic and follow the course of real life, so I'm going to try and stick with that thought. I hope you're not nodding off and leaning your head on your keyboard/phone screen as your eyes drift closed, we've still got twenty three more days to go!

Do tell me how your day has been and what you had for dinner, I do so love food chat.

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Comments

[Paula]

You paint such beautiful pictures with your words.
From hot, sunny Perth WA

[Monika]

Late reading this, but Sunday was our Canadian Thanksgiving. No turkey - we are all mostly plant-based and had a lovely mushroom lentil pate in phyllo pastry with all our guests contributing a veggie dish. I love all the surprises of a potluck! The weather has turned nasty suddenly, I was still happily swimming in Lake Ontario on Thursday in a glorious Indian summer, but now we are having cool and rainy weather. The lake is down to 16.1C, yikes - that's it for swimming for this year. I echo, Lucy: you are never boring! I'm enjoying Blogtober!

[Louise]

Since our brief visit to Liverpool in May, we've become huge Scouse fans! I googled and tried lots of variations on the recipe over our Southern winter and now Sunday morning begins with browning cheap cuts of beef, adding a little dark ale, onions, garlic, chopping a bowl full of vegies and embarking on a slow-cook throughout the day. The house fills up with the most amazing smells. In the evening we have a thick, hearty casserole topped with a spoonful of pickled cabbage, a sprinkle of grated cheese or a blob of sour cream and a warm tum. There's usually enough leftovers to last one or two extra nights. By the 3rd night we use the leftovers in little pies with salad on the side. Now the weather is warming up and we turn to lighter meals, it's one of the few things I'll miss about winter!

[Casa de España in Manitoba]

If you are Spanish and you are going to be in the South East of Manitoba, Canada, visit us at La Casa de España in Manitoba: https://casadeespanaenmanitoba.neocities.org/

The Province of Manitoba in the many towns of the South East offer many jobs in the field of Agriculture, Warehouses, welding, cheese factories, etc.
Spaniards ARE VERY WELCOME!
—————————————-

[Janette Surtees]

On Sunday we go to our Church worship service, by we
I mean my son Greg (35) and I. Greg still lives with me, he is severely disabled with Cerebral Palsy and Learning Disabilities. He needs 24 hr care. We have
strong, meaningful, very happy relationships with many people in our Church. Our Christian faith is the most important element of our lives. Thankfully we had a lovely carer to help out with Greg on Sunday. The morning starts with a 'café' where we can drink good coffee and homemade cake. Then for some very lively worship - singing, dancing, and more. Greg absolutely loves it all. I am truly thankful to God for this church = The people, they truly are sold out for God and his Kingdom. They encourage, help me out with Greg, are there in good times and not so good times. Our church life is not just for Sunday's, it's every day. We have all strata of people, babies to 90 yr olds, single parents like me on benefits, to doctors, nurses, farmers, teachers, waitresses, shop assistants, teenagers, children, single people, married people. Yesterday we had 4 baptisms - it was glorious to see and hear about lives turned miraculously around by God's great power and love. Sunday food for us is usually something simple at lunch time, and then some sort of roast later on. Thank you Lucy - keep up the blogging + crochet!

[Brenda]

Your posts are never boring Lucy. Reading them always makes me feel that I’m catching up with a friend and I love the little peek into your every day life. Dinner yesterday was an autumn bbq to make the most of the gorgeous weather, sausages,burgers,salad, homegrown beetroot and crisps, ordinary but delicious all the same and all the more enjoyable to be eating outside in October. Glad you’re feeling better.

[Jean Stein]

The day-to-day is why I enjoy your posts! The supermarkets in my town get all their chicken prepackaged, so I love that you can buy a chicken already spatchcocked.

[Corinne]

Sunday for us means going to church then home for Sunday dinner. This week we had slow cooked brisket, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, carrots, peas cabbage and gravy, with apple crumble and ice cream for afters. The afternoon was spent sewing a liner on a knitted scarf for our daughter, as she'd used a stitch that curled in over. The liner helped to flatten it a bit. Teatime was a cheese scone and a slice of cake then out to church again. We watched an episode of Endeavour later on.
We all feel our lives are ordinary, but actually we're all very different, and it's interesting to see how other people spend their lives! Thank you for inviting us into yours. P.S. Those leaves are beautiful!

