First week of term means week of mentalness for me.  We book 'em in, we test 'em and then we register them with nary a hiccup on the way.  Which if believed by your fine selves does somewhat lead me to the conclusion that I could tell you any fib I wanted and be similarly believed.  ;-)
It does mean I've failed to get a post on for which I apologise but here are a few things I have managed to do.
Admired the misty mornings before enjoying the late sunshine - this was my journey to work on wednesday.

Made the Chap a full mixed grill - truly heroic meat cooking by the faint hearted I reckon!  He had local west country fillet steak, boneless lamb shoulder 'lump' (steak / chop / er...?), honey roast pork chipolatas and a duck leg.  All the trimmings bar onion and he said don't worry about that - there was no more room on the plate!

I have also enjoyed my beautiful flowers the Chap got me last week opening up and the scent of lilies that greets me each day on my return home.  Ahhh...  Happy Friday all!

And the years roll on...

Super quick post today.  It's my birthday!  Also it's the best one I've had in years and it's not over yet!  Lovely Chap gave me a birthday kiss this morning before quietly sneaking off to work leaving me in bed.  Well... until he realised he'd somehow contrived to lose his van keys in the 100 yards between the van and the front door last night.  After a somewhat less calm half an hour of tearing the place apart whilst I blearily looked on he found them inbetween the t-shirts he'd been choosing from this morning.  Doh!

I had to work as this is our really busy time of the year [as opposed to the rest of the year when it's just somewhat busy] but had secured my bosses ok to take an extended lunch as 2 forum friends from CSH were in Exeter visitng from the USA and Ashburton.  We popped in Tea on the Green for gluten free pasties for them and seafood crepes for me - really good but a large was too much!  We then had a little look at the cathedral - I've finally been in it now after10 years living here!  Then we walked on looking at a little church perched incongrously inside an outside bit of a shopping centre [yep - that really is the best way I can explain it] before I sadly had to leave them in the Cook Shop.  Hopefully they managed not to buy the entire stock!  :-D

I returned to work to find these beautiful flowers on my desk along with some chocolates from the Chap - what a star eh?  I've never had flowers delivered to me at work before and being a hopeless romantic was rather happy - a colleague mentioned my 'cheshire cat' grin.
Now I'm off to posh up as we're going to a mystery destination for dinner.  Apparently it's posh, I haven't been there before and we're catching the train.  Watch this space!

Chiefs stormin on

It’s been a good start to the season for the Chiefs.  First proper game (after trouncing Connact 47-10 then local boys Cornish Pirates 58-3 followed by the somewhat closer 16-13 result against the Scarlets in the pre-season friendlies) was away to Leicester Tigers.  Tigers [Hwak ptooie] have been omnipresent at or near the top of the table for some time now and much as I’m not a fan, they are a force to be reckoned with.  However – whether it be due to having several (ok - 11) players out for the world cup, bad defending from them or damn good play from us [guess which I'm favouring] our opening game of the season saw us scrape a 30-28 win over the Tigers on their home turf.  Woop!  Only the second time they're been beaten at home in the last 3 years.  Not bad for a club starting their second season of the premiership that this time last year had been written off by all the bookies and the 'big boys'.  I wasn't there to see it being busy entertaining BBQ style at the time but was mighty happy when the Chap looked the result up for me.

After securing my season ticket for this year; with the grace of Great Aunt Joan, I was looking forward to the first home game against Newcastle last Saturday.  England had recorded a lacklustre win that morning against Argentina in their opening game of the world cup so we were up for something a little more exciting.  First try for us went over in the first minute - that exciting enough?!  We won against a valiant Newcastle side 32-15 to give us our first ever 5 point win and make us top of the premiership table for the first time ever in the clubs history.  So - all to play for against Bath tomorrow and yes - it's on the telly at 5.30pm Sky Sports 3 should you wish to join  me in cheering on the Chiefs.

A different cheese and tomato sandwich

Take a cheese topped bap – mine was from S’burys and you can taste the cheese on them.  J  Better yet – make your own – I might try this with beer bread – we have tasteless lager left over from the BBQ last week and I picked up a set of those dinky loaf tins in TK Maxx the other day – shh – don’t tell the Chap!  He’s firmly of the opinion I have enough kitchen stuff cluttering up the place already.  He may even be right – stranger things have been known… :-D  Anyway – I am now in possession of some terribly cute wee tins so I’d best get on and use them so I can feel justified in buying them.

