Wonderful Wednesday #194

{Fairylights = cosiness}

I'm writing to you this week feeling as if i'm definitely not winning the 'let's NOT get a cold this winter' battle that i seem to get into with myself each year.  My little self feels as if it's throwing all of it's little soldiers at it that it can do, and as a result i'm feeling well and truly cream crackered this week.  I had a long weekend of Friday to Monday this weekend just past and promptly ran out of my usual vitamin cocktail on Friday morning and knew i wouldn't be able to get hold of them until Tuesday at the earliest and so have spent the weekend adding ginger and honey to my morning warm lemon water, guzzling Elderberry and Echinacea tea by the gallon and eating satsumas and clementines until they're coming out of my ears!  Cross everything that i manage to fight off the nastiness because i am definitely far too busy to be ill right now!

But enough, enough of the grizzly and grim because that is NOT what this little post is about at all.  Plus, it's actually not a bad thing to be eating as much citrus as you can manage and drinking as much herbal tea and normal tea either {especially if there's a couple of buttery sultana cookies with my name on here and there too}.  PLUS i have a flowery mug full of the good stuff AND Adele up loud as we speak to keep me company whilst we talk happy.....

1.  Coffee eclairs. I know who am i?!  And not even coffee eclair flavoured hummus or some strangely concocted breakfast porridge flavour either!  Sunday last weekend called for a hearty slow cooked pork casserole and most definitely some kind of dessert due to my under the weather state!  I picked up some coffee flavoured chocolate cream eclairs spread thickly with sticky coffee fondant and dotted with dark chocolate coffee beans and stuffed generously with coffee flavoured creme patisserie.  I don't think i've ever written the word 'coffee' so many times on this little corner.  That just shows you how good they were and tells you how very sad i was when mine ended.....

2.  Breakfast dates.  I had a dental appointment very first thing on Monday morning which meant we were up and out of the house for 8am on a day that we really didn't have to be.  My dentist is a twenty minute drive away and so as a great big thank you to the Mr for driving me meaning that i didn't have to cycle in the iciest weather or get a bus, i said i'd buy him breakfast afterwards.  If you know me you'll know how much i love breakfast.  Me offering to buy or make you breakfast is a sign i like you a lot.  We had the most LOVELY time and ended up quite by accident going to the place where we had our very first date almost SIX years ago!!!  How time flies.  Toasted bagels with mounds of soft fluffy and whipped cream cheese and bottom-less tea were just the ticket.  Breakfast dates might actually be my new favourite thing.  It means there's every chance i'll be in my pyjamas by 9pm too.  It's win win if you ask me!

3.  Harissa.  You know when you've never really eaten something before and then all of a sudden you buy it and then it's so good and so you put it in everything in celebration?!?  Well that was me this week with this dream of an ingredient.  Google tells me it's a Tunisian paste crammed with spices such as carraway, chilli, rose and garlic but i shall tell you NOW that it is HEAVEN.  We first bought it to make lamb koftas a week or so ago and loved the flavour so much that we've been squirrelling it into everything:  Greek yoghurt with pitta bread; through a homemade spicy baked beans concoction; into a last minute 'there's nothing to eat' sort of emergency supper when only a quick-quick Shakshuka will do and i'm even thinking i might whack a little bit in our quinoa spaghetti bolognese supper this week too.  Try it, please try it.

4.  Frosty mornings.  Those that are {mostly} on the right side of the glass because on Monday mornings' early -2 degrees escapade i got so cold that it took me hours to thaw out!  But sunrise dancing upon little tiny ice crystals and pretty blankets of white...?  Give me all of that.  But you know for maybe an hour tops.  Or risk fuelling me with endless tea for hours afterwards.....

5.  Sundays.  It's taken for me to get a little bit older to really and truly appreciate the joy of a Sunday and even of the magic that comes from allowing yourself to move slower and to simply be and to not feel one jot of guilt for it.  Whether i'm lucky enough to be off on a Saturday and Sunday {#retail} or just a Sunday on it's own, turns out however it comes to be it really is to be treasured and loved and relished:  Waking slower and to your own body clock; dilly-dallying over a luxurious breakfast of your favourite things; a long walk in the great and green and filling your lungs with all of the fresh air and then a hearty supper of something warm and rich followed by a hot bath and clean sheets.  That's pretty much a Golden Sunday as far as i'm concerned.....

6.  Lipbalm.  'Cos heavens this gal is suffering from dry lips this year!  Maybe it's all of that 'whishing' and 'whooshing' from here to there on two wheels or gulping in too much fresh air {disclaimer:  pretty sure there's no such thing to be honest} on 'quick-marches' to and from work.  Either way give me ALL of the lip balm-y recommendations please!  You also get extra points for any natural ones!  I'm mostly loving/applying every thirty seconds Dr Lipp Lip and Nipple balm {don't laugh - this stuff the biz}, Lush Cosmetics Ultrabland Cleanser rubbed around my mouth as a cleanser-come-balm-y superhero and not as harsh as some cleansers aaaand Lucas Paw Paw lip balm which is equally the bees knees.  But you know there's always room for more....

7.  Slippers + cardigans = my usual every day at home 'uniform.'  I feel there's no other explanation required.  It's chilly.  Cosiness is more than key for ultimate cold weather happiness. I've actually found myself looking forward to getting changed when i get in as i start my 25 minute walk home from work.....Loser?  ME?!?  Nooooo....

8.   Toast and marmalade.  Which may or may not have been inspired by a certain blue duffle-coated bear you might have heard of..... the heart wants what the heart wants and it's been so long since i have had toast and marmalade!!  It was just as good as i remember and tasted even better when i remembered we'd been given a jar of Christmas marmalade last Christmas and had clean forgotten all about it!!!  Something tells me it won't be the last toast and marmalade-shaped snack i'll be crunchin'....

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And we're all done and dusted!  I feel like this is a good list.  I mean i think they're all good lists but this one, well i'm just nodding my way all of the way down my own list soooo....I JOKE!!  What is making your week marvelous?!  Come on and share!  I love to read what it is that brings you joy and happiness best of all.  Feel free to give me a nudge on Twitter or Instagram {as always i'm @sallytangle} or drop a sweet comment below. Whilst we're here, bob right on over to  Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's blogs because they too write their very own #wonderfulwednesday lists and nothing is better come this time of year than curling up cosily with a cup of something hot and reading happy lists.  Sort of makes you grateful for the small and reminds you that 'things' don't have to be great and huge to mean millions, somehow?!  

I'm off before things get far too deep and philosophical....