What's going on with me you ask? Well, you're about to find out. Here comes another leaky20 life update. Huzzah! Buckle up for a insider view of the mundane life of a fellow Hiver.
So first things first, I baked a whole chicken... I warned you that this was going to be mundane. Anyway, I was feeling very autumnal (a real word apparently, that I thought I just made up) one day and decided to cook a very fall season-esc meal. You might have to re-read that sentence a few times to understand what I'm trying to say.
This was my attempt at fancy plating, which is more challenging than one would expect. The experts make it look so easy. But effortless it is not!
We bought a pie and a bag of honey crisp apples from a local orchard that day to go with it, also very seasonal for the fall.
My next thing to discuss is that I painted the exterior of my house.
See the before photos first. I hated the cherry red color of the door especially.
Upper balcony.
Choosing a color to paint was very difficult for us due to the color of our bricks. They are this dreadful peach color with streaks of grey in them and not a lot of colors goes well with them. The existing paint was too similar in my opinion and seemed to draw out and highlight the awful peach of the bricks.
I originally thought that black paint would contrast nicely with them but after spending a day painting one wall I ended up hating how it looked and decided to try something different.
I repainted that wall green and then continued on to paint the rest of the front of the house the same color. I spent probably 5 weekends painting it all and have finially finished now.
I'm still not in love with it by any means but I really don't know what other color would work better, so it is what it is at this point.
Painting it took forever because of the board and batten style exterior, which didn't allow me to use a roller. The wood was rough too, so I had to go over it with the paint brush multiple times. It was quite the process.
I think I need to change the color of the door now at some point, maybe next year when the weather is better.
The last thing we did of note this month was go to the Musical "Something Rotten."
As far as shows go, this one was quite good and among my favorites that we have seen to date. I was surprised at how clever and funny it was. I wont give anything away but the brief synopsis is that two brothers are trying to come up with a new show idea to compete against William Shakespeare and they basically stumble upon the idea of creating a musical. It was quite funny and had a ton of "easter egg" references to other shows out there, which also added another layer of interest.
Before the show we went out for dinner at a French restaurant in town and that's about it.
I will end things here with my photo of the Duck a l'orange that I had for dinner that night. Tootles for now everyone.
That was a tonne of work on the painting! It looks good. At least for a few years!
Yeah it was a lot of work, especially with redoing a few areas twice and getting up on ladders and such. I'm not thrilled by the color but I don't think I'll ever be no matter what paint I choose. Nothing goes with those bricks 😆
YAY good to hear a life update and nice plating. Also, the green looks good, that board and batten would be hard to paint, something you don't think of.
Yeah all of the grooves make it very tedious and the roughness of the wood makes for some additional challenges as well
Greetings @leaky20 ,
What an interesting post....it is a bit of everything....thank you!
Lovely meals that easily transition into the Autumn Season...and look delicious.
The painting of the exterior wood really gives the house a fresh look.
How lovely to end the post with a night out at the Theatre and a French Restaurant.
All sounds simply splendid!
Kind Regards to you and good lady,
Bleujay
Yeah my life update posts are a little of everything indeed. It's all of the photos and events that I can't make a full on posts about that I put together into one. Glad you found some enjoyment/entertainment out of it 😀👍
The experts might have everything handy as they would do it often, but I am sure, it must have been not easy. It definitely looks lovely.
Yeah you're right. even just having fresh herbs on hand can make all the difference for plating.
I love the herby while chicken. It looks similar to what my whole roast chicken looks like. I don't see chicken like that in many places here in the UK 😅
The green turned out pretty cool. Great decision!
So posh!🙃
How do they make it in the UK, spices and without herbs?
I don't buy rotisserie chickens here at the grocery store but I don't think they put herb on them either. Just spices.
Haha!
You'll see "Plain" Whole Chicken.
Sometimes there is "Tasty"😁
I think Brits generally like their whole chicken as bland as humanly possible.
I see my m-i-l just open the package and place it on a basking tray and place in on an oven.
I suffer from anxiety of not being able to make a quick escape, so I don't have to eat any, when I see her do it that way 🥺
I've never had true British cooking maybe just the Canadian version sold in British pubs. The way you are describing it, it sounds like the Stereotypical view of it 😂
I heard about the whole chicken, in particular... My skin crawled when I saw it being prepared that way.
There are a few great English dishes and you can get some good pub meals, but generally, there's a preference for bland food.😆
I think English people tend to go the pre-cooked route more than cooking from scratch.
Seems to be the way of the world for everyone nowadays
Hmmm, yeah, it's a shame though, especially in First World countries where ingredients from all over the world are easily accessible in all supermarkets... but I guess it has to do with time and priorities.