Marky's Star Wars Party

Had a great time on Saturday the birthday party of my Bro-in-law. We were shattered and presumed that we'd need to leave early, but still wanted to put in moral support.

When we turned up we were greeted by the Sith Lord, Darth Vader himself. Though when he started laughing I got the distinct impression that it was just someone dressed up. But I quickly pushed the thought to the back of my mind when I saw that the garden was full of Star Wars creatures and a few Jedi Poo-Doo into the bargain.

We had unfortunately not dressed ourselves in SW-like outfits but the food and company was good. I really enjoyed meeting Mark's family and friends again. It's always good to see that someone you love has built a network of strong and genuine relationships around them.

Happy 30th Mark. Here's wishing you a good 3o more (maybe a couple more on that!)

Coffee Pot

I bought a stainless steel canteen for myself to take coffe to work in. I used it for the first time yesterday whilst working (trial run was at Legoland last Friday). But, today I forgot it!!! Feel my pain...

Chow cooking site

A recent discovery for me has been Chow.com. I really like the useable inteface and recipes and food news and quite a lot of things about this site. The videos are short and informative. I think I'm going to become a regular visitor.

One thing I enjoyed was when I signed up there is a small section within which answer a number of questions that tell about your tastes and a little bit about who you are. I was surprised that I had an answer for most of them, but also that I found myself really enjoying the thinking about the questions. It made me realise that I really enjoy cooking and don't do enough of it. Cooking for enjoyment can be somethign that is so easily lost.

Nikki does most of the cooking in our house, but I have often wanted help out with this task, but find that in the stress of the moment I have no idea what to cook or, more importantly, what to do with the ingredients that we have to hand. So Nikki usually ends up preparing our meal.

I have often wondered if I added to my repertoire of meals I could help out a bit more.

We have experienced that 'Quick Meals' are no better and take no longer that cooking from stratch most of the time. But I would also like to learn how to cook things that take a bit longer. Especially Bread and Roast Meat...