End of summer silence

 

Hello food lovers,

I owe you an apology. It's been a month since we last spoke, and I disappeared without any warning. That's the blogger equivalent of taking you out for a delicious dinner and then failing to call you to arrange another date.

I'm sorry. I promise I haven't given up on this online relationship...I really want to make things work between us.

Perhaps you kept an eye on my Twitter feed or #Project366 Pinterest Board over the past few weeks to see why I had fallen silent? Don't be embarrassed...we've all been Facebook-stalkers at some point.

If so, you will have seen that I was actually in Spain for the last fortnight of August, camping with my boyfriend and his family. This was a reprisal of last summer's trip, where I took on the role of head chef and my spicy sausage stew became infamous. FYI, whilst mass catering outdoors becomes easier with practice, in my opinion sleeping in a tent remains just as awkward...! 

For me, holidays are a chance to unwind and to relax my normal dietary restrictions. Therefore it was mandatory to spend most evenings visiting the local gelaterias for a couple of scoops of cooling ice-cream in an impressive range of fruity flavours...or a cheeky chocolately cone! One night I thought I'd treat myself to a little G&T as a reward for swimming over 30 lengths of the pool...little did I know that the standard Spanish shot size was triple our English equivalent! Check out my alcohol-induced grin...!

We trialed a variety of tasty tapas during days out in Girona and Figueres (home of the weird and wonderful Salvator Dali museum), and I went totally snap-happy at Barcelona's version of Borough Market, La Boqueria. Keep your eyes peeled to this site for a photo-roundup of my highlights soon.

Since returning home I've had a severe case of the "back to school blues". The sudden chill in the air has sadly forced my early morning running regime to shift from the greenery of the local park to the grey monotony of the gym treadmill. I've also been chaotically busy at work, and the upcoming political party conference season means I'll still be spinning around for another week or two. But when the carousel slows, I'll be sharing with you my reviews of the fun-filled Flavrbox, my dear friend Yummy Choo Eats' Mauritian supperclub and amouth-wateringly delicious lunch at Barbecoa.

Just before I jetted off on holiday the lovely team at Olive Branch posted my recipe for thyme-scented potato wedges onto their site...my other half requests these for dinner on a regular basis, and being able to swap the thyme for other herbs or spices makes them surprisingly versatile. You'll have no trouble skipping the chippy once you give these a go!

My RSS feed is filled with American food bloggers getting excited about Fall. I guess they have lots to look forward to with Thanksgiving celebrations...I'm addicted to autumnal allspice and definitely intend to try baking my own pumpkin pie this year! This post by Eat, Live, Run has a great selection of recipes to get you in the mood for colder days and evenings spent wrapped in blanket.

No doubt I'll be cooking more heart-warming crumbles again soon, and recreating more dishes from my Pieminister cookbook...who knows, I might even finally write up my attempt at their Moopie recipe, first featured way back in week 10 of #Project366!

So that's what's been happening in my world lately...how's life been with you during my silence at the end of summer?

PS. I'm writing this using my new iPad, which I'm super excited about as it means no more carrying around a house rick and a snake of cables...but does mean there might be more typos than normal or odd styling...apologies for any bugs!

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