So what made me take up this challenge? Well simply I used to do quite a lot of knitting before the boys were born. I haven't done any for about 24 years and i began to think about lost crafts. So many of us have hobbies and interests that we put to one side as life moves on and priorities change. I started to feel that I am nearing the time of life where I'm needed less by the family and the opportunity to go back or finding new things has arisen. Doing the hats gives me a purpose and makes me feel useful and in some peculiar way needed. I'm afraid i' one of those sad people who need to be needed. I would much prefer to do something for others than for myself. This alone has made some of the list a challenge because some of them are on there to do something just for me. It will be interesting to see how much guilty pleasure i get from those activities.

This is the Hairy Dieters lamb Tagine. We had this for diner last Monday and it was absolutely delicious. I'm gong to have to make this again not only because we enjoyed it so much but because I forgot to take a photo to prove I made it! not sure if senility is kicking in or I just couldn't wait to get stuck in. I'm sure there will be a few comments on that one but please be kind.

There will be more meals this week and I promise to try and remember the photos this time! Tomorrow we have cassoulet and Wednesday we are planning Jambalaya, both of which I have never cooked or tasted before. I'm having to pick and choose a bit what I cook because My husband isn't keen on lamb, sausages as anything other than part of a cooked breakfast and shell fish. Guess whose working away from home this week? 

Some news on whats coming up. Friday we are off to Centre Parcs for Easter and have booked up to go horse riding and do the tree top adventure ticking off two more events from the list. Looking at the weather though I'm thinking the tree top one may be cancelled. I really hope not because my grandson will be so disappointed. Watch this space to learn what happens.
Well just time to cast on 48 stitches before  work starts.

Right, ok ,well umm, ummmm, hmmmmm what shall we write about today? Oh yes another recipe, no please don't leave, I know there's lots of posts about what I've cooked but I really must get through this book and there's so many more recipes to do, sorry. They are lovely though and very enjoyable. This week saw me serve another lunch to my long suffering work colleague. We had fruity rice. I was a little sceptical at first, wasn't sure the grapes, pineapple, cucumber,spices and rice would blend that well together but hey what do I know. They were beautiful. Its one of those dishes you could serve as a side dish to meat or on a buffet table. It was fresh tasting, smacked of summer flavours and was absolutely one to make again. Another hit from the Hairy Dieters. Monday will see me cooking their lamb tagine but more about that one after i've cooked it. It's almost worth going on a diet just to cook these dishes they are just so simple, tasty and mostly quite quick to do. It's going to be a recipe book I use for years to come dieting or not.

Ok quiz time, can you guess what it is yet or rather what it's going to be? no cheating and looking at the list. 


and the answer is ..............................................................................................................

A hat. They are little hats for tiny and premature babies born at the local maternity unit. I'm aiming to knit 50 of them, of course. I'm told they take about an hour to make but I'm thinking about 2 to start with till I get the hang of them. This one I might add I didn't knit. This one was made by my friendly neighbourhood hairdresser and given to me as an example of what they should look like. As usual I'll post photos and comparisons can be made. 

Well that's all to report for this week short and sweet I know. So happy reading, challenge yourselves and do something everyday that makes you feel life is worth living.

Cute and quaint that's the only way I can describe this wonderful little jewel in the country. The photos above are of this little cottage we rented for the weekend. It was wonderful with its kitsch but simple decor, open fire place and countryside views. Why did I want to spend a weekend in the countryside? well simply because Andrew and I don't get to spend much quality time together. Any time we do get we are usually falling asleep in front of the television, like I suspect a lot of couple do. How many of us sit there not speaking to each other like two individual people sharing a house rather than two people who love each other, who chose to live together as partners? I wanted to show Andrew that spending quality time with him was important that he is still important to me even if I don't tell him every day like I should. Besides this I'm a romantic at heart so what better way of fulling both these parts of me than spending the weekend in the countryside . I dare any couple to give it a go, bet you enjoy it. The cottage like I've already said was beautiful. It was a simple three storey building with particularly steep stairs to each floor but not unmanageable for us. It was set in a beautiful friendly village that hosted a school, shop, pub, railway station and lovely walks. It was part of the old brewery, actually the brewery managers home, it even had little cubby holes so he could look into the brewery and keep an eye on the workers. Of course they had been blocked up but they were still there. Its definitely a place I'd like to go back an visit again just for the piece and tranquillity and chance to relax. Anyone interested it was Brewery Cottage Freshford near Bath. There were other cottages for holiday rent in the village so if you needed something bigger or with easier stairs there were options.

