Scribble & Scran

Morning and welcome, today’s coffee is served with piece of chocolate cake. For the first time ever I succumbed to a Cadbury’s packet mix.   In my defence it was purchased to encourage my youngest to make something, get him away from the xBox and join me in the kitchen. Add to that zero flour on the shelves and it was on offer!

I can’t believe they get away with such things at the price, almost day light robbery, still had to add eggs, oil, milk and your own icing to boot. It did bring a sense of achievement, pulled the boy away from the machine and gave us something to look forward to, served with strawberries and a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

It’s been a funny week, a game of two halves. First part on holiday at home and the second part working from home. The thing that’s really coming to bear is the notion of time. I’d hoped to be tackling my dream list and that being in lockdown would open up so much more available me time, and that I would be achieving so much more. Bit of an obvious statement…when I’m at work….I’m at work. It’s still a full on day, calls, excel and more calls. I come out my cave just as frazzled as being in the office.   Without a commute to break the thoughts through a natural transition of getting from physical space A to physical space B.

So even more so, I’ve tried to become more organised and keep to a routine. I have managed 6 straight days of a 10 minute Yoga routine in an effort to combat the occupational hazard of sitting at a desk all day. I think it’s working. Alongside this I have some semblance of a bullet journal system going on…..and if there is one thing I want to take away from this whole lockdown is a working time management system for the ebb and flow of all my stuff!

We’re trying a couple of different food delivery options that have popped up in a way to avoid the supermarket. An awesome array of fruit and veg appeared on Friday. Which resulted in a root vegetable curry (will see us through for a few days!). I discovered the ease in which one can make flat breads as an accompaniment.

I can definitely recommend Charles Stamper, although the website has room for improvement.

Enjoyed watching some of the One World broadcast in conjunction with the Global Citizen, with a highlights to be shown on TV this evening.

Where ever you are I hope you are staying safe and in good health.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

 

Coffee today is served with a piece a of Humming Bird cake, made with bananas, raspberries, pineapple and pecans with a light lemon frosting.    Grab a seat on one of my newly upholstered chairs and I’ll tell you more…..

The recipe for the cake was taken from the Mountain Café Cookbook (A Kiwi in the Scottish mountains).   The café is an amazing foodie haven that sits above the Cairngorm Mountain Sports shop in Aviemore a wee town in the Cairngorms.  We normally vow to never go again because if you don’t time it right the wait on the stairs is infuriating…..but a good sign of the quality produce!

With the school holidays in full flow (I didn’t notice the transition), we were due to be in Aviemore this week.  So we have brought the café to us.  I love it when an establishment shares the wares in a take away book and this one does not disappoint.

Netflix is also getting more use than normal, and now that I’ve run out of Picard on Prime I’ve decided to go through a re-run of  Deep Space 9 from the beginning.   I never made it through in my youth, I think timing wise back in the day of University ending, new job, moving house and probably the BBC messing about with the schedule.  It serves as a back drop to re-upholstering the 12 kitchen chairs we inherited with the house.   Amazingly I’ve made more progress in the last few weeks than I have in the last 4 years.  My ability to remove staples with a bradawl and a pair of pliers is now legendary.

A few days away from logging into work has also helped with thoughts around trying to be more organised.   I’ve re-arranged my desk setup again.  The changing light and my eyes warranting a monitor move, which meant a desk move and I’ve gradually been working through the books shelves trying to be disciplined around what I will actually read (ever!) and those books that I might dip into (one day) versus the keepers and the one’s I’ve read and never likely to read again.

A small box for the charity shop (for when it opens again) has been created.  I’ve an immediate work through section which started off in my head as 3 books that I will focus on and now contains about 15!

