My Week In Pictures 1/16

With Christmas behind us it’s time to look to the New Year. New beginnings and fresh starts are on so many lips as we slip into 2016. With time flying by so fast it’s difficult to take that step back and address what you would like to change for the new year ahead and what you are happy with. For me I would like to focus on building the blog in 2016. It is relatively young in blog terms at only 7 months old. I started at the beginning of May and have loved every second I’ve spent writing, cooking, eating and visiting beautiful places. I look forward to doing more of the same during the next 12 months and beyond. I wonder what opportunities will come my way? Watch this space…

Back to “My Week In Pictures” and what I have been up to this week in between Christmas and New Year.

My sister Juliet stopped by to say farewell on route to her train on Sunday. She was heading back to London. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to use my “new to me” teacups and saucers. My stepdad Tim had given me four of the most beautiful teacups and saucers. They had belonged to his grandma and he was now passing them on to me. I was so thrilled as I opened my present on Christmas morning. I love vintage pieces and the fact that these had belonged to his grandma about 80 years ago was really special. Such a thoughtful gift.. Thank you Tim!

I met up with an old friend Johanna on Monday for a drinks and an early supper. We went to Coal and perched ourselves at the bar to share a bottle of wine catching up on old times. It was lovely as we probably haven’t done this for at least a decade! Crazy how time flies…. After Coal we dodged the rain and ran over to Cote on Cathedral green for an early evening supper. We shared some delicious salty anchovy bread and I followed it up with a suprisingly good fish stew. Full of mussels, prawns, squid and sea bass. It was really very good. Johanna had half a chicken with mushroom sauce and some french fries. She said hers was very good too.

I went back to work on Tuesday and it was pretty hard after 5 days off. To get me through the day I had made plans to have an after work tea date with Emma Elliot. I met her from work and we walked up to Artigiano. We both ordered tea and found a cute little table in the corner. Artigiano is a cafe by day and a bar by night. It’s a pretty cool place and you don’t feel out of place ordering tea when most people around you are having an alcoholic beverage.

New Year’s eve was the first of four days off for me (High Fives!). Steve and I popped along to The Glorious Art House for our final jaunt there in 2015. Tea and a delicious fruit and yoghurt flapjack was required! Breakfast had seemed like hours before.. My tummy was rumbling.

We mooched around some charity shops and vintage stores.. I saw some lovely pieces of jewellery and the most beautiful Edwardian lace top in Relevant Vintage but decided against a purchase. I need to be good!

The last sunset of 2015 was a bit of a stunner. I took these pictures from my bedroom window! There have been some wonderful sunrises and sunsets in 2015.

After getting ready Steve and I braved the cold and ventured out to start our New Years eve celebrations. We walked over to Southernhay House for a pre-dinner drink. I had a lovely glass of prosecco and Steve opted for one of their wonderful cocktails. A perfect start to the evening.

From there we walked over to The Hour Glass and settled at our table in the bar. We ordered wine for the table. A delicious Malbec/Shiraz. Steve decided he wanted to sample a few ales too. He discovered a rather delicious one from a mother and son team based on Dartmoor called Black Tor. A small independent brewery that delivers locally. He is now eager to try more. I will be doing a full blog post on my New Years celebrations shortly but in the meantime here is a sneaky peak at the delicious squid, chickpea, sultana and pine nut stew I devoured plus my gypsy tart and hazelnut icecream. So, so delicious!