Fishing!

Last weekend Sam's mate Charles organised for 14 of us to go fishing at a Trout farm out near the new forest.
We were so lucky with the amazing weather... not so lucky when it came to catching the actual fish!.... Rach caught a tree....
after totally failing in the morning we hit a local for a pub lunch... which was lovely :)
Phil's spirits were still high despite the lack of fish!
And then in the afternoon we caught four!! (we were expected to go home with MUCH more...but never mind!)
I caught the biggest ;)
then we took them back to Saskia's house in the New Forest and barbecued them... they were delish!

the longest birthday EVER!!

The first and MASSIVE birthday surprise was the arrival of Mel all the way from Australia. It was the start of a very big two weeks! we spent a solid 5 nights in our local (the Raven).. this was night one, my birthday, and I THINK from what I remember i drank about 10 jagerbombs, at least 6 tequila shots, a few glasses of wine, and then some.
...we had a good boogie!
By some amazing stroke of luck (or something) I was fine the next day! (I'm putting it down to the two pints of water I downed before going to bed at 4am)
And back to the pub...
The week after, after a few more drunken evenings in the raven, we wandered on down to Brighton for the weekend. We had amazing weather so spent the day on the 'beach'
and then decked ourselves out in 80's gear to head out for the night...
we had an absolute ball!
and then Mel jumped on a plane back home and I skipped across to Italy for the weekend (courtesy of Sam).
I think the photo says it all ;)
We were in Umbria, just near Todi and Sam took me for a stroll in an olive grove, eventually stopping and getting down on one knee.
After him making a bit of a speech about how wonderful I am, I accepted his proposal and I couldn't be happier.
It was just perfect.

:)

a little more baking!...

The pastry course is going really well! I have signed up for the follow up course which runs for another 5 weeks. Woop! Above is my super tasty Victoria sponge (tooting my own a bit i know!)
and this was a bakewell tart...
and my scones... that were a little odd shaped!

Birthday post!

Baking last night again.... bread rolls and a swiss roll!
The Swiss roll doesn't look amazing... but it tasted pretty damn good! (tooting my own horn a little here!)
22.... man I'm gettin old!

I can cook.... can't I?!

So I have enrolled in a pastry course at the local college and I'm loving it!
There are about 10 people in the class, a mix of ages and Kevin our teacher... who is great!
Class one we started our puff pastry (and popped it in the freezer for next week) and made orange and fennel shortbread...Then last night we defrosted our puff pastry and made a Fruit Bande with Creme Patissiere...
aaaand Eccles cakes...
next week we are making a swiss roll and bread rolls...
I may end up the side of a house :)

it doesn't look like much...

...but its home!
Here are the new digs... room comes with a bed, desk, bookcase and wardrobe...it does the job.

Summer fun?

I wish I could say that we've had an amazing summer but true to London's reputation for bad weather all we've had are a few sunny days!
Weather aside, it has been a cracker... my wallet is definitely suffering! (but totally worth it of course!)
At the start of the month I was invited to the BBC Proms in London. I had never heard of the Proms before but as soon as I found out the venue was Royal Albert Hall I was in!
The Proms runs every summer and showcases a range of music, mostly classical I think.
We trooped out at 9:30 am to sit in the line and wait 9 hours to get in, as we hadn't purchased our tickets beforehand. But eventually getting in there, sore feel and achy joints aside (I seem to be feeling like a bit of a grandma lately with my achy joints!) the wait was rewarded with some brilliant music! I have to say I have never seen SO many Brits shouting at the top of their voices, waving their red white and blue... bleeding the flag!.... I think they could give us Aussies a run for our money!

Then.... last night Rachel invited me along to a roller disco in Vauxhall.
I am clumsy at the best of times... skating just isn't my thing!
Although... with a little help I managed to stay upright...

...most of the time!! No surprises Rachel was a pro....
maybe with a little more practice I will pick it up... but have to say, my hopes and dreams of becoming pro were sadly crushed!