Three Things February (11th-16th)

11th February 2012

i) A much-needed and well-deserved (IMO) lie-in
ii) Raspberry beer and chats with friends on our nationalities bar crawl
iii) Journey to Scotland - wearing my mini-kilt

12th February 2012

i) Catch up with Cat
ii) Lovely walk from the centre to the West End in Glasgow
iii) Lunch at Tennants

13th February 2012

i) Fab night out with mumma and sis
ii) Yummy macaroni cheese and bucks fizz
iii) Progress on my knitted sock!

14th February 2012

i) Cat's awesome 21 years!
ii) Lovely family meal
iii) Embarrassing Cat with her birthday speech

15th February 2012

i) Trip to St Andrews and visit to the grand'rents
ii) Chilli nachos
iii) Excitement for seeing Steve

16th February 2012
i) Safely arriving back in Harrow to a tidy flat!
ii) Finding a cool birthday present for Steve
iii) The most relaxing day of 2012 so far :-) 

Three Things February (6th-10th)

I've been tracking this in my diary as I've been too busy for daily blog posts.  Here's the first five installments...

6th February 2012

i) A successful, well-received class assembly
ii) No more class assemblies this year!
iii) Fun in the snow

7th February 2012

i) Lift to the bus stop from a colleauge
ii) Friendly parents
iii) Well-behaved class

8th February 2012

i) Help from pupils
ii) Knitting club
iii) Two days until half term

9th February 2012

i) Being sent home early from work
ii) A little bit of a rest
iii) One day until half term

10th February 2012

i) End of maths week!!
ii) Beginning of half term
iii) Lovely Chinese meal cooked by Steve and shared with friends

Three Things February (1st - 5th)

At the start of this year I started to keep a gratitude diary.  As with all my attempts at daily diary keeping it didn't even last until the end of January.

Saying this, I still value the idea of focusing on good moments in my life.  That's one of the reasons I blog.  My life is amazing, I am a very lucky girl, and the more time spent recognising this the better.

When Sarah announced that she would be running Three Things February, I thought this was perfect!
Each day in February you write down three things that made you smile.  It's simple, based on smiling (one of my favourite things) and February is a short month.  Perfect!

I've been tracking this in my diary as I've been too busy for daily blog posts.  Here's the first five installments...

1st February 2012

i) Kindness of colleagues
ii) Packet of Doritos after school - I was starving!
iii) A couple of easy-teach lessons.

2nd February 2012

i) First ever stress-free school trip!
ii) Snuggling into bed after a hard day's work
iii) Copious amounts of tea

3rd February 2012

i) Lovely meal out
ii) Having the whole weekend ahead of me
iii) A cookie and smiles from my colleague

4th February 2012

i) Lie in
ii) Lovely tidy living room
iii) Hours spent on sofa - crocheting and watching TV

5th February 2012

i) Beautiful Harrow in the snow
ii) Creamy chicken korma cooked by Steve and dreamed up by Nigel Slater
iii) This time in a week I'll be in Glasgow's West End!

Butternut Squash Risotto

Easy, yummy and one of my favourites...This recipe makes enough for two hungry grown-ups.  It might seem a little awkward what with using 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a butternut squash but you can easily use the other half of these for something else within a couple of days.  Most risotto recipes use parmesan on the top to add some flavour I can never be bothered to buy it so my recipe uses cream cheese, which I usually have in the fridge anyway.

Ingredients
1/2 butternut squash
2/3 cup of risotto rice
1/2 onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons cream cheese
Dried sage
Vegetable Oil
1 litre vegetable stock
Knob of butter

1.  Drizzle vegetable oil over the butternut squash half and sprinkle with sage.  Roast in the oven for half an hour.
2.  While the butternut squash is roasting away.  Fry the onions in the butter for five minutes-ish.
3.  Stir in the risotto rice then add the vegetable stock bit by bit, allowing the rice to absorb it.
4.  Add as much dried sage as you fancy.
5.  Once the butternut squash half has done it's time, cut it into cubes.  Mash about 1/3 of it and add to the pan of rice.
6.  Stir in 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and the butternut squash cubes.
7.  Taste a generous spoonful to make sure the rice is cooked.
8.  Lick you lips and serve up, preferably with a glass of white wine.

This Week I've Been... (ii)

...really, really busy...

Work's been pretty mad again this week but I've managed to slot in:

Skiing...at the Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead

Eating...tasty butternut squash risotto...recipe to follow.

Crocheting...my crazy, colourful blanket.  Lalala.  It makes me happy, when skies are grey.

Reading...Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  I finished it this week and I think it might possibly be my favourite book of all time.

Playing...lots of Wii tennis

I hope to have an equally colourful week next week!