Julia Roberts Author

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Surprise !

Do you like surprises? I’m not usually the biggest fan however, the surprise my daughter, Sophie aided and abetted by my husband, Chris laid on for our 4th wedding anniversary may have given me a change of heart. A five-course dinner, cooked in our home by a private chef! More on that later…

Our anniversary was a couple of days after we returned from holiday in Javea, Spain. The holiday was slightly shorter than I would have liked as I couldn’t take time off work at QVC to correspond with my daughter’s holiday dates and we were holidaying together. To stretch it out as much as possible, Chris and I took a really early flight on the Saturday morning, 5.50am to be precise, and booked the last flight back on the Thursday at 11.45pm. That gave us six full days in Javea which was just about long enough as it’s a place we know well.

The villa was new to us and in a location we hadn’t experienced previously, and I have to say the view was exceptional. To be honest, the photos simply don’t do it justice and there was a lovely breeze to take the edge off the heat most days because of the elevated position. We visited several of our favourite restaurants, swam, sunbathed, puzzled over crosswords, read and I even did a bit of writing.

The perfect few days away left us feeling revived and relaxed until we arrived at the airport to discover our flight had been delayed by two hours. Bearing in mind that I had to be at QVC by midday Friday for my shift, climbing into bed at 5am wasn’t ideal, but at least our flight wasn’t cancelled like several of the earlier flights had been. To be fair, I made use of the flight delay by adding to the ideas for my publisher, Bookouture including a three-part family saga spanning almost a hundred years and two new Rachel Hart stories.

For those of you who enjoy my books, you’ll be pleased to hear that I’m finally back writing. This past year since the death of Queen Elizabeth the second has not been my favourite by any stretch of the imagination. However, my mindset is now to move forward and not stress about things over which I have no control. Writing has always been wonderfully cathartic for me, but I’d felt blocked by grief and uncertainty. Now, I’ve taken back control of my life and hopefully the first draft of my next book will be with my editor by the end of November… I’m sure she hopes so too!!!

So, my feet had barely touched the ground after arriving back from holiday when I opened our front door on the Sunday to our daughter flanked by Tom and Fiona Elworthy who Chris and I had met in Antigua in March while we were on holiday and they were on their honeymoon. Tom is a chef and we’d talked about him coming round to cook us dinner, but not dinner for ten on our wedding anniversary!

What follows will probably make you drool…

Amuse Bouche – Yaki Onigiri… crispy fried rice ballotine, pickled shallot petals, miso mayonnaise, sesame and coriander

Pre-Starter – Truffle Arancini… Romanesco sauce, rocket and parmesan

Starter – Miso Roasted Aubergine… miso dressing, spring onion, coriander, crispy leek, pomegranate seeds and sesame

Main – Herb Gnocchi… peas, pea puree, parmesan crisp, Swiss chard and tarragon sauce

Dessert – Miso caramel and raspberry mille feuille

What a unique and delicious way to celebrate our linen wedding anniversary along with our gifts… two linen inspired candles, linen table napkins with bee napkin rings, champagne, chocolates and lots of beautiful flowers. It made us feel very loved. Massive thank you to Tom and his ‘sous chef’ Fiona – follow Tom on Instagram: thomaselworthychef if you fancy doing something similar – I can highly recommend.

I was back at work on Bank Holiday Monday, spent Tuesday writing and then it was Chris’s birthday. This time I’d organised a treat for him in the form of the ‘Ultimate Afternoon Tea’ with prosecco at the prestigious Pennyhill Park Hotel.

Look away now if you don’t want to see more ‘foodie’ photos.

Delicious finger sandwiches and exquisite cakes.

Two different types of prosecco along with a choice of tea to wash everything down.

AND… of course, scones with cream and jam – afternoon tea wouldn’t be complete without them. I like mine jam first.

The experience had actually been a birthday gift for me fifteen months previously, but I was more than happy to share my present with Chris to make his birthday special. It’s hard to believe he will be seventy on his next birthday!

Talking of bubbly and flowers, I was the lucky recipient of champagne, flowers and handmade chocolates last Monday from my bosses at QVC. The company celebrates thirty years of broadcasting on October 1st but, of course the original presenters started before the channel launched as we needed training and rehearsal time.

Our first day was September 4th and was a photo shoot which was when this picture was taken. I’ll share some more photos on my next blog.

Before I finish, a bit of bookish news. Every month Bookouture send their authors a performance update and I was pretty pleased with mine this month. There have been more than a quarter of a million downloads of my Bookouture books and that obviously doesn’t include paperback and audiobook sales.

It also doesn’t include more than THREE MILLION Kindle Unlimited pages read of The Dilemma the only one of my Bookouture books which is in the scheme. Honestly, these figures are just mind-blowing! Thank you so much for reading my books. I never dreamed this could be possible when I sat down to attempt to write my first novel in 2013.

Life’s a Beach and Then… was eventually published in 2015 and if you’d like to win a copy of that and the rest of the Liberty Sands trilogy here is the competition question;

Chris and I have just celebrated our Linen wedding anniversary but what represents the 5th Wedding Anniversary? Is it:-

a)    Tin

b)   Wood

c)    Bronze

Leave your answer in a comment before midnight on 30th September and you could be a winner just as Sarah was in August and Karen was this month – good luck!

And finally, do watch out for a special one day offer on The Dilemma coming later this month – I’ll send out a newsletter to alert you so hopefully you’re signed up to receive them.

Much love

Julia X

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  2. Hi Julia,
    Congratulations on your anniversary, and what a lovely husband to arrange that lovely treat.
    The answer is Wood 😀

    Reply

  13. Congratulations on your anniversary. It’s our anniversary today 44 years. Don’t know where the time has gone. The answer is wood

    Reply

  14. I don’t really like surprises but your 4th wedding anniversary surprise looked superb! My mum is always saying that she would like a private chef but I’ve never taken the hint. It seems that your family has put me to shame! The 5th wedding anniversary is represented by: b) Wood. I wonder what gifts you’re going to get for that one!

    Reply

  19. Hi Julia, looks amazing food and what a wonderful surprise. Love to read your blogs. The answer is Wood for 5th Wedding Anniversary.

    Reply

  21. Hi Julia Happy 5th Anniversary to you both ,what an amazing time you have been having so many wonderful memories ,you all look so happy together and I wish you many more!!You are one of the many rocks of QVC. The answer is WOOD.

    Reply

  22. Hi Julia,
    Iam just curious. I have watched you on QVC from the start, and when you was talking about getting married. I thought you got married many years ago.
    And it is wood x

    Reply

  23. Hi Julia,
    Congratulations to you both on your anniversary!
    I really enjoyed reading your blog.
    The answer is:-
    B: wood.
    Good luck to everyone who enters.
    xxx

    Reply

  35. Answer
    B: Wood

    Hi Julia
    What an interesting blog, and such lovely photos. So much beautiful food to enjoy. I imagine that it made it an extra special time and occasion for you and Chris.
    Best wishes for further success with future writing.

    Reply

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