Another day, another post with photos from a morning, one day last week.  A pinkish one this time, to match the bedding.  At some point I might take photos of something other than morning, and I might blog about something else too.  Any requests?

I know I’m posting this at the wrong time of day, but I ran out of time to schedule it last night.  So just pretend it’s morning time, OK?  For me?

A few days ago I was distracted from putting my make up on by the beautiful morning light.  Always happy for an excuse to play with the new camera, I grabbed it and spent a few minutes playing around with the brilliant touch-screen-auto-focus-thingumy and marvelling at the beauty of the world before remembering that light won’t make me beautiful (but mascara might) and getting back to the business in hand.  It was only once I downloaded the photos I noticed quite how much peeling paint there is on my window frame; this classic Edinburgh tenement flat with its sash windows, high ceilings and wooden floorboards might be lovely, but it is a little crumbly around the edges.  I still love it though, so let’s just say it all adds to the charm!

PS.  I was slightly inspired by this photo-a-day challenge (some of them just seem like nice ideas of things to photograph) but I have clearly spent far too much of January lying around feeling sorry for my shingley self to take a photo a day.  I reckon these shots could cover numbers 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 23 and 28 though, unless that’s cheating?!

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In the style of Neil Diamond, I’m COMING TO AMERICA!  Remember that leaving party I threw for my clever friend who was off to Princeton for a year?  Well, I’m going to visit her in – let me count – 6 weeks and 4 days!  AND I’m meeting up with my favourite bloggy friend for a few days in New York while I’m over there!  I’ve been planning the trip for a while but finally confirmed all the details and booked my flights this week.  I don’t think I could possibly be more excited!

PS.  If you have any suggestions of must sees / must dos / must eats in NYC do please share!  At the moment I have this vague excited vision of wandering around streets I’ve seen in films and eating doughnuts, but I should probably do some actual things while I’m there too.  All recommendations will be gratefully received!

PPS.  I’m so gutted that the Muppets exhibition closes the week before I get there!  Sob.

My mum tells me that Delia Smith recommends roasting a chicken if you feel in need of some tlc, and I think it’s pretty good advice.  There’s something so solid, so comforting, so deliciously satisfying about roasting a chicken, and it makes the place smell amazing!  Tell me you know what I’m talking about?  Anyone?

I roasted a chicken last week, when I’d just come back to my flat after a week of being looked after at my parents’.  It felt so nice to be back here, I think that’s when I realised that this place really feels like home.  It’s different, it’s lonely sometimes, and scary, and I’ve only got myself to blame when the dishes aren’t done and there are dirty socks on the floor, but this wee garden flat full of owls and bunting and photographs is all mine, it’s just mine, and I love it.  Even more so now  I’ve roasted a chicken in it; that really makes it a home.

All this talk of chickens, and I haven’t even mentioned the recipe I’m going to share (cos who needs a recipe to roast a chicken?  Just oil it, stick a lemon inside, throw it in the oven for an hour or two and don’t forget to baste).  What I actually intended to write about was the delicious roasted cauliflower you can see at the front of that there photo.  Infinitely better than the flabby whiteness of boiled cauliflower, and almost effortless, this is definitely going to become a regular feature of my solo cooking.

Roasted cauliflower (from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook)

1.  Cut 1 head of cauliflower into small florets.  Put in a baking dish large enough to hold it all in one layer and toss with 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

2.  Roast at 230 c/gas mark 8 for 35 minutes until the cauliflower is caramelized all over.  Stir or shake it up every so often.

That’s really it!  Told you it was easy, and it really is incredibly delicious.  Next time you’re putting a chicken in the oven, throw in a dish of cauliflower as well.  You won’t regret it!

Sticking with the photography theme, I’d like to introduce the newest member of my household: my brand spanking new Lumix GX1.  She’s a compact d-slr, my first foray into the world of ‘proper’ cameras, and is absolutely beautiful.  I think I’m in love.  If only I knew how to use it.

Following on from those gorgeous pictures of my grandparents, some more beautiful, nostalgic photographs.  This time from Dear Photograph, a brilliant site where people send in pictures of photographs from the past, in the present.  If that makes sense.  You know what?  Don’t worry about the words, just go there now and get lost for a while.  Lovely, just lovely.

PS. for some beautiful photos of tonight’s Scottish sunset, check out Wendy’s blog.  Also very lovely.

Now that the Christmas decorations are all packed away for another year my thoughts are turning to decorating my wee flat in a less tinselly and baubley kind of way.  What better than some lovely photos of my nearest and dearest (and probably some more bunting thrown in for good measure)?  With that in mind I had a rake through some old photos while I was quarantined at my mum and dad’s (OK, I wasn’t quite quarantined, I was just shingling around.  The shingles jokes have been fantastic – my particular favourite is my brother-in-law singing ‘shingle bells, shingle bells’ down the phone).  ANYWAY.  I really wanted to share these pictures of my parents and grandparents with my big sister Jane when she was just a baby (yes, it was her husband doing the singing, cheeky git) because they are just so incredibly beautiful.  The top two are my mum’s parents, my Granny and Grandpa, looking utterly delighted with their first grandchild.  Then come my dad’s parents, my Grandma and Grandad, with the cool kids themselves, my mum and dad.  Love love love.

I can’t be the only one who feels in need of some peace at the moment?  I found some today, on the beach in the glorious winter sunshine.  As part of my recovery programme my lovely mum and I walked around the town, round the houses and right along the beach, and even had a quick see saw in the park.  I would highly recommend it if you too are looking for some peace.

Whenever my family get together, board games happen.  There were games over Christmas, and now that I’m back at my parents’ for some recuperation there’s been more of the same.  Well, there were a couple of over-tired and over-silly games of Scrabble the other night at least!  So this cardboard cartoon from My Cardboard Life made me chuckle.  Looks fun, no?

PS.  What’s your favourite board game?

So the new year has arrived in a haze of shingles and stormy weather.  I’ve repaired to my parents’ for a few days to recover, but it took me a while to get here as the wind was so bad yesterday the bridge across the river was closed for most of the day.  We’ve had so much crazy weather lately that lots of conversations are starting to sound like this one.  It makes me giggle every time I catch myself having one of those ‘it’s not as windy as that stormy day in 1993′ conversations!  Watch up to about 3:00, and enjoy.