Fat Dormouse getting thinner

Oh,I'm not cool at all! It really is hot here! Yesterday we headed out to the mountains beyond Clermont, hoping it would be cooler there, but it was still about 34°! We had a lovely day despite the heat - I'll blog about it over at The Teapot in the next couple of days. I'd left a meal cooking in the slow cooker so it was good to get back to a meal. I had made an Italian Vegetable Bake - except I didn't put the bread in. I thought it would go soggy, which I didn't fancy very much. There was a lot of juice, so maybe the bread would have soaked it up. But we had it with bread, so we soaked up the juice that way instead.

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We were staying at our friends' house overnight, as they were away and it is the Fete Patronale in the village. This means that right outside the house there are two sets of dodgems and a roundabout. Plus associated smaller stalls. The noise from the fair goes on well past midnight, so we always try to get away at least on Saturday night. Sunday night can also be bad - maybe we'll head out to other friends tonight, if the noise is too bad! So we were able to eat out on their terrace, sharing a bottle of artisan beer and enjoying some cheese that we bought on our trip out.

Workwise, this coming week is the lull before the storm - thankfully I have work coming in, but it's going to mean I'm really quite busy. There is two days of (potentially) 8-hour's of teaching (but possibly reduced to 6) in Clermont, followed by another 8 hours on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will then be filled with phone lessons and preparation. It's good, but I feel like it's almost more work than I wanted! Mr FD - who is no longer working in the office, but is working from home - will therefore be in charge of food for three days a week, at least!

So...what's planned for next week?

TODAY:Stuffed pork tenderloin, with gnocchi and veg from the freezer, and braised endives. The pork fillet is stuffed with a mixture of mustard, cheese and chopped gherkins - which frankly sounds a bit bizarre, but there you go! The recipe says "With flavours inspired by the classic Cuban grill sandwich, this recipe is as delicious as it is impressive" We will see. - and served with pan fried gnocchi.

MONDAY:Simple pesto tart: puff pastry, spread with pesto, covered with salami and marinaded red peppers, served with salad.

TUESDAY:Pork from Sunday, ratatouille and pasta.

WEDNESDAY:Coconut and squash dhansak - this apparently provides 4 of your 5 a day fruit and vegetables. Excellent. Half to eat and half into the freezer.

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I may well make Jamie Oliver's flatbreads to go with this.They are delicious and easy to make too.

THURSDAY: It's Mr FD's birthday! We'll be going out with friends - probably to La Poste around the corner.

FRIDAY:Slow cooker lasagne -I've got some bolognese sauce in the freezer so I'll use that.

SATURDAY: The rest of the lasagne. If I've planned to use it, then we can only have half of the dish that I have made. Otherwise we'll eat more than half and the rest will languish in the fridge because I don't know what to do with it and then it will go mouldy and I'll throw it away. I always mean to freeze the 1 portion meals and then have a Choose-your-own meal day, but forget. I wasted some delicious duck ragu sauce that way. Kicks self.

As I do, at regular intervals, I am trying to eat more fruit and vegetables - it's reasonably easy in the summer, as I adore melon, and have been having it with my breakfast, but as the peach/melon season draws to a close I'm reduced to apples (I only like a few types), or bananas (not my favourite fruit really). I tried some purées

but I really didn't enjoy them. I think I may use the others in a cake.
I could start buying frozen berries and having those with yoghurt, perhaps. And again upping the vegetables with each meal. This is something I keep resolving every few months or so, but then I forget! Still, I think we do generally eat more healthily than many people: certainly more adventurously!

My friend - who by her own admission is not a good cook, and who has two slightly fussy children - does not eat anywhere near as adventurously as us. Their meals seem to consist of raclette, crepes, frozen-fish-and-vegetables, or steak-frites. Or possibly chicken nuggets and pizza. Certainly food seems to be on a limited timetable. Quite often I won't cook something that we've had again (even when we've really enjoyed it!) for months, as I am too busy trying out lots of new recipes!! What about you? Do you cook a lot of meals over and over, or do you like to have somethingnew and different?

However, this is not an ingredient that I have tried cooking with!

*****

Once again, thank you for your comments!

JAN & KEZZIE admired the idea of a cupcake maker, especially for Hawa out in Africa. I hope she does manage to buy one. Judging by what she told me her diet out in Senegal is severely limited - fish and rice, mostlt - so I like the thought that she can have cake occasionally.

MRS TUBBS - thank you for your compliment on the Gruffalo cakes...though I think you're being too generous to call them "cute" looking! I think the best we can say is that they require imagination...!

JAN also suggested ginger scones. Now there's a thought! I like ginger and have a lot of crystallised ginger left over from making my white chocolate and ginger cheesecake (which I've not made for months!) I could try them. I made a lot of gingerbread crocs recently, using a crocodile shaped cookie cutter I was sent in a swap. They were good.

KEZZIE: the South Foreland lighthouse is lovely. It's certainly worth a visit if you're in the area.

I make absolutely no apology for the fact that this is a direct copy-and-paste from The Teapot. Please feel free to copy it onto your blog, or anywhere else others might see it and feel moved to do something!

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I have just signed the petition, "United Nations, Leaders of all Nations: International humanitarian help and asylum to those fleeing the Syrian War."
I think this is important. Will you sign it too?

Here's the link:
http://www.change.org/p/united-nations-leaders-of-all-nations-international-humanitarian-help-and-asylum-to-those-fleeing-the-syrian-war
or there's this one:

https://www.change.org/p/rt-hon-theresa-may-mp-no-more-drownings-immediate-sanctury-for-those-fleeing-from-war

God knows this is a terrible situation and I cannot imagine what world leaders can do. But there must be something. I cannot imagine what I can do - I don't think I could offer my home to a refugee, but at least I can sign petitions, I can write to the Prime Minister, I can donate money... Here is a Facebook page which gives other ideas (or search on FB for "Refugees Welcome UK) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1625303634416620/files/

In my daily devotions book, Celtic Daily Prayer, there is this meditation by Rowan Williams:

The Cry to God as "Father"

in the New Testament

is not a calm acknowledgement

of a universal truth about

God's abstract fatherhood.

It is the Child's cry

out of a nightmare.

It is the cry of outrage,

fear, shrinking away,

when faced with the horror

of "the world"

-yet not simply or exclusively

protest, but trust as well,

Abba, Father

all things are possible to Thee....

I feel like a child who doesn't understand why her toy is broken, but is handing to her Dad and saying "Mend it, please". She doesn't know how he can mend it, she doesn't know what it needs to be mended, but she trusts that he can mend it.

In my prayers I don't pretend to know how this horrific, terrible, desperate situation can be mended...but I hand it to my Father, and say "Mend it, Daddy,please."

But I need to be aware that my Daddy may well ask me to help him to mend it.

Hello dear Peeps! I think Maria Sharapova had it right when she (apparently) said:

I don't need a fancy party to be happy. Just good friends, good food, and good laughs. I'm happy. I'm satisfied. I'm content.

I hope everything is well with you. We are eating well, and using the slow cooker quite a lot too. We went out for Mr FD's birthday to L'Hotel de la Poste, just round the corner. We wzent with our friends, Alison and Gerome.

It was good to have lots of time to chat and enjoy good food together - although I drank enough wine to give me cramp that night! I'm starting to think two glasses might be my limit - or maybe it's the colour...I did have both red and white - and fizzy! - wine so I'm not sure what is the culprit yet! I shall start keeping records to find out.

