Monday 23 November 2009

My week off

Preparation – start binge reading ‘Angel’ series by Mike Ripley to the point that you start to believe that you have a cat called Springsteen and play the trumpet. Write impossibly long job list.

Saturday – Decide that you definitively have a cold. Go out for lunch and then sleep on sofa for several hours.

Sunday – come to at 4am remembering that you haven’t written your seed order. Go back to sleep. Get up several hours later and write out order. Persuade boyfriend to walk around to abode of seed secretary so that you can drop it off. Nearly get run over by seed secretary. Go to pub for pint of IPA. Sleep on sofa.

Monday – pop to surgery for a blood pressure check. Chat with nurse who points out that (a) your house is haunted, (b) it used to feature in Lovejoy episodes every time he went to his lock up, and (c) is the sweet black cat yours? Resist urge to ask if she’s talking about Springsteen. Waste loads of time watching Lovejoy snippets on Youtube just in case your house turns up.

Tuesday – go for contact lenses check first thing. This takes ten minutes. Wait for bus and arrive back just before lunch time. Wonder how you managed to accumulate so much bubble wrap and so many padded envelopes. Search in vain for bags big enough to contain them.

Wednesday – Go to allotment. Realise that potato crop is getting out of hand. Resolve to include potatoes in as many dishes as possible. Wonder if your cold will ever clear up. think baout going to High Street and then recall it is early closing.

Thursday – Feel good for about two hours. Engage in sewing and other activities. Then develop strange headache.

Friday – Get inspired about using potato glut to make dish from years ago involving herb and garlic cream cheese. Search for recipe in vain. Search online. Decide not to overdue things. Rest, relax…accidentally spend evening at 40th birthday party of someone you’ve never met.

Weekend – Attempt to recreate and veganise potato and cream cheese recipe.
Wonder how you can have still have watery eyes. Is it stress? A cold?

Monday – return to work wondering where the week went…

Thursday 12 November 2009

Things I Love Thursday

*Breakfast with friends
*Time off
*Keeping up with NaNoWriMo
*Wanting to find out more about the characters I’ve created
*Deep sleep
*Beer
*Engrossing thrillers
*Allotment progress
*Foot spa afternoons
*A steadily emptying freezer
*Planning what to wear to avoid making a decision in the morning

Wednesday 11 November 2009

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I have an abundance of potatoes. I usually do quite well with potato growing. Either my skills have massively improved or the conditions this year were just what the farmer ordered. The spinach is doing quite well too. The stuff that went to seed had come back and a new planting is doing well (except for occasional slug attacks).

Clockwise from top right:

Celery - I enjoyed it so much last week I had to include it in my lunchbox again.

Boiled potatoes - I love mashed potato but have always been worried that it doesn't keep well once made. This is based on fears other people have expressed rather than my own experience. So I boiled the potatoes at the start of the week and have been heating them in the microwave at work and mashing on the spot. Works well.

Chocolate torte - from a Rose Elliot cookbook. Very rich. I made it to serve at dinner for guests but not that much of it got eaten. If/when I make it again I will use oil rather than chocolate to bind the biscuits in the base.

Spinach and tofu salad - From one of the Sarah Kramer books. I baked the tofu in sesame oil rather than frying it. The dressing very good and I can see lots of other uses for it.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I need to eat more fruit and vegetables. As ever I need to make some space in the freezer.

Clockwise from top right:

Pear flapjacks - Made with huge windfall pears and a half oat/half millet flake mix. Yummy.

Celery - This is so crispy and good tasting that I nearly went back to the veg stall for a second lot. Clearly my body is crying out for greens.

Mango - It was reduced. I wouldn't usually buy it but I had some vague idea at the back of my head about an Indian themed box.

Indian snacks on spinach - a indian snack pack dug out of the freezer. There's a samosa, a bhaji and a pakora. The spinach is home grown!

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