While we were spending the weekend in the country we decided to visit Bath which was only a 10 to 15 minute train ride from Freshford. Below are the photos for this one. Its a place I've never been to before but heard so many lovely things about it, that and the fact it's one of the major tourist and historical places in England made it a must for my visit to a place I've never been to before. We had a great day visiting the Roman Baths and the Jane Austin centre. Truthfully I enjoyed the Jane Austin bit a lot more than Andrew but love him he indulged me and my whim without complaint or grumble. We however did get the perfect Mothers day gift for his Mum while there which she seemed very happy with. It was a signed book about Jane Austin. Visiting a place never visited before felt like a bit of an adventure. Its easy to re-visit old haunts just because they are familiar and make us feel happy or remind us of times past, but experimenting and trying something new can be exciting and the start of new memories. Hence the reason for putting this one on my list.

This week has also seen more meals cooked from the Hairy Dieters recipe book. Last night we had cottage pie and tonight roasted cod with parma ham and peppers. Both were very tasty and well worth a second, third or even fourth serving. Again photos of them are below. Well Thats about it for now so I'll finish up by urging each one of you to try something a little different whether it be a quiet weekend away or recipe you've never tried before. Throw caution to the wind and take a chance, live life and enjoy.

PS. Just as an update I'm re-publishing my 50 for 50 list, as you can see things are ticking off nicely.

1)Go and watch a real football match. 
2) See the local Christmas light switch on 
3) Go to local canal day. 
4) Host a cocktail party where everyone brings the ingredients for their favourite cocktail.  26/1/13
 5) Have a cocktail made and named after me. 26/1/13
6) Go to at least one charity bingo nights. 
7) Adventure day at somewhere like go ape. 
8) Send an individual message to every friend I have on Facebook. 22/2/13
9) Visit a town in England I have never been to before. 9/3/13
10) Visit the natural history and war museums in London. 
11) Find and make contact with a school friend I haven't seen for over 25 years. 
12) Go to the races. 
13) Go to a Shakespeare play. 
14) Take dance lessons. 
15) Go to a music festival. 
16) Do a charity moonlight walk or similar. 
17) Choose a cookery book and cook every recipe in it. 
 18) Create my own web page. 
19) Write a Blog of my 50 for 50. 
20) Give blood. 
21) Plant a tree. 
22) Read all three 50 shades of grey books. 
23) Give a talk to a group.
 24) Take out life insurance. 
25) Save all my 1p and 2p coins for a year and give to charity. 
26) Buy a something to eat and drink for a homeless person rather than passing them by. 23/2/13
27) Have a professional photo shot done. 
28) Have my make up professionally applied and then learn to do it myself .
29) Spend a weekend in the country with my husband. 8/3/13 - 10/3/13
 30) Have a go at a winter sport like ski-ing .
31) Try sailing. 
32) Go horse riding. 
 33) Visit Bruge Christmas ice sculptures festival. 
34) Decorate a room in my house and have it 100% complete. 
35) Create a calendar girl style calendar. 
36) Have something published. 
37) Register with the organ donor bank. 8/2/13
38) Do the Local circular walk. 
39) Trace my family tree. 
40) Take a photo of myself every day and create a time line of it. 
41) Work in a professional kitchen for a day. 
42) knit baby hats for local maternity unit. 
43) Volunteer at Katherine House Hospice. 
44) Have a girly day doing girly things. 
45) Visit all the squares on the monopoly board. 
46) Go to Hyde park winter wonderland.
47) Do something on impulse. 
48) Eat at a restaurant owned by a top chef. 
49) Get a mention on tv or radio.
50) Left to my family and friends to shock, surprise and/or entice me!!!!!!

