Bank Holiday Weekend

Hope you’ve all had a great long weekend! It’s been a busy one here, although today has been more relaxing, some chill-out time was needed!

Saturday, as I already posted, we went to a family BBQ, lots of yummy food and the children enjoyed playing with Woody the dog! Liam and I then went out in the evening for a friend’s birthday – excuse the hat – the theme was nautical! I drank lots of Pimms, my favourite summery drink. And I also realised that my old camera is way slower than my DSLR – hence the face!



It was a good night. We only stayed out until about 11pm as Liam had work early Sunday morning, but it was fun to get out for a few drinks and enjoy some adult company!

Sunday, we had another BBQ to go to, luckily the weather was better than Saturday had been as this BBQ was at a friend’s house and she was expecting 100 people!! Would’ve been a lot to fit inside her house if it had rained! We weren’t heading over there until the afternoon, so I made us lunch first. My Mum had boiled some new potatoes for Saturday’s BBQ but had completely forgotten to serve them! So I was sent home with half of them, which added to garlic, 6 eggs and some peas made a yummy omelette…



This was really tasty and so easy to cook, especially as the potatoes were already ready to eat. I would’ve put a sliced onion in it too but we were all out. I added extra garlic for flavour which worked well enough without the onion anyway :)

After the children had napped, my Mum, the children and I headed over to the BBQ (Liam joined us after work). We came across a snake on the road as we were walking!



But we made it to the BBQ in one piece! Daughter was a bit freaked out but luckily the snake didn’t come near us, slithering up the wall into someone’s garden instead!

I didn’t take any food photos at the BBQ (!!), I just ate 2 mini baked potatoes with coleslaw, supplemented by lots of plastic cups of Pimms and Pina Coladas…bit of a boozy afternoon! I did take some photos of the children having fun though :) There were loads of children there, but daughter was a bit shy as they were mostly boys slightly older than her, so she preferred to stay playing with her brother…





And of course eating! Baby spent the first 1.5 hours sat in the chair in pic #1 being brought food by daughter…he was quite happy just sitting there pretending he couldn’t move and munching away! Daughter ate the usual sausages, nachos, burger etc, but her favourite was the popcorn…



There were lots of toys etc to entertain the children which was great – the hosts have 6 year old twin boys so the place was pretty child-friendly. We were able to stay until about 7.30pm which was good for us as the children are normally in bed by 7. Sounds like the party carried on much longer once we’d left though, with many more cocktails involved!!

Today was a quieter day. We had planned to go to a local fete this afternoon but the weather was a bit grotty and we all decided we’d rather relax at home. My morning somehow started with a lie-in and breakfast in bed, bliss, thanks Liam! French toast using Genius bread, topped with banana, pumpkin seeds and Sweet Freedom (he couldn’t find the sunflower seeds or agave but it still tasted good!) He even took photos before bringing the food up to me…very “well-trained”!!!



I love French toast, although it does always sit heavy on my stomach…this kept me going for hours!

Even after lunch-time had been and gone, I still only fancied breakfast foods. So breakfast #2 instead of a late lunch – baked oats – I’ve not had this in ages but it was what I wanted today!



This was my Tropical Baked Oats, except with crystallised stem ginger replacing the dried mango. Topped with Rachel’s coconut yoghurt and fresh raspberries.



I love the soft flapjack texture of this. The ginger was great too – baking had made it not quite so fiery, but it still provided a sweet crunch with a slight kick. So good. Give me breakfast over lunch anytime!

Dinner was a recipe I’d not tried before. When shopping for Saturday’s BBQ I’d been feeling indecisive so had bought halloumi and paneer. As I ended up making halloumi kebabs, I had paneer left to use.



I knew I wanted to make muttar (sp?) paneer, but I wasn’t sure what recipe to use. In the end I followed this simple recipe on BBC Good Food, adding in the leftover coconut cream from the baked oats for extra creaminess. The paneer was really good just after the first stage of frying it off. I couldn’t help sneaking a few pieces whilst the curry was cooking!



It was even better when made into the curry though. Served with brown rice…




We’ve still got another pack of paneer left, which Liam has said he’s happy for me to use in the same recipe again rather than trying something else…so I guess that’s a success all round!

Right, off to chill for a bit. Liam has work all day tomorrow, so I will be at home with the children. Daughter is off school as it’s half-term, so I’ll have to think up something fun to do! Fingers crossed for nice weather then we can head to the beach or park! :)

How have all your weekends been? Any favourite things? Huge Congrats to Maria who completed the marathon in Stockholm on Saturday…I can’t imagine ever running a marathon, let alone in another country with all the travelling, preparation etc that goes with that too…well done Maria, hope you’ve had a restful weekend since!