Monday 3 September 2018

Monday.

The weekend has flown by.   My visitors didn't come until Sunday but life intervened on Saturday.
I was just getting round to putting my Saturday blog on when my son rang to ask if I wanted a Chinese.  'Is the Pope a Catholic?' I answered - Chinese is my favourite and he brought it round here - I had Prawns in Sweet and Sour sauce with boiled rice.   To die for.

Sunday was mainly taken up with preparing the meal for my visitors who were set to come at around half past one.   My quinoa salad turned out very well and was delicious (there is always the risk with Quinoa that it will either catch on the bottom of the pan or will be too sloppy.   Neither happened and it fluffed up nicely before adding the veg and the dressing.)  Two kinds of potato salad to new recipes proved a success and to this I added green salad, hard boiled eggs, tomato and red onion salad.   A cheese board with good bread, crisps and a variety of dips completed the feast, with a plate of good roast ham for anyone who was a meat eater.

My trifle always disappears and the chocolate cake went uneaten but has gone to a good home today with my Grand daughter when she left.   Likewise a jam and cream sponge cake to my son and his wife.   I do not wish to gain weight and am too weak willed to have things like this lurking.

We have had a lovely week end but my goodness me how tiring two year olds are.   Her parents, who are brilliant at the job I have to say, were almost run ragged.  But as an ex teacher I see a clever little girl developing.   She is talking in well constructed sentences already and has an enquiring mind, wishing to know what everything is.   She sits and listens to stories being read to her
- pointing to the pictures and saying some of the words after her mum and dad.

Her dad was kind enough to take Tess on much longer walks than I can take her on, going up the field and looking for cows for Ula to see.   And between mum and dad they made my life as easy as possible by loading and unloading the dishwasher, making cups of tea and the like.   Now the house is quiet I miss them but I also know that another day and I would have been totally worn out.   You need to be young to cope with young children.

The rain still beats on the window as it has done since mid morning - my visitors would have had a very wet drive back home to Glasgow.   It will have filled my water butt nicely (my great grand daughter loved watering the garden with my watering can and must have nearly emptied it!)

 

22 comments:

Gwil W said...

What a wonderful time you had. And Tess too by the sound of it. We went to the cinema to see a French comedy. And then yesterday we watched The African Queen on TV. It's an amazing film. I hadn't seen it for years and was surprised how much I'd forgotten

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Anon's comment should be removed

justjill said...

Sounds like a lovely weekend. I know exactly what you mean about 2 year olds. I find them all tiring, fortunately my family are understanding with our rule of 2 nights max stay!

Wilma said...

Now you have me wanting a good Chinese meal - one of my favorites too. What a nice weekend you had.

Derek Faulkner said...

Hot and sunny here today 25 degrees, as it was all weekend- lovely.
Going back to your previous post - the young children have been brought up as vegetarians, does that mean that they have been denied meat and have had their parents eating habits imposed on them?

Joanne Noragon said...

Yes, a nice weekend, and then the surplus shipped on out. Good job.

Terra said...

That sounds like a good weekend with lots of food and relatives visiting for a day. Not too long, those 2 year olds have energy galore.

Mary said...

Glad all went so well - and at this point in life we seniors are allowed to set boundaries where having energetic children in our homes! Our energy is definitely not what it was.

Sadly we 'can't have our cake and eat it too" if we wish to stay healthy and keep our girlish figures!!!!!
Couldn't you have sliced the jam and cream sponge then popped it in the freezer to enjoy a small slice now and then? I would give my eye teeth for such a cake right now!

Happy, healthy week dear.

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

What a delightful visit. You have a great family and I know it is satisfying to see our grandchildren growing up to be intelligent, well-behaved and interested in the world. Be well!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Derek makes an interesting point about having one's parents eating habits imposed on one. When we were children (unlike most children nowadays) we had a meal put in front of us (what our mother chose) and we ate it without question. So in a way we had our parents' eating habits imposed on us. Now that eating is much more free we can eat what we like - I know of parents who cook three or four different meals for their children because they each like a different thing. There needs to be a happy medium. I personally have never really cared for meat - much prefer fish, cheese or veggie - always with a lot of vegetables. In the case of my great grand daught
Maer - her mother eats veggie or fish - her father eats meat sometimes because he likes some of it - my great grand daughter is given a bit of everything and eats what she chooses to eat.
Mary - I do not have the will power to slice up a delicious cake and eat it slice by slice from the freezer!!!

angryparsnip said...

Such a wonderful visit. Your food sounds lovely.
Plus I must admit having an 8 year old Granddaughter here for a month has worn me out ! Young children with inquiring minds are for young parents.

Derek Faulkner said...

I didn't like vegetables much as a child, especially greens and so my mother cooked me different things, I think in the main I happily ate egg and chips a lot. When I posed the above question I had in the back of my mind Jehovah Witnesses who deny their children many of the delights of normal children, such as Christmas. Personally I don't think it's right to impose one's beliefs on children and deny them what would be considered a normal childhood, which could involve eating meat if they so choose.

wherethejourneytakesme said...

Wow what a lovely spread all those salads and puddings. I can identify with the mixed feelings - we had our granddaughter recently (4 years old) for a few days - it was lovely and exhausting at the same time and the house was far too quiet when she had gone home - it semed like all the energy had gone from the house. However a day or two later and we were back to normal.

Heather said...

Your spread sounds delicious and I would have needed all my discipline to decline a piece of either of those cakes. I too am exhausted by small children. They are adorable (mostly!), so interesting and great fun but I sometimes wonder how I managed to bring up five of my own! Those were the days.
Funnily enough, my son rang me at the weekend to see if I fancied Chinese for supper. I had to say no as I had already taken something from the freezer but my choice is always sweet and sour something or other.

marlane said...

I am laughing because we had a similar thing at our house with the grand children. Differing in that we met a new girl fiend and she unexpectedly brought a dog ... a misunderstanding much apologies. My cat was not happy. Also an on going battle in our house to resist the goodies. We have an adult son living with us and his son.. ice cream sugary sodas you name it. I am a health food nut.

Chris said...

I also keep sweets in the freezer, sliced for individual use when the notion strikes me. I currently have a tin of sugar cookies and half a sliced rhubarb cake made in June. I have managed to resist it until recently. Having to plan ahead to give it time to defrost is a great deterrent! Bread and croissants (a weakness of mine) are also kept in the freezer and taken out when needed.

Alphie Soup said...

It's a wonderful thing to watch small children growing up and to see the potentail that lies ahead. Curiosity and questions make the world go round for littlies like Ula.
Alphie

thelma said...

It sounds a lovely Sunday, young toddlers make beautiful photographs! But they are lovely to have around for a short time.

Gmail sign up said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

Your menu sounds wonderful. Quinoa is often an iffy dish, but when it works, it is delightful.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone for your contribution.