I've had fun this week cooking two more recipes from the Hairy Dieters cook book. I have to report both were yummy and definitely worth cooking again. The first, cumin encrusted vegetables is a must for those fed up serving everyday boring vegetables. Don't get me wrong I like vegetable but finding new interesting ways to serve them is hard. As we are not having these meals for  weight loss purposes I served it with beef cooked in red wine, the combination was really good and a hit with the family. The Spanish style chicken bake was just as good even though a similar meal to the cumin encrusted vegetables. The main thing is we all enjoyed them and they turned out as they should have, well they looked like the pictures in the book anyway and didn't look like they had been run over by a steam roller! (I'm referring to my poor attempts at the swiss roll which I will at some point reattempt. Here is the picture evidence of the meals. These are ones i would recommend to try.

I'm on my way to starting another item on my list too. My friendly neighbourhood hairdresser has given me the knitting pattern to make little hats for our local maternity unit. She reckons they take her about an hour a hat to make, I reckon it'll take me a little longer to begin with but by the time I get to the fiftieth one it'll be a breeze, I hope.

Well that's it for now, I'm off to pack, shower and get ready to go to the country for the weekend with my husband, who I might add is celebrating his birthday today. Happy birthday darling.

So what's been going on this week. Not too much hence the lack of posts on the blog. Hope no-one thinks I've given up and therefore deserted me. Here is the update on the grand tour of my 50th year. Tuesday  I completed another task. Oh yes they're ticking off nicely, at a steady pace but that's ok, after all I don't want to burn myself out now do I? What did I complete? my financial arrangements that's what. I signed the paperwork for my life and critical illness insurance so my family will be taken care of at least short term if anything happens to me. This does not, I might add, give any member of my family, licence to bump me off early, Be warned you won't get a penny if you do. Seriously I really wanted to do this for my family and for those who have read my previous  postings will understand just how important this was to me. This was one of those personal things on my list that I needed to do for myself, for my family, not for others per-say but to give me peace of mind. A selfish reason maybe but I think a good one. This one wasn't meant to involve others or encourage others to join me but if reading this helps get people thinking about the not so pleasant subject, the taboo subject of illness and death and what they want to happen then so be it. I will have done some good for those who have or will be left behind because putting it bluntly it is those left behind that have to find the strength to carry on and pick up the pieces. While we are on a bit of a sombre note the photo above is of a letter I had come  on Thursday. It's to confirm my registration with the organ donor register complete with card attached which I will promptly place in my purse. 

Right to move on to a lighter note. This week the plans for the calendar shoot have moved on. Thanks to a wonderful friend and her contacts we now have a room and date booked at a local hotel. I am very grateful that they have only ask for a small fee and that they have been very helpful with our request. The midnight walk in aid of a local hospice is coming along nicely too. To recap the walk takes place on June 29th at midnight, it's 10 1/2 miles so I hope the weather will be kind to us and I really hope I can get some training in, after all I wouldn't want to be the one to let everyone down and not complete the course. Further details of this event can be found on Katherine House Hospice website under the link for fundraising. Registration for the walk are being taken from the end of March. I've been trying to get 49 other walkers to join me and so far have 18 plus me. There is still room for more please feel free to sign up, join in and do something for a good cause. I would like at this point to thank everyone who has already committed themselves to this event and hope that between us we can get more on board.

Next weekend I've got the first of my booked weekends away. My long suffering husband and I are of for our weekend in the country. I'm hoping that we can go visit some beautiful places around the area and know that I'll be going to places I've never been to before. Photos and blog will be updated next week on this event so keep watching. On the note of looking forward to things I've a few more Hairy Dieters meals planned for next week too. I know it's been a bit quiet on the recipe book front lately but my family need a rest from my 50 for 50 tasks. I'm  also sure my readers would like something more interesting to read about than reports on  what I'm having to eat. Next week we have a vegetable dish and a Spanish style chicken dish, mmmmm really looking forward to those. 

And finally my darling husband said he was confused about my list. He asked how was it that my something spontaneous was coloured blue when according to my code means booked, or being planned. I know on the surface this does not make sense but to clarify it is not  a mistake. I've changed it to blue because I think I need to do some more of this. As far as I am concerned this task is still in the practice stages and once I've done a few more things on the spur of the moment then it will turn red on my list. I hope that makes sense and clarifies any confusion.

Well that's about it for now no more updates to report on. I'm looking forward to another week of activities and reporting back. Just one final thing I'm adding this list with updates to this post just to remind me and everyone else how I'm doing. Happy reading everyone