We couldn’t resist. The Italian Food Market came back to Rayleigh yesterday, and we wanted to soak up the feast of food, accents, and conviviality. We’ll be back in Italy in a few weeks, so we saw this as an appetizer, a little sampling to whet our appetites for the real thing. A calzone for…
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We spotted another labyrinth from the comforts of our living room the other day, this one a tasty invention featured on the BBC technology show Click last weekend. Apparently this chocolate labyrinth was created with a 3D printer – a tasty and appealing dessert, to our way of thinking! I have other stories to tell, other…
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Our wildlife-friendly back garden is the reason we have so many guests at this time of year. It is a wild garden… it may never win any awards from Gardener’s World, but our local critters seem to appreciate Jeff’s attentiveness and care. And I appreciate his generosity in sharing what he sees (and hears) with me. Our winter…
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We love our local shops and try to support them whenever we can. One of our seasonal traditions is to go to Rayleigh to pick up a Christmasy box of Essex apples to share over the holidays. And while we were there, we also stopped in at Byford’s for a handmade pork and stuffing pie for…
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We made a little holiday pilgrimage to Squires in Rayleigh this afternoon. Squires is a delightful little coffee and tea shop on the High Street that serves more interesting brews than anywhere else in the area, and does it in a delightful old building that absolutely begs you to come in for a bit of…
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Like almost everyone, we are busy little elves these days, shopping, cleaning, wrapping, celebrating– well, you know how it is… One thing that I will freely admit is that I’ve enjoyed seeing the upswing in gluten-free Christmas treats this year. I don’t actually indulge in many (and most have way too many raisins for my…
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We woke up to sunshine and blue skies today, with just a hint of an autumnal nip in the air…. a perfect day for doing a few garden garden jobs and working on a few projects here at home. This lovely Speckled Wood butterfly was flitting about in the garden while we were out tidying things up….
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I didn’t walk very far today, only enough to do a few errands in and around the village. Fortunately, though, my friend Emma went into London where she did a whole lot of walking… then showed up on my doorstep with these gorgeous treats from Lola’s Cupcakes, which she had hand-carried home on the train. The perfect…
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Pinaglis has added frappucinos to their menu, and Neal was willing to go one step further and make me cold coffee over ice. Just espresso, no milk. That just isn’t really done over here, but it is my favourite drink. I guess I might be walking in that direction quite regularly now, especially while our…
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