I had a long and busy day ahead of me, cleaning the beach house from top to bottom and making up the beds, ready for the visitors coming for Christmas.  I have noticed it is much easier cleaning a 5 storey house when you weigh less!

We started the day with Tropical Porridge.  We weren’t exactly transported to the Carribbean but almost.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 cup of Jumbo porridge oats
• 2 – 3 cups of coconut milk, depending on how runny/thick you like your porridge
• 1 large or 2 small bananas, chopped
• 1 passionfruit
• 1 tbsp nut or seed butter

Method

1. Put oats, milk and  bananas in to a pan and heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Serve with passionfruit and nut/seed butter.  I used sunflower seed butter.

Delicious.

I was too busy to cook lunch so we had a packet.  Yes, it’s true, I had a packet lunch.  Fisherman’s pie from the fresh chill cabinet.  The ingredients were all good with no additives.  And I decided to eat it from the pot it came in too, to make washing up easier.  I’m a classy bird aren’t I?

I enjoyed the view as I ate, as I always do.

I like the view down the street too.  I don’t have a street view from home as I live in a “semi-rural” area where my view is of trees and fields.  I like the busyness of the street and can spend hours sitting in this window, enjoying all the activity in the marina or down the street.

If you fancy fisherman’s pie beside this window with the beautiful view, you can rent the house through Freedom Holiday Homes.

By the time we got home I just had time for a shower and to change before going out to Vicky’s ‘Naughty But Nice’ party.  I was hungry so had a snack of dried fruit and pecans.  Not a good choice as it was too sugary but I needed something very quick.  I was clearly still feeling a bit tropical 🙂 .

Then off to the party which was FAB-U-LOUS .  Vicky is an awesome host who pays great attention to detail and goes to a huge amount of trouble to make sure everyone has what they want.  Vicky and I have lost the same amount of weight this year, so between us we have lost nearly 6 and a half stone!  Go girls!!  Vicky has always been very encouraging for which I am grateful and she has a wonderful saying when you lose some weight of “that’s another pound in the bank”.  I like that.

On arrival we were all handed a glass of fizz and while we chatted, plates of salmon and prawns were handed around.  Yum!  That was where the healthy food finished, unless you count the grapes on the table.

There was no strategy for avoiding the goodies on offer tonight.  It was impossible.  We were partying in the beautifully decorated conservatory which was decked out with ‘naughty but nice food’.  There was a table full of wonderful cheeses and crackers and look at this one.

Everywhere you looked was something you wanted to eat.

Most of it was homemade so it was even more delicious.

Check out this – a chocolate pot, made of chocolate and filled with chocolates 🙂 .  Vicky had just returned from chocolate heaven (Brugge) and I think she brought most of it back with her.

And even when you managed to resist eating what was weighing down the tables, cheeky little minxes like Mirella came and gave it to you anyway!

Resistance was futile so I gave in and enjoyed myself.  There were so many lovely ladies there to chat to: Esther, Marion, Debbie and Lisa,

Lou, Mirella and Suzanne to name just a few.

I didn’t drink excessively, despite the constant stream of alcohol and tables loaded with lovely wines.  I had 3 or 4 glasses of fizz and I did enjoy a Limoncello shot.  If I was to caption this photo it would be “Suzanne, you ARE having a drink” :-).

I definitely made a big dent in the cheese board and had a slice of pavlova.  But looking back at these photos, I can see there were plenty of lovely things I did resist, such as the brownies and cup cakes.    I had several pieces of chocolate.  Belgian chocolate is completely fabulous but it is very rich so you can’t eat as much as you may want to.  So although I definitely over ate and over drank,  it was not as excessive as other occasions have been.  Thank you Vicky for a lovely time.

It was a fabulous party and I caught up again with lots of dear friends.   The evening ended perfectly as someone special hopped off the last train from Durham.  Yes, my lovely Lara is finally home for Christmas :-).  A perfect ending to a splendid evening.