Sunday

More flatbreads. This time wholewheat lavash from the appropriately titled recipe book, and baked using our new baking stone. There ended up being a bit too much flour on the surface, so I am going to try using my marble board to roll them out on which generally is less of a sticky surface and so needs less flour on it.

Thursday

I bought myself a bouquet. I’ve bought myself flowers before, usually from a supermarket, open when they’ve been reduced but I’ve never ordered myself a bouquet. The bouquet that a friend had sent me for my birthday was at the end of its life, and I felt that there would be quite a gap left behind. There is a florist that we often walk past when we take the dog down to the beach, so I thought I’d see if I could send some business their way. I decided I wanted some bright colours and so opted for the Sweetie box. This turned out to be a lovely choice, and they’re keeping the indoor-outdoor part of my garden looking cheerful.

Friday

We visited a new place for a dog walk. While driving to Withdean Park one weekend, I noticed the entrance to Withdean Stadium Woods nature reserve. I’d never been there before. It didn’t look huge, and indeed it isn’t. But it was quiet and full of lovely trees. It wouldn’t be good enough as the only walk for Skitters, but it worked well as a top-up second walk.

I attended my first Hay Festival online event on Friday. It was my first ever Hay Festival event as I’ve never been there for real. This is an advantage of all of these incredible festivals going online. I had an opportunity to “visit” a well-known and well-respected event from the comfort of my home without risk. The show I chose was Wordsworth 250: A night in with the Wordsworths. I don’t know much about the Wordsworths. I’ve been revisiting The nation’s favourite poems recently, and one poem that benefited from a re-read was Daffodils. So I thought I’d see what some incredible actors could do for my appreciation. Unfortunately, the start of the programme was somewhat jittery, and that made it a little harder to engage with, but I did enjoy the fact that so many incredible actors were reading to me in my kitchen!

Friday/Saturday

Another weekend, another cookie recipe tried - this time Olive oil and sea salt. I was remarking to Richard earlier than when I first looked through the cookie book I picked out a set of ‘normal’ cookie recipes. Having tried all of that initial selection, I’ve now headed into some more unusual territory. I have confidence in this book. It hasn’t let me down so far, and so it feels safe to venture forth. These Olive oil and sea salt cookies are satisfying, tasty and worth a re-bake.

Saturday

Brighton Festival at Home put a lovely event on. They hosted a conversation with Lemn Sissay, the guest director of this year’s festival. He read from his book My name is Why before answering questions - both from his interviewer and the audience. A lovely thing to watch and be a part of, and I always want to give Lemn Sissay a big hug when I hear him speak.

For more Try Something New posts, and the explanation of this project/intention, visit this page.