Bristol, catch up

I'm so sorry readers that I haven't blogged since I started work. I got a bit caught up in everything job related and have only just got to the point where I think things are calm enough to take up hobbies again. Work is going well, i'm not enjoying having no knowledge and I am a bit rubbish at talking to people and making friends but, on the other hand, it's really exciting learning lots and meeting new folk.

As a reward for my first ever pay package, Mike and I were planning to take a trip somewhere. Happily our friends Tom and Mel got engaged (yey!) so we were able to coincide a lovely hotel stay with a trip to Bristol to celebrate with them. We scoured reviews and settled upon the Bristol Hotel booking one of the amusingly named 'passion packages' because it was cheaper than adding breakfast each day (and included not only breakfast but champagne and chocolate fondu with homemade marshmallows).

We travelled down to Bristol on the friday afternoon arriving in plenty of time for dinner. Most places were booked up but we spied a little italian restaurant. I, as usual, over ordered and ended up leaving all my main course chips because I'd eaten too much homemade bread and smoked salmon starter. It was a lovely meal and a very fun restaurant to eat at with a jokey and relaxed owner. That night we got our marshmallows for pudding back at the hotel. We were therefore in bed by 9.30 but wrapped in posh dressin gowns and slippers in our fairly large room.

relaxing in our room with champagne and marshmallows

On Saturday, after an epic breakfast, we walked to the station to catch a train to Bath for the day.

Sunrise in bristol and a lovely walk to the station

I mostly wanted to visit two shops I'd heard about: the makery and the fudge factory. It was such a gorgeous (cold) day that upon realising how expensive the abby and pump rooms were to visit, we decided to just walk around and explore.

welcome to bath! home of abby, baths, craft and fudge

We played some mini-golf up by the crescent (I lost by so much), we kicked leaves, we watched some rugby from the road and we found a very random furniture warehouse filled with antiques, some amazing handmade kitchens, and no actual staff (seriously, we didn't see a soul)

leaves, mini golf, rugby and the crazy shop

Finally, we had a very disappointing afternoon tea with teabags instead of leaf and no clotted cream!

That evening we met up with Tom and Mel at a pub in Bristol, failed to get into a free gig and ended up splitting 3 peppermint teabags between 5 in the most odd cafe ever which we chose only because it was open at 10pm.

On the Sunday with another great breakfast in our tummies we checked out (leaving the car in the carpark for the day) and wandered up the harbour to get to the SS Great Britain. We stopped off at the M-shed on the way to learn some of the history of Bristol and there were these awesome tiny ships on the windowsills and some firemen outfits to dress up in!

tiny ships, old firemen, real ships and rosie and jim!

The actual SS Great Britain was BRILLIANT. Even if we weren't both engineers I think we'd have liked it. There was a 3 storey moving engine, a propellor to play with, wax dummies and tonnes of history with just enough information. You walk to the ship through a museum which builds a good level of excitement before you finally get to it.

the SS Great Britain - majestic!

After the ship, we bought takeout tea and carried on up the harbour to the Locks and the Bridge.

Brunel loving geeks

Having crossed these Brunel landmarks off our list we returned to the hotel to drive back home content with our weekend memories (with very chapped lips from the cold). We definitely ought to take advantage of our childless state and go for more weekends away but I think the best kind are these last minute ones where you don't think about the cost too much and just have fun.

Claire

Sunny weekends

Since we moved house we are entirely lacking in a social life which has the unexpected bonus of lots of time to ourselves. The weather over the last few weeks has been my favourite: sunny with a slight nip in the air in the morning so that the leaves gleam.

The new place has two sets of decking with table and chairs on (spoiled I know). One gets breakfast and evening sun, the other gets the rest of the day. I could happily eat all meals outside if suitably wrapped up. Meals of salad and bread for warm days, or soup for cold.

