A long round-up

It was GrandDaughter1's prom last night so I went along with her mum and dad to see her arrive at the venue - she'd got dressed at a friend's house. Ooh, she looked gorgeous. I felt quite weepy to see her so grown-up.

Back from there and it was straight to Slice for our day late anniversary meal. The food was as delicious as ever but I didn't enjoy it as much as it was so hot. We had a fan right next to our table but it didn't make much of an impact on the evening of the hottest day ever in Wales.

Sleeping wasn't good after a late meal and no air. I got up in the middle of the night and stuck my feet in the bathroom sink and ran cold water over them. (One at a time.) That didn't help either.

But I know you all want to see what we ate. We went for the taster menu as usual and both opted for the dressed white crab, brown meat panna cotta, avocado and watermelon juice.

Oh I forgot, that came after the amuse bouche of duck hash and quail egg.

Then we had sea bass, scallop, cauliflower and caper sauce but I forgot to take a photo. Followed by pork loin, belly shoulder, carrots, broad beans, and apple and fennel puree.

That was followed by lamb chop, braised shoulder and potato terrine, with apricot and pistachio.

Then it was time for dessert number one. Strawberry salad, sorbet, shortbread, cream, and pavlova.

And finally chocolate mousse in a chocolate shell, chocolate and cherry brownie, cherry ice cream.

Before all this we shared two mini loaves, one white, one wheatmeal, with salty butter, and brown butter. Quite honestly I could enjoy a meal of that.

* * * * *

Today the weather was cooler so I started in the garden, banking some of the potatoes before getting distracted by branches that needed lopping. Then off to Flexercise where I struggled to find the right arm to use.

Back and more gardening. I raked most of the stones off my my front bit of terrace sorting them into two bags: one reasonably clean stone, and one stone and earth mixed together.

I then levelled it off to my satisfaction (above) and was about to put down the weed suppressant material when I thought I'd better check with Husband if there were anything else I needed to do first.

"You've got to sieve out all the stones otherwise they make it easier for weeds to grow."

I am still not convinced by his explanation but I set to.

After completing about half I had filled a bag with stones and had half a wheelbarrow of sieved earth.

No, it's not perfect: there are still lots of pebbles but it's as good as I'm going to get it! So there.

I've raked the rest into a pile (far end of picture) and hope to persuade grandsons to do the rest of the sieving with the promise of monetary recompense.

I now have three bags of pebbles: one reasonably clean; one sieved but a bit dirty; and one - the biggest one - in need of sieving (not in picture).

And now I've had a swim, showered, and am blogging.

Oh yes, I had an email from my MP telling me what a wonderful job Keir Starmer did.

"This significant progress, which will benefit thousands of people across Swansea, too rarely gets the attention it deserves. However, a lack of press attention does not make it any less important on the ground."

Bleurgh. If he really felt that why didn't he say so and take a clear stand supporting Sir Keir before he was forced to resign.  

I emailed him back and told him, that as soon as it was confirmed that there would not be a leadership contest, I would be resigning from the Labour Party. I want to hang on in case I have a chance to vote for the next leader, which seems unlikely. Bleurgh again.