Blueberries and Mascarpone

I LOVE sweet and salty food combinations, so it's no wonder that I love fruit and cheese. Grapes with brie, apples with cheddar, pears with Stilton... tonight I expanded this list to include blueberries and mascarpone.

After making the first part of my Valentine's Day dessert, I had some cream and mascarpone leftover... and blueberries in the fridge. So I created this...
Blueberries drizzled with a bit of cream and topped with a dollop of mascapone and a broken rich tea biscuit. So simple and so good.

Ironbridge and Telford

A couple weeks ago Jeff and I got to go up to Telford, our soon-to-be home (or at least nearby), together. Though Jeff worked during the week, my task was to scout out the area and just get a feel for where we might want to live.

We drove part of the way "cross-country" on the way up, taking us to a village called Ironbridge, which is just outside Telford. Ironbridge is not only known for having the first-ever bridge made of iron (go figure), but it is also where the Industrial Revolution started...pretty amazing!

The bridge

At the small museum

On the Sunday we were there, we went to a church in Wem, north of Shrewsbury and met some lovely people, including an American family - Dan and Amber Shockley and their son, Ethan. They invited us to their home for lunch after the service and I went back again on Thursday and went to the coffee morning at the church. We don't know if we'll go to Wem Baptist Church or not, but we'll have to decide that once we move up that direction.

There are so many unknowns, but we trust in the Lord's plan for us.

Thoughts on a New Year

Welcome to the year MMXI! Some people view a new year as a new beginning, a chance to start over or make a change. Others go into a new year with feelings of hopelessness and dread. As Pastor Phil preached last night, there is no reason to feel anxious about starting a new year, "their hearts will be steadfast, trusting in the Lord" (Psalm 112:7). And that promise is what Jeff and I are holding onto this year.

We have much to look forward to: a visit to Ohio in the Spring and being a part of Colleen and Luke's wedding; a trip to Colombia for my brother, Jason, and his fiance's, Angela, wedding in October; AND... drum roll... another move... this time to Telford in Shropshire. We don't know when we'll be leaving Gloucester exactly, but we think we will be moved by June. There are many unknowns, like the date of Colleen and Luke's wedding, when we'll be moving, and whether or not we'll be parents in the next year or so. We're leaving it to the Lord to guide us and trust in His plan for our life together.

We have been very blessed in 2010. Each day is another day to sing His praises. Another point Pastor Phil pointed out last night is that everything that happens, happens for good, even if at the time we don't see how something will work out. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28).

We don't know if this year will bring us happiness, prosperity, sickness or even death, but what we do know is that if you put your trust in the Lord, all things will work for good.

May the Lord richly bless you and your family in 2o11. Much love, Jeff and Lauren

Christmas in Gloucester

Jeff and I had a nice, quiet Christmas in Gloucester. We would have preferred to have had family visit, but it wasn't possible this year.

On Christmas Eve, we drove down to Selsley Hill just outside Stroud to have a walk in the frosty air. And boy was it cold! About -7.0 °C (19 °F). It was so cold that we couldn't even make a snowball... believe me, I tried... Jeff sure was lucky! But the view was beautiful and the sunset helped to create a romantic mood (awww!).

I just had to make a snow angel!
Our very long shadows - hmm... what are we doing?!

Jeff enjoying a quick run

Christmas Day was busy, but relaxing. Our morning started out with a cinnamon-themed breakfast: cinnamon coffee and cinnamon pancakes spread with cinnamon-honey butter. Then it was time to see what Santa brought us! Just after 10:00 we walked over to Quedgeley Baptist Church for the 10:30 service, which lasted an hour.

My favourite Christmas decorations - all from Germany

Our pressies under the tree - thanks Mom, Norm, Dad, Grandma, Robert, Beverly and Sharon!

Once we got home, I prepared our Christmas lunch: brown sugar-mustard glazed ham, roast potatoes, cranberry-orange stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots. For pud we had individual Christmas cracker-shaped Christmas cake drizzled with cream. It was delish!
At 3:00pm we watched the Queen on the telly. This year's theme was about the importance of sports.
After the Queen was finished, we drove over to Jon and Claire's, but Claire was sick in bed. Jon's brother, Tim, was also there. We took turns playing with Eve and holding Isiah. In the evening, we played a round of Scrabble, but I have to admit, it wasn't one of my best games.

