Easter

We are home again and it is lovely to be home. We have had a wonderful week away visiting friends and cousins, but there is always something nice about snuggling up into your own bed. This morning I even slept in until I was joined by the smallest Beehive at 8am! How divine - it rarely happens!
I even awoke to yesterday's roast being transformed into a shepherd's pie for dinner this evening:

I have also been treated by a day of quiet and solitude today to study.

Even Pip and Meggie are relaxing.

Easter yesterday was just us this year, possibly the first time in a long time. I love to host; Easter, Christmas, birthdays, I would rather host than go visiting, but sometimes others like to host too, so this year we were just us.

I cooked and baked...twice....thanks to Master Beehive the younger's enthusiasm for all things chocolately and managing to drop the first lemon meringue cake all over the floor *sigh*. The second one was good though!

So, I am back at the grindstone and just literally jumping in here for five minutes break to add some photos of our few days.

This is my tidy workstation! Do you like the sign??
I am the world's best procrastinator as I've also made soup this morning instead of studying!


Here is the soup too along with the recipe:

Squash, chilli and ginger soup with coconut milk:
Fry one onion, two garlic cloves in some butter and oil.
Add the squash and gently sweat
Add a thumbsized piece of ginger and some fresh chilli and enough vegetable stock to cover.
Allow this to simmer for around 20 mins
Whizz in the liquidizer and add a sachet of coconut cream before you heat to serve.
It comes from one of the Covent Garden soup books and is delish!

Tomorrow my parents are coming as my dad is helping Mr Beehive to install a deck for my morning coffee in the summer months...well of course...every woman needs a coffee deck right? We have an area of the garden that gets the sun from early sunrise to around 5pm in the afternoon in the height of summer. For some reason, however, the grass won't grow, so we're going to put in a deck with a pergola over it so we can grow some grapes too...we will harvest our own wine before our time is up! I intend to put a small two person cafe style table and chairs there along with the chimenea and some plants...a perfect hidey hole (ha ha!)

For now, however, I just 'need' to download some more music and then I'll get back to the revision...I promise!