I had tarte aux poireaux (leek tart) to begin, followed by a filet mignon du porc en brochette. Both were very enjoyable. Of course, the cheese trolley and the dessert trolley are always good at La Poste, although I'm usually too full to take full advantage of either! Mr FD was disappointed as the Paris-Brest that had been there at the beginning of the evening had all disappeared by the time we got to the dessert!

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The fruit salad that I chose was good - but just a fruit salad! - but the tarte banane-speculoos was quite tasty.

Our food for the rest of this week has been less fancy! Planned for next week we have...

SUNDAY:Brazilian pork stew - although I won't be making the corn dumplings as Mr FD doesn't like corn. Instead I'll make ordinary dumplings/ cobbler topping, and I'll have an ear of sweet corn on the side!

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MONDAY: OO-er. This is where I'm thrown back into the world of work rather precipitously with 8 hours of lessons at a new company. Still...think of the money! Mr FD is on charge of prepping dinner - meatballs (in the freezer), tomato & vegetable sauce, rice. Not very arduous for him, methinks.

TUESDAY:Lentil-and-sweet-potato shepherds pie. This was planned a couple of weeks back, using some delicious lamb-y gravy left over from a slow cooker lamb stew, but for whatever reason (I think it was a slightly dodgy stomach!) it didn't happen, so the gravy went in the freezer. It will happen today.

WEDNESDAY: Left over pork stew from Sunday. I'm dancing tonight so Mr FD is in charge of reheating this. We'll have it with crusty bread.

THURSDAY: My Thursday routine has changed a bit. I have a lesson in Roanne at 17h15 so Mr Fd has agreed to come down with me and do the shopping while I'm teaching. This means that I'm going to use the slow cooker so dinner will be ready when we get home. So tonight we're having Spinach and three cheese canneloni. (Not quite but nearly the recipe I'm using)

FRIDAY:Braised Asian Style beef ribs - again another not-quite-but-nearly the recipe! This is another slow cooker recipe. Served with broccoli and rice.

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SATURDAY: A sort of sweet potato/peppers/onion/mushroom/chorizo hash with egg. All made up.

We went plum picking yesterday, but sadly it wasn't too successful. The plum trees belong to friends of ours who has a holiday home near here. They have left and gone home, but said we could pick the plums. Unfortunately due to the dry summer although there were loads of plums they were a bit hard , small and wrinkled (a bit like me! ) We picked about a kilo, but they didn't look too hopeful for jam making - particularly as I didn't fancy cutting open and de-stoning all these teeny plums.

Finally I decided to go for a jelly type jam, so I cooked the plums without destoning them, and then I sacrificed a pair of tights to use to let the juice drip out. Here is our juice dripping going on:

Because the tights went so very stretchy and long desperate measures were needed and we suspended the tights from the ladder:

I suspect if I'd left it overnight we'd've got even more juice out, but it was a bit in-the-way, so I squeezed it as much as I could and then used what we had. It made 4 and a half jars though so that's not too bad!

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Again I thank you all for your comments, and I'm grateful that you read and comment on this blog. Especially on yesterday's post about the refugee crisis: please though, don't just comment. Do something too! Fishcake Random is knitting scarfs and hats - I'm not sure mine would be appreciated if I did that! I can't even knit a square without it becoming a trapezium!!

TRISH: I hope you enjoyed the squash dhansak as much as we did! I made Jamie Oliver's easy garlic butter flatbreads to go with it. Lush!

JAN: Thank you for Mr FD's birthday wishes...Our local restaurants are good - but then, when we were in the UK we ate in some amazing Gastro pubs. Our French friends were very impressed by the food in pubs, especially by those in the Cotswolds that we visited, including The Churchill Arms

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and The Fox

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SANDRA: I know that both my MiL and my mum don't bother cooking much for themselves, finding it too much of a faff, although mum does like cooking for us when we come. (so she says!!) I imagine that cooking for one does get a little tedious at times... But I do recommend the vegetable bake. It was delicious and SO simple in the slow cooker! I used a jar of arrabiata sauce to give it added piquancy - we like our food a little spicy!

I bought mum a number of products from this company Look What We Found which she really liked. She said the food was really tasty and so easy. Maybe there's something similar in the States.

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POMPOM: You're welcome any time! Just let me know so I can get some extra bread!

And finally... Cat, sun and wine! It only needs some bread and cheese to be perfect!

Well, maybe some chocolate too!

I've spent most of the morning in the kitchen!

I made some nut-and-cranberry flapjacks and I prepared tonight's dinner (Braised Asian style beef ribs) in the slow cooker. I do have to say that I played rather fast-and-loose with the ingredients though!

2 kg rack of beef short ribs - I didn't get 2 kg, only 1.5kg, and I think they aren't really "short ribs" as they seem to have more meat on them than I expected. Oh well. What else do I need?

190 ml hoisin sauce - well, I don't have any of that, but a website suggested an alternative of barbecue sauce + soy sauce + a smidge of Marmite + honey + some Chinese 5-spice. Okay then. But how do I judge 190 ml? Oh sod it - just guess!

60 ml soy sauce - Hmm. I've put a goodly splash of soy in the alternative hoisin. So do I put in more? As my measuring jug doesn't start counting till 100 ml (It's really hard finding a good measuring jug here in France!!!) I'm guessing anyway. Throw a bit more in!

60 ml of Mirin - whassat?! A suggested alternative is sweet wine, such as Marsala, or Muscat. Rats. I have run out. So, let's improvise. I have some orange blossom water - that's sweet. And there's some orange peel in the recipe, so an orange flavour would be okay...But the orange blossom water is also very perfumed. So I want to tone that down - so orange juice will do. Let's throw a glug into the mix - forgot to measure it! Never mind...

2 x 3cm strips of orange peel - don't have my ruler handy. 5 x possibly smaller strips will have to do.

90g honey - does that include the honey in the alternative Hoisin? In the end I throw in about 60g with my fingers crossed.

5 cm piece of fresh ginger, grated - I use ready pulped ginger. So a good teaspoon full gets plopped in.

3 cloves garlic, crushed - again I have ready pulped. So a good teaspoon of that.

1 fresh red chilli - yes, you've guessed it! I have a jar of ready prepared...so about half a teaspoon

2 teaspoons sesame oil. - Ah yes! I have that!!!

Let's hope it all works!!

I also made some Bosworth Jumbles. These are biscuits from my little book "Favourite Biscuit Recipes" that I was sent as a Ship of Fools Secret Santa (I think!!) one year. I forgot to buy any biscuits this week, so Mr FD had a bit of a grumble last night, so I decided to make these.

Apparently, it is said that the original recipe was dropped on the battlefield of the Battle of Bosworth Field, by Richard III's cook (who was planning on whipping up a batch if the King was victorious? I don't know!!) The name "jumble" is thought to derive from "gemmel" which was an interlaced finger ring,which these biscuits are believed to resemble. (Not mine!) Here's an article about them and here's the recipe:

Preperation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Pre-heat the oven to 180° C (350° F) Gas Mark 4
Ingredients for about 24 jumbles
300 g self-raising flour (I used plain - here we go again with alternatives!!)
50g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
150g butter
1 egg
1 tsp grated lemon rind (I used grated lime rind - no lemons! - + a squirt of lemon juice

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg then the flour & almonds then knead for about 1 minute until the mixture forms a smooth dough.

Roll into a long sausage about the thickness of a finger. Then, curl into "S" shapes. Another recipe - much more complicated - says "Roll the dough out to form a panel about 1/8 in. (3 mm.) thick and 4-5 in. (10-13 cm.) wide. Cut across the panel into 3/4 in. (2 cm.) strips. With floured hands, tie some of these strips into loose, single knots. Form the others into rings."

