Valentines Weekend

Well it's Valentines this weekendand my boyfriend is working so I'm on my own again. I don't feel like getting in touch with friends to see what they're up to, as I'm quite happy doing my own thing today.

I have knitted half a beret. I have someone in mind for it and will put up a picture if it turns out nice!

I am still knitting a baby blanket for a friend, though I have made a mistake in it. The idea of fixing it is daunting. I think I might ignore it. I have another few weeks to finish this.

Brownies is off this week as it's half term. The following week I have to miss it for work.

I have reports and invoices to do for school, but it's Valentines Weekend. That's got to be a good reason not to, right?

Yesterday I was bored and started thinking about things that brought me down. It wasn't a good day. Each year on 14th Feb my boyfriend and I take turns making something special for each other. Last year he made me a chinese meal - most impressive!

This year I struggled for inspiration. Due to a variety of things - car problems, cat illness, wedding - it's a lean month in the Champ household and I'm cooking on a budget. Whilst I enjoy cooking and usually relish the challenge of making something from nothing, on Valentines night I'd rather have been able to choose the meal I think he'd like the most from a new recipe. There was nothing for it anyway, so I did my best.

I made:

Chinese style pork starter (chinese style pork was reduced to £1 in the supermarket) - delicious actually. There was going to be salad but that was slimy and smelly when I opened up the bag, despite buying it on the day. Irritatingly, I had a question on the payment machine at the till 'Did our vegetables seem fresh today'... I had ticked YES.

Main Course Ham hock slow-cooked casserole. I used some spices, stock, carrots, onions, leek, swede, new potatoes and a ham hock and slow cooked it over the whole day. At the end I squeezed in a lemon and added some sweetcorn. To accompany the stew I had a couple of sesame seed rolls.

Pudding - not required. I had planned to make crumble but we wouldn't have eaten it after all the food we'd already had so I'm glad I didn't waste the effort.

He gave it a 10/10 and said it was the nicest stew I've made. That's good. I'm pleased he went back for seconds later in the evening, as it must have been true. The sweetcorn was the real winner as it's his favourite vegetable.

My valentines gift (which we don't do usually) was a bar of dark chocolate from his work. His valentines gift was... nothing.

I hope you are having a fine weekend!