There's definitely a chill in the air ...

... and that's a good thing. It means longer snuggles in the morning and it means the wood burner gets lit at the weekend. I even overheard her arranging for the chimney sweep earlier today.

It's only a guess, but taking into account the chimney sweep and the dinner party on Saturday, I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be spending Saturday evening lying on my back in front of a furnace!

Its only a matter of time before the heating goes on - although Blob seems to think that wearing a jumper and woolly socks in the evening will stave off the fateful moment that the switch gets flipped - she won't last much longer!

Life is good when it gets chilly!.

Also, we have a new sushi bar. She has replaced the 24 litre tank with a 45 litre tank and is getting more titbits for me. Now, as well as Crispin, Oliver, Talulah, Algie and the little 'uns Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Dibble and Grubb (remember that Cuthbert met his end probably by being eaten by Crispin), there is now a new one - this one is a Lemon Goldfish with black tips to her fins and black cheeks, and her name is Lucretia. She's pretty and if she follows form, she will be a he - but Blob doesn't seem to think that matters. And I don't care, because she or he, they all taste yummy!

So that's sushi and the woodburner covered - the only thing left in order to make it a perfect weekend is a nice piece of warm crackling off the joint - and believe me, one way or another I'll get some!

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Domestic Goddess My Arse!

Insane! I tell you - Insane!

That is Blob this week. She's been up against it at work - trying to meet deadlines. She's been rehearsing a presentation, creating an on-line training course and training people up in London - but still she spends hours poring over books in order to plan a menu for next Saturday.

So far she has come up with the following:

Starter - Half a Beef Tomato, scooped out and stuffed with diced feta, tomato and cucumber - dressed with a balsamic vinegar, oil and mint dressing, served with posh lettuce. (That's what she calls the lettuce leaves you get in bags in Sainsburys!)

Main - Loin of Pork, stuffed with Apricots, Pine Nuts, Celery, Onions, Cream Cheese, Coriander and Pepper.

Served with - Red Cabbage cooked with Apple, Cranberries and Port. (Not sure if she wants to make this herself, or buy it from Ikea, and yes, Ikea strangely enough sells large jars of this. Minus the Port obviously but she would add that in if it comes to it).

Also, Carrots cut into batons, part boiled then finished in the oven in Butter and Honey.

And not forgetting spuds - shes going to quarter the potatoes and bake them with chopped spring onions, salt and pepper.

Then to finish shes going to make one of her amazing Pavlova Roulades, probably with Strawberries, Whipped Cream with White Chocolate Chips and a Summer Fruit Coulis. But she's still deliberating the filling.

No doubt another several hours to be spent leafing through her Gordon Ramsey - although, I reckon that she spends more time poring over the pictures in her Gordon Ramsey than the recipes. I too would like to know why he spends so much time taking his shirt off!

She also seems to think that she is going to make bread rolls so she can serve them warm straight out of the oven. Taking on a bit much I think but she won't learn.

I only show an interest because I like to help. And from experience I can help lick the butter and honey off the carrots and then try and run off with the crackling whilst she is trying to save the carrots.

Life is sweet!

Roll on Saturday.

Luv

Bob

Work, Work, Work!

If she's not going on holiday, then she's going away on business. Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, in that order. So she goes away on Monday and rolls in on Friday night at 9.30. Does she pet me? Does she love me? No, she falls into a bath and then bed, and doesn't rouse herself til Sunday!!

She has re homed the sushi into a 45 litre tank and is thinking about getting more - how much temptation is a little cat expected to take. Not that I am a little cat. According to the vet I am a bloody great brute of a cat. But still temptation is temptation.

Also, this weekend, her sister called and invited herself, her boyfriend and two complete strangers to dinner on 17th. Blob is fine with it, she likes entertaining, but i think its a bloody cheek. Ill have to clear out for hours and will get shouted at when i try to help lay the table or stuff the pork loin with her.

No blooming fun.

Hope she burns it!

She came back!

At long last, Blob came back from Cornwall. She had a lovely time by all accounts.

Apparently Tintagel is now up a mountain. She was quite

insistent that it wasn't up so many stairs when she went as a child, but now apparently it is several hundred steps to the top and you have to climb up to two tops to see it all.

She also went to see something called Boscastle. A

few years ago, the tide came in a lot and flooded the whole town. I wouldn't have liked that - too wet. Not keen on wet.

She also went to a place called Polzeath which is where she and her sister blob were dragged kicking and screaming every Easter for many many years.

The little shabby chalets that they stayed in were gone but it is still a popular tourist area. She found the rock pool that they fished in every year for sticklebacks.

I wonder if the sticklebacks remembered her. They always threw them back so i spect there might have been 20 year old sticklbacks looking up and saying 'Oh my god, she's back - hide lads!'

She also went to Padstow, thats a town

that you can either drive to in a civilised manner, or you can get a ferry over the bay to. I'm unimpressed - who would choose a waterlogged route to go shopping - Blob did. Shes not all there, I'm quite sure of that!

She went in search of wine in Cornwall - The Camel Valley is the place to go by all accounts - it even looks like France!

She also went to Bodmin. I was quite interested in that. Rumour has it that there is a 'Bodmin Beast' that has been sighted at regular intervals on the Moor. Well, last I heard, Aunty Alice had got her self a West Country address so perhaps the mysterious sightings have been of Alice making her way home after a pub lock in. No stranger to all night sessions at the local pub is Aunty Alice.

Anyhow, Blob saw wild ponies and cows grazing and trecked up to the top of some tor to look at some rock formations (she is so strange!)

Then she goes and treks for half an hour

of the beaten track to look at some white water (its this water thing again - why can't she just leave it alone - I hate water! But the pictures are pretty, ill have to give her that, and I expect there are loads of shiny fish in there!