Wednesday, 22 April 2026

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #52

I hope you are all having a good week. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to join in with the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

The Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. April 22nd is Earth Day...what's the most 'out of this world' place on earth you've ever visited? Tell us something about it.

I’m actually quite boring when it comes to travelling. I don’t really go anywhere but the most "out of this world" trip I’ve had was spending Christmas in a hotel with my family, my dad and his partner. It just felt really different from the usual Christmas at home. Everything was already done, the decorations were up, there was no stress about cooking or cleaning and it felt like I was stepping into a Christmas film for a few days.

2. A favorite quote, verse, or song lyric with the word earth in it?

The first thought I had for this was Earth Song by Michael Jackson, I used to love that song and the music video which went with it but thought that was too obvious! I found a few quotes which did make me smile:

Be like Earth: keep spinning even when nobody appreciates the effort.
You are allowed to grow slowly. Earth took billions of years and still isn’t finished.
If Earth can survive asteroids, you can survive that awkward email you sent.
When life feels heavy, remember Earth is literally carrying oceans on its back and still showing up daily.

3. What's the most trivial thing about which you have a strong opinion?

The TV volume! It is never right! One minute someone’s whispering like they’re sharing a big secret and the next minute it’s like the whole soundtrack is trying to blow the windows out. When I am watching some shows, it feels like I am a sound engineer, constantly turning it up then down! While I am on about the volume on the TV, it has to be on an even number. Odd numbers just feel wrong.

4. What's your most commonly used kitchen utensil or tool? What's the last thing you made using that tool?

Tongs

I bought some tongs a few years ago and they are the most used thing in my kitchen. I got a pack of 5 or 6 purely to get things out of the air fryer but now I use them with everything like the George Foreman grill, turning things over in pans and they have saved me from burning myself many times while using the air fryer. I last used them to make the red onion and bacon tart. They are great for turning the bacon over in the pan and scooping the red onions out of the pan to put on the pastry.

5. Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me a great book of 3000 questions, and I'm going to try to use one in our Hodgepodge every week. Here is today's - What is your greatest extravagance?

My biggest extravagance is definitely takeaways but not just the obvious ones, like pizza, Chinese food or fish and chips. It’s the random shop sandwiches for lunch when I could’ve easily made something at home but didn’t. It’s picking up a sausage roll when I’m out, even though I wasn’t even hungry five minutes earlier but I could smell them coming from the shop. It’s the fancy coffee drinks which are like a reward for getting something done. All these little food decisions add up and I never seem to learn.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

If my eldest could have a break from bringing colds and germs home from work that would be great. I came down with a cold that I caught from her over the weekend. Thankfully, I didn't feel too ill. It was more the inconvenience from my runny nose and not sleeping as much as I would have liked but that worked out well. I was snotty and sneezing, dosed up with cold and flu tablets and felt wide awake, which meant I stayed up both nights to watch Wrestlemania. If I had been feeling well I would not have stayed up both nights but sick me thought I was going to be awake anyway, so I might as well. I am feeling much better now and can at least breathe through my nose properly again.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Tuesday, 21 April 2026

The cups of tea that get me through the day!

It turns out there really is a day for everything and National Tea Day might just be my favourite of the whole lot. A whole day dedicated to sitting down with a cuppa and pretending it’s not just something we do on autopilot every single day. National Tea Day feels like the perfect excuse to stop and notice how often tea pops up in my life and routine.

A cup of tea

Tea just fits into my day. It’s not rushed, not complicated, it just shows up exactly when I need it and if I haven’t had the right cup at the right time, the day feels a bit off.

I need a proper cup of tea to actually wake up on a morning. My morning tea is my quiet time before the day properly kicks off. The whole process matters. Boiling the kettle, finding my favourite mug which is usually near the sink, not washed from the night before. It's not rushed. I let the tea brew properly, add a bit of sugar, the milk and then give it a stir. It’s a little routine that tells my brain it’s time to wake up!

Lunch tea is a bit more flexible and it depends on what I’m eating. If it’s something hot, then a cup of tea is almost guaranteed. It just feels right but with cold lunches, especially sandwiches, it depends. Some sandwiches demand tea and others do not. There are days when a glass of milk feels like the better choice.

My afternoon cup of tea is special. After doing things around the house, the afternoon slump hits me hard and this cup of tea is usually accompanied with a slice of cake if I’m lucky, or a cereal bar if I’m being sensible. It's a little boost to keep me going for the rest of the day.

I don't have a cup of tea with my evening meal, I save myself for my evening cup of tea at around 8pm. Ellie always puts the kettle on at around this time and Stu makes the teas. I get to sit and have it brought to me. There's no rushing, just some calm and a couple of biscuits.

I really love the cup of tea that I have when I go to visit my dad each week. It's always with lunch and his tea seems to taste better than mine. For a long time we thought it was down to the tea-bags but we switched to the same brand then we thought it must be down to the size of his cups but no, the explanation was simple. It was the milk! He uses whole milk and at home I use semi-skimmed!

What I love most about my tea routine is that it’s totally mine, there are no strict rules and no crazy schedules. Tea’s not just a drink for me, it is how I pause, reset and sometimes just sit quietly and National Tea Day feels like the perfect excuse to appreciate all that.

Do you drink tea? When do you have your favourite cup of tea during the day?

