1) Do you enjoy cooking? Why/why not? How about baking? Do you do most
of the cooking in your household, or does someone else? How often do
you go out to eat (or order in) in a typical week?

I have to admit I don’t really enjoy cooking. It’s not so much the actual cooking that I dislike, more the planning what to eat, trying to be creative, making sure we’ve got all the right ingredients in, making sure everything gets eaten up and we don’t waste too much food. I also find it one of those never ending tasks like laundry – you can never sit back and think “Ah, it’s done” because there’s always the next meal to think about. I do like baking though, but I don’t do it very often because I make a big mess in our small kitchen when I do, and I’m always dieting and so can never eat the results!

Newt used to do most of the cooking, but we’d never eat the same things, so he’d have to make two meals – one for him and one for me. Now he’s got a much longer commute to work, I do most of the cooking. I’m also trying to follow the Slimming World diet (sorry, eating plan) which means that if I cook, I know what goes in the food. But because I don’t like cooking, I’m not about to cook two separate meals, so Newt has to eat what I make, or go hungry. This usually works out fine, because it’s me that’s fussy, not him.

We don’t really eat out on a weekly basis – maybe once a month we’ll eat out. We used to get a lot of take-aways though, but since I started on the diet again, I can’t do that.

2) Do you have any dishes (or desserts, or beverages, or whatever)
that you consider your “specialty”? Did you create the recipe
yourself, from scratch? How often do you make this dish?

I have a range of dishes that I can make – but I’m not sure that makes them my ’specialty’. I don’t create recipes from scratch, but being vegetarian, and being on a diet, I do a lot of ‘tweaking’ of recipes to make them fit. I do think I make a pretty good chilli, and a great lentil and vegetable soup – and we’ll eat these probably once a week.

3) Have you ever taken any cooking classes? If not, what type(s) of
cooking class would you most like to take? Do you ever watch the Food
TV Network? What are your favorite shows on there?

Only at school, and I hated it. Dropped Home Ec for music as soon as I could! I don’t think I’d particularly want to do any cookery classes – I don’t think I enjoy cooking enough. In the UK we don’t get the Food TV Newtwork, but I do get a channel called UK Food – I don’t think I’ve ever watched it though! I did was Delia’s ‘back to basics’ cookery show though and I quite enjoyed that.

4) What’s something quick and easy that you like to just throw
together when you aren’t in a cooking mood at all? Are there any foods
that you’ve been absolutely dying to try lately? Do you have any new
(and yummy) food discoveries/combinations to share with us?

If I’m really not in the mood to cook I’ll just defrost something that I’ve pre-frozen. For example when I’m making chilli, I’ll make enough to freeze at least two extra portions. But my chilli is pretty quick to make, or I might throw some jacket potatoes in the oven, or make Moroccan Chick Peas and Spinach – it’s really simple, but it tastes as though you’ve put quite a bit of effort in!

As for foods I’ve been dying to try – well I’m going to do that tonight. I’m going to try to make Chinese vegetable and noodle soup follwed by Cauliflower and Straw Mushrooms in Black Bean Sauce. Wish me luck – I think I’ll need it!

5) What is your favorite kitchen appliance? Is your kitchen generally
well stocked with equipment? Describe your kitchen to us ~ what it
looks like, what’s on the counters, etc.

Ah, now one thing I *do* like about cooking is all the gadgets! My favourite appliance is probably my Magimix. Mine is quite old, and the catch on the bowl is getting a bit dodgy – but it’s given about 15 years of good service. The main thing I like about it is that it’s a direct drive – so the spindle is directly connected to the motor – most food processors are belt driven, which means that they’re less powerful. The Magimix also automatically adjusts the motor speed to the amount of work required. It’s just ace really! The blades are very, very sharp – just ask my dad, he has the scars to prove it. All the parts are dishwasher safe. It’s great for slicing and grating vegetables – so much quicker than doing it by hand.

