Lunchtime book therapy

It’s been one of those days, actually it’s been one of those weeks and it’s only Wednesday! It got to lunchtime and I just had to get out of the office.

There are a few things that always succeed in clearing my head, my favourite (besides a bottle of wine, never a good idea at lunchtime though) and without a doubt an effective therapy is to surround myself with books. My choice venue for this more often that not is to visit Daunt Books. I’ve no idea why, but it always makes me feel better, maybe it’s the books, the calm or the quite welcoming atmosphere, but I always leave feeling better. But there may well be another reason for that … a slightly heavier bag!

So off I traipsed to Daunt Books in Cheapside for a bit of book therapy. Now I have to admit that I rarely come out of this delightful bookshop empty handed. Today was no exception, I purchased not one but three new books.

My choice, in line with most other things I do was somewhat random. One of my all time favourite authors Isabel Allende has a new book out, Island Beneath the Sea, which I just had to have. Next I browsed past Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists and it’s brief blurb and setting was enough to grab my attention.

That all happened too quickly so I decided to take a quick look downstairs only to find myself drawn to the corner with all the PG Wodehouse books. I’ve never been able to pass a Wodehouse without picking one up. I’m in the middle of reading another book, but I think I need a brief interlude of Wodehouse, I’m looking forward to getting stuck into Young Men in Spats.

The highlight of my trip came, and forgive me for this, when the friendly man at the till put my books into a cloth Daunt Books bag. Now you have no idea how long I’ve wanted one of these, and before anyone says anything I know you can buy them in the shop but still …

My purchases may well result in some creativity on my part, so watch this space, there may well be a few book reviews on the way!

New Years Resolution … three weeks in

It’s been a while, well four months to be exact since I wrote anything here.  Despite my frequent well meaning, but futile attempts to sit down and write, something else always distracted me.

In brief the last four months have consisted of among other things, a nerve racking few days deliberating how to hand in my notice, a crazy few months starting a new job and trying to become a financial tech guru of sorts, the hazy few days of excessive  food and wine consumption, balanced out by long walks which was Christmas, only to find myself catapulted into January and 2012. Which is apparently our last year according to the Mayan’s, so must make the most of it! However, being a bit of a sceptic, I have taken that prediction with a pinch of salt.

OK, so I don’t do New Years Resolutions, there’s no point, I never keep them, but I did decide to do a few things this year – that ways it’s less official than actually making a resolution.

One of my favourite ‘decisions’ was to cook something different every weekend. So most Sunday’s you’ll find me obsessing about what I’m going to cook for dinner, googling recipes – I have a growing folder with gorgeous pictures and scrumptious recipes – and wondering the aisles of Sainsbury’s piling my shopping basket with food.

The reason this ‘decision’ is working so well – three weeks in anyway – is thanks to my excessively partiality for food  and what better way to enjoy food on a budget than to cook it yourself!

My incessant web searching has resulted in my discovering the BBC Good Food website, how I didn’t stumble upon this gem earlier is beyond me, the recipes are amazing. Last weekend I trialled the recipe for Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Cannelloni, it was seriously delicious!

Tonight’s recipe is  Courgette Pancakes with Feta and Red Pepper Filling, my stomach is rumbling already!

As for other ‘decisions’, well to be honest, that’s the only one I made, I didn’t want to overdo it. Apart from deciding to move apartments, which is something I’v been deliberating doing for almost a year now, so I guess you could say I never fulfilled my last years New Years Resolution. Ooops.

Let’s hope this years one works out better. So to help me out, any suggestions for recipes are very welcome.