Blissfully Prepared For The Week

Sometimes I love to spend Sunday afternoon getting myself ready for the week. Although I suppose technically it is winding up for the new week, but it relaxes me so I feel like I am really winding down for Sunday evening, one of my favourite times of the week.

Yesterday morning we went Pick-Your-Own-Strawberry-Picking at our farm shop. They have ingeniously grown the plants on long thin tables outside, so you don't have to grub round on the floor. Sadly they need a bit more sun, so we only got a few...but enough. And the carboard punnets with metal handles are so cute! So now we have strawberries for the week.

In the afternoon, I made fishcakes ready for tea tonight. So now all that needs doing when I get home is the heating up of the fishcakes, and the making of the minty pea puree. Minimal washing up means that I will have time to make the lemon and rosewater biscuits from Romancing The Ordinary.

I cooked a roast chicken last night, and then picked the leftover meat off and used half for sandwiches for lunch today, and saved the rest for chicken soup tomorrow. I then boiled up the carcass for stock for the soup. I feel more comfortable eating meat knowing that nothing has been wasted-more responsible almost.

I like that feeling of Sunday evening, reflecting on the weekend past, the week to come, and knowing that I am a little bit ready. Last night I was knitting Debbie Bliss booties for my cousin who is expecting twin boys. I am pleased that the first one worked out ok, as there are a lot of increases and decreases in moss stitch, which is a bit tricky to begin with.

I posted on Saturday about how I feel about crafts, but it didnt really flow properly. I read it again today and I worry that it sounds like I think if children can't knit, crochet and sew they will be hooligans. Nothing could be further from the truth and no one has emailed me to suggest it, but I just want to try and clarify my own thoughts here. When I craft, or cook, in whatever medium I create I feel connected to what I have made, to the people who have gone before me who have made similar things. I imagine the other people out there maybe following the same pattern with different, or similar results. I feel really grounded and connected. I also see the value in things more. When I pick up a vintage crochet or embroidered item, I don't just think about how lovely it is, but the person who made it. And I think that if children were given more chances to learn to create rather than just consume, they would be happier. I want my children to be able to have the same good feelings I do about craft. At work a while ago, we had an Easter Crafternoon, doing things like making Easter Bonnetts and Crowns, and tissue paper flowers. Oh, the children were so absorbed in what they were doing, so proud of their creations. It was lovely to see. How wonderful if this gift was given freely in schools.

There, I think that is what I was trying to say.

Oh- and an odd cooking disaster this morning. I was up at six, while dear Carl was in the shower as I wanted to make him a special breakfast. (Just because it is a rainy Monday, nothing more!) The recipe I saw called me to cut the top off a large tomato, scoop out its innards, crack in an egg, season and bake for twenty minutes, then serve it on a slice of hot toast with a piece of ham. A twist on bacon and eggs really. Well we have a fan oven that usually cooks really fast. Twenty minutes- and the egg was still liquid. I checked the temperature and upped it. I checked the oven was on, not just the grill. No, it was on. Another ten minutes. Still liquid. Another five. STILL liquid. So I put it in the microwave...and where the tomato was soft from the oven, it collapsed into a part runny-part solid eggy disaster.....

Tonight, the biscuites will go better!

(And I gave Carl museli for breakfast instead....)