Winter lunch out
Plus inspiring walks and my home style
Hello friends,
My mum and I enjoyed a ladies lunch at her friend Karen's this week. We have a semi-regular rotation of hosting. It's a nice little thing we have fallen into!
Karen served THREE courses, upping the game, haha.
First was a fennel seafood bisque with white fish and prawns (absolutely delicious), then our main course shown here was poached chicken with a jus from the pan, and quinoa salad with '3 cups of chopped fresh herbs' (which took her so long she thought she might retire this salad, as delicious as it is 😂). It had blanched broccoli and baby peas in it too, as well as avocado, and fried haloumi on top. And homemade gluten free bread just because of little old celiac me! It was delicious as well.
And for afters we had a custard berry cake with yoghurt cream (yum).
Everything was homemade; Karen is a great cook.
We enjoyed a special Hawke’s Bay light pinot noir too, made by her son.
It was such a lovely lunch, and our winter's day turned it on too. Bright blue skies and lovely and warm.
I did the lunch before this so I guess it's my mum's turn next!
This is the table closest to our front door. I love the gold touches and luxe Ralph Lauren feeling of it.
We have a handful of lamps around the house, and I like to leave them on all day. It's worth the cost to me because this little touch makes me happy.
Especially working from home. Maybe if I went to a workplace all day I wouldn't, but this is my workplace so I do!
Colours are really important to me as well.
On the table are my sheepskin gloves and velvet scrunchie ready for my walk down the road. It's been chilly enough for gloves, and a hat too.
But I love the tonal blending of their colours for this photo (which is why I took it!)
It's the little details that bring the most pleasure sometimes 😊
When I used to live in the city, my daily walk was houses and cars and streets and people.
Now that we live semi-rurally, these lovely ladies are the faces I see when I'm out walking, or perhaps the sheep and lambs down the road.
The cows are always so curious, and come up to the fence to say hi, or maybe see if I've got any hay - sorry, empty hands here! They have lots of grass but I guess hay just tastes that bit sweeter 😊
Even though I do the same walk every day, I never find it boring. There are always new developments to see - some early blossom and a wild mushroom like today, and Pukeko or Fantail birds. Maybe a big hawk if I'm lucky.
I like to keep up with the vineyard and apple orchard changes too. At the moment the vines are pruned back to nothing but within the next little while green leaves will appear.
And of course I always have something good to listen to as well. I've been catching up on past episodes of Beeta Hashempour's 'Life of a Bon Vivant' podcast and having such a lovely time doing so.
I really enjoy her perspective on various topics and it's fun to live vicariously through her ('Californian girl moves to Paris').
Other times I might be in the mood for an audiobook. It's fun to mix things up!
No matter where I live, town or country, I like to make a daily walk outdoors part of my routine. And, make it an enjoyable thing to look forward to as well 😊
Wishing you a lovely week, let it be a good one!
xx Fiona
PS. If you haven't seen my newest book yet, I invite you to check it out: Luxurious Weight Loss, outlining a diet-free way to feel good about your body and how you eat (and drink).
I have had messages from ladies who told me they don't need to lose weight but got a lot from this book, which is so nice to hear. I do this too reading book topics on areas I am in strong in; there is always fresh inspiration to keep the goodness going.
(Don't worry, I won't publish your words if you contact me directly. The reader reviews I share are only from public comments or Amazon reviews!)
If you would like to take a look at Luxurious Weight Loss go to my Amazon affiliate link here.
Or find all my links at fionaferris.com (it’s on audiobook as well as Kindle and paperback, and I encourage you to ask your local public library to order it in if you are a library girl like I am (they can get the paperback or audiobook).
Happy reading!