Blessing counting

At the risk of sounding hideously Pollyannerish I would like to write about the good things in life. More so because a friend of my partner’s has just discovered that cancer has re-invaded her body in the spleen and liver.

It is so easy to focus on the trivia, the irritations, the stupid stuff in one’s day. So here I go on counting the weekend’s blessings.

Friday night-mad movie What We Do In The Shadows – a crazy NZ vampire comedy which is like a cross between The Young Ones, Monty Python and Bottom…. I think Rik Mayall would have loved it. Favourite moment, Rhys Derby as chief werewolf reprimanding one of the gang  for swearing, “We’re werewolves not swear wolves…” (You had to be there…)

Saturday morning- a walk with a friend to our local cafe and back and then a trip to the Pitch and Putt with a friend and my OH (other half). We have decided to have a go at golf so he came along to give us some tips. I can see the course opens up a whole lot of opportunities for divorce…I think it is like your partner teaching you to drive.We girls have decided 9 holes is probably a good number to begin with, especially as we seemed to be thinking about the coffee at the end most of the time. Still, it was fun and we followed up with a trip to Ugly Bagels by Al Brown in the city.

http://www.heartofthecity.co.nz/dining/auckland-cafes/best-ugly-bagels

In the evening the rugby was on so OH went out with mates and I snuggled up in my new hand-knitted rug and flicked channels and finished another dish cloth. It’s a birdhouse in case you can’t see it, and also a short scarf from the rug left overs. A friend took my advice about knitting as her friend’s mother had died so we went shopping and I cast on the stitches and did a few rows and off she went to stay with her friend. Apparently her friend spent the weekend knitting 🙂

On Sunday morning I decided to go through the Julie Le Clerc cook book and plan the meals for the week. I think doing this does allow for better budgeting and not so much waste. Although quite a bit more waist on me unfortunately. I have vowed not to go on about weight though as it seems we women make it our cause and it is very boring! especially if we don’t really intend to do too much about it.

So the menus for the next few days are:

Sunday night: Seared Tuna and roasted veg salad with fennel bulbs. As I think I can be described as a hoover when eating I am making the effort to slow down…so I added a bit of ceremony to the meal with candles, cloth napkins etc.

 

Monday night: Szechuan spiced duck (friends coming over)

Tuesday night: Fragrant Vegetarian curry -vego son coming over

Lunches: Chicken thingy. My BFF (what does the other F stand for??) gave me this recipe and I do it often (too often according to the OH) but it is so easy.

Put a bit of oil in  a baking dish then layer the bottom in chicken thighs and throw in slices of lemon, bits of garlic, cubed potatoes, thyme, onions, tomatoes, olives, seasonings, bit more olive oil etc. and bake for an hour at around 180. Take out and eat. Or keep for lunches as we are doing. It beats buying lunches as the chicken was free range and on special for 9 dollars.

As we have friends coming over tonight I am also going to have a go at making parmesan shortbread. I’ll post the results if they work out. I know I am a bit of a fraud saying I am paring down but still managing to eat duck, good cheese, wine etc. Still believe it or not by cooking and not going out so much, just stopping to think before buying, making lunches as often as possible, and using cash rather than cards it does seem to be working at least a bit. We have a joint account for food and entertainment and I opened another one called “Leftovers”  so if there is money leftover in the JA at the end of the fortnight I put it in there. Normally we would look at the account and go “oh good, some money left in there, where shall we go…”

I also had a friend here for lunch rather than go out on Friday and I think we saved ourselves a good 25 dollars each including the meal we had here which was yum.  She also bought me flowers that I am still enjoying.

In the afternoon, nearly dusk really I went for a walk down to Mairangi bay. And following my How To Stay Sane read, I tried to take more notice of my surroundings and do a bit of mindful breathing. It was a gorgeous evening and I admit I indulged again…by buying three bluff oysters and taking them to a bench by the sea to eat. This was the scene before me.

I have such a lot to be grateful for. I am smiling widely as I am writing this as it is Monday and I am not at work!!!! Yay. I am looking forward even to doing the ironing, making Parmesan short bread, reading my latest novel All That I Am by Anna Funder, preparing dinner for my friends and just being at home. We have set up a bit of a routine now with friends where we cook alternate Mondays. It is so nice to both cook for others and be cooked for on a regular basis.

Have a great week. FG