Chimney House

Yay! After living in Brighton (and Hove) for four years we have finally found a decent gastropub. When you live in London for a while you get used to decent bistros and so are a bit shocked to find that in this city- somewhere that is supposedly "hip" and with the times- they are seemingly nowhere to be found. Thanks to Alistair Sawday's Pubs and Inn guide we found the lovely Chimney House Inn near Seven Dials to have our Sunday lunch and it's great- open kitchen, clean tables, yummy, organic food and friendly, helpful (and quite good looking) bar staff. It was like a little bit of London life but without the high prices and uber-cool intimidating clientele. We are now looking for a house around the corner!
See www.chimneyhouse.co.uk
Last night, after a Scrabble match pub crawl (by the last pub I was seeing double and getting well under 100 points) we also ended up in another great venue- the bar at the Oriental Hotel just off the seafront. It was a private party so the drinks were half price and the crowd very friendly. One young lady got very friendly with Andy in fact- she liked him so much she allowed him to talk about his snack packet collection for half an hour. Well- it saved me the job. I met Nat's mate Nick who is great- it's always nice to meet new people especially when they are smiley and funny! Thanks for the gin Nick and hope to see you again when I'm less soporific. And hello Nat I know you are reading this... thanks for inviting us last night and see you thursday for a veggie feast! Do you like shittake mushrooms?
Job interview tomorrow so wish me luck- I'm off to rummage in the back of my wardrobe for some moth-eaten smart clothes. It's been a while since I needed them....

Soundtrack: The Song of the Happy Chinese Biscuit Maker- by Andy

She's Like the Wind

A woman came up today as I was just leaving Woolworths and told me I have an incredible aura (snigger... that'll be last night's gin session love...), stroked my hand with a flower and walked away. Do you think I've been cursed? Having said that our heating and hot water(which has been broken for 3 days during the coldest days EVER) has been fixed today by a nice chap with a tool box so maybe she's given me good fortune. I can't wait to have a long, hot soak. Had a cold, wet soaking earlier by the wintery storms when I wandered into town to meet the lovely Sarka for peppermint tea and a chat. It's HIDEOUS this weather. I nearly got blown over on Western Road and had to hold onto a lamp post. Right in front of the cute bloke from the sign shop too. He always sees me looking my flappiest!

Hiccups and Hairclips

Gosh I haven't been writing enough in here lately- anyone would think I was busy spending my days wasting my time destroying my self confidence by sending off endless emails to prospective employers for freelance work. Why is it that people don't respond - even to reject you? It's very rude. Mind you, judging by my reaction to 'Alison Blunt' the other month maybe a simple blanking is better than a turn down.
Sadie turned 5 on Sunday. We took her horseriding as a surprise which was so cute! She had a Shetland pony so she looked like one of those Thelwell cartoon characters. I led her horse (I wouldn't normally dare as I find horses quite scary, but leading a Shetland is a bit like leading a very old and fat golden retriever) up onto the downs- it was a beautiful day. And then, after her perfect birthday morning, a stupid, incompetently-run "restaurant" called Barneys on Western Road in Hove (please don't go there) decided to ruin everything by making a complete hash up of her birthday tea party. It wasn't hard- we booked a table a week before and ordered a cake (I decided to have year off as I normally go mad in the catering department and nearly give myself a nervous 'bakedown'...?...) but they managed to forget about us completely. We arrived and there were 6 drunk people sitting at "our" table so we had to find a shit one at the back, they didn't come to serve us all night so we had to find them when we needed something (like food maybe?), and they forgot the cake so put together a pile of old brownies with some orange slices around it instead! Disaster. Although Sadie was oblivious and enjoyed herself regardless. I shall be writing to the management to get a free night out there. The whole point was to give myself a break this year but it was the most stressed I've ever been at Sadie's party, and last year we had 30 kids and decided to do the food and entertainment ourselves. Just goes to show, if you want a job done.....etc....

