The month that was: May

What happened:
I spent most of May working on Found, the third book in the Arielle Lockley series, and I'm hoping that I will have finished the first draft by the end of June. I also had chart success in Canada last month with Geli Voyante's Hot or Not - it reached #6 in the (free) overall best sellers chart, and #87 in the paid overall best sellers chart. Woohoo!

The blustery Friday afternoon before the bank holiday, I visited Knole in Kent to catch up with my friend and her twin babies, and then spent the rest of the bank holiday weekend being lazy and reading lots of books - bliss!

     

I went out for drinks in Chelsea and Soho in May, went to Westfield for a spot of window shopping, and headed to Kent for a family BBQ. The month ended with a trip to the West End to see Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games with Olly and my dad, followed by Scrabble and a Sunday roast the next day.

     

Michael Flatley emerged for the encore of Lord of the Dance and, whilst I'm not a fan of Irish dancing, I was impressed by the skills involved - it's quite the spectacle, and I'll be secretly practising my footwork in the mirror to see if I can make my feet fly like they do!

What I ate:
At home we made disastrous pork pibil because we had a fatty piece of pork shoulder - booooooo! - which meant we couldn't make Jamie's pulled pork and sweet potato hash with the leftovers (from his Comfort Food book). We did, however, make the katsu curry from that book, but I wasn't a fan. I'm a stickler when it comes to katsu curry, and this one didn't make the grade - sorry, Jamie!

Two recipes we made at home that I did like was this seafood tagine recipe - so we could use the tagines we bought in Morocco, obviously - and Lorraine Pascale's spicy bean burgers, which we had in a brioche bun with salsa and sweet potato wedges (burger recipe from her Fast, Fresh and Easy Food cookbook). Yum!

In May I ate out at Blackfoot, FM Mangal, Five Guys, Le Sacre Couer and Lobster Kitchen. Le Sacre Couer is one of my favourite French restaurants, so it's always a delight to eat there, and the lobster was great from Lobster Kitchen. I've eaten at Five Guys before, and I'm not a fan, though I can definitely get behind the the ribs at Blackfoot.

     

What I watched:
TV-wise, we gave Daredevil and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt a go - I didn't like either, but Olly's watching Daredevil - and we also continued watching season 5 of Game of Thrones. I'm not feeling the love for GoT this season - just me? - but at least there are these awesome shows returning in June.

Films watched: Jersey Boys; Just Go With It; all six Star Wars films; Plastic; Sex Tape; Northern Soul; The Fault in our Stars; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Tammy; Top Gun.

What I read: 
In May, I read 31 books, and I abandoned five books. My favourite read in May was the Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch, but I also enjoyed Bad Blood by Casey Kelleher, Runaway Summer by Ruth Saberton, Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson, Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie and, also, Spin by Catherine McKenzie.

How was May for you? x