Thursday

Good morning, gentle readers.  It's a wet, chilly start to the day but no snow (shame).  The BBC tells me it might clear up a bit later but I don't think there's much chance of me getting any washing out on the line.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that I had a parcel on Tuesday.  Regular readers might remember that some weeks ago I bought a very cheap toasted sarnie maker in Morrisons with a view to seeing if I would get much use from it and, if so, then getting a better one.

Well, I did use it several times and there were decided disadvantages.
 One was that, however careful I was,  it leaked and made an almighty mess.  Another was that the plates could not be removed for cleaning (which I already knew) but it wouldn't have been a big issue if it hadn't leaked so badly.  The third was that it didn't toast evenly, seeming to steam rather than toast the bread in some places.  Not really what was needed and although the results were tasty, they could have been better.

Despite these annoyances, I found it useful and decided that it is something I will use, so I did my research online and ordered a better one which came on Tuesday.  Because of the barley leftovers, I couldn't use it yesterday so I shall plan in a toastie today!  Fingers crossed.

My baby sourdough started decided to make a break for freedom yesterday so today we move onto the next ' teenager' stage.  Half out and feed.  I'm going to make a crumpet (or a couple of pikelets) for breakfast with the bit to be discarded.  I know it's only flour and water but my frugal side rebels against just throwing it away because it has done the right thing.
And I like crumpets!

Edited to add that I got four out of my discard, had one with an egg and mmmmmmmmmm.  It wasn't very light (rye flour isn't light) and it was pikelet height, but the flavour, even at this early stage, was wonderful!  And there's three for the freezer!

I might be making quite a lot of them because I have to repeat the process for several days before the starter will be ready to use in bread.  Isn't it lucky that one can freeze crumpets!

Sonja and Milli arrived yesterday evening after making their way slowly and through some torrential rain around the motorway and up the A12.  They were very tired and I hope they have slept sweetly all night.  Sonja has asked me to make some of my leek and potato soup so that's on the list of Things To Do this morning.  Thank goodness for Thermione!

I'm still doggedly crocheting round and round and round the 'granny rectangle' blanket I am making.  It's working - I'm getting through a whole load of yarn in the process which was the main reason for starting it in the first place.
The colours in this one are in nice, neat rows but I am ending up with lots of little balls that won't do another roll, especially now it is quite large.  I know what I can do with some of them but the rest will make another blanket with colours that will stop just where the yarn ends regardless of where it is in the row.  Very rustic!

This is how it started, more or less (photo found on Google Images) but it's a lot bigger than that now!

Today's food:
B:  poached egg on crumpet (home made, sourdough, blah, blah!)
L:  soup, fruit yogurt
D:  might be a lamb curry if I can get my act together with the stewing lamb I bought yesterday.  I shall make some flatbread to have with it.

Better go and deal with the starter and have another coffee while I am at it!