[Alison]

Oh, I do love the day-to-day talk...it creates a connection I think to know that someone else is doing the same stuff. Your life seems so much richer because you demonstrate to us the benefits of being mindful.
I'm full of cold type symptoms and am indulging in self-pity, saves the rest of the family worrying about me if I do it for myself, so I treated myself to a tea of salad type things topped of with smoked salmon...yum! I had a lazy day too, caught up on some work-work stuff and made lists of things to do when I feel better - a list is nearly the same as housework?? Glad you're feeling better

[Loretta]

That farm shop! I fell in love with it on my week in Skipton in 2019. Son is moving out this week and no on has felt like cooking a proper meal so it was cream cheese and pickles on sourdough toast and a cheeky prosecco for me tonight. Tomorrow I will make his favourite: lamb and spinach pita with filo pastry.

[Sue Wheeldon]

Now I want a Greek Salad, but I actually had 2 chops from a rack of lamb (I cut up a rack from the local butcher and froze the rest) with roast potatoes and a portion of ratatouille (also from my freezer) and jolly nice it was too! Being on my own, I do batch cooking - eat one on the day and freeze individual portions of the rest. Curries, chilli and spag bol are favourites too and at the ready if I don't feel like cooking just for myself which is sometimes a bit depressing.
Don't ever think that your chats here are mundane! Mundane is good and reassuring to see families enjoy a normal existence unlike so many individuals who appear to have some sort of charmed life! Be yourself as always Lucy - you are much appreciated.xx

[Anna-Karin (from Sweden)]

Love your posts!! What a lovely peaceful day you had. I picked a lot of tomatoes in our greenhouse (the frost came yesterday for the first time this season, so it was time to pick the tomatoes) and boiled down a lot of them together with my own onions and garlic into a lovely sauce that I then used for a lasagna. It turned out fantastically good.

[Caz Wolff]

Its refreshing it find a blogger who tells it like it is, messy cupboards, tired, cooking, washing, kids who might not want to do everything you do etc. that’s normal life. Stick with it. We should all be grateful for the small things.
Yesterday for me was church in the morning, where I was finally officially made a member. Then I went for a wander around our small town in Dorset because once a month we have an artisan market with small traders selling cheese and bread and flowers and leatherwork and gin and garden sculpture etc. it’s brilliant and town buzzes with nearly 200 stalls set up along the high street and around the park. It really was fab yesterday with the sun shining and people eating food whilst listening to the bands play in the bandstand.
It was gammon for dinner yesterday with oven roasted new potatoes, peppers and carrots and shredded cabbage. Plums for afters and a recorded episode of Fake or Fortune. Have a good day Lucy and thank you for the blog.

[Kim]

Love the snippets of normal life, no need to go bungy jumping on my account. Dinner here tonight is a traybake of vegetables with kumara (sweet potato) as the base and then pesto brown rice added at the end. Should be delicious. May add some chorizo too because, well, why not? Spring here in the southern hemisphere (NZ) but mainly windy, cool and showery so far. Got some gardening (weeding) done today so I count that as a win.

[Sue]

Oh Lucy, I just love your blogs just the way they are, full of all sorts of everyday life. I myself have just had my first bought of COVID, wasn't to poorly but spent a good few days with hook and needles. I also cooked chicken today, made into a family favourite of chicken fricassee, followed by a rhubarb and apple crumble, with the last of this year's garden rhubarb.

[Jacqui]

Love your posts and how normal your days are but oh that chicken sounds delish even at this time of the morning might put that on my shopping list to make mmmm.
We spent a lot of time on motorways visiting daughter,soninlaw and grandaughter for her birthday shes 13 on friday so grown up where does the time go!!!! Was lovely she wants to learn to crochet and we had a try. Took a crochet blanket,wreath and pumkinds for squisht presents they loved them he he

[Christine Curtis]

Hello Lucy, my first post to you. Not bored at all with your blog. Very excited about your new design, I'm doing the stripe version the mixed colors. You asked about food, ours was a meatloaf and mashed potatoes night. Fall has come to Florida, USA. Thank you for a great new blanket and colors!

