Chinese New Year

Happy New Year
We have a favourite little cafe in Moulsham Mill.Lily turns out great food at an extremely reasonably price.Her coffee is second to none! At Christmas she does a meal for some of her more regular customers and this year we were invited along.It was fantastic. Last week when we were in there she invited us to her New Year Meal.What a treat.Started with a chicken and sweetcorn soup followed by a buffet style meal with green tea (or wine) then a choice of pudding. She is a real star

Kim Thittichai Hot Textiles

Last weekend Margaret and I tootled off to Hove to do a workshop with Kim Thittichai.
I offered to drive as Margaret seems to do more than her share.I worry when I am going anywhere different but hubby kindly bought me a Sat Nav for Christmas and Margaret had a good idea where it was as her vet lives in Hove.Don't ask but the culprit is Libby her dog.
I fancied a different voice for my sat nav so went on the website and downloaded (for free!) the sultry tones of Joanna Lumley.Imagine her gentle instructions and announcing 'You have reached your destination Darling' Yeah well great idea but as it turned out there was no satellite signal all the way down there.Just shows that you cannot entirely rely on modern technology.All was well though and we found it OK (well done Margaret)We had a fun day playing with Tyvek,Lutrador,Bondaweb , foils etc.

Food,food,food!

Crab and Mango Parcels


Bit of a catch up for me again.Firstly we finally got round to trying out the restaurant at the other end of the village.When we moved here there were just the two pubs.Not an awful lot else really which suits us.A village hall ,a small shop and a church (have used the first two but not the third) Now one pub is about 100yds away so obviously this is the one we go to.Nothing wrong with the other pub but anyway it closed down and reopened as an Oriental seafood restaurant. Our pub landlord owns this one too.

We have heard good reports about the food and as it is not the cheapest we have been saving up our £2 coins and finally went.
Not very good at being a restaurant critic but the food was fantastic ,service excellent and although it was a bit empty in there, good atmosphere. It has been very nicely done out and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone.It is called Hoyzen and it is in East Hanningfield.
They didn't even laugh too much when we tipped out our coins to pay!

Thursday 8th January

Things I love and can't live without
Trivial I know but I love my coffee machine.Well both of them really.This is my filter coffee maker.Yes I am addicted to coffee, sad but true.This is my self portrait for Self Portrait Thursday which is a group on flickr.I don't do one every week as I don't like the way I look at the moment and I am not very good at photography or photoshopping although I did make my nasty mole disappear on this photo.
Picked up tiles for the utility room today.Hubby is threatening to do tiling at the weekend. I did spend some time in my sewing room today and started planning a piece for the UK etsy monthly challenge topic Japan.Just waiting for hubby to get home after work.

Tuesday 6th January

Snowdrops in the Snow

These were chosen and planted by my Mum.She loved them.The always make me think of her when they come up. Our local church has a large bank of them and she used to really enjoy walking down the Tye and looking at them.
Very cold here again today. I had a job interview in Rochford. Should get a decision on it tomorrow.Had lunch at Lily's. Still haven't got into my sewing room.

Monday 5th January

Very cold today and a bit of snow around.Went in to school where I volunteer and had a couple of near things with my brakes not working on the sheet ice.Bit scary.
Will spend some time today preparing for my job interview tomorrow.Must also get into my sewing room and do something creative.The old juices seem to have dried up recently and I need to get going again.

Sunday 4th January

Been quite a productive day so far.
I have done a dry run to where I have an interview on Tuesday to test my sat nav.
I have cleaned out my fridge
I have sorted cupboards and thrown away out of date stuff (not much)
I have packed the Christmas decorations away
I have filled up the bird feeders and put stuff out for the ground feeders
This is good going for me!

Friday 2nd January

Happy New Year to all.
Right first problem this year is to prune our willow tree.Can't afford to get someone in to do it so we have to tackle it ourselves. Some research has led us to believe that previous pruning had been done incorrectly so we are on a sticky wicket to start off with.We will have to cut back in a manner that is not recommended and we may lose the tree. I would not be too sorry to see it go but hubby likes it and as he rightly points out we have nothing else in the back garden so would have to replace it anyway. It is going to be quite a task.