Once you have your cheese topped bap [at great length it seems] slice open and spread with mayo.  Fill generously with slices of fresh tomatoes and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  [I was at work so sadly was forced to forgo the pepper but it tastes just fine without it.]  Munch away endeavouring all the while not to throw tomato seeds all over your top.  This worked surprisingly well; such that I thought it worth sharing.  Having initially thought that just a tomato sandwich would be a little dull the fact that the roll was cheese topped really elevated it to something I’d chose to make another time – rather than a mid morning snackette at work made because a colleague had generously brought a box of home grown surplus toms in.  Enjoy!

Sunny September

It may be sunny but there's a definite chill in the air - autumn comes on apace.  I have to admit to putting the fire on briefly last night in the lounge as we were a little chilly once the heavens opened.

We had a fun weekend with our BBQ; and it didn't rain until 2am so I think we got away with it!  I think we managed to sate all that came and the Chap did a sterling job of the cooking.  To add to my pleasure the Chiefs won their first game of the new season away to Leicester - get on!!  Read about the game here and gloat with me if you will.  :-)

The rule of thirds - as in trouble comes in 3s

I mentioned the probs we had with the cooker being condemned in the annual gas safety check.  This was immediately before I left for Dorset for the Shakespeare.  On our return on Sunday, having explained the situation to the landlord we bought another one then discovered we needed a power supply as well as the gas.  That being the cause of the floor coming up.  Then the knob on the shower broke - again - this makes it the 4th set it's on.  Crap design flaw in that all the pressure when it's being turned goes onto the thinnest part of the spindle.  Grr - I did not need this right before chap's family arrived to stay!
And the third thing?
Tuesday evening I open the freezer to show the chap the exciting goodies I'd got from the CFC (2 half legs lamb and 3kg spicy chicken bits) for our forthcoming BBQ.  'Hmm - where's all the ice and frost?' thinks I in a rising dread kind of way.  Eeek - knew I shouldn't have mentioned that it'd been getting very loud recently.  Yes - the fridge/freezer combo had passed on.   Bugger.  Quick phone call saw most of the food safely stashed in my friend's freezer round the corner - luckily it was still frozen; and Wednesday evening saw us trailing round the electrical shops in search of a decent item that met our requirements and was preferably in stock.  No joy.  Today we go to pick up our ordered fridge combo and tomorrow we have the BBQ.  It's all fun.  If I wasn't an aetheist I'd think someone out there didn't like me but I'll just assume the rule of 3 (why that should be any less spurious than assigning it to some greater power I'm not sure).  Anyway - I'm sincerely hoping that's it now.  Mind you the weather forecast for tomorrow is pretty dire...

Caesar on the island

This years BOAT (Brownsea Open Air Theatre) offering was Julius Caesar, not a Shakespeare play I'd seen before.  For once we'd managed to assemble both sides aunt and uncle as well as both the big sis's and my bro in law.  We took the customary picnic (see last years trip here) over on the boat to the island, enjoying the views of Poole harbour and the crenellated cottages on the island on the way.
Upon alighting we were 'welcomed to Rome' and met again at the entry to the grassed area the stage is set up in.  This is a nice touch they haven't utilised before; although met with traditional English reserve, downcast eyes and shuffling feet from many of the boat passengers who were obviously somewhat startled to find they were having audience participation thrust upon them at this early stage of the proceedings!

We trailed off to our favoured spot and for once this year there were no skirmishing raids mounted by peacock attack teams on the goodies spread out.  My job this year was cheese [can't think why ;-)] and I assembled a nice selection of Quickes applewood smoked cheddar - don't let the 'smoked' appellation put you off.  This is about as far away from that plasticy smoked cheese from Europe as you can get.  It's done using their mature cheddar which is a lovely full flavoured cheese in it's own right and the smoking just adds that touch of difference.  I wouldn't consume masses in one go but as a change it's very good.  Little big sis really liked it though and ended up going off with what was left of the block!  Also along were 2 diffferent blues, one cornish [Tinners?] and one Devon - I think.  Have to admit I need to check which they were!  Then a block of the regular Quickes Cheddar too and some lovely brie.  [Incidentally has anyone ever come up with a fulfilling re-use for the wee wooden boxes camembert and brie come in?  Seems such a waste to just pitch them out...]  We had a fabulous picnic then went to watch the show.  I'm afraid the taking of photos is rather frowned upon in the auditorium so I don't have any for you.  Suffice to say it was very good with plenty of blood and fight scenes which were very well choreographed.  The costumes and special effects really made it too.  Afterwards tired and happy we bundled back onto the boat to cross back over the harbour, agreed to meet up next day and took our seperate ways home to bed.  Except once back in the village we opened another bottle of wine...  :-)