Eat happy

It was a busy morning, I had laundry to do, plan my menus for the week and write my very long shopping list...Before we went away I had to clear all the remaining food out so today I had to buy all the basics again plus the the usual week's food. But before I could go get groceries I took Xena for a walk, I am sure she is missing her lovely long walks in the mountains, as am I.

Tommy arrived home from the Lake District last night, he had a great time hiking and swimming in the lakes and he enjoyed hiking up Scafell Pike. It is a similar landscape to the Swiss Alps up there.

We have had a rat/mouse problem in our house for a very long while now. We hear something in the ceiling which must be running around between the floors of the house. We did not know if it was a squirrel or a mouse, but at times it was so loud it sounded like something very large indeed! Our house is new and well sealed so we could not understand how it was getting in. So about a year ago I called in pest control and the man who came out was particularly useless - he arrived with no equipment but eventually managed to lay a trap in the ceiling between the two levels of floors, through the trap door (using peanut butter as bait). It did not work and we still heard scurrying around in the ceiling. Anyway, when we arrived home last night after our trip, as I walked into the kitchen I could smell something 'off' (I have a very acute sense of smell). I asked Gavin to open the ceiling trap door and sure enough, there was the most enormous dead rat - I could not look at it but Gavin said it was the size of a large squirrel. Thankfully it had only died recently or else it could have been very stinky indeed! I am hoping that is the end of the problem but I fear there may be more.

I decided to make myself something tasty for lunch, so this is from the Eat Happy recipe book (by Melissa Hemsley), its a quinoa salad with spicy chickpeas and (lactose free) halloumi, it was quite delicious.

Some wonderful photos here from the best of the British Press photography.