After the disappointment of rain stopping play on Saturday, it was wonderful to wake up to glorious sunshine yesterday. We set off to nearby Woburn Sands & a certain garden centre that was hosting a Chilli Festival.
Lee & I went on our own as both boys turned their noses up at what was on offer, preferring to lure of the skate park & X-Box!! To be honest, it was lovely to be just the two of us for a change!
The place was buzzing!!
These guys were very enthusiastic in belting out a medley of well known Mexican tunes…
There was a huge display of Chilli plants, of all varieties & plenty of staff to answer our questions on how to get the best results with our crops!
There were chilli’s there I’d never even seen before…
…& best of all we got to taste them!!
These were a few I recognised…
Jalapenos, Hungarian Hot Wax & Scotch Bonnets, all of which I grew earlier this year on my kitchen windowsill, with varying degrees of success!!
So, armed with all our new found information, I’m hoping for a better crop next year!
Of course Lee, ever the exhibitionist, almost found himself drafted into the band…I was quite impressed with what he can do with his maracas!!!
We are both lovers of Mexican food & generally, the hotter the better, so the fact that there was a chef on site, preparing food to taste was an opportunity to see just how hot we could go!! There were big burly guys there, going bright red after sampling the medium hot dish, so I was quite proud to keep my end up & not flinch at a mouthful of ‘Scotch Bonnet' & tomato chutney!! Lee went on to try some others …
…the last of which did actually leave his lips numb!!! Perfect!!
Inspired, he hunted out a jar of Chilli puree made from the hottest Chilli on the planet!! The jar carried a warning not to allow it to be given to children, the elderly, or anyone with a heart condition!! I’m looking forward to adding that to a few of our favourite dishes very soon!!
Then it was time for a bit of browsing around the award winning Food Hall…
…we got to taste a bit of local cheese that could have been made especially for me!!…
…& it was just a good thing that
these lovelies were behind glass!!
After selecting a few more Chilli related goodies, a tray of pansies for my winter pots, we even managed to find a couple of Christmas gifts in the fabulous main shop! It’s never to early when you see the perfect thing is it!!! Then it was off into Woburn itself for a good old mooch!!
Woburn is such a pretty place, little more than a village, but so pretty & it has a lovely selection of shops. We spent ages in the antique fair & then headed into the Black Horse pub for some ‘refreshments’!!
All very civilised & made even more enjoyable for being sans boys!! I love ‘em to bits but every now & then it’s good to just please ourselves!! It’s actually quite nice to think that very soon we may be able to get the odd evening out without having to budget double the cost for a sitter!
As we sat there, enjoying the ambiance of a real grown up pub, we tried to remember our last night out together!!! We came to the conclusion it was for our last anniversary…September 6th 2009!!!! How sad is that?!!!
Anyway I digress!!! We headed back to the car, passing this fabulous old post box, still in use!!
We took the scenic route back through the villages & past Woburn Abbey to home! The boys were fine & pretty much as we’d left them, skating & X-Boxing!!
I wound up my Bank Holiday Monday by preparing for….yes you’ve guessed it…
It all kicks off tomorrow, & I’m ready to roll! My mini album has it’s covers, is bound & decorated. All it’s pages are prepped & in situ! All I have to do now is look out for those little lessons daily & commit them to paper for posterity!! I will be blogging my pages as I complete them, so do check in & see how I’m doing!!!
To get things started…here’s my album cover…
I’m off now to cut the boys hair & get labels sewn into new uniform!!!
Thanks for dropping by…come back soon! : )