Tearoom 35: Sun, sea and sand...

[beanandspud]

This breathtakingly beautiful island has unspoilt powdery white sand beaches, crystalline turquoise waters that wash over pristine coral reefs, and verdant green rainforest.

Scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking and sailing trips are available and you can discover the island's charms on foot (with or without Mellors the guide) by mountain bike or private island buggy.

For those in need of pampering the spa offers a selection of luxurious treatments to soothe and heal both body and soul.

For dining, enjoy a freshly prepared meal at the tearoom, a picnic on the beach, or a delicious dinner in the oceanfront restaurant with its stunning sea views. There is , and good company, everybody is welcome.

they don't show up on non-iphone type things...

The does though... mistlehound will enjoy chasing after those. She likes the chase - but doesn't do the retrieve which is somewhat annoying.

Test Christmas puddings are being steamed (well, the first one since the recipe makes two). Slow cookers are fab for steaming -- and I can go out!

We harvested one potato bag yesterday. Good little harvest but nest of ants that gave me the jeebies. Even the potatoes in the box after harvest were crawling so couldn't bring them in. Worried about the second bag. Marigolds buds bursting all over the pot and SB is very excited.

Swimming and park day today!

We do our Christmas Puddings in the pressure cooker Scout. Made my first one last year - it was very nice, even though I say it myself (traditional family recipe, perfected over time by my mother... the first time she made it she realised, after starting, that she was going to have to scald out the washing up bowl and stir it in there, and they had enough Christmas pudding to last all year... )

I used my friend's pressure cooker the first year (maybe two) I made puddings. It did cut the time down but I still needed to be home to do it. At least with my slow cooker I can go out and get on with my life while it's slowly steaming away. I discovered by putting hot/boiling water in the slow cooker I could keep the time to six hours instead of seven or eight (waiting for the water to warm up).

The second pudding is in the slow cooker. I think the first one might be cooled down enough for me to wrap.

On train to the Big Smoke for a posh London wedding and I have a migraine. Bah. Can't enjoy being dressed up and Small Boy free and can't have a naice glass of something with all the pain pills rattling inside of me. Double bah.

If this migraine doesn't shift soon I may scream. Lots of incense ay church did not help. I know no one apart from MrScout and the groom so sitting on the wall watching wedding photos being taken while trying to die quietly and without disruption to the couple.

sooo, boy would like a sibling, so he says. Not a younger one tho, he wants an older sibling. Because then he could play with them and not get bored and they are better than babies.....

He could have one 300 miles away? DS would make a fab big brother and does sometimes comment about having a sibling. But he's OK with it really.

And just to confound the 'only children' 'rules', he got on really well with two boys that he'd not met before on Saturday afternoon, integrated very nicely into their 'gang' and generally behaved admirably (I was helping out on a stall and he came along and ended up playing with two other children that had similarly been dragged along).

I'm filing such comments from boy in the same category as
" I want to live HERE because its next to the park" ( we live 400 m away.) and " I want X to live at my house so we can play beast quest ALL the time" .

Looking forward to heading in your direction soon UniS!

Please can you keep some good weather for us?

Happy Independence Day!!!

Who's in charge of the BBQ and fireworks later?

As long as you've got some dog-friendly ear muffs for mistlehound, I'll do some Scout!

I'm sure I can find some MT.

UniS might be able to knit them for mistlehound....

SB has been wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July. It's certainly making adults laugh (and confuses his preschool friends).

Happy independence day - Lets all celebrate the day we got shot of the Yanks ( tongue is VERY firmly in my cheek scout).

V   V     V         V      V       V  V 

bunting is hung in your honour.

Happy Independence Day Scout

UniS, we're revolting.

[boom]

Thanks, JM! How are you?

tres tres revolting

( Boom Booom)

Happy 4th July!

Hope all is well for everyone in the Tearoom?

Unis - Small Bean also fancies having a sibling at the moment but not a baby - an older brother to play football with is top of his list! Saying that, last week he wanted a hamster... and before that was a BMW so he's quite fickle

MT - we must try to get together at some point, Small Bean still refers to his 'pizza friends' even though it was a while ago now!

Scout SB sounds so lovely - is he still madly into trains?

We were looking at next year's Tour de France route in the UK - must be a good opportunity for a tearoom meet with all these cyclists.

All is good chez Bean and we're looking forward to the end of term. So far we've had sports day and then the end of year show which made me cry - there's something about a bunch of 5yr olds on stage singing that gets me every time . Small Bean has really come on this year and is getting so grown up...

Loving this sunshine, the garden is looking good and next week's going to be roasty

Has anyone got plans for the Summer?

We're shipping DS to grandparents for a week, then visiting UniS (well, sort of in the vicinity and we'll see whether her hectic diary can fit us in) then some weeks of summer camp then music for a week, bit more summer camp, grandparents and its back to school again! Really I would like to take the summer off and let MC hang around and have mates over and go off walking for the day etc - but its not to be unfortunately.

School appears to be organising an event to coincide with the starting of the race - I think you'll be able to see the cyclists from the school grounds so it makes sense. Might be interesting getting there - I think we might all cycle!!!

Bean - definitely - MC would love to have a younger sibling so that's an ideal match - small bean can have someone to follow around and help on things whilst mums sit on the benches - really must make it to where we previously discussed (RHS). I think that there might be some events over the summer so perhaps we can combine it with that. Until MiL gets her own house I think that we're going to be planning lots of days out

For us summer is like any other time of year (except there are more birthdays). We're getting a new boiler at the beginning of August so that will be three days of chaos (and hopefully SB & I not being here). We'll go to the Devon coast for a bit more than a week at the end of August like we do every year.

SmallBoy hasn't asked about siblings yet. I'm braced for if/when he does.

May I ask for help from the North American tea room mob. What on earth is a snickerdoodle? In the book DS is currently reading it seems to be a term of endearment AND a type of Muffin... I is a confused European.

Mmmmm, snickerdoodles. It's a type of cookie with a cinnamon/sugar coating. Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. Yummy!

::Places tray of warm snickerdoodles on the buffet::