Saturday

Two for the price of one today, you lucky things, you!!!

I've just popped out to the shed to get some bread in and it feels jolly cold even though BBC tells me it is 10 C.  At present it is still and dry but I gather there's some nasty stuff coming - strong winds during the day and rain overnight.

It's all a muddle at the moment.  I'm expecting my friend to stay but their car won't start so they may or may not be here now.  It's a right pain for them and my fingers are firmly crossed.

What with expecting them and also Alex coming for lunch tomorrow, I got a big chicken out of the freezer and it is gently defrosting as I type.  It won't be a problem.  You know that book '101 things to do with a defrosted chicken when your expected guests can't come'?  Well, I could have written that!  I shall roast it, dismantle it and plan the week's meals round it, if needs be!

I got an email yesterday from my lovely ICT friend.  He had a day off, could he come round and check the new PC was working OK and sort out any questions I had?  Well, of course he could so now I have that font on the new PC, I know what to do with other fonts I have missed and stuff has been sorted, added, etc!  I didn't get to have my bacon roll though, so guess what's for brekky this morning!

I don't know if you have heard but Aldi is now doing online stuff, just for wine, etc.  Having enjoyed a very cheap bottle from them last week, I went online and yes, it was there, same price, no postage, so I crumpled and bought some.  It arrived yesterday so now I have to get it out of sight, out of mind!

In the afternoon I went into school to do what I couldn't do on Thursday afternoon.  The teacher had got my message about Thursday but not the bit about being able to do Friday instead.  As they were doing PE with visiting sporty types I couldn't really whisk children away for reading so I disappeared into Y1 and heard some of them read instead and it was lovely!

Last Monday I bought some not terribly nice (rather nasty, in fact) plain yogurt from Aldi.  I used some of it as a starter for making my own natural yogurt which was ready yesterday morning and it really very nice indeed.  I think I might see if some straining and turning into a soft cheese improves the flavour at all and I can use the whey in my bread.  Fingers crossed because I would hate to throw it away.

So, all in all, yesterday was a really nice day!

Today's food:
B:  that bacon roll which I am munching as I type! Apple
L:  Home made soup, probably leek and potato, fruit yogurt
D:  I'm trying the basic curry from my new curry book!  It looks simple enough and I have all the necessary spices.  Then either fruit or yogurt and pineapple

Saturday's garden

Yesterday I popped out into the garden and took a few dark, damp, soggy photographs.

They're all a bit stunted this year, maybe because it is so early!

Very, very pretty.

Mini-daffs.  I wonder what they will do at Easter though - all the daffs will be over.  At the back of the photo you can see that the crososmia is starting to shoot.

The only ones I would expect to see right now.  They're very good this year!

The rosemary is flowering . . .

. . . and even the little rose bush is sending out shoots.

Friday

Well, yesterday was a busier day, for sure.

To start with, I was up early so I could get sorted out, tidied up and the rubbish out before meeting up with Beth at the pool.  The traffic was moving so we both got there earlier than expected but we arrived at the same time which was quite a coincidence.

No, we didn't, it's not allowed!

As it's been ages since we swam, we decided to take it easy but we still managed to do an hour of gentle up and down which must have done us some good.  Then Beth came back and we did our wrapping and packaging of the cat bum mats.  That's all done now!

One irritating thing was that the font we use for our labels isn't on my new PC and while I could find it, I didn't know how to get it on.  Fortunately, I have a super whizz ICT person (yes, Milli, I mean you) staying over the weekend so she will be able to do it for me, I am sure.  < smiles sweetly at Milli >

Later on I popped over the road to tutor my one private pupil and I really enjoyed it.  The child is coming on well, one can see real improvement in the work.  Most satisfying.

And now it is Friday.  Lots of housework to get done today plus the meal planning for next week so I'd better stop rabbiting on and get going.  Coffee first though!  One must get ones priorities straight.

Today's food:
B:  bacon and tomato roll (spoiling myself here, but it is value bacon!), apple
L:  soup, yogurt and pineapple
D:  fish, home made wedges, peas, fruit yogurt

Have a good day

Thursday

. . . and guess what.  I'm going swimming.  It's been ages since we went swimming for various good reasons (and because we like to go together)  but today we are going swimming.  Yay!

Yesterday was a bit of a nothing day really.  I pottered and meandered and achieved not very much.

The food was nice though.

Lunch - bit of pizza, bit of salad.  OK by me!

Dinner: mushroom rogan josh with cauliflower rice and a dollop of not terribly nice natural yogurt.  MUST get round to making my own again!

Apart from swimming, Beth and I are packing up all our cat bum coasters orders ready for posting tomorrow.  So nice that people like them enough to buy them, isn't it?

Today's food:

B:  nothing until after swimming, then probably fruit

L:  soup, fruit yogurt

D: tuna burger in a bap, salad, fruit

Now I must get ready!

Wednesday

Good morning and welcome to a sunny, frosty morning here in mid-Essex.  After a day in school, I was zonked come the evening but managed to stay more or less awake until after ten in the hopes of avoiding  a stupid o'clock awakening and, for once, it worked!

So now I am running late, but it doesn't matter.

