August Summary

I really thought I wasn’t going to have much to share with you for August, I barely left the flat. Being holiday season, there were lots of people off on their jollies at work, so I covered many shifts! Ace for September’s pay but sad for my tiredness and general well-being.

But it looks like I still packed a little bit in…

1. I remade the first recipe on the blog – Victoria Sandwich. Apparently it was good, I was enjoying the crisps so much I forgot to eat any!

2. A bit of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has reopened – it means you can get from Bow and Hackney to Stratford without the need for walking along A roads. I’ve only done the walk once, it’s no shorter than walking Stratford High Street but it’s much more pleasant. Looking forward to more areas opening up.

3. I made an Heirloom Tomato Tart but I overcooked it and you’d have no clue there were different varieties and colours of tomatoes in it. Tasted good though, so not all bad!

4. Amy at She Cooks She Eats blogged about this lovely salad – Balsamic Butternut Squash, Apple and Spinach. Two days later I made this salad – Agave Roasted Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese. This was not a coincidence! I’m incredibly impressionable.

5. I made another Shutterbean recipe and it was so good I made it again. Peach Arugula Corn Pizza. It uses a no-knead pizza dough and it’s the best pizza I have ever made.

6. I need a Cherry Stoner. Stat.

7. Last year Bernie started working for a cricket charity. I didn’t really have much interest in cricket, I found it rather long and boring. Skip to this years Ashes series and I’m head over heels in love with it and incredibly jealous that Bernie got to work at The Oval one day and had this view.

8. Me & Him went for a run together. I’m not exactly sure why I have such an aversion to couples exercising together but I suspect it’s a throwback to my single days, when seeing couples being all virtuous together felt like a smack in the face! Don’t tell anyone, but I really enjoyed it – having him with me meant I kept a much steadier pace than usual. The walk home afterwards was joyous, usually my least favourite part of a run but we chatted about this and that and it were lovely.

9. I bought a Madeleines tin in Paris last year, I have now attempted to cook Madeleines twice in it, both times I overfilled the holes – so they were a disaster. They may look vaguely alright here, but once out of the tin they did not! Hopefully next time I make them I will remember to underfill them.

10. It’s birthday season – to celebrate one of my best ladies birthdays we went for lunch at the Pollen Street Social. It was seriously good. We had the set lunch and I wasn’t expecting amuse-bouches and petit fours! The service was really great and thanks to a couple sitting near us who’d ordered the tasting menu, we got to see the Chef a few times too. (And having just looked up his Wikipedia page for you, discovered we share the same birthday!)  If you are ever in London, wondering where to go for a special meal, I highly recommend it.

So that was August – September is already shaping up to being pretty excellent.