Sunday

Good morning everyone.  I've taken a quick peek out of the front door and brrrrrrrrr, it doesn't half feel chilly.  I'm glad and thankful, as always, for my lovely little house with its efficient double glazing and central heating.  It may not be all that cold in real terms, but even so . . . brrrrrrrr.

I had a lovely meal out yesterday at our local Cafe Rouge.  For once, low(er) calorie and inclination combined and I had a tagine de poulet.  I was impressed to see that Cafe Rouge now flags up the dishes that are under 600 calories and this was one of them.  I'd have had it anyway and it was gorgeous.  I fear the healthy eating didn't survive the appearance of the dessert menu where I had a trio of little deliciousnesses.  The food was great and the atmosphere was good but, oh, my, they are slow with the service.  For a cafe that advertises quick meals on their menu, they take for ever and a day!  Not that it mattered for us, we  had all afternoon, but I did have to go and move the car and get another ticket (fortunately there were plenty of slots by then), as did Anna.  We'll know better next time.  And there will be a next time because the final bill (which I didn't pick up) was very reasonable, given what we all had.  Alex, in particular, had a whale of a time with his choices!  Thank you very much, Dave, for a lovely lunch with all my favourite people.

So - back to 'healthy' eating again.  This last week has been a disaster really but one week does not signal the loss of the whole war, thank goodness.  I'm back on track, having planned the menu for the week with plenty of ready meals (home cooked) from the freezer, so there's no excuses.

Today, because Beth and Alex are over and because they are on the last lap of their month on wartime rations, I am making 'lentil sausages', a recipe which I found on a wartime recipe blog, with a tomato sauce or maybe some cranberry sauce I have left over from a few weeks ago (or probably both!) and a selection of veg, probably some red cabbage from the freezer, some broad beans and some carrots.  No potato as there's potato in the sausages.  I might shape them into patties rather than sausages as they might hold their shape better that way, fingers crossed.   And then I'm making some chocolate oat cakes which is supposed to be American wartime rations - I'm not so sure about British, but I can claim that I've saved my fat rations (which is absolutely true, I've been eating very little butter recently) and the chocolate is cocoa.  Hopefully Alex will appreciate them - I think he has suffered greatly over the past three weeks, poor, hollow legged, sweet-toothed teenager that he is!

I'm wondering if I ought to follow Beth's example and have a go at wartime frugality.  It would have to be in holiday time because it takes a good deal of thought and preparation, but maybe for a week over the spring (so called) half term and then over Easter.  I will discuss it with her.

Well, I was up stupidly early this morning and am now flaking out, so I'm going up to see if I can snatch some more sleep.  Have a good Sunday!

Meet a friend - handsome chap, isn't he?  No, not mine - I'm not a pet-person!

Monday

Good morning, everyone.  Wasn't it another lovely day yesterday? It was here, anyway, although not quite as lovely as Saturday as the sky clouded over and the sun decided to go and play somewhere else for a while.  It was still a gift though, given that recent weather has been a bit wet and miserable.

As mentioned earlier, we managed to break into my kitchen without doing any damage to the door or frame (phew) and discovered that the door mechanism has just jammed.  So we took off a few more 'tubular latches' (that's what the packet calls them) that were being a bit sticky and pootled off to B&Q to get some more.  Of course, when we got back, they didn't quite fit and I need to get someone to chip a little more wood from the side of the door, but never mind, no problems.  I just have three doors that won't close but each one has a separate lock that I can use if needs be (just as well in the case of the toilet door!).  I'd much rather that than a door that might suddenly jam!  I keep shuddering at the thought of the door jamming when I was on my own with something boiling merrily away on the hob!

It's been a lovely weekend and I'm sorry it's over.  Yesterday was quiet but pleasant, with DD and DG coming over for a roast dinner with most of the trimmings - I forgot the stuffing and I remembered at teatime that the onions, which I had popped into the microwave to soften before adding them to the roasting potatoes, were still in the microwave!  Never mind, I will pop them in the freezer for the next time I do a casserole or curry, it won't be wasted.

I haven't got a lot of food left over either.  Some turkey and accompanying veg which will do me well this evening and a titchy bit of lasagne and salad which is today's lunch.  Some sandwiches which are now well wrapped and in the freezer.  I had a few biscuits left over but they disappeared before bed time (not guilty!).  So, all in all, it has all gone very well on the catering front.

Just one booboo.  As I mentioned yesterday, DD has a blog about her  wartime eating (go and enjoy - it's brilliant!).  I had promised her a beany, vegetable-y mixture and I forgot.  The beany mix is still in the freezer and she had a mushroom bake thing.  I'm not sure the grapes we had with crackers and cheese were all that authentic either!  Sorry, DD, will try harder!However, she took home a pot of the red cabbage and apple, so that's good! 
She also took three loaves.  I have appointed myself as her baker this month.  I'm not sure how authentic a bread making machine is, but it's certainly home made, wholemeal and, though I say it myself, very delicious.  I've started making the loaves for next week now - one made and cooling, one in the machine set to finish when I get home from school this evening and one in my head for overnight.

And now the porridge is made so I'd better wander off and have my breakfast!

Hyde Hall on Saturday