We had some great success with a walk on Saturday afternoon. With a screenshot of the ordinance survey we hadn't known there was going to be a pub exactly halfway around the 6 mile journey! A pub with deckchairs, hampers, cider and icecream next to the river. We will definitely be going back there because the food looked ace! The walk itself had lots of variety - a lovely wood, some open fields and a meandering riverside. I have incorporated some of it into a new running route (though I have to be very careful to avoid tree roots in the wood and so my pace suffers).

morning run

In over-excitement about autumn I spent a fortune on food yesterday, on the menu (literally, a chalkboard menu a friend bought me for my birthday) this week:

Sea bream with smoked paprika spiced aubergine and tomatoes, leek and potato soup, butternut squash and sage risotto, butternut squash, sage and sausage casserole, fish pie...(you get the idea). 

I am also about to give in and use our green tomatoes to make mum's chutney ready for winter. I've got enough plum and blackberry jam to last forever so if anyone would like to swap it for apples (which we don't seem to have any of nearby) then that would be awesome.

PhD is still plodding along. I spent yesterday making sure all the formatting was perfect. Today I am researching residue functions in MRI and how my project may help. Hopefully finished this week!

Does everyone else love autumn as much as me? Wooly scarfs, blankets, lined-boots, tights, still sunny???

Claire
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Oddington Nature Reserve Walk

Over the winter we almost never missed a saturday morning walk, we saw some beautiful frosty mornings. But the last few months we've not done many at all due to pouring rain. Yesterday we set off on the 6.15 mile route we hadn't done for a while around the nearby RSBP nature reserve (but not all the way around incase it rained).

Oddington Nature Reserve

We had some thundery looking skies but the rain held off and we regretted bringing raincoats! I love these walk and talks with Mike - we've done them since we started going out and I find the rhythm very relaxing compared to our normal dinner time or evening discussion. It  was great to see everything so leafy and the rivers so full as we walked around.

the coats were on and off due to the alternating wind and sun. Happily the rivers look very full! and the path's overgrown. 

I've finally finished all the baking to take on holiday with us (having made half quantities we've still given some away).

1. Lemon & blueberry drizzle, 2. Earl grey tealoaf, 3. Nutella&banana bread, 4. Coconut cookies, 5. Gingerbread 6. Brownies

Our plan is to have a relaxed breakfast (i've packed my jam and marmalade), eat cake and fruit during the day after walks/rain/kayacking and then either cook or go out for dinner in the evening. I don't want to cook anything to involved (so no risotto) but I've packed some orzo and couscous to make either hot or cold meals with. We've also packed a lantern/thermos/blanket for evening hot chocolate on the beach, and plenty of wine.

Sadly the forecast hasn't improved too much (and oxford is going to be very sunny and warm whilst we're away) but it doesn't matter because we have lots of rainy fun planned too.

Have a great week

Claire
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Legoland

At the weekend, Mike and I went to legoland with Rach and Andrzej (my housemates from university, but so much more than that). We had a great time: epic weather, water rides, a new sunhat, acrobatic pirates and, of course, lego. Mike remembered not enjoying miniland very much when he was younger but it was the best bit of the day! The models were amazing, especially with all the moving vehicles (boats, trains) and the bus which drove onto a ferry and got taken across a bay. I would definitely recommend going, especially since you can exchange £7.50 worth of tesco vouchers for a ticket at the moment. 

That elephant in the top left sprayed us with water as we went passed, a blessing on such a hot day. And the bottom photo of the lego monmatre is taken 4.5 years after our trip to see the real thing.

the real thing!

Top: lego tour de france, middle: lego hang-gliders, bottom: lego trucks

Birthday card and bird

When we got back to our close on Saturday there was a marquee up and, more importantly, a bouncy castle. It turned out to be for a neighbours four year old girl's birthday party and the parents invited us over for a beer and a bounce. We had so much fun with their adorable girls that I decided to make this card for her, and a little bird for the bird box she cited as her favourite present. It's just drying so I will drop it off tomorrow.

Patten is little birdie from attic 24, sun leaves and flowers are improvised (leaves ate basically the wing of the bird and the flowers are a 9 loop circle with picots)

Claire
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5 flooded miles

this is a picture heavy post!

