A weekend in four colours

September 25, 2017 by Ray Morgan

Pink
On Saturday Jo had the day off for the first time in ages, and we got up at a reasonable hour, had a cup of tea and I made a cooked breakfast - crispy oniony hash browns from scratch as an extra treat. We'll just eat this, we said, and then we'll paint the dining room. You can imagine our sheer delight when we stumbled across the full Emmy Awards on Channel 5, repeated from earlier in the week! We looked at each other guiltily, before making another cup of tea in our dressing gowns, the paint and brushes and dust sheets nagging at us from down the hall.

No, we eventually said. We can't sit and watch four hours of the Emmys when we already know who won. We rolled up our sleeves and started painting the walls, a gorgeous (probably millennial) pink that looked great in the sunshine pouring through the open windows. It felt satisfying to start ticking stuff off the list.

Blue
We went for a walk down to Chalkwell Beach after (to escape the paint fumes), met up with a friend and started work on a new creative project. We watched the Red Caps swimming at one of their last meet-ups of the year. They stood in wetsuits, eagerly chatting, talking about how great the weather was, how warm the water was. I cursed my chesty cough - I'd have loved to have swum otherwise.

The sea and sky were a fine, bright blue. The sea sparkled, stupidly, like boundless glitter. The swimmers were sleek in their wetsuits, heading to the Gypsy Bridge and back from almost as far as the Crowstone. Jo and I sat on the sea wall, kicking our feet against it, watching the boats, paddle boarders, and the slow, enormous ships really far out.

Yellow
We went to Saltwater Cafe afterwards (where we've been meaning to try for ages) for bright yellow turmeric lattes. Anyone else obsessed with the latest zeitgeist-y, hipster beverage? I'm making them at home at least twice a week: hot, yellow, frothy, restorative: a little what I imagine they'd drink out of pewter tankards at the Three Broomsticks (if you know, you know). LUSH.

The café was a sweet little haven by the sea: we've always said it was the perfect location for a lovely place to eat, I'm so glad they've done it. And the lattes were good!

Green
We then went for dinner at the amazing new Mexican restaurant and tequila bar Taco Ria in Southend. My goodness, if you've not been: BOOK IT NOW. Authentic Mexican street food. They did a deep fried avocado so amazingly tasty that I shamelessly asked them for the recipe. Soft, pastel green avocado in a crispy oat batter, served with pineapple and mango on a crispy tostada - with bright green frozen Margaritas on the side. We were in food heaven.

When you don't get a lot of time with your partner (we're at work a LOT, aren't we?) it's nice to take a day and do things you've been meaning to for a while. Like visit new cafes, restaurants, finally paint the bloody dining room, finish House of Cards season 5 (omfg) and take a breather. We even found to go and be by the sea, and you know there's not much in life better than that.

This blog is by Ray Morgan. To read all of Ray's previous blogs please click the link here

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