Tag: The Peanut

Easter redux

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I need a vacation from my vacation.

We went to Leicester for Easter. We went to the farm on Saturday to see the lambing, and to spend some quality time with Anna and Rho. Bean seemed less interested in the animals and more interested in getting himself and anybody in close proximity covered in straw. We had lunch there and then, after discovering their antique car museum, we headed back to Anna’s parents’ house for a bit more visit. That was funny. Bean got a kiss from Tay (Anna’s dog), who then later on proceed to surreptitiously steal his jam tart right out of his hand while he wasn’t looking. Bean was a very good boy that day, but he used up all of his good-boy point in one go because he’s been a right monster since. Seriously. Murder has been contemplated.

There was a big family to-do on Easter Sunday, with Stu, Jeminie and Sonal coming over to spend the day. The meal was nice, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it and I had, well, a bad mental health day. I was grumpier than I should have been, but there was little I could do about it. We came back home on Monday, and spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. We went to Ikea on Tuesday to pick up some meatballs and a few odds and ends, and spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. On Wednesday, we went to Tesco to stock up on meat to fill our new freezer (yay!). I made a large batch of carrot and coriander soup, and we spent a large part of the afternoon yelling at the beast. I had my second guitar lesson that evening, which is cool (yay!) and now I have some hand stretching exercises that should hopefully help with a few stubborn chords. I also made some lemon scones for Katy, which were quite yummy, if I do say so myself.

And that leaves us at today, where I am dead tired from lack of sleep and fatigue at yelling at the beast. We’re a bit concerned, truth be told, because we’re not sure if he’s just being a 3-year-old or if there is some underlying behaviour issue, or something entirely more frightening lurking in the wings. We really shouldn’t read internet articles on stuff like that…

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That’s my bean!

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At the start of the year, dropping Bean off at nursery invariably involved getting people to pry him off of me with a crowbar as he was screaming his head off. This morning? He gave me a big wave and blew me a kiss as he was sat down at the snack table putting butter on soreen loaf.

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Baker’s helper

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I’m making a Christmas cake and Bean’s my official taster/helper. Personally, I can’t stand xmas cake but I like making it so it works out ok.

Plus, it’s always fun to ask a 3-year old questions like “does this need more booze” and getting an emphatic “yeah!” as an answer :)

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All planned out, over and done with!

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In the past few weeks, I have been working on the planning of:

– the PST group xmas party
– the main EBI xmas party
– mince pies & mulled wine for 100 people at work
– booking 50 tickets for Stomp
– booking 150 tickets for a cinema screening
– getting 500 mugs printed for work

and a boatload of smaller tasks, none of which are actually my actual day job.

It’s been stressful, to say the least but the good news is that everything is now done and over. The office paella potluck went down a treat. It was held at the Great Chesterford community center and the comments about the food and the venue were uniformly positive (many thanks to the paella chefs!). The day had a rocky start with a trip to Addenbrookes A&E after Bean dropped a chair on his big toe but bounced back once the food started being served. We already had all of the food prepped and packed in the car, but there was a ton of last-minute stuff we needed to deal with. Still, with a few phone calls, everything got sorted out and in the end, we were in and out of Addenbrooked in about an hour and a half. I have to give mad props to the guys who helped clean the place up afterwards, it was a big help!

The EBI xmas party was last night, at La Raza in Cambridge. The comments I got on the night were also very positive, with people saying that it was a better party than in the past couple of years. I can personally vouch that the food was not only feckin’ plentiful, but very very good as well. Given all of my allergies, the fact that I was stuffed at the end of the night was a very positive fact IMO. The jalapeno poppers were great, but those beef and horseradish yorkie puds were pure crack! Plus, you know, 5 drinks for a fiver is a deal you can’t beat :) The only critiques I would give for the night was that the music the DJ put on wasn’t what I would have preferred for a xmas party. Other than that, and the totally unfounded rumours of a rigging of the raffle draw (hehe!), the night was a success in my books.

Becky had a bit of karmic retribution when Bean woke up at 11 and, realizing that we weren’t there, cried for an hour before getting himself back to bed. Becky was a bit frazzled when she called, I think…

So now, I only have one more week of work before I get some leave time to chill out and cook stuff for the holidays. I’ve already started tonight, with a braised beef topside and some chicken stock that I’m going to use to make a hamhock terrine in the near future. Katy and I are trying to finalize the list of all the recipes we want to try out for new years :)

The prezzies are mostly all bought and just need wrapping, so that’s a load off as well.

Go us, for being productive!

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It’s the little things

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Bean’s cough tends to be worse at night, when he kicks off all his blankets and gets cold. I went in to cover him up and put a bigger blanket on him to keep him warm and, as I was leaving his room, I heard a small sleepy voice saying “daddy, want big kiss”.

As much as I want to throttle him, those little moments make up for it.

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