[Carol]

I’ve recently started reading your blogs and am enjoying hearing about the village you live in and being able to walk to the farm shop for your meal ingredients. It sounds so different from Australia where we are having a very warm spring.

[Simon]

Trust me when I say your life is not boring! Try spending a day here, then you'll know boring! We had Korean(?) BBQ Rib-bones from Lidl for dinner today, with mash potatoes and peas. It was actually quite nice but there wasn't really enough of it because it was only supposed to feed 2! Loving your Blogtober posts:)

[Maypole]

It's good to keep your blog real, we like that.

My Sunday. WelI, I am in Australia at the moment, staying with my family. A morning at the beach, then home, later, a dog walk. Later, dinner, a large chicken dish. I have six granchildren and they like their food.

[Debbi Robertson]

Just home from several nights at OUR coast (Pacific Northwest) where the weather was an unseasonable 75+ f (24c) and the skies full of sunshine. No fun food tales to share, the unpacking and a bit of yard tidying is taking precident today. I suspect you'll have lots of comments saying how delightful it is to read about your days, however (un)exciting you may think they are. It's like picking up a favorite book with characters that you care about -- for a short while it can feel like you're there, sipping the coffee, looking out the window at the distant hills, all warm and cosy inside (or a bit blustery if at the beach!). All of it is a treat, and such a joy to read. It is so kind and generous of you to take the time to write. As far as I'm concerned, that's another gold star in your crown.

[Corinna Mazzotta]

Oh Lucy, your blog posts are never boring or mundane! I love the way you talk about your life and the way you prompt me to try and live more simply and take joy in the little things.

My day today was pretty manic - early to church as I was on worship group so that meant rehearsal before, as well as singing during, the service.

Then afterwards we dashed down to see our younger son at University (a 2 hour trip to the south coast), so lunch was a late one at Franco Manca - a fabulous chain of sourdough pizza restaurants (the only place we can eat pizza as we're both allergic to yeast and cow dairy and he's allergic to tomatoes, but they cope with all that!) We got to finally meet his girlfriend too.

Then the 2 hour journey home again to catch up with Strictly and the F1. A late night as a result for us, but I still found time to read & enjoy your post while I drank my bedtime tea! Looking forward to tomorrow's (actually today's) post!

[Megan Drennan]

Love your posts Lucy, never boring ,always authentic and sincere. But today you excelled yourself and gave my husband a thrill! He used to be a bus driver and went into spasms when he saw all those buses...meantime instead of cooking anything(sorry,don't like cooking) I decided watching two recorded episodes of "Bakeoff " was a good substitute.All our days are different but all are interesting. X

[Elizabeth]

It has the most exciting Sunday! I was perusing craigslist at the end of last week and stumbled across the most perfect bedframe. I'v been looking for one for ever so long (years!), and was about to give up. I made an appointment with the owner for today, and it was indeed perfect, so I bought it! The bed I found is a pencil post canopy bed, which will harmonize nicely with my other bedroom furniture. It was a good price too, not dirt cheap, but not LOL expensive either. I'll probably skip dinner this evening, as I had a very late lunch whilst on the road, though YOUR dinner sounds delicious – especially that salad. You, my dear, are never boring. Reading your posts is like reading a letter from a wonderful friend in a far-off land. Delightful every time, and never enough. So glad to hear that you're getting rest and feeling better. Keep that up and you'll soon be healthy as a horse.

[Becca]

I love hearing about your everyday life!! That chicken and salad looks fantastic, and I wish we had a local cafe in walking distance.

Peaceful day here too, dishes and laundry and putting the garden to bed for winter. We picked up our pumpkins for Halloween, and also some Concord grapes that I can’t stop sniffing 😍 Dinner was seared lamb shoulder chops and roasted cauliflower, and I made an apple cider margarita afterward. Turned the heat on for the first time this morning as it was about 50 degrees F in the house, and one cat glued herself to the heat vent immediately 😂