Cook for 15-20 minutes until golden.

I thought they were okay, but a bit boring, so I melted some chocolate and drizzled it over the top.

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Goodness me! You can even find a Richard III Lolcat:

Richard III thinking "Hmm, I'm a bit peckish. I could do with a tasty snack!"

I hate vertigo! Started Sunday morning and still here. Normal service will be resumed when my head has stopped spinning.

A great big fat Dormouse Bonjour et Bienvenue to my 129th Follower, Vintage Maison,who has a lovely blog full of Frenchy vintage-y stuff. If I was anything like houseproud I would be buying lots of things from her to pretty up our house. Instead it's a rather messy, untidy home (which smells faintly of cat pee as one, two, three or ALL of the cats are rubbish at using the litter trays. But maybe you don't want to know that!)

(not quite that bad!)

I am typing this with Bib sleeping on my left arm. I feel guilty when I need to type a capital letter! Pomme is sleeping on the amplifier at my feet - because it's warm!

I just thought I'd pop in to update you on my health - thank you for your concern. There's a full update over at The Teapot where you can also see lots of cards that I've made recently.

I hope to blog my menus as usual tomorrow. Now I'd better go and make my messy house a tad less messy by vacuuming and washing the kitchen floor. We have vegetarian chilli tonight, with tortillas, avocado, grated cheese and creme fraiche. It's already cooking in the slow cooker and I'm right looking forward to it!

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Mind you, I think ours will be a lot sloppier than this neat looking tortilla!

Hello dear Peeps! Thank you for your good wishes/comments yesterday. The vertigo continues to improve, being better in the afternoon than the morning, and things here in the Dormousehold are generally good.

Mr FD is currently working part-time back at Sh-Carrefour, where he was last year. This is because the guy who had taken over as manager got fed up of waiting for our friend Gilles to retire as owner, and walked out, taking his girlfriend-assistant with him. Gille's girlfriend Sylvie gave up her job to take over as manager, but needed Mr FD's computer skills + shelf-stacking at least at the present time. This is good for us, as, while I have 240 hours of work between now and Christmas it doesn't begin to kick in until the beginning of October. Without Mr FD's paycheck this month could be a bit thin-on-the-ground. I am grateful for God's provision.

Food last week was a bit hit-and-miss, as I wasn't up to cooking between Sunday and Tuesday, and rather uninterested after that! Still, Butternut Boulangère Baked Chicken was simple and enjoyable. It was from a series in Good Housekeeping which trumpeted the fact that all the recipes only needed 5 ingredients. A bit of a gimmick though I think, as I had the feeling that it could have done with something else. Not sure what though!

1 butternut squash
Small bunch of thyme
400 ml chicken stock
4 chicken breasts
350g goats cheese (I used soft garlic/herb cheese as Mr FD considers goat's cheese to be the food of the Devil)

1. Peel, dessed & slice the squash. Reserve the seeds (I didn't)
2. Layer the slices in a baking dish. Scatter the thyme leaves & seasoning. Pour over the chicken stock. Roast for 15 mins at 200°C
3. Make a pocket in each chicken, breast & put the cheese in the pocket. Rub chicken breasts with oil.
Put the chicken breasts on top of the squash. Sprinkle with the seeds.
4. Cook for a further 30 minutes or so. Serve.

We had this with some baked potato and braised endives.

This week's meals are planned thuswise:

TONIGHT: Chorizo One Pot - another 5 ingredient recipe. However we are being tempted away from this towards pizza from the van. Supporting local enterprises, don't you know?! All the ingredients are tinned/preserved so nothing will be wasted through not being used.

SUNDAY: Church picnic/barbecue. I've gone mad and bought a steak, which I will put in a bag with a marinade. I've also made coleslaw to take and a white chocolate and ginger cheesecake.
Mr FD can have his steak with coleslaw, salad and chips (He won't come to the picnic). I have prepared 3 small cheesecakes for his puds through the week.

MONDAY: Thai chicken with coriander coconut rice

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TUESDAY: Pasta/aubergine/courgette bake-y thing. Possibly in the slow cooker. Possibly made up on the spur of the moment. I've not really thought it through!

WEDNESDAY:Slow cooker lamb pilaf

Mr FD will prepare this (or maybe I'll have time to do it before I head down to Roanne for a day of teaching/dancing. I missed dancing last week, thanks to a spinning head. I ought to try to do some revision on the dances we did (although there's a fair chance we won't do them again!) One had the very bizarre name of "Bottle Your Crazy Up" I am often called upon to translate the titles into French; I failed with this one as it makes no sense in English!

THURSDAY: Quick bacon/mushroom/pesto pasta when we get back from teaching/shopping. We do the Lidl shop together, then Mr FD gets the other stuff in big Carrefour while I teach Adal. Who is lovely, but really not at all academic. He is willing, but has struggled with the presentsimple for a year. Sigh.

FRIDAY: The rest of the lamb pilaf, I think.

As always...

... for your comments.

They are always appreciated!

POMPOM, KEZZIE & ARIL commented on the Bosworth Jumbles that I made. They weren't bad, and although I made a lot they disappeared fairly rapidly. I didn't take a photo of my "drizzled" with chocolate ones (well, blobbed might be a batter word!) as they weren't very photogenic!

TRISH asked if the ribs turned out okay...Yes! I really liked them; although Mr FD declared them as "orangey" he didn't really elaborate as to whether that was a bad thing or not!

POMPOM offered advice on essential oils for vertigo - frankincense and peppermint. I realised afterwards that I certainly had some frankincense from my Christmas essential oils that I didn't use much of last year. Never mind!

KEZZIE: Our tortillas were nice - but, as usual, I didn't make the chilli mix spicy enough. I always forget to taste stuff as it's cooking, so it's too late to find out it's not spicy enough when we're eating it!

not my chilli, I'm afraid!

VINTAGE MAISON - I can't believe your house smells cat-pissy! Not with all those lovely linens and things. We have found a spray at Carrefour which seems to be the most successful at deterring them, but we need to remember to spray the stairs where they pee at regular intervals.

POMPOM - see! There are disadvantages to cute kittens!

Mr FD is watching the Rugby World Cup.Oh good. Several weeks of rugby to look forward to. (said in slightly fed up tones) Never mind. Doctor Who starts tonight!!

Oh my! David Tennant AND a cat. Be still my beating heart!

If you're not a Doctor fan you won't understand this one!

I hope you all have a good week. Enjoy your food! Enjoy your friends!

...an unmitigated disaster!!

I had read about slow cooker bread, so attempted to make it. There were several contradictory recipes on t'internet, so I kind of mixed them up. (Possibly first error)

I used bread flour plus baker's yeast. Following the instructions on the back of the bread flour I mixed the flour, yeast, salt and water. While kneading, I read the back of the yeast packet which said I should have mixed the yeast with milk and left it to ferment for 10 minutes before use. (Possibly second error)

I put the bread in the slow cooker on "low" and after about half an hour went back to see what was going on. Yipee! It's rising beautifully! Switched onto "Auto" then after 10 minutes changed my mind and switched to "high" (possibly 3rd error)

Went back after about an hour - Opened lid to have ca look (Possibly 4th error) But, all looking good. The edges are starting to bake/become crisp, the top is becoming more breadlike, the rise is good. After another hour I went back - opened lid again, and the centre had dropped - or did it drop when I opened the lid? Started to look stodgey...

Removed and put into mini-oven for 20 minutes. (Possibly 5th error)
Took it out when browned. Cut open and had a slice (definitely an error - I have a lump of it stuck in my gullet!!) Stodgey, looking most unappealing.

