A WOMAN'S WORK

It rained all day yesterday so I thought it a good time to do some Christmas shopping. Christmas shopping in the rain!!!!! being a good time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No I'm not going crazy - my Christmas shopping was done from the comfort of Micks armchair. Now you understand - Online shopping! It's not that I don't enjoy trawling round the shops for hours on end, laden down with bags and having aching feet. It's just that its not practical to do that since Mick became ill; so online shopping it has to be. I used to think what a waste paying for the delivery charges but when you consider the cost of public transport, or petrol for the car; not to mention parking fees it can actually work out cheaper; especially if you find a number of items in one online store. Also, having that obligatory coffee and cream cake stop is cheaper at home.

Today, well this morning, has been quite busy. The weather was fine and so I pushed Mick over to the shop. Lynn and Steve are visiting this weekend and earlier in the week I'd tried to do a Tesco shop but unfortunately there were no delivery slots until Monday. Thankfully Lynn and Steve will be quite happy to pop up there Saturday morning and get some meat for dinner and a few other bits. However, as they will be turning up bright and early on Saturday morning (they try to arrive before Mick wakes so that they can see him first thing) I wanted to make sure that I had some eggs and bacon in (gotta make sure they have a Full English before they go shopping). Hence the trip to the corner shop.

Luckily we got back before the rain started and after popping Mick back on his bed for his post fresh air doze I'd thought I'd see if I could do a bit of pre-cooking of things that I DID have in the house. I always try and see if I can prepare some things the day before when we have family staying. I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen missing all the fun. I had a look around and found some fresh carrots and swede, and, also in the freezer I had some frozen cauliflower and broccoli. I don't actually COOK in my microwave but I do find it invaluable for reheating things and as mashed carrot and swede and cauli and broc bake both reheat well I decided to get these made.

It's funny but even after all these years I always follow my grandmother's guide lines when cooking vegetables. She always said "If it grows UNDER the ground you cook it with the lid on the saucepan; if it grows ABOVE the ground then you leave the saucepan lid off". I wonder if it does make any difference?

The swede and carrot mash has to have a good dollop of butter in it and PLENTY of black pepper. If I'm serving cauli and broc bake as a main course I usually put onions, mushrooms and bacon pieces in it but today, as it will be served as an accompaniment to what ever meat we have, I have only added onions - I've plenty of those! Actually there's a little online shopping story re my excess of onions. In the early days of online Tesco shopping I noticed that there was a "5 for the price of 4" offer on onions. As I use onions quite a lot I thought I would order 10 onions. When the shopping arrived I didn't get 10 onions - I got 10 BAGS of onions. Thank goodness they store well - I've got them hanging in some of my old tights!

Back to this morning; I also decided to cook a pineapple upside down cake for dessert tomorrow; this is another dish that reheats beautifully in the microwave. It's actually turned out to be a peach upside down cake - no pineapple in the house.

All that done I suddenly realised it was lunch time - thankfully I still had some sausage quiche left that I'd made yesterday so Mick and I finished that off.

Having a wee rest now because the rest of the afternoon is going to be quite busy too. I MUST vacuum the bedroom - I know, Lynn and Steve, that you don't give a hoot whether I've vacuumed or not, but you know what I'm like! Then when Manda gets back from Duxford (some of the children from the school she works at are on a day trip to Duxford; it's Children In Need Day so lots of fun things going on there) we are going to give Mick his kitchenshower, and I must give him a shave too.

In fact - WHAT AM I DOING SITTING HERE BLOGGING - think I'll go and get that vacuuming done. Ta-ra for now.