TARRAGON & THYME

 Today has been a busy day where I have been in the kitchen cleaning.  I will be back in there tomorrow as well.  Also done some washing although I do have  more to do tomorrow. Have cooked Cottage Pie for tea this evening with a Rice Pudding for dessert.  Has gone down very  nicely and there is plenty left for tomorrow evening so that will save me a bit of messing around.  I do not want to finish off the kitchen and then mess it up again by cooking straight away. This will therefore suit me very well. I then sat down to do some knitting.  The wool is still wet from the other day and realistically will not be dry until Thursday when if it is nice and dry I will set to and continue on this particular jumper. I therefore looked at some of my other UFOs.  Was looking for a simple pair of mittens to knit. Have located a pattern that am going to use as well as a pair of fingerless mitts as well so that I have the option.  Yet to locate a hat ...

It has been a cold but bright day here in Peterborough.  Jobwise, It has been a bitty day today.  I have been busy but nothing substantial that I have sorted just lots of bits and bobs; rather mundane overall but jobs that needed doing. I was originally going to make this with the left over chicken from Sunday lunch, however decided in retrospect to follow the recipe and use fresh chicken breasts which had been sliced up. Mainly because I did not have enough left over chicken, but I may try it with leftover chicken next time now I know how much chicken is needed.  I was just about to start when I realised that I could not locate any Five Spice powder.  I know I have some, but could I locate it.  Nope. I therefore trundled round to the local shops.  The Co-Op did not have any!  I therefore went to the Asian shop to see what they had.  I found some, and also came back with a bag of Mixed Herbs which I use a lot of and also a bag of finely ground Pin...

I have taken today off and have been sat knitting on my jumper a little bit as I am likely to have a busy week this week, and maybe will only get to the crafting of an evening if I am lucky.  So as I had nothing spoiling today I gave in.  I will be back to the knitting after tea just making the most of the time and chilling for a change.  As I say tomorrow will be another day and plans are very different. Where I got to with the knitting last night Where I was earlier on Where I finished tonight So quite a lot achieved today - more than I usually would.  Now hopefully will get back to knitting tomorrow evening. Today we have a honey roasted chicken for dinner with mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, shredded cabbage and gravy.  No roasties today though so quite a simple meal. If there are any leftovers (I am hoping there will be) then I plan to turn them into a Chow Mein style meal for tomorrow evening so that we do not waste anything at all.  I have a few vegg...

  Last night I got into a right pickle with a knitting pattern on a UFO that I have picked up to work.  After putting out an SOS for help, a lovely lady called Joan came to the rescue and untaffled me.  Joan you have the patience of Jobe!  Thank you very much. Inadvertently I had missed part of the instruction in the pattern and instead of knit 4, pearl 2 together x 20 times I had just worked pearl 2 together 20 times and was left with a load of stitches on the needle with no further instruction as to what to do with them.  Doh!  Joan thank you for the rescue. I then went on to change to the larger needles and to start working the back of the jumper and have managed to get on a little way with it.  I am pleased with how it is working up. I shall keep plugging away with it until I get to the end.  I love the colourway though.  Very much my colours and cheerful. Today has been a drizzly day here and there. Not much.  It has also been a lit...

 here at the moment.  Lots of planning of forthcoming projects, things I need to do, and as a result I must have a strategy and plan of attack. There will be some posts on these in due course. I have been on the computer in this effect for the best part of the afternoon, but otherwise for the moment nothing practical has been happening.  It has therefore been a quiet day, but I have been cold and my fingers have been going blue again.  We have had the heating on, but it seems that every time I go into the kitchen I get perished and they go blue.  The kitchen and bathroom are perhaps the coldest rooms in the house. Tea tonight has been quite simple; an "Old Faithful" Spaghetti Bolognese with grated Cheddar on top. I did not feel much like cooking tonight. Has gone down very nicely. I picked up a UFO last night, but find myself stuck on the pattern.  If any of you knitters out there can untaffel me, it would be appreciated.   I am working the shorte...