We now have a lot of breadcrumbs to use up, and no bread for lunch!!

Paul Hollywood would definitely be very disappointed in me!

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I'm not sure whether to try again or not! Any advice from better breadmakers than I?

...we give you thanks, O Lord.

Hello to my dear Readers - good to have you here, Peeps!

This week has been reasonably calm, although I do marvel at how I manage to while away hours and have not-a-lot to show for it! Still, I have (so far) made 24 Thanksgiving cards to sell for church funds - we have ca lot of Americans in the congregation, & I thought I'd get in early, in case they were thinking of having family send packs of cards from the States! They are fairly simple, either using a zentangled design of pumpkins from last year (photocopied, stuck on cards and fancied up a bit) or some Thanksgiving themed designs I bought cheap about 3 years ago, which I hadn't used.

Planning for next week has been completed. I know I keep banging on about how busy I'm going to be - which for you full time workers is probably producing the reaction "So what?" but it's a long time since I've done anything approaching full time work!! It was never in the plan. Still, I know it's only till Christmas, so I should just be very grateful, and save up the pennies while they're coming in!

Food has been as planned, although I swapped a few things round. Lots of meals put in the freezer to aid Mr FD in preparing meals. He's a perfectly able cook, but I feel that, as he's working too (although not full time) I want to make things relatively easy for him - because I'm so kind-and-nice!

I'm slow-cooking another meal at the moment - for tomorrow and for a future couple of meals - then I'll prepare tonight's meal (plus two for the freezer) this afternoon. I really need to
(a) defrost the freezer
(b) complete an inventory of what's in there.

Anyway. This week's meals are:
TODAY: Chicken Tagine - this links to another recipe, which, I think I will use instead of the one I was planning on using. The one I'd planned on using is another of the trumpeted "5 ingredients only" recipes, burt quite frankly, what's the point of it being only 5 ingredients if it lacks taste?! I'll go for more ingredients, I think!!

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SUNDAY: Paprika Beef. I'm actually at a Church Parish Away-Day where a meal is to be provided. Last year's meal was a bit of a disappointment, in this land of good food - a ham-and-cheese puff, tinned ravioli, a wedge of camembert and a choc-ice. However, I suppose we are helping to keep the Diocesan Centre going (it's a facility we hire from the RC diocese), so we should not complain. But let's hope tomorrow's offering beats tinned ravioli into the proverbial cocked hat! So Mr FD will have paprika beef stew for his main meal, and the rest will go in the freezer for another time.

MONDAY: Turkey ragu sauce - in the freezer - with pasta.

TUESDAY: Lamb pilaf from last week. I'd planned to eat it twice, but instead we had the postponed chorizo/sweet potato/egg hash yesterday. The pilaf went in the freezer. It will come out again.

WEDNESDAY: Hairy Dieter's "smashed up chicken" This is a full-on Mr FD will have to prepare it meal. Once a week won't hurt him!!

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THURSDAY: Thursday is my only planning day, but I have two phone lessons to give as well. And we go shopping at 4.00. I've invited Alison & her children for apèro-diner...that is to say, apèros with slightly more to eat than just nibbles. I may do some puff pastry bits, and maybe some pizza and barbecue-sauce-sausages. We'll see what we can buy that's quick to prepare!

FRIDAY: Mediterranean Sausage OnePot

And on that note, I have a 3 hour pause - today is the "Classe" of St Just . Everyone (who wants to join in) whose birthday this year starts with a 0 has their Classe today. It starts with Mass, then a procession through the streets with a band, and everyone wearing hats with a certain colour band (or, this year, feather boas for the ladies). The procession goes up to the Maison de Retraite (old folks' home) to fete the people there (a 70, an 80 and a 90 year old this year). It's my friend Alison's classe plus her daughters (10 and 50) so I went to wave and join her as the procession passed the house. There was kir flowing, and so everyone was already a bit wobbley on their feet. Alison suggested I went with them for the Apèro - everyone welcome! - so I did. Several plastic cups full of vin-peche and some dancing later I too am a bit wobbley on my feet! I've had lunch though, so I'm feeling slightly better now. A slice of nut meusli cake & my cup of coffee and I should be fine (ish!). The Classe people have gone on for a long and no doubt very boozy lunch at the Salle des Fetes. Mr FD is off being fit-and-healthy and riding in a bike race with Louis.

Part of the procession 2012

and 2014

2014 again - the 60 year olds.

So again I thank you for your comments from the last couple of posts...

POM POM wanted to come for dinner last Thursday - any time, Pompom. You'll be welcome! We had the pasta/pesto combo as planned. It was nice; we had it with gnocchi, rather than pasta.

Thank you FISHCAKE RANDOM for best wishes on my healoth. By Friday I was almost back to as-normal-as-I'll-ever-be.

KEZZIE asked my opinion on the first Doctor Who episode. I enjoyed it, & look forward to the resolution, but I am a bit bored with the Daleks now, and would be happy with a break from them. But I don't do a lot of heartsearching and comparing with the "story arc" or whatever lots of people do. I enjoy the episode and then move on! The Thai chicken was good, although I did change the recipe, which left me with quite a lot of coconutty sauce, which went into a butternut/sweet potato soup. Nomnom.

MAGGIE - I know what you mean about being careful getting out of bed. I'm rather nervous still while in bed, as that's when my vertigo appears to start!

MICHELLE: I'm not sure quite how encouraging my stories are re faith...but if they help you (or others) then more power to them!!

Then lots of people commiserated on my failed bread making attempt.

JO suggested no-knead bread, which I may try. My soda bread isn't too bad, though I say so myself! But slow cooker bread may be left as a one-off (failed) experiment!

JANE-AND-CHRIS thought that maybe the bread knew I was afraid of it. I'm not sure I was afraid, but certainly I was sceptical. Maybe it knew that!!

POMPOM was resolutely sympathetic. Thank you.

MICHELLE has given me a recipe to try (when I'm feeling less sceptical, perhaps!!) Thank you, Michelle, let's hope I'm as successful as you are at it.

KEZZIE joins me in the ranks of disaster bread makers, and FISHCAKE RANDOM, thank youi for your kind encouragement!

SANDRA (at THISTLECOVE) - Mr FD had half of it toasted and said (through a mouthul of toast-and-plum-jam) that it wasn't too bad. I crumbed the rest, and have to say that claggy bread makes wonderful crispy breadcrumb topping!!

Have a good week, peepos. I'll see you next weekend (as I doubt if I'll have time midweek)

Oooh look! Two new followers. How lovely. I will give you a proper welcome next time but for now: Hello!!!

This is a really quick post to say I haven't gone off anywhere and I'm fine but that last weekend was VERY busy and next weekend might be the same. During the week I won't have much blogging time either, so I apologise for Bloggy Silence!

Mr FD made a lovely curry tonight - one pot potato and mushroom curry. He's cooking more as I'm out later working more. Honey-mustard chicken tomorrow (from yesterday's dinner) Yummy! Cooked in the slow cooker on Sunday; ding cuisine tomorrow.

Hello, hello dear Peeps! This blog post comes to you courtesy of Mr FD. You see, I knew that my two jobs for the weekend - my turn, so no complaining! - were to clear, sort & dispose of the recycling, and clear, clean & replace the litter in 6 distinctly whiffy cat trays. I get home from church to find dear, dear, DEAR Mr FD had done both jobs! Sadly he hadn't done my ironing too, but I think that vwould be taking husbandly devotion too far!

So I have a window of time to post here. Huzzah!

