The Wednesday Hodgepodge #60

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!

1. June 17th, 1994 was the day of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase. What were you doing in 1994? I'm guessing somebody is going to tell me they weren't born yet but that's part of the fun of the Hodgepodge. Lots of generations are represented here.

I can just about remember the car chase being on TV but I was too busy being a teenager to bother much with it. I was around 14 and a half years old in June 1994 living a carefree life. 1994 was a big year for my family as it was the year my parents sold our farm and we moved to a big town, which was such a shock for me, who had grown up in a tiny village in the countryside. That last summer at the farm was brilliant. Most of my time was spent outdoors, riding horses, camping out in fields with my friends and I made the most of the freedom that comes with growing up in the countryside. I also had my first experience of getting drunk that summer. It was not my finest moment and all these years later I can still remember exactly how awful I felt afterwards, which is probably why I still can't stand gin. School was going well too. I had a good group of friends, plenty of laughs and all the usual teenage dramas that seemed like the end of the world at the time but mean very little now.

2. What's your favorite summer salad that isn't the traditional tossed green lettuce kind of salad? Do you like fresh fruit in a salad (other than in a fruit salad of course)?

I have never really liked green, leafy salads and I always seem to go for pasta salads. My favourite is a tuna and sweetcorn one. It's simple to make; pasta, mayonnaise, tuna and sweetcorn all mixed together. It's filling and perfect when it's hot out. I usually make a big tub full and everyone will help themselves out of the fridge.

I like fresh fruit in salads. Pomegranate seeds go with everything, grapes are nice in pasta salads, pineapple goes well with ham and I also really like apple in coleslaw. I saw a recipe for watermelon, feta and a mint salad that I want to try sometime soon.

3. Is chivalry dead? Should it be?

I don't think chivalry is dead but I do think it has changed over the years. If we're talking about things like holding doors open, carrying heavy bags, offering someone your seat, or offering a coat when it's cold, then I do see that happening all the time. The biggest difference now is that those things are not seen as something that men should do specifically for women. To me, it seems more of an act of kindness that anyone can do for anyone else. I think that is a good thing. No, I don't think chivalry is dead and I don't think it should be.

4. Would you rather spend a week of your summer vacation in Hawaii or Alaska? Have you ever been to either? Are they two places you really would like to see? How do you feel about 'Hawaiian pizza' aka pineapple on a pizza? Have you ever eaten Baked Alaska?

I would love to spend a week in Hawaii with the sunshine, sandy beaches and warm sea. I could just see myself sitting on a beach, looking out to the sea with a cocktail in my hand. Alaska does look amazing but I think I'd probably spend half the holiday complaining about being too cold. I've never been to either place but I would love to visit both. Hawaii feels like a dream holiday, while Alaska feels like one of those once in a lifetime trips you go on just to see the scenery!

Pineapple belongs on pizza, not all pizzas but it goes so well with ham and mushroom! I have eaten Baked Alaska before but it was years ago and I am sure I must have liked it.

5. World Cup play is happening now...are you interested? Watching any matches? Did you or your children play soccer/futbol? There are eleven US cities hosting matches - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York with the stadium in NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle along with three cities in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) - You get free tickets to one of these matches. Which city do you choose? Tell us why.

Football is a big deal here in England and at the moment the whole country is very excited about the World Cup. Even people who don't usually watch football follow along. I've been watching as many matches as I can and I'm really enjoying it. I always find myself rooting for the underdogs and wanting them to win. As I am writing this on Monday afternoon, I am watching the Germany V Curacao match that I recorded on Sunday. I have been trying to avoid the scores before I watch the matches I have recorded but I couldn't avoid the score since Germany won 7-1! If you are not a football fan, that is a lot of goals! Usually, matches end 2-1 or 1-0. What a game, at least Curacao got one goal and could have their moment celebrating!

If I could have free tickets to any World Cup match, I'd choose Dallas and watch England play tonight against Croatia in their first match in the tournament. I can imagine the atmosphere being amazing and how cool would it be to see your country play! I am just going to have to make do with watching it in my living room.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Phew! I am all sorted for Father's Day! I have bought my dad a hamper of some delicious treats that he's had in the past and loved. We don't have any plans for Sunday as Becky is at work and my dad has plans. Eesh! We did have a family meal out on Sunday as a treat for Stu and we all left with full bellies after a delicious lunch! The girls have got him some fab gifts and I can't wait to see his reaction when he opens them.

