Friday night Thai night

We have some friends that we regularly meet up for a little dinner party with, last night was our turn to host. There’s always a little bit of pressure when hosting a dinner party, especially when you have a bit of a foodie in the mix. I was going to do antipasti and cheeses and just have a Jamie Oliver style dig in. But then I saw a recipe for Pad Thai. I’ve never made or even eaten Pad Thai but have always wanted to, so decided to give it a go. Why do we do this to ourselves – try something for the first time when entertaining? I did this for the starter, main and pudding….. thankfully my risks paid off….. I think.

Starter was homemade spring rolls (I’ll post the recipe on the recipe page) these were great and I will defo be doing them again.

Main – Chicken Pad Thai, not sure I’ll do this again, it was a little dull, that could be my fault as I didn’t put much chili in for fear of burning my guests mouths!

Pudding, the pudding was amazing, even if I do say so myself. I will definitely be doing this again. I also made some biscotti to go with it

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When your guests say ‘you made those?’ it gives you a good feeling. This was said about the spring rolls and the biscotti and has made me feel warm inside! In fact when we were washing up after our guests had gone, Mr G said I have a gift and should pursue it…… high praise indeed if you know Mr G! I’m not sure I want to pursue it, I enjoy experimenting in my little kitchen, but maybe one day I will.

We had a lovely evening, good giggles, good chat with good friends. I wish we did it more often.

And now, my Saturday morning loaf is in the oven and I can’t wait to smother butter all over it!

Tea

I know it has been said before but it really has struck me recently… nothing is better than a good cup of tea. I love tea. I love coffee but coffee doens’t have the same effect that tea does.

 When I wake up in the morning the first thing I want is a cup of tea, when I get to work I have another and at the end of the day another. Each of them taste so good and instantly make me relax!

It has to be hot though. There is nothing worse than a luke warm brew which I had to get used to when Oscar was little but now…. now I won’t settle for warm!

This evening I didn’t want a cup of tea!!! Partly because sometimes I associate biscuits / chocolate with tea and I am trying to be good so I made myself a chai.

I love chai latte but have never been a massive fan of simple chai so when my sister told me how she makes it I considered giving it a go.

So you take a few cardamon pods, a few cloves, a sprinkle of cinamon and add it to a teapot with a tea bag. Add water and leave it all to brew for a few minutes. Add milk and sugar to tase. It is delicious, I was very pleasantly surprised! Try it.

The other thing to mention is this evening I had a knock at the door… a guy from across the road coming for a chat about the street party. He thought it was a great idea!

I must now start my report writing boooooooooooo.

 

Taken The Plunge

I have finally taken the plunge….. I have created a blog.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, I’m a thinker and sometimes Mr G get’s bored with my ‘off loading’ so online seems to be the best place to do this. Now I can off load to the world to hopefully save Mr G’s sanity.

I want this blog to be somewhere I can reflect on my daily life and share my creative flare.

I love being creative, my latest obsession is home made granola. I love it. I use Jamie Oliver’s recipe from Ministry of Food which is so easy and yummy. One batch does not last very long in this house.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/home-made-granola-with-berry-compote

That is it for my first post. I don’t want to waffle on so I am off to bed to read another thing that I am loving at the moment, The Help. Night night.