So I have to say a big, FatDormouseWELCOME to my newest Follower, Pam, from A New Life In Wales. We are swap partners in The Twelve Days of Christmas blog swap. So she will be stalking me, and I her! For information, Pam, there's another of my blogs over at The View from the Teapot.

My Followers list says I have 131 Followers, but I don't have anyone between Vintage Maison, who I welcomed as my 129th Follower and Pam, who is my 131st. So if you've snuck in and I've not welcomed you personally, I do apologise.

Life is very hectic, but I'm remarkably grateful for the work - I have 8 groups of 3 students, all of whom are jolly and motivated. I had a terrible time settling in, as I had to keep trying to find spaces to fit people who couldn't come to planned lessons. One group got changed from one time to another andf back again. They were most miffed and a bit grumpy, but I bought chocolate to apologise and I grovelled lots. I think I've been forgiven! And now it has been agreed that I no longer have to tie myself in knots to find extra spaces for those who miss lessons. If they can't come, tant pis!

On Thursday I'm off to Paris for the Episcopal Church in Europe's Convention - I'm lay representative for Church. I'm rather nervous, but hopefully it will be interesting & rewarding. I thought I was going to be leaving on Wednesday, but it's now Thursday: I'd cancelled my private lessons already, so rather than reinstate them, I decided to keep them cancelled. That gives me an extra day to get planning sorted for the following week.

I went for a walk with friend Alison yesterday - really warm! I went out in a thick jumper but soon took it off. It was nice to catch up and have a natter. (Disclaimer: this is not ther wxalk we did. I've shown you this photo before.)

Anyhoo...Food for this week.
YESTERDAY: fish pie, with a breadcrumb topping from my disastrous bread making exploits. Not good bread, but fab breadcrumbs, coming out really crunchy!

TODAY: Fruity Turkey Tagine

MONDAY: Pasta, meatballs and pasta sauce. I'm afraid I have bought the meatballs and thepasta sauce, but Mr FD will jazz it up with some fresh(ish) veggies. It's an aubergine sauce, and there's half an aubergine to use up.

TUESDAY: Turkey tagine again.

WEDNESDAY: I wasn't expecting to be cooking today! I was due to be in Paris!! We have some Kangaroo steaks in the freezer, so I think I'll make a Kangaroo Stroganoff.

It's not snowing yet, but I have started to disinter my winter clothes.

Then Mr FD is on his own until next Sunday evening. I think he'll mostly be eating out of the freezer, but he does have a calves liver meal planned...It's something I loathe, and won't cook, so it's his special treat when I'm not here. I suspect there might be a visit to the pizza van on Saturday evening too!

As ever thank you for your comments.

MICHELLE: the curry was lovely! Mr FD is actually a very good cook, but I do try mostly to make it easy for him, as he has been, working most days too.

KEZZIE & JAN both expressed their thoughts on "real life" getting in the way of blogging & wished me well in my busy-ness.

JEAN - I thought I had missed your blogging. I hope you're okay too, and just busy enjoying life!

POMPOM mentioned my cards - from the 40 or so I'd made, I sold just under 30! I'll have tro make some more I think (Lord knows when!) Enjoy the grand-kitten! What day are you round this week? (Just so I know to set an extra place!)

KEZZIE: Did you enjoy the last two week's Doctor Whos? I thought they were very creepy, and I'm not totally sure I understood everything that was going on, but never mind!!

JO: the Sausage Bake-y thing was good! Mr FD threw a few extra things in too, which added to the flavour. How's the knitting getting on?! (Mine has ground to a halt as every time I get out the wool and needles I have to fight off the kittens!)

JULES: I'm glad you like the blog - are you my mysterious 130th Follower?!

Well, I'd better go and do my ironing.

Please forgive any speeling mistakes. My new keyboatd is smaller than my last one, and while the keys are the samle size (I assume!) I seem to hit neighbouring keys more oftenh than I used to, which givres some weird spellinbg patternsd. (That was a demonstration!)

But last week I was here

at the American Cathedral in Paris (They'd turned the lights out by the time I got round to taking the photo!) Here's a photo of it in the light:

(from "Celebrity Bride Guide" no less!)

It was a good convention, at times interesting, at times challenging, at times moving, and at times very boring! We ate well (more about that at a later date) and we talked a lot. I'm still trying to find time to arrange my thoughts about what the keynote speaker talked about, but I will post them on The View when I've managed it. I met some interesting people and deepened a friendship with one of the guys from church, who was another lay delegate there.

This is Nick - as fun, open and jolly as he looks. We spent most of the time together, giggling and chatting!

Here I am looking rather shiny on the first day. The notice round my neck does not say "Please look after this Bear"!

This rather lovely little statue is in the coutyard of the cathedral. "A little child shall lead them"

A good time, which has helped to move me on a little in my journey of faith - I have at last been told what's happening vis-à-vis my Licence, and there's an interesting sounding course that I heard about in April. Things is happening!

Happy Birthday to me!

Mr FD is at work this morning, so I haven't had my prezzies yet. But that is to come. Also, we're going out for dinner to a local restaurant tonight with a friend, Richard, and his friend - who I've never met! - tonight.

I promised to tell you about my Paris convention - there is the more serious stuff over at The Teapot -
but this is about the food! Nick and I, plus Rob, our rector, were based in a small hotel near Montmartre, and the first evening the delegates (except clergy and spouses) were free to find their own restaurant. There were some organised, but Nick and I decided we wanted to be close to the hotel, so we went back and found a very nice place just down the road...I've looked on Google and can't find it, but we had a very good, and quite reasonable meal. I had a kir, soupe de poisson, delicious duck breast and a shared dessert; Nick had a beer, chevre croustillante, a slab of steak and a shared Assiette Gourmande desert, plus a bottle of wine between us, and coffee. It was just under 50€ each. Not cheap, admittedly, but certainly not too unreasonable for a touruist area in Paris.

The following day, we had lunch provided in the Cathedral - the church provides a sandwich lunch for the homeless every Friday, and we partook of the same food. Ham-and-cheese baguette, home made cookies and fruit. We ate ours sitting in the nave of the Cathedral.

I couldn't help but smile, because when we were in the UK with our friends Louis and Odette, we took them to Liverpool Anglican cathedral. There ther cafeteria is in the main body of the cathedral. As we sat eating our soup, Louis kept saying "I cdan't believe I'm eating soup in a cathedral..."

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral: The shop below, the café above...

As we sat eating our sandwiches, gazing at the high altar of the cathedral in Paris, I couldn't but wonder what Louis would have made of it! And as for the evening "do", well - I think it would have blown his mind! We had the Bishop's Dinner ("Dress:elegant") in the nave too!! The pews were moved, and tables set up, beautifully draped and bedecked in flowers. We had kir royale and delicious hors d'oeuvres in the Parish room, then moved into the Cathedral for Boeuf Bourgignon, dauphinoise potatoes and carrots, salad and date-and-walnut pudding! We were entertained by a group ("Les Colporteurs" ) who sing and perform Cole Porter songs.

It was an excellent show...

Here I am, looking I hope, reasonably "elegant"

sitting at what is allegedly Cole Porter's piano. Very appropriate. Lee and Laurie appear to be lurking in the shadows!

The following day quiche and salads, kindly provided by the cathedral volunteers, made up our lunch, and then the evening meal was in a rather bizarre restaurant: Nos Ancetres les Gauloise

It was definitely one for the meat eaters! When we arrived there were not "baskets of crudités" as advertised, but rather baskets of chunks of raw vegetables - a lemon, half a cabbage, a bulb of fennel, entire carrots... You chopped off bits of what you wanted and ate that! Here is Nick deciding what lump of vegetable he will have...

