Spring Equinox: Day 2

Our second day of celebrating the Spring Equinox, and this one was a pretty important one. It was our tenth wedding anniversary!

Spring Cupcakes

I made some spring-themed cupcakes for a meeting I was running at work today. They were flavoured with white chocolate and Parma Violets, and decorated with daisies. And yes, the Parma Violets were leftover trick-or-treat sweets from last Halloween. I'm continuing my plan to use them all to decorate seasonal cakes before Halloween comes around again.

Wedding Cake Tea

As it was our anniversary, my tea break drink of choice was Wedding Cake by Bird and Blend.

Wedding Anniversary Dinner

We went out for dinner at Croma in Prestwich with our parents tonight to celebrate our anniversary. I took the personalized topper from our wedding cake as a little reminder of our day all those years ago.

Wedding Anniversary Gifts

It was our tin anniversary, so we both got each other tin gifts. Unsurprisingly, we both went with Cornish tin (as it's also ten years since our first lovely holiday to Lizard). As we were both thinking about Cornwall, I also got Rob a surprise delivery of his favourite pasties from Ann's Pasties (they're not on the picture as they were in the freezer by the time I got home).

Imbolc: Day 3

Another day of celebrating Imbolc! And Sunday happened to be our monthly Date Day (a very strictly observed tradition), so we planned a very lovely day together today. Here's what we got up to...

Picnic in Sunnyhurst Wood

We went on a picnic in Sunnyhurst Wood in Darwen today. And as is tradition (i.e., we did it last year), we went looking for waterfalls!

Imbolc Tea in the Woods

While we were in Sunnyhurst Wood, we took a reflective moment to enjoy the season. (The tea was Apple Crumble from The Tea Crew.)

Dinner at Croma

We finished off our day with a dinner date at Croma in Prestwich... with Salted Caramel Espresso Martini, Tomato and Basil Soup, Melanzane Parmigiana, Toffee and Chocolate Sundae.

Autumnal Equinox: Day 1

It's Autumnal Equinox time, the sixth event in our Year of Celebrating the Seasons and the last stop before the big ones (Halloween and Christmas). Time to celebrate the harvest and the arrival of autumn! I think our plan of marking the passage of time better has worked, because it feels like years since we started out with our tentative celebrations of Imbolc! So, as is our new tradition, we've got a week of festive things planned to see in the new season.

Autumn Equinox Earrings

My first pair of Autumn Equinox earrings... blackberries!

Horrocks Wood

We went for a lovely autumnal picnic in Horrocks Wood in Bolton today. We saw quite a lot of butterflies and two gorgeous dragonflies (impossible to photograph), but there were plenty of signs of autumn in the woods as well. We also saw some alpacas where the woods meet Smithills Farm, and Rob made friends with some horses.

Maple Walnut Green Sencha

We took a moment to enjoy the season under a tree in Horrocks Wood with a maple walnut green sencha tea from It's Tea.

‘Harvest’ and ‘Mr King’

We wanted something seasonal to watch before we went out for dinner. We couldn't think of a film, so we watched the 'Harvest' episode of This Country and 'Mr King' (Inside No. 9). A perfect Autumn Equinox double-bill!

Dinner at Croma

We went for dinner at Croma in Prestwich tonight. I started off with an Apple and Elderflower Martini (I have a feeling our Autumn Equinox week is going to be a little bit apple-themed!), and then I had Mushroom Bruschetta, Mushroom & Goat's Cheese Rigatoni, Sticky Toffee Pudding (no mushrooms in that one).

The Dark Secret of Harvest Home

We ended the first day of our Autumn Equinox week by with The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, the 1978 miniseries adaptation of Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. I'm not sure it's a strong recommendation, but it's certainly seasonal!