Lazy Saturdays and Other Tales

As you, my wonderful readers, have become my sounding board, I'm going to tell you I've had one of THOSE weeks; a week where even refilling the toilet roll holder has become a chore worthy of palming off on my poor husband (actually I do this every week). This week I have felt as though all the momentum that pulls me through life's chores has dissipated into thin air; imagine a half empty, lumpy sack of potatoes, still upright, but flopped over in a most sad and miserable fashion, or a wilting house plant on a dripping window sill and I think we're on the same page.

To top it all off I reached very high levels of frustration and craziness on the London underground; believe me when I say anyone within three inches of me was at risk of my fist. As a matter of fact, the only reason I didn't punch someone, was simply because, I could not raise my arm for the sheer volume of human bodies encasing me. You see, I am not a sardine, nor do I look like a sardine, nor do I want to be a sardine for that matter. Therefore, when I end up as a sardine every week day morning, I tend to be somewhat annoyed, irritable, and grouchy and possibly even a force to be reckoned with (I like to think so anyway).

So on this particular week day morning, I had a very unattractive man's crotch mercilessly bumping and rubbing up against my backside (to be precise, between the two cheeks) all the way to King's Cross. It was wrong on so many levels and it made we want to write a letter to London Transport, saying that in any other situation I could sue such a person for indecent behaviour: all you dirty minded people out there, if you want an opportunity to freely grope someone, hop on the Victoria line at rush hour and you're sorted. Trust me when I say, that when your day starts off with relentless crotch to bum contact from a smelly stranger, downhill is the only place it's going.

Lastly, I have had four, yes four, burritos in 10 days (not that I'm counting or anything). I'm not ashamed nor have I been weak in restraining myself, but rather these burritos are so good they are worthy of my love...and guilt. With every bite of these tantalising burritos I fear my booty bustling before me, but boy is it bliss. Anyway, this has left me welcoming the weekend feeling somewhat pig like and not too sexy.

It is weeks like this that are the reason I live for lazy Saturdays. You know those days when the world looks to be a better place; if you're a really optimistic, happy person you may even notice the birds chirping or the leaves glistening in the sun, I, however, am not of this persuasion, but I do appreciate that for a few days there is no dark cloud of deadlines and early mornings, incessantly lounging above my head, only pleasures awaiting me. For me, this perfect day starts with the warm, soft feeling of being wrapped up in my cozy duvet, no alarm sound worthy of a violent smash, and Samuel sleeping soundly next to me (generally with his mouth wide open, and possibly some drool). It is generally on lazy Saturdays that I am able to cuddle up to Samuel and either find a delightful spot on his chest or nuzzle his neck and really appreciate how lucky I am to have him. I will admit I often forget this during the week.

This lazy Saturday really was my perfect Saturday. We started with said snuggling, followed by a sleepy breakfast of porridge oats with banana and honey, laced with spicy cinnamon, and generously doused with ice cold milk (just to note, I find porridge far more tasty with cold milk, as it's more like a thicker cereal than a gloopy warm porridge). After I enjoyed my oatily delicious delight we decided to give the camera some loving and take it for a walk (it has been neglected during my hellish week). So we had a lovely walk in the park and I took lots of pictures of Samuel which I will show you later in this post. He reluctantly obliged to be my model for the day; as a result, many a smile was accompanied with profanities along the lines of, "will you hurry up and take the bloody picture, I look like a d**k". I convinced him that if he didn't pose for me then he wasn't encouraging my hobby. This psychological bribery seemed to work a treat and I now have lots of pictures, some with genuine smiles, others not so much.

