Say Cheese!

I celebrated my birthday back last week and got a fantastic surprise from my best friend who sent me a box of the most fabulous cheese and pickle from Pong.  

I got 4 fantastic soft cheeses and a jar of pickle and G and I spent the evening gorging ourselves once we had put the boy to bed. A lovely glass of red and some gorgeous soft cheese and crackers and we were set!

Impromptu Weekend

What a fantastic and social weekend we had.  Friday night we popped over to friends for pizza and Children in Need, on Saturday we headed over to lovely Lewes for a coffee, and on Sunday we drove to Chichester for a Thai Dinner for our friends 30th Birthday.

That was the plan anyway...but Saturday ended up turning from a lunch time coffee into a whole 12 hours of lovely conversations, copious amounts of red wine, a walk around Lewes castle and several pubs.

It is so nice when days like Saturday happen and that you end up having such a lovely time that you just end up spending the whole day together.  My friend Harriet and I had decided to have a coffee and then, realising our other halves had never met, we invited them along.

We headed to the Pelham Arms for lunch where I indulged in a very tasty burger and some wine.  After lunch I made the executive decision that not drinking wasn't fun at all and that leaving the car in Lewes for the night was the best idea!  It certainly was!

After lunch we wandered to Lewes Arms, a gorgeous little pub hidden behind the castle for some wine and to meet friends, after which we headed to the lovely Kings Head for more Merlot.

As if we hadn't eaten and drunk enough we shared a lovely Dinner with Harriet and Ellis at Pailin Thai Restaurant, Station Street, and then headed back to theirs for some late night board games and popcorn!

What a wonderful weekend, and I'm very much a believer that the unplanned, impromptu weekends are often the best.

Merlot at the Pelham Arms

Harriet and Me at the Lewes Castle Gates

So many lovely hidden gems to discover in Lewes 

Recipe: Warming Sausage and Bean Casserole

I may have mentioned before that I don't really do recipes.  I tend to just pop stuff all in the pan and see what happens (unless I'm baking when it needs to be precise).

I fancied doing something a bit different for dinner last night and searched online for sausage casserole.  I found this brilliant 'Great Sausage Casserole' from the Hairy Bikers and popped to the shop to grab bacon and worcestershire sauce so that I made it exactly as the recipe suggested (although I didn't use the Bay leaves as not keen on the flavour).

Ooooooh it was good - those Hairy Bikers sure know what they are talking about!  Served with green beans and new potatoes this was definitely a fantastic home cooked autumn warmer.  Beats packaged food any day!

Perfect supper with Country Living and a big glass of Heritage Road Shriaz Merlot 2011.  Yumtastic!

A Day out to Borough Market

Day out at Borough Market....

Ooooh I love Borough Market; the smells, the different flavours, the experience of something a bit different.  I'm not gona lie...I love food.  I think I would say that my world pretty much revolves around food and eating! (probably why I'm a size 16!)

Borough Market encompasses everything that is good about food in this country - independent sellers, local and fresh produce, experimental flavour combination.  Just a hop, skip and a jump from London Bridge station the market has so much to see and offer.  I headed up to Borough Market at the beginning of September with Bean and we had such a fantastic morning.  We started off with with these tasty prosecco drinks, sampled lots of cheese and sausages and finished off with a fantastic pie in a box from Pieminster for lunch! Yummy!

We popped in to Neal's Yard Dairy before we left and and were very impressed with all the cheeses on offer!  We were almost sucked in by the job vacancy advertised for a cheese person! How cool would that be?

Anyways, Borough Market is most definitely a brilliant morning out and I just wish I lived in London so I could have a wander every Saturday morning to pick up the fresh goods for the week ahead.