It was a very pleasant day in school yesterday.  Someone made a really nice comment about my teaching which cheered me up no end.  Are all teachers as unconfident about their craft?  I have no idea but I suspect many are just like me, hiding behind a 'I can do this' veneer.
Afternoon playground duty was chilly but pleasantly fresh after a stuffy classroom.

Today doesn't have any particular commitments so I might just possibly see if I can tackle the dump formerly known as 'my bedroom'.  It is a singularly depressing place at the moment and needs some TLC.

Also, as mentioned yesterday, I'm making Jack Monroe's mushroom rogan josh for dinner.  I'm looking forward to that!

Today's food:
B:  I was going to have porridge but it's rather late and I'm not feeling hungry so I will see if I can last out until lunch time and maybe have an apple in an hour or so.
L:  a slice of pizza with some salad, fruit yogurt
D:  mushroom rogan josh, cauliflower rice, maybe a flatbread, fruit or yogurt.

Nice and healthy, nice and frugal too!

I'm just enjoying the first coffee of the day - aaaahhhh, lovely!

Tuesday

Good morning, gentle readers.

It's school day today so I need to be bright and bouncy and ready to go.  I got that wrong then, didn't I?  Never mind, it's just one day and once I get there I will be fine.

Yesterday was OK.  I made bread.  I made some soup from a broccoli stem, the woody inside of a parsnip, a third of a sweet potato and a couple of very small ordinary potatoes that jumped out of the fridge after hiding in there for weeks - literally weeks!  Oh - and some coconut milk and some marigold stock.  It was delicious.  I'll never be able to reproduce it, of course, but never mind, using up those bits and getting something so lovely was most satisfying.

One of the groups I help to admin was a bit lively at times so that kept things moving.  Maybe it was the wind.  At school we know when it's windy without looking because the children are - well, lively!   It seems fine at the moment, thank goodness, and I hope none of you had any problems with the high winds yesterday and overnight.
  

Middle of the day I pootled off to Aldi and, three cheers, they had some haggis.  I was looking for it reduced in Morrisons after Burns night but no luck.  The Aldi haggis was better value and I shall portion it out and freeze it in single portions.  They also had beautiful chestnut mushrooms in their Super Six so I bought two punnets as I have planned to make Jack Monroe's mushroom rogan josh on Wednesday.  Some good timing there.

Did anyone watch the Mary Berry cookery programme, the name of which I keep forgetting?  She made a sort of tortilla lasagne thingy which looked so delicious I shall have a go sometime.  I can make tortillas so can get them the right size for whatever container I use to bake the dish.

Anyway, as I said, it is school today.  Y1 until playtime and FS for the rest of the day.  It's the class I had for three days last week so I feel I know them pretty well now - and they know me.  I'm looking forward to it.

Today's food:

B:  toast and marmalade

L:  veg curry and flatbread, fruit yogurt

D:  sausages in bacon, sprouts, broccoli, fruit

And now for my first coffee of the day!

Monday

A pinch and a punch
For the first of the month.

And having got that little bit of traditional violence over and done with, welcome to February, cold, damp and with a red sky that doesn't bode well . . .

I live in hope, even though snow days are in the past for me now.

Yesterday I spent most of the morning in and out of the kitchen concocting a vegetable curry that ended up absolutely delicious, even though I rather cheated with some rogan josh curry paste in a jar.  It was one of those dishes where you just keep adding bits and bobs as you think of them.  There's no way I could recipe-ise it but as far as I can remember I used onion, carrot, peppers, mushrooms, peas, sweet potato, broccoli, celery and sweet corn and the sauce was made of the aforementioned paste, garlic puree, passata, coconut milk*, some marigold bouillon, salt and pepper.
I think.
*  I have some coconut milk powder which you mix up one part powder to four parts water.  Very useful.

Anyway, it was delicious and I am thrilled that there are four more portions in the freezer and that I was able to give Beth two portions to take home.

With it, I ummed and ahed between rice and noodles and in the end made some flat breads instead.  Again delicious - SR flour, yogurt, salt and a smidgeon of baking powder and so, so easy.  It's on t'other blog.  Just follow the link.
http://fooddiaryofteacher.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/easy-flatbread.html

In the afternoon Beth sewed and I crocheted.  The cat bum coasters are now all made and ready for dispatch as the dosh rolls in!

Not the best photo in the world but you get the idea!

After posting a photo of the runner and table mats that we made before Christmas as an order from a friend, we now have another order for a runner so out came the sewing machine and the ironing board and by the end of the afternoon Beth had sewn the strips together.  We now have to get some wadding so can't go on any further until that arrives.

These certainly brightened up someone's Christmas dinner table, didn't they?

I have no particular plans for today apart from bread making and maybe popping over to Aldi for some bits and bobs.  I will see what turns up as I meander through the day trying not to look too lazy!

I've been very good and planned my meals for the week in the hopes that it will keep me on the straight and narrow.  I can hope.
Here's today's
B:  Porridge with pineapple and maple syrup
L:  Odds and Ends soup, bread roll, fruit
D:  Home made smoky bacon pot noodles, fruit yogurt.