Jayesh & Priya Part 1

This Saturday was Jayesh & Priya’s Registry Wedding in Finchley, so we got dressed up and met up with everyone at Avenue House for the ceremony and subsequent photos, before reconvening at a restaurant on Finchley High Road.

In the evening we gathered at Mak HQ for more food and lots of chat and even a bit of singing and guitar playing.

Wet Wales Weekend

This Easter weekend we set off to Brecon to catch up with Mum for a couple of days. Unfortunately the weather was almost unremittingly wet, so major walks were out of the question, although we did manage a walk along the canal.

We also drove up North of Brecon around the Llyn Briane reservoir and surrounding hills – a very beautiful area even in the pouring rain!

On Saturday evening we had a lovely meal at The Black Swan, and generally ate too much and did not do enough exercise. Not exactly Plan A! But nice all the same :-). I also got up close and personal with a fully grown North African Milky Eagle Owl at the Mountain Centre, which was quite a buzz!!

On Sunday afternoon we headed over see to Roger & Angela and Sean in Monmouth. Roger cooked us all some fabulous Roast Lamb and we ate very heartily indeed (again!) and chatted all evening. Roger showed us some fascinating photos of various family members going back several generations, and took us through the family tree he’d researched on Ancestry.co.uk, which currently goes back to the early 1800s…! On Monday morning we shared a very fresh coffee, courtesy of the raw beans I had brought with me. Yum.

More pics here on Flickr…

Chew Magna Christmas

Christmas Day 2011 was hosted by Kev & Di at Limeburn Hill, Chew Magna. Food was great, Joel & Issy had more presents than I’ve ever seen and Rory’s first Christmas was a great success all round. Lucy and Bo looked very well and Rory himself was very smiley, at least when he wasn’t feeding or sleeping…!

Smeeta spent Christmas with Tara & Priten, ahead of Tara’s knee op on 28th, but Mum was able to stay with Kev & Di, and I stayed at Ursie’s in Pensford, along with her good friend Pascale. Ursie and Pascale spent Christmas Day itself with a local charity, serving dinner for some old people and some Chinese students.

On Christmas Eve I took Mum to midnight mass in Chew, which reminded me exactly why I don’t go to church anymore. Strangely familiar and yet strangely discomforting too.

On Boxing Day we watched various things on TV, including the Blackadder Story and Hot Fuzz, and Pascale cooked us a lovely authentic Coq au Vin, and I headed back home that evening, full of good food and Christmas cheer.

Sheffield Xmas Brunch

Between Christmas and New Year we headed up to Linda & Mike’s lovely big house in Sheffield to catch up with the Brunch Bunch (minus Alien and Sonja / Graham). Unusually they’d not had as much snow as we had further south: as we passed Milton Keynes on the M1 the snows cleared and were much less in evidence all the way up to South Yorks. Maddie and Livvie have both grown considerably and were on great form, and Mike and Linda were the perfect hosts as usual!

We had all agreed to bring food, so Smeeta and I had spent the previous day making a nice big chicken curry. We found a suitable box to transport said curry in the car – but unfortunately then completely forgot to put that box in the car… Thankfully Charlotte had not been so absent-minded and arrived with a couple of different curries (recipes courtesy of the great Madhur Jaffrey I believe) which was more than enough for us all to eat heartily. Mike also dragged me off (kicking and screaming, naturally) to his local off-licence which has the most extensive array of regional bottled beers I’ve ever seen in my life. It was pretty hard not to just ask for one of each – but we came away with a good selection.

The next day we ventured out for a walk on the moors, where there was indeed plenty of snow and Mike navigated us around a big circular route in the almost surreal, foggy whiteness, miraculously returning us right to the car-park just as I was beginning to wonder where on earth we had got to…! I think even he was slightly surprised to see the car-park 😉

In the evening we headed to a local Italian restaurant for some excellent food before heading off home back down the M1. Great to see you all as always!

Smeeta, Sara & Bethan and Linda at the Italian restaurant

Jenny, Maddie and Howard

Dan carrying Isaac, with Charlotte

Merry Christmas

It’s Christmas Eve so naturally we’ve been baking. Of course. Shortbread and mince pies. Best eaten fresh from the oven with a glass of rose Prosecco (any excuse really). Was great to see Lucy and Bo just before Christmas, just a shame they couldn’t stay with us as planned because of the appalling snowy weather!!
We also put up Smeeta’s new Tom Lewis print which was framed just in time for Christmas. It’s stunning.

Party Time!

This Sunday Smeeta and I headed off to Chew Magna to celebrate Joel and Kevin’s birthdays. It was great to see everyone, to have some time to muck around with the kids and to catch up with Jaime before his imminent 3-month trip to Antarctica. Travelled down in the big fat Citroen too and I was glad of it’s smooth and quiet ride on the journey home!

Alps’ Birthday

To celebrate Alpesh’s Birthday way met up with him, Bhavisha, Ravi, Shina and Bindi, plus a gaggle of Alps’ mates at Jimmy Spices in Epsom: an all-you-can-eat buffet style restaurant serving Thai, Indian and Italian fare.
I managed to stay just the right side of ‘absolutely stuffed’ but we ate extremely well and a good night was had by all. 🙂

Raks’ 30th @ Vibe, Brick Lane

Rakesh has now hit the Big 3-0 and we caught up with him and Kristina at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. Smeeta’s cousin Vimisha came with us too – a treat for her as she’d not been to Brick Lane before, being a Wembley girl rather than an East-Ender. Zaki (Manish’s MUAK mate) was there playing a set and a few other recognisable faces. Home via the Beigel shop as always…

Brecon Spring 2010

This weekend we had planned to have Lucy & Bo come and stay (soon…!) but Anne & Mike’s Farmhouse near Brecon was available so it seemed to make sense to gather there instead. In the end we were also joined by Kev, Di and the kids, and Di’s brother Jason who happened to be visiting. Ursie also came over in the afternoon with Dani and Annette, and Jaime. It was lovely to have some time to hang out together and we were very lucky with the weather on Saturday – I even got a little sunburnt!!

I’d not seen Jason since Kev & Di’s wedding in Sydney, so it was great to catch up and talk bikes and family and stuff. Top bloke 🙂 Good to meet Ursie’s boyfriend Jaime too, who was very easy to get on with and seemed at ease with the chaos around him!

Cotswold Walk

On Sunday we met up with Lucy & Bo in the Cotswolds and went for a six-mile walk around Stow-on-the-Wold. We were very lucky with the weather as there was a lot of rain around but we had bright sunshine for much of the time and only got caught out in the last half hour or so. Saw a family of Swans in a stream and walked through the most amazing field of waist-high Buttercups -I’ve never seen such a display! Topped of with some good food at The Queen’s Head and local ale from the Donnington Brewery, which we had passed earlier on foot. A great day out 🙂