Then a "sausage bar" where you hacked hunks of saucisson from a large choice to have with more salad...

Then the main event "Chicken - duck - lamb - beef - wild boar sausage?!" shouted the waiter...I chose beef but rather wished I'd gone for the sausage. It was, to say the least "toothsome". It arrived with a baked potato which needed another 30 minutes or so cooking. Nick's chicken was "the toughest he'd ever eaten" - so maybe not quite as good as it could have been! But it was quite an enjoyable evening, even though the acoustics were very bad in the cellar-like room. Cheese and a fairly non descript dessert finished the meal.

On Sunday, after a very traditional Solemn Eucharist, we were fed once more by the Cathedral volunteers - more quiche and salad! - before we set off home. Mr FD picked me up at Vichy station and brought me home to a pot roast that he had prepared. I think I ate really rather too well last week!!

I'm starting to think I need to go back to 5:2-ing!!

I've got lots to do today - cards to make, posting to do, carrot cake making for church tomorrow, prayers to write and a prayer rota to put together, so I will probably post next week's menus tomorrow. I have a week off next week, (mostly) for the school holidays, so I hope to catch up on my planning, as well as having some time to do some crafting for myself!

Toodle-pip! See you tomorrow (probably!)

Thank you for birthday wishes. I appreciate them very much. Mr FD bought me a lovely Pandora bracelet, with a charm to start the collection

I have rather wanted one of these for quite a long time, and my friend Alison managed to prompt MrFD in time for the birthday! My MiL sent me an Amazon voucher - I promptly ordered THREE Rend Collective CDs! My mum sent me a cheque which I am going to spend when I go to a craft fair in a couple of weeks time

I am considering going a bit mad and buying a Big Shot machine, or something similar, but we shall see.

We went out for dinner to a restaurant run by friends - we had a lovely starter of fresh woodland mushrooms, followed by duck, cheese and then chocolate cake. Traudel and Jean-Luc (the chef - whose birthday it was too!) came and shared a bottle of fizzies with us. Veryu nice. I'd made a carrot cake in the afternoon, and I took that to share at church today.

Our dinners this week are planned...

TODAY: Slow cooker Panang Lamb curry. This link isn't to a slow cooker recipe, but it gives an idea of what it will be like. I forgot to buy any rice, so I was going to make Jamie Oliver flat breads, but I see the link suggests noodles. I'm as yet undecided. It looks rather a "wet" sauce so I may go with the bread.

MONDAY:Hairy Dieter Cornish pasties. With coleslaw and maybe potato wedges, but maybe not...

TUESDAY: The rest of the curry, with noodles. Or rice if I've bought it!

WEDNESDAY: Richard came with us to the restaurant yesterday, and his friend Andrew was due to come too, but was too tired. Mr FD wants to pick the brains of Andrew as he's a professional photographer, & MrFD has a new camera, so I've invited them for a meal today. I'm not working much this week (and there's no dancing) so it won't be a problem.

Richard is vegetarian, so I think I may just do a mushroom paté, or smoked salmon paté (easy peasy whizz in the food processor) and we can have a raclette. That caters for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

I like to marinade mushrooms and courgette strips too, to add something different to the mix. With a big green salad as well it's a nice easy meal to prepare. I may even go as far as buying a dessert, although we do have apples to use up, so I may make an apple tart.

THURSDAY: Slow cooker vegetarian lasagne - made with a tin of ratatouille and some fresh veggies and a white sauce of ricotta.

FRIDAY: Kamchatka - and look! It's a slow cooker recipe!! I will probably add a bit of chorizo as well, as we find it adds a nice twist of extra spice.

SATURDAY:Pulled pork, coleslaw and baked potatoes.

Thank you for your comments as always.

JULES: You may have been 130th Follower but someone has dropped out and doesn't want to play anymore! Never mind...their loss!

POMPOM: I waited for you in Paris, but you didn't come!! Which day shall I set your place for this week? You mentioned you like Elizabeth Goudge books - I'd forgotten how much I had enjoyed them in the past. I must try to find some to reread!

KEZZIE: I've enjoyed catching up with your blog today. I had a good time in Paris (as you've already seen!)

VINTAGE MAISON: Thank you for following too.

JEAN: I love taking part in blog swaps. I'm getting a bit excited as I have been promised a parcel from one swap which I thought I'd missed out on. I sent my parcel off and heard nothing back from my partner. I just imagined that Life got in the way and wrote it off to experience, but my partnner contacted me recently, apologising and promising to send it to me soon. Huzzah!
ARIL& MEAN QUEEN: thank you for your birthday greetings too! It's been lovely having greetings from friends, both real & virtual, over Facebook and on the blog. I feel very touched & grateful.

Hello dear Peeps! I hope all is well with you. I have had a week without much work, but I didn't do much with it...
Monday I prepared lessons for the weeks ahead

TuesdayI prepared lessons for the weeks ahead, and then slept in the afternoon - I was wiped out for some reason!

Wednesday I had a lesson in the morning, and then spent the afternoon in hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. But I wasn't. So they let me go home. Richard and his friend Andrew came for dinner.

Thursday: I had phone lessons most of the day, but persuaded myself I wanted to go for a walk later in the afternoon. I'm glad I did - very peaceful and calm, and remarkably warm for the end of October! I collected some windfall apples which I fed to the municipal goats as I went by.

Friday: I packed up socks for Socks for Refugees and took them to the Post Office. Then I tidied my study. Then I messed it up again by making Christmas cards. So I tidied it again!

Saturday: This morning I cleared 6 litter trays (definitely my turn as Mr FD had done it the last two weeks, while I was at church!) and then cleared up the litter from the split binbag, AND the litter tray I kicked over. And now I'm here! It's another lovely day so I may go for a walk, although my feet are hurting quite a lot today. We shall see.

Dinners for this week are all planned...When I bought my slow cooker in the summer at Lakeland, I bought a packet of Pulled Pork spices

Tonight we are having pulled pork. I usually use Frugal Queen's recipe (slightly adapted, depending on whether I have all the ingredients) but as I had these spices I thought I'd give it a whirl. We're having it with baked potatoes and coleslaw.

SUNDAY:Turkey Kiev, carrots, braised endives and hassleback potatoes.

MONDAY: Pulled pork, potato wedges, chicory & orange salad.

TUESDAY: Corned beef hash and baked beans. I may swap Monday & Tuesday round as Mr FD is going to be very busy on Tuesday with work and with helping people to move house. So the pulled pork is an easier dish to throw together (though there's not THAT much work in the CBHash!). I might have to do the shopping after work today, instead of Thursday, in order to maximise cooking time on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY: Freezer meal. Don't know what's in there!!

THURSDAY: As my afternoon student has cancelled today's lesson, I've invited friends over for dinner. They run a restaurant and so don't have many free evenings, & neither do I during the week, but this is one where we coincide. Jean-Luc is a Michelin starred chef but I'm not going to be intimidated! (Well, not much!!) If I shop on Tuesday I'll have time around my lessons (8-9 am, 10 - 10.45am, 11-11.45 am and 2 - 2.45 pm) to prepare the meal!
I'm doing the River Cottage warm salad that I didn't do for Richard & Andrew, Slow Cooker Sun dried tomato and balsamic lamb stew with mash and green veggies, and then a dessert. Not sure what, but I may just buy a tart. (Traudel has just phoned & offered to bring dessert. So I gratefully accepted!)

FRIDAY: Spicy pork and rice Mr FD is in charge of this one.

