Gravy.......

Gravy.....weird I know, but I firmly believe the ability to make gravy is genetic, a gene that has sadly not been passed to my brother, now he is an amazing cook, but the art of making gravy eludes him. Every Sunday during our family lunch he asks me to show him how to do it, and I do (the old fashioned way not the posh "jus" way - you know flour in with the meat juices, yes AND THE FAT, topped up with the vegetable water and a splash of gravy browning) but alas it doesn't sink in. The thing about Welsh people is that they like gravy, it's like a food group of its own, I remember visiting a relative in England for a Sunday lunch, they proudly put the gravy boat on the table, and my Dad poured the whole lot over his plate and said "can you top this up"...but of course, there was no more and everyone else had to eat dry lunch.

Oh and note to self......must change family tradition of Sunday Lunch, my Parents house has a tiny kitchen ( two people in it is too many), basically they live in a terraced house, the kitchen is a "lean to" with a glass roof, yesterday it must have been 110 in the shade, and this coupled with the glass roof, the oven, 4 gas rings, and the kettle boiling, meant I had my own personal sauna......think I will suggest salad for any temperature over 65 degrees.

After lunch I had to drop all the baby stuff to my Brothers (they come with a lot of stuff!) he had walked back to his house with Cara, I had driven with all the stuff and my Sister-in-Law, she made the coffee while I let Ruby out into their garden, now while I was in the garden I noticed a particularly lovely clematis, and as I have a pergola in my garden thought it would be lovely growing over it. I'm not sure if it is my Brother's plant or their neighbours that has grown over, but I couldn't stop myself pinching a couple of shoots off. So today I went to the garden centre bought a lovely pot and a huge bag of compost, and of course I had left the pinched cuttings behind......serve my right eh?

While at the garden centre I stopped for a coffee in the cafe, my table was near the corner where they put the toys for the little ones to play.......I was quietly sipping my "americano" ...that's black coffee to normal people, when I overheard this little girl playing with Barbie and Ken ......Barbie was saying to Ken " Between golf, rugby and the office you are never home and I've had enough" I nearly spat my "americano" over the table, and couldn't resist the urge to stay long enough to see which parents were hers.

Had a rotten nights sleep, mostly due to small white dog taking up most of the bed, so at 3am I gave up, came downstairs, made some tea and read a couple of chapters of my book, and what a great book it is. I love a bargain, and there is a wonderful place called Hay-on-Wye, where there are many bookshops, but one in particular, sells every book on it's shelf for £1, so it means you can pick up books just because you like the cover or the title, in this case it was the title " The Final Confession of Mabel Stark" by Robert Hough, based on a true story of a female tiger trainer at Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, anyway it's fabulous and unputdownable (if that's a word) and I urge anyone to give it a go.

Had planned to do a lot today but all of a sudden it's 3.30pm and I have done very little, I will have to go back to work soon (currently on sick leave after a nasty stomach op) so the opportunity for doing all those "little jobs" around the house will be lost, but it's not worth starting anything now eh??????

Keep smiling
Marmite Girl xx