Photo diary: Project 365, week 5

 I'm so glad January is over, and good riddance. It wasn't a very good month for our family, and I wonder what February has in store for us all.

Last Sunday I didn't take any photos except of the two rotten blood oranges, which I emailed to Abel and Cole, politely saying that I expect the oranges to last more than four-five days. As much as I love the idea of Abel and Cole, they don't always have the freshest plant produce.

Rather than show the rotten oranges from Sunday, here are two pics I did on Monday. 

I popped in the garden to check if anything is already showing any colour. So far I couldn't find much except these pink blossoms (please don't ask me what they are called, I'm terrible when it comes to botany).

Last week I mentioned the Korean brand Bibigo. Eddie and I went to Oxford the previous Saturday, hoping to find Bibigo Squid Games products, we couldn't find any, but we did venture into a Chinese supermarket and got some fancy KitKats, snacks and enoki mushrooms.

I bought Bibigo dumplings on Ocado. We tried the green chilli ones, and oh my, the filling is pretty hot. Eddie enjoyed them, as he loves spicy food. 

I drew a Squid Game doll mask for him, to make an Insta post, he kindly obliged me for the photo. I bet he was rolling his eyes behind the mask. 

More food pics. On Tuesday I baked an Italian cake Margherita, it is a tasty fluffy cake, served with just a dusting of icing sugar. My guys love it. It disappeared pretty fast.

I made a semi-resolution to give a second chance to some books, which I started in the past but didn't finish for a variety of reasons.

Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence was the book, which I was reading together with Eddie over a year and a half ago. We went through one third perhaps, and then he asked if we could choose a different book. 

Sadly, we don't read together any longer, though I wonder if I could tempt him with the new Hunger Games prequel coming in March. If not, I'm definitely going to read it myself.

Anyway, back to Silva. This YA thriller had good reviews, and was praised for the representation, in fact, it was recommended by someone whose opinion I trust. 

If you plan to read it and don't want any spoilers, skip the text now.

This book gave me the rage. 

One of the main characters, a teenager, is wasting her life with some lowlife, who has zero redeeming qualities. As the story unfolds, we find out he has a wife and a child, and a tendency of sleeping around. Despite knowing all that, our protagonist is ready to fight for this "treasure", even offering money to his wife to leave him and go back to her home country. 

I wanted to shake this girl. Honestly, where is your self respect? I understand that some women measure their worth by having a man, any man, in their life. But sheesh, I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life than waste it on such an off-putting boyfriend.

I finished the book, and it goes straight to the charity shop. 

Another book that I finished reading last week (I always have two-three books on the go at the same time) has been in my Kindle library for a few years. 

The Dark by Emma Haughton is an atmospheric thriller, set at the UN research station in Antractica. The main protagonist decides to apply for a job as a station medic, after the previous doctor died in a tragic accident. 

Running from the devastating events in the near past, Kate believes she can find peace of mind and tranquility in Antarctica. She is traumatised, not coping with the grief, and physical pain, and is a flawed character. Her own mental health makes her take some pretty unwise (bordering on criminal) decisions. It's hard to relate to her, but the mystery itself is gripping.

There is a dark, claustrophobic feeling of despondency and paranoia. The descriptions of the ice wilderness create a tense, hostile setting. Really enjoyed it.

This is a screenshot rather than a photo, as I read it as an e-book.

Usually I just have a cup of Earl Grey tea and a slice of toast in the morning. I don't eat yogurts or a breakfast cereal. For some reason I decided to make a batch of honey and peanut butter booster bars, using the recipe by H.Fearnley-Whittingstall from the old copy of The Guardian.

I have a bag of milled flaxseed from the latest Degustabox, which needs to be used, and I thought adding some to the energy bars might do the trick.

The bars were very crumbly. I cut a few pieces, then rolled the rest into energy balls, dipped into cocoa mix, and put in the fridge in the container. I prefer these bars as energy balls. They were tasty, and I might experiment with more different fruit and nuts.

And more pictures of food, sorry. Saw a video of young chap on Insta, baking a crumble pie with jam, which brought back memories of my Uni days, when I often baked a similar pie with whatever jam we had at home.

This one is made with a mix of bilberry jam and remains of cranberry sauce. 

Grate 200g of cold butter into 300g of self-raising flour, add 80g of sugar, vanilla sugar, mix into crumbs. Press 2/3 into a baking tray, lined with parchment paper. Scoop the jam on top, and add the remaining crumb mix. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180C until golden brown. Serve with cream, ice cream or custard.

It's quite nice cold too, cut into slices.

All in all, not an eventful week, and thanks goodness. 

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