Sparkle and spice

Yesterday was my first day back at the office and although this wasn't exactly something I was looking forward to, it turned out not to be too bad in the end. After eleven days at home, we were both starting to lose track of time, so that I was actually glad to be able to have some kind of routine again. I didn't relish the early start, but once I'd dragged myself out of bed, I was good to go.

Outside, the day couldn't have been more dismal, one of those wet midwinter days which finds it hard to let go of its cloak of darkness.

Although it was the first day of the January sales, the awful weather seemed to have put off at least some of the bargain hunting zombies. From the lofty heights of the office windows, I could only spy a handful of umbrella wielding people carrying soggy shopping bags.

Work itself was reasonably quiet, with only a small amount of emails trickling in during the day, so that I was able to catch up and ease myself back into office rhythm at a leisurely pace. 

Talking of catching up, I've still got quite a bit of this to do before my blog reaches the end of December so, without further ado, let's go back in time once more.

It was the Sunday before Christmas, cloudy but with the temperature still hovering around a quite un-Christmassy 10°C. 

In order to immerse myself into the festive season, I was wearing a dress with a bit of sparkle, even if it  was nigh on impossible to catch any of it on camera.

My dark olive green dress, with its off-white, pink and lilac print and dropped waist, was a Think Twice sales bargain from December 2019. 

I accessorized it with a pink flower corsage and mottled green and white beaded necklace, while lime green opaques and a fuchsia long-line cardigan kept it company. 

With the garden slowly but surely going into Winter mode, I was thankful for any bit of colour, be it provided by the frilly variegated leaves of Heuchera 'Can Can' (left), some cheery-faced purple pansies or the last hurrah of the tuberous Begonia leaves (bottom right).

Most of the day was spent inside the house, doing nothing more strenuous than some gentle pottering, reading and catching up with blogland. 

Meanwhile, Jos was in the mood for some baking! As we'd picked up a package of Speculaas mix from the garden centre's baking department, as well as a wooden mould with three different biscuit shapes, it was about time we tried these out. 

We'd also recently come across some additional moulds in the charity shops, including the intricately carved one shown above. This one, however, turned out to be unsuitable due to its varnish finish, and was presumably meant for decoration purposes rather than biscuit making. It's already displayed among the rest of our kitchenalia collection in the meantime.

The other charity shopped wooden mould is the one on the left. It is double sided, with the lady's male counterpart on the other side.

Jos used my Dad's food processor to make the dough, and then the fun of making the actual biscuits could begin. We had been warned that it might take several attempts to get the hang of getting the biscuits out of the moulds in one piece, but we were able to churn out several near perfect ones from the word go. After about 15 minutes in the oven, they came out a wonderful golden brown and left our kitchen smelling heavenly of spices in the process.

These crunchy, caramelized spiced biscuits are typically associated with the feast of Saint Nicholas - the original Santa Claus! - which is celebrated on 5 or 6 December, depending on whether you're in the Netherlands or in Belgium. Speculaas dates from medieval times, and its original spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and white pepper.

The mercury climbed to an almost Springlike 14°C on Monday and Tuesday, alas accompanied by at times heavy rains, particularly on Tuesday.

While Jos went on a mission to stock up on drinks, I vacuumed the whole of the downstairs, with Phoebe fleeing to the spare room once she caught sight of her arch enemy, the vacuum cleaner.

After our success with the Speculaas biscuits, we then decided to get some more of this seasonal mix now that it was still available, so off to the garden centre we went.

My outfit that day was built around the floral Wow To Go blouse I'd found at Oxfam, which I paired with my pinkish-red polyester and mohair blend skirt. I wore a contrasting ochre yellow belt with it as well as my charity shopped H&M batwing cardigan in the same colour.

Same as the blouse, the necklace was a recent charity shop find. 

My outerwear consisted of my ancient cream, tan and blue plaid coat and my tan Burberry beret, the latter worn to hide my unruly hair rather than for warmth.

Due to the ongoing restrictions, shopping is still a solo activity here in Belgium, so I waited in the car for Jos to come back with his purchases, which included four types of our favourite bread mix.

He reported that not only were things very quiet and relaxed inside the garden centre, he had also spotted several couples shopping together. Nevertheless, we'd better set an example and stick to the rules, however bothersome they may be.

Wednesday was my last working day of the year 2020, and it was with a sigh of relief that I got into our car when Jos drove up to our pick-up point. Antwerp's streets were thronging with shoppers, same as every year in the final days before Christmas, the only difference being that the majority were wearing their masks, if not all correctly. I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

Thursday was another grey and wet all-dayer, and with an overnight drop in temperature to about 7°C, we hid from the hostile world outside. Thankfully, Jos had already done all our food shopping on Wednesday, so that we didn't have to brave the last-minute shoppers.

Time to wear a bit of sparkle again, this time in the form of this vintage dress - once more from Think Twice - its groovy lilac and purple on grey pattern threaded with Lurex. Again, you'll have to use your imagination as the camera failed miserably in picking it up.

It was so dark that we didn't even attempt to take outfit photos outside, trying out our chandelier lighted bedroom instead. Not ideal, but at least I didn't die of hypothermia. The plum coloured lacquered leather belt was an old charity shop find, while the painted wooden brooch was a recent one. A pair of aubergine opaques completed my Christmas Eve outfit.

I spent most of the day on the couch with my latest read, the engrossing and beautifully written Catching The Tide by Judith Lennox. Having previously enjoyed her novels The Winter House and All My Sisters, I was as good as guaranteed a great read when I plucked this one from the shelves at Oxfam.

We finished the day by watching some mindless feel-good television accompanied by a background soundtrack of snoring supplied by our little black monster.

How we spent Christmas itself and what I was wearing will be the subject of my next post.

Until then, please do stay safe, sane and fabulous. Sending an extra virtual hug to my friends and readers in the UK, who are at the dawn of another strict lockdown.