What 20 years together really looks like!

Twenty years. I keep saying it out loud like it still doesn’t quite make sense. My fella and I have been together for twenty years. Two whole decades! That’s long enough for everything to have changed at least twice, for phones to go from chunky bricks to what they are now and for us to become those people who say around twenty years because even the exact date has quietly slipped our minds, we know it was a Friday in June and we've narrowed it down to either the 16th or 23rd. lol

We met online on one of those free dating websites where you made a profile and them messaged people that you had an interest in. We are proof that internet dating works sometimes. We chatted online using the dating website first then progressed to MSN Messenger (remember that?) and then finally moved to texting and phone calls and then finally met up in person a few months later.

After 20 years together, it's not fireworks every day, it’s not roses delivered on a random Tuesday and it’s not romance like something out of a film. It’s mostly just us, still here, still laughing at stupid things, still annoying each other in ways that are both deeply irritating (Stu snoring) but still choosing each other.

When you’ve been together this long, the big romantic gestures seem to fade into the background and the little moments take over. It’s the same conversations on repeat, and we're acting like they’re brand new every time. It’s routines that never really got planned, they just sort of happened. Us in the same seats and the same nightly check of the doors, with me asking if they’re locked even though I’ve watched him do it. Evenings that roll into each other with TV, snacks and one of us drifting off somewhere else in the house to do our own thing.

Stu, my fella snores loudly with confidence! Like someone who has never once worried about being elbowed in the ribs at 2am. Some nights I lie there staring at the ceiling, planning my future as a woman who lives alone in a very quiet house but there is a plot twist; I snore too. I apparently sound like a lawnmower and he lies there feeling exactly the same way about me. We’ve both nudged, sighed, rolled over and muttered things we’d never say in daylight. We’ve both slept badly because of the other one and then laughed about it the next morning like it’s just part of the package because it is. Twenty years together means you stop pretending you’re not annoying. You just accept it. You might still complain about it, obviously but there’s an understanding underneath it all. This is the person, snoring and all.

It also means laughing at things no one else would find funny. Private jokes that make zero sense to anyone else. A look across the room that says Did you just see that?", a shared eye roll, a badly timed comment that sends us both into silent, shaking laughter when we really shouldn’t be laughing at all. Those laughs matter because life isn’t always kind. There are stresses and worries and days when everything feels hard and in those moments, having someone who can make you laugh without even trying is massive. Stu knows how to lift my mood just by being himself. He has seen me at my worst and stuck around anyway.

That’s another thing no one really talks about enough. Twenty years together means my fella has seen my good moods and the bad ones. The motivated days and the ones where I can’t be bothered with anything or anyone. The confidence and the insecurities and the versions of myself that I didn’t even know were coming.

We have grown together and we are not the same people we were at the start of our relationship and thank goodness for that. We’ve changed together and sometimes at different times and there have been moments where we’ve had to work a bit harder to understand each other again, where we’ve had to bite our tongues and we’ve had to accept that being right isn’t always the most important thing and that’s not always easy. There have of course been disagreements and times when one of us has said something badly or at the wrong moment. It’s not perfect and it was never going to be, but it all makes our relationship great! Great in the way that makes me feel safe and great, in the way that means I don’t have to perform or pretend or be anything other than myself.

Maybe the biggest thing is that it doesn’t feel like twenty years! We may not have those romantic gestures but we have each other! We’ve basically become a two-person team with snacks, shared memories and an ongoing debate about snoring. hehehe

Our weekly meal plan! 15th - 21st June!! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend. We had a great one which involved a lot of football, F1 and a family meal out yesterday. Becky is working next Sunday on Father's Day, so we thought we would celebrate early. We had a lovely lunch at the pub and then visited another to watch the Barcelona Grand Prix. It was a great afternoon.

Last week's meal plan went really well! We stuck to it all the way until the weekend, even eating all the meals on the right day. The only reason we didn't have the meal on Saturday is because we decided to have a break from ordering Gousto boxes as they just don't have enough meals that we fancy to make it worthwhile ordering. We just seem to be eating the same ones on repeat, so I am going to have to put my thinking cap on and come up with the meals myself even though this week we have quite a few meals we've had from Gousto in the past and I have just bought the ingredients myself! Anyway on Saturday we had a huge prawn salad and garlic bread. It was delicious!

