Burns unit

Just reporting in after a very successful housewarming and early Burns Supper in the new house with Toby, Rachel and Archie, Tim, Eugenie and Adella, and Tim, Emily and Beatrix (The Burns Unit).

Aside from haggis, neeps and tatties with white pudding and whisky gravy, we tried out a new recipe for butternut squash stew coupled with veggie dumplings. It went down a storm - probably because of the high wine content!

For Kate, the recipe (serving 2) is as follows:

1. Fry 200g butternut squash (cubed) for about 6-8 mins
2. Add half a red onion, 2 leeks and 2 red peppers (all roughly chopped)
3. cook for a further 4-5 minutes
4. Ad 200ml white wine, turn up the heat and simmer for 4 minutes
5. Finish with 100ml double cream, salt and pepper
6. Simmer -adding dumpling mixture and covering for 15 mins

DUMPLINGS: Sift 1 cup of flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and then add 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and 1/2 cup of milk. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the stew while it cooks, and cover for 15 mins

Completion!

We've obviously been a bit busy, what with Christmas, New Year and the new house!

We're thrilled to bits, having completed on 7 January and moved in last Tuesday. There are quite a few unopened boxes in the garage, and there is a lot of space to fill, but it already feels like home, and Euan has a proper room of his own!

We look forward to welcoming everyone into our new home very soon.

x

Ay Carumba - Office Christmas Party...

We made a special photobook for the young Concannons, as a memento of our trip to Perth in October.

Now that they've opened their Christmas presents, we can share a "virtual" copy of the album with the whole family.

Click here to see the album

Exchange!

Completely forgot to blog our news - that we've finally exchanged on 16 Shepherds Way!

Completing on 7 January and really looking forward to having some space for ourselves and our visitors.

You'll all be very welcome in 2011. x

RRrrrrraaaaaaarrrr!

Fun in the bath!

The whole tooth and nothing but the tooth

A corny title for today's blog update... Tim's back in the Magistrates Court today, and it's high time we uploaded some new pictures of Euan and his increasingly toothy smile!

Still here

We've been back from our holiday for a few weeks now, but keeping busy...

All the documentation for buying our new house is with the solicitors, and we've got our fingers crossed for an exchange of contracts very soon. It's becoming a bit of an obsession and we can't wait to get the deal done and move in!

This weekend Tim went to Twickenham with Toby, Gav, Jez, Dave and Andy to see England beat Samoa. It was good to be back in Twickenham, and Tim wandered into the garden at The Bingham to reminisce over our wedding day. The game was good but - it seems - not as good as the one that was unfolding at the same time in Edinburgh. Jo and Euan watched Scotland beat South Africa in the warmth of our lounge, and Gav's dad sent regular updates throughout the game.

On Sunday it was off to the cinema for Jo and Tim, to watch Harry Potter VII Pt 1. It felt funny to be out without Euan (for a whole 3 hours during the day), but when we got back it was clear he'd had a great time making Grandma and Granddad practice his walking all afternoon!

The wee'un loves being on his feet these days and is really enjoying his weekly trips to the Little Gym (he can already bench press more than his dad...).

Back in the UK

We're back from a fantastic few weeks in Australia with the Young Concannons.

It was really great to hang out with Tim, Nina, Keira, Tiani and Lilia for so long, and they all really looked after us, with a full itinerary and lots of home-baked biscuits!

WA stands for Western Australia and Wedding Anniversary, and Tim and Nina surprised us on the first night by producing a bottle of bubbly, at sunset, on the beach to celebrate our first 2 years. They also booked us in for a delicious anniversary dinner and babysat while we went out. Tim celebrated his 31 hour birthday on the plane, but not before enjoying a barbeque breakfast and banoffee pie birthday cake. Yum!

In between, we spend a few days on a farmstay with wild kangaroos and a highland coo named Gus, we fed 'roos and stroked koalas at the wildlife park, hunted for elusive dolphins, visited a brewery, Euan enjoyed his first taste of sand on the beach, and we met all of Tim and Nina's friends over a sausage sizzle. Tim was pecked by a vicious magpie and chased by a bemused cow, mustered some chucks and ate kangaroo skewers.

Photos will follow...

JETx