SATURDAY: Vegetarian Slow Cooker Quinoa stuffed peppers...except I'm using rice and chickpeas instead of quinoa and lentils... Basically a mix of rice, feta, chickpeas and olives stuffed into peppers & cooked in the slow cooker.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for leaving your comments. I am always very happy to read them!

POMPOM: I'm sorry to hear the Parisians were unhelpful (Lol!) but I look forward to your arrival for Pulled Pork tonight. The cats are looking their cutest, specially for you! Do you want to come & meet Traudel and Jean-Luc on Thursday?

KEZZIE: I look forward to seeing the results of your work on the Sidekick (I have no idea what it is, but guess it's a type of embossing machine. As I said, I've been making Christmas cards to sell - mostly using a couple of kits that I bought in Noz. I've got lots of cards from last year to use as well, so I can see another creative day coming up soon!

SHEEPSKINS & FAIRYLIGHTS: I am very fond of my Pandora braceloert already - my friend Alison gave me a charm for my birthday too (it was she who prompted Mr FD...!)

Thank you all for visiting! I hope you've found some inspiration for your menus this week! Do let me know if you decide to try anything!

Hello dear Peeps, from a slightly subdued Dormouse Towers. Of course, after Friday's terrible events, one cannot help but be subdued. I wrote a post about it over at The Teapot.

But this is life as we have to live it: the terrorists want to sow fear, and panic and terror. They want us to live un-normal lives, terrified of what could happen to us. And while me continuing to write my blog in a cheery manner probably won't strike much of a note with terrorists from I.S. it does at least mean that I am showing that I know that Life and Light has conquered Death. Which leaves me free to blog about food...(!!!)

I have just realised that it is TWO WEEKS since I last posted!! I am sorry. I went to a Craft-and-Leisure show last Saturday, to church on Sunday morning and then ended up being rather busy preparing lessons on Sunday afternoon. The Craft fair was quite good, and I ended up buying my Big Shot as planned. Plus various embossing folders and cutting tools. I'm still very much a beginner, but I look forward to practising lots!

Here are three cards that I've made so far:

This is for someone at church - I used the Big Shot to emboss the card, and also to cut out the dove from an old card from last year. I'm well aware that the writing is horribly wonky, so I'm going to redo the card after I've finished blogging.

Another embossed card, with the little sentiment cut out with another cutting die. This one went to SiL to thank her for my birthday present, and the following one went to my mum whose cheque made all this possible!

I'm reasonably pleased with these, and will be continuing to play and experiment! Anyone with Big Shot experience, please do contact me with suggestions for projects or must-have tools.

Food this week has been reasonably simple, so I don't need to catch up really. Yesterday's planned dinner was abandoned for a pizza from the van...I ate about 2/3 of mine and finished it for lunch today!

Planned for the following week:
TODAY:Slow Cooker Pork Catalan - from an ancient (1970s) slow cooker recipe book. I can't find a recipe to link to, but it's basically pork casserole. I'm not sure what makes it "catalonian" except the green pepper (I used a red one!) and the addition of some olives. Still, hopefully it will be nice whatever it's called!

MONDAY:Sweet Potato and Spinach Pie - not quite this recipe, but nearly. Mine has no cream, and has tomatoes sliced into it, for moisture. Mr FD will make a tomato sauce to go with this, and we'll have it with Jambon Persillade

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TUESDAY: Leftover pork stew with baked potato and veggies.

WEDNESDAY: Turkish Meat Loaf - again from the 1970s CrockPot cook book. It's Turkish because it involves a daring teaspoon each of cumin, cinnamon and coriander! To be served with some chips and a tomato-and-red-onion salad.

THURSDAY: Pasta with bacon and caramelised onions This was Saturday's planned-but-abandoned-for-pizza meal. We have feta to use up.

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FRIDAY: Turkish Meat Loaf in some guise or other. I'm thinking possibly with baked potato and coleslaw. Or maybe with baked beans (not very Turkish!!) Ooh, or maybe potato gratin... As Mr FD is preparing this meal it will be his choice (unless I feel generous and make the gratin on Thursday)

SATURDAY: We may be going to Lyon to have a meal out and to see "Spectre". We had planned to go today, but felt that enjoying a film full of explosions, gun shots and killing would not be appropriate after Friday. And if we don't go, there's a couple of ostrich steaks in the freezer we can have!

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SUNDAY: It's Thanksgiving Dinner at church. Mr FD isn'ty going, so he can have something from the freezer for his dinner. I will be having turkey-and-all-the-trimmings. I will probably take carrot cake as my dessert offering.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your comments.

PomPom: It sounds like you had a good time in Mexico - I enjoyed reading about it. The stuffed peppers done in the slow cooker were very, very nice. Definitely one to do again!
Here is a Mexican cat just for you:

Jane-and-Chris: I almost always include LolCats in my posts. Two is the usual amount!!

Cro Magnon: You must try pulled pork!! It is very good (although I felt the spice mix was a huge disappointment and much prefer this recipe.)

Trish: I too was glad I didn't have a heart attack!! I did feel a bit as though I had wasted people's time, but changed my mind when I heard yesterday about a woman in the village who had similar symptoms, put them down to indigestion and thought about going to see the doctor the next day if it wasn't better...but didn't make it through the night.

* I have a new Russian Follower, but every time I try to find out where his/her blog is, my Follower box goes odd. But can I offer him/her a

большойтолстыйСоняДобро пожаловать (roughly translated as "big fat dormouse welcome!!!)(according to Bing Translator, that is)

Hello all! I had planned to make Christmas cards today to go in the Artisans Craft Shop at the Chateau, but you know, I can't be bothered! I have spent the morning making Christmas Cake (rather belatedly!) and carrot cake for tomorrow. Plus some veggie soup.

I also battled with some new covers for the sofas...It took me forever to iron the blessed things and then more hours to work out how they fitted on. Especially with "help" from Bib the cat!

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They look okay - but nowhere near as neat as this one! - but I think we bought a size too big, so it doesn't quite fit as tightly as it might. We could send them back but actually can't be arsed!! Ours are a nicer teal greeny blue.

My back hurts a lot today, Mr FD is very stressed (partly due to the joys of French bureaucracy and partly due to his procrastinatory powers, which have meant that the likelihood renewing something that needs to be renewed before the end of 2015 becomes slimmer!) and so we've been a bit snitty with each other.

Still...food next week is looking like this:

TODAY: spicy chicken stirfry. A Chinese girl at church gave me a jar of spicy Korean marinade - I'd tried it at the Church picnic & really liked it. I'll marinade the chicken in this for an hour, and then stir fry some veggies and we'll have it with ricve.

TOMORROW: It's the annual Church Thanksgiving Lunch. I've made carrot cake to take for dessert. Mr FD will have something from the freezer.

MONDAY: Ostrich steaks,chips, some kind of veggies. Green beans, I think.

TUESDAY: Duck breast (save the fat! I want to use it to make bird feeders!), potatoes and veggies.

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WEDNESDAY: Lamb with spinach & yoghurt. (from the old Crockpot cook book) It's a lamb-and-spinach stew cooked in the slow cooker. Nothing out of this world! I'll spice it up a bit with some garlic and worcester sauce! I'll prepare it before I leave for my day teaching in Roanne so it will be ready when I get back from dancing.

THURSDAY: Fresh pasta, lardons, mushrooms, pesto. Dead quick after shopping.

FRIDAY: Somerset Stew with sausages,and fewer beans but added butternut squash! Sounds good and warming.

SATURDAY: Pork chop from Sorted- sounds delicious!

