Career changes

Thursday 7.55pm

I have been thinking about my career. After listing my key skills it seems that some of my best ones are not being used fully at the moment. Sleeping for instance is one thing I am pretty good at, along with eating, and also staring at people in a strange way. So having explored all the options my ideal job is - Cat. There will be a few difficulties to overcome first - the cats themselves for one have a bit of a closed shop here but I am up for the challenge and I am sure it is against the law to disciminate on the grounds that I am not actually a cat. And also when I mentioned the good news to my family, they were not as enthusiastic as I thought they should be. I think it is because I will be bringing home small dead animals instead of money. Oh, and there is another one - I am usually nice to small animals so killing and eating them might be a problem, although catfood does come in lots of different flavours. So I am now working on a plan. I know where I want to be and I know where I am now, so I just have to break down the journey into manageable steps. Yoga classes would be a good start, especially if I am going to have to lick my own bottom, but I have made a start by stopping what I am doing every now and then and looking around blankly with my tongue sticking out.

Yes . . . Peter the Cat, I can see it now.


Picture is Buffy, my new mentor and role model.

Big Brother

Tuesday 8.20pm

Take one 46 year old responsible adult, one 46 year old child, one 7 year old megalomaniac, one 17 year old who would rather live in a virtual world than the real one, and one 14 year old who just wants to sit and chat with his mates. Put them all in a house together and stir things up a bit by removing the television and computers so they have to talk to each other. Now just watch. On tv this would be called Big Brother, but we like to call it "Our Family Holiday". Seriously though we have just been away for the weekend and it was really good. I think it is modern living, and not just our family where we are all becoming more isolated. Computer games, televisions in bedrooms, we just do not talk much anymore. We try to get together at dinner time, even just on Sundays, but one child is usually glued to the tv, another is trying to squeeze the last few minutes out of the weekend with his friends and another is just "far too busy" to be interrogated by us at the table. So a holiday is good. We try new things, skiing this time, and most of all talk. All those minor irritations get washed out and you realise that your children are people just like you, a bit lazy perhaps but just people. And they are growing up, soon (hopefully!) they will not be here so now is the time to make the most of it. The old post office in Tokaanu, skiing on Mt Ruapehu, a good holiday, good company and at four days just long enough - don't want to overdo things now, do we.

Pic of us at Tokaanu geothermal pools by Nicola

Leek and Bacon Pie

Monday 6.45pm

OK, pay attention now, this may get confusing.

Tea tonight started out as to be bacon sandwiches. But I fancied spaghetti with bacon and had the urge to flavour it with some sage from the garden. Now Nicola is not a great fan of pasta and bacon so a Quiche as well came to mind and then I could have any extra for my lunch at work tomorrow. So I sliced up all the bacon ( about 10 slices ) and fried it slowly with a clove of garlic sliced up and 3 or 4 sage leaves chopped. Pastry case made and some of the bacon went in for the quiche and the rest saved for the pasta later on. Unfortunately I forgot to put any cheese in the quiche ( so bacon and egg pie now ) and nobody showed any enthusiasm for pasta. Or bacon and egg pie. Luckily Nicola had been shopping and brought some more bacon so on went the breadmaker to make dough and back to bacon rolls again ! This left me with a bowl of cooked bacon pieces with sage and garlic and since everybody else was happy I could make one of my favourites - leek and bacon pie. First more pastry was required - two cups of plain flour, 100g butter from the fridge worked together to look like breadcrumbs then pulled together with two or three tablespoons of cold water to form a stiff dough. While this rests in gladwrap in the fridge for half an hour a couple of leeks are fried slowly in oil and butter and the bacon added. The oven is on for the rolls so pastry comes out of the fridge gets rolled out, then into a buttered dish, leeks, with a tablespoon of flour stirred in into the middle and pastry on top. Into the oven it goes for 15 minutes or so till the pastry is cooked. I had also hard boiled some eggs earlier. Leeks and eggs are a wonderfull combination so leek and bacon pie served with an egg salad it was. And delicious it was as well.