So New Years Eve was a blast. Well, as much of a blast as it could be with two small children. Mr B’s brother and girlfriend were visiting from Italy and Mr B cooked up a storm. We are really trying to embrace our new surroundings so the menu was very much seafood-focused.
We started with seared fresh local scallops, asparagus and bacon. This was followed by local Brixham crab linguine and we finished with a fillet of Dab, recommended by the fishmonger for it’s full flavour, which Mr B poached in butter. Yep, you heard me, butter. 500g of it. Eep. So delicious but, unsurprisingly, it is definitely now feeling like time to jump right back on the diet and fitness wagon.
So after all of this indulgence we retired to the lounge and threw a few logs in the stove, expertly chopped by Mr B who is thoroughly enjoying owning an axe…a little too much I think and am beginning to fear for our furniture as I occasionally catch him sizing up the table legs and spare dining chairs. I should also mention at this point that we are still RUBBISH at getting the fire started and are now totally reliant on those cheaty starter logs you buy in paper packets where you simply light the packet. My competitive nature is not at all happy with this so if anyone has any tips they would be much appreciated.
AND, just as the countdown to midnight started….Little Miss woke up, OBVIOUSLY. Never one to miss out on any action the stroke of midnight saw us huddled outside, Little Miss bundled up in one arm, a glass of fizz in the other, watching beautiful fireworks from the garden. It was awesome. In fact so much so I was almost tempted to go and wake The Boy so he could be there too but we decided to let him sleep. At least Little Miss can’t actually tell him so he is none the wiser that he missed out. Maybe next year.
A few sheets to the wind, and being the rock-and rollers that we clearly are, we all then decided we were up far too late and retired to bed. Only Little Miss had other ideas. There was NO WAY she was giving in now. After several unsuccessful attempts at getting her to sleep in her cot, and then several more in our bed, I gave in and trundled back down to the lounge with her. We pulled out the sofa bed and she and I snuggled up. As she was clearly in the mood for more excitement I put the TV on and, as usual, couldn’t find anything to watch.
Once again, Netflix came to my rescue. I put on ‘Enchanted’ and she was absolutely transfixed. After this we moved on to ‘Monsters Inc’ and she was HYPNOTISED. Thankfully, she did eventually fall asleep before the end and I managed to grab a few hours too.
The next night was much the same and Mr B took control. After several episodes of ‘All Hail King Julien’ she finally gave in. I think he was secretly quite disappointed and suspect he may have watched the rest himself on the i-pad on the sly.
We think she has become a little too addicted to these night-time Netflix sessions so are now trying to be more strict and not letting her back downstairs. Hopefully she will be back to normal soon.
Likewise Mr B and I are trying to get back in to good habits. After so much indulgence we are binning the booze (wellllllllllll, not EVERY night obviously), counting the calories and are getting back on the fitness wagon as of this week.
We are also DETERMINED to get the hang of lighting the stove properly and most nights you will find us curled up in front of it watching back to back Netflix episodes of ‘The Good Wife.’ After this it will be time to get back into ‘Breaking Bad.’
I know it sounds boring and, oh man, SO middle-aged, but I am actually looking forward to the routine and I am loving these quiet country nights.
So what does the new year look like for you? Do let me know below.
2015 has, so far, looked astonishingly like 2014.
Your NYE was far more exciting than mine.
I don’t believe that for a second!
Crab linguine looks amazing! I just managed to stay awake to watch the fireworks on tv and then that was it lol.
I have only recently discovered Netflix, I spend my baths with the ipad propped up watching Suits – love it!
I have not tried Suits yet but it is on my list after Breaking Bad. Is it good?
I am addicted to Netflix at the moment. So much so that I have stopped reading books altogether. It’s just too good. Lovely sounding NYE but you’ve made me very hungry now!
It was delicious Kate. I kinda wish he did it every night but my waistline really couldn’t handle it. Why does everything cooked in butter taste SO nice?
Unbelievable! I always had to watch the good wife by myself! you must have a really nice husband 🙂 but i can already tell that by that picture with him above 🙂
Oh bless you, yep I am pretty lucky!
I am always very late on watching series on Netflix – I’ve recently started watching House of Cards and now, House. Problem is I tend to pick up mannerisms from the series if I watch it too much. Like the whole Breaking Bad thing, bitch. Now I find myself wanting to turn and talk to an imaginary camera a la Frank Underwood!
I too own and axe and chopping wood is just the BEST fun! Snuggled in nights are just the best fun 🙂
House of cards is A-MAZ-ING! I love it. Cannot wait for Season two.
Your new home sounds so lovely and am sure you will soon get the hang of the fire. I am liking the idea of this Netflix I ought to go and check it out as our son is always waking up still.
I am a bit addicted to it Joy. We don’t really watch much else these days. I hope you are right about the fire…driving me mad that I can’t do it.
Oh wow, uber jealous of Mr B’s cooking skillz! Looks like a fab NYE. I can’t wait for things to go back to normal now after Christmas, I need to find something new (and grown up!) on Netflix, although I am – I mean, Noah is enjoying King Julian!
The Good Wife is awesome Cas, you should give it a whirl.
Happy New Year 😉
I am loving the good wife too, we usually watch an episode each night at the minute – don’t know what I’ll do when we get to the end!
I know what you mean Cass. We always MEAN to just watch one and then ending up going to bed really late after watching three!
I love the sound of the new life in the country! Love the action shot of the chef too. We’ve just discovered Netflix, it seems great, although Mr A is giving me a lesson later – new fangled telly stuff…honestly!
We are loving it here Penny…it is much slower but am starting to adapt to that now.
I’m loving the stories of your life in the country and to be honest the idea of curling up in front of a log fire with a box set of something on Netflix sounds perfect. I just need to get myself a real fire and enough time to watch a box set!
LOL I know that feeling Penny. I am so glad things have slowed down for us a bit now that we have time to curl up.