Little by Little, Day by Day, making the most of that which comes my way.  That may come in many different guises bearing in mind that I tend to have several fingers in the pot at any one time! There is always something else going on in the background at home, sorting this or sorting that.  Just a little at a time.  Mostly to do with my crafting, many fabrics, wools etc. that before they can be used need sorting out so that they can be located easily when it becomes their time to be turned into something else. Some stuff has previously been shoved away in a hurry never to be seen again, so trying to do a bit a day is me trying to sort things quietly and methodically to restore order to absolute chaos and for me not to be overwhelmed.  It is going to take some time, but it lessens with each little bit achieved. I also have a myriad of started but not finished items (UFOs) and I need to get back to sorting and finishing those items. I have gathered together some of the...

Today, has been a relatively busy day here however I do not seem to have made as much progress as I had hoped.  My arm is kicking off a bit, which is hampering me with lifting and doing stuff so am trying to tackle jobs that I can do just to get them out of the way with. My computer/working desk has been cleared and wiped down today and I have re-organised the desk a little bit as I keep some of my books along the back edge of the desk at the moment. They have been dusted down too. Presently, I am going through a pile of paperwork just to get rid of as much of it as I can. Some of the paperwork is for recipes which I need for my folder and which need to be handwritten out again on my working pad for the kitchen.  I have started doing this in order that my books do not get messed up.  I don't mind a pad being mussed up but a book is a different kettle of fish.  The books are a bit all over the place at the moment (some in each room) and I really need to get them ...

 A quiet day today. Feeling brighter, but still not 100%.   OH had an appointment earlier in the day, and Missy was not impressed when he disappeared and started howling!  She has an attachment disorder and takes some calming down, fortunately it did not take much to soothe her today.  She is getting worse which I think is down to the fact that her hearing is not too clever due to old age and she likes to have us in sight at all times this is one of the reasons we tend not to leave her until we have to as she does get into a right two and eight, hyperventilates, cries, is very vocal and shakes and shakes and shakes. She is an old lady 15 and is getting a tad grumpy with it as well. Eventually himself came back and her little world was restored to order and I was able to get on with some jobs I had started.  Whilst I had been sat with her, I decided to tackle one of the lots of wool that had been washed and which had got taffled up into a right old mess in t...

Little by little everyday.  It is 5:40pm and the light of the day is just fading into the night.  Six weeks past and it would have been pitch black. I am happier that the light has returned and have a little more energy than I had. Today, we overslept and so I did not get to Home Bargains for my cleaning stuff until early afternoon and then they did not have everything.  I managed to get three quarters of what I was after.  Might have to go again at another time, but I got the basics namely my washing powder, fabric conditioner, cleaning stuff and dishcloths.  I had wanted to buy in a 32 pack of the Nicky T paper at £9 something but could not manage it so that will have to wait until another day.  Arm has not been cooperating today and I have had difficulty with lifting stuff. Stir fry for tea this evening.  Nipped round to the supermarket namely the Co-Op. (Veg shop closed).  Not impressed with what was on offer.  Shelves badly depleted and ...

During the past couple of days we have been stocking up on the run of the mill provisions that we use day in day out. We have two half sacks of potatoes, one a red variety good for everyday cooking and a white version which is good for chips.  I still have onions although I have nearly gone through one net, so may well get another one in any event, as I use a lot of onions in my cooking. Also bought were Leeks, carrots, a Brussel Sprout stem, two cabbages.  I still need to get other veg, but this is a good starter selection.  I keep a lot of veg inhouse as it is a staple for most meals.  I will need a bigger selection of veggies for Tuesday night's tea as I am planning on a stir fry as it has been a while since we had one. Cheese has been bought including some Stilton, and I have some cheddar for general cooking as well.  It looks as though we will be having a repeat of soup i.e. Stilton and Broccoli soup sometime this week as well as some French Onion soup as w...