With that said, I’m going to go get another cup of coffee, will stop by the places on the link and then pick up a book…thanks for stopping by and sharing coffee.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

 

Jumped out of bed in a mad panic this morning. We’d had a lie with no work for the day and was just coming too when my subconscious told me I’d not put yeast in the bread maker.  I lifted the lid to find the dough smiling at me, with 3 hours left to go…thank fully the bake setting hadn’t kicked in….what to do?, I grabbed a teaspoon of yeast, a drop of milk, mixed the yeast and then poured onto the dough, a spoon of extra flour and set the mixer to pizza setting.  I’ve now switched to manual (me) bake mode and it’s rising happily in a kitchen bowl.  Flour is too precious to waste at the moment!

So week two working from home came to a close yesterday, and we celebrated by bringing a bit of holiday spirit to the table instead of a glass of wine.   It’s been a few years since we went Sorrento, a coastal town in southwestern Italy famous for Limoncello.  A long distant memory, but the taste of the drink brings back a bit of sunshine into our minds.

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Funny to see in the Guardian today <a href="http://” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Limoncello locktails! How to make delicious drinks from years-old holiday booze and I should have known we weren’t the only ones falling back on the old drinks cabinet.  I’ve made a note to myself that I need to look up #quarantini.

I rediscovered twitter this week, according to my profile I joined in 2009!  Which messes with my head, I’ve dipped in and out over the years mainly on wet rainy day bus rides into work, but nothing that made me think I need to actively get stuck in.  This week though I sporadically dipped in a bit more, changing some of the folk I followed more akin to my interests now and it was refreshing.   Even one of my favourite bakers @DanLepard answered and then followed me which gave me a buzz.

So I’ve been rambling on and not offered you a coffee, mainly because all the baking has been hovered up this week.  I made a chocolate and banana loaf from Nigel Slaters Kitchen diary to keep the beasts at day and it didn’t last long at all.  This weekend I’m going to make a carrot cake (will slow one boy down) and a coconut and chocolate traybake both from the bourke street bakery.  Both recipes need little flour and given the shelves are still completely empty of flour it’s a blessing.

Also got a big cook up planned for the day, the local butcher delivery showed up yesterday, stewing lamb and a chicken.  If I get those sorted, it will make the week go a little easier by having the evening meals already sorted.

Exercise wise I’ve been getting through the ibuprofen nursing my hip and back.  I’d have gone to a physio if they weren’t on lock down.   It’s strange though after a run the pain seems to die down.  It’s just overnight and long periods of sitting down…which is prevalent given all the phone meetings that I used to walk round a building for.   I took a rest day on Wednesday from the morning run and I was in fowl mental state by the end of the day.   So I pushed through the pain Thursday and Friday and it made such a difference to my well-being.  Also trying to pay attention to the beeps of my watch….when it tells me to move, I go up and down the stairs until it clears.  Typically 4 times!

I hope you are managing to stick to routines, or forming new healthy habits and wishing you another healthy safe week.   We were supposed to be going away this week as part of the Easter break, sadly cancelled, but I still long for the mountains…..so I leave you with this small film.  Stay safe both in body and the mind.

Freeride at Home, a Ski Movie by Philipp Klein

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

It’s a strange time folks, I’d ask you to come and take the load off…but it has to be virtual I’m afraid and maybe that’s what makes the weekend coffee share great in terms of social distancing.

The office has gradually wound down and yesterday was my first day of working from home for what could be 12 weeks.  A crazy day with way to many phone calls and simultaneous instant message conversations popping up.  I thought I’d get a minutes peace, and some solitude to think…..it just didn’t happen.

And for the boys, yesterday was the last day of school with their sports (football and water polo) being cancelled a few days earlier I’d be lying to say that the idea of Wi-Fi rationing hasn’t entered into my thinking.  We’ve got a house meeting later on where we will try and find a way to work through this.  An approach where they don’t turn into zombies and ourselves come out fighting.

Both my wife and I have elderly relatives and the prospect of the next 12 weeks in isolation just doesn’t compute.  My father in-law lives for travel and the church.  It’s been knocked on the head.  My mum lives in the lake district and I’m due a visit, I’m too scared now for fear of passing something on.

