Sunday

. . .and warm Easter greetings to all my friends who read here.  It's jolly cold outside with a very hard frost but lovely and cosy inside.  The sun is shining brightly and the evenings are getting lighter.  I can feel my spirits lifting, thank goodness.

Despite the tiredness yesterday I managed to get quite a lot done.  I went into school (and it was soooooo cold) to get that bit of work done so that's off my conscience.  Beth very kindly took me to Halfords where I bought a new battery for the car and now, thanks to Phil from over the cul de sac, I have a fully functioning car again.  Apart from the dhal, I didn't do much baking, but I intend to make up for that today.  I want to make the chicken balti and the pork korma to go in the freezer for when I have my friend round and, as Alex is staying with me for a few nights, I need to stock up with bread and cake.  I'm going to make the bloomer recipe again but turn it into two smaller bloomers rather than one large one - hopefully that work out fine.  The cake will be a Mary Berry Victoria sponge, of course.  I have plenty of delicious fresh local organic/free range eggs so it should taste a real treat.

Seeing as it is Easter Sunday I have lamb for dinner.  Not a leg to roast seeing as it's just me, but a couple of nice looking lamb steaks.  To go with them I want to attempt to concoct a plum and orange sauce, maybe also with ginger.  I'll let you know how that goes!

All that, combined with my knitting and crochet, not to mention the washing, drying and ironing, will conspire to keep me out of trouble all day.  Or there again, I might just sleep most of the day.  I'm right in the middle of another stoking cold, the mandatory 'teacher's cold' that we all get as soon as the holiday starts.  Thank goodness for modern medication:  ibuprofen is dealing with the aches, cough syrup with the cough and I have plenty of hankies for the snuffles.  And, of course, it is holiday.  No planning and, although I have promised myself I will start on the school reports, it's not going to happen today!  No way!  Or tomorrow, come to that.

Well, I'd better disappear into the kitchen and start the bread dough.  It's a long, slow recipe and I want to be able to get the results into the freezer by this evening.  But first I need to clear the kitchen decks, ready for action (and more mess).

Have a lovely Easter Sunday, wherever you are!