Month: July 2017

Mushrooms on Toast

All the preparation for the trip can be hungry work. Although its a simple dish, I thought I would share the recipe for the mushrooms on toast that I prepared this morning. The maple syrup is the real hero in this recipe; I only really thought to use it as we are desperately trying to empty our shelves!

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T Minus: 14 days

It’s 2 weeks today!

With Take-Off fast approaching, a lot of our free time and brain-space have been occupied with the thoughts of our upcoming trip – and all of the organising and planning that goes along with it too!

My to-do list for this weekend is already longer than I would like to address (sorry James!) but it’s all towards one of the most exciting things we have ever done. Our conversations are rarely about anything else and if everyone isn’t already at their wits end with our chat we can only apologise and say it’s only going to get worse.

Our minds are constantly whirring and result in strange out-of-context messages to each other at all hours “I just remembered we have Christmas Decorations in the loft!” “Do we need all of these pens?” “No we don’t need more timber.” An Enigma Machine could spend days trying to decode our correspondence but alas, all they will find is some tangled tinsel and more Sharpie’s than a sane person would ever need.

Despite our best efforts the to-do list seems to grow rather than deplete; however my enthusiasm and excitement does the same. And as the countdown shrinks ever smaller, I think it’ll be good to take the time to soak in our last week of normality before it really kicks off and all of a sudden we’re on a plane starting our adventure!

14…13…12…

Hatti x

First Blog Post

Hey! Hi there! Welcome! Come on in, take a seat, we’ve put the kettle on!

Stock photo of couple (Getty Images 1908)

 

Welcome to Opal & Smoke’s first blog post. Hatti (that’s me!) and James are about to embark on a round the world trip followed by a year in Australia. And what better way to record our trip for ourselves, our loved ones, and anyone else who may be interested, than in blog form?

So here’s the bit where we tell you a little about ourselves:

  1. Originally hailing from almost opposite ends of the UK: Hatti from Portsmouth and James from Edinburgh. They met while both studying in “The Granite City” that is Aberdeen, back in 2009 and have been inseparable ever since.
  2. Both coming from creative backgrounds: James an architect, and Hatti an artist. We both enjoy taking in and putting out creativity wherever we can.
  3. Travelling has always been high on the Bucket List: This year at our first opportunity, we have been able to book our globe-trotting trip. We’re so excited to see the world, experience new cultures, eat new people and meet new food!
  4. We both enjoy running and general fitness – this was news to me about 4 years ago as while James has always been very active, I on the other hand “didn’t run” and preferred a different fitness routine…fitness whole pizza in my mouth. I soon learned that running can actually be fun and never looked back, and so we hope to continue this in our new surroundings too!
  5. Other interests and hobbies include – but are not limited to: cycling, music, food, printmaking, furniture making and up-cycling, good TV shows, and reading… other peoples mail…

Our trip is coming round quickly now and we’ll be updating as we get closer to Blast Off and Beyond!

Thanks for stopping by, come again soon, we’ll get biscuits in next time!

Hatti x