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We've got a bit of snow today - a real shock after high temperatures (for November!) of 18°C. I hjope we won't get more before tomorrow.

As always, thank you for your lovely comments!

POMPOM liked the look of last Tuesday's dinner - it was only left overs, but it was very nice!

KEZZIE gave me some suggestions for dies for my Big Shot - thank you too for the link to the site, Kezzie! Like Kezzie, I'm aware that I need to try to use the craft-stash things I've got before buying more!

JANE-&-CHRIS: Thank you for your comment about the cards (and Pompom & Kezzie too!) You're right about how we should react to terrorists...although it's easier said than done, at the moment! The Fete de la Lumière and the Christmas Market have both been cancelled in Lyon, which is a great shame, but I can understand that people just would not feel safe - and a big open, public gathering like that would be impossible to police successfully.

TRISH has made a similar point. I keep thinking back to the IRA situation in the 80s - at least they gave a warning, most times. It was disruption rather than killing.

MICHELLE: How did the squash bake go? Mr FD cooked it with a few minor modifications and it was very nice!

Quick in-and-out today!

Yesterday I prepared 3 of the 4 Christmas swops I'm doing this year. One of them has turned out a lot heavier than I'd planned! Hey-ho! Never mind. I also packed & sent off a parcel of 15 pairs of socks for Socks for Refugees

Why not do the same?

I also made a delicious lasagne from Mary Berry
Easy to make and absolutely delish!!!

No idea what's planned for dinner this week - my planning book isn't here. It's gone walkabout!!

Today I really have to prepare for next week, so this is super quick today. I hope everyone is in good health!

FISHCAKE RANDOM - I've not made my fat bird feeders (or is that bird fat feeders? Or bird feeders made with fat?!) Maybe today if I hurry up with my planning.

MICHELLE - no pressure on the sweet potato bake. But HAVE YOU MADE IT YET?????

KEZZIE I hope you are feeling more energetic now...I'm still a bit bleeugh, as it's grey and mibsy. I'm also getting stressed about Christmas presents not sorted. I must remember that that is not the important stuff. There will be time, if I'm oprganised & don't waste time faffing. But some faff is good for the soul as well!!

POMPOM Looking forward to seeing you when you pop in! You'll always be welcome!

Just a rapid Lolcat and I must get on!

Hello again, dear Peeps.

I am SO sorry that my blogging has been reduced to once a week at the moment - I am practically working full time at the moment (which wasn't the plan!) and I've forgotten how all-consuming that can be!! I know there are many of you who do work fulltime who are probably rolling your eyes at this, and thinking I'm being all pathetic-and-poor-me. I know! I'm just saying I'd forgotten!!

I had a nice evening yesterday. I met Caireen, the wife of my rector (who is in Canada admiring his first grandchild) and we went to the Christmas market in Clermont. After a wander round we went to a traditional Auvergnat restaurant for dinner. I had the Assiette Degustation (tasting plate) which was tartiflette (diced potatoes cooked with cheese), aligot (mashed potatoes with cheese), auvergnat sausage, charcuterie and a green salad. Rather too much potato, cheese and meat - but delicious!

At the Christmas Market I bought myself an electric hot water bottle - you plug it in, and after about 10 minutes it is toasty warm.

Perfect! In winter I really need a HWB on my back in the car: it helps relieve pain. Fine in the morning, but coming home the HWB has become a cold water bottle as there's rarely a convenient kettle. So now I can plug in my bottle in wherever I'm teaching to have heat on my return journey too. Huzzah!

I also bought a few bags of nibbly things for Christmas feasting!

It's hard to believe it's only a matter of three weeks before Christmas! I'm nowhere near ready, although I have made the Christmas cake. It will need marzipanning and icing, but at least it's made. I must remember to "feed" it.

I managed to post off my three Christmas swaps today, but still have my Ship of Fools Secret Santa to wrap up and send, plus a couple of family presents. I went a bit b'zongo in Hotel Chocolat on Thursday (15% discount!), and sent quite a lot of chocolate to various people...

My MiL arrives in two weeks. Eeep. I really need to sort out the tip that is the spare bedroom. At least I'm not working on Fridays now, so there's a couple of free days that I must NOT use sat in front of the computer wasting time!

I didn't think I'd have much time today, as I'm leading the service & preaching tomorrow (as Rob is in Canada) but a recycled (but updated) sermon and a quick planning-for-next-week session means that this afternoon is mine to use as I wish...tidying my study, making fat balls for birds, packing more socks for refugees and wrapping some presents are some of the things on my list. Then tomorrow (Advent 2) means I can break out the Christmas Music (Rend Campfire Christmas!!!) and put up the decorations.

So what has food been like this week? Good, generally! Mr FD has been ion charge of cooking and has done a great job. We had Nigel Slater's Chicken in Cider one day (leftovers today) and a very tasty lemony pork wrap on another day.

This week is looking as follows:

TODAY: left over chicken with soufflés

SUNDAY: Duck confit (more duck fat for birds!), ducky potatoes and green salad.

MONDAY: Yoghurt spiced chicken, rice and vegetables

TUESDAY: Spicy lamb steaks, vegetable, potato wedges. Basically lamb steaks with an oniony-tomatoey-red peppery sauce + a bit of chilli thrown in. Easy-peasy!

WEDNESDAY: Spinach and sweet potato curry. Thank you Jamie Oliver for this recipe!

THURSDAY: Rouelle de porc au miel (recipe in French) This is a slow cooker recipe - well, it's not, but it's going to be, if you get my drift! Served wioth pasta when we get home from shopping/teaching on Thursday evening. It's a bit of a treat to have a pork joint midweek, but it's going to serve AT LEAST 2 meals and hopefully even three.

FRIDAY: Cold pork, chips and beans.

SATURDAY:Chorizo (or pork!), potato & spinach bake

Thank you, as always for your comments on my blog. It's always lovely to hear from you!

MAGS (who trains Twiglet the guide dog puppy!) - thank you for your comment. I love reading about Twiglet and you take lovely photos of her too.

POMPOM: It was good to "have coffee" with you last week. Let's do it again sometime!!

FISHCAKE RANDOM - thank you! I did (as you will have seen) have a lovely evening yesterday just for myself, leaving Mr FD at home to have his free pizza from the Van. (He helped Natasha-the-Pizza-Lady with her computer, so the pizza is part-payment!)

SANDRA at Thistlecove Farm told me about her sock giving to the Salvation Army. Mine are going to Socks for Refugees. Where are yours going?!

If you have odd socks for refugees they are also welcome here

So there we are...I'll just post tomorrow's sermon at The Teapot, if you're interested. Maybe I'll get to post during the week...or maybe I won't!

Mother in Law is here and - to get us in the festive mood - we decided to head for the carol service at church. Leaving with an hour in hand (50 minutes to get there) I thought I'd better doublecheck the time. So with Mr FD driving I checked the webpage.

Yes, you've guessed it - I'd got the time wrong! It started at 6.00 not 6.30. We would have got there too late...so we turned round and came home, Mr FD saying in a small voice "I was looking forward to that..." So was I. I feel very grumpy now.

I hope MiL may feel she wants to go to the Christmas Eve service (5.30 - I've already checked!) as there's no Christmas Day service. Otherwise I'll feel we've missed out on all the services!!! Which we will have done.

I suppose it doesn't matter really. It's how I meet God in the here and now that really matters, rather than singing together. I can still welcome the Christ child. I suppose half of it is that I feel I've let people down - I didn't have a role in the sevice but I still really wanted to go. Oh well, can't be helped now. Pop on the smile, open the wine and enjoy the evening!!

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