As an example of this crazy time and the fact the supermarkets have no toilet roll left I’ve just received a phone call to say my first pair of reading glasses are in, but they are cancelling the fitting appointment to avoid any contact.  They will post them out to me which on the bright side has saved me a trip into town now that I’m working from home.

On the opposite side of my thinking I’d love to come out of this fitter and healthier mind wise than going in.  There’s a calm about the city, it’s surreal at the same time thought provoking and scary.  Ultimately, officially we’ve been told to chill.  Routine will be different and the idea of rushing, getting to work, getting to school and getting to clubs has been knocked on the head.   At the same time no socialising or gatherings, no pubs, no cafes and no cinema.  My thoughts are with the folks who rely on this economy to pay the bills and my lack of a glasses fitting is a tiny misdemeanour in the grand scheme of what’s going on in the world….perspective.

Not totally in lock down compared to some places around the world we’ve managed to get out and intend to keep doing so as long as we can, obviously keeping our distance from anyone else doing the same.  Just for health of the mind.   We now have a circuit that takes us up and over Arthur’s seat about 5 mile in total door to door.  The fresh air and the taste of spring is welcome as we head into this storm.

Where ever you are I hope you are safe and staying well and thank you for joining me for coffee.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

Rather than a cup of coffee, can I interest you in a Vin Chaud and a piece of home-made Christmas cake on the ski slopes of Avoriaz just on the border of France and Switzerland?

For the first time we have gone back somewhere two years running, as intrepid explorers it’s not our style.

We were just looking for something in budget, similar transfer time from the airport and somewhere that we know would do good food, somewhere authentic.

There is a little hamlet called Prodain just outside of Morzine with a small family run hotel, les lan.   The prodain lift is minutes away taking you straight to the main ski lifts of Avoriaz.

Getting There requires an early start!

• 2:55am It’s Saturday and the alarm springs to life.
• 3:40 and the taxi is here, there’s a bit of grumpy ness the boys hitting it off well from the start. The taxi moves through the streets with no holdups. There are few folk still out from the night before. Kicking out time from the club we pass.
• 4:20 the bags are checked in and we are sat eating porridge and granola. My wife’s attempt at getting pre-soaked muesli through the scanner foiled!
• 6:20 and the flight leaves on time, a little bumpy due to wind approaching
• 9:20 local time (+1 hr) and if someone poked me in the left ear with a knitting needle I’d thank them for it. I’m in agony from the pressure changes and the remains of fluid from my cold.
• 10:20 baggage claimed, skis in tow we get on the coach. An apple, a piece of Christmas cake and a thimble of coffee I’m almost starting to feel human. The lights different, the sun is shining and despite it being cold it’s an uplifting feeling.
• 1:20pm and we arrive at the hotel, eat our home made Tuna sandwiches in our room….with a plan to explore the resort

Some Thoughts

That first beer on holiday, when you sit down breathe and realise for a week you’ve earned some freedom from the daily grind is worth its weight in gold.

The menu is exciting, mainly familiar to my school boy french….but with nuances. A week of good eating ahead of us.  Nice to be cooked for without having to think.

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The weather, we’ve been fortunate with the first and last days being sunny.  The wind chill in between was punishing. We also had rain and some of the snow was washed away.

The skiing has been defensive, one moment free flowing through powder like coasting over velvet. The next hard packed ice, where the skis take on a life of their own, with a noise that cuts through the bone.

Despite what I would describe as the worst snow and weather conditions we’ve ever had; alongside the aches and pains from the muscles that are used to being sat in a chair all day I feel like I’ve got a glow from being weathered. I’ve not missed staring at a screen all day!

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Tune of the holiday has to be the Blinding Lights by the weekend, seemed to be playing at the bottom of the chairlifts and if it wasn’t being played then, my son was playing it in the hotel room.

Now sat safely at home in front of the computer drinking coffee, feeling blessed. Tuning into the news the weather system is in a crazy state. If we’d been a day either side of our travel days it would be very unlikely we’d got away. At least 170 flights cancelled today. Homes devastated by flooding and my heart goes out to them.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.