Have a heart.......

Just spreading some love on Valentines Day :)

Boo to Friday 13th

I am by no means a superstitious person usually. I did not realise until the evening that this day was Friday 13th. When I did everything fell into place.

A few crummy minor incidents blighted my day (the details of which I won't bore you with here). But the major upset happened late afternoon. I was out on the veranda photographing some beads and making the most of the lovely natural light. I turned to go back into the house to fetch my gloves, slipped, kicked over the tripod and sent my beloved camera crashing to the ground. So now the flash unit is completely shattered. I also got a pretty nasty electric shock off the thing when I was inspecting the damage. And I have a big bruise on my bum to boot. BOO!

Here's a picture of some cherries anyway. Just for the heck of it!

Out and about again!

With the half term break upon us, a scattering of fresh snow and A kitted out with her new skis (thanks Arne!) off we set for an afternoon of cross-country skiing. This kind of skiing is lovely - the stillness of the forest has a great calming effect on me and it's easy to control the speed (i.e. slow!).

I am such a baby about downhill, as I hate falling and have an aversion to ski lifts. But cross-country is pretty non-scary. It was about minus five that afternoon - a strange combination of being all sweaty but yet freezing at the same time - so we took a flask of hot choc with us. The final score I may add was 2 - 2 (-we both fell twice!)

Appley-cinnamony comfort food

I have been home for the last few days looking after A who has come down with a bout of the flu. So, in an effort to keep cabin fever at bay, I decided to get out a stash of recipes I've been wanting to try out. When I was a kid myself, I remember ice cream being the only thing I really felt like when I was under the weather.

This was pretty simple to do. It's basically apple slices fried in butter (yes!) for a few minutes each side. I then sprinkled about 2 tbsps of brown sugar over them in the pan, added the chopped zest and juice of half a lemon and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The apples caramelize in a minute or two, ready to be served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.