We didn't get out for a walk yesterday due to having to go into town to look at phone contracts for Mike (and having a very fun afternoon playing blokus and eating cake and cookies with friends). Today when we woke up to blue skies we were desperate to get out so decided to do one of the shorter (5 mile) walks, so that if we came to a flood we could turn back and still get a decent walk.

the route! the numbers relate to photos not miles.

stats: length - 5.01 miles, duration - 1:28:11, pace - 17:34 min/mi (3.4 mph)

First thing to notice is the incredibly slow pace. This was due to taking photos (to put in this post/send to my mum), the necessary detour through a wood, and my fear of wet feet making the no-detour flooded part slow going. The detour also added 0.4 miles onto the route.

1. The first part of the walk is just through the village, passed some lovely thatched cottages, and then across a weir. This persons' garden made me laugh (their house was very safe so it's ok to laugh). It looked like they could still row out to the washing line to peg out. The path to the weir was a bit flooded though so we used the bank instead. Thus far - pressing on

1. someone's garden and the flooded weir

2. After a mile we faced our first barrier. Even walking around the field to the next bit didn't help. Initially, we decided to wade through this incase we could just keep close to the edge but we finally decided to scramble up the bank and found this very overgrown path through the trees. A man was very surprised to see us down there 'did you not just stay in the field?' - no 'cos that's not very adventurous.

2. Attempts 1 and 2, wading through and finally relenting

3. Even once we got back up above the river, there was more flooding. This 'grass' is actually crop and we were on a raised bit. Husband went ahead because he had an extra 2 inch of welly on me.

3. I think husband has longer wellies than me

 This bridge goes over a normally dry river bed. We decided at this point to take the shorter route back towards home.

normally dry river bed

4. This route back goes via a lonning (as we call them in Cumbria where I'm from) next to a manor house which I think is now a school. Anyway, Mike decided that he'd like to live anywhere that has such an awesome treehouse in the garden. 

4. Treehouse

5.  After crossing a few fields, we turn back down the hill towards our home village. I love rapeseed (Mike can't stand the smell) and it makes my heart leap to see so much jolly yellow around.

5. Rapeseed.

 And back to the village. This road goes around the bottom of the village but has been flooded since last weekend.

Flood sign, you don't say

So now we're home and dry and eating mysterious freezer food (do you ever just get a random bit of tupperware out of the freezer? it turned out to be yummy curry). An afternoon of pottering ahead before church tonight.

Claire

xx

Rainy weekend baking

We woke up to lots of rain on Saturday which meant our usual walk couldn't happen. Instead we stayed in bed reading. I chose famous five on the iPad kindle app. There was a recent article in the guardian about the famous five's eating habits (huge feasts eaten as a picnic) and it inspired me to build a den in the living room, and bake a picnic feast of our own. I made a treacle tart, some scones and husband made bread. I also made some cardamom and orange marmalade (recipe below) and my goodness it was tasty. We ate a whole jar in 3 days!

Marmalade recipe 
This recipe doesn't involve many specifics other than the amount of sugar to water and the fact that it has to set.

• So firstly grab some oranges, use a peeler to get a thin layer of the zest off and chop it up. Then peel the pithy bit and chop half of it finely.
• Next chop up the oranges and put them into a pan. Mash them up a bit and add the zest and the chopped pith.
• Now crush some cardamom pods and separate out the seeds. I used 10 and 4 oranges and it's very prominent! Add the seeds to the oranges in the pan.
• Put the rest of the pith in a Muslin bag (or a foot of a pair of tights) with the cardamom pods and some ginger. Tie it tightly and snuggle it among the oranges.
• Now use a measuring cup to pour water over the oranges. Keep track of how much water you need until the oranges are only just covered.
• Slowly simmer the oranges for an hour or so. Mash them up as you go along.
• After an hour remove the muslin bag.
• Now you are going to add the sugar, in the same quantity as the water. Add 1 cup of preserving sugar (it has pectin added), 1 cup of brown sugar (for a treacly taste) and then the rest of normal sugar.
• Bring the marmalade to the boil and keep boiling and stirring. I tested the set after 30 minutes but it took 45 to set. To test a set, you need to pour a tiny bit onto a cold saucer and take the marmalade off the heat. If after 2 minutes it has the right texture it's done, otherwise reboil for another minute.
• As soon as its done, pour it into clean jars and screw the lid on so that they seal as they cool.

Then enjoy!