Monday, 20 April 2026

Our weekly meal plan! 20th - 26th April #MealPlanningMonday

Our weekly meal plan

Happy Monday! I hope you have all had a good weekend. Ours has been a good one even though I was full of cold. Ugh! I am hoping by now I am over the worst of it. I thought it was just hayfever on Friday but it carried on over the weekend. We had a weekend of watching Wrestling. Two nights of Wrestlemania, the WWE Hall of Fame event and of course, all the pre and post shows.

Last week's meal plan was a bit hit and miss. We didn't eat anything on the right day but we did eat all the meals. Stu made me chuckle on Monday, he cooked the Sesame Pork & Egg Fried Rice and he's never really made a Gousto meal before and struggled to follow the recipe. He is more a chuck things in and see how it goes instead of following a recipe type of person. We decided to ditch the chippy tea and get McDonald's delivered on Friday. I was starting with the cold, so I really wanted junk food. I know I probably should have eaten something healthy but I so wanted a milkshake and it did make me feel slightly better!

This week is back to normal after the Easter break, so I will have some days when I am home alone which hasn't happened for the last fortnight. I am looking forward to doing my own thing. Becky is off to see a concert and is having a few nights away, so she is very excited and still has to pack. She is never in a rush to pack, which always stresses me out. I know I should just leave her to it but I like her to be prepared. I haven't ordered a Gousto Box for this week because I wanted a week of having some of our favourite meals.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Red onion and bacon tart with baby potatoes!
This one is inspired by a Gousto recipe for Bacon and Leek Tart that we had years ago and it’s stuck with us ever since. I decided to make our own and Red onion and bacon tart became a thing. Ready-made puff pastry, a layer of soft cheese, topped with red onions and smoky bacon. I will make a little extra so I have some for lunch the next day because it’s just as nice cold.

Tuesday - Sausage casserole and mashed potato!
This is a proper family favourite, especially with the girls. It feels like ages since we last had it, so it’s definitely due a comeback. I keep it simple and use a packet mix, then add sausages, onions and mushrooms and let it all cook away in the oven until everything has thickened up. I’ll be making extra of this one too because it freezes really well and it's great to have something as a backup in the freezer.

Wednesday - Minced Beef & Onion Crispy Pancakes with chips and baked beans!
A nice easy, out of the freezer meal. I might make homemade chips but it depends on how I feel and how busy I am.

Thursday - Thai style pork patties with sweet potato wedges and salad!
This is another one of our favourite Gousto meals which I have made many, many times before. They are so full of flavour and always go down well.

Friday - Chippy tea!
Friday night is a chip shop tea! No cooking, no fuss and the biggest drama is deciding what we fancy.

Saturday - Pizza!
It could be homemade or it could be out of the freezer. Who knows? It depends on the plans for the day.

Sunday - A help yourself evening!
I have no plan for today and everyone can just help themselves to whatever they fancy.

What are you eating this week?

Sunday, 19 April 2026

A photo every day for a year! 12th -18th April Week 16 of #Project365

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all having a great weekend. Mine hasn't been so bad so far but I have another cold. Ugh! I thought it was my hayfever playing up when it started on Friday as I was walking to my dad's. I left the house feeling fine but on the way, walking past all the trees and flowers, I felt a scratchy feeling in the back of my nose. By the time I got to my dad's, it was running and my eyes were streaming, then came the sneezing, which is totally typical for hayfever. Friday night I went to bed and I was full on snotty and sneezing. As of writing this yesterday, I don't feel much better but I suppose at least the worst of it is happening over the weekend and I am hoping to feel better by tomorrow. I am totally blaming Becky for bringing it home from work. She had a cold last weekend but I thought I had escaped catching it. Ugh!

Now for a photo every day!

Dark room and doughnuts
F1 top and Grape hyacinths
My favourite t-shirt and youngest in her grandads vintage car
Wrestlemania reminder set on Netflix

102/365 12th April
This photo sums up our Sunday. At one point it got so dark outside that it looked like it was about to chuck it down and I am pretty sure it did at some point. We were all sat in the living room, full from lunch, watching TV and it just got darker and darker. We kept saying we should put the light on but no one moved, we just sat there in the dark being lazy.

103/365 13th April
Stu was out for the afternoon and came back with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! This isn't something that happens often as he is not into sweet things, so it doesn’t cross his mind to pick up treats like that. My girls and I love sweet treats so we were very happy.

104/365 14th April
Ellie finally got herself an F1 T-shirt. It came from Primark. Alpine isn’t her favourite team but she really liked the design of the top and it is quite nice.

105/365 15th April
The grape hyacinths are back in the garden in their usual spot, against the fence. I really don't understand how they grow there as it is so shaded but every year they pop up and do their own thing.

106/365 16th April
My Ew, People T-shirt made an appearance and I still love it just as much as the first time I wore it. It sums up my mood on the days when being sociable is a lot of effort.

107/365 17th April
Ellie ended up helping her grandad with his vintage car, which was really sweet to watch. He needed someone to sit inside and press the brake in and out while he was underneath doing whatever he was doing under the car. It was a two-person job so she arrived just at the right time.

108/365 18th April
It's WrestleMania weekend! I set a reminder on Netflix which is not needed because there’s no way I’d forget but I'd rather have the reminder set just in case. lol

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