I’ve chosen today’s recipe to align with a mini (3 whole days!) heatwave that has been bestowed on us this week. It’s an easy and fresh recipe that certainly makes for an ideal heatwave lunch and as it requires practically no cooking, it affords me more time to lounge in the sun – something I prioritise way more since we moved back to the UK after years in permanently sunny Greece.

As you might have seen on my Instagram stories, we have finally finished the renovation of our living room and we are both ecstatic. It scrubbed up really well and even Tina, despite an obligatory sulk, loves it already too – she has claimed a spot on the couch where she waits for us before we both sit down to watch our favourite show.

Having to make do with a subpar setup for months makes us both feel extra grateful. It’s just like they say, you cannot experience joy without sadness, or pleasure without pain, but I digress… Seeing the end result has suddenly made us feel like all these long winter weekends of stripping off dated salmon pink wallpaper off the walls and ceiling, cleaning the residual glue and knocking down smelly inbuilt cupboards was a good time investment, even though we had days when we were truly sick of it all and the motivation was low.

Now, the room with part of a wall knocked down, restored floorboards, replastered, painted and with new skirting looks unrecognisable and we are proud of what we have achieved. We have also amassed a fair amount of tools in the process and learned a lot of new skills, so after a bit of a well deserved DIY rest, we plan to tackle another house project. Either a cat shelf or an understairs storage cupboard. My office is up for renovation next. We are taking our time in a bid not to burn out and try to remember to savour the journey as much as the destination. I’m working on being more methodical and patient in my old age 😉 .