Eats plants
We spent Christmas at home this year with friends and it has been lovely. The kids are definitely teenagers now as they didn't wake up until after 9am. Gone are the days of them jumping out of bed at 6am with excitement about presents. I think they were still excited but they also like their… Continue reading The 12 outfits of Christmas 2022
Another weekend disappears. Daniel told me last week that he didn't want to go anywhere for the next couple of weekends as he's studying for exams. He's so studious but then I was the same. He's taller than me now by nearly 2cm. We measured today. That happened very quickly. He's shooting up at a… Continue reading Crochet Audrey 2, Christmas tree, and Daniel is taller than me
Today we think we saw a Scottish wildcat. This is another very elusive creature whose population has been decimated over the past couple of hundred years. It is critically endangered and although it once roamed all of the UK it is now found only in northern and eastern Scotland. If it is a Scottish wildcat… Continue reading Scottish wildcat
Christmas in the Scottish Highlands is turning out to be one of the best Christmases we've had. I even saw a pine marten for the first time ever. These are very elusive creatures whose numbers have dwindled over the past couple of centuries due to hunting for their fur, habitat loss, and predation control. I… Continue reading Christmas 2021
We're living in Omicron land here with the new variant taking over as the most dominant in Scotland as of today. Things change so rapidly. Last month the UK was in the best position in Europe to manage the virus over the winter. Then Omicron arrived. I'm not so worried about getting sick although I'd… Continue reading Omicron land
Many people saw their Christmas plans scuppered this year thanks to the dreadful plague. We were meant to be in the Highlands today but had to cancel our trip last week. It hasn't all been bad though. Christmas arrived on Christmas Eve this year with snow in Aberdeen and also a Brexit deal at last.… Continue reading Christmas 2020
I dreamt last night that it snowed and in my dream I woke up and looked out the window to see Santa skiing down a nearby hill. I got up - still in my dream - and had breakfast but by the time I'd finished eating all the snow had melted. When I really did… Continue reading Lebkuchen for lunch
The best thing about these dark days is how awesome my bike looks. https://videopress.com/v/d5vI6fFI?preloadContent=metadata If you're looking for a good Christmas present for someone who likes to eat a lot of plants then I recommend The Veggie Chinese Takeaway Cookbook. Who doesn't like Chinese takeaway? I made the hoisin sauce today then used it in… Continue reading My awesome bike and veggie Chinese takeaway
Victoria helped me wrap some presents today. Actually, she was a right nuisance and ended up tearing the paper. I went to the shops early this morning to beat the rush but still there was a long queue outside the food court at Marks & Spencer. I decided not to go in. I'm not a… Continue reading Lorry queues, supermarket queues, food production, and Christmas dinner
We put our Christmas tree up last weekend. It's the same timber tree we use every year that we bought in the UK several years ago. Unfortunately the company appears to have gone out of business now but we love our tree. The lights are up in the city centre and they're very pretty, especially… Continue reading O Christmas tree
I always like to write about what we did for Christmas each year because it creates a record of it for the future. Can you remember where you were for Christmas in 2016? Who were you with? What did you eat? It's amazing how quickly we forget. For Christmas 2019 we were at our home… Continue reading Christmas 2019
I got this terrific present from Ben for Christmas today. It contains 6 bars of my favourite chocolate with this prescription. It's just as well I'm married to a doctor.
Last week we were invited to Elizabeth's school to listen to them sing and to explore their classroom to see what they've been working on. At the back of the classroom was a wishing tree that the children had added their wishes to. They were all anonymous but we could read them and some were… Continue reading The wishes of children
One of the nice things about having a blog is it becomes an historical record of what I've done or where I was at a particular moment in time. I sometimes wonder what I was doing for Christmas in 2012 or 2013 and all I need to do is go back through the archives of… Continue reading Merry Christmas 2018
Every Christmas I make lebkuchen which is German for ginger bread except that it doesn't contain any ginger. I'm a bit slow making it this year because I've been making panforte - I've made three batches of it so far and probably eaten most of it myself because the kids don't like it. I had to… Continue reading ‘Tis the season to stuff your face with lots of yummy food
Yesterday I discovered Christmas decorations growing over our back fence - holly. Holly is a native shrub in Britain and commonly used to decorate homes over Christmas. As a child I only remember seeing plastic holly but why buy the plastic stuff when you can have the real thing FOR FREE. That said, it's probably… Continue reading Christmas holly
Ben's mother often makes panforte during the Christmas period and it's one of the yummiest things I've ever eaten. I thought I'd try making a vegan panforte this morning and it turned out beautifully! It's dangerously delicious which means I'll need to find some self-control to avoid stuffing my face. I used this recipe but… Continue reading Vegan panforte
Things that make me happy: A green landscape. Old furniture. Victorian buildings. Snow. A good pale ale. Vegan food. Music. My family. I got all these things for Christmas except for number 4: snow. However snow and a green landscape are mutually exclusive so I'll accept that I can't have both. How does a vegan… Continue reading A merry vegan atheist Christmas
I've haven't written much lately because I've been busy. Everyone is busy, I know. All the snow has melted here but it hung around for a long time. Usually when we get snow it's all gone within a couple of days. The chances of a white Christmas now are very remote. It looks like we'll… Continue reading Be kind to living things
Sometimes life feels like Groundhog Day. Has it really been a year since we went ice-skating at the Christmas markets? We went again today and it felt like we just did this yesterday but it has been a full year. I love ice-skating. What I like most is the physical activity without all the sweating.… Continue reading Ice-skating at the Christmas markets
rachel.blog 