Jeff with 13 day old Isiah

All in all it was a nice Christmas - nothing too exciting, just nice.

Thanksgiving with Friends

We invited our friends Jon and Claire and their daughter, Eve, Phil and Kate Jones and their son, Daniel, to our house for Thanksgiving dinner.

We feasted on herbed turkey, my mashed potatoes, mushroom stuffing, green bean casserole, corn bread muffins with honey-cinnamon butter.
Later we enjoyed a ginger streusel pumpkin pie. It was delish!
After we were quite stuffed, we enjoyed talking and playing with the kids.

We had such a lovely time with our friends that day.

My frost-covered pumpkins glistening in the light.

Day in Bath

On Saturday, Jeff and I drove down to Bath, not so much to see the sites of the city, but to meet up with people: Jeff's colleague and his wife, Ally, and Ally's friends from Belfast, Ken and Lisa.

We arrived at Gareth's house (Jeff's colleague) at about 11:00 and had coffee with him. Gareth and Jeff have lunch together every day at work, so it's about time I met him. I even send a slice of cake with Jeff for him every time I bake something. His wife, Anna, was out riding her horse, so we didn't get to meet her until the late afternoon.

Gareth drove us into the center of Bath to meet up with Ally and her friends. The five of us went to a small restaurant/bar that Gareth recommended called "1453" on Monmouth Street. All of us were very happy with our meal. Afterward we just walked around the city, did a bit of browsing in shops and had the obligatory coffee later in the afternoon.

Lisa, Ally and Baby Bump, me and Jeff in front of the Bath Abbey

Us

Us again

Jeff loving his kiss!

Gareth kindly picked us up again and we went back to his house. Anna was there this time, so we quickly met her before getting ready to go out to dinner with them. We went to the restaurant of their choice, called "One Beaufort" (website), which is owned by the same French owner of 1453. Gareth and Anna were fantastic to get to know, as they are also interested in fine foods and historic homes (like the National Trust). Gareth said something along the lines of, "If tonight goes well, you two can spend the night next time you come down and we can show you around Bath more". I replied, "You're making it sound like we're dating the two of you!" In fact, we did have a wonderful evening with them and hope to make plans with them again soon.

One little surprise I have to mention: David Hepler came to stay with us for exactly 6 hours on Sunday. He called in the afternoon, explained that where had planned to stay fell through, so he asked if he could stay with us. He arrived Sunday evening at about 10:00. We sat up talking until midnight, and woke up to see him off at 4:00am. Sweet and short.

Newent Onion Fayre

It has been a few weekends since we went to the Newent Onion Fayre with Ally, but it's better to post it now than not at all. It has definitely turned to autumn around here; there's a nip in the air and the daylight is getting shorter and shorter.

The weekend after the wedding in Scotland, our friends Paul and Ally Ng came up from Bristol with a couple of friends. Paul and the friends kindly dropped Ally off at our house so we could spend the day together while they went on to a football (soccer) game just north of here. So Jeff, Ally and I went up to the village of Newent, about 20 minutes northwest of here, to walk around the Onion Fayre. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting, though. I thought it there would be tons of vendors selling everything onion, like the Pumpkin Show in Ohio, where there's things like pumpkin chili, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin fritters... you get the idea. We didn't even see onion rings for sale! Perhaps we just missed them, but they definitely weren't obvious. It was VERY crowded too...

However we did get to see the traditional fair bits, like the onion eating contest, the hall with award-winning onions, had a pork and stuffing sandwich for lunch and went home with a bag of... onions?... no... ears of corn! Hey, wouldn't imagine passing up 25p ears of corn, when usually you can buy them for £1.

It was very nice, though, spending time with Ally and getting to see her tiny baby bump. Just talked to her today and said that her bump is getting even more obvious! She's 19 weeks now. Very exciting!

Ally, Babybump (on Ally!) and me (I almost didn't include this picture because of how awful I look, but this is the only picture we took together.)

The onion eating contest hosted by Countryfile's Adam Henson

Homemade Onion Relish

Pork-filled sandwiches with stuffing and apple sauce - yum-o!