Weekend Update, A Lovely Surprise & Ninja Grill Review!

I finally returned to work this week and it was really lovely to see all my colleagues again. I'm on phase return for the first two weeks, before returning to my normal hours. Loads better than I was, after the long rest! My MRi results came back with the expected results and nothing deadly serious thank goodness. My physio who I also saw again last week, prescribed me with new exercises, relevant to the results of my MRi, for shoulder and lower back and these are already making a difference, so onwards and upwards as they say.

On my first day back I was given a letter that had arrived in the post for me, it had already been opened, which is normal procedure, as we are not allowed to receive personal letters at work. Anyway, inside was a piece of history! An East Anglian Magazine, published in June 1966 which cost 2s 6d (two shillings and sixpence). I would have been 1½ years old when this was produced! As soon as I saw it, I declared that this must be from a blog reader, who has sent me something with an article in about my parents – I was correct! I flicked through to find an article that was written by my late mother with photos by my father – I have never seen this before, so it was really lovely to see and read. I don't recall seeing a copy of this magazine when Vivien and I cleared the house, so I will treasure this. I have never seen this particular picture of my father, but instantly recognised the Wryneck, Jack Snipe, Waxwing and Long-eared Owl photos. The entire magazine was fascinating to read and to see all the old style adverts, typography and photographs! Huge thanks to D. Seamons, who very kindly sent me this, much appreciated!

 

I sold our childhood desk at Keys Auctioneers on 12th September for £30 (I was told I would get between £20 and £40) and after commission received £22.20, on hindsight I would have been better trying to sell it privately first, but its gone now and the beginning of the big clear out from my house!

Very sadly, I won't be going to Shetland this Autumn, as its costs a serious amount of money to go for three weeks (not worth going for less than that) and in any case need to save my pennies for bricks and mortar in the future. But, I have annual leave booked (as usual) in the middle two weeks of October for birding here in Norfolk – fingers crossed for some exciting rarities and news being put out by all for others asap, especially on nature reserves – there is nothing breeding now!

Its freezing cold in my house, but I'm not putting the heating on (gas radiators) until I get my next bill on 6th October, which will be just for electric and the standard charge for gas – I will know then if I can afford to put the heating on. Being serious, I will have to put the heating on then, otherwise lots of things will potentially be ruined, such as paintings, books, slides/photos etc, but I will certainly be reducing the thermostat to a much lower degree than I normally have it on!

After a recent chat with a work colleague, who has a Ninja grill and who told me they are loads cheaper to run than an oven, I decided to invest in one. Ninja must be making a fortune right now and I know several people who have just bought one of these to save themselves some money on bills. I often begrudge turning the oven on, just to grill one nut cutlet for me and why I rarely cook jacket potatoes – its obviously worth it if you are cooking for several people, but not worth turning the oven on just for one person for certain foods. So, on the 5th September I purchased a Ninja Foodi MAX Pro Health Grill, Flat Plate & Air Fryer AG651UK – it was advertised on the Ninja website for £299 plus £50 off, also when I scrolled down to the bottom of their website and clicked on 'Discounts' I got a further 10% off for an NHS worker. There is also a discount of 10% if you are over the age of 55. I'm glad I bought this when I did as it is now back to full price of £299. I also purchased the Ninja oven gloves too.

If none of you have a Ninja grill, you are more than probably thinking this a serious amount of money, yes it is, but my goodness its worth it alone for the quality of food it produces and in amazingly quick time! It preheats in around a couple of minutes! "More than a grill with 7 cooking functions – Grill, Flat Plate, Air Fry, Bake, Roast, Reheat and Dehydrate. Transform into an air fryer to cook fried favourites using little to no oil." So far I have cooked the best jacket potatoes I have ever had, cheese on toast, chips (which is dangerous as I don't normally cook chips!), fried eggs, grilled vegetables, veggie burgers and baked a bread & butter pudding! Its aimed at meat eaters and the recipe booklet talks a lot about how to cook your steaks and meat etc – you can roast a chicken etc and a magnetic temperature probe is included, but I won't need to use this obviously. Basically it does everything an oven would normally do, apart from boil food eg potatoes/veg. I nearly bought one of their multi cookers instead, but changed my mind and glad I did. You can bake all your normal foods in here too! This is a very exciting addition to my kitchen!