My kitchen is pretty small, it’s a galley kitchen with units down either side, and a sink at the end. The guy who owned this house before us was a cabinet maker, which means that he fitted the kitchen. Because the kitchen’s an odd shape, he custom built the units. In one way, this is great because we can have units on both sides, but in another way it’s not so great because standard parts (eg new doors) don’t fit at all. We’ve got a washing machine and dishwasher and fridge freezer in the kitchen, so not all that much cupboard space, and some of the cupboards are so high that I can’t even reach them when I’m standing on a special step! We don’t have a microwave, because I don’t really see what I would use it for. We have quite a lot of pans, and baking equipment, and some really cool electronic scales (well I think they’re cool anyway). By the side of the sink we have two ’stack and stores’ – one for general recycling, and one for glass. The kitchen counters are pretty full – there’s a large coffee maker, a kettle, the Magimix, a big plasic box full of dry cat food, and a box of cat food pouches, a coffee grinder, a utensils pot, pots for tea, coffee and sugar, a water filter a ‘penny jar’ etc etc. It’s what comes of two people living in a small house with a lot of junk. In fact if it wasn’t such a mess, I’d take a photo for you! Maybe tomorrow, when I’ve cleaned up a bit.

aince I was online, and yet surprisingly little has been going on.

I went to a wedding last weekend (19th February) in Derby. Newt and I went down on the Saturday and stayed overnight in the same hotel as the wedding (I feel it’s important to be within staggering distance of your bed at these type of events). We both had a great time, despite a huge shock at the bar when two drinks cost us almost £8!

On the Sunday we took a detour via Bakewell and visited Wye needlecraft where I treated myself to two charts – Kitty Litter and Kittens and Mittens, both by Brittercup designs.

We also found a fabulous jewllery store called ‘Stone Art’ where I bought a lovely multi-gem pendant. I wanted some green and yellow amber earrings as well, but they’ll have to wait until next time.

I went to the gym today, so that they could work out a programme for me. Apparently I’m quite flexible – which seems very odd, I don’t feel flexible at all – I think maybe it just looks that way because I’m so short. After all, it must be much easier to reach different bits of your body when none of them are all that far away, or that far off the ground! Anyway, I’ve got 45 minutes of cardio stuff – on the treadmill, cross trainer, bike and rower – not the stepper because that’s just some kind of nasty medieval torture machine for your thighs. Then various weight machines – I like doing those, I like that burning pain you get, really feels like you’re doing something good, and then oh, the relief when you stop. Although I was a bit embarrassed that although I might be flexible, I’m rather weak and weedy and can’t lift more than 10kg on one of the machines.

Then I came home to 3 shouty, and scary cats. I don’t know what’s got into them today – they wanted letting in, then letting out, then picking up, then putting down, then feeding (a lot!). Finally Holly and Tiswas decided that out was the best place to be, and things got a bit quieter. But you know when things are *too* quiet (I’m sure if you have children you’ll appreciate that. I then found BBC happily tucking into a bowl of cream and gold, vanilla flavoured pot pourri. He seemed to be selecting a bit, chewing it, and then either deciding that it was tasty and worth eating or (more likely) that it didn’t taste at all good, and so should be spat out and spread all over the carpet. So now there are sharp, yet slightly soggy bits of pine cone, twigs and leaves all around the dining room table. And one cross cat outside!

Last week was quite busy because I was preparing for a presentation. Did that on Monday 14th – and I thought it went as well as can be expected. That is, my memory stick worked, powerpoint didn’t crash, and I don’t think that I said anything too stupid. It makes up 40% of the marks for that module, so I just hope the assessors liked it. I talked about Contraception and the Perimenopause, and my presentation is actually up on my website because I was paranoid that my memory stick wouldn’t work!
http://www.littlerach.co.uk/menopause%20presentation_12022005.ppt
Just in case you’re all bored at work and need a displacement activity!

Other than that I’ve not been going to the gym – but it’s not altogether my fault. I have to keep rearranging my ‘programme’ session where they tell me just how fat I am, and what machines might eat up that fat faster than others. I’m now booked in for Friday.

Took BBC to the vet today for his annual boosters and check up. He’s absolutely fine, but we’re to continue with the Katalax (laxatives for cats) to help with the furballs. And just to prove his point before we set off for the vet he deposited the entire contents of his stomach, along with two HUGE furballs onto the lounge carpet. Thanks Boo. There’s no sign of the cancer on his ankle regrowing. He also seems to be back to a nice, healthy, heavy weight – he’s 5.8kg, which is just under 13lb – almost a stone of cat! And just to prove me a liar, after telling the vet that he wasn’t very nice, and was really difficult to give pills to, he just sat there, opened his mouth and swallowed while they gave him a worming pill. I swear he was smirking at me on the way home. Anyway, that little lot set me back over £46! Good job he’s a good ratter – else he’d be out on the street.

I also went back to the practice nurse to get my blood pressure checked again. That’s back to a much more reassuring 130/70.

