In Which She Speaks Briefly on Crockpots, Muffins, Beanie Hats and Living Your Dream

So, I've got my father-in-law visiting tomorrow. He's not too well at the moment; the regular operation he has to keep his neuralgia bearable has failed, which means he can only eat very smooth and soft foods until he can have a new operation to cut the nerves in one side of his face. The pain is so bad, it is better for him to loose all feeling in this way than put up with it. God bless him though, he is stoical. He is in fact the most kind and stoical man I've ever met, he deserves something better than bread softened in milk to eat (his regular meal at home) so I've put a ton of chicken casserole in my new crockpot (hey, I'm lovin' the crockpot at the moment!), I'll then blend it and add cream, then freeze it so he can de-frost it when he fancies some. I'll make him an egg custard tomorrow too...can you tell I want to feed the old fella up? lol!


I made muffins today for the girls. My little one is wiped out. She's been doing a school induction week and I think the new-ness of school, and the emotional weariness of being somewhere other than home has taken its toll. She's another stoic though (perhaps she gets it from her grandpa?) and has not complained a bit about her new routine...just sat on my lap for a while and asked for blueberry muffins. So we made them. Oh, and if you live in the UK, low fat creme fraiche makes an excellent alternative to buttermilk (which I find hard to get here in the wild West Midlands!). Just mix equal amounts of creme fraiche with milk, and it does give the muffin an authentic-ish flavour and texture. Also, the muffin cases are re-usable and they work very well...I got mine from ASDA, but I think you can get them from Lakeland.
I finished the little one's beanie hat today also...whilst I was waiting for the children to get out of school. It fits well, and she really likes it (this is a good thing as she is much fussier than her big sister!). Yet again I made it in Sirdar Eco-DK, however the honeymoon I'm having with that particular yarn is now over...I'm getting bored with it and feel like using a bit of lace-weight...oh, knitter thou art fickle! And speaking of knitters, today I learned that Tasha Tudor had died. I didn't know much about Tasha Tudor until I started blogging and even then I wasn't really familiar with her work, I just heard her name in passing and thought she sounded interesting. However, thanks to Jenny I've looked through one of her books online and visited her website. What a remarkable woman she was! She seemed to have the knack of understanding her dream and calling and following it through to beautiful and inspirational results...a true and delightful non-conformist. May she rest in a peaceful heaven with her handwork and her corgis.