This is my last normal week of being home alone as next week Ellie leaves college! Where have the three years gone? It feels so weird that soon neither of my girls will be in education! I have spent a good part of my life doing school runs, dealing with teachers, helping with homework and things like that. It's the end of an era. Why do they have to grow up so fast!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - No idea!

I am going to pick something up while I am out in town. It turns out I am the worst daughter in my family as the girls have already bought their gifts for Father's Day and I haven't. I've not even got a card yet. I hope I can find something good for my dad while I am out. Eek!

Tuesday - One Tray Sticky Hoisin Sausage Traybake!

Even though we're not getting the Gousto boxes delivered, it doesn't stop me using their recipes. This one is a good one! Roast sausages, potatoes and peppers coated in a sticky Hoisin glaze. Tray bakes are one of my favourite type of meals because you can just shove everything in the oven and let it do its thing.

Wednesday - Ham, eggs and home made chips!

I have a couple of joints of gammon. I will boil it and we will have it with fried eggs and home made chips. I discovered over the weekend that gammon is the cured pork you buy before it’s cooked and once you cook it, it’s then called ham and just to confuse things even more, it's mostly all just called ham in the US. lol

Thursday - Pea and ham soup!

I am going to make use of the leftover ham and make pea and ham soup as long as my family hasn't eaten the ham straight out of the fridge over the last 24 hours. This is what my family call Shrek soup as it looks like a melted down Shrek!

Friday - A takeaway of some sort!

Friday night is an easy night for me. I don't cook and we order takeaway. Last week we ended up getting chip shop again. Stu and I had burgers and Ellie had her usual Doner kebab wrap and fries.

Saturday - 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 will have some for lunch the next day because it’s just as nice cold.

Sunday - A help yourself evening!

I have no plan for today and everyone can just help themselves to whatever they fancy. Last week we ended up going out for lunch, which was a nice treat. This week we will be staying home.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 7th - 13th June Week 24 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you've all had a lovely week and are enjoying your weekend! I've had a bit of a meh week and have been feeling pretty grumpy! The weather wasn't great and my body was playing silly games which left me feeling run down. It's fine though, I have pulled myself out of my mood and I am feeling much better now.

Yesterday was all about me getting the house in order because I have been pretty lazy when it came to the housework over the last week and things had started piling up. It turns out there really wasn't that much to do once I got Ellie to collect all of her belongings from every room in the house. How one person can leave a trail of stuff everywhere! lol Today we're celebrating Father's Day a week early because Becky is working next weekend. We've got a couple of nice things planned for Stu and the girls are paying, which makes it even better from my point of view.

Now for a photo every day!

158/365 7th June

A single poppy appeared in my garden, in the flower bed where it's supposed to be. I love poppies. They look so delicate and almost paper like. They always remind me that some of the prettiest flowers don't last very long. This one definitely didn't. We had some heavy rain and by the next day it had gone. The petals were scattered all over the garden. Hmmf.

159/365 8th June

I have no idea what these are! I grew them from a seed and according to Google, "this leafy green is a Brassica vegetable, likely cabbage, broccoli, or brussels sprouts in their early growth stages." I didn't plant any of those things. Either I was sent the wrong seeds, somebody has been sneaking into my garden planting vegetables or Google is totally wrong. I'm going to leave them alone and see what happens.

160/365 9th June

It's Tuesday which means one thing Costa Coffee and my usual Chocolate Fudge Frappuccino. I know I should try something different every now and then but when it's a once a fortnight treat and I don't want to risk getting something that I don't like.

161/365 10th June

This was the start of watching at least one football match a day, with England's friendly against Costa Rica. I did think it was going to be rained off as the pitch was like a swimming pool as the coverage started.

162/365 11th June

Waffle fries for tea or pizza waffle fries as we call them. My family loves this meal. These were the waffles before they were topped with tomato puree, onions, mushrooms, salami, pepperoni and lots of cheese. There were no leftovers with this meal!

163/365 12th June

Woah, we're halfway there. Woah lemon on a pear! Just one of my funny t-shirts. People will usually glance at it, look away, then do a double take before reading it properly. Then comes the smile. I love little silly things like that.

164/365 13th June

You would think my eldest was about 6 years old with the things she buys. This turned up yesterday, a Squishy Dumpling! I saw it and turned into a concerned parent because I had actually read an article about them the other day. Some have apparently caused problems because they can burst and the contents can be harmful. I gave her a little warning speech, which she probably ignored after the first few words but I tried!

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