Kale

I love kale. It rocks. It's in season and it's delicious and super dooper for your body. Made it last night in my favourite way- it's really,really easy, yummy AND healthy- I like to eat this before I go tut pub so I feel like I'm not just putting poison in my body for the night... recipe below:

Tuna steak with garlicky greens
(serves 2)
2 tuna steaks
sesame oil
sea salt

2 generous handfuls of curly kale, chopped
2 generous handfuls of baby spinach
1 generous handful of savoy cabbage, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped small
big knob of butter/ 2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 lime

Sear tuna steaks in sesame oil and a pinch of rock salt until both sides browning, but middle of fish pink. Melt butter in seperate pan, add garlic and saute, then throw in greens and stir until just wilted. Place on plate with tuna on top. Squeeze 1/4 lime over dish, season and serve. Yummy and fairly guilt free too!
(also very nice served with boiled waxy potatoes if you are hungrier, but not needed for a light, healthy dinner)
Em- kale is one for you as it's packed with calcium so v good if you're off the old cows milk produce....

The Cynical Secretary in me

I have just been asked to come for an interview for a part time PA job at the hospital kidney unit. As much as I know this job will pay well (I was once PA to the editor of the Guardian don't you know-until I got up the duff that is), will be easy and enjoyable in an anally retentive kind of way (remember how much I love lists?) it's not exactly what I had planned for My Creative Life After Childrearing. Ok- so a part time job won't take up all my time to write, but it will certainly take up half of it- that's half my writing life gone. Mind you- here I am in my 'writing life' writing my self-absorbed blog and listening to the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack ('Hungry Eyes' gets me every time) so perhaps I should get a job where I get out more and actually make some money. Although knowing my luck, I'll end up wth MRSA.

Born Sad

Friday night we were meant to be going to the fantastic-sounding Born Bad night at Brighton's Komedia. Ellie came down from London and we started drinking too early, so blew Joy etc out in favour of what we thought was going to be a quiet night at the pub and an early night. Only it didn't happen that way. After 11 hours of drinking, we, at 3am, staggered home having spent the night consuming a mixture of beer, wine, vodka and gin, and ended up in some seedy dive in Hove. To sum up the state we were in, the two men we were "fighting off" at the end of the evening wore tracksuits, and one was the other man's carer. But oh it was fun-especially the dancing around to Chaka Khan bit before I threw up. Sadie was staying the night at her best friends' place, so I somehow thought it appropriate to revert back to my days of debauchery.
So this my friends will explain my lack of entries- I have been recently catapulted into a world of nausea, but I'm just about coming round. Well- everyone else had that vomiting bug so I felt a bit left out.....
Last week before this was a great week as my stories went down a treat at Sadie's school and I've been asked back for their Book Week. I also got a day's proofreading work which was rather fun- I do like my corrections. Plus I got to read all sorts of interesting police case files which made the proofing that more interesting.
Andy has been away skiing and got back yesterday after a 24 hour delay on his flight. We've been busy catching up while Sadie has been in school today. He helped me with my tax returns and I made him a jacket potato. Ah coupledom. It's great when you appreciate it once more.

Arse

Whether it's made my appetite increase, changed my metabolism or it's just muscle growth (yeah right), since I started jogging regularly since last Spring my arse has got bigger. This was not supposed to happen. Let this be reassurance to all of you feeling guilty about not sticking to your new year's resolution for a fitter year; exercise doesn't always do what it says on the packet, if you see what I mean. Yes, running around a lot is good for my circulation, it lifts my moods (of which there are aplenty) and wards off colds, but I didn't expect a fatter booty. If I don't run for a few days I pile the weight on those buttock cheeks and upper thighs like nobody's business, whereas before I exercised at all, I could eat what I wanted and stayed slim. My butt hasn't been this large since my University diet of take away chicken burgers and 10 pints a night. Bugger it. I will have to keep running now as it's the only thing that works.
P.S. Not doing the half marathon until later in the year now- Rachael and I going for Sports Relief in March which is 6 miles; much more realistic. Anyone care to join our red faced and breathless brigade?