How much is that doggie in the basket?

Rosie got her furcut today. We've been taking her to a shop just off of Gosforth High Street. It's a 30 minute walk (one way) and as she gets left there for 3 hrs, it means we make the round trip twice = 2 hrs of walking. That's a lot of time out of my Saturday afternoon, so I decided to pick her up on the bike.

I got this great basket for my bike from Niels & Cate for Christmas. It's specially made for transporting small dogs. I like it because it has a wire frame (aka. cage), so it keeps her nice and safe, and IN the basket, rather than jumping out. She hasn't gone on too many rides, but she did great today. People were quite amused when we would fly by. I can see us making much more use of it, especially now that we're car-less.





Gratuitous Ole & Rosie Photo

Project Update

I've been remiss in my project updates, so here is a roundup:

I finally finished the armchair. I ended up having to have someone with a professional/heavy-duty sewing machine make the seat cushion. My little domestic machine couldn't handle the layers of upholstery material and kept breaking needles! I'm not 100% happy with how the cushion looks, but I'm sure it'll grow on me. Ole & Rosie are already making good use of the chair and it's nice to have a comfy, stylish chair for reading.



Next to the chair is a lamp that I just did this weekend. As with all 3 of these projects, it was a Freecycle item. I didn't take a "before" photo, but suffice to say, it was looking pretty rough. But, it was a sturdy lamp, and as lamps are generally expensive, I thought I'd see what I could do to it. It was really quite simple - some paint for the wood (dark grey) and metal pole (black)(already had the paint from other projects); rewired (!) it with new cord and plug; and added a lampshade we had that was too big for another lamp.

Finally, the dresser has long been finished and is in good use. I love this piece. After stripping the wood, I gave it a natural oil finish (no "extra" colour) and some new handles. It's a valuable piece of furniture, as we only have 1 tiny wardrobe in the bedroom.

The Party Car has left the building

We say goodbye to the magical Fiesta on Monday. The little car has served us enormously well in the 2 years we've had it. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to take my position with the Trust; it's moved us down to Newcastle; given us opportunities to explore most of Scotland; and made our weekly shopping trips a heck of a lot easier.

The decision to ditch the car hasn't come lightly. But it has over 100k miles on it (nothing in American terms, I know) and the electrics are seriously going. It definitely won't pass the next MOT in March and at this point, it's not worth repairing. Furthermore, we figure we use it on average once a week, so we're just paying for it sit on the road (and our insurance has gone up loads now that we live in the "city"!). So, we've decided to scrap it and have to do so next week because insurance and road tax run out.

From Monday, we become true urbanites - reliant on our feet, bikes, Metro/bus, taxis and hire cars. It will be a new-old experience (life as it was before the Fiesta), but we're looking forward to it.

Good times in the Fiesta (these are the only photos on this computer!):

Tally Ho!

Our friends, Simon & Joanna, hosted a fox hunt at their estate and invited us to come along for the fun. Although we weren't riding, it was still good fun to be involved in the festivities and see all the dogs and horses.

The day starts with everyone meeting for drinks & nibbles. As this was the West Percy Hunt, they have a unique drink called the Percy Special, a concoction of cherry brandy and whisky. We helped Simon & Joanna serve nibbles to the hunters, who come saddled up.

After everyone's been fed and suitably liquored up, the Chairman welcomes everyone and the Master of the Hounds (man in red) commences the hunt. The video below is the procession of horses heading from the barn out onto the field.

Unfortunately, we had to leave mid-afternoon, so haven't heard the outcome, but word has it the fox usually escapes.

Done!

Well, after a record 2 years and 3 months, Ole has finished writing, I've finished editing, and the thesis has finally been submitted! He expects to have his viva in March.

Celebrating with a Rioja


The Thesis Dog

Mince Pies

We LOVE mince pies in our house. Love them. So this year, I decided I'd give them a go myself. I had previously been slightly intimated by the work involved but found a recipe that seemed easy enough - and it was! I have to say, they're the tastiest mince pies I've had.

We like to heat them up and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche. Mmmmm.

Bad gas

Our new flat has a gas stove top (yay!) and a gas oven (boo). These are both different from our flat in Cults, which was all electric. Whilst I love having a gas stove top, the gas oven is proving tricky to master. It's just a gas flame at the bottom of the oven - nothing to circulate the air around. So, whatever you try to bake takes FOREVER to get done, and you risk burning the top and sides while waiting for the middle to get done.

So, I'm looking for advice from those who have conquered the basic gas oven. I would particularly welcome tips relating to bread and cake baking. (I'm going to try putting a tray of water at the bottom next time we do bread - this is supposed to help create condensation, which slows crust formation and thus allows the inside of the loaf to bake. This is yet untested in our oven.)

And Happy New Year!

We had a very chilled out New Year's Eve last night. As the weather was -4'c and we don't have anybody to hang out with here, we decided to stay inside and have a quiet night.

I think we're still quite full from eating so much whilst in Denmark, so we didn't do too much for the meal. Ole made a super yummy pastry for starters, stuffed with kale, parma ham and mozzarella cheese. We then had venison steak (marinated in port & balsamic) with sweet potato chips and green beans. Topped it off with a delicious bottle of 2000 Chateau Durfort Vivens Margaux.

Pudding was a divine chocolate-peanut-butter-graham-cracker sandwich cookie (thanks mom!) and we watched the new Wallace & Gromit, "A Matter of Loaf & Death".

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a bit after the fact, but I'm just now getting around to a Christmas post. We spent about 10 days in Denmark with Ole's family. It was a wonderfully relaxing time, but we definitely ate our body weight whilst we were there. That said, we had some nice walks out - some in the immediate area and one over on Møns Klint.

Here are just a few pictures from the Christmas period.