Mud Cakes and Wine

The weather has suddenly started to feel like winter. Today was cold but at least it was sunny, much easier to wrap up warm and get outside. My problem is my toes, they do hate the cold and despite two pairs of socks I still only managed around half an hour. Today was the day I pruned (it felt more like attacked) the standard rose, we brought this about two years ago. Mr MC&W fell for bits big pink flowers and it came home with us. Then it was a lovely compact rose full of beautiful flowers. Last year I did not prune it and to be honest it looked a mess, the branches had grown long and were trailing. When it was windy the whole plant nearly fell over. This year I was determined to do something about it, I did a few google searches and I watched an excellent video from the Garden Ninja on YouTube. He made it all sound very simple so off I went with my secateurs and enthusiasm. All I had in my mind was cut to outward facing buds and remove dead wood. So I looked carefu

Wow winter has truly hit us the week and we have been in the words of frozen Cold, Cold, Cold this has not made me want to get out into the garden to be honest but this is what I have noticed 1. Frozen Flowers - these primroses look just stunning covered in frost 2. Wall flowers have so far not done that well, hoping maybe they will do better in the coming months. 3. Autumn flowering bulbs that never flowered. I still have them in pots so think its time they went and we had some flowers in here. 4. What is happening to my violas they have lost all their flowers and are looking very sad, just when we need them looking at their best. 5. The daffodils are coming up but this reminds me how much I need to sort this area out as they are not very bee friendly 6. Broken bird feeder needs to be replaced, even the robin was using it and all the feeders both food and water need to be kept topped up during this cold spell

Last weeks meal plan went well, we did not have gnocchi but had a take away instead as we both were tired and wanted a treat. The weather has been so so cold it has made me want comfort food all week long. Friday - Fish, Chips and Peas Saturday - Lasagna (thanks Charlie Bighmas) the boys are having spaghetti with ham and veggies Sunday - We are going out for lunch or dinner not sure so one meal will be sandwiches and picnic food Monday - Sticky Jacket Hot dogs - Boys will have jackets and and beans  Sticky hot dog jackets Tuesday - Fish Tacos for us all Fish tacos Wednesday - Chicken and Mango Creamy Curry for us all Creamy chicken and mango curry Thursday - Spicy Ratatouille with eggs this is from Gino's healthy Italian cookbook. The boys will have Spaghetti Carbonara.

As always January seems to be taking forever and to add to that its been pretty cold and grey. So we have comfort food and some fresher flavours to try and brighten things up a little Friday - Portobello Mushrooms with blue cheese burgers for us the boys will have fish, chips and  peas Portobello and blue cheese melts Saturday - Pizza and salad for the boys. We are having Fajitas Sunday - Sausage casserole in the slow cooker with jackets Monday - Smoked Salmon Frittata with a beetroot salad and the boys will have tomato soup and crusty bread Smoked salmon and pea frittata Tuesday - Gnocchi with mushrooms and broccoli - this is from the madhouse by Jo Pratt and it is easy and quick Wednesday - Lamb Burgers with chickpeas. The boys will have lamb burgers  Lamb chickpea pitta burger Thursday - Easy Pasta bake - Essentially it is tortellini with a tomato sauce Cheats gooey pasta bake

This is my first six on Saturday, it has been something I have wanted to do for a while. This is about our week of walks and thinking 1. Walking round Sheffield Park and seeing the trees so bare and reaching up to the sky compared with the Rhododendron starting to bud and the beautiful winter blossom   2. Sitting with a cuppa and looking at plant catalogues and planting. I am thinking in much more detail this year and hoping to achieve more with my planting this year. 3. Viburnum Tinus this beauty flowers in the winter and always gives us so much pleasure. 4. This standard rose lost all its shape so I am researching how to prune it and get it looking better for next year. 5. Remembering to water these  Elaeagnus ebbingei  they  need to be re potted but are providing a great screen but I must remember to water them. 6. I left these little plants all year and look how they have come up again this year such a bright colour.

It is funny how quickly life gets back to normal after the Christmas festivities. We are all back to school and we all have a new cold to fight off. What is lovely is that the days are slowly getting longer. Last weeks meals went well especially the marmalade chicken which we all really liked. Friday - Chicken Kiev's roasted new potatoes and tomatoes. Boys will have quorn nuggets, chips and peas Saturday - Treat McDonald's for the kids and we are having Bhaji Burgers Bhaji burger Sunday - roast pork loin with this lovely sounding sauce. Served with roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Guinness and honey glazedpork-loin Monday - Chicken, mozzarella and pesto parcels the boys will have tuna puff slices and I will use puff pastry for both Chicken mozzarella pesto filo parcels Tuesday - Super smokey bacon and tomato spaghetti for us all Super smoky bacon tomato spaghetti Wednesday - Prawn paella - kind of made up and will be sharing what we do. This will be f

We are pretty much back to normal, the kids went back to school and hubby back to work this week. The tree came down and I have found the house again. Meal plans will not include curry or gammon for a little while hahaha. We have a couple of new meals this week that sound really nice and can not wait to try them out. Friday - Mustard Salmon and Lentils for Mr MC&W and myself. We had a change around of meal this week so the boys will have ometes and chips tonight. Mustardy salmon beetroot and lentils Saturday - Meatballs served with spaghetti for us all Sunday - French Style Chicken. Similar for the boys but not the lettuce. French style chicken with peas-and-bacon   Monday - Winter Nicoise Salad. Will do a salad based on this for the boys as they like the basics of this meal. Winter tuna Nicoise Tuesday - Chinsese style lemon marmalade chicken. I am going to try the boys with this one. Chinese style lemon marmalade chicken Wednesday - Pasta, Mozarella, mi