A week off work in which I have no especial plans: part 5

A quick post this morning - I am heading over to Northampton for the afternoon to go to the theatre with my Mum. I'm not exactly sure what it is that I am going to see - I just agreed when she offered to take me! Northampton is very lucky to have an absolutely fantastic theatre (in fact two theatres) - I think it won an award for the best regional theatre recently. My Mum often goes and sometimes invites me too - you can generally see plays for about £10, which considering that the cinema is £8 these days is pretty good value. In Oxford, the theatre is generally far more expensive so we don't often go. In February we saw an amazing Daphne Du Maurier play called The Years Between. I'll fill you in on it tomorrow! I intend to head there via Hobbycraft to pick up some more mini cross stitches...

Before I go, I have ironing to do, and hoovering, and I'm also trying to make brioche for a birthday breakfast for Mr W. I've only ever made it in a bread machine before (and only then with limited success) - I no longer have a bread machine (as I didn't use it since getting a mixer, I passed it onto a friend), so fingers crossed.

The fish pie yesterday was absolutely wonderful. It was a super easy recipe with no white sauce (mind you mashing potatoes is always a bit of a faff), and came out in wonderful layers. I grated cheese at the bottom, then grated carrots and celery on top, fish pie mix from the supermarket next (salmon, cod, smoked haddock), followed by a layer of spinach, topped with the potato. Absolutely wonderful! Sorry the pictures aren't better but it's always hard to take photos at night.





I managed to get out of my slump also yesterday afternoon by reading the wonderful Gillespie and I by Jane Harris. I'd very much enjoyed reading her debut, The observations, when it came out, and this was equally good. It's a mystery story in many ways, set in Victorian England, and was distinctly reminisicent of some of Sarah Waters earlier books (minus the lesbianism). Definitely a great autumnal read, so I'd recommend it to anyone who would like a modern equivalent of Wilkie Collins perhaps.