This weekend looks like it’s going to be a bit busy too. On Friday we’re off to the new Aagrar restaurant under the new BBC building near QH for a friend’s birthday – should be lovely if it’s anything like the one in Garforth. Then on Saturday we’re off to a wedding in Derby – again should be good because we’re staying overnight, so it’s almost like a mini-holiday. I may even persuade Newt that we should come back via Bakewell, so that I can have S.E.X. at Wye Needlecraft! I’m sure he’ll be amenable as long as I promise him a Bakewell pudding afterwards.

I went to Yoga last night – as part of the lifelong quest to lose weight. It was a beginners class – but it was NOT easy. I woke up this morning and I really ache. In really odd places – my feet ache. I didn’t know I had that many muscles in my feet – but obviously I do, because now they all hurt. I don’t think I was particularly good at it, but I’m going to stick it out, and carry on going for a while.

I’ve also got a gym induction today, which I was looking forward to, but I’m now feeling a bit apprehensive about. Not relishing the fact that I’ll have to jiggle about in public. Ah well, if it works, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

http://www.sundaybrunch.org/

1) Do you take baths or showers?
Baths. I don’t have a shower, so it’s jusy not an option. I do prefer showers though, and had I known I was going to stay in this house so long, I would have got my act together and turned the airing cupboard into a shower. Now my tumble dryer lives there instead.

2) Do you like the water super hot or just tepid?
I’m not sure really. Fairly hot I think because when I run a bath for people when I’m at work they usually end up putting extra cold water in because it’s too hot. Doesn’t feel all that hot to me though.

3) Do you use bath gel, bath crystals, bubble bath, or other scented stuff?
Sometimes. Not always. Though I usually wash with shower gel if that counts.

4) What do you like to do when you take a bath?
I can’t really lie in the bath and do nothing – I get bored. I’m not really into reading or doing anything else in the bath either, so I usually just get washed and get out.

5) What is your one item essential to a great bath?
Big, clean, dry fluffy towels that have been pre-warmed in the tumble dryer.

1. What is your opinion of poetry? Do you love it, hate it, can’t live without it, or wish all poets would be stranded on a desert isle?
I don’t really have a particularly strong opinion. I don’t love it, don’t hate it. I do hate it when angst-ridden teenage boyfriends write poetry for their girlfriends though. It’s never a good sign. If this applies to your boyfriend – get rid of him immediately.

2. What is your favorite poem? Copy and paste it here in your answer (and yes, if your favorite poem happens to be a dirty limerick, so be it- share away).
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvel

Had we but World enough, and Time,
This coyness Lady were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long Loves Day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges side
Should’st Rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood:
And you should if you please refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than Empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should grow to praise
Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
Two hundred to adore each Breast:
But thirty thousand to the rest.
An Age at least to every part,
And the last Age should show your Heart.
For Lady you deserve this State;
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I alwaies hear
Times winged Charriot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lye
Desarts of vast Eternity.
Thy Beauty shall no more be found;
Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound
My echoing Song: then Worms shall try
That long preserv’d Virginity:
And you quaint Honour turns to dust;
And into ashes all my Lust.
The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hew
Sits on thy skin like morning [dew],
And while thy willing Soul transpires
At every pore with instant Fires,
Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am’rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our Time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapt pow’r.
Let us roll all our Strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one Ball:
And tear our Pleasures with rough strife,
Through the Iron gates of Life.
Thus, though we cannot make our Sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

3. Do you have a favorite poet or a favorite collection of poetry? Along the same vein, is there a particular poet that you don’t really care for? Why?
I don’t really have a favourite poet. In all honesty, I don’t know enough about poetry to have a favourite or least favourite poet.

4. Do you consider songs to be a form of poetry? Why or why not?
On the whole, no. I suppose some older songs (as in hundreds of years old) are, but certainly not modern songs. Think about the lyrics in most of them – banal at best, utterly ridiculous at worst.

5. Do you write poetry? If so: 1) would you consider posting one of your poems with your answer so we may all read it; and 2) what inspires you to write your poetry?
I don’t write any poetry at all.

Click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

I finally finished this on Wednesday night, while Newt was at Tai Chi. It’s stitched on Silkweaver’s Winter Skye Reflections 28ct lugana. The owl looks a bit blue in places, but that’s just my photo – he doesn’t look like that in real life. The ‘blue’ areas are where I replaced the white DMC with white Whisper to make him look a bit fluffier. I haven’t got round to ‘fluffing’ him up yet, but I still like the effect – even if you can’t see it properly in the photo.

I really enjoyed stitching this one and I now think I might have to do the two teddy witches as companion pieces.