I thought I would share some of my photography adventures with you and I thought our lazy Saturday was a most fitting place to start. I adore taking pictures, but I particularly love taking photographs of Samuel because I find myself really seeing and recording all those little things I love so much about him, all those lovely details that make Samuel mine;

• The way he gets cute, elephant worthy wrinkles around his eyes when he laughs (although, I find his wrinkles delightful, I like to make fun of Samuel by telling him you could use that excess skin to make a hand bag),
• The way his upper lip is lopsided when he smiles (I have to mention how much I love his lips, it's one of the first things I noticed about him. They are gorgeous, I wouldn't mind a pair like his. When Samuel was in pre-school his teacher actually called him luscious lips. I agree wholeheartedly with this description, although I think everything about Samuel is luscious)
• The little bit of hair that flicks out at the nape of his neck and the way it only seems to do this on one side.
• The white dotted scars on his top and bottom lip (he burnt them when was young)

When I look back at these photos they are true representations of Samuel through my eyes. Here are some of the photos I took. They may not be great, but I'm learning and practicing, and I'm happy for you to come along with me.

After our photo session we headed to one of our favourite little bakeries called Euphorium Bakery. Just before we went inside, Samuel noticed, in a non girly way of course, these really gorgeous flowers so we stopped and I took some snaps. That's the funny thing about having a camera, you notice lots of details all around you, all worthy of a moment.

So back to the bakery; after taking a moment to enjoy the little things in life, we went inside and had a cake or two, it could have been three but I just remembered the four burritos and I lost the urge for a third. I had this amazing white chocolate mousse cake; it was like the most sumptuous, sweet, creamy vanilla scented white chocolate bar you have ever eaten, melted down into a sloppy, silky mush that just played heavenly games with your taste buds. It was divine (in case you didn't get this from my previous description). For a moment I was in my own world, so I forgot to take a picture. But I did take one of Samuel's banana cameral tart, which I have lovingly posted for you below.

We followed our culinary delights with a trip to the cinema to see It's Complicated with my favourite actress, Meryl Streep. It was really funny and although Samuel was reluctant at first, he did burst out laughing, rather loudly at one point in the film (I won't give away which part).

The lazy day was rounded off with that fourth burrito of the week at Chilango's. If you are in London, go before I eat them out of business. Just imagine everything truly stunning about Mexican food wrapped up in a massive fajita wrap and served to you in an elegant piece of tin foil. These babies are the size of bricks; I reckon one of them weighs the same as both my boobs together. But they are so good. It's not elegant dining, the sauce dribbles down the cracks of your fingers, your pinto beans fall on your lap and you get onion breath; but what are you waiting for? I always have chicken, Samuel has steak. Although if I could have steak and chicken together I probably would.

These are my favourite kind of days, that's why I think about them all week. Maybe next week won't be great but at least I can always count on my Lazy Saturdays with Samuel and possibly a Burrito.

I will end by giving you a great chicken recipe from my Mum. My Mum got this recipe from her friend Joy over ten years ago and we've been eating it ever since. In honour of her we have called it Joy's chicken. This dish is a mix between BBQ and sweet and sour flavours. It's incredibly easy and a real crowd pleaser. If you like more sauce just double the recipe. I think the more sauce the better and it's a great gravy for vegetables and mashed potatoes to serve alongside the chicken.

Joy's Chicken

Serves approx 4

12 Chicken Drumsticks or Thighs at room temperature (breast is boring, but if you prefer go for it, I would then cook for about 15 minutes and keep checking there after, because dry chicken breast is just wrong)
2 Onions Roughly Chopped (if you like lots of onions you can use
more)
1kg carrots peeled and sliced (optional)

SAUCE
2 Cups tomato ketchup
2 Teaspoons Chilli Sauce (add more if you prefer it hotter)
6 Tablespoons lemon juice-again add more if you feel it needs it
2 Tablespoons white vinegar-you could add more if you want a bit more tang
4 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
4 Tablespoons Sugar
6 Cloves Garlic Crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

2. Put all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan and heat up until bubbling.

3. If you are using the carrots, slice them and parboil for five minutes.

4.  Place your onions and carrots (if using) in the bottom of the tray and lay the chicken in an even layer on top. Pour over the sauce ingredients and put in to the oven for 35 minutes. Check to see if the chicken is cooked after maybe 30 minutes,  if not return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes. If cooking drumsticks instead of thighs, they may take less time so check after 20-25 minutes

Serve with creamy mash, and corn- on- the- cob or cabbage and of course the lovely sauce!


Hope you have had a great weekend, feel free to comment or share your weekend adventures.

xx