** All images courtesy of Wikimedia except of course my gingerbreads!
Ooooh, this is a great week for the Book of Lists, this week as we get to talk about one of my favourite subjects….yes, food! The Duchesse wants to know what kind of food we enjoy cooking, and of course, eating!
In our house, Mr Grump is chief chef although I can cook when needed and sometimes I might actually make some cakes or gingerbreads (usually when Miss Hap wants them for school cake day or something)!
The kind of food I seem to enjoy the most is normally the most unhealthy, calorific dishes, which I am sure is no surprise. Still, here is my list.
A full English breakfast
A roast dinner
Party food
Barbecues
Steak and kidney pudding
I could go on and on…but my tummy is rumbling now!
I thought I would have a go at the ‘Daily Prompt’ today, which I like to do sometimes. Today the question is live to eat or eat to live? Also how far would we travel for the best meal of our lives?
The first part of this is easy for me, absolutely without a doubt, I live to eat! I am sure that nobody is at all surprised by that revelation. The thing is, I was brought up by a mother who was an excellent cook, as was her mother, and my dad’s mother too! My sisters are also brilliant cooks, in fact, one trained as a chef, as did my husband, even I can cook (although I rarely need to) Not only was I spoiled by having good, wholesome food as I grew up, it was frowned upon to leave anything on your plate.
All my family have ‘healthy’ appetites! Sitting around the table for our meals when growing up was the norm for us, and it was filled with talking, laughing, shouting and arguing, the bickering and banter of family life. Mum would go mad if anyone was late for meals, they were almost set in stone, breakfast being the most flexible, but other than that, lunch at 1 pm and dinner or ‘tea’ as we called it about 5.30pm. She relented a bit when microwaves became commonplace and she could reheat a meal for some latecomer. Mind you, she was terrified of the microwave, approaching it with caution and at arm’s length!
It’s funny, but whenever any of my family put on a meal, buffet or BBQ, you know there is going to be plenty of food, as we are all used to catering for large numbers, coming from such a huge family!
Now, one thing I do enjoy is a good meal. Food is not just fuel for the body, it is supposed to be a pleasurable and sensual experience. Well, at least in my book! It is very often the very heart of family life too when you think about it. When there is a birthday, or Valentine’ s day or Christmas or other holiday occasions, there is usually a meal or some sort of food associated with it as a form of celebration.
We have a pub that does a great carvery and it is lovely going there with some of the family in the summer  whiling the hours away sitting out in the garden after a great meal, chatting and laughing.
When it comes to how far I would travel for the best meal of my life, I am not sure. I have simple tastes and it is more the company and the occasion than the meal itself. I am lucky enough to have not only enough food to eat, but to have it beautifully cooked too!
Today is my 6th wedding anniversary to Mr Grump. Although we have only been married a short while, we go way back and actually met for the first time in 1984. This is our story here
We were originally going to wait for a while before getting married, but after a few months, neither of us wanted to wait, bearing in mind how long it took us to get back together again.
As both of us has been married before, we decided that we would go for just a quiet ceremony with mostly family and a few friends. The local Registry Office was closed and in the process of being relocated, so in the interim they were using the Sports and Leisure Centre.
This was ok but had a hell of a walk leading up to it, almost like a helter-skelter, and that put me off, as both Mum and Dad would have a job with it, not to mention me with my high heels!
There was an alternative which was much cheaper, and in the centre of town, which I thought was ideal, Â so we booked it up and set about organising everything else. The evening was taken care of as we were going to a small pub which had karaoke (Miss Hap loves it). The landlord was laying on a BBQ, and my brother-in-law (Mr Musician) was going to sing for us later on.
The cake was being made by one of my sisters (Mrs Masterchef), and we had got everything else off of the internet (yes, even the dress). My sister-in-law just happens to be a hairdresser so that was sorted as well.
Just before the big day, the dress arrived (luckily). It was a little more elaborate than I had envisaged and had a huge skirt, plus small train at the back. This would have been fine had we opted for the Leisure Centre to marry in, but our ‘venue’ was not quite what I had expected.
When we went to see it, there were beautiful gardens out the back, but the ‘wedding room’ was tiny, and only accommodated about 6 or 8 guests! Bearing in mind, Best Man, witnesses, Miss Hap and us, that was going to be it! Everything else was in place invitations sent out, the lot.
After crying and getting myself in a state, we decided who was going to come with us. Everyone else waited at our house (we were only going to be about an hour all told). My sister-in-law gave me and Miss Hap a lift to the venue, and we met up with the others there!
Our best friend Karen, who was in the army with us was a witness, as was my older sister, and my Dad too.
View from outside the window of Dad signing the registerMy step-mum and a very dear friend peeping through the window at proceedings!
Despite everything, it was a very emotional service and we both cried! It was out in the garden for photos, and back to ours (which had suddenly been decorated with banners and balloons), Â for a buffet until we headed off to the pub a few hours later!
It might not have been the fanciest of weddings, but it was a brilliant day that we all enjoyed. Sitting on patio chairs in our small back garden, with a load of family dressed in all our finery was so relaxed; we all had a great laugh. Especially when we found out that our lovely Best Man, forgot his cufflinks and improvised with some paper clips!
Then later when some friends came to the pub. The kids on the karaoke, the bangers and burgers on the barbie, and then Mr Musician serenading us with ‘Hotel California’ was brilliant; tucking into a delicious chocolate wedding cake made by Mrs Masterchef completed a fantastic day.
Rhyme and No Reason! 
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