Have I made a convert???

It may be a little early to tell, but I think I might just have Ethan thinking about the amount of meat he eats (not a huge amount to be honest...meat was never more than 20% of the plate - max) In the bit under a fortnight that he has been home he's had a salad for lunch each day (as this is what I take to work and it's easy to make 2)..Greek salad with "Greek style salad cheese"...(25-30% of the price of feta)fish stick and chilli salad etc, spag bol and mousaka, both made with Quorn Mince, Tarka Dal and rice, home made felafel, veggie fry ups with Quorn Bacon and Linda McCartney sausages, Sausage/mash/savoy cabbage & onion gravy , lots of various pastas with varying veggie based tomato sauces, lots of fish, full on roast dinner with a Quorn roast, veg thai green curry, mushroom risotto and the list goes on...
Actually, I think you get to eat more interesting, flavourful food as you can't be quite so lazy - you have to think about what you are going to eat/cook. Now, how are we going to convince Josh??? Think that might be a tough one...he's a professional chef and loves to cook meat...I think there will still be cow on the Xmas dinner table this year!

No meat hiding in here!

...but Baldrick doesn't mind...he's going to lick that baking tray anyway...

....the evidence by the back door indicates that the feline residents are not seriously contemplating a veggie life.

Whatever this poor birdie was ( I think it's name was "lunch") I hope the Queenie and Baldrick can differentiate between the pigeons in the garden and Yoko and Mo....

Sent to Coventry....

Baldrick has majorly "copped the arse" with me...

(he' s not wild about the camera flash either)

Queenie is determined to find more interesting things outside in the dark.....

What crime has this human commited to bring about this kitteny wrath??

Exhibit A

Guilty as charged! Think I'll go to bed and read my book...maybe they'll forgive & forget by morning

Second born returns to base...(and an extremely un-frugal weekend)

Finally Ethan is back home for the summer. Last weekend I had to make 3 (yes 3!!) trips to Bournemouth to collect all of his stuff - he's moving to different digs so EVERYTHING had to come home. If I had remembered that there was SO much stuff I would have hired a van  rather than stacking a KA to the gills...nevermind...we live and learn eh?  Ethan didn't actually come home until Thursday as he was filming  ( I went to this audition Mum , but I won't get it as I'd been out clubbing the night before and was badly prepared ) so the last lot of unloading the car was down to me :(
All home now and I'm enjoying spending time with him....Thursday evening we went for a long walk up Marridge Hill and I introduced him to the Chorus Line Cows...yet again all we had to do was say "Hello Girls you are all looking beautiful" and they all came running (yes, really running) to the fence to see us...are all cows so gregarious? How did I get to nearly 50 without realising this? ( I always talk to animals and small children...and pretty much in the same way I've realised...haha...that explains my kids LOL)
On Saturday I bullied asked nicely if Ethan would come with me to look at a new car...I fear the KA won't survive it's next MOT ( to be honest I really don't rate them much...my last one cracked the chassis when I hit a pot hole (obviously I didn't know that at the time) and when I took it in for it's 1st MOT a few weeks later they wouldn't even let me drive it off of the forecourt...cost to repair meant it was cheaper short term to get a new one (£1800 there and then or £160 per month)) - haha....look at me...just realised I'm using double pairs of brackets...how sad...my brain works in Excel formulas - DOH!     Anyway, finally a car was chosen and I'll pick it up on Thursday evening. It was quite late in the day once we finished at the garage so we stopped off in Reading for Sushi....

I think the last time we went to Reading was last August when we went for Sushi..oh well, I don't supposed once a year is wildly extravagant. Ethan took the opportunity to have one meat dish while he could as I have no meat in the house at all...breaking him in gently to a meat free holiday with a fried brekkie this morning...

That's a Linda McCartney sausage and quorn bacon...looks odd but I think it tastes good...egg is shop bought as girls still off lay....how stupid am I buying eggs from a shop??  There's an honesty box just over the bridge...could have bought half a dozen fresh ones for a quid. Anyway, Ethan's verdict was that you shouldn't regard any part of the meal as "meat replacement" you should just enjoy it as tasty in it's own right.
We both had a lovely long chat to Josh in Australia on Skype this afternoon...he's coming over for a month at Christmas with his girlfriend and trying to plan an itinerary. So many friends and family to see and he also wants to show Nat London & Paris...I guess it would be sacriledge to travel half way round the globe  and miss them out!! :-) I'm getting excited about seeing him already (it's 2 years ago this month that he went out to Oz)...by December I'll be unbareable and bouncing off of the walls!!


Just a short walk this afternoon...we stopped off to take a peek at the village horticultural show (but I forgot to take my camra) There were some beautiful veggies...I was so jealous...the slugs and my inattention have spoiled mine this year I think...clearly they paid far more attention and were justly rewarded. The flowers, cakes, photography, artwork, jewellery and sewing were also fabulous...these sort of shows really bring home how talented people in your own neighbourhood are , don't they. I was inspired to pick a few sweet peas from my garden....

they smell wonderful, and the colours are lovely..I'm afraid my cheapy camera and lack of photography skills really don't do justice.



 Typical Sunday and yet more food....trying to feed Ethan up...we currently weigh the same but he's 6 inches taller....if I can fatten him up a bit then I'll look less chunky by comparison LOL. ( Since I gave up smoking I just want to eat 24/7....I've even come down from bed to grab food..what's that all about??

Quorn Roast, Cranberry Sauce, Roast Potatoes, Runner beans & honey roasted carrots.

....and a glass of ale :-)

Have only just realised that Ethan sat to dinner with no shirt on....how did he get that one past me? I think I'm going senile!!!.

Anyway, all full up now and need a little nap.....just like Baldrick...